Emmajoan's 100 Pound's Gone Story

10/2/05: (Pictures at the end)

Well, today I got on the scale and discovered I made it to the Century Club! I am very excited yet I still have a huge mountain to climb. I'm about 39% up the weight loss hill that I'm traveling on, and there will inevitably be stumbles along the way. 100 pounds gone sounds like such a large amount of weight, but by the time I'm done with this, I'll have lost 265 pounds. The thought of me having lost 100 pounds and not even being halfway to goal is a little disheartening, but I am going to keep my head up and keep pushing forward.

I started this low carb journey at the end of January 2005. I had put on 100 pounds during my 4 years of college, and another 100 pounds in 2 years after being depressed about not finding a job immediatley after college, and after all my friends moved away to different parts of the country. I was miserable. I had constant heartburn, swollen legs and feet, back pain, no energy and sleep apnea on top of other things. I was in complete denial about my weight as I didn't have a scale that could go up to whatever weight I was. Eventually, I couldn't buy clothes from Lane Bryant anymore. I could only shop at Catherine's and Avenue because some of their clothes went up to a size 32-34. If I got any larger, I wouldn't be able to find any clothes to wear, and that made me completely devestated. I saw a couple of shows on TV that snapped me to reality: MTV's True Life: I'm Obese, and The Biggest Loser. I ordered a scale that supposedly had a weight capacity of 440 pounds on it, and weighed. It said 445 pounds. Here I stood on the scale, a 23 year old recent college graduate with everything in front of me, (by then I had found a job I loved) and I weighed 445 pounds. Something had to change.

I've always been heavy and had previously lost weight by eating 1200 calories a day and exercise. When you're 445 pounds though, that just seems impossible. I couldn't move like I used to even when I was 220 pounds. And I would continuously binge on pasta, chips, bread, milkshakes, you name it. I needed something else. An old friend and a co-worker both had mentioned they had success on Atkins, and I figured it couldn't hurt to try. I did a Google search for low carb websites and read all the posts and success stories and figured if they could do it, I could too.

I've stayed at induction levels this entire time and plan on staying there for the next 100 pounds as well. My energy is high, I have regular periods (TMI!), no more heartburn, sleep apnea, or swollen legs and feet. I can fit into some 24's, and all 26's. I will re-evaluate my goal when I get to a size 14, because I have a large frame and build. I couldn't have done it without everyone's support here, and the others who have posted their stories that eventually made me decide to take this plunge. This is certainly a way of life, and I am 100% sure that it saved mine. For those who say that Atkins is bad for you, they can look at my bloodwork results on my low carb site (really just to keep me accountable). Thanks for listening, and thanks for all the support.