Active Low-Carber Forums - 1 lb Past Goal Today

Well, I overshot it. I hit 1 lb under goal this morning. :lol: I started out at 159 on April 23rd. Today is July 29th and I've lost 25 lbs. Not only that, I have some good arm muscles now from utilizing hand weights and doing strength training instead of cardio.

I gave up a 4 a day coca-cola habit~the real thing. I can barely drink diet sodas because they give me migranes and/or taste too sweet. I haven't had a piece of bread in a while and I don't miss it. I haven't had pasta since April and I don't miss it either. No potatoes. I learned the sweet