Hello and Thanks

[BoogieBlue]

Hi Iam a 53 year old X Hippie wear my hair long to cover my red neck live in the woods so people will leave me alone...Went to Vietnam in 1969 came back and Demonstrated in DC against the War was a full fleged Democrat back than...Now a mostly a conservative Republican...God how life can change..
Have always been fat stated high school at 5'2"...240lbs...Finshed at 5'11" 215lbs....Came back from Nam 190 lbs..ate anything I wanted wet to 250lbs working construction building houses so that weight didnt bother me much...went to Tech school for 2 years became a Machinist worked in a plant 2 years ...Hit 270lbs...Hated the job standing in a 2ft area mass producing parts 8-10 hrs a day...the thought of doing this for 30 years made me sick....
So what the heck if you dont like it change it...Started driving big trucks cross country...49 states and canada...15 years 1,500,000 miles...yep like I tell my boys I have been everywhere...Liked the job as long as i got stuff there on time they left me alone only one problem...TRUCK driving FOOD...Hi fat Hi carbs and large portions...yep 350 in no time at all
15 years of this pretty much killed me Hi sugars...Fats and carbs...Bad roads killing your kidneys and back...total lack of sleep...being forced to drive like 3-4 days to make a delivery on time with maybe 2 hrs sleep a night if you were lucky
Well I went to change jobs where I would just run Fla. and GA. and be home more often and get more sleep...Took a physical for them my Blood sugar was out of wack....yep Diabetes....gave me a bus ticket home...
Well that ended my truck driving....started driving a cab 5-6 days a week 12 hrs a day...Doctors started treating me for Diabetes about 5 years ago...never improved..they just keep increasing my meds....I keept felling worse got up to 400lbs this year...next thing was to go on insulin...no real answers from my Doctor( do not like my Doc she is a clinic doc and realy burt out) but i cant afford a real good doctor...
In the last year things have realy gone bad...I can only work about 5 hrs a night thurs...friday and Sat....exhausted all the time...Blood sugar hanging around 140....No sweets in my diet...they cant increase my meds any higher..It use to be if I ate a big meal I would go int sort of a stuper for awhile after it....the last month or so everytime i eat it makes me sick my gut hurts...plus no matter how small amount it is it sets me in a Stuper...I ate a chicken salad sandwich and a few chips and a pickel last week...I sat in the chair for 3 hrs a could not get up..finaly grabed my blood tester...Blood sugar jumped to 399...no wonder I was out...
Well that was the day that started the search on the internet for answers...I found the Atkins site and this one....Bought several books off ebay...Read the atkins one First....Bammm....Was like a ton of bricks landed on me...all the answers to all the questions I had were in this book....I knew sugars were bad for me and stayed away from them...I knew carbs were bad but never had any Idea how bad they realy were...WOW...So at 430 lbs about 3 days ago I started the Atkins Induction...the first day or 2 I felt like crap...stayed on the toilet most of the time...Iam hoping this will end soon..as bad as my body is out of wack it has to take some time to adjust...one thing i did notice that my Blood sugar droped to 120 and an hr after a decent size meal it only jumped to 128...8points instead of250plus...that alone is enough to keep me going...I want off all these pills Iam taking realy bad...cost to much....
also these forums here have been great for info and inspiration....and yes I have a tendency to babble on...lol...hopefully with this Diet and forum I will be able to hang around long enough to see my 3 year old son finish high school...He means the world to me...all my sons do...21-15-3
Hello and Thanks....Big John(BoogieBlues)

[ttc#2]

Good Luck Boogie Blue!

There are some fantastic success stories on this site.

I'm sure you will be one too!

[Keisha]

Hi Big John.... welcome to the site.....keep this up, and in a few months we'll be calling you "Little John " ( that sounds familiar, where have I heard that before ? :p ) For you to see the improvements so soon.....just wait till those pounds start dropping off, you'll feel like a different person. If you can be bothered to, start a journal, I'd love to keep in touch with you and see how you get on ( think a lot of blokes don't bother with the journal thing, but it's a great way to make friends and keep in touch. :D )

[nitabee]

Hey Big John, I'm new too, (day 11) and these forums have been a brilliant source of info and inspiration for me, so I hope they will be for you too, and that you really can turn your situation around and enjoy life like you really want to - I wish you the very very best of luck, I'm sure you'll do it. :cool:

[watcher16]

Good luck, it can be done, just be careful and take baby steps to reach your goals!

[FionaMcB]

Hello John and Welcome!

I'm a nurse, and one thing I've noticed over and over is that insulin levels can be lowered by this WOE. My blood sugar is very low, the kind of low, that when you are overweight, it will eventually swing into full blown IDDM, so to lose the 46.5 pounds I need to lose, and to stave off diabetes, back on Atkins! This levels out my blood sugar, helping me stay around 80-90 instead of languishing in the 60's and 70's. Guess what I'm trying to say, is that no matter what our individual problems are, this WOE works to stabilize blood sugar more than anything else I've found.

Having spent hours lurking, reading the different areas of this board, I know that you can do this, and have great success with it, there are quite a few here who have lost >100 pounds and more. Don't give up, you'll feel a little better each and every week.

BTW, I'm a Viet Nam era vet, as is my husband. The bond we have with our friends from 'back then' is as strong as ever, always a blessing.

[jagbender]

Welcome from a Dispatcher!
Let get you back behind the wheel. Lord know we need experienced drivers out there.
Low carb has done wonders for me.
Good luck

Jag

[4beans4me]

Hello and welcome John! :wave: