This is a really interesting post to me, with several aspects that remind me of my own history. For starters, there aren't many guys our age here (I'm 39), and right now I'm working on getting rid of a little rebound weight myself.

You might find the first few posts in my journal interesting. I go through the first 5 months of my own weight loss journey where I'd lost about 50 pounds to that point. By then I figured I had the basics worked out and it was just a matter of time and patience. That was part of the reason I first registered here in the first place, to make sure I had the support I felt I might need to see me the rest of the way there. So just by being here, I can say from my own experience that you've done yourself a favour.

You're on your third go with Atkins now and each time it has worked for you, so at some level you must know that this is what you need to keep eating in order to stay healthy. But of course this conflicts with the idea of never being able to eat some of the things you used to love, like pizza. I remember that feeling and have a few thoughts I can offer.

When I was actively losing, I was tracking my weight on a daily basis, often twice a day. I was able to tell fairly quickly what worked for me and what didn't (my "lucky" meal for example was/is fried salmon and spinach with a side of aioli; I often got a "whoosh" on the scales the next morning after that). There were times though when due to being with friends or when certain "safe" shops were closed, I would have to have something dodgy for lunch, like pizza or fried rice. Whenever that happened, I noticed it on the scales immediately. Every single time the scales would stop moving and basically not start again for 3-4 days, costing me basically half a week of progress. For someone who had been overweight my entire life to this point, seeing and tracking the impact of eating that pizza first hand really reinforced the need for me to be staying away from it whenever possible.

The other thing I picked up after a couple of months was that my appetite began to reduce naturally over time. This was something that I didn't even know would happen at first, but certainly I was glad to learn that appetite control would basically take care of itself. After all, if you're not getting hungry as often, you won't find yourself thinking about any food as often, good or bad.

The third point I can make based on my own experience is to make sure you surround yourself at home with as many healthy food options as possible. In my earlier days I too struggled with both how to cook and what to cook; it took time to build enough of a variety to keep things interesting (and thus sustainable) but I'm more or less there on that front now. Crowd yourself with enough good options that the bad ones just don't even factor into the equation anymore.

I can definitely relate to the visualisation aspect as well. Since my health was a lifelong issue, it occurred to me a number of times that "I don't really know what I look like underneath all of this". But the good news here is that if you stick to this for long enough, you will find out. And to discover yourself in that way is an incredibly uplifting feeling, at least for me.

You've done well with your latest loss so far, so just keep going. Keep reading this forum, keep googling around for meal ideas (Diet Doctor is a good resource), read a few books on the subject, learn whatever you can to help keep your motivated on your journey. And don't beat yourself up if you slip up at some point. Mistakes are a part of the learning process; just understand what happened, how it happened, learn how to avoid repeating it and move on.

Good luck.