What made you decide?

How and when did you decide to go from letting your weight
go to being disciplined enough to want to lose weight and
stick with Atkins (or any other)? Was it a lifetime of just
letting yourself go or was it a certain event?

It seems like when I quit smoking at the age of 30, that's
when I put on most of the pounds. Personally I can't say
what really made me want to stop. Maybe I just finally
found the right WOE : )

Marsha/Ohio
(not weighing for another week, thanks to TOM)

Marsha wrote:

How and when did you decide to go from letting your weight
go to being disciplined enough to want to lose weight and
stick with Atkins (or any other)? Was it a lifetime of just
letting yourself go or was it a certain event?

It seems like when I quit smoking at the age of 30, that's
when I put on most of the pounds. Personally I can't say
what really made me want to stop. Maybe I just finally
found the right WOE : )

Marsha/Ohio
(not weighing for another week, thanks to TOM)

Hi, Marsha. I tried quitting smoking and cutting carbs at the
same time. After a few rough starts, I was successful. I never
went back to the way I ate before, but I did add in enough carbs
to keep my weight stable but not to gain.

What made me decide? I honestly can't remember a specific
incident. I think it was a general feeling of getting older and
feeling stuck by addictive habits. I'm an ornery cuss and felt it
was time to tackle these head on to see what I'm made of. I had
been smoking since age 15. I've been overweight off and on as an
adult and I definitely prefer to not be overweight.

The synapse has been bridged! Now that I think of it, there was
something specific: I was diagnosed with diabetes. Scared the
bejesus out of me. After I got over the initial panic and shock,
I began reading about the effect of carbs on blood sugar and it
seemed to simple to be true. I could control my blood sugar by
eating better. And I did. I've been off meds for over a year and
my A1C for the past year has stayed between 5.5-5.8. I'd like it
to be a bit lower, so I'm working on it.

Great question. I'm glad you asked. I had to think, and it
finally came back to me. :þ

In article , says...
How and when did you decide to go from letting your weight
go to being disciplined enough to want to lose weight and
stick with Atkins (or any other)? Was it a lifetime of just
letting yourself go or was it a certain event?

It was a process for me. My weight has been up and down all my adult life, but
it was at it's highest a little over a year ago. I didn't think I could control
it by dieting because I just couldn't seem to get a handle on my cravings, and
did not think I could exercise due to several physical problems. I was seriously
considering weight loss surgery, but REALLY didn't want to have to take that step
(or the EXPENSE). Nothing changed, but it was on my mind a lot. I had been
having some NASTY reflux at night, and woke up choking on several occasions.
Eventually the New England Journal of Medicine report came out saying that Atkins
was very effective and did NOT appear to be causing the massive health problems
previously reported. I bought the book, let it languish for a couple of months,
then started to read it. In the meantime, I got the photos back from my mother's
wedding and was faced with a photo of me at my highest weight (probably ~210 --
see URL in sig to see the actual photo). I had been regularly eating Pillsbury
Chocolate Chip Cookies, but noticed that I seemed to get heartburn every time!
Well, if eating my FAVORITE FOOD IN ALL THE WORLD was going to make me feel like
crap, what was the point in clinging to it? I stopped by this group and after a
few days was convinced that THIS might actually WORK. Mind you, I had stopped by
the group a few months earlier, but I wasn't ready to "absorb" yet, I think.
Everyone was so INVOLVED with it that it seemed intimidating and even a little
wacko. I think you really have to be READY to begin ANY weight loss program. If
you AREN'T ready, it's unlikely to work for you. Then I had dinner with a
heretofore unseen friend from another newsgroup and we had someone take a photo
of us. I decided then and there that I WOULD start Atkins, not in a week or two
as I had planned, but two days later.

Best decision I EVER made regarding my health!

--
Saffire
205/175/125
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333

Marsha wrote:

How and when did you decide to go from letting your weight
go to being disciplined enough to want to lose weight and
stick with Atkins (or any other)? Was it a lifetime of just
letting yourself go or was it a certain event?

