Hey Everybody,

As I wrote the most recent post for my blog, a part of that article included an "ah-ha" experience. What was your "ah-ha" moment. What experience caused you to embrace the "low carb lifestye."

Failing on low-fat diets over and over is literally insane. It was time for a different strategy and low-carb fit the bill. Rather well too.

I am celaic and allergic to many fruits.
I don't have alot of choices lol
so Atkins really fits my health needs as well as helping me lose weight
sandi

No real "ah-ha" for me. I kind of stumbled upon my more moderate carb plan by accident. I had tried a number of things and my plan was being marketed (actually the support system for it) by my parent company. Since part of my business was to market it I decided to try it myself first. It was the first and only plan I had ever really been able to stick to.

It was 1999 and Oprah was in the middle of the "Hamburger Wars". She had hired Dr. Phil (before anybody had ever heard of him) to advise her. He happened to be on her show the day I was watching, and he was counseling a very unhappy overweight young girl who had been sexually abused. He told her in no uncertain terms that she was fat because it worked for her. He told her she would not be fat unless she was getting something out of it. She cried and he said, don't you realize that you have wrapped yourself in a big protective blanket of fat.

I have never been sexually abused, or abused in any way for that matter, but as I considered what he said, I realized that he was right, and I could relate what he had said to certain aspects of my own life. Being fat had been working for me for some very personal reasons which I will not share, but I was tired of it and unhappy and it wasn't working anymore. That day I called my husbands personal trainer, and went on to lose a total of 39"with the help of exercise and Atkins. I've kept most of it off and never looked back, and I will get rid of this last little weight creep ASAP.

I'll check in a little from my iPhone while I'm on vacation Melodie.

My moments were...... I had done "the low carb thing" a few years ago and it worked but then due to ill health felt sorry for myself and self medicated myself back to square 1.

Then on Jan 7th this year I decided it was time to get my act together and really do this. I have lost 50 lbs and went from size 26 to size 20 (tight).


It has been great to hear Jimmy and keep up the motivation. When my CF is bad I usually don't make it to anything but my podcasts.

Karrie

I am going to say I am still learning about my inner demons.

I've struggled with my weight since I was 7 years old.

I never ever wanted to be fat.

My weight was caused by asthma medication.

I have lost weight on so many ways. All of them involved some sort of calorie restriction/exercise. [So when people start preaching calorie restriction, I just get depressed]

Looking back I was never educated about carbs. Why? Because all anyone cared about for years was calories, then it changed in late eighties/early nineties to specifically avoid fat.

I yoyoed up and down. Each time I was taught to blame myself. Diet people/responsible people all put the blame on the participant of the diet. Not once did they try to look at my individual biochemistry. I was just a bad person because I didn't fit into what they wanted me to eat.

Growing up as a fat kid I was taunted and humiliated in sports and sports competitions. School Exercise wasn't about getting me healthy, sports was all about Competition and celebrating the winners. Rewarding the fastest runner. Not only could I not compete I was taunted for having a fat belly when swimming etc.

So people talk about Abuse. I got emotional/mental and physical abuse pretty much everyday growing up. It wasn't my family - it was the wider community and my peers.

I think 5 or 6 years ago I just pretty much gave up on it all. That helped to get me close to 500 pounds.


What I am realising now is that I don't have the ability to change. I don't have it within me to fix this, because that was taken away from me. Having my self esteem ground to nothing so many times over the years has stuffed me up mentally.

This is why now...... I'm investigating a Higher Power. Perhaps I will only be able to do this with God's help?

Your story is eerily simliar to mine, Dave, except I've been a Christian since I was 7. The strength God has given me over the years and especially through low-carb weight loss was what kept me going even when I felt like my life I was hopeless. With Him, I knew my life had acfar greater purpose...something that is still unfolding right before my eyes. It's exciting to be in this place and I pray you reach it as well Dave!

I think my Ah Ha! moment was when I realized I was allergic to corn, and on reading labels at the store, discovered how much food has corn added to it, either corn syrup, corn starch, modified food starch, which can be corn, dextrose made from corn (I found that on a box of sugar free Jello), in all sorts of foods, even lunch meats and smoked sausage.

I broke out in hives every time I ate something with corn or corn syrup in it. So, following a low carb way of eating made lots of sense, because there isn't any corn in low carb foods. Besides, I had a lot of weight to lose, I had lost before doing low carb, so I knew it would work.

