I am astounded by your perserverance and ultimate success. My weight is dropping very slowly, so perhaps I should look at calories a little closer. Thought because it is mostly veggies protein it didn't matter. But getting discouraged when following plan so closely and not much of a loss. Thanks for your great inspiration and continued success on your journey.

I came to read up in the success section for some inspiration today.. as i feel alittle like i'm in a rut.. well reading your story definately made me smile and feel a re-newed sence of determination to stick with it.. thank you so much for sharing

I hit 200.0 this morning, so I've updated my story above. Only 15 more pounds to go!!

Congratulations AZ, well done.

Fantastic Dean, you are amazing!

Hello fellow Tucsonan!

I run a website for diabetic moms (DiabeticMommy.com) and we started a weight loss group, each of us doing our own thing but working together at the same time. We've been talking about the different diets, were talking about Somersize today, and I came across your testimonial. I've referred the other mamas to it too.

I really need sources of inspiration and motivation for them, and I'm so happy I came across your story.

Do you have any other tips as far as motivation and sticking with the program?

Also, did you have a problem with the food combining, timing, and finding enough tasty meals to make?

You could either reply here or email me via the feedback link at my site.

Thanks!

Bjay

Dean,

I am so inspired by your determination. The success that you are enjoying is well deserved. Thank you for taking the time to write out the steps you took to succeed. They are clear, accurate, and to the point (that is one of our local newscasters on-air slogans and I sure think it applies to your success story)!

I am new to somersizing but am enjoying the food combining! It is so nice to have a little milk & cereal again! Also, I really missed fruit like apples once in a while and then there's the yogurt! I am also enjoying the 4 oz Dannon cups in the am for breakfast. I started walking 1 mile a day, and it feels great! I'm still sipping soda, the Diet Rite kind made with splenda with no calories, carbs, or sugars. I have learned that I can not cheat because my body does not absorb sugar anymore. Suzanne's books really helped me to better understand this new WOE. I hope you have contacted her about your success. I would think she would LOVE to hear from you and share your success using her program in one of her upcoming books. With your well documented path to success it could be so helpful to others outside these boards. Anyway, just a thought.

Congratualtions, Dean. I, too, look forward to fully living my life again with horserides, days at the beach, hiking, parasailing (never done it but desperately want to do it), and being able to buy normal clothes, live normally and be normal.

I am so happy for your success and congratulations in advance on losing the last 9.5 lbs!

I love this information and your meticulous nature in keeping track of everything. I felt like I was being 'obsessive' in needing to write everything down as I start, but now I know that the info will come in useful later on.

Thanks.

Good story, but their must of been times when you felt like going on a major binge and eat every thing around you. How did you go about getting on track??

Keep up the good work

Fantastic story, your will power is awesome, I know how you feel about never cheating I fell the same way. Keep up the great work.

Congrats Dean

Any thought on pblishing your story here:

http://www.lowcarb.ca/stories.html

We'd love to post it

Wa'il

AZDean, you logged Coral Calcium and Daily Ester C. What are they for sure, is it a Calcium Pill? and what is the other one. I don't have problems eating the same thing every day like you did. I just need to find out what my caloric intake should be. In the past for me to lose weight I could not exceed 800 calories. I know that with low carbing I could eat more, but I think I should try to go down to 800 to 1,000 a day. I am going to tackle it the same way you did and see if I can make it happen again. I had lost 70 lbs so easy and then I guess I started to eat too much. Thanks for your help. You are truly an inspiration.

Thank you.

Congratulations and Thank You!

This is the most inspirational success story I have seen to far! I will keep going because of you!

Amazing story! And the science is great too! So, those nutritionists who say it boils down to calories in versus calories out are right - they just don't get that it matters too, realistically, as you so expertly state, whether you get there by starvation with 6 meals a week, or by making a healthy choice of foods!

What is amazing in your graphs that they hardly slow down.

I did try to get an excel file graph into my journal and couldn't - I don't know how you managed. Mine -with very different starting parameters - started with a quick loss - then a slower loss, and then a very slow loss, and for now 10 months sort of stable. I thought that is normal, but you have only a very small reduction in the loss per week towards the end - that is amazing. Maybe you will have the experience one of my buddies on this forum, PSTART (Bill) had: he went down to 6 lbs below his target weight while starting maintenance!

You should be on CNN when they badmouth low carb diets and talk longer about surgery, and the only person who lost weight consistently is now running an aerobics studio and exercising like 6 hours a day. It is sad that the only example they had of success long term is largely unrealistic for most of us. They should have a realistic example - you state that you are sitting/quite 13-14 hours a day - that is most of us! And you still eat healthy and are successful.

I have lots of questions even though your report was extensive.

- how did you get excel graphs into this forum?

Those who have the stomach surgery always have hanging skin that is flabby and can be feet long - and then have another surgery to remove the skin. Was your weight loss plus exercise slow enough to avoid that consequence?

- Do you often find that people who haven't seen you for more than a year don't recognize you?

(It seems from various forum lists that one has to loose about 15-20 lbs for someone to comment - people notice often earlier but aren't sure enough to comment - so I am wondering how much one has to loose to not be recognized.)