I've been stalled since June!!! All summer long I stuck to my guns and didn't even get tempted by any high carb foods -- I've worked so hard this year to lose what I have...

Two weeks ago, I discovered the low carb Russell Stover candies -- until these jumped into my shopping cart, I have been good and avoided all bars and candy.

Now I am finding myself "cheating" now and then and I know it can't be helping!!! What happened to me? I was sooo dedicated and although I am frustrated by stalling for so long, this IS my WOL now.

Instead of ONE little candy, I ate SIX one day. Then I ate a bite of regular ice cream one day. Then 1/2 of a poptart. My old ways of eating are creeping back in and although I don't WANT to eat them I still do. I know I'm doing it because of this dang stall...

I can't be the first person who has stalled this long and gotten frustated... can anybody else out there tell me what they did to break a stall and start losing again???

LC since 3/17/03
180 / 149 / 130

Hey Harley gal, just post some menus so the experts can have a look and see if you are doing anything wrong. I am only on induction but just came across your post and thought I would say hi! It must be frustrating but you can get through it. Don't beat yourself up for little slips, just get back on the wagon/horse/bike--whatever you want. Good luck to you!

~Steph

Harley, it's the candy. Somebody really needs to sue all these low-carb treat manufacturers. These things contain maltitol as an artificial sweetener, usually about 15 grams of the stuff. That stuff has a glycemic index that's nearly identical to play table sugar (sucrose). No wonder you're going back to bad habits. You're probably out of ketosis.

Get rid of the russell. stover's. Get yourself some ketostix and start testing yourself. Get back into ketosis and stay there.

***********************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

She's been stalled for 3 months prior to trying the candy.. I'd hazard a guess that the candy is not the culprit in this case..

However, Harleygal - as close as you are to goal, perhaps it's time to start watching your portions, calories, etc.

What do you eat in a given day?

(296/226.5/135) 04/01/03
The Downward Spiral Begins

Thanks for the replies!!! Okay, here's a typical day for me:

Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs with 2 pieces bacon and 1 piece of sausage (I usually get this at the college commons where I work)

OR

3-4 egg, sausage and cheese "muffins" (1 carb each)

Mid-morning snack:
Locarb tortilla with 1T cream cheese

Lunch:
Salad of mixed greens w/5-8 green olives, cauliflower, almonds, feta cheese, chicken breast strips that I usually cook the night before. 2T Ranch or Caesar dressing. I LOVE my salads!

Afternoon snack: 14 whole macadamias or 25 almonds (I buy the larger sizes and then count them out and put them in snack baggies)

Dinner: 1 cup cooked cauliflower w/3T shredded cheddar; 3-4 oz of either steak, broiled fish or baked chicken breast.

Evening snack: Usually deviled eggs or celery w/cream cheese and sometimes the "mock cheese danish" -- 3oz cream cheese, 1 egg and a tsp of Davinci.

Pretty much that's my day almost everyday! Sometimes will put different things in my salad at lunch and I always have cauliflower at dinner as it's been my most favorite food since the day I was born. Thank goodness it's low carb! haha!

The little candy and snacks just have snuck themselves into my days... I haven't gained anything but am still stalled... I was checked for candida and I don't have it. I don't take medicines or have any conditions that might affect me.

It's like everything was going great and then suddenly came to a screeching halt!

I also drink anywhere from 100-150 ounces of water each day. Sometimes even more when it's really hot outside!

Haven't checked a ketostix in about 3 weeks, but I was still in ketosis last time I did check...

LC since 3/17/03
180 / 149 / 130

Umm.. At this point, I'd guess the reason your keto sticks show positive, is that you're burning dietary fat. There seems to be a LOT of of cheese and nuts in your diet.

I'd ditch those in favor of more green veggies, and see what happens after a week or two...

(296/226.5/135) 04/01/03
The Downward Spiral Begins

I don't see anything too glaring. There are non-induction foods there, but you're long past induction. Again, make sure you're still in ketosis.

If you are, and you're not losing weight, then all I can think of to say is that your weight loss is slowing. You need to be patient and hang in there (my suggestion) or switch to a calorie counting scheme, although I'm opposed to that for reasons detailed in other posts. It's what you want to do that's important.

***********************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

Harely, I found that I could not eat the same way and lose weight when I got within 15-20 lbs of my goal weight.

As I got smaller, I had to increase veggies and decrease the high fat/high salt foods to get back into weight loss mode.

