| I was recently reminded that my 2 year anniversary on this board, had come and gone without me posting a thread relating my experience with this WOE, and how successful it has been for me. So, 2Big, thanks for the kick in the rear, and below is my story.
My journey to better health began December 28, 2002. I was 5'0" tall, and carrying 145 pounds on a very small boned frame. I never struggled with my weight when I was a child, teen, or young adult. As a matter of fact I weighed 82 pounds at 21 years of age when I got married in 1970. I wore a size 3 or 5 Jr. Petite clothes, and could not gain weight. I ate anything and everything without thought. I ate the junk food, but I was actually a pretty healthy eater growing up.
I gained some weight when I was pregant with my first son, but had a relatively easy time losing the weight after giving birth. I weighed in at 102 pounds and felt healthy. I maintained this weight fairly easy without any real rigourous dieting. However, I started to experience some female problems, and after going through a miscarriage, giving birth to my second son, some surgeries etc. I finally at a hysterectomy at the age of 27. There is where my real weight battle began. I found I had to work harder to maintain what had seemed a reasonable weight to me. I was starving myself at times in order to maintain that weight. This see saw battle went on for a number of years, and gradually I began to lose the battle of the pounds. I packed the pounds on and then I would look at myself and decide that I had to do something about those pounds. Enter the "rabbit diet" you know what I am talking about lots of salads, raw veggies, and not much else. I felt deprived, and hungry all the time, and for the few pounds I would lose, it just was not worth it, and thus would let the diet go. Then of course came all the fad diets, grapefruit, boiled eggs and bananas or something equally silly.
I loved to read and so would research different diets, and that is when I found diets like the "Carbohydrate Addicts" diet, which did work, but I noticed something peculiar happening to me. I was starving most of the day, and then binging during the reward meal, and even more than that, I was buying sweets just to have at that reward meal. When I realized that, I said, wait a minute that is not a healthy mind set, and so out the window went the carb addicts diet. Waiting in the wings was the Zone Diet. I read the books by Dr. Barry Sears and what he said about the glucose/insulin cycle made sense to me, and I also knew that we needed some of the foods that many or most diets were not recommending, we needed a balance. In my own mind, I knew we needed protein, fats, and carbs and that is why Dr. Sears diet appealed to me. I had one problem with the diet, and that was counting the different blocks. I did not understand how to count the protein, carb, and fat blocks, and so eventually this diet too went by the wayside with little results to show for the time and money invested in it.
I had heard of the Atkins Diet, and of course most of what I heard were the negative myths that abound in regards to this WOL. The difference for me was in seeing two people I worked with doing this WOE and losing the pounds. I decided to buy the book and read it. I did this and when I did I learned that this WOE made sense to me and I decided to give it a try. Thus on Dec. 28, 2002 I began my two week induction. I did it by the book, and did not cheat once. I never planned to cheat because I knew if I did, I would just start sliding backwards, and it might be the end of the line for me. I was more than 40 pounds overweight, my legs, knees, and back hurt all the time. I could not walk up the stairs at school without difficulty breathing by the time I got to the top. I had acid reflux with almost everything I ate. I knew my cholestrol was high because the last time I had it checked before starting this WOE, the doctor wanted to put me on medication for it, but I said no, I would do it with diet.
Now I have to tell you that hearing about the success my friends had, and especially how much they lost during induction, I was psyched and ready to go. As I said, I did my induction by the book and when the scales did not move down even one pound, not even a half a pound during induction, I almost gave up. One thing saved me, I had done as DR. A. suggested and taken my measurements before beginning this new WOE. At the end of the two weeks, I took my measurements again, and I had lost inches. Those lost inches were enough to keep me going. So let me tell you one important tip here: Measure, Measure, Measure! I continued on induction for about another 4-5 weeks, and I started to lose the pounds. I began OWL and worked my way through or should I say up the ladder, continuing to lose pounds pretty much at a steady rate. I managed to take a vacation during this time and while I did not lose while on vacation, I did not gain. I had one really bad stall and that was when I was about 15 pounds from goal. The stall started in June, 2003 and I did not lose a pound until early Sept., 2003. I made goal in October, 2003, and I have maintained my weight for over a year now. I have been doing Atkins for 2 years now. I weigh 104 and I wear a size 8 petite. I don't have aching legs, knees, or back, no acid reflux and I have tremendous energy. I have my before pic and my after pic (which is in my avatar), and these are enough to keep me going. I know how I look in my before pic, and how I felt when I was at that weight. I know how I look now and how I feel, and I will not go back to the unhealthy ways I was eating and living before.
Atkins is not a diet, it is a way of eating and living for life.
I found this board March 28,2003, and it is a big part of my success. The people here were friendly, and helpful and never made me feel that my questions were dumb. I continued to read and learn about this WOE from my own experiences and from the experiences of members of this board.
So much was given to me that when I was given the opportunity to pay it forward as a mod on this board, I jumped at the chance to help others. I continue to pay it forward each day because I know what a difference this board, and the people here made in my life, and I hope to be able to do the same for others.
It takes committment to be successful. It does not happen overnight. You know we are a society that expects instant gratification, and often when the pounds don't come off quickly, when the plateaus, stalls, and temptations come, many give up. When those things happen in your journey, just remember that you did not reach your weight and health conditions associated with being overweight, overnight, and the pounds will not come off overnight.
As you make this journey keep the end goal in sight, but don't let it be the focus of the moment. Take it a day at a time, or even an hour at a time, whatever will work for you. Celebrate even the little things like, skin clearing up, inches lost, that 1/4 of a pound, more energy, any little thing that keeps you motivated. Treat yourself as you make mini goals, but make the treats non food items. This is especially true for emotional eaters. Make it a trip to the mall, a new scarf, new blouse, pants, hairdo, nails done, a new book, CD etc.
Then one of these days you will be announcing "I MADE GOAL."
If you are here reading this post then you have made a good choice to begin your journey to better health. Wishing you much success and if you see me on the board or want to PM me and tell me how you are doing I will look forward to hearing from you.
Sorry I just realized how long winded I was, but you know this WOE is important to me, and I just love to share the experience with others. | |
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