| How I Got Into Atkins (another way of looking at success)
The first time I did Atkins (beginning in February 2003), I had great (if semi-temporary) weight loss success and lost 80 pounds.
I stumbled upon the diet under rather peculiar circumstances. There had been some short feature stories on the morning news programs, like Good Morning America and the Today Show, nothing I really paid attention to, chomping away at my cereal.
My mother- and father-in-law however, took notice. My mother-in-law had lost and maintained about 80 pounds doing Weight Watchers, and had another 80 left to go but was stalled out for quite some time. My father-in-law was 40-50 pounds overweight and had never formally dieted, though he ate the Weight Watchers foods that his wife prepared for herself.
At the time that they discovered Atkins, my now-husband (then boyfriend) and I were cooking 500 calorie dinners for them on a regular basis. We were weighing, measuring, and looking up everything we put into their food. But intrigued by the Atkins plan, my mother-in-law got the book (1972 edition) and read it. We had some interesting dinner conversations (they were still doing 500 calories at that point); I remember my husband was particularly unconvinced that eating fat would make you thin--I remember he asserted that "you just need to eat a balanced diet," but I thought Atkins sounded interesting. I was 21, extremely overweight for the first time in my life and unhappy. In the past, I had been superb at starving myself or getting/keeping my weight down with pills or other even more unhealthy methods. But now, that overweight, I was unable to fight the urges to binge eat, and I was warned by a physician that I would put holes in my intestinal tract if I took any more diet pills (which are basically OTC speed anyway). I needed a "miracle." When my in-laws took the plunge and began the diet, I watched with great interest.
I saw how cranky they became, how they bickered with one another. They lasted one week. Mother-in-law was beyond disappointed that neither of them had lost weight. I said the diet seemed interesting. She said she was disgusted with it and asked if I wanted the book. So I took it home and read it from front to cover.
Reading the book, I discovered why they hadn't lost any weight. I knew that the boneless buffalo chicken tenders and the nightly light beers were at least partly to blame, but I, not wanting to be rude, didn't say anything. The proof that Dr. Atkins offered in the book seemed very logical, but I was still skeptical, because he said that I never had to be hungry. Um hello? I was always hungry... but I thought what have I got to lose? The foods he was mentioning looked a lot healthier than what I'd been eating (doritos and pastries are not a food group!) and I would never be hungry. He said in the induction chapter, just to give the diet 2 weeks and I should see results... I thought 2 weeks of my life? Okay.
Oh, induction was wretched that first time. I had withdrawal that was perfectly monstrous. I was blue, desperate, angry, restless -- but not hungry. I ate. I stuck to the acceptable foods list. If any of you are familiar with the 1972 version (not endorsed by this board), you're restricted to 2 small salads of lettuce a day for vegetables but plentiful meat so it was really a radical change... at the time, I was semi-nomadic as my parents' home was crowded with various down-on-their-luck members of my family... I spent about half of my time living at my boyfriend's house (his parents loved me and I did chores, so they didn't mind). But because I was still a guest at their house, I couldn't just go around eating their food. Not only that, but their food was not Atkins-friendly at all. So I brought a ridiculous number of cans of tuna (about 60) that my mother had bought me (she knew nothing of the diet, but always bought tuna in incredible bulk (often 100 cans at a time); and worried about me, wanted to help me lose my weight) and kept them in my boyfriend's room. I also brought 5 jars of mayonnaise (theirs was fat-free and sugar-filled) and asked his parents if I could keep the open one in their fridge.
So it went. It was not a perfect setup. I ate meat and salads at my mother’s house. She was such a dear and bought me whatever I said I could eat. And at my inlaws I ate only tuna salad. After 2 weeks, I was down 15 pounds; I was totally hooked. Eating fat was making me thin! I kept doing what I was doing. Occasionally, I’d go out with my boyfriend to a bar and grill when I had a little extra money (I wrote for the town newspaper) and get some buffalo wings and a small side salad. I had lost about 40 pounds, when my boyfriend (also overweight) said, “Ok, I’ve got to try this.” He had been very resistant to the idea because he liked to drink tall glasses of milk. So he went on it too. His mother was so enthused that he was doing something about his weight, that she started having him do the grocery shopping for the family. They requested what they wanted on a list and then he could buy whatever groceries he wanted for him and me. And then when he’d lost 40 pounds and I was up to 60, she was so inspired, that she and my father-in-law went back on the diet. They even asked us for tips and did a clean induction that time. And they are doing it to this day! Sure, they’ve had their wagon tumbles, and the nightly light beer and the odd banana, added in after many months, really has slowed her loss, but she has lost another 50 pounds through Atkins (though she’d like to lose the last 30), and my father-in-law is at goal and has been maintaining for a year and a half. They are both very physically active and teach dance lessons.
I had my own tumble off the wagon, due to chronic constipation (I was bad about getting all my veggies in before; Atkins 1972 is very veggie-light compared to Atkins 2002, the Atkins I do faithfully now), high cost of foods (I didn’t know how to be a smart price-watcher back then), ignorance of the concept of lifetime maintenance, and laziness (didn’t used to cook much). I maintained more or less for a while, but eventually I spun out of control when I quit smoking and gave up my active job to go back to school as a sedentary student. I was so happy with my body that I didn’t even notice until I gained all of it back. My husband regained some of his, but maintained part of his loss. He has gone back on the eating plan with me.
But I’m back, and I’m back for good. I’m doing it right this time! It feels so easy and healthy now that I’m doing a veggie-focused Atkins this time and exercising (EXERCISING—yippee!), it’s just fantastic. And lifetime maintenance sounds just right to me, like a nice present for all the work I’ll be doing over the next couple of years. I guess the point of this long post is that I wasn’t a true success my first go-around with Atkins, but I feel successful in inspiring my husband and in-laws in the long run and that’s a success by itself. Plus, the fact that I’ve been there and back again is inspiration for me to reach my success this time.
You are all successes. Hold onto what makes you happy and inspires you.
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May 28th, 2006, 12:39 PM
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