I've been practicing this WOE for over a year now, and I'm down 52
pounds (goal is 60).  Overall LC eating couldn't be better for me.  My
body likes it and after an initial adjustment it's been pretty
painless.

One thing that concerns me is that on the couple of occasions that I
have splurged, I have put on a lot of weight quickly.  Over the recent
Christmas holiday, I let myself go for 5 days.  I didn't worry about
carbs and didn't use Fitday.  I ate pretty generously, including stuff
like rice, cheesecake, bread, potatoes, stuffing and a few Amstel
Light beers.  I hardly gorged myself, and in fact I have never been a
big sweets person to begin with.  But I did indulge, and I'm guessing
that I ate somewhere between 100-200g of carbs daily over 5 days.

In those 5 days, I put on 7.5 pounds, and 5.5 stayed on (I lost 2
after a couple of days back to LC eating).  I could feel the extra
weight and see it in the mirror.  I had succeeded in putting on 5.5
pounds of fat in 5 days.  That is disconcerting to me, given the
effort it takes to get it back off.  The rapid weight gain still
troubles me a bit, and makes me wonder about the "realness" of the
weight that I've lost.  It's a feeling of constantly teetering on the
brink of putting a lot of weight back on in a very short period of
time if I were to ever fall off the wagon.

That being said, I can live with the idea of sticking with LC eating
on a permanent basis.  When I adopted the Atkins plan, I fully
intended to stick with it permanently.  But more than anything I am
just curious as to why weight gain would be so rapid within only a few
days' time.  Is there something about LC eating that lends itself to
rapid gain when you fall off the wagon?

One additional thought -- I have heard the idea that each person has a
set number of fat cells in their body, and that when they are shrunk
via weight loss they still sit there waiting to get filled up again.
Those with a larger number of these cells may tend to suffer rapid
weight gain, while those with fewer will have greater resistance to
weight gain.  Is there any truth to this, or is it just another wive's
tale?  Thanks.

Start LC: 2-17-03
Height 5'9"
Start Weight: 230
Current Weight: 178
Goal: 170