My second Ah Ha! moment came quite recently. I suffer from arthritis, and my knees are particularly bad. We do a big shopping trip about every 2 or 3 weeks at a Super WalMart 50 miles away, so it's a half day trip. By the time we got to the checkout, I was in tremendous pain, from my knees down, had to go find a bench to sit while my husband checked out. Just a few months ago I found that I wasn't in pain and agony at the end of the shopping, could help take the groceries out of the cart to put on the counter, didn't have to go sit and rest. Before, when we got home, I could hardly walk from the car to the house, let alone carry groceries in. Now I can haul those groceries in, and put the all away, and still not be worn out or in agonizing pain.

I attribute this change to 2 things, first to getting more protein every day. I think it's helped with my overall strength. Second, I started losing again. I was stalled for over a year, I was totally frustrated. Just a few tweaks, and now I'm finally seeing a smaller me!

I'm a book reviewer, okay? So I have no excuse. :-)

It was a little voice asking me why I had an opinion on the Atkins diet if I'd never read any of his books.

<blushing>

Spending six month on LA weight loss and realizing their sugary bars/ shakes made me hungrier than when I was before I ate them, and towards the end bieng hungry all the time and afraid of food. - I hated coming home from swimming or a long ride and not having anything left to eat but plain veggies
Realizing I lost weight faster when I didn't bother to cook the 1/3 cup of pasta, rice or one new potato that counted as my starch, and not thinking that my weight stalled on the weeeks that I ate a pound of carrots at a time. I used to eat a lot of carrot soup!

Nita,

I too have problems with food allergies, that are much improved by a low carb diet. Are you sure you have arthritis and not just reacting to hidden sources of corn. I am allergic to yeast and night shade plants (potatoes and tomatoes) and mine takes the form of arthritis mostly in the knees ,ankles, and feet. I think low carb helps for two reasons, one it lowers inflammation and two, you don't eat a lot of processed foods where various forms of what we are allergic to are lurking under a hundred different names.

My ahh haa moment was when I typed 'sugar addiction' into Google about two years ago. I learned at that time that 'carbohydrates were sugar'. That was my ahh haa moment! The lights came on and I realized why I wasn't succeeding in my 'sugar free diet' that I knew was the way to go! That's why it wouldn't work! I was eating tons of sugar in the form of carbohydrates. I included carbohydrates into my 'sugar free diet' and everything started to happen! I dropped fruit and high glycemic vegetables and rice and grain and wheat and lentils and nuts from my diet one at a time until I was nearly carbohydrate free, maybe 20 grams a day or so, sometimes more and sometimes less. I left wild rice 'in' my diet and along with my meats and vegetables I was able to stay full and satisfied. One thing at a time I said. I got to break this addiction to sugar and what I learned or actually figured out myself the culprit 'hybrid' carbohydrates. So no sugar and few carbohydrates, coming from massive carbohydrates and everything began to work. I had already dropped dairy knowing that lactose was sugar. It worked, I started to feel great and lose weight. I heard about 'Jimmy' and checked him out but he was low carb and I was 'no sugar' so I went on my way. Everybody kept saying I was doing Atkins so I finally went and looked and sure enough I was doing 'Atkins'. I found Jimmy again shortly after that and my second ahh haa moment came in realizing that he and Atkins were in fact doing 'sugar free' which was what I was doing and believed in. I was no longer a lone wolf. These people had been doing this for years and knew all about it. My one contribution has been the 'hybrid factor' and maybe the 'wild rice'! Thank you

When I finally "got it" that all the years of eating low calorie/low fat did nothing but keep me hungry, start a binge cycle, and never kept the weight off for long. That's when I started experimenting with low carb diets, and it took me a while to finally settle on South Beach, which I'm starting tomorrow. I was so "shell shocked" from counting calories for so many years, that counting carbohydrate grams felt like the same thing to me. So I do believe South Beach, with its three phases, is for me.

No real ah-ha moment for me. I realized I was fat and wanted to do something, so I started looking into different things, and most of the weightloss programs required some kind of check in/weigh in times, which I really cannot do because of my weird work schedule. A buddy at work was doing Atkins and told me I should look into it, because it is a "manly" diet that allows steak and bacon No offense ladies. When I read the book, I decided to give it a go.

I first did Atkins 4 years ago. No ah-ha moment then. At that time I had tried almost every "diet" that came along and on Atkins I lost 34 lbs before I caved into the mentality that it wasn't good for me.

