OK, well, I've almost made it. I'm at 150, and I'm fairly certain that the weight for me is somewhere in the 140's. My loss has slowed dramatically since about 158. My question is, did your bod find it's weight and get happy, and stop there regardless of your diet, or did you have to calculate your carbs, and raise them appropriately to stop yourself? I haven't changed anything about my eating in these last eight pounds, the bod seems to have put on the brakes all by itself. So I'm curious to hear others' stories about what they did when they got there.
Thanks!

Stacie
222/150/140ish

I'm 5 lbs away from my goal. My weight loss has aways gone like this.. abotu three weeks of no loss and then a drop about 3-5 lbs rather quickly over a week. Then back to nothing for about three weeks. This occurs with no change to diet or exercise.

When I was 10 lbs out, I got the stomach bug and dropped close to 10 lbs in about 3 days (fun fun). I did not gain all that weight back once I got well (I'm still a little clueless on what happened there...).

I'm about 1.5 weeks in to my 3-week no loss period..so we shall see.

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:silly:
Wolfman
207/178/175
Top Weight: 220 (Oct 2000)
Lowest Weight: 178 (Oct 2003/Dec 2006)

My husband reached his goal weight in December. He is 5'10 and 173 lbs. He has been able to maintain his weight without really watching what he eats too much. He doesn't follow Atkins, though. He does more what I call a warped version of CAD. He's been fluctating between 170 and 175. But he's decided he wants to get down to 165 so he has 5 lbs to play around with.

Remember that the closer you get to goal weight, the slower your loss will be. Perhaps that is why your weight loss is slowing down. I had to literally FIGHT to get underneath 129. I would get to 129 and the scale would just stay stuck. I was finally able to break that but it took awhile...my body probably went into shock! I haven't been that weight since 6th grade!

Sheyla
186/125/105 60.5 inches
from a size 18 to size 5/6 jeans and size 3/4 dresses! WOOOHOOO!

I have been at goal weight since the end of January. I really had to work hard to get rid of the last few pounds. Now, I and a little easier on myself, but I do weigh everyday, and occasionally still track my foods. I've been at goal before. I know better than to let up. When you stop watching what you eat and become complacent, you gain. I think my sig line says it all.

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Judy
All time highest = 180, Goal = 140, Current status = RIGHT ON TARGET!
Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters. No more fooling myself!

Stacie -

Congratulations on your awesome weight loss. Most people do find that the final few pounds go more slowly, and you're wise to be thinking long-term as you enter pre-maintenance and close in on maintenance. THAT is why you will never have to lose this weight again. As Judy pointed out, we do need to keep on top of it and not let the pounds creep back, but how difficult that is depends on each person.

At the risk of annoying everybody by saying this, for me, low-carbing has been incredibly easy and effective. It's as if some kind of internal switch was flipped almost immediately. By the 2nd day of induction I felt better than I had in years, and after two weeks I felt downright awesome, and had lost 14 pounds besides. The rest of the weight came off steadily at 10 opunds a month till I hit my initial goal weight of 150. I decided to take off a few more pounds so that 150 could be my "panic point", the number I never want to see again. I've been sitting at 144 for about 15 months now, and it seems to be my ideal weight.

Since I started low-carbing in August 2002, I haven't had one bite of anything off-plan. Never. (Annoyed yet?) This is no great feat of willpower on my part, but simply a function of the complete change in my metabolism. I am very lucky to have low metabolic resistance to start with, and apparently something about the way I'm put together responds especially well to low-carbing.

Another thing that's been helpful is that I don't seem to need a lot of variety when it comes to food. I don't mind eating pretty much the same things day after day. (***see side-rant below). I honestly don't miss any of the things I've eliminated from my diet - I have never tried any "low-carb" products, nor had any desire to add back bread, pasta, or fruit other than berries. I take a good multi-vitamin and a couple other supplements, but my basic diet has been the same since the start - "clean" protein such as beef, chicken, fish, seafood, and eggs, with lots of veggies and some nuts, olives, and cheese thrown in along the way. I eat the same things as I did during OWL, just more of 'em. Oh, and I do have a glass of red wine every day, but that's strictly for my heart you understand.

I do think our bodies have a certain wisdom of their own when it comes to weight loss, and of course each person needs to find their own path along this wide road. You have had terrific success so far, and I wish you luck on the rest of the way to your goal.