I've been overweight since before the age of five. By 18 I was 315,
but I'm 6'3" and a very big frame. My body has been ingenious at where
it hides the fat. I didn't have the pot belly most guys develop. No
one ever realizes how heavy I am. Diets always looked pretty hopeless
because the meal plans were uninteresting and I couldn't imagine not
eating when I was hungry. With little willpower I knew I would fail to
follow through so I didn't bother yo-yoing through diets. I tried
instead to change my tastes gradually towards healthier foods,
incorporating fish (never ate before late 20's), salads(didn't eat
until I was 22), different vegetables (had my own veggie garden last
year).

In the last year I've been unemployed and reached a new high weight
350. My 52" jeans are getting tight and I really didn't want to up to
54. I also put weight on my chin and jowels--very unattractive. That
has been bothering me a surprising amount.

I had a recurrence of back problems, but I recovered very quickly,
which made me happy. In 2002 I had a serious problem with multiple
ruptured disks. I wasn't thrilled about how I felt when I exercised;
tired quickly, sweated rivers, heart pounded after too few stairs.

I read up on carb addicts in 2000 but didn't follow through with the
diet. I bought the atkins book but never read it. My brother has lost
over 40 lbs in the last 5 months on Atkins . After New Years, I was
cleaning and found the book again. I read through it and decided I
would start it. I emptied the cupboards of anything that was simply
too high in carbs and crated it. If I stay on it I can pass the canned
food onto my family. A trip to the grocery store and I was set. I
still have sodas & even chocolate in the house but I haven't cheated
at all yet. Monday will end induction for me. Cravings have subsided
significantly, although I had a short one this evening. The first five
days were a little rough and I was definitely sluggish. I feel normal
now. I don't know if I have more energy than two weeks ago but I
definitely have more energy than during the 1st induction week.

I've always wanted to lose the weight but didn't see a realistic way
for *ME* to accomplish it. I've always believed that you can want and
plan to do something for years and never get anything accompilshed.
But when your brain clicks and it becomes something that you are just
gonna do... it just gets done. I'm hoping that something in my brain
has finely swithced on and I will follow through with it. I dont' feel
so much like I'm "trying" to diet... more like this is just what I am
doing... if that makes sense. I think the time is right.


Jan 12,2004
~350/343/200

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

I started as an experiment. My brother gave me DANDR and Protein Power, he
had lost quite a bit of weight and really looked thin. The next day I
started reading them. My back had been really bothering me and I knew I
would probably feel better if I lost weight, but just cutting back on food
made me doubly miserable when I was hungry. So I thought that if a low carb
WOE would let me lose weight without being hungry it was something I could
do. I started that very day while reading the books. Not good at following
rules so I don't write down what I eat but I can keep a rough count of carbs
mentally. Haven't eaten anything very carby since last summer when I
started, lost quite a bit at first and now lose about 3 pounds a month and
I'm not hungry. My back still isn't pain free but it's a lot better. I
wouldn't say I'm disciplined, I am just eating different stuff.


In ,
Marsha stated
| How and when did you decide to go from letting your weight
| go to being disciplined enough to want to lose weight and
| stick with Atkins (or any other)? Was it a lifetime of just
| letting yourself go or was it a certain event?
|
| It seems like when I quit smoking at the age of 30, that's
| when I put on most of the pounds. Personally I can't say
| what really made me want to stop. Maybe I just finally
| found the right WOE : )
|
| Marsha/Ohio
| (not weighing for another week, thanks to TOM)

There were two things that gave me the motivation to finally lose weight.
First, I guess I kind of balooned up this past summer and both my mother and
father-in-law commented that I should lose weight. The guilt factor never
works for me, but they made me aware that I was getting bigger.

Secondly the single thing that has given me the motivation to start this WOE
is that I realized that you don't see any old fat guys. I'm just about 47
years old, beginning to think about retirement (hopefully by age 53), have
three great kids and I want to be around to enjoy them in their adult years.
Think about it - it's very rare to see heavy people in their 70's or 80's.
Why? Cause all the overweight people die in theor 50's and 60's.. That's
enough motivation for me....

Sandy K.

I started putting on extra weight in my teens. I never really cared enough
to do anything about it from an appearance perspective. Sure, I wanted to
be thinner, prettier, get more dates, but that alone didn't motivate me
enough to stick with an eating or exercise plan. I knew being overweight
could cause health problems down the road, but that road looked really long
and health problems looked really far away, so that didn't motivate me
either.

