Hi everyone, im so glad to be in this forum again!

I turned to this forum many years ago, in 2010 actually, when i was in a very dark period of my life. I wasnt starting atkins or any diet for that matter, but i was curious about this diet and have been reading this forum a lot, and found it interesting (to say the least), i specially liked the focus on eating low carbs and sugar, i remember thinking "i wish i could eat like that".
Anyways, i ve also been reading this sub forum and felt it was moving and helpful, so that push me to share my story here, it was a sad time, one of my threads was called "i need help, i want to die and dont know what to do" , i was feeling like that at the moment.


Anyways, many years have passed, and i have a very different life now, i even live in a different city. Everything in my life is much much better than it was then: then i was in an abusive relationship that even got worse after the period i wrote here (in 2011 i went live with him and he ended up being violent with me) and, after breaking up with this man in 2012, i ve been with highs and lows over the years until i stabalized last year, with family,work, friends, and love. Im now living with my boyfriend, the most wonderful man on the face of the earth and very very happy and emotionally steady for one and a half years, the terrible problems all my family had improved a lot, and my place in life is much much better (i also found a therapist in 2011 who helped me naviage through all this for the last 4 years).

But yet theres one aspect that it much much worse. My weight (and health) had worsen. When i posted then, i was 5 9, 150 pounds, now i WISH i was that thin! I felt "fat" back then, probably cause i was comparing myself to the weight i had through my teens in 20s (120-130 pounds) in were i was very thin. I was very thin as a child, a very very thin and tall teenager, a very teen young woman until i hit mid to late twenties and started to gain. The period in where i posted here was after that gain, when i was around 150, 20 pounds heavier than the 130s i mantained through my 20s (without any effort or diet, i must say, i just ate whatever i wanted and stay thin).

Now im 33, and i continued gaining steadily all this years, first part of 2014 when i started going out with my boyfriend, i was around 160, and on february this year we started living together. Between april and july this year i gained OVER 10 POUNDS, and are now 176.

In those months, also, i got weakened, was tired all the time, and was more bloated than ever. Also, like i said, i gain at a very record speed. The point of no return was, when in june i tried the jeans i last used (very tight) in april, and i frequently used in 2014 (in where they fitted ok, not tight), and they were NOWHERE NEAR fitting: like i realize that to bottom that jeans again i would have to lose at least 10 pounds. I mean those jeans were even near fitting. I couldnt believe i gained so much!

Then i started thinking what had happen in those months, and realize that, since i live with my boyfriend, i started eating A LOT more sugar than i use to. He has a sweet tooth and, when living alone, was used to buy a lot of goody sweets (chocolates, etc) and, when i started living with him, i use to snack or those goody sweets very high on sugar almost daily. Also, we love to stay indoors and watch movies and tv series, and, through the winter (its winter here in southern hemisphere), it was nice and comforting to eat a lot of sweets. My boyfriend was also used to drinking diet sodas. I have been drinking diet sodas and sugary juices daily for the last 6-7 months. I didnt drink sodas when i lived alone.

I realize that it was the SUGAR that made me gain weight at a high speed. So, after suffering the effects of the high weight (and the mean comments by my family), and tired of feeling tired all the time, i remembered this diet. I started googling LOW CARB like crazy, and read a lot, i already knew something about this, but havent payed attention for years (hence all the sugar), but now i was sold. I was gonna do LOW CARB.

I started 8 days ago. I started with around 50g of carbs per day, cause with the amount we were having, cutting out all was too much. I get my grams from vegetable, fruits, and some yogurt. I do NOT eat wheat, flour, etc, i do not eat bread, pizza, cookies, not ANY sweet good or sweet beverage. If i want something sweet ill eat a pear, or a small yogurt, and thats it. I learned to love eggs for breakfast (its not normal in my country), and im doing good. I still do not notice any change but i just started. I realize this was the ideal diet for me, for many reasons:

-i have a lot of abdominal fat, even at 150 my main issue here was my HUGE BELLY (i posted a pic here from back then): i bloat like crazy. To be honest, i even bloated when i was 130. Even when i was rail thin, i had a belly, lets say all my weight goes to my tummy, always, but even if i dont eat anything, im bloated. I dont remember when was the last time in life i wasnt bloated. I think it started in my early 20s. Now, at 176, my belly is HUGE. I ve read low carb is good for this.

-my huge abdominal fat makes me afraid of having diabetes in the future, i read this diet is good for diabetes.

-I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE meat. Its like my favorite food ever, or lets say it was my favoruite food all my life, until i got hooked on sugar earlier this year.

-I know that if i ever tried a low fat diet, ill be VERY VERY hungry, it just wont work on me.

-I dont care that much about cereals, pasta, rice, etc. I do care about sweets, but cause i got hooked. I was always more of a "salty food" kind of person, and think i can go back to that.

-probably the low carb diet is the best thing to stop all this bloating, thats what i awlays read anyway.


So, i started 8 days ago and i would REALLY appreciate any advice and support you can give me. Its the first time i dieted ever, and im happy to say im finding it relatively easy still. Dont have HUGE cravings, and i think im adapting. It also helps that my boyfriend (who is a thin guy that developed a little belly too after this months, but really doesnt need to lose weight) agreed to do this with me to get healthier, so the first day of our diet we took out ALL THE CARBS AND SWEETS from the home, and now our house is all low carb and we are learning everyday, trying to cook this way, and sharing our low carbing state together .


Anyways, guys, i really would appreciate any advice and emotional support. Thanks for everything in advance. Im glad i returned to this forum.