In the time since I have tried many other "diets" including some new and some I had tried before with no success. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? That's me.

This time my ah-ha moment was something I posted on another thread.

I owe the kick in the pants to finally starting my low carb WOE to a 3 year old girl named Hailey. I was in the Navy for 4 years and we go out boating on the lake or river at least twice a week and yet I still don't know how to swim. My weight has kept me from doing so many things. And it took me awhile to feel comfortable being on the boat in the middle of the lake. But I never got in the water no matter what as I was afraid I would drown.

But what does this have to do with Hailey? Well, we took Hailey and her 2 sisters and her mom out on the boat about a month ago. After we got down the river a little ways we stopped the boat so those that wanted to could swim. (Everyone except me.) 3 year old Hailey jumped off the end of the boat into the water over and over again. She had no fear; she didn't even plug her nose like her 7 year sister did. I thought to myself . . . . . when do we learn fear? Anyway, it really got me thinking!

What was I afraid of that kept me from living my life fully? I won't go into all of the places my brain took me from there . . . . . . but that's when I decided to stop letting fear guide my life. The next time we went out on the boat (2 days later) when we stopped to swim I got in the water! Sure I had a life jacket on and I didn't get very far from the boat but I did it! And the following Monday I started Kimkins! (It helped me de-carb so if nothing else the $40 I spent there was worth it )

My weight has kept me from really experiencing life fully. Fear of ???? kept me from really living. Thanx to Hailey I have decided that FEAR IS NOT A FACTOR in my life! I will be successful reaching my goal and living life . . . . . really living life for the first time in years!

Well, I figured out a long time ago that carbs were the foods that made me gain, but I ate them most of the time anyway and sort of crash lo carbed whenever I wanted to lose weight quickly (I know, I know....) I had never considered locarbing as a long term way of eating because I had made the "You only eat eggs, bacon & meat" assumption. My ah ha moment was recently, when I just got sick of losing and gaining the same 8 - 10 pounds and my entire demeanour for the day being dictated by what the scales said to me every morning. I decided to actually do some research - lo and behold, her I am

I had a sort of "ah-ah" winter last winter. It started out in Dec with a ruptured disc in my neck, followed by a cervical spinal fusion which lead to a brain abcess, a craniotomy, 7 weeks of IV antibiotic through a PIC line which resulted in 2 deep vein clots. Now none of this made me feel too good about my overall health. Neither did being on medications for high blood pressure, high lipids and depression and assorted other problems resulting from my weight problem. After giving myself a few months to get back on my feet, I decided to take a good look at what I needed to do to get back to a healthy weight. I am one of those people who has lost large amounts of weight many times in the past and then slowly, over a period of 5 years or so put all the weight back on. Thinking back to what had worked for me in the past, I realized that the only diets that had ever gotten me to my goal were low carb ones. I also realized that what kept me from keeping the weight off was that I always tried to get back to what I thought of as a healthy diet by adding whole grains, low fat milk products, more fruits, ect, so in spite of the fact that I had swore I'd never try another low carb diet, June of this year I signed up at Kimkins. Not a smart move! Now 38 pounds lighter, I am looking for a healthier low carb plan that will allow me to take off the last 50 or so pounds.

I was on weight watchers, working out 5-6 times a week and starving. Every night I would pace the floors, sometimes crying because I wanted some Ben & Jerry's ice cream or tacos...and I'd cave and go get it. For 5 months I did this until one morning my husband walked into the kitchen and I heard him say "Oh no, she' going to hate herself today." in this sad, worried voice. I looked in and he was looking in the trash at my discarded fast food wrappers. I knew then that I was addicted to food. THen my friend started atkins and gave me info on it. I have not once "cheated" or ate off program in the almost 3 months I have been doing this. I'm never hungry. I have tons of energy, I love this WOE!!

Ritmeyer, my DH reacted very much like yours. I was a late night eater (after he had gone to bed; not sure why-that's just when I would get REALLY hungry.) The next morning he would notice.



3 months with no cheats! I haven't cheated since I started 7/30 . . . . about 46 days! That is a record for me!

Ritmeyer, when I hear stories like yours it takes me back to my original question about food addiction. I think many times what are really physical addictions get labeled as psychological ones.

