On the Road Again!

[gonnabskinny]

My name is Don and while I'm not new to Atkins, I am new to this board. I originally started my journey down the Atkins Lifestyle Highway in 2003. When I started I weighed in at a whopping 394 lbs. and wore size 60 pants. I had sleep apnea and was borderline diabetic with high blood pressure. I learned how to do induction very well and lost a bunch of weight, but never made it to OWL and learning what my CCLL (now ACE) was and I thought of Atkins as a diet and not as a way of life. As a result, I went back to my old ways eating bad carbs again with reckless abandon, and then the weight came back on. Gee! What a surprise! Doesn't it amaze you when someone says. I knew somebody that did Atkins once, but they put it back on! Isn't that also true of any diet. If you stop doing what was successful, you will put it back on. The difference being, with Atkins you can live this way and not starve to death!

In August of 2006, I was back up to 356 lbs and made a recommitment to getting back on track and this time taking it ALL off and KEEPING it ALL off.

Currently I am at 285 lbs. having lost 12" in my waist and am on my second week of OWL. I am on the first rung of the carb ladder at 25 net carbs. I never knew so many vegetables existed. So much for Atkins being all fat and meat! LOL My goal is to get down to 200 lbs by the end of the year. According to the charts for 6'0", I should weigh between 174 and 184 lbs, but since I haven't weighed that since high school, I am not sure that this 54 years old body of mine can get down quite that far. I guess I will find out when I do pre-maintenance whether I continue downward. I think my ACE is going to be somewhere between 40 and 60. Right now the ketostix are still registering medium ketosis.

As far as exercise, I am currently working out for about 1 hour per day, six days per week. 1/2 hour aerobic exercise and 1/2 on the weights (alternating upper and lower body). As far as aerobic exercise I alternate between the walking 1.75 miles on the treadmill, cycling 8 miles on the recumbent bike, and swimming 1200 meters in the indoor pool.

I am looking forward to conversing on this board. I am going to need all the help I can get!

Thanks,
Don

Here are my stats:
SW 1/1/03 394
restart 8/14/06 356
CW 4/4/07 285
GW 200

[boonie stomper]

A hearty welcome to you, gonnabskinny. So glad you found ADBB to help you reach (and keep) your goal weight.

Looking forward to chatting round the forums!!

[gonnabskinny]

Thanks Susan! Looking forward to it!

[Lyssie]

Welcome to the board!!

[Jace]

Welcome to Don!

Glad to have you and it's great to see you getting your life back on track.

Best of luck on your weight loss journey and if you need anything just give a shout!

~Far la bella figura!

[ValidRouge]

Welcome to ADBB! Good for you for recognizing where you "fell" last time and doing something about it.

Have you tried Jicama yet????

[gonnabskinny]

Thanks Lyssie and Jace. Your numbers are both absolutely awesome! Congratulations to both of you!

Edited to add: Congratulations to you as well Joy! No jicama yet! Actually, never have had it that I know of. How do you prepare it? Isn't it on rung 6?

[ValidRouge]

OMG another noobie I can convert to Jicama!

WOOHOO

I'm so excited. (its the little things in life, ya know)

Jicama is an induction acceptable veggie on the salad list (YAY), so we can have 2 cups a day on induction and more during OWL. Now, there is like 23 grams (total) of carbs and like 13 of that is fiber in the 2 cups. So, 10 net carbs--and defintely worth it. Lots of fiber for keeping things moving...you know what I mean? And its just yummy. I just peel and eat it raw. Sometimes I'll put a lime flavored olive oil on it and eat it as a salad on its own, or I'll put it in a salad.

Its texture is like that of a raw potatoe. Not starchy though, and slightly sweet. The further I am away from sugar, the sweeter the jicama tastes. It has an earthy scent and flavor as well. It's crisp and some can be actually juicy. My husband describes it to be kind of like a dry pear flavor/texture/consistency.

[ValidRouge]

Here's some more info

in 2 cups, it has 88% of our daily recommended amount of vitamin C
and it has 390 mg of potassium

[dreamof145]

Welcome Don! We are so happy to have you join us. Jump in, get active in the forums, make friends and enjoy the journey! We are all here for you!