I finally made it into pre-maintenance. Yay! Hoo Yah! Yabba Dabba Do! Cartwheel, double backwards flip. I wouldn't let myself read that chapter in the Atkins book until I actually reached it. Actually, it doesn't change much now from what I've been doing. The weight loss has slowed waaay down as I've added things back into my life and I'm at a stage right now where I'm pretty comfortable. I've been able to introduce lc tortillas, lavash, and pita bread back into my diet. I have a dessert every night. I love the pumpkin bake, cheesecake and lemon pound cake. I've added berries back in and nuts.

Once I get to my goal weight, I know I have to concentrate on eating smarter. I tend to use up my carbs on things like catsup and steak sauce rather than vegetables. Many nights, I've had a steak for supper...and nothing else...and felt totally satisifed.

I also never did start exercising. I told myself that when I hit the first plateau, I'd start exercising to get over it. But, I never did and was able to lose weight anyway. I had this idea that I should start exercising for health reasons, not to lose weight. Because in the past I've always exercised like crazy to speed up the weight loss, I think it caused the weight to come back on faster when I let up on the exercise. But one result of that is that I have some saggy skin. So, as soon as the roads clear up, I'm going to go out walking to try and tighten things up. I don't recommend not exercising for others. In the past, I've never been able to lose weight without exercise.

One of the things the Atkins book warned about was becoming overconfident at this stage. I have to be careful about that, I know, because I really think I can maintain this WOL. I've managed to create low carb versions of almost everything I love, so I really, REALLY, don't feel deprived.

And so it goes. I'm making progress. I love my new body and I want to keep it, so I'm determined to stick with LC. Summer will be hard. Lots of time off,
time at the lake, beer, pot luck parties.

Cisco

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You're doing great! ... and I think you have your eye on the issues to watch for at this stage of the game.

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