I find that I do better on lower-carb diets that have a higher focus on protein and carbs from dairy and produce, but not grains.

I have lost 11lbs so far, but have stalled the past couple of weeks----I admit that it may be due to stress, or days when i have had more carbs than protein.

What is a good way to get my metabolism back into gear? I lost weight this way before, and had very low levels of hunger like on other diets, but I am worried that the erratic eating has messed up how my body wants to lose weight.

My goal is to keep my carbs below my protein, and keep my calories low (over 1500-1700 calories and I don't lose weight). Could my body just be resisting the low-carb thing, even though it is the best way of eating I have found for myself?

It really depends on what type of low carb you choose. Atkins who bases the diet on a "quick start" induction period purposely drops the carbs to 20 or less to get the stored energy out of the system as quick as possible. Most other plans do not do this and are more temperate in carb levels. The good thing about Atkins is that it gets a person into low carbing for weight loss and it has a wonderful system of slowly increasing carbs over time to see exactly how many one continues to lose on and how many one maintains at and how many one begins to gain weight on. So many people think they will lose the most on the lowest amount of carbs and end up not being able to do it long term.

There is something that seems to backfire with Atkin's diet, and that is this phenomenon about not being able to lose weight "like the first time" when one bumps on and off the diet. So if low carb is difficult for you, consider a few of the other low carb plans that are more moderate.

The standard recommend amount of carbs based on a 2000 calorie diet is 300 grams a day. 100 or less is considered low carb. I have monitored my carbs for a long time without trying to cut down (because I am using a software program for counting calories) and I always hover around 80-100 carbs because I am not much on sweets or breads even when not dieting. Right now, I am cutting back down to 20-30 carbs a day to see if I can push my slow weight loss back into gear.

There are so many health benefits to getting carbs down to a reasonable amount, that it is worth the effort to at least reduce them from the standard. However, there is nothing inherently magic about losing weight, it's not the fat, the carbs or the protein per se, it is the right combination that works individually for each of us and the overall amount of calories taken in and the energy expended.

Hope you find the ratio that works for you!