***As an aside...whenever I hear somebody lament that low-carbing doesn't offer enough variety, two thoughts jump to mind:

1) Sure it does. It just takes a little more effort and imagination than pre-fab food.

2) Need variety? How many of us were perfectly content to have cereal and toast and juice for breakfast every day, the same sandwiches and burgers & chips for lunch every day, and alternate between batter-fried chicken and pizza for our dinners?! How many of us ate ice cream or potato chips EVERY NIGHT for years?? Where was the variety in that? Maybe it's not about boredom, but ADDICTION! "I am tired of eggs" often really means "I Want donuts!"...THOSE we could eat every day no problem - see what I mean?

OK, stepping down now. But thanks, I feel better.

Sky
Atkins since 8/02
196/144/under 150

I am where I want to be, altho according to the charts I should be lower.. but I am 62, and physically unable to do any serious type excercises. I stay within limits of what I want to be,usually by a lb or so. My problem is I can handle around 30 carbs and maintain this, but I can't go beyond that. And I agree, eggs get old after so many months. A lot of the stuff I don't miss, like potatoes, and I am not into sweets, but sometimes I wish I could sit down and pig out on a whopping huge plate of my homemade spaghetti, and sourdough bread! I think I'm getting bored enough that I am becoming inconsistent with my carbs. A couple days I stay at or below 20, and then I go to 30 carbs, because I get aggravated because my weight will go over by a lb. I don't care if I lose more, it would be great, but its discouraging to not be able to add carbs and maintain, still.

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In the cookies of life, we are the chocolate chips.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>2) Need variety? How many of us were perfectly content to have cereal and toast and juice for breakfast every day, the same sandwiches and burgers & chips for lunch every day, and alternate between batter-fried chicken and pizza for our dinners?! How many of us ate ice cream or potato chips EVERY NIGHT for years?? Where was the variety in that? Maybe it's not about boredom, but ADDICTION! "I am tired of eggs" often really means "I Want donuts!"...THOSE we could eat every day no problem - see what I mean? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

WOW! You go girl!

Excellent, excellent point. You know, In almost 3 years of doing this, I NEVER thought about it that way. You are so right!

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It is always necessary to leave some part
of cooking to improvisation. - Paul Bocuse
Member since 2001

Thanks for the input, everyone!
And Sky, I'm right there with you. LC has been a blissfully easy blessing in my life. It's the truth, I haven't missed the garbage carbs one bit, and I've developed a rather unholy relationship with broccoli.
Yeah, I've done the all-salad diet, NutriSystem, LowFat, Nutrisystem again (how dumb was that?) but LC is the bomb.
One thing I'm still not quite clear on though. Did the right weight for you stabilize on its own, or did you actually have to increase your carbs to stop your weight loss? I would think that once the bulk of the excess fat is gone, things sort of stabilize. I'm seeing that in my slowdown, I think. But if I have to stop the loss myself, I'll have to start journaling and counting carbs again. I know, I'm naughty, I haven't kept a food diary in months. I din't mind the slowdown one bit, as this way I can wear all my wonderful new clothes longer! Thank you all for helping me out!

Stacie
222/150/140ish

For me, settling in at this weight was pretty much automatic. The weight loss was consistent till I got to this point - no stalls or plateaus - and then it just stopped, seemingly of its own accord, at the right weight. I really feel like my body breathed a big sigh of relief when I started low-carbing, and couldn't wait to normalize itself. Once I gave it the opportunity, it knew just what to do.

Sky

its amazing isnt it sky,,,??? only one thing bugs me... and i try not to get TOOOOOOOOOO pissy about it... and that is.. why wasnt the medical community shouting about this to the rafters.. why did everyone tell me lo FAT was the way to go.?? why didnt anyone tell me a long TIME ago? sure... i know its useless to whine about it...but other than THAT .. I kinda feel as you do.. *ooooooooooooh so THATS what works ... iiiiiiiiiiiiii seeeeeeeeeeee... wasnt MEANT to have to have monumental will power..*sigh*... *steppin off soapbox to let someone else have their turn...*....

Thanks Sky! You have taught this old dog a new trick.

It's posts like this that keep me on track with this WOE.

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