Hi, I'm James, I'm 23 years old and currently live in Chester England.

I decided to lose weight for no other reason than that I can and so when I thought low carbing would be an interesting lifestyle change, I told people important to me about what I was doing. This was so I would not let myself down by embarrassing myself with failure in front of them.
One thing I really can't stand is losing and I have absolutely no excuses for failure if it's only myself I'm competing with.

I've been low carbing since Nov 4th and I've been drinking only water, getting up at 5:30am every morning before work to do an hour of cardio and 2/3 nights I do resistance training to build lean muscle which should keep my metabolism high

I'm not struggling for motivation because I've accepted that this is the way I live now.
I go out with my friends on the weekend like normal, but drink pints of water when they drink beer and only low carb options at restaurants when I go out.
In my first 6 weeks I lost 50 pounds and I honestly don't crave any of the foods I can't have (I've had a group of my friends over to watch the game, they've been drinking beer and eating pizza and it just doesn't bother me in the slightest)

The only thing I find difficult at the moment is eating meat or eggs so I will probably have to change up my meal plan so I'm not getting bored with the same dishes.

I also think these forums will act as a good way to stay focused on what it is I'm aiming to achieve which is to have lost 200 pounds by July 4th (which would have been 8 months)

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all =]

James

Hi there. Congratulations on your decision and on sticking to it. Low carb is a brilliant plan. As you've seen for yourself, cravings for carb foods disappear after a while.
Do you not like meat or eggs or are you fed up of them? There are lots of great recipes on this forum and you can get good low carb cook books, although some are more low carb than others. Combinations of meat or fish or eggs with vegetables can add variety and you can flavour with bacon and cheese if you like them.
Anyway, welcome and kudos.

Hi, thank you for the welcome =]
I actually like meat, I'm just fed up with them.
I make home made soups etc one thing I really can't stand the thought of at the moment is bacon and cheese >.< I had bacon every morning for the first 2-3 weeks and if I don't eat it for a week now, I might be able to stomach it for a meal =p
I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes, anything you'd recommend? =]

Welcome and best of luck on your journey. Some of the low carb pancakes are good and you could put bacon in them and have them with cream cheese for example.

Welcome!! Go visit the recipe section here, tons of ideas.

Welcome James....we are both about the same start weight and have the same goal weight...I started Dec 2 2011 with the same attitute that failure was not an option..I made the decision to not cheat even once and follow a workout plan and not waver..It has been a year and I am close to goal...Dont let anything stop you and you will be amazed at the results...

Just checking in, Haven't cheated on my diet over Christmas and new year and I'm another 23 lbs down since I posted
Thanks for the advice, I'm going to head over to the recipe section
And Rickman, It's good to know that having this attitude works right through the proccess, seeing as you're 10 lbs from your goal now =D

Wow, you are doing so well. Glad that you are checking in, I find this place so valuable, without it I think I would have already caved. I come everyday, even if I don't post, I am here studying.

Hello - welcome! Good for you for the decision to do this and great for getting thru Xmas 23 lbs down! So many inspirational success stories on here - you'll find all the motivation you need.
I hear you on variiety... I poke around others journals and love seeing what others are eating - inspires me. I also love to cook and try new recipes...sometimes I'll just google a LC recipe if I can't find it here. Another thing I like to do is try to convert regular recipes to LC ones...its a challenge. Like recently I saw someone posted something about a Monte Cristo sandwich - which I'd never heard of...now I must create a LC version of this....
Anyway, good luck!
Kat

you're an inspiration mate! Keep up the good work, and welcome to the forums!

Half way in 100 days (102 lbs)
got another 143 days to shift another 102 lbs... It's going to be close I think =D

That's just brilliant. Well done!

Congratulations! I wish I had your metabolism...

Anyway, I think the best investment you could make right now is in learning how to cook. There are SO MANY wonderful low carb recipes here and on other sites, you'll never lack for variety.

Deep Dish Pizza Quiche is the best thing ever!

You are really keeping at it..

What a turn around, holy smokes, thats some serious determination you have. Way to Go.....

Hit the half way mark in terms of time on my diet today ... I've lost 116 lbs in 121 days...
I had a spell recently which last about 2 weeks when I only lost 3 lbs or so but I've gone back to burning off 5-7 lbs a week again now =]
I don't know why my weight loss slowed as I didn't change anything in my diet but oh well!

I've got another 121 days to lose another 88 lbs... It's going to be very close =D