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Maven, you're beautiful. :) And thanks so much for the many contributions you've made to this thread. My family has a history of type 2, my mom has had it for about ten years, lost a lot of weight when she first found out and still struggles with 15-20 she has yet to lose. She and I have had many discussions about carb addiction, that some people seem to be more inclined than others to indulge heavily. With my mom it's always been a straight sugar issue and with me, I can lay off the sweets but the pasta, bread and potatoes are much harder.

My first indication that my real problem was carbs was about 18 months ago when I decided to lose the 40-50 lbs that had crept up on me throughout pregnancies etc. The first 15 or so came off pretty easily cutting mostly fat with no serious cravings, then I cut the carbs and WOW, was it hard to break some habits! Plus a lifetime of being told to eat low fat & carbs are fine.

My mom has struggled the same with cutting carbs, going on sugar binges, getting depressed about it, skyrocketing her sugar, annoying her dr, bouncing her weight around, getting put on oral meds for her diabetes, til a few weeks ago she decided to pretty much cut carbs altogether. She lost 8 lbs in as many days and her sugar is finally down under 120 consistently. She's walking every day too, which helps keep the sugar down.

I had gestational diabetes in my last pregnancy (gave birth Dec 22) and so of course now I'm even more of a risk for type 2 later on, and while the baby weight is gone, I still have 22 of that original 50 to lose. I'm nursing so being careful, but right now I'm low-carbing as much as possible - no pasta, potatoes, or sweets and non-white bread only occasionally. Plus exercise.

I have a question for you on behalf of myself and my mother - does low-carbing weight loss have plateaus? My mom is doing great, but getting discouraged by her occasional stretch of a week with no real loss or only a pound, and I just went through the same thing last week myself. I'm not thinking hidden carbs are the problem, but I'm to the point where I'm counting every single one and logging what I eat to be safe. And speaking of safe - how many carbs should we shoot for staying under on a daily basis?

Maybe I should just break down and buy an Atkins book and go on the diet officially. :) Thanks again for your posts, and those of others, it's been a great thread to read through.

I have a question for you on behalf of myself and my mother - does low-carbing weight loss have plateaus? My mom is doing great, but getting discouraged by her occasional stretch of a week with no real loss or only a pound, and I just went through the same thing last week myself. I'm not thinking hidden carbs are the problem, but I'm to the point where I'm counting every single one and logging what I eat to be safe. And speaking of safe - how many carbs should we shoot for staying under on a daily basis?

You addressed your post to someone else, but I'm going t ojump in here and say YES, you can have plateaus on the Atkins diet. Sometimes it really isn't a plateau, just that the body can't get rid of the burned off fat fast enough, (and you just have to wait it out) other times its a plateau.

In the Atkins book he tells how to break the pleateau. And each person is different. You need to determine your critical carbohydrate level to know how many carbs to stay below and still lose weight. The more carbs, the slower the weight loss.