Atkins - My Success!

[Buddyjay]

I am a firm believer in supporting something I believe in so I felt compelled to write this in order that other people may gain something from this. I iwll post under Sucess Stories also.

I was a very skinny kid all my life. When I turned thirty (32” waist) I decided to quit smoking. In the next couple years I put on thirty pounds. By 1988 I was 195lbs with a 40” waist. (I am 6’). To me I was getting heavyyyyyyy. So I joined a gym and went on a low fat/high protein diet. I switched to diet soda (blah) and ate better foods. I ran 3 miles at a time, four times a week while also working out at the gym. I read fitness magazines and watched my body transform. I got down to 168lbs with a 32” waist. It worked! For 8 months! All that work…I burned out and my attitude started to change.

Once the WOW factor was over, I started to get bored with working out. I began “cheating” on the foods saying “It won’t hurt to eat this once…” Telling myself that for the next year I put all the weight back on, AND THEN SOME.



Year 2001. I was now up to 215lbs. I saw myself in a group picture at work and was shocked on how I looked! I started to jog again to loose weight. I cut down on the bad foods (I love beer and chips) and decided to only jog, not join a gym. I hate to run; to me it is extremely boring. But I kept at it and lost 25lbs (190 lbs). Guess what??? Got bored again and stopped jogging.

Year 2007 – I am at my highest weight, 222lbs., 42” waist (my cholesterol is up to 305!) I eat what I want, drink what I want (I love soda and beer)…and it shows. In fact, I actually craved soda and some sweets. Had to have them. Especially diet Pepsi. I would go out of my way to get it.

I have had hypoglycemia for many years and my sugar fluctuates wildly. I suspect it is because of the weight and the drinking. I feel like crap most of the time and have “episodes” of anxiety/panic and wooziness. Worst of all, I am very concerned that I am going to have to “run” again to loose the weight. I decide to look into one of the popular “diets” that might make it easier to lose weight. I research everything and although I know Atkins is popular, my initial impression is that ‘I don’t know if I want to eat meat/fat all day. How safe can that be’?

A few days later I hear about the Stanford University study about how Atkins was #1 in loosing weight and was SAFE. Now I research it more vigorously and decided to try it.

I read the DANDR book and the part that got my attention the most (no not the weight loss part) was the info on blood sugar and how it will stabilize it. Being hypoglycemic, I was very interested in that, especially the way I was feeling.



March 19, 2007 – I started Atkins and Induction. I am very disciplined once my mind is made up and felt I could stay away from the bad foods and not cheat. I set my goal weight to be 185lbs. I did Induction clean and was seeing success so I decided to continue Induction for two more weeks.

What amazed me the most was that it was easier than I thought. After my body adjusted to this WOE, I had NO cravings for soda, beer, cake, etc. Sometimes I would want something sweet, after dinner, so I would have what was allowed and that helped a lot. When you don’t crave the “bad” foods, it makes it much easier to be successful. My other diets, although they were successful in weight loss, I always craved the foods I couldn’t have. I was a huge soda drinker and the thought of giving that up and drinking water was brutal! But now, I drink water all day and don’t even miss the soda. Why, because Atkins breaks the sugar addiction. Once the addiction is gone it is easy to stay away from it. Just like smoking… That’s how I found out that you can definitely be addicted to foods.

Plus, I am always full on Atkins. Again, making it easier to follow this “diet”. I have never eaten so many vegetables in my life. I eat them every day. I was a meat/potatoes kind of guy. Would rarely eat any vegetables. Now I am used to this WOE and look forward to them. And here is what I really enjoyed. I did the first 8 weeks without exercising! I know that is not recommended, but I wanted to see for myself if I would loose without it. I know from the past that if I exercise I WILL lose weight, but since I hate to exercise I wanted to see if this diet would be successful. And it was. I lost 25 lbs. in 8 weeks. But the important thing was that I now had a different attitude about weight loss. Now I know I didn’t HAVE TO EXERCISE TO LOSE WEIGHT. So the next thing I did was… I started walking… and that led to joining a gym. Why, because now I don’t HAVE TO exercise, I WANT TO.

There is no pressure to work out. If I go three times a week, fine. If I go once a week, fine. I am not pressuring myself this time or worrying that “damn, I didn’t run yesterday, I am going to gain weight…”.

Exercising in now being done for my health benefits, not weight loss. If I lose more weight while exercising, great, but that is not why I am doing it… this time. I am not saying that this “attitude” will work for you. Exercise is vitally important, diet or not.