Like Robin, I tried WW more than once and each time I wanted to eat my arm off I was so hungry all the time. When I'm low carbing I often forget to eat, or if I remember, I'm not hungry. I think we are just victims of a metabolism that can't handle sugar. Interestingly enough I have some other food allergies, and guess what foods I crave? The ones I'm allergic too. I don't mean that sugar is an allergy per se, but that sometimes we crave the very things that are poison for our systems.

...because no one has invented the eat-all-the-peanut-butter-and-toast-with-banana-diet?

Actually, a couple of years ago I started noticing that every time we went out for sushi, the scale showed three extra pounds the next day. I mentioned it to my mom and she said "oh you've always been allergic to rice; your skin would turn bright red as a baby when you ate rice cereal."

Thanks for the lightbulb mom. It only came after 21 years of the wrong diets.

:sigh:

The Moment that I saw how out of control I was at Christmas 2001 My Sister took a Pic of me sitting in My Car because of course I was so immobile all I did was walk from the House to the Car and drove. I had avoided looking at myself for so long and had even piled clothing on My Dresser so I did not have to see myself in the mirror that was a major wake up call.

My a-ha moment was about a year and a half ago. My hubby was playing a gig and we knew the sound man but hadn't seen him in several years. He didn't say anything to me for awhile and then finally asked my husband, "Is that Gypsy?". He said yes, and the man said he never would have known it was me. I knew right then it was because I had gained over 70 lbs since last time I saw him. I started Atkins a month later and lost 41 lbs last year. But then the holidays came, I went off plan and gained it all back by June of this year. I saw a picture of myself and it made me sick. I never realize how fat I am until I see a picture.

So I decided July 21st to get back on Atkins. And of course it is working. I still have quite a way to go, but I'm determined this time to make this a lifelong woe.

And absolutley no cheating this year during the holidays. That is what caused me to spin out of control last time.

I think mine was about 4 years ago after we moved and I was wearing a size 22 and they were getting very tight. I was at walmart one day trying on 24s in the changeroom and I looked in the mirror and told myself that i was NOT buying them and that come hell or high water those tight 22s were going to be lose someday. I had also at that time recently been put on lipitor.....a sign to me after being so fit and healthy that damage was being done and I needed to do something.
I think the next day I went and joined Curves, did their programming and lost a whole lot of weight with the help of a great counceller there.(it's low carb which I had no idea was about at the time, I thought I could do the OTHER way and still lose)
On that group I won most of the prizes they were shelling out for most lost etc etc and it felt sooooooooooo good.
I got to 18 and stayed for a few years and then last sept when I found Jimmy I thought it was time to get more off........now I am a 12 almost a 10.
Sure seems like it was enons ago when I did that.

Wanda what an amazing success story!! I'll bet you feel on top of the world. Keep up the great work, you're an inspiration to all of us. Thanks for sharing.

I'm proud of you Wanda! You're Wandarful, girl!

I had many A-HA moments...but basically I got tired of feeling terrible. One a-ha moment that sticks out was the realization that my dryer wasn't a magical dryer that would only shrink my clothes. No one else's...just my clothes. It wasn't my clothes getting smaller it was my body getting bigger.

The final straw for me was the day before I made the steak and salad lunch...I bought a pair of cute jeans in a size 18...they were skin tight but I really wanted to make them fit. I struggled to put them on...hopped around, held in the gut...got them zipped and buttoned...as soon as I let go (ie...breathe in...breathe out) the zipper separated and I was literally stuck in the jeans. Not cool when you have to use the bathroom. I literally ripped the zipper apart to get out of the jeans. I was embarrassed... and depressed. I never want to go through that again.

So I picked up the low carb lifestyle and really haven't looked back.

I've had a few ah-ha moments, but the one that really got me inspired was the day of my annual physical. I'm in relatively good health - well, as good as an obese person can be - but I got weighed and realized that I was over 350 pounds. I got depressed, went home, turned on the TV and threw myself into a full on binge. There was some woman on TV, complaining to her friend about needing to lose three pounds and I got annoyed at her. Honey, please, I need to lose three *people.* So I threw away everything I was eating, and started trying my own version of low carb. I was semi-successful, but cheated, and gave up. Now here I am, partway through the Atkins book, looking forward to starting again, the right way.

Welcome, and best to you. We are here to help! Post often, it's much easier not to go it alone.

My aha moment was when I joined WW for the zillionth time (this time their new Core program) and realized how physically awful I felt on ANY WW program. Too many carbs - even Core which allows a ton of "healthy" whole grains did me in.

