Thank you - I'll give it a try. The cream is probably more important than the sweetener - not sure I could EVER get used to black!

Yes. I tried, but I do love the "thickness" and body of what cream does for coffee. But it makes the coffee plenty sweet to me.

I can tell you what worked for me. I plateaued for 6 years, and I was so discouraged. (Age and sex has a lot to do with it.)

1. In 2014 DH read an article suggesting 10K steps per day for optimum health. I've never been good at sticking to an exercise regime, but I came up with a plan. In May 2014 I got my first fitness tracker and my plan worked! I've walked almost every morning since then, and I log an average of 60 miles per month. No weight loss to speak of, but general better overall health.

2. Thanks to the wonderful people here on this forum, I discovered the thread on Dr. Jason Fung. On February 5, 2015 I started following the Fung Protocol for Intermittent Fasting. It broke my 6-year plateau.

3. I came across an article online suggesting that the lymph system (which has no pump as does the blood system) could be stimulated with the up-and-down motion of a trampoline. On April 16, 2016 I added mini-trampoline gentle bouncing to my daily regime. I noticed an immediate improvement in my overall circulation and a drop-off in arthritic joint pain.

4. November 11, 2016 I gave up cow's milk dairy and eggs and nuts. I immediately began to lose weight again. I can actually see the difference on my body. Although I'm not diabetic, I've continued to home monitor my BG which has stabilized downward. Since my September 2016 doctor's appointment, I've lost another 10 lbs, and my A1C is that of a normal person.

72 is just around the corner and my weight is stable at what it was in October 1972. I intend to lose another 10 lbs unless the wrinkle factor makes me reconsider. That will bring me to what I weighed when I first married in 1964.

Plateaus are made to be broken.

Inspirational!!!

After you get to only HWC in coffee, if you then want to try a month dairy-free, you can use canned coconut cream or coconut creamers. Going dairy free has helped others, but only way to know if it would work for you is to try it.
Glenda has list, and before Glenda tried dairy-free, she began an IF protocol, already mentioned in previous posts.

So happy for you! You put a lot into it, and now you are getting a lot back

On coffee: I went cold turkey, giving up HWC and AS at the same time. It was really quite funny when I tasted REAL coffee. Ha! Now I embrace the bitterness. Sometimes I use AS, but mostly just enjoy it for what it is.

Hardest part maybe of getting old is embracing everything for what it really is. Whodathunk the old artist would become a pragmatist.

Over the winter I hit a plateau that lasted months after 30 lbs and never cheating. It was terribly depressing to be within 15 lbs of goal and yoyo-ing three pounds.

I had started adding artificial sugar-free liquid flavorings to my coffee in addition to the cream and blending it. While comforting, I doubt it was helping move the numbers down with the Splenda in it. I am going to finish the bottle I have and go back to just cream, which was working.

Both my doctors also said I needed to increase my carbs from 20 a day. The numbers seem to be moving down slllloowwwwlly even at the increased carbs.

I am grateful for the year I have been training my body to be innately low-carb and for the times I actually have cheated and neither gone to hell nor gained anything, because cheating is really now an occasional part of dieting, not cheating at all. For me, I had to do something radical, so I followed medical advice and bumped up the carbs and sometimes have a small bit of something not on the program--I actually have had two bran muffins (months apart!) and sometimes will have four Ritz crackers, I don't know why four, or a couple of cups of air-popped popcorn with cheddar cheese from Wise. I used to eat a whole bowl of it, buttered, with melted cheese.

I always read the labels first and carefully before choosing to have THIS over a potentially faster loss. I also have a Dannon Greek yogurt, frozen, about every day. It takes FOR EV ER to eat a frozen Greek yogurt, but it was one thing one doctor recommended. The other doc is on the program and takes weekends off, but carefully, not wildly, and like me he exercises. He actually enjoys it and while I just walk for half an hour, he's gotten me to see the many benefits.

I also take time to identify what is triggering the desire to eat, emotions or impulse or hunger?

I have been doing this since May 24, 2016 and expected to be at goal by one year but thanks to this site, I know such expectations are usually high. I appreciate everyone's input on every topic. You have each helped me tremendously to stick with it and to know I have support everywhere and will offer my two cents when it's appropriate.

Enough of my rant; thank you again and good luck to us all!

Hi Barb if you want to add more fiberous vegetables, more healthy carbs... as many of us wrote on this thread, consider adding IF or meal timing to your LC diet as well. The feasting meal is as important as the fasting. If I keep insulin and BG low through the day, then the one meal can be a good sized serving of protein (but much lower total protein for the day than had I eaten 3 meals) and piles of salad and veggies. Read in your journal that you need to lower protein too. Three years ago when starting IF, the first result I noticed was being able to eat "Moderate" protein easily. IF has many benefits and is totally flexible. https://www.dietdoctor.com/?s=Fasting&st=video. And http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=472377

This thread has become pertinent: the Case Against Snacking.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=423179

If your body follows the theorized pattern of "insulin release based on last meal," then the typical meal-snack-meal-snack-meal-snack pattern is the worst thing you can do.

I also thought I could never stand coffee without cream, but now I do.

Another way to go HWC-free is to add coconut or MCT oil instead. If you buzz it with a blender, it will actually look cafe-au-lait coloured. Or if you hate having more things to wash, just put it in the mug & add the coffee and let it stir itself (you will see globules). It will look black but have the texture/body of creamy coffee. It has more coffee taste than with HWC and you can wean off the oil if you want. You need to use good-tasting coffee and drink it as soon as it is brewed; sitting in a coffee machine for >5 minutes makes it taste bitter. So now I go for one mug of quality coffee each morning instead of several bad ones.

It's a great ploy! I use it myself when buying certain items. Yes, this salmon is expensive, but I'm going to get a few meals from it, because the flavor is so intense.