i guess its around the time that i finally wrrote this i have been on this site for a long time and i neve really shared a lot about myself only the journey to a new lease on life so here goes
i am 26 yrs old and like most of the folks on this site i have struggled with self image for a long time i was always the chubby one with a family of mostly females thats a preety hard pill to swallow so by the age of 12 i have been on one diet or another always watching what i ate but never lasted long on the low fat or the wonderous starve yourself until you canttakeit any more plan i loved to cook but usually forbid myself to eat more than a bowll full of food except when i snuck and ate anything i can get my hands on early stages of binging i guess
well by 15 i though i had the whole eating thing under control but life happend and with that pregnancy definately too early but the perfect ewxcuse to eat what i wanted so up went the weight and at 200 lbs the baby came and the weight stayed well off i went to my usual spin and starvation and hard work brought me down to a nice 140 this of course did not last long depression and other factors and struggles in life brought me right up to 170 the horror of it all. finally a year later i formed a plan to join the military and of course you cant be plesently plump in that way of life or so i thought dont get me wrong it was great i had a reason to excersize i wanted to get in and i was just a little to heavy to join go figure so i starved myself and excersized and got in at a cool 140 the lowest i have ever been and gained 10 lbs in basic how all that excersize makes a girl hungry but it was ok i made it through but still was dissatisfied with the weight i was but discovered the joys of going to the gym their i found joy i still didnt eat much mostly fruit and vegettables and worked out like a crazy person even though i was hungry i made it down to 137 a new record but it didnt last long although i got my life together my weight went up i laxed of on the excersize and work and family took over my life no time to worry about my weight only obsessed about it but pushed it to the side i settled again around 150 not so bad i guess i still looked ok but after 7 yrs baby #2 came and a eating frenzy went with it 210 was the ending weight and dh was deployed so once again after another beautiful ds came i was looking at 180 and a neccesary change well i started to lc and suprise suprise i droped 30 lbs and settled at 150 fir and feeling good struggling to lose more but not really worried about it well again life changed dh came home with a massive sweet tooth and we shared in the joy and i gained the weighttopped a unnatural 180 this time no baby to blame it on and leaving the militatry took away the drive to join a gym
well fast forward to last year i decided to go over seas and work wonderfull oppertunity and a chance to do something for myself
well i remembered how atkins worked for me and i met that i was going ot commit 100% and thats just what i did i landed in kuwait at 180lbs and i started atkins and never looked back the day i left that great country i was 135lbs the smallest and happiest i have ever been i am still maintaining the struggle is and never will be over but i know what works no more starving no more weigh bouncing just a firmer trimmer me that i love and plan on keeping forever

HEy! COngrats.

Seems like you've seen a lot of ups and downs and have finally found a balance. The beauty of hindsight is recognizing that life will always throw us curve balls!

THanks for your story