I think someone once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, with the same dismal results.

I decided on low carb, due to my blood sugar issues, but it really took me a while to find a program that was a perfect "fit."

South Beach Phase 1 was the closest I'd come. It made me feel healthy for the first time in a long time. But Phase 2 with adding back grains did me in. I've since learned I just can't eat grains - they make me feel awful.

So that led to researching other lower carb diets, which led me to the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. I bought the book, actully bought all his books, and reading it made a light bulb turn on. I had finally found an eating plan I could actually live with! I haven't looked back since. It was a true aha moment!

I swear my ah-ha moment didn't come until this past summer although I've been a successful yo yo dieter and exerciser for years. I'd lose weight, get in good shape - or even great shape - and inevitably take a break and end up back where I started. Up and down, up and down.

Well, this August I completed a 12 week course of Power 90X with great results. And when the time came to take the programs recommended 3 weeks off...I didn't. Something clicked. Every other time I took a break I started right back up the scale.

This fitness and diet thing HAS TO BE A LIFESTYLE (can you hear Jimmy's voice?) I took a few days off instead of that three weeks. And I'm hammering on, eating low carb and working out regularly. And instead of marching back up the scales like I always did before I'm at a lower weight than I was in high school.

For me the key is to not drop the ball.

LIFESTYLE CHANGE, BABY! Good to have you here, Carol!

Carol, I have always thought that maintaining was strictly a function of diet, but not true. When you use diet and exercise to attain a certain size then if you slack off of either you will return to a certain level. So I've learned to think of maintenance not only as diet but as exercise as well. If you're doing 45 minutes of cardio to get to a certain weight and then cut back to 30 minutes you're probably going to creep up to some higher level.

My "ah-ha" moment was getting on the scale after trying the Kimkins diet for seven days, and seeing a fifteen pound loss. I couldn't believe it. I realized I loved the high protein aspect, and soon I didn't miss the "white" carbs. I'm a happy carnivore.

Andy

CONGRATS on your success so far, Andy! KEEP IT UP!

Hi everyone!

This is a great thread. As you can see from my posts, I tend to be really analytical about everything. I see that people get "here" two ways, one is the emotional breaking point, and the other is that people logically see that "that dog don't hunt" when it comes to other ways of eating.

My a-ha "moment" was seven months long. I was approaching middle age in spring 2005, and I said it was now or never. I needed to lose a third of my weight.

That summer, I stopped overeating, stopped eating bad things like pizza every week, and ate what "they" said was healthy. The other thing I did was climb 20 peaks in 12 weeks! I did not weigh myself during this time, because I was not on a "diet", I wanted to live a healthy life.

At the end of the summer, I weighed exactly the same. I might have gained maybe 5-10 pounds of muscle in my legs, but that didn't matter to me. I might have given up weight loss as hopeless at that point, but instead I started research. If more exercise didn't do the trick, it must be diet.

I decided to do a two week fast to "cleanse" and prepare for some diet. I looked to both medical and spiritual texts to find the best and safest method, and mental attitude. Well, I noticed all the symptoms of poor eating, like my heart racing after meals, or trouble getting a deep breath in after meals, went away. Hunger went away after 3 days. My skin cleared up. Sleep improved. About a dozen other things. I felt like "this is how I should feel, this is how my body should act".

Well, I read more and more, and found out about Ketosis, and of course that led me to the low-carb life. Over the next five months, I lost 2/3rds of the weight I wanted to lose, and did it in our healthy way.

I plateau'd for a year before I went back to the "books" and found Jimmy's sites, and now I've learned so much more about the low-carb life, and I think I can lose the final third of my weight.

This summer, when I climb mountains, my heart rate no longer skyrockets to 200 the entire time. Carbs were hurting me even when I thought I was being more healthy.

I apologize that I don't participate in the encouragement aspect of the board much, it's just not my personality. But your encouragement has been great, and is much appreciated. This has been a long "Aha", but there are many paths.

Thanks for reading!

Curt

Hey Curt,

It may have been a long ah-ha, but it was a story worth telling. Some of us are cheerleaders and some of us aren't, but we all contribute in our own special way, so thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

My "Ah-Ha!" moment hit me years ago after my wreck and I didn't fit on the stretcher. THe medics were friends of mine, my dad is a paramedic there. It was the most humiliating moment of my life.

