1. Hydrostatic, or underwater weighing, is one of the most accurate methods, but is not widely available. If you live in a city with a university or weight research lab, you can probably find someone to do this. $100-$150.
2. DEXA scan is also very accurate. Sometimes insurance will pay for this if you have symptoms (usually bone problems) that warrant it. Can run around $250.
3. Skin fold/ caliper measurements are fairly accurate, depending on the experience of the measurer. Most good fitness centers will have a set of calipers and can do the measurements for you. Or you can buy a set of calipers yourself ($10), and learn how to do the measurements.
4. The bio-impedence method (scale) is the most inaccurate, and the results can vary depending on your hydration at the moment.

Beth, I wish I had the right words of wisdom to help you through these struggles your having right now.
FWIW, (just my 2cents) - I think your decision to set yourself a firm goal date is a good thing. It's only about a month, and you're strong enough to tough it out that long. The next few weeks will give you some of the answers you're looking for. Maybe Amber is right, and you're "done". But from what I've learned about you in the months we've both been here, I think you want to find out for sure.
It's hard not to have an image of what your body "should" look like. Maybe you are going to still be "chayote shaped" (love that image, BTW). I am. Always have been, and getting thinner probably won't change that. I know I can remember myself at 140 and 130 - and there are pictures to remind me.
Because you can't do that, you can only go by how you feel right now. When you are happy with where you are, with how you feel. When your body resists losing any more.

Not much help I know. But I'm glad you are comfortable with posting your struggles with this if it helps, we're all in your corner, you know ... and even if you don't get the answers you need, I know you'll get to where you need to be.

Beth, just keep writing as much as you want is my other thought....

I think the posting/journaling is what helps us all work everything out for ourselves. There is no "one way" to do this journey, and you are succeeding in every way.

I know for me, all my my trial and error (which I'm definitely still in) has all been part of the learning curve.

HIS - thanks the first two are out of my $ range right now but I made an appointment with our in-house gym at work - they have calipers and I trust the guy who owns / runs it

Blue - awwww I got the warm and fuzzies I have one picture from when I was around 160 in 2004 - right before I got pregnant with DD10. That's a thought for IP clinics - invest in software that can show potential clients what they could look like at goal. I can't be the only one


I really appreciate all of you and your thoughts, support, stories, and understanding.

Excellent! I hope you find the results are helpful and NOT discouraging!

I think your software idea is brilliant. You should pitch that to IP and maybe make a bazillion dollars.

I had an unexpected, hard challenge yesterday. I was digging around in the freezer at lunchtime, looking for partial bags of veggies I could eat up. (Let me add I was very hungry at this point.) I picked up a bag of Brussels sprouts, and right underneath it was a ziplock baggie of 6 or 7 homemade Toll House chocolate chip cookies. These are absolutely my favorite thing in the world, and a BIG trigger food for me. I am okay if they aren't cold, but once those babies are refrigerated or frozen and the chocolate chips are nicely hard.... all self-control goes out the window. Oh man, I picked up the baggie and just didn't know what to do. I really wanted to eat just one. (Now I know how crack addicts feel.) I finally put it on the counter, heated up my veggies real quick, ate, and left the house to do errands. I knew that if I was within a mile of those things, I would end up eating them. When I got home, my husband was there and I made him eat them right away. I'm still wanting those *^%#$ cookies today. Even thinking about the new low on the scale isn't helping. Grrrrr.

On a positive note, I found my dress for the wedding, and it's a size 6!!! And thrifted, so it was a real find. I will try to post a picture later. It's very form-fitting, so I don't dare gain an ounce, but I might stay on P3 an extra week just to be safe. Also found a size 8 Calvin Klein little black dress that's gorgeous, and - bonus! - long enough.

My daughter's first official weigh-in day was today, and she lost 6 pounds the first week. Not much in inches, but I told her that was pretty typical, as it was probably mostly water weight. I have to say it's nice to have a real-life diet buddy to share recipes and swap packets.

FANTASTIC HIS - congrats! You must feel like a million bucks!!! Both the willpower and the dresses! Poo-poo to those cookies

And congrats to your daughter on her loss. Hope her progress is speedy and she gets to goal quickly. With you supporting her, I know she's got this!

I am jealous of your thrift store lol - jeans / slacks are great at the one I go to...dresses not so much (that rack is always picked over or empty) I am thinking of a trip to a place called "Plato's Closet" - a second hand shop that is suppose to be "hip". I need to find a dress for November 6th

& we'll see what comes of my 11:00 appointment at the gym to be measured. The email back was "we have a new machine that uses ‘bioelectrical impedance’ to measures body fat"...*sigh*
I know they used to have the manual calipers because I did a full body work up a couple years back as part of a birthday special - it was 3 personal training sessions, along with the work up (weight, bf %, bp). I don't even remember what my body fat % was at the time

This weekend is looking nippy for the mid-atlantic!
Linda hope y'alls boat is winterized and stowed
DH is gearing up for hunting season, so for the first time in a while, we won't be doing anything together (yay love him but...)
DD10 and I are going to have a mommy-daughter Saturday and pamper ourselves. She has dance until noon, and then we are going to have a pedicure and hit the mall for some shopping. Momma wants some calf-high boots (since they'll FIT now!) and DD10 LOVES boots too so we'll find her a pair (my baby is wearing 7 / 8 Women's now!!!! ). Plus I am hitting the jewelry store to get some ring sizers put in. The inevitable happened yesterday and they slid off over my knuckle IP problems eh?
Then I am going to try and find a 'sexy' zombie costume for a Halloween party next Saturday Time to show off all this hard work!!!

