The last few months for me, have been nothing but one teak after another, and that is so silly. Why mess up what is working well? I woke up this morning and realized WOW! I am an idiot! LOL I am growing mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in this journey of mine, and I don't want to stop growing, learning, and moving towards my goal.

I just wanted to throw this out for newbies. I have been on this journey for over 2 years..... and while I have lost 73 to 80 pounds (depending on what stupid tweaks ~read as poor choices ~ threw me off course), and the "obsession" doesn't take over until I allow it. Know in your heart hat you are making positive changes every single time you have a meal on plan, and know that if the scale is not giving you what you need that your body is still working. It is healing. I have hampered that healing phase, as I wasn't completely where I needed to be. Now, I am ready..... and I know that this is life. And it is okay. Things happen, situations arise that I have no control over, and in those times I will do the best I can. But they are few and far between. Seriously, Christmas is my hardest time and the mental issues that come with that are hard for me. BUt I have time to prepare this year, and I am determined to face things face to face, without getting knocked over.

I encourage you to stand in your journey, and stay focused. The mistake I made was "looking for greener grass elsewhere", and I find there isnt' any! I have a healthy lawn! So do you! So if you are doing well on Atkins ~ guess what?! STick with it! If you do well on SB ~ stick with it!

I can't wait to go along for the ride of your journey with you. And... I can't wait to share mine with you as well. From this day forward, consistency is the key!

Thanks, I needed to be reminded of this. And to add...one of my friends would say you need to weed your garden too. Get rid of all those things that choke out the flowers.

You make some great points! The big thing I have learned is that this is a rather slow (slower than I wish), incremental process. It takes time to put on fat, it takes time to get rid of excess. If fat and weight fell off too easily and quickly, the human race wouldn't survive.

I've tried tons of things, but for me, Atkins works better than anything else. I no longer give a single thought to any other program, no matter what the claims. For many if not most of us, excess refined carbs and sugar lay at the heart of our weight issues. Therefore, the Atkins way of reducing carbs works better than anything else, especially in creating new eating habits. I thought for a long time I had to be excessively strict, and I was absolutely sure any carbs over 20 would balloon my weight up. I expected that, and my body met my expectations. Yet oddly, lately I've eased up on my obsessiveness with carbs. I'm keeping calories fairly low, but within my moderated calories I've allowed in more carbs HERE AND THERE (not all the time!!) and guess what....I've still dropped weight. My body seems to be cooperating more now, and I'm enjoying my eating life a bit more because I can have a small popcorn at the movies, a bit of chocolate, a rice krispy treat here or there. As long as I'm not eating a ton of stuff, I'm staying on track. Since my eating is largely Atkins, my appetite is really low and even a bit of junk carbs here and there doesn't turn me into a carb junkie.

I just read an article about Jillian Michaels, and she confessed to having had her "nutrition brownies" for breakfast. I laughed because I realized she does what I have often done: If I'm having something junky, I generally have it "instead of" rather than "in addition to". So I make my Atkins cheesecake, and sometimes I have it for lunch, with nothing else but water. I don't have a salad, meat, cheese AND cheesecake. That's too much! So what I'm doing now seems to be working, we'll see if it continues. I'm mostly doing Induction type eating, with the addition of a treat occasionally. And here's an interesting thing: I'm not exercising right now. I swear, when I exercise a lot I think I retain water.

Oh Sheila, I have hit the wall so many times with Atkins. I try to change it up when the scale is not budging, just to find out that what ever I changed to is not the answer. I am coming to the conclusion that I would much rather be counting carbs then listening to my stomach growl. I have to start focusing on the positve health changes and not jump ship because I am impatient with scale numbers.

Your post really hit home for me. Thank you!

Good for you Sheila! Half the battle seems to be able to recognize what works for our own individual body and stick with it. I too believe that consistency is the key. Mental preparation for the holidays, all special occasions, unexpected events, emotional trauma, and on and on will help so much.
You're doing very well -- 3/4 way to goal!! You can do this . . . and, it is worth it.
Wishing you low carb success, Alma

What you said is really really important: learning how your own body works. We are all different, with different genetics, different heritages, different everything. What works perfectly for ME might not work for YOU. So this is really a learning process!

Thankx Sheila,in some way or the other we all need to realize this.It helps to know that in the end this is a way of life and not a temperory change in life-style.

we heard a quote at a conference once but it applies to this as well "the grass is always greenest where you water it!"

Thank you so much for this post. I have really been struggling these last few weeks and this post was exactly what I needed today to refocus.

Excellent post Shiela and so on point. Thanks for sharing with us. I have learned some much on my journey also and plan on continuing this course until the end. I have learned that once I get my mind wrapped around this WOE then my body follows. I'm currently at one of my lowest weights in 20 years and look forward to my next 100lbs coming off and my body becoming healthier.

Thanks Sheila! You are such an inspiration to me. I have read most of your journal and can relate to so many things that you have shared. I agree that the Christmas holiday is normally extremly difficult time, I know that this year will be a little easier for me as I have found many different recipes that I will be making this year.

Thanks again for a great post.

Thank you for that post. I really needed to see that today. My scale hasn't moved in the past week. I've been 259-260 back and forth but I'm going to stick to it. I actually am really enjoying eating like this now. My whole problem is patience. I did atkins in my early 20's and lost over 100 lbs in 7 months but I have to remember I'm not in my early 20's anymore and it is always harder to lose it after you've but it back on again. THANK YOU sooo much for the hope and inspiration today