40 Pounds Later...

[charlie17]

At the beginning of the summer I was a bit discouraged about things. My high school play director had told me he wanted me to slim up this summer, and I just didn't have any hope for myself in accomplishing that task. I've tried before but have never had success. Although I had heard about the low-carb lifestyle, I figured I would try the low calorie avenue and hope that I would lose weight that way. When I had a doctor's appointment in the early summer, I had lost about 4 pounds and was at 246. He recommended the low-carb diet to me. It surprised me that the doctor prescribed to this diet, but I trusted his advice and proceeded to change my eating habits. I noticed slight losses until I had to leave for a 5-week music program at a university away from home. During that time I maintained my lifestyle on the diet and did not have any access to a scale. Let me first say that for those of you on this diet, I would recommend not weighing in too frequently. It can be frustrating to weigh in everyday because there are natural fluctuations in weight loss progress as the body chemistry changes. Anyway, I just got back from the summer program, and my family certainly noticed a change in my appearance. Just today I weighed myself for the first time in nearly 6 weeks. I weighed 210 pounds. That means that I've lost 40 pounds this summer alone! Fortunately, I'm blessed to be doing this while I'm still young and have a fast metabolism, but I'm just so happy I'll be able to go back to school confident in myself and my new look. For those of you who are older and are trying to do this diet, it's important that you develop it as a lifestyle and not a temporary weight-loss plan. Weight-loss is a process, and the results will come... gradually. You absolutely must give it time, and it will pay off. I also have one brief disclaimer: Be careful once you've reached your target weight! Integrating carbohydrates back into your diet must be gradual, or else you'll end up right where you started before you know it.

Good luck to all who need motivation! Stick with it and you'll be glad you did.

[AngelaR]

Congratulations Charlie!!!

It's always wonderful to hear other people's success stories. Your words of advice are wise words.

[TeriDoodle]

Absolutely wonderful, Charlie! We are SOOO happy for you!!! Thanks for posting your story! :D

[VictoriaT]

hi Charlie
I just wanted to say CONGRATS! That is quite an accomplishment! I think its even better that you did it without the knowledge of a scale. I made a commitment today to stop checking my weight so obsessively and also to stop using those darn ketosticks :lol: I hope that just how my body is feeling and how my clothes are fitting will be good enough for me !

CONGRATS AGAIN! WAY TO GO! :cheer: :cheer:

Vicki

[Marlaine]

Hey Charlie!!

Congratulations on your success!! I know that you must be feeling very good about yourself.

I wish you continued success and hope that you are taking all of your own very good advice.

Marlaine

[ptjody]

Congrats Charlie...I'm going to share this story with my 16 y/o son who started to diet with my husband, my other son and myself on May 6th. He too has lost 42 pounds. I can only imagine how different you feel about yourself because it has been wonderful to see my son's self-esteem rise.

Good luck on your continued success and keep us informed of your progress. :roll:

[lisacc]

Charlie congrats on your lose. I love your insight on knowing that you can not go back to your old way of eating. You seem like a beautiful soul. Way to go.

[charlie17]

First of all, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to all of you who are helping each other to succeed, always providing encouragement. I know that much of my motivation to continue has come from the stories I've read in this forum. Thanks to everyone who replied to my story, I certainly appreciate the support and I encourage everyone just to keep on doing it!

I'd like to give an update of my progress now. First of all, I've gone back to school and impressed a lot of people! It's so nice to be able to wear my pants again without having to struggle to button them (I think we've all been there). The physical and psychological results are quite gratifying. My current weight is 204.5 pounds. On the Atkins plan I have now lost 41.5 pounds. Since the beginning of the summer I've lost 45.5 pounds. I'm now high school senior, but before my junior year I once weighed 260 pounds, 55.5 pounds more than I currently weigh. So, those are the raw statistics, which still surprise me. Even with my progress, I'm still trying to lose weight because I am still overweight. I've altered my target weight to 190 because it actually seems attainable. When I weighed 250, I figured I'd never get to 200 and that I was just putting a number there just to gets the wheels rolling a bit. Now, getting to a "healthy weight" is not a daunting task that seems beyond my potential. To have that kind of confidence in a diet speaks highly of its success.

Once again, I'm indebted to the ongoing support of my fellow low-carbers!

Charlie