I lost almost 200 pounds doing ATKINS. But a bad relationship caused me to binge right back up.

Now I experienced a wake up moment when I was laying in bed one night, my heart racing like it was going to jump out of my chest. I thought to myself then, do I want to have a heart attack young like my mom? Am I tired ot having to take the elevator at work because my knee hurts too much for the stairs? Am I tired of having to search for decent clothes that fit because my butt is so big?

I got desperate (I do have an ED, abused laxatives as part of my bad relationship, for 3 years now) and Kimmer's seemed to fit into my ED lifestyle.

WAAAYYYYY too much for me to deal with. I felt bad eating 500 calories a day and was so sick I would come home from work and collapse into bed. I can't live like that even if I did lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks! It came right back on the moment I ate higher fat food anyway. Atkins worked before and it will work again.

Diet sodas stall me, so do nuts and SF chocolate and candy. I gotta stick to the basics, but my Cesar salads with Blue Cheese dressing and Chicken breasts grilled in olive oil and Garlic &Herb Ms. Dash make life worth living!!

Best to you. You can do it. Just go for it!!

My Ah-ha moment came when I realized that I couldn't sleep on my back anymore because the pad of fat on my chest slid into my throat and cut off my breathing, Oh boy something had to be done! That was a long time ago and I have gone up and down and had good times and bad and tried a hundred things before I settled on low carb as a way of life. Now is better!

Don't any of you slip and fall on all the fat you are dropping!
Rozi

My aha moment was when my triglycerides were almost 600. I had been told I was going to be insulin dependent and time was closing in on me. My blood sugars were dropping to 40 every afternoon and I was getting caught up in the carb/bloodsugar cycle. It kept me eating nonstop. After I gained an understanding of what Atkins does for the blood sugars, I made a commitment and never looked back. My blood sugar has never given me another problem in over five years. My triglycerides are also 90.
I had the markers for heart disease too. I knew I was going to die very young if I didn't do something quick. The doc says I have completely eradicated all disease processes. One hundred percent pure healthy, he says!!

My ah-ha moment came twice actually~~the first time was when I went into the local Drug Store and got caught in the Turnstile and a man behind me stopped dead in his tracks and started laughing at me. I was so embarrassed because my hips were stuck & I had to turn sideways to get through.
My 2nd ah-ha moment came in Feb. this year when my son called and told me I was going to be a Grandmother for the First Time.
I realized that I needed to be around to enjoy this precious little Angel that God was sending to me.
I have since lost almost 60 lbs.~just in time to meet Ragan on Sept. 8th, when he was a mere 15 hrs. old.
I still have about 40 lbs. more to lose~~I know I will do it since I have even more reason to now. I want to be Healthy & the Best Dang Granny Alive !!
Su

Your stories continue to inspire me. One day I'll have to get a digital camera...

My aha moment came late August 2006, at a Twins baseball game. I was at my highest weight, a hefty 222, almost bursting out of my 20Ws. I was always sweating, always breathing heavy, had zero energy.

I heard over the PA system the ballplayer's height and weight, and was horrified that as a female , I weighed more than most of them, and at 5'6" was a good deal shorter than most of them.

The next few days were spend on the internet, catching up with low carb sites I had long abandoned, seeing the pictures, reading the motivational stories, and it sparked my determination that failure was not going to be an option.

13 months later, I am wearing size 12s and have lost 56 lbs and am nearer to my goal of losing 80 or so lbs. It's been a great journey of self awareness and education about the right way to eat for me- and have lots more energy, enthusiasm and self confidence.

MNLisaB,

That's a great story. It's amazing how something so small that would be ignored by most would become a turning point in your life. Thanks for sharing!

My a-ha moment came at an annual gynecologist visit in 2005. The doctor was new to the practice - the old one had retired. This guy was looking at my chart for the first time, and he said "do you realize you are gaining 5lbs per year ? You need to think about getting that in check (I was 38) because what do you think you'll weigh by age 50 ?" Because I had always been a regular exerciser - at my heaviest (220, 5'9") I could still run 2 miles and was an avid cross-country skier), my regular md had always brushed aside my weight. But I knew things were getting bad, and this young doctor had just confirmed it. When you are a tall female, the weight creeps up on you more gradually than your petite friends. But when you keep telling yourself you're a size 12 when you really need a 16 and your're cramming yourself into a 14, you have a problem. Exercise wasn't the problem - it was diet. Out of desperation, I bought Dr. Atkins book when I saw it while waiting in line to buy lactaid (ha ha - that definitely was NOT the cause of my heartburn). That was August. By Xmas, I was definitely a size 12 for real, but I was SHRINKING !!! Now at age 40, I'm around 160, but like Jimmy, I think about 5 lbs of it is loose skin, on hips and tummy. Not enough for me to worry about. My wedding dress from age 23 is too big(I wear an 8 or 10). I went back to that Dr. last year and broke down in tears when I thanked him for being honest with me.