It was last year, when I was 27, that I got sick and tired of it.
Literally. I realized that I was tired and icky feeling most of the time,
with a little bit more age the weight had started to affect how I _felt_
not just how I looked. I had a sedentary job, ate a ton of crap, and
really just wanted to sleep all the time.

I was on a break at work one day, walking down to the grocery store to get
lunch, when I passed by the Curves location at that shopping center. I went
in on impulse, asked about it, and came back the next day to join.

After my very first workout I felt a LOT better. I left there feeling like
I was floating, and I said to myself "Ok, THIS is what they mean by an
exercise high." I went religiously for my first month, and I did notice a
difference in my energy levels, but I also started to notice that after my
huge meals of pasta I would get that tired and icky feeling back again. In
my first month I didn't lose any weight, and I was worried about how sleepy
I got after eating, so I started cutting out the carby things that made me
so sleepy. Then, the second month I lost 8 pounds, I had lots more energy
and it was more steady throughout the day, and I said to myself "Ok, this
is gonna be my life now. I like feeling like this more than I like pasta."

--
Michelle Levin
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick

I have only 3 flaws. My first flaw is thinking that I only have 3 flaws.

My weight gain was prescription induced.

For some years every weight loss effort failed. I thought low carb made no
sense, so I didn't try it. Then I reduced my carbs to get my blood glucose
under control and was surprised to find that I lost weight without intending
it. I then took low carb seriously and read up on it.

I now plan to do low carb for life and I'm so excited about having found a
way to lose weight.

On 1/22/04 6:18 PM, in article ,
"Marsha" wrote:

How and when did you decide to go from letting your weight
go to being disciplined enough to want to lose weight and
stick with Atkins (or any other)? Was it a lifetime of just
letting yourself go or was it a certain event?

It seems like when I quit smoking at the age of 30, that's
when I put on most of the pounds. Personally I can't say
what really made me want to stop. Maybe I just finally
found the right WOE : )

Marsha/Ohio
(not weighing for another week, thanks to TOM)

I really put on weight when I quit smoking 9 years ago. In a twelve month
period I quit smoking, my car was stolen, my daughter's apartment building
burned with her & 2 babies in it (everyone was unharmed), my mother died and
my father-in-law died. I gained over 100 pounds. I stopped weighing.

I've gone down and up a few times, but never hit goal in the past 8 years.
Probably the lowest I got was 150 or 160.

My highest was 235. Last year I got down to 199 one week.

I've just become sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have heartburn,
my knees ache, I have tendonitis in my heels. I'm sure it's all from hauling
an extra 100 pounds around on a 5'1" body. I'll turn 50 this year. I've got
to do something ...

So I restarted Atkins on 1/1/04 -- in many ways thanks to a nasty bout with
the flu. I basically fasted for 2 days (I was too sick to eat, but I did
drink lots of water). It was a kick start, and what I needed. I *think* I
was almost at 235 again when I started, today I'm about 215 (I bounce a
pound or two daily).

I must be ready, because it's been easier than ever before. I'm going on a
trip next month with an old friend, and that's incentive to look my best,
too.

So here I am, plugging away.

Cathy in St. Louis

Sandy, you are so right. I watch people all of the time. Pretty, ugly,
skinny, fat, "normal" I watch everybody because people just fascinate me.
But I do not see extremely obese in their 70's & 80's. I never gave much
thought as to why.


--
Melisa
203/173.5/140
http://www.users.qwest.net/~ztimm/blog/

"Sandy K." wrote in message
...

There were two things that gave me the motivation to finally lose weight.
First, I guess I kind of balooned up this past summer and both my mother
and
father-in-law commented that I should lose weight. The guilt factor never
works for me, but they made me aware that I was getting bigger.

Secondly the single thing that has given me the motivation to start this
WOE
is that I realized that you don't see any old fat guys. I'm just about 47
years old, beginning to think about retirement (hopefully by age 53), have
three great kids and I want to be around to enjoy them in their adult
years.
Think about it - it's very rare to see heavy people in their 70's or 80's.
Why? Cause all the overweight people die in theor 50's and 60's.. That's
enough motivation for me....

Sandy K.