Slow loser trying to find CCLL - questions - Help!

[tickletussler]

I am curious to know how other slow-loser OWLers are finding their CCLL?

Initially I lost 20lbs in 2 months. After that, my weightloss has not been a consistent few pounds every week or every couple of weeks. It would be more like a pound here, a pound there - sometimes a pound lost after only one week, other times a pound lost after 4 weeks - with no real consistency.

I know I am supposed to try new foods in the rungs in OWL and/or increase one carb level each week ie increase 5g carbs each week. I am curious to find my CCLL early on, so I know what my boundaries are. So what I'd like to do is go find my CCLL and then drop back to a carb level that I like being at.

If I had been regularly losing pounds and when I increased a carb level, the weightloss slows or stops completely, then I would know that that level would be my CCLL. However, this wouldn't be the case for me.

* DANDR says if we had been losing regularly and to increase carb level until the weightloss slows down or stops altogether. Ok, so for a slow loser, what if I increase the carb level, don't lose or gain, do I move up to the next carb level? Or do I stay on that carb level until I make a loss?

* How can I tell the difference between stalling at a certain carb level, or it is simply my body adjusting towards the next weightloss? ie if I take 4-5 weeks to make a loss, then do I stay at that carb level during that whole time? (I guess this could apply to trying a new food can't it? - I just can't see myself eating the same "new" food for 4-5 weeks)

* Or as my weightlosses are far and few in between, do I keep increasing to the next carb level till I gain weight? and when I do, drop back, and if I stall on it, drop back again and work backwards?

I know this sounds confusing, but as I draw very close to where I should be moving onto Pre-Maintenance, I also need to get my head sorted out on this and find my boundaries ie if I go over my current carb level, then I don't necessarily need to look at it as a cheat, but rather I have moved within my CCLL.

At the same time, I think this will help me move through the rungs with more confidence instead of hesitating like I am at the moment.

[not2late]

Re: Slow loser trying to find CCLL - questions - Help!

I am curious to know how other slow-loser OWLers are finding their CCLL?

Initially I lost 20lbs in 2 months. After that, my weightloss has not been a consistent few pounds every week or every couple of weeks. It would be more like a pound here, a pound there - sometimes a pound lost after only one week, other times a pound lost after 4 weeks - with no real consistency.

I know I am supposed to try new foods in the rungs in OWL and/or increase one carb level each week ie increase 5g carbs each week. I am curious to find my CCLL early on, so I know what my boundaries are. So what I'd like to do is go find my CCLL and then drop back to a carb level that I like being at.

If I had been regularly losing pounds and when I increased a carb level, the weightloss slows or stops completely, then I would know that that level would be my CCLL. However, this wouldn't be the case for me.

* DANDR says if we had been losing regularly and to increase carb level until the weightloss slows down or stops altogether. Ok, so for a slow loser, what if I increase the carb level, don't lose or gain, do I move up to the next carb level? Or do I stay on that carb level until I make a loss?

* How can I tell the difference between stalling at a certain carb level, or it is simply my body adjusting towards the next weightloss? ie if I take 4-5 weeks to make a loss, then do I stay at that carb level during that whole time? (I guess this could apply to trying a new food can't it? - I just can't see myself eating the same "new" food for 4-5 weeks)

* Or as my weightlosses are far and few in between, do I keep increasing to the next carb level till I gain weight? and when I do, drop back, and if I stall on it, drop back again and work backwards?

I know this sounds confusing, but as I draw very close to where I should be moving onto Pre-Maintenance, I also need to get my head sorted out on this and find my boundaries ie if I go over my current carb level, then I don't necessarily need to look at it as a cheat, but rather I have moved within my CCLL.

At the same time, I think this will help me move through the rungs with more confidence instead of hesitating like I am at the moment.

OWL can be tricky fopr anyone, especially slow losers---believe me I know, I'm a slow loser too.

Anyhow, you'll just have to be very careful. Let's say you've increased your carbs to 35 and you don't lose anymore at that level. Drop down to 30 and see what happens. If you lose weight again, you can consider 35 to be your CCLL.

If at a later date you think you want to see if 35 is really your CCLL, you can bump up your carbs again to see what happens.

That happened to me. I originally had a CCLL of 30. A few months ago, I wanted to see if it really was 30 or if that was just due to my slow losing. So I experimented and found that my CCLL is 45. I still eat around 30-35 carbs daily (because that's alot of food imo.)

If you do "experiment" with your carb level, just remember, if you stop losing or gain, don't panic and run back to Induction. Check if you are in ketosis, if you are drop back to your previous losing level. If you are not in ketosis, you can drop back to Induction for 1 or 2 days to get back into ketosis, then go back to your losing OWL level. Frankly, I found during my experiment that when I did get out of ketosis, I didn't need to go back to Induction, but I went back into ketosis after going back to my carb losing level.

As for stalls, remember that a plateau is 4 weeks without loss or pounds OR loss of inches. So if the scale is stuck at 170, but you're still losing inches off your body, you aren't in a "plateau" and keep on with whatever you're doing in terms of the diet. I went through a 6 month period were I didn't lose a pound, but I lost 3 dress sizes! Yes, plateaus can drive you crazy. Yes, you'll want to kill the scale. But remember your measuring tape. Right now for me, the scale is stuck at 190-191 pounds, but I've lost a 1/2 from my waist, 3/4 inch from my thighs, 1/4 inch from my neck and my watch and rings are alot looser.

[tickletussler]

Thanks Megs for all the advice!

I have moved up a carb level today - to 25g - I'm going to take the shot, stay on the veggies rung and increase carb level every couple of weeks.
I'm not sure how it would work... but I was thinking if I only lose every few weeks, then maybe I could increase carb level every fortnight? I could do this until I see that I have not lost for 4 weeks OR I start to gain? Then I could drop back a carb level, and kind of work backwards?

Unless I eat more eggs, (and cheese is limited coz too much makes me stall), then most of my carbs will come from veggies. Is it ok to eat 8-10 cups of veggies as I am now? Yesterday i was struggling to get to 20g just on 10 cups veg, so today, with some higher carb veg like cabbage and green beans, I managed to get over 20g but not able to reach 25g.

I guess whilst I'm trying to eat 25g carbs, I cannot introduce a new "higher carb" veg right? because that way i can't tell if it's the carb level increase or the new veg that is causing me problems right?
(I did consider pumpkin today to help filling up my 25g carb count, but I haven't really eaten it before, so I can't introduce it now...)