HIS- Bravo to you for resisting the cookies! My weakness is Werther's caramels. I can NOT walk down the candy aisle in the grocery store because if I see them, I am soooo tempted. Not sure what I would do if I had any in the house.

What fantastic luck to find the dress for the wedding, especially at a thrift. And what a bonus LBD too ! What a great day for you. Extra bonus, that's got to be a great motivation for your daughter, seeing you finding all these cute clothes in a small size (OMG! 6!!!). So glad she's had a good week. Any diet is hard to stick with, sounds like she's making a good start and will be successful, just like you

This must have been a thrifting week...
I've put away my summer clothes and all the size 14s are now out of my closet. I'm solidly in 12s, but a few are getting loose. And sweaters, and jackets, now that its cooler, I've been trying on the ones I have, you guessed it, since last winter, all too big!
So I was out yesterday morning and had a chance to stop at a thrift near where I was, found a few things. Nothing special, really, just some pants and tops, but in a way that's good. I've been lucky over the last few months and found some really nice things, that I only got to wear a few times, before I blew past that size, and away they went. Kind of "hate that/love that", you know
I must admit, I was never much of a thrifter before, but I might still be one after I've reached goal, it's kind of fun to find something great!

Fall colors are starting to peak north of here, so this afternoon, we're going to take advantage of a relatively free day and take a nice drive up the lake.
Maybe find some nice walking trails, and get out and enjoy.

Photo on left was right around the time I started protocol, June 2015. Photo on the right was yesterday, 52 pounds lighter.

Blue - a beautiful walk in the fall colors sounds amazing!

Results from the gym...and they no longer have the manual calipers

Weight: 150.4 (with clothes / breakfast / water )
BMI: 23.9
Body Fat: 32.3
Viseral fat: 5
Skeletal Muscle: 29.5

All fell within "normal" ranges per their charts.

HIS - any insight? Do the scales tend to be high? Low? Completely inaccurate?

According to most experts, the bioimpedence scales can easily be off +/- 2% on body fat. But I did read about one woman who had a DEXA scan and then used the scale right after. DEXA said her BF was 19%; the scale said 33%! So quite a big difference there. A lot depends on how hydrated you are.

I will say this: if your gym's scale was remotely accurate, your numbers ARE within normal limits for your height and weight. I find it interesting that your BMI measured at 23.9, and not 24.2, as it would be by doing the standard mathematical formula. Of course, BMI is widely known to be a poor measure of overall fitness, so it's a moot point.

lol - for BMI maybe it was that extra .5" (5'6.5") on my height

Thank you so much for your insight. I felt comfortable with the numbers - a little disappointed with the BF%...I'd really like to get that down between 25 - 29%...I asked how I could do that and was told resistance / weight training which was what I was planning to start once my caloric deficit is done

I thought about going to go back for 'final' numbers on 11/23 (P2)...or do you think I should wait for P4 to start?

& Absolutely FANTASTIC pictures You ROCK!!!!!!

If it's a service they offer for free, I'd say do it both times. There's no such thing as too much information. But if you have to pick one time to get it done, I'd probably choose to do it at the end of P2, while you're still in ketosis and before your glycogen stores fill back up.

Thanks for the nice comment about the photos. I will have to get a better one of me in the dress for the wedding, once I'm all fixed up.

HIS you look great! I really like your dress too!

HIS - Love the dress, and it looks great on you

Actually, revise that - YOU make the dress look great!!

Aw, y'all are so nice.

Ah, Blue, I'm envious of your autumn colors. Here in TX, fall lasts for about 1 week, and the colors are muted at best. But I can't complain too much; I'm happy not to be running in cold temperatures yet.

Re: thrifting. I live in a funny little rural town. People here tend to be on either side of the economic spectrum, not much in the middle. There's a quiet subculture of wealthy families here who are really into horses and ranching, but it's not always obvious who they are because they usually are running around town in their trucks like the rest of us. But there must be some wealthy, fashion-conscious woman who's about my size in the area, because I keep buying her high-end clothes at the local thrift shop.

I live about 30 minutes away from a college town (2 universities), and that's another good place to thrift shop for trendy stuff, because those college kids are always changing what they wear. Of course, the thing about thrifting is you almost never find what you're actually looking for. LOL. I've been searching for an immersion blender, and can't find one - but I did come across a portable steamer that we will use to steam the girls' dresses before the wedding. And I found my Actifry while I was shopping for jeans.

On today's running schedule: interval sprints for one mile. UGH. I wish I were one of those naturally fast runners, but unfortunately, I have to work at not being the slowest. I did go ahead and sign up for the second 5K, which will be 3 weeks from today! It is being held in a tiny, nearby town, and will probably garner only a hundred runners or so, so it will be a good low-key event to get me started back into "competitive" running.