I've been maintaining my weight of ~116.5 for over a year now. I've found maintenance to be easy and enjoyable. However, it's really time that I get these last few pounds off. The sooner, the better so I can get right back to maintaining.

This past year, it's been hard for me to stick with strict induction the few times I've tried. What I can do for a little while is induction with extra veggies, but I don't lose weight doing that.

So...I've been thinking about combining Weight Watchers Core and Atkins induction. Basically, I'd eat everything that's on both the Core list and the induction list, keeping my total carbs under 20. WW calls for fat-free crap, so I'd use the extra 35 weekly points for things like cream, butter, and bacon. Maybe I'd use reduced-fat cheese and sour cream. Do you think this could lead to weight loss, or does my using the weekly points for real fat defeat the purpose? I know it's hard to know until I try, but I was wondering if anyone has experience with this.

hi-
I have no experience on either of these plans, but I have been mainaining for a while too. I have 2 comments-
1. THis is a very tough time of year to lose weight. To maintain takes commitment too- to lose is much harder.
2. Have you been reading the research on the role of exercise? I have no idea what exercise you do, if any. Maybe a thought?

HTH-
and hope others chime in.

Thanks for your input.

You're right about the holidays. I have a full Thanksgiving menu that's entirely low-carb. As for Christmas, we never have a big feast, so I think I can get right into it after Thanksgiving. (Once the pumpkin pound cake, pumpkin pie, and cornbread are gone. ) I just have to fight the urge to bake low-carb treats.

As for exercise, I'm just now trying to get back into it. I took out some pilates DVDs and did one yesterday.

I went on maintenance for about a year after most of my weight was gone hoping my aging skin would catch up (arm flaps and droopy all over!), then tried to lose the last few pounds. Didn't happen for another year until I cut way back on sweeteners - especially the sugar alcohols. About the only one I've tried that doesn't seem to affect me is erythritol. I had to totally eliminate my maltitol sweetened chocolate bars .

I didn't have to go back to induction carb levels - just lower than maintenance levels, almost no SA's and cutting way back on the AS's (maybe less baking because of lower AS's helped too!)

I know exactly what you mean.

On December 26th I started powerwalking/jogging in the park every day (5 miles) and I have done some weight lifting. Uptil now I have done it every single day.

I have never done any pilates but I'm quite interested to get to that, too.