I thought I'd start this group because I'm seeing a lot of the lower groups broken up into smaller progressions, but I can't seem to land with both feet and have it stick past 290. It's a tough spot to be in, at least it is for me, because I lose weight so slowly and erratically.

I've been in the 290s for weeks, briefly touching in the 280s but then back up again. It seems to be all hormonally driven, with menopause being the freshest part of the equation. I gained back up to 299 earlier in the week, but today I'm back down to 296. Have been sticking to regular daily exercise (a mix of Pilates, cardio and weight training for two hours a day). Cleaning up my diet again (I was making really poor carby and processed choices) and it's my second successful day back into IF. Plus, two days of decent sleep. I know this is the pattern that works for me. But if my sleep is off, everything fails.

I am so proud of my consistent exercise, however. I feel my muscles! Can't wait to show them off!

Today is my third day back with intermittent fasting. I have been trying to workout an eating schedule, but there's nothing really consistent with my daily life. Still, I will shoot for an eating window from 1 pm to 7 pm. It's when I'm hungriest. Keeping carbs low for the next two weeks, at induction levels (under 25 gm/day). Not going to worry about the calories yet.

My dog and kids are not helping me with the sleep cycles. Daisy Mae wakes me up early, and my sons keep me up late. I'm tired of being angry about this all the time. Just going to have to go to bed by 10, no matter what. At least the sun sets earlier now and its finally cooler. I can go to sleep more easily.

For the weekend, I have lots of walking planned. Just going to wear myself out on foot.

I love it when my allergies and food sensitivities work for me...

Soy - it's in most processed food, fast food and most restaurant food, so I have been forced to eliminate all that from my diet. When I let myself indulge, it takes a few days to stop feeling crappy. Systems failure!

Coconut - will still eat raw coconut (love it with my French soy-free dark chocolate!), but when I put coconut cream/oil in my coffee, I experience some intestinal discomfort. But then, it totally cleans me out! So, when feeling a bit backed up, about 3 Tbs of that in my morning coffee and my pipes are cleared out within an hour!

Grains and legumes - they all spike my blood sugar. I still have cravings for sourdough bread, steel-cut oatmeal, brown rice, lentil soup, tabbouleh salad. Can't have any of it! But, I have discovered that if I want some really badly, I can manage the blood sugar spike if I do a lot of cardio within an hour of eating it. So, post-pizza workouts include an hour on the rowing machine, at least.

Just gotta go with the flow...

I am such a huge fan of intermittent fasting. I do believe that even after the weight loss is done, I will keep doing it as a maintenance and healthy lifestyle tool. Right now I'm doing a 4 hour eating window (mainly 11am - 3pm) and I swear when I look in the mirror each morning, I appear to be getting smaller by the day....like the fat is just melting off. I also like eating all my calories close together and then not having to think about food for the rest of the day.

With IF, if you keep it up, you'll break through that 290 barrier in no time!! Keep it up!

Yeah, IF and I are going to stick together till they wheel me into a rest home and force me to do geriatric Jello shots. I just like eating this way.

I've been doing this, off and on, for about 18 months. Helped me break past 320 lbs to 286 lbs. I stopped doing it because I got caught up in testing my blood sugar and my doctor had me on a variety of meds for a few months. Eventually I quit the meds because 1) the weight loss stopped altogether and 2) I felt horrible and had no life at all while on the meds. I tried to eat to manage a morning blood sugar spike, but that only got me gaining weight again.

I like the idea of seeing the fat melt off me in the mirror. That's what I want!

Was thinking about a short term weight loss goal today. I hope to be losing 2 lbs per week, so perhaps 25 to 30 lbs down by my birthday in February.

Oh dear...I really had A LOT of fun over the weekend and now there is evidence of that showing up on the scale.

Oh well, back on the right track today!

Happily stepped on the scale this morning to find I lost 4 lbs since yesterday. Love it when the weekend bump up was really mostly water. Now on to the real work of getting the rest of this regain weight off.

I'm working a 36-hour fast today. Some of my 2x clothes are feeling snug again and I don't like that at all! I want new clothes for this winter! I want to be a size 20 or even an 18 by my birthday in February. I want to be out of this forum thread by Thanksgiving!

I'm getting whiplash! Back up 5 lbs, then back down 5 lbs. I know, someone is thinking I shouldn't weigh myself every day. I am not a slave to the scale. I use it to help me stay honest with myself. I have tried not weighing myself and I tend to make all the wrong decisions when I do that.

I am in the middle of Day 2 with the very low carb. I'm doing very well with the carb-counting. But I still feel achy all over. This week my ribs started aching. This is new for me. Sometimes it hurts to take a deep breath. Yesterday in my Pilates class, I almost felt like crying due to the soreness. I don't know why this is happening now. I didn't even workout that hard and have worked a lot harder in class without feeling so sore. Hoping the severe cut in carbs will end the pain soon.

Okay, both feet are firmly planted in the 200s now. I'm back on track with the very low carb induction phase of my diet. And this morning, not hurting as much as I was before I started back to the very low carb eating. Today will be the test because I've taken a break from exercise for two days, soaked in a lot of healing sleep and water and I'm going to Pilates this morning.

I think I'm going to start tracking my morning blood sugar again on Friday. I have an appointment with a new doctor in one week. Hoping she can help me with the hormone thing.

Woohoo! Five more pounds to get out of this little sub-forum!

I am loving how Atkins and IF works for me. Big goal ahead of me over the next 20 lbs...how to avoid sabotaging myself. Any body got any suggestions?

What am I afraid of? I've never been thin. Can't seem to wrap my brain around it. I haven't been in anything under a size 20 since college. For the moment, I don't want to think about that. I'm focused on getting back in to my size 22 pants and I want to be in a size 20 by the time I go on an overseas trip in April.

(See, six months till my trip and I can probably get to a size 18, but I can't really wrap my head around it so I mentally stop myself at size 20.)(Focus on a new spring wardrobe!!!!)

Ate fewer calories yesterday but over the top on carbs. Still lost another pound, but my hands feel quite sausage-like and I'm a bit achier again today.

If I'm going to overeat carbs, I need to find the right limit. I didn't eat wheat yesterday. It was brown basmati rice. So, not a gluten thing that I'm dealing with. Just carby water retention.

Tonight I'm WAY lower on both calories as well as carbs. I'm still a bit hungry so I'm going to have an ounce of raw almonds and drink a lot of water. Hands don't feel bloaty now. Hope I can get a good night's sleep.

Dropped another pound over the last two days. This is good, but not as sexy as losing several pounds a week. I am so fickle! Scared and excited when the weight loss moves too quckly, relieved and disappointed when it slows to the optimum loss rate of 2 lbs/week.

It's probably time to stop weighing myself so often now. I find that I do get caught up in the metrics. A lot. Perhaps I'll just get caught up in counting the calories and carbs. Because if I stay on top of that, I will find success.

I'll have my youngest son hide the scale. He'll be glad to keep it from me. I'll give it to him Sunday. Maybe...

I decided to hang on to the scale, just until I get back down in the 280s. And then I'll weigh myself once a week, until I decide otherwise. Just want to make sure I'm sticking to the plan. Weighing myself is very motivating.

I'm down another pound. Three pounds to go and I can release this subforum into the wild!

Well, unplanned dinners out are off the table! Up 2 lbs this morning.

So are Italian restaurants!

Woke up at 2 to go to the bathroom. Can't go back to sleep. It's now just after 3 and I feel hungry. My hands are puffy. My period started. I feel achy and cranky. It's hot...