“Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.”
~Phaedrus
I’ve been having good success with my low carb eating, and I’ve lost about 10 pounds, which still puts me at about 5 pounds heavier than I was before I stopped losing weight last year.  After I get those last 5 pounds off, I’ll start losing what I like to call “virgin” fat.  Honestly, the fat isn’t “virginal” at all. I’ve lost it before and regained it, so maybe it’s recycled fat.  But I like the idea of “virgin” fat because it’s fat that hasn’t been lost this time!  I guess a lot of people lose and regain and lose and regain.  And we who do it know that over time this just makes us fatter, literally, because when we lose, we invariably lose some muscle, too.  And when we gain, we usually just put on fat and not muscle.  In fact, if I was gaining muscle, it would make it easier for me to lose the fat because muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat does.  And muscle also increases my metabolism, which makes me more efficient in burning fat.  Muscle weight is good weight!  And for that reason, it’s not always as much about how much you weigh as how much you’re shrinking.  I’m shrinking because I can feel a difference in my clothes even with only a loss of 10 pounds.  Another 5 pounds will make me feel even more comfortable in my clothes because I bought the clothes I’m currently wearing when I was 5 pounds thinner.  I can also tell in my face that I’ve lost weight because I don’t look as puffy as I did.  So pounds aren’t everything! And these things I know to be true.  I am not failing because the scale isn’t moving downward right now.  I am succeeding in changing my eating habits and my lifestyle.  The scale will follow suit in time.

Deb