caravaggio
Fri, Jul-18-08, 12:41
I've been a lurker and a closet on-again-off-again Atkinser since 1999, with a few detours to South Beach and other realms (fasting, prayer, joking), and always had an easy time getting the first 10 lbs. off then would quit/cheat, feel guilty, lose interest, etcetera. Total commitment-phobe wimp out for 9-10 years. I started out around 227 and dropped to 206 back in 1999, then my wife had kids, I gained baby-weight too, and never seemed to take it off. I ran some marathons (3) in 2005 at around 222 lbs., but abandoned that weight-loss plan after a couple nagging injuries (it's hard to run far when you weight that much), and then suddenly this Xmas if found that my no-exercise, all-you-can-eat-and-drink diet had put me up to my all-time high of 241 lbs. I was bloated, irritable, annoyed, angry and frustrated; none of my clothes fit, and I couldn't button the top button of my shirts to put on a tie. I had that thing where you wear the same pants you wore when you were 20 lbs. lighter and then at the end of the day when you take them off you have a red weal around your waist from where your belt was digging in all day. Anyway, February 15, 2008 I decided to change everything for good. I quit drinking (which I'd never done on Atkins before), cut out all wheat, rice, potato, etc. starch, and just ate meat, fish, cheese, veggies, nuts and fruit. Although I have to confess to a couple cheat days recently (e.g., had a sandwhich at a work function, or slice of pizza with the kids), my weight has steadily gone down over the last five months from 241 to -- today -- 218.5 lbs. Not a huge loss compared to many people here, but enough so that I feel better, my clothes fit, I can get back into old jeans, and I feel like I'm on the way to my goal. I haven't been in the 210-220 range for maybe 5 years -- I hovered around 227 for a couple years before ballooning up, but now I feel the slow reversal happening, which is a reward all by itself.