Up 4 pounds again today, so yes daily fluctuation can be huge. Thanks for the smoothing graph recommendation.

Arielle, I believe you and what you say does make sense. Can you tell us your field of expertise, or maybe where you learned this, and the credentials for who published the info? With so much conflicting info, it's good to know where our info comes from. Thanks.

I am back! I have been off the forum for a long time now but since July 2020 I have been atkins--trying to be under 30 carbs a day. I have had slip ups along the way but my BEST lesson learned is---getting right back on it the next day after a screw up!! That is my biggest lesson learned---becuz for years...I would be so down on myself for screwing up(eating 0ff my program) that I would give up--completely!
This time I have really really stuck with things and added some IF times...and this old gal has learned new ways!
So I do want to visit these boards again---they are really encouraging to me.

Glad you are here & thanks for the reminder that we have to continue despite screw ups. I'd love to hear how IF is going.

Hi Janet
Do you recommend one of the two books over the other? Thank you.

Welcome!

The more we stick with it, the easier it gets.

That depends on how deep you want to get into the science of Ketosis. Marty Kendall’s book is great for a deep dive into the 12 Big Fat Keto Lies that hold people back from reaching their goals. The last chapter is now on his blog, Keto Lie #12: If in doubt, ‘keep calm and keto on’. There are long articles about the other 11 “Lies” , but having it all in one .pdf book is worth it. https://www.bigfatketolies.com/big-fat-keto-lies


Amy Berger has two new books where basic explanations of ketosis are included along with practical fat loss tips. She helped Dr. Eric Westman write a simple, clear book on the standard Low Carb Diet, and that diet has always included Limits on Fats. He did his first clinical research on the diet as used in Dr. Atkins clinic, and has not changed the diet at Duke Keto Clinic. Excellent new book, End Your Carb Confusion. https://www.amazon.com/End-Your-Car...e/dp/1628604298

If you have been on a Low Carb diet for a while and not reached your goal, also consider Amy Berger’s other new book, The Stall Slayer. . https://www.amazon.com/Stall-Slayer...k/dp/B08BYXN7JN.
1: Is It Really a Stall?
2: Setting Your Expectations
3: The Macro Myth: How Keto Really Works
4: Carb Creep
5: Too Much Fat
6: Low Thyroid Function
7: Medications That Impair Fat Loss
8: Sleep & Stress
9: Alcohol Consumption
10: Exercise
11: Time-restricted eating (TRE), a.k.a. "Intermittent Fasting"
12: Take an Information Vacation


Thank you Janet😊

Athletes manipulate their glycogen levels by going briefly on a low or no carb diet, and then doing a carb-up. This causes a glycogen rebound, and you can wind up with higher glycogen stores, temporarily, than if you'd been eating carbs all along. Three or four grams of water will be stored along with the glycogen--this doesn't seem to explain all of the water retention with a carb-up, since some people can gain ten or twenty pounds fairly rapidly, but it's part of it.

Stay positive. I've done this too many times to count, and each time I tried to reach goal I was frustrated by my weight going up-down-up-down. I could go up quite a bit overnight from some bad eating, and then I might spend the next week getting back where I was before. I gave up for a period of time, and this last year was horrible as I didn't watch my eating at all and didn't exercise.

So here is what I've discovered lately: I've just finished 3 weeks on what is basically Atkins '72 Induction. Low carbs, and due to that, my calories are fairly low naturally (I don't try in the least to keep them low....it's just that with low carb I can't eat a lot at one time any more, I have no cravings to speak of, and very low hunger). I've done something this time that I've NEVER NEVER NEVER done before: 3 straight weeks of perfect food, not a single cheat. So that's one thing. I'm also going to the gym as much as I can, for about an hour each time. So far in 3 weeks I've done 14 workouts. The result of all this is pretty much NO weight fluctuations. I haven't really gone up, but I've remained at a particular weight for 2 or 3 days on a few occasions. But the trajectory of weight is all downwards if it's not hanging for a bit. After 3 weeks I've lost 6 pounds, which is better than I expected (I thought I'd be lucky to hit a pound a week). Week one I was down 1.8 lbs, week 2 was 2.2 lbs, week 3 was 1.8 lbs. I haven't had any big drops....most drops like .4 or .2, but after a few days it added up to a pound. Out of 21 days on this diet, I've lost a bit on 12 of the days. More than half!

