I have been low carbing for nearly two years now. The last one of these I’ve fluctuated between 80 and 84 kilos, slowly gaining and losing those 4 kilos over and over. I had accepted that I was a turtle and that nothing could be done. I’d tried every tweak in the book – all to little avail.

And then I joined fitday on the first of May. Despite ongoing difficulties with American measurements (how do you fit a chicken into a cup!!!) I was able to really keep track of everything. I went back to Atkins induction and started to lose weight.

Then I heard about the ‘back to basics’ challenge which long term low carbers were doing. It consisted of 4 days on Stillman’s (lean meat, eggs, fish only) and then back to induction on your chosen plan. I decided to give it a go and to start the Stillmans phase on May 4th – a day after my birthday.

Stillman’s is the low carb low fat boring diet from hell. I struck to it though, and was soon in strong ketosis. I can tell because I can’t sleep from a burning up in bed feeling. I lost 400g (a pound) a day on Stillman’s but boy was I glad to get back on Atkins! That first salad tasted so good. Atkins seems like a real luxury to me now!

I set myself a goal to get under 80 kilos by the end of the month. I still lost on Atkins induction but very slowly. I felt that it was really psychologically important for me to achieve my goal so I went back on Stillman’s for another five days.

It was touch and go. Yesterday I was 80.6 kilos and I didn’t think I’d make it…then the whoosh fairy visited me and I lost a kilo overnight!

This morning I am 79.6 kilos – a whole pound the right side on my goal. I’m staying on Stillman’s today to put more distance between me and the dreaded 80 k and then tomorrow will be a leisurely cruise back on Atkins to my goal.

I’m a turtle no longer. I lost 3.8 kilos ( 8.36 pounds) in a month! – my fastest since induction nearly two years ago.

Some thanks are in order. First the two doctors Atkins and Stillman for their plans. Next this board – without which I would have given up and drifted back up to 100 kilos months ago. Lastly but perhaps the most sincerely. Thank you to Karen, Doreen, Rosebud, Zuleikaa, BarbCA, loopygem and all the other people who have visited my journal and offered help and encouragement.

During the process I have learned a lot about my body and how it responds to different things. Below is a personal list – your list will probably be different:

Things which stall me:

Mineral water (too much salt in it!)
Sugar alcohols
Any alcohol – one glass of wine sets me back for days

Things which don’t stall me (but stall some other people):

Coffee
Tea
Artificial sweeteners
Sugar free jelly (jello)

Finally a word about Stillman’s. It’s a great stall breaker but boring and I believe could, after too long put you into starvation mode. An alternative to the fat fast maybe – but not for longer than 4 or 5 days.

Robert that's fantastic! Can I also add well done YOU for sticking to low carb even though you were on a stall. Yay for Robert!

Excellent job! Congratulations on making your goal and for thinking your way through this. It really is about finding what works for each of us individually.

You are an inspiration!

Thats excellent, thanks for taking the time to share with us

Kathy

Congratulations!
Well done and thanks for sharing!

Yay Robert!

You must feel great! Congratulations to you on sticking to it even when things were slow. Now you get your reward!!

K.

Do you think the magic part is the low cal or the low fat or all.

I've bought into the 3meals, must have 70% fat( cream cheese overload) But then I saw the long termers dropping Atkins and PP
for Stilmans.

The Curves book says the body does not produce fat storing enzymes(lypogenic) for 72hr. Thats from a Cedar Research study
(the starvation mode we are always talking about). Their plan says you only "Diet" for that 3 days then work at resetting your metabolism by higher calories-then 3 days of diet.

I am going to go to stillman's for a few days - since the fat fast sounds way too depriving for me. Would love to knock off a few # before my DD wedding on the 14th and am recognizing the stress of end-of-school and wedding travel are getting me stalled - so need to shake things up a bit!

You have inspired me , Robert!

Jan

I don't think there's any magic in it (Stillmans). I've just finished a particularly strict Stillmans day - here is the breakdown from Fitday:

Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 933
Fat: 48 436 51%
Sat: 8 69 8%
Poly: 4 33 4%
Mono: 8 70 8%
Carbs: 9 36 4%
Fiber: 0 0 0%
Protein: 96 382 45%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

As you can see over 50% of the calories still come from fat - despite the fact that I didn't overtly eat any. All meats and eggs contain fats. I don't think it is low fat therefore. It could be low carb. - 9 carbs is way below what I'd get on Atkins. But look at the calories - only 933. I should be eating about 1,700 a day.
My opinion is that it's a low calorie diet - but one that is helped along by the fact that it is also low carb and the protein has a very strong hunger surpressing effect.

Tomorrow is back on Atkins for me - my chosen plan. I will be up to 70% fat, 1,700 calories and 20g approx of carbs. I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into a lump of cheddar.

Stillmans may be useful as a stall buster but it is hardly healthy eating! It is 0 fiber and one thing I didn't mantion in the earlier post is that it gave me quite bad diarrhea!

Also, although several long termers have tried stillamans as a way of getting back to basics I don't know anyone who's stuck it out for longer than 6 days.

If you're losing on your normal plan, leave Stillmans alone. I was stuck for a year before I tried it and Atkins is still my way of eating for life.

ur such a star, keep going!!!!!!!!!!

No, I'm not a star Izzy. what I'm saying essentially is 'don't give up'. I was stuck for ages but I thought 'what the hell, I like the food and anything is better than putting on about 5 kilos a year which is what was happening to me before.'

I am very impressed with your patience and persistence. Congrats on getting past your stall and probably more importantly getting to know your body better.

Congratulations Robert! It's amazing what going back to the basics will bring. I'm really happy to have done it too!


The idea behind doing four days of Stillman was to wipe the slate clean of the past. All of us had become sloppy and complacent in our eating habits and behavior. We realized that we had to go back to the basics of our chosen plan to recieve the benefits again. No one on the challenge dropped their plan for Stillman exclusively. We have enough experience low-carbing to know that doing that would have been madness!

Karen

good job robert
I couldn't imagine being stalled for a year, but ya stuck with it
good inspiration