I lost 75lbs last year and i've been LCHF for a year and a half. I haven't lost a pound in 2016 though. I've upped the fat and made sure I am not guilty of carb creep but i'm still not losing. (actually I have been weighing every day and I weigh 5lbs different every day, one day I lose it, one day I gain it, next day I lose it again, that's weird to me).

So I think i'm going to go full on induction for a while and see what that does for me. I think it'll cut my dairy intake some and I expect it will help in the evenings when I crave something sweet. Right now I usually reach for a fat bomb but if my only options are savory I might skip that altogether.

So I am leaving on a trip this next week. When I get back i'm going to start Induction.

What should I know? Any tips or tricks to this or is it pretty simple, just stick to the foods list and get it done?

I'm not worried about my resolve or commitment. Last year I did two weeks (non-consecutive) of 0 carb, meat only. So this won't even be as strict as that was. I know I can do it! Really hoping it moves the scale though.

Funny, I usually associate the up and down weight with women, because we tend to retain water due to hormonal changes. So for me, up and down is normal, and I don't worry about it if the trendline is down.

There are all sorts of reasons why you wouldn't be losing weight, but the typical number 1 reason is that you really have, somehow, introduced more carbs than you think. You could try, for just a few days, really weighing and measuring every drop of food to see if your carb counts are really what you think they are. I know that I have to do this reset every once in awhile because I just assume I'm doing a good job, and then forget about the extra cheese or nuts I ingested. I hate counting anything, so I have to make sure I'm not unknowingly backtracking.

So if that isn't it, maybe your body has adjusted to what you are eating and you should try induction for 3-4 weeks. You can wait until after your trip, but don't go off your current plan if you can help it. If induction works, then maybe you need to do that for awhile -- I'm pretty sure I need to stay near 20 carbs for the rest of my life.

Other things could be a new medication, not getting enough sleep, or extra stress (cortisol).

For me, I don't lose weight (even on 20 carbs or less) unless I moderate my protein, don't go crazy with excessive fat, and do some intermittent fasting. I've got a serious battle with insulin resistance and just LCHF isn't enough -- my body adjusts and then I can also go 6 months without much loss.

Others may have additional tips, and others may counsel patience -- I'm more of a take action kind of person, but we're each on our own journey.

Good luck.

Well, what is considered excessive fat? About 2 months ago I was frustrated about the stall and did some research and decided to add more fat. I eat a lot of it, I add it to almost everything and strive to hit 80% fat although I found that hard to hit and often fall short.

In reading the induction list again tonight I do think induction will naturally have less fat than i'm including at the moment.

Funny, 20 is my number as well. Above 20 and I just cannot lose at all. 20, my friend, is not a lot

By excessive I mean I don't drink bulletproof coffee or purposely ingest more than seems to come naturally. For example, I'll use a pat of butter on vegetables, but I don't add more. I'll eat a fatty cut of meat, but I only have a 4 ounce portion of meat. I have HWC in my coffee, but not 2 Tablespoons. I fry turnips in olive oil to mimic french fries, but I still blot them on paper towels, and only eat a small portion.

The theory (Dr. Westman I think) is that part of your fat intake should also come from your own "on-board" fat, and that if you eat too much, your body has no reason to access it's own stores. But, you need to eat, and if you're moderating both carbs and protein, you do need those fat calories. So it's a balancing act that each person has to figure out for themselves. I shoot for about 5% carbs, 70-75% fat, and 20-25% protein.

I'm no expert here, although I've read many books and articles on the subject. I especially like Jason Fung's two-compartment model on insulin resistance.

20 carbs is not a lot, but I'm so used to it now, it's starting to seem normal. If I just stick to the bacon, eggs, salad, veggies, meat -- I'm good. It's when I add the cheese, cream cheese, macadamia nuts, turnip fries, minute muffins, almond flour baked goods, low carb beer, wine, and even snack between meals that my weight loss will slow down if I overdo it. I can somewhat mitigate that with the intermittent fasting, but that's not a magic bullet if I start going over the 20 carbs again.

I agree that if you just stick to induction foods, and don't go out of your way to add extra fat, you'll probably be below 80% -- it's definitely worth a try.

What katmeyster said, and maybe treat yourself like a newbie a little bit. Re-read the induction chapters or the whole book if you have it, if not, have a re-read of the rules in our stickies at the top of this forum. Browse the newbie forum, maybe even start an induction challenge if you think you'd like some buddies who are starting out at the same time you are.

If you think it would help you, maybe go back to keeping a log of your food, if you don't do so currently. It doesn't have to be online, it can be an old-fashioned pen and paper; whatever's easiest for you. I do this every now and then: weigh and measure everything, plug it into Fitday, sort of as a spot-check.

As for the how-much-fat issue, some peoples' food preferences have them leaning toward lean proteins. (pun intended ) Maybe you love canned tuna, chicken breast over the dark meat, and good lord, there's so much pork that's so lean it makes me want to cry. In summer, or when I'm too lazy to cook, I eat a lot of deli meat, which is pretty lean. These are the times I'm mindful of maybe grabbing a blob of cream cheese as dessert, or a fat bomb from the freezer. Otherwise, I'll end up hungry in an hour or two.

Safe travels and good luck on induction.

