I've been reading postings, and have come to the conclusion that -
just as there is a 3-week stall, there seems to be a 4 month slump.
So many of us who started at the beginning of the year (and have managed to stay in there) - now seem to be having problems.

Some are having HC problems, some having problems with just too many LC treats available now.

I would like to ask the veterans - is this something you may have encountered also. I know I started having problems sometime in April, where I was fine through March. Never left the plan - but just wasn't seeing it as clearly as I did before.
I'm now trying a different LC plan (Curves) and feel that joy/contentment again that I had in Jan/Feb.

I just wanted to see if this was somewhat normal, or if spring fever has just hit.

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Mary Kay 1/1/04 - 232
5/19/08 (5/23/08) - sw226/(cw222)/mg210/fg160

Well, MK...

Since I started in Sept '03, my 4 months fell in December. Oh wonderful, full of cookies and high carb treats, December. So I definitely slumped and went off track; not as bad as I could have, mind you. BUT...had I stayed on plan during that time, I'm convinced I'd be 20lbs closer to goal right now. No biggie, I'll get there sometime.
Interesting theory...

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"Live strong." ~ Lance Armstrong
SLEEP BE DAMNED! GET THY BUTT TO THE GYM!
Start Atkins 9.1.03
225/198/130ish

Come to think of it, I started my stall about the 4-5 month timeframe. I tried cutting out allot of foods but couldn't break it. I then added real oatmeal and started losing for a couple of weeks. But then I started taking arthritis medicine and I gained that weight back (4 pounds). Then my cruise came up and I slowly went off it for the week and gained another 4 pounds, totaling about 8-9 pounds. I then went back to induction foods for a week and now three weeks later I am down 7 pounds since my cruise.

I remember there was another person here who recommended oatmeal to break stalls and it did seem to be working for me. I am back to eating oatmeal. (1/4 cup of real oatmeal is about 12 grams of carbs).

So you could either try oatmeal or going off the woe and then back to induction foods for a few days. Both have seemed to work for me to some extent. Eating oatmeal is probably the easiest so you don't have to go through the induction blues when your body gets re-adjusted to low carbing.

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261/226/215?
Started Atkins on 6/12/03

yup, as you know mary kay - i am DEFINITELY at a 4 month slump. just feeling lazy about my eating, not excited, losing my discipline. i am not eating anything HC, just having little mistakes that keep me from going anywhere (up or down).
i just need to "jump start" myself ....
maybe the oatmeal, maybe a week of induction .... i dunno.
just feeling BLAH.

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Carrie
SBD since 9/12/2005
Re-started 5/8/2006
My new journal: Just Breathe

Me, too. Mine started last September, after I had been on Atkins for 4 months. I Lost NOTHING between September and February 25, no matter what I did, then I quit smoking and gained seven pounds. I'm just hoping that increased exercise this summer will help me drop what I gained.

Hmmm...guess I should update my signature line.

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Jen



179/179/120

Wow, i agree with the 4 month problems, i havent gone off plan or anything, but it is so fearful to know that i dont have the enthusiam i had 4 months ago. i pray every morning that i get through the day with no set backs. ive even considered switching to another plan so i can get that enthusiasm back. Or maybe its just that we are no longer infants, we are in our adolescence stage of this woe and we can potentially make the right decisions and make it work, or we could be easily influenced with bad choices. Im not exactly sure what it is, but is not like it was 2 months ago.

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Started LC 1-10-04

302/199/160, 103lbs down, 39 to go, simply remarkable.

Restart- 8-19-07
242/226/160


405 points to date ( HOLIDAY CHALLENGE )

Gee what a thing to look forward to as I start my 5th month! I completed 4 months on 5 May! I lost 2.5 last week and only 1 so far this week but TOM hit and I am not weighing til it is over--which for me might be 10 days or might be 4--never know with me! But at least it is starting and stopping without medication on this WOE and it wasn't at all before--meds atarted and meds stopped it!

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Lori

232/190/130
My other journal http://www.lowcarbeating.com/bb/showthread.php?t=1130

I meant the 4-month slump in the 'mental' or 'commitment' sense. Heck, my speed has been 1-2 at the most any given week. If it slowed down, I wouldn't even have known it. Just a sense of losing interest with the process.
which probably doesn't happen if you are sailing along at a reasonable rate. I've just been discouraged for the last several weeks, and am seeing it in others on the board.