FWIW, I eliminated or greatly reduced salted nuts, cheese, ready-made LC shakes, sausage and bacon, and I started choosing fish and chicken more often instead of beef and pork. I also switched from heavy cream to half-and-half or sour cream, which saved a whole lot of calories. I had to be more careful about portions sizes (i.e., 4-6 oz. of meat instead of 8-10 oz.). I eat fewer nuts, now; and I use unsalted nuts because it's easier to quit eating them - the salted nuts would sit there and beg me to eat more.

I also started keeping an eye on total calories. Well, I was logging all my foods into Fitday or DietPower anyway, and that automatically tracks calories along with carbs. But, early on, I paid no attention to the calorie figures. But, I started looking at the calories and figured I needed to stay below about 1300 to lose.

~~~Teelbee

174 (Mar. 2002, highest weight), 164 (Jan. 2003, begin LC)
164/135/137-134
remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic

I just hate that RS candy. Oh, how I wish that were true. I took a friend to see her son in a hospital about an hour and half drive away. While I was loitering in the gift shop waiting for her, the caramel cups beckoned me. Well it had been a stressful day and the serving once the sugar alcohol was deducted was only something like 1 or 2 carbs. Well to make a long story short--I ate the whole bag . On the trip home I had to stop several times for the bathroom. It did not take very long for the laxative effect to hit me . I can see where you are having trouble resisting them.

I noticed it has been awhile since you were on here. Maybe you just need to come around more often for encouragement and support. It is frustrating to be doing everything "by the book" and still staying the same.

Shrinky may be right about the cheese. It tends to stall me. Are you exercising? You may need to increase that.

Welcome back and good luck!

Susan ( AKA Northwest)
207/177.5/160

I'm wondering how your measurements are doing? Have you checked lately? You could be in "losing inches mode" instead of "losing pounds mode" - I know that happens to me sometimes.

Those candies, fortunately, do not seem to bother me in the least, but everyone reacts differently to foods so you have to do what you know works for you. If the candies affect you, or cause you to want to binge - then ditch 'em! Same with anything else you can't seem to stop eating. Don't keep it around!

Maybe more variety of veggies too. DH has a tendency to eat the very same things for breakfast and lunch, every day (which would bore me to tears after about the 3rd day, but hey, whatever works!) but I make sure he gets plenty of variety in veggies and main dishes at night. Try shaking up your menues a bit and see what happens!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

Well, I've been stalled less than 10 lbs. from goal since last November. Don't know why I don't get discouraged! I guess I know that if I really wanted to get strict I could lose a few more pounds.

My only suggestions would be to trim back the cheese quite a bit. You are in a weight range where it becomes necessary for many of us to become somewhat calorie conscious. I rarely eat more than one ounce of cheese a day and/or one ounce of nuts. That kind of strictness might pay off for you. Hang in there-- good luck.

Thanks again for the great replies! I read them late last night and was so encouraged I didn't even reply then.

Went to the fridge and got rid of ALL the locarb candy, cheese and my daughter's "treats" like the pop tarts.

Today, I am going to re-do induction and then starting next week am going to seriously start counting calories AND start exercising better!

I have been away from the board for awhile and didn't realize how MUCH support I receive here. It made all the difference in the beginning of my Atkins WOE and if it weren't for all the wonderful people here, I would NOT have been as successful as I have been!

Thanks so much!! I appreciate the time you took to answer me!

LC since 3/17/03
180 / 149 / 130

One other comment. Being so close to your goal, you might want to sit back and assess whether or not that goal is realistic. It can become increasingly hard to lose weight as we approach our optimal. Note I said optimal, not goal. If you think your goal is fine, go for it, but if you consider how you look, feel, BMI, body fat, measurements, age, etc. and conclude that perhaps your goal was unrealistic, perhaps you save yourself some frustration.

I probably wouldn't say this if you had a long way to go, but you are pretty close, less than 10 lbs if I read that right.

Just a thought...

--jim

Hi Jim,
I wish it were less than 10 pounds but I'm looking at still wanting to lose about 20 more... that will put me 10-15 pounds above what I weighed for most of my adult life until 11 years ago. I hit 30 years old, had a baby and gained a lot of weight!

Looking back, I was pretty much a low carb eater anyway. When I tried to lose weight after my daughter was born, THAT is when I started following the food pyramid and the lowfat choices... I thought I was doing the right thing and eating the healthy way! No wonder I kept putting the weight on. Until I got pregnant, I lived on salads, vegetables and meat like chicken, pork chops, steaks, etc... I was eating the right way and didn't even know it!

LC since 3/17/03
180 / 149 / 130

Harley,

Sorry... My bad. I confused another post in this thread for yours.

--jim