Why the difference this time around (after umpteen times doing this)? I have to attribute it to the consistency of my diet and exercise. I don't think exercise makes you lose weight, but it DOES help the process and helps boost the metabolism. I can't find anything else to explain it other than consistency of keeping carbs as low as possible thru my diet choices (aiming for 10g, usually hitting about 15g), and getting regular movement into my life again.

You CAN do this....but take my advice if you really want to succeed....I'm the one who said CONSISTENCY + TIME = SUCCESS. I really believe it. Most of us, including me in the past, gave up too soon. Don't be like me and let the process drag on forever because of eating foods that stall the process. Every bite is a choice that either moves you towards your goal or moves you away from it. A single bad food choice can open the door to more bad choices...believe me, I know! I lose control verrryyy easily, especially with sugar. I'm succeeding this time because I eat absolutely no sugar anywhere.

I got really tired of never reaching my goal. I'm doing it this time. If you resolve to reach your goal and don't let anything pull you off course, you WILL be able to get there. And how GREAT will that be!!!

Couldn't agree more.

This is a mental war, far far more than a physical one. We know how to eat. We know what to do. We know that it works. We know that we will reach our goals if we only stick to it. But we don't. Time and time again.

Why not? Because we lose the mental battles.

How do we not lose the mental battles? Good question. I don't know.

But I have come to believe that this is where we need to really apply our focus and efforts. That's not to say that all of the physical stuff isn't important -- it certainly is and it can't be neglected. But I think too many of us ignore the preparation needed to engage in the mental battles we WILL encounter.

Unfortunately, those are so much harder to even understand, let along prepare for. Education is certainly the first step. We have to first understand and acknowledge the things that trip us up as individuals. We then have to devise strategies to deal with those things when they happen -- or how to minimize the chance of them happening in the first place. We also have to be prepared for when those strategies don't work and have a contingency plan. Finally, and most difficult, we have to develop a perspective and mindset that lets us ride out the short-term frustrations. Humans, in general, just aren't good at that. We want and expect to see results when we put a lot of hard effort into something. We want to see progress. If we are trying to lose weight, we want to see the weight being lost. Now. No matter how much we might know, in our brains, that our weight will fluctuate and stall and even go up on the scale of days or weeks (or months for some), our emotions have a very hard time dealing with that. We need to find ways to find the peace of mind to accept that for what it is -- progress that is just hidden from view. But that's hard -- and none of the books or sites really deal with that because it's just too nebulous and fuzzy. Plus, it makes for poor marketing to tell people that this isn't going to be easy.

One thing that helped me was to widen the time frame.

We get so focused on that first bite we lose track of how it sends ripples for days, or longer. I started contemplating bad choices as something that was much bigger than the ten minutes spent actually eating it. It upset my stomach, made me feel nauseated, dragged down my energy and my mood. Did I want to keep reaching for the elastic waist pants in the drawer? Did I want to "have fun" for an hour and then feel awful for days?

We all look back on years of suffering from bad food choices. We have the power to not continue to do that to ourselves.

Instead of thinking of gaining after eating as a direct cause and effect event, I think of fat loss as a chemical reaction that gets interrupted by eating off plan. Knowing the effort it took to get it going keeps me from cheating. I also tell myself that chemical reactions can take a long time to show results. That works for a while, anyway.

I was losing steadily and was at 190 after a 10-pound loss by March 24th. The loss showed a steady downward slope on my weight vs time graph. The very next day after "cheating", it spiked back upward and by March 28th I was up to 198. I did not reach 190# again until April 7th after a few smaller spikes. Now at a 190 plateau, which is fine, but it really is amazing how carbs slow down the progress. That "cheating" episode looked like a seismic yo-yo spike on what was a fairly smooth downward graph. Interesting to see the effects in real time. And I think it really does take longer to feel that positive sense of well-being and energy again (hasn't yet returned).

Thanks for all of the eloquent words above, I read each and every post for motivation & no that others do, too.

What we are doing is hard but worth it for health, energy, and positive well-being!