Thought I'd finally join...

[Mrrr]

Hi all,

I apologize, this message is much longer than I anticipated. I have this odd tendency to reflect on things as I write emails and the like, and they turn into giant monologues. So I suppose for the most part, this is in fact merely a reflection on what brings me here, but I might as well share. Perhaps someone will have some thoughts.

I've been browsing this board since I started Atkins about 3 weeks ago (03/03/09). I've never really been one to interact in forums online, but I figured why not... support is always great

Incidentally, my mom also started again about the same time I did, and my one sister began 2 weeks later. I'm very happy with my progress so far, I lost 9lbs the first 10 days, then went home for a week where I somehow managed not to cheat even once the entire 10 days I was there... despite the before-mentioned sister eating ice cream sundaes and pringles in front of me. I wasn't even the least bit phased. Oddly enough, the only thing that's bothered me at all is when I went to a diner... those menus with like a million options in them... flipping through it and knowing I couldn't have any of that, there was no point, I was just going to get eggs and sausage anyway.

As my sister was hanging out with me the whole week, and we discussed my mom being on it too, she decided she'd give it a shot too. Naturally, she has nowhere near as far as I do to go, she's one of the sisters that was gifted with a better set of genes metabolism-wise. I won't begrudge her that, however, I'd love if all of us could get down to a healthy weight. Diabetes and heart disease run in the family. I've lost one family member to it, I'd hate to see that list grow.

As for my particular issues, I've had a hard time for as long as I remember. Looking back on family pictures and videos, it must have hit shortly before I was 7ish. Since then, I'd gotten steady worse over the years, and was about 230 when I graduated high school. I went to college then, and due to the odd effects of sudden freedom from supervision and an aversion toward my roommate, in the first year and a half there I got down to 174 through a LOT of walking (don't have to see the roommate then!) and what I affectionately like to call the poptart diet. This is actually kind of embarassing to admit... I've never let anyone on to this. I suspect I'd be smacked. It was sort of anorexia in disguise... I found out that poptarts have ~200 calories each, so I'd eat one of them in the morning... and that was it. On fridays, I would reward myself with a dinner of chicken fingers and cheese fries, and sometimes Ben & Jerry's. This continued for quite a while, until I started developing odd mineral deficiencies. My legs started cramping up 3-4 times a night (calcium deficiency?), and I was got pretty bad postural hypotension (lightheaded when I stood up... from any position). I started feeling naseated when I took hot showers, until one night I passed out... turned out my blood pressure had gotten reeeeally low (almost no salt intake?), and hot showers aggrevate that.

Somewhere in there I changed my approach, switched to chicken salads and other healthier foods, and started hitting the gym 6 nights a week with my new roommate (whom I got along with MUCH better ). This was also when I made my first "attempt" at Atkins, as despite spending an hour on an elliptical on a pretty high setting, 6 days a week, I could NOT shed those last 20-30lbs to get to an ideal weight. Unfortunately, living in a dorm does not allow for cooking, so I just sort of fell into this habit of eating peanuts. Not a good choice... I don't know if I did lose any weight in that time, but suddenly the workouts that I did all the time and knew my tolerance levels on were impossible. Scratch that...

That semester was followed by a very happy summer semester, which involved another awesome roommate who unfortunately had a soft spot for ice cream. When someone sits next to you at lunch and dinner every day with a giant sundae with ALL the toppings, its very hard to resist. And I figured why not, I wasn't going to the gym anymore, but I got myself a bike and was riding around the beautiful hills around my college for an hour every nice day we had.... right... there was a reason I wasn't gifted with skinniness in my childhood, I cannot tolerate food like that. So I went up a jeans size that summer, and up another the following year... my life suddenly became much more stressful after that, and the weight just shot up. I find myself sitting here wishing I had resisted the ice cream roommate, found better ways to cope with stress, maintained my gym schedule... but I didn't. I'm about to graduate with my Master's degree, and I really don't want to look awful in another graduation photo. I'm also much less happy than I was when I was in better shape.

But I'm off to a great start. I lost 9 lbs the first 10 days, 2 the next 10 days (while at home), was down 1 more yesterday, and down 3 more this morning. I suppose that was one of those "whooshes" I see described on here, making up for the mostly uneventful second 10 days. It definitely help having 2 family members doing it as well, we can celebrate our progress with girly squeals over the phone. Ok, maybe only the sister with that one. haha

Sorry for the rant

[Chicklady]

Hi Mrrr Congrats on both your Masters amd the weight loss so far!