The Crucial Tipping Point

I've been very good at sticking to eating well, or at least controlled. I started this determined round of weight loss on January 20, four and a half weeks ago.  I've been focusing on the details of Atkins, not just the general principles. I've been concentrating on eating vegetables at every meal, even breakfast. And it has had results. I've lost about six pounds, and I feel great.

But now I'm once again at the crucial point.  I've hit my "rubber floor", the weight at which I lose momentum, turn arounc and gain weight again. This has happened to me four times before, in the time I've been doing this blog. Here's my post on this from 2013, when I hit this point.

Here is what is going on that makes it difficult to keep going:

• The weight loss has slowed. The instant and heady success of the first few days and weeks are gone. This week I lost weight but less than before. (This is using my simple average of the week's daily readings.)
• The work of cooking is starting to seem to hard to sustain. I have other ways I'd rather spend my time.
• The food is starting to get a bit boring. When I make a big batch of something, I get bored before its done. 
• I want to eat with my girl more often, but she often she doesn't like what I like in the limited selection I have available.
• I crave certain treats which aren't allowed.

So here's what I'm doing to counter these problems, which are always the same:

• I'm upping the exercise. I'm working towards the first 5K of the season in March. I've kept up with two weight training sessions a week besides. 
• I'm really focused on getting sufficient vegetables at every meal. This is often harder than finding the protein.
• I'm really focused on portion control. Previous runs at Atkins used the food lists of "allowed" foods, without paying attention to how much of each is reasonable. Nuts, for example, no more than a quarter cup a day. Dairy, only a couple of ounces.
• I am ratcheting up the carbs a bit. Atkins recommends adding in a wider range of foods, and upping the carb level slightly, when you are close to goal, which I am. But I'm striving to keep it down. The other point they make is the wider range of foods cannot be at the expense of the main foundation vegetables that you have to eat every single day.
• I've got a set of "go to" quick and easy foods. A roast chicken from Whole Foods, for example, with easy vegetable sides. I found some Atkins and other low carb frozen meals when I stopped by a fancy new supermarket in a different neighborhood.
• I'm reading recipes and finding new things to cook. This also helps in trying to find things for my girl - adding sides she will like.
• I've got a couple of treats I allow myself, that are naturally low carb. (I tried a "low carb" Atkins brand chocolate-coated bar and couldn't stand the taste of malitol.) The two so far are blueberries (fresh or frozen) with creme fraiche or mascarpone, or crunchy almond butter with celery.  I think anything with actual chocolate in it is too dangerous right now.
• I've been giving myself some non-food rewards. I've bought some clothes, about which I may post later.
• I'm making very short term goals. Right now I want to sustain this through the next weekend. It's likely to be a social weekend, and I want to have fun!  But I'm setting parameters on what that can include.

So I've played with my data all morning while writing this post. Time to get out there and move!