My Story :
Click here for my 100 pound story!
Story I wrote on 6/5/05:
I started my low carb journey in late January 2005. There are a whole plethora of reasons why I finally decided to lose my weight for good, but finding the right plan for me was critical whether I succeeded or failed.After a year or so of swollen feet, excrutiating back pain, and growing into 32-34 size clothes, I bought a $80 scale that went up to 440 pounds. Surely that would be high enough, right? WRONG! When I got on it for the first time, it said I weighed 446 pounds! (I know, the capacity was supposed to be 440- the scale had a few extra pounds built into the capacity) I was in shock. I weighed almost 500 pounds. How did I get here? (Too many reasons to go into right now) What am I going to do? I thought surely I would have to risk my life getting weight loss surgery. I wasn't willing to take that 1 in 200 chance of dying on the table though. I thought "I'll do what I have always done- exercise and eat right." I quickly learned that when you're almost 450 pounds your body just does not respond well to exercise. Even walking a decent distance was problematic. My body couldn't handle moving all of the weight around. I ended up being a nearly 450 pound 22 year old desperate for a change.
I always had a negative view of low carb "diets" becuase I had an acquaintance who got awful kidney stones supposedly because of doing Atkins. Then I talked to an old friend who lost about 60 pounds doing Atkins, and he was maintaining fairly easily. I did a lot of research: bought the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book and read it cover to cover. I searched the web for sites about low carbing and saw inspiring pictures of people who have lost substantial amounts of weight using some form of low carb plan. It took about 2 months of my own research and contemplation before I decided 100% that this was the best way for me to go. I started my journey on January 24, 2005 and haven't looked back. In a little over 4 months I've lost 61 pounds, over 20% to my ultimate goal. I have more energy than I have had in years, I am sleeping better, my snoring has decreased dramatically, and my appetite is extremely low. I haven't had heartburn or headaches since I've started my low carb lifestyle. I've dropped down 3-4 clothing sizes so far, and I know that I will be low carbing for life.
Update: 2/26/06
As of today, I'm 131 pounds down. The beginning of the year has been slow going for me, weight loss wise. I think my body is trying to adjust to the rapid loss. I am still losing inches though, so for that I'm thankful.
