Hello! I'll try to keep this brief. I'm back for another round of weight loss. About 10 years ago, in my early 20's, I weighed 230. I finally made a major change, and through low calorie eating and moderate exercise, dropped 50 pounds over 6 months. I took a break to travel and get pregnant. Fortunately, my healthy eating kept had me focusing on nutrition over quantity, and a week after giving birth to my healthy 8'2 daughter, I was at pre-pregnancy weight.

Six months after giving birth, I restarted low calorie and dropped to 160. I then started low carb and began running a lot and dropped to 140. Unfortunately, an injury I'd suffered years prior reared its ugly head as I was training for my fourth 1/2 marathon, and I had to stop running and have surgery. It just never really felt good again. We moved to another country, then back, then to another city. The stress built up and I stopped weighing and trying to run. Finally, two years ago I found out devastating news and relied on beer to help me through. I put on 40 pounds.

Most of my weight gain can be attributed to beer, unfortunately. I'm not a huge junk food lover, as so much of my weight loss eating really stuck. I don't eat sweets and am not a carb binger (or binger at all). So, I'm really here to lose the weight I've gained. Fortunately, I've kicked the beer habit! Dealt with my issues and have much healthier ways to get through stuff now. So excited to drop this weight I've gained and start running again! Cheers!

Welcome, oceanslily. As you've discovered, beer is not your friend when it comes to weight management. No doubt you've heard it described as "liquid bread."

Low-carb is all about revising the way our bodies use food--creating a fat-burning machine. You're lucky not to have too many bad habits or addictions to deal with. But all is resolved if you make the decision to stick with an LC plan for life.

Best wishes!

Thanks so much! No, beer is NOT my friend. Sigh, I'm a Wisconsin girl though. Fortunately, I don't miss it at all. Oddly, even though I hardly ate sugar pre-Atkins, I now miss it!! Haha, isn't that the way it goes?

I don't understand, after your stats you should gain 35 lbs.

Haha right? I wasn't sure how much I weighed when I signed up.

You can change your user profile anytime and everyday at User CP in green bar, hit save at bottom of page.
We're not being nosy but need a better guess at start weight to help you and tailor our advice. Do you have 100 pounds to lose and stuck half way there at an obese BMI? Or are you already at a healthy BMI and want to lose 5 vanity pounds? It appears to be roughly 180 but those numbers only stick with each post if on your stats. The books read indicate how familiar you are with LC concepts...not the urban legend versions out there. We just want to give the right suggestions.

Beer is known as liquid bread for a good reason!

Good luck with your weight loss, and make sure to look into alternative ways to manage stress should you feel that way again. It's amazing how stress can make us opt for poor choices.