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Mary Kay 1/1/04 - 232
5/19/08 (5/23/08) - sw226/(cw222)/mg210/fg160

In my 3rd month I spent 3 weeks only losing 2 lbs total and it was frustrating--but I picked back up with TOM and had a decent loss for the month but I know what you are talking about now--I was thinking more about the 3rd week stall type slump than the mental interest type slump!!!!

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Lori

232/190/130
My other journal http://www.lowcarbeating.com/bb/showthread.php?t=1130

I started on December 2nd and I started not feeling as enthused about a month ago. That would have been four months. I am holding steady, losing very slow, and need to spice up my motivation. Any ideas from you people longer than five months?

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Peace, Joanna
Atkins since 12/3/03
299/245/130

I believe that it was about 4 months that I hit my first extended plateau - lasted several weeks. At that time, I hit a plateau when I hit one of (what I believe to be) my "set points" - 148. My next, even longer plateau was at 137. I stayed there for the longest time. It was another possible "set point."

'Course, when I talk about a given weight, I'm just talking about the "mean" around which I fluctuate, since I go up and down several pounds on a day to day basis.

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it doesn't have anything to do w/ weight for me ... i haven't lost anything in months, for goodness sake!
i'm just not as "scared" or "nervous" to mess up ... like i was in the start of this WOE. now i'm just more lax and uninterested. i suppose it is correlated w/ the lack in weight loss though ....
so how do we get RE-EXCITED about LC eating??

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Carrie
SBD since 9/12/2005
Re-started 5/8/2006
My new journal: Just Breathe

Wow MK... I haven't been on the board or posted in quite a while, but I definitely hit the 'mental/emotional' 4-month slump you're talking about at the end of April. Maybe someone's trying to tell me something being that the first message after being absent from this site for a while was yours. Hmmm...

I definitely think you may be on to something here. I just told DH and hour ago that I needed to re-induct, re-commit, and start eating 'pure' again.

Coincidental? Maybe. But I'm going to take it as a wake-up call. I'm off to bed now so I can get up and exercise in the morning, as I had been doing pre-slump.

Thanks for an insightful post, MK!

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Mada
221.6/193.8 <--- ONEderland! /sz 8

You definitely hit the nail right on the head with this one Marykay. I was wondering along the same lines looking through all the post these days there are a lot of people struggling here. So what is the answer? We all have used these little motivators ie, the challenges and the one on one accountablity, etc. None of this works for me. The only motivator that works for me is seeing those pounds disappear. So I guess the sixty four dollar question is "How do we get that weight loss started again?" Do we all change our plans? What really works here? I have so much to lose it could take forever if I have to critiqe my plan every month. I have noticed with a few folks that have lost significant amounts of weight that they have done it using several different plans. I don't know maybe some of the more consultant type brains here will figure it out and tell us what we need to do. Meanwhile, good luck on the curves wol.

looking back on my diet journal, i see a slowdown about month 4, too. i was feeling less motivated and a little discouraged because, well, the weightloss slowed down. minor stall. weightloss is the source of tremendous motivation!



so i started doing those things you do to break a stall. i'm sure we all have our own list of those: vary carb level, lower carbs, change supplements, exercise, etc. everything i could think of. i realized i had gotten a little sloppy with my eating, so i cleaned up my act. i also read on another board about an "egg fast" to break stalls. i didn't actually do that, but if i'm getting a little stuck, having a lot of eggs and a little greasy bacon for a few days does help me break it. which is weird, but you all know: if it works, then who cares if it's weird?



that helps address the weight loss stall. but regardless of those efforts, for me, it totally revoles around attitude. so when i start to feel a little down, i try to pick myself up. i write something upbeat for my diet journal. i call a friend and talk. i look around for lc articles or go to a support board. i look at my before and during pictures. i get a new exercise video or try a new lc recipie.

:jump: in other words, i do backflips to take care of myself and baby myself through the difficult times...while staying with the program, 'cause it's gotten me this far!

anywho, that's what helped me. your milage may vary and all.

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