But your attitude must change if you want to be successful. Nobody wants to diet. It’s not fun and it’s hard work. But if you can convince yourself that this MUST be a Way Of Eating and not a “diet” (which is a temporary change of eating) and follow the DANDR guidelines, you will be successful.

One note on being successful. As many know, your weight loss will slow down or even stop, on occasions. I did three times. I would not lose anything (or inches) for three weeks sometimes. But then it would start dropping again. This last time, I was stuck at 192lbs for three weeks. I was exercising and doing everything right. The only thing that changed was I started chewing gum. But only two small sticks a day. I felt that there was no way two little sticks of gum were causing this. But I realized that the gum had Aspartame in it, but two little sticks…? I stopped the gum. Two days later the weight started coming off again. Coincidence? Not willing to find out.

(Side note) – My ketosis stix only showed color while on Induction. Once in OWL it showed absolutely nothing, but I kept loosing weight. So don’t get hung up on the “Stix”.



June 23,2007 – I am 2lbs from my initial goal of 185. I am down to a 36 waist and will have my cholesterol checked in September. I am going to change my goal to 175lbs. When I started Atkins I never thought I would get to 185 (37lbs to lose). Now, like the book stated…”why not keep going”. So I will.

Also, I feel terrific. All my bad symptoms are gone. I don’t have those hypoglycemia “swings”. I am sleeping much better, etc., etc., etc.

The Atkins naysayers say that you probably would have felt better and lost weight by just cutting out the drinking, eating a little better and exercising. Maybe so, but that’s what I did the other times and never stuck with it. I really like the way Atkins makes me feel period!

This forum also had a great deal to do with my success. The wealth of information was amazing and the people here are very supportive.

I have talked to a few people that are doing “Atkins” and have asked them if they use this site. They say they never heard of it. Then I ask them if they read the DANDR book. They ALWAYS reply NO! When I hear what they are eating, I shake my head. Some, after three weeks, are up to 60-70 carbs! And then they wonder why they are not losing the weight they expected.

How can you possibly be doing Atkins PROPERLY if you read nothing at all? I immediately direct them to this forum and urge them to read the book.

I apologize for the lengthy post, but I felt compelled to write this in order that it may help others who are loosing confidence. And by the way, I am by no means “bragging” about my weight loss. I only had to lose about 40lbs. There are many, many people that have lost or are loosing much, much more weight than I did. These are the people who deserve to brag. What they are doing is monumental in achievement.

I just became a supporting member to this forum, so that it will continue to help others as it did me. As I said in the beginning, I believe, firmly, in researching as much as possible if you want to be successful and by researching threads with this forum. It was a valuable aid for me.

Thank you.

[cutecourters]

Thanks for your story Jay. You and everyone else on this forum are reasons I keep plugging along day after day. Right now I really can't see going back to my old way of eating. Congrats on your successes!

[Tillymum]

What a great post - I like your honesty. Like you, I have found this board an amazing source of information and support. Congratulations on your weight loss and on your commitment to this WOE.

[SandyL2002]

Awesome Success Story..and WTG.. This will surely encourage newbies

[Sherri]

Buddyjay, I have one word for you, AWESOME! You just reaffirmed what I strongly beleive in "KNOWLEGE IS POWER". Not only will your story inspire newbies but it will also keep us oldies on the strait and narrow of this wol and woe. Your story and stories alike keep me inspired to continue what I'm doing and to keep my sights on onederland. Thank you for your inspiration!

[slimndown]

Thank you for your story. I cannot express how inspirational it is to me.

[GaynorA]

Thank you so much for posting that hon. Truly inspirational. Well done to you.

[1359jules]

Thanks for the story. I was shocked about the gum. I've chewed gum a few times. Uh oh! Good for you. I'll keep on going...!!!

[ttdriver]

What an exceptionally inspiring post. Thank you for sharing that !

You have done a fantastic job, not only with losing the weight, but with CHANGING YOUR LIFE .. that's what its all about.

KEEP ON !

Betty

[kellyf48]

I know A lot of people who have tried atkins that have never read the book and say it does't work when they r eating toast for breakfast. I never thought about gum. I LOVE gum i chew a lot of gum. Thats the coolest thing about this site all thi info. I did Atkins about 5 years ago and lost 30 lbs then had twins,nursed etc. and I am back! I wish I knew about this site before.I tried doing it a few months ago w/out rereading the book, then I read the book and still wasnt losing. Then I found this site and was sooo inspired and got soo much info, i found myself sitting here taking notes 4 two days! You deserve to brag we all know how hard losing weight is, you should brag and be very proud of yourself!