I have been low-carbing for a year and a half. I stopped losing weight in September and I have recently started gaining weight!

I have tried many things to break my long stall - Induction several times and even went off-plan to do a low fat plan for a week in the hopes of shocking my system back into weight loss.

In frustration, this week I decided to follow the Stillmans plan to get back on track. After three days, I finally entered ketosis. On the morning of the fourth day, I discovered that I was out of ketosis again.

I have been on this plan for five days now. I have not consumed a single item of food that is not on plan. I am not binging on allowed foods. I exercise daily. I am not consuming aspartame.

sigh I'm so frustrated! I stepped on the scale this morning and guess how much weight I've lost this week? Nothing, nada, zilch - not a single pound. When I look in the mirror, I can clearly see that I still have weight to lose.

What's wrong with me?!

Could it be that you have attained your ideal weight? The one your body wants, not the one you were shooting for.

Im sorry its not working out for you. I don't have the magic solution I'm kind of in the same boat. You sound like you are making all the right choices. Exercise& contol of food.

I have heard that allergies to foods esp. dairy can make you hold on to weight.

Check out the candida forum in the health section here. My doctor didnt bite on the possiblity that that affects you r weight but Im ready to buy into the possiblity. Atkins thought it was so important that he devoted a chapter to it.

I m going to try Stillmans myself for a 4 day trial. If you gained pound doing Stillmans it has to be water or cyclical...there are no calories there to store-right?

Thanks for your responses!

Iowagirl: I don't want my body to like this weight! BTW, I'm going to be in your neck of the woods soon for two weeks. Is it easy to low carb in Iowa? I'm hoping to bring back some Splenda (not available where I live) and a few other goodies.

Bevbme: I hope you break your stall soon! I agree that candida can be a big problem, however, I don't eat sugar, yeast, or dairy so I don't think this is my problem.

* * *

Anyway, I finally dropped 2 lbs, which is great. I realised that I've increased my yoga practice (ashtanga - pretty vigorous) and my muscle definition has increased enough that I can see the difference in my arms and legs. I think all the protein, combined with supporting my body weight for an hour or two every day, has caused me to gain a significant amount of muscle.

Coupled with my recent increase in muscle, I think that my main problem is that my body was at this weight for many years and doesn't seem to want to move past this point. I'm not happy here and I hope I can lose more. However, I am trying to accept that this may be the right weight/size for me now that I'm in my mid-30s and have two small children. I'm super healthy (always been a health freak, but now I never even seem to catch the occasional cold - even when DH and the kids bring them home regularly) and I'm strong.

Strong is good! And you know muscle weighs more than fat. Don't go by the scale...go by how your clothes feel, how comfortable you are in your own skin.

What brings you to Iowa and where in this lovely state will you be? I can find Splenda with no problem here. As for the rest of your low carb fare....we are one of the nations' top pork producers!

Thanks, Iowagirl. I'm in an unusual situation, so it's hard for me to keep my perspective sometimes (only sometimes?!?). I'm tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a big size 10 / small size 12 at 5'9". I *think* that if I was still living in the US I'd be fine with that, perhaps only wanting to drop more comfortably into size 10s, but I live in Asia now and I feel absolutely huge. Even after losing so much weight, I'm hard-pressed to find clothes that fit me where I live. I held up one of the stretchy t-shirts that I bought in Singapore to one that my mother sent me from the US. The Singapore XL is the same size as the US M!

I'm going to Iowa to visit my mother in Cedar Rapids. I haven't been to Iowa in 4 years and I haven't been back to the US in 3 years. It's going to be a very interesting month-long trip, I think.

Have you tried:

1) varying your exercise routine

2) doing the Atkins fat-fast (really really powerful if you follow it to the letter)

3) having your thyroid checked

Thanks for your reply, Timco.

1) I have changed my exercise routine and have started doing a *lot* of intense yoga. My muscles are really developing and my poor DH is starting to feel intimidated. Prior to this, I did far less frequent yoga (same intensity) and a lot of walking - usually 7-10K four times a week - in the hot tropical sun. I went to Club Med a couple of months ago and fell in love with inline skating, so I'm planning to buy a pair of skates when I'm in the States this month to use on the bike/jogging path near my house. I will continue the yoga practice (of course!), but I'd like to add 30-60 minutes of inline skating a few times a week to burn more fat.