I had several "I need to loose some weight" moments but only one real "ah-ha" one. I often had trouble breathing while laying flat on my back and there were the nights when my heart would race so fast that the sound in my ears was deafening. I was convinced on several occasions that I might die and not see my children grow up or do all the things my husband and I planned. Then I'd wake up the next day. I'd feel fine. I'd go right back to what I was doing. Eating junk and being a couch potato.

I was a size 6... once. After my first child I was still a 6 for that first year but the weight started to creep on. I got to 150 lbs and realized that I was gaining weight and no longer a size 6. I started to exercise and watched what I ate and got absolutely nowhere in 2 months then I got depressed.

Before I noticed it I was 180 lbs. It was 8 years since our first child had been born and I was 27. We decided to have another child. Almost immediately I got pregnant again and just decided to watch the junk. My OB had me tested for diabetes. Thankfully it was negative but it was close. That should have woken me up some but it really didn't. Our son was born and I held my weight in the 180's for a few more years.

I eventually hit 200 lbs. For years I had been telling myself that "at least I'm not 200 lbs". Now I was. Still not enough of an "ah-ha" for me. I just went back to eating junk and having big bowls of rice or pasta on a very frequent basis. There was also the soda. I was a Coca-Cola addict. I would often drink the better part of a 2 liter a day sometimes more. I was by this time very depressed. I also stopped going out with my friends or to family functions. Not only was I ashamed but I had nothing to wear except stretchy pants and huge T-shirts.

Move ahead a few more years to June 2007. I'm 224 lbs and our son is now 9. We are in Disney World and I had just gotten the WW magazine and decided to start the Kimkins program when I got home. I had started to walk 1.5 miles in the mornings 6 weeks before. I was feeling better about myself but there was no way that I was going to start a diet on my vacation.

So we're having fun, there are a few rides I won't get on because I'm too conscious of my size but I'm actually happy and do get on most of the rides I want. I'm proud of myself because I'm toughing it out and walking everywhere, all over the parks with my family. I go to meet my husband & son at one of the rides where you have a really good chance of getting wet (not my thing) and actually find a place to sit and wait.

I happened to be right next to a rather large woman in a personal scooter. This thing had a canopy for shade (I had never seen one with a shade canopy) and a basket in the front and one in the back. We start to chat about this and that but I can't help but notice that she is at least 100 lbs heavier that me and eating a big thing of fries from the McDonald's french fry stand and driking a bottle of regular Coke. She continues to munch as we chat and keeps shifting in her seat. It is obvious that she's uncomfortable. I start to wonder what could have happened to put her in a scooter that is decked out for the long haul. We continue to chat and I discovered that she is about 5 years older than me (I was 37) and we have a lot in common. She starts to talk about all her different meds and the fact that she's gained a lot of weight since getting the scooter but is feeling better. I feel really bad for this lady. She is obviously in pain and is really nice and we are having a really good time chatting. Finally I see my DH & DS come out of the ride so I get up to meet them and say goodbye and tell her that I hope she feels better soon - I must have glanced at the scooter. She smiles and says "Bless you hon, but there ain't nothing really wrong with me. I just don't feel like walking no more."

You could have knocked me over with a feather!! Just to come out and say "I don't feel like walking no more" like you would say "pass the pepper" just blew my mind. I walked away with my husband and son and DH asks me what's wrong. I tell him about the conversation I was having and how it ended. I continue with "it's like she just gave up". It was the most depressing thing ever. That was "a-ha" moment. It just struck me that if I didn't do something to loose the weight right now, I would slip back into complacency. I could very well wind up with my own personal scooter chair and eventually I may no longer have a choice about using it.

I'm trying not to judge her, just myself. I know how lazy I can be. It scared the heck out of me. We got home on Sunday afternoon and on Monday I started Kimkins. Now I'm here and 44 lbs lighter.