I've never read any of the Zone books.  I guess it couldn't hurt.  Someone
else suggested fasting one day a week.  However, my wife is sometimes too
accommodating.  She keeps asking me if I want something, and by the end of
the day I'm getting hungry.  So I haven't accomplished that yet.  I need to
get a little more serious to make that work I guess.  Problem is, when I
get hungry, my mood drops.  When that happens, sometimes my mind plays that
trick where it gets you to eat something by promising to do it right
tomorrow, telling you it wouldn't have worked anyway, etc.  All those neat
tricks it learned during the dark years of the low-fat, low-cal diets.
 This stuff was so quiet while things were working that I thought it was
gone, but it turns out that I was wrong.

I really have, or had, no intention of reverting to the way I used to eat.
 I can't anyway.  I can tell you which seemingly "ok" foods have gluten in
them just by accidentally eating a little.  I can't even conceptualize what
a bowl of pasta would do to me at this point.

What I get from Neanderthin is that it is more a preventative measure than
a reparative one.  (I think the same is actually true of any low-carb
regimen, although they are not billed as such.)  It's only going to fix the
major aspects of the problem.  Fifteen years ago, it might have fixed me
completely.  But now, I think that basically the damage has been done.
 This body is never going to be what it should have been.  And IMHO, I
think that authors of low-carb diet books should take this into
consideration and add such a caveat, no matter how unpopular.  (And maybe
they did, and it's been so long since I re-read anything that I've
selectively forgotten; this is not to accuse, so no one take offense,
please!)  It's a real "slam into a brick wall" to have things going so
great and learn the hard way that maybe the problem can only be partially
fixed, that the damage has been done and now it has to be lived with.  Yes,
it may be possible to lose the rest of the weight (now 40lbs) through
extraordinary dietary measures, but what of maintenance?  I see now that
maintenance for me is never going to be what it is for Dr. Atkins, or for
Ray Audette, or for anyone who hasn't, through ignorance, mutilated their
metabolism the way I have.  The whole thing that had me so excited about
low-carb was that I saw a light at the end of the tunnel; an escape from
"dieting".  Now, it would appear that, like before low-carb, I will be
dieting for the rest of my life if I don't want to look like hell.  It's
very depressing.  I mean, I fully intend to stay the course simply for the
other improvements in my health.  But I'd really like to simply look
normal.  I thought I was finally going to, now I don't think so anymore.  I
have tried many variations on the theme lately, although nothing as
structured as the Zone.  I tried more calories, less calories, more carbs,
less carbs (fruit and veggies), even going back to the Atkins induction
diet that served me so well before.  All it did was make me gain weight
slowly.

I'm sorry if this isn't what everyone wanted to hear.  Should I just suck
it up and drive on?  I guess.  But I also think that it needs to be said,
because there are plenty of people out there who are like I was when I
first started; the results are phenomenal at first, and they're starting to
think that it's all going to fall right off.  Be ready for what happened to
me.  I wasn't ready.

Take care,
John Pavao

----------
It seems to me that you might think about trying another
approach, since the ketogenic approach seems to have stalled.
For example, why not try PaleoZone eating, using Sears' "zone"
macronutrient ratios, but restricting food choices to
paleo-acceptable meats and vegetables.  It's still a highly
restricted diet, but not so restricted as what you are now
enduring.  Perhaps the added carbs will make the desired
difference to your metabolism.

<snip>
                                                 It seems to me that this
counts as "not working."  I doubt that it will help much to
abandon all hope and go back to eating donuts and pasta, but it
might help to try another tack to get to a healthy diet that will
let you lose weight without suffering.  Just the basic principles
of NeanderThin allow for a wide range of eating plans.  There is
nothing to say that all of them will help all people to lose
weight.