Hi Everyone! I was a frequent visitor last spring and summer when I was just starting (again) a LC WOE. Over the past several years I had some success, but then it seemed to stop working for me. When I started again last April, I cam to the LCE site to get your advice, wisdom and encouragement. I apologize for not having posted in, well let's see, about 8 months! I did NOT fall off the wagon. And though I probably should have checked in to help others instead of taking all the help myself, I didn't feel I was expert enough in how to make the WOE a real WOE and not a diet that was only going to last 6 months. During all that time, I stayed "on-plan" as my default, and only took short breaks infrequently. I thought I'd share what has worked for me (though I know our different bodies may react differently, so YMMV).

When last I posted, I believe it was to report that I had broken through a stall that lasted more than 2 months! I was weighing in only 1 time per week, at the same time (early morning before breakfast). Amazingly, I weighed in at 206 (started at 215) for 8 solid weeks! There was no discernable variation at all. I mean the needle went straight to 206, NOT 205 and a bit, NOT 206.5...206 on the dot. Even the lack of variation was frustrating. In August we went on a week-long camping trip, during which I stayed on plan. I was active, and we walked everywhere. When I got back, I had broken the stall, weighing in at 201! Yay! I just kept at it. I had increased my carb intake per day was about 50 grams. INstead of eggs and sausage every morning, I have been eating a single serving of Fiber One cereal, a piece of high-fiber toast (Mrs. Baird's Fiber Plus, with about 7 grams of effective carbs per slice), a few strawberries, and a hard-boiled egg. That has been my daily breakfast for 8 months. I eat a half a peanutbutter sandwich (extra crunch for the extra fiber on that high-fiber bread) at around 2:00. Then around 4:00pm, I have some pepperoni snack sticks and some cheddar cheese. For dinner, I'll have meat of some kind with another piece of that toast and some vegetables. For dessert I have a couple of squares of Lindt 85% Dark Chocolate (very low carb!!). I take 12 hours off every weekend. On Saturday night, I eat whatever I want, same goes for Sunday Morning. My wife makes these delicious (and really bad for you) cherry turnovers. Yum! But at noon, I'm back on plan. Oh, and I still religiously take my supplements and drink lots of water.

The bottom line is that I am now 190 pounds (25 pounds down) since I started. The ONLY time I went back up was during Christmas when I took like a week off. My wife's cookies, and everything else surrounding the holidays made me decide to do this. After that week, I did gain about 6 pounds...back up to 196. But I just got back to plan and don't really think much about it any more. It's just the way I eat!! I still haven't reached my goal (180), but since I didn't give myself a time-limit, psychologically it doesn't matter! I'm 25 pounds lighter and my back feels better, and I'm still chugging away.

So that's me in a nutshell. I hope this post is helpful to someone.

Ken

KEN! I'm so glad to see you check in! I have been wondering about you....I wasn't sure with the stall you'd had how you'd end up reacting in the long term, because that can so often throw people off-course when they aren't ready for it, but you waited it out and you broke through it (with some increased activity, sounds like).

And thank you for sharing your story as well. I think that's an excellent example of fitting LC into your lifestyle. You've made the transition from diet to "just how you eat," you've found ways to work with stuff that you want without it derailing your efforts, and it sounds like you've truly found your LC Zen...

I'm really thrilled to see you, and it's gratifying to know that you've found your path.

Thank you for a wonderful upper today.

You go, Ken!

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Hi Ken,
It's good to hear from you, and even better to hear you are doing soooooooo fantastic!!! Congrats on your great weight loss, and new found(well, 1 year old...LOL!) LC lifestyle.

YOU ARE an inspiration!!!

Wishing you continued success, and I bet you see the *goal line* before you know it!!

Thanks again for checking in and giving us an update!

s

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Shelley
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Visit Kassie's Korner



Life deserves a treat now and again, but life also deserves being healthy[with required disipline] to make it worth living!

Thanks for sharing your story, Ken. It's important to show that a successful LC lifestyle is adaptable in many ways to suit the individual.

Best wishes!

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Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Shelley and Goddess,

Thanks for the kind words. You guys helped me a lot at the beginning. If I hadn't heard about the months-long stalls that people had had, I probably would have given up. It really was your encouragement that kept me going. Now that I can wear size 36 jeans again (I had just bought 2 pairs of 40s before I started...uggh), it feels like such a concrete accomplishment. Interestingly, I don't look that much different (at least with my clothes on). I picked up a 25-lb dumbbell a few weeks ago and asked my wife where in the world I was storing THAT amount of fat! It was probably just all over, with a pretty good amount around the middle, but only 4 inches or so. It's actually kinda scary when you think about how easily your body can hide fat. I can understand the rationalization of "I'm not what anyone would call FAT" to stop someone trying to lose weight.

Anyway, thanks again!!

Ken

It is amazing how well-camoflaged we can sometimes manage to carry the pounds, I totally agree. Or at least when I started talking openly about my weight, my friends pretended to be surprised at how much I used to weigh. Maybe they were just humoring me, though...

Whether or not you can see it in the pix, it's very real and visible in your attitude...that self-confidence that you can manage your weight and the lack of anxiety over doing so comes through crystal clear. Not that you struck me as particularly anxious before. But it's a different sort of confidence you see when somebody really "gets it," y'kno?

The weight loss is one thing, and it's the "golden ring" everybody is looking for starting out, but what I personally consider "LC success" is actually the sense of peace rather than the weight itself, if that makes any sense. Some people who still have plenty they'd like to lose have truly hit the Zen Zone and that's when I know, this doesn't have to be a struggle for them anymore.

You know, I am always glad to cheer people on when they're losing weight, and try to encourage them when they're not. But it's this part of it that I think has the most impact...when somebody hits their Zen. Everybody's is different, but you can feel it.

Don't be such a stranger next time, Ken!

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Thanks Goddess! I will try harder to post more regularly. Now I feel like I can offer advice instead of just taking it

Ken

As the season changes from winter to spring--and the wardrobe, too--I can't help remembering all the years I dreaded the changeover. I never knew if last year's clothes would fit--and often they didn't. Except the big, stretchy stuff.

Yes, I'm an LC lifer now--and I never take it for granted. The sense of finally "making peace" with weight management is something I'll always be grateful for, with special gratitude to the over-the-top salesmanship of Robert Atkins. He was right all along!

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Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Gratz, Ken!

You have really gotten your "PhD in Me" by sticking with it and learning about how your own metabolism responds to different things.

Thanks, especially for letting us know about your progress.

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Thanks for sharing your story and success.

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