2) Pretty much the only thing I haven't tried is the fat fast. Just reading about it makes me nauseous! :P It works for a lot of people, so I should probably give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation.

3) I have had my thyroid checked three times in the past two years and it's well within the normal range - nowhere near borderline. I do have fibromyalgia, but I don't think that should hinder weight loss.

Thanks for your suggestions! I'm open to any and all ideas.

happy to help

1) From personal experience, as good as any exercise is (and I know that yoga is great), varying your routine can be a great way to jump-start weight loss. In-line skating w/your heart-rate up to 75% of its max ((220-age)*.75) for 45 minutes to an hour 3 times a week or so sounds great (by the way, thanks for bringing rollerblading up. I used to be an avid blader but my skates have just been collecting dust in my closet. I'm going to have to bring them out of retirement).

2) that fat fast is not easy to think about, but it's a lot easier once you start. It's only 1,000 calories/day to start, but all of that fat gets you so full that the thought of eating more is nauseating. When I did it, I had been stalled for a while and was getting really frustrated. I was planning on doing the fast for at least a week, but I had to quit after about 2 1/2 days. My ketone strips were the darkest purple they can get even though I was drinking over 300oz of water/day. I had also lost over 6 pounds in those 2 1/2 days. This rapid loss was actually a bit frightening so I stopped. I did put back on the weight within a few days, but I had broken the stall and broken through to a new weight and I took the weight off again within another another couple of weeks and resumed a more steady loss.

again, good luck!

Hmmm ... you've given me some food for thought. I'm going to try the fat fast and see if it will help me to break into a new weight range. I think I just need to get past the 160s in order to get to my goal weight.

The thought of all that congealed fat and cheese still makes me nauseous, though!

Thanks!

Just remember, congealed fat is your friend.

Easy for you to say. I've refused to eat unmelted butter ever since I was a little kid.

Fraid of fat, adn apparently afraid of posting too -- this is my first post, though joined last September...

I have been in that long frustrating period of eating very reasonably, even quite lightly, exercising a great deal (including long hikes on the weekend), and having this make absolutely no difference to my weight. It felt so ludicrous -- mechanically it didn't seem possible to expend thousands of calories, ingest far less than that (not to mention carbs around 20g per day...), and still have no effect. Yet, that's the result. So I've thought of doing the "fat fast", but also find the idea revolting. I found motivation in what you guys have written, and will give it a go mid-week. What does it do to your energy levels?

Cheers,

Caroline

Energy level, let's see . . . I think I might have felt a bit tired, but not enough to really bother me. But still try to exercise while doing the fast. Your body will be searching for carbs and protein to burn and when it finds none it will just start incinerating your body fat. I'm telling you, the only thing that got to me on the fat fast was feeling like I was burning fat too quickly. Not nearly so frustrating as being in a stall, though.

Another good thing that came out of the fat fast for me was the lesson that the most effective way to lose weight is to increase the proportion of fat to protein in your low carb diet. I mean I had read it a million times, but this really illustrated it to me in vivid detail.

Also, my best advice for actually doing the fast (not sure if I'm making this up or if I read it in Atkins, but I'll try to take credit for it anyway) is to have ALL of your meals for the day planned out and, when possible, prepared in advance. The portions are pretty small in keeping to a 1,000 calories/day and you might get hungry (though the tons of congealed fat you are eating should keep this from becoming too severe). So it worked well for me to time exactly when my meals were going to be so, for example, I knew that even if I felt hungry I only had to wait another 1/2 hour to eat.

Let me know if either of you are actually planning to do the fast and if you have any more questions or if you want any more advice on doing it.

Good luck!!!!

Larrisab-
I live in Davenport - won't be far from you!

I think there may be something to what you said, about seeing yourself in comparison. I had a friend that was tall and lean, attractive woman. She told me once that she had lived in California for a time and compared to the women there she was a cow. My jaw hit the floor. I am sure that is difficult to combat even when you know the standards are unrealistic.

It sounds like you have a great way of life/exercise going for you. Hang in there!