Excessive fat is Bulletproof coffee, Fat Bombs and adding fats to natural foods you overeat, rather than just eating enough until not hungry. As Kat mentioned, You will not be using using your own body fat stores if you eat too much added fat, only you can figure outvwhatvthat amount is. We don't count calories, but calories do count. Dr. Westman's clinic diet was based on what Dr Atkins used in his clinic, not the diet in books. The terrific DietDoctor website http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb also uses it as its Induction plan, or Two Week Challenge. http://www.kostdoktorn.se/wp-conten...starch_diet.pdf Note no nuts, cheese limited to 4oz, if not losing cheese can be reduced to 2oz or none, only 2-4T of cream per day including any you have as a treat in addition to coffee. Although the diet allows sweeteners in the beginning, you have been LC long enough to be over sweet cravings, so skip the sweetened fat bombs or any sweets now. This is a strict "induction" plan but what is used for obesity and diabetes in a clinic setting, maybe what you need now after not losing weight.

Other tips from Dr Westman http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=460202 He has a mock class on DietDoctor and Advanced LC tips if you would rather watch videos. Kat summarized it well on your other thread: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost...64&postcount=17

Ok, so I did not know that your own body fat stores needed to be included in your macros. That makes a lot of sense though since you are eating them.

In the past, whenever I was stalled out on LC adding more fat sped up weight loss. But I was never near 80% either.

So... Too much fat = no weight loss. Too much Protein turns to glucose and = no weight loss and of course Too much carbs (in my case 20+) = no weight loss. And what I have definitely learned over the last year is that not only is this a balancing act but your ideal macros change as you lose weight. As does the importance of exercising. Man, somebody should start a forum or something where people could discuss these things in detail

I'm excited to try a prolonged induction phase and see what happens. I'm also going to ramp up exercise as well.

If you are used to overeating, and not paying attention to the "full" signals from your gut, then you overeat, right?

That may be it, pure and simple. Too much food, whether carbs, fat or protein equals a stall.

You may need to measure your food strictly, until and unless you regain your ability to realize that you've had enough.

The food on this WOE tastes good. And if the tendency is to keep eating when things taste good, well...

If we all did this perfectly, we wouldn't need this forum, would we?

I just want to say congratulations on how much weight you already lost, and I hope this next phase of weight loss goes well for you.

Are you sure your scales aren't just wonky? My old digital scales used to do that, but I replaced them and the new ones don't have those weird ups and downs.

Not to me it aint. My body does the same thing. It's a small miracle if I weigh the same from one day to the next. I think the largest swing in one day was 7 lbs. I wouldn't worry one bit about that. I think you've found a spot where your body is happy and that's a good thing. You are eating as much as you are expending plus or minus a little. You are maintaining your current weight.

I like the idea of re-evaluating and perhaps cutting back on any added fats or excessive protein. I have had periods during my adventure where I stayed about the same or gained. During the times I maintained my body shape was still changing and it felt like I was getting stronger.

Here's a graphical example of my journey and here is some tracking I've done. Notice the crazy weight fluctuations http://downhaul.com/lowcarb/daily.txt

Ah yes! This is a balancing act for sure. Took me a while to figure this out. I kept reading how we need to add more fats, adding a little fat is fine but most of us here have plenty of fat stores in our body to use up, at least I do. The point of adding a little bit of fats such as eggs/bacon breakfast or even bullet proof coffee is to help keep us satiated for longer so we don't need to eat as much or as often which keeps blood sugar down which the body loves and will reward with weight loss. As I have lost weight, my body doesn't require near as much food, I get full super quick. At first, I ate to much protein which was completely wrong and just kept making me stall as this turns to sugar in the body if over consumed. IF helps rid the body of excess sugar quite nicely and helps sort of do a reset on the body so we know what real hunger feels like, gets those bs levels down too. I am still on Atkins Induction for over a year, no longer a diet to me but a much healthier way of life. So many delicious food choices, I haven't felt the need to move out of hard core induction. 80 lbs down approx to date yay! Keep going, this does work! Don't weigh all the time either. Don't think I have touched a scale in 1-2 months. You will notice your clothing hanging on you. I rarely weigh but my clothing is hanging actually pretty bad, hmm may be time for yet another size down in my clothes again. Never thought I would see a size medium or small again, so glad I changed my relationship with food. Was not easy at first but after a while as we learn it gets so easy you don't even have to think about it. Best of luck!

to check scale accuracy: weigh yourself. then weigh holding a 2 liter of liquid. should be 5 pounds difference. you can also use a weight to do same procedure.

i think induction is a great idea for you- but remember now that you only have 25 pounds left to lose, it will be long battle, compared to that whopping 75 pound loss! For some of us, calories matter in the end....

2 liters is a little less than 5 lbs I think. Another home example might be a gallon of water. That should weigh ~8 lbs.

128oz / 16oz/lb = 8lb

2 litres of water weigh 2 kg or 4.42 lbs at 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4°C). As the temperature increases, its density and weight decreases (but not enough to notice on a home scale).

A US gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs or 3.78 kg at 62 °F (17 °C).

An imperial gallon (UK) weighs 10.022 lbs or 4.546 kg, at its most dense temperature, which is 2.20456 lbs / L at 4 °C or 39 °F.

So the old saying, "a pint is a pound the world around" is just a crude approximation, but probably started before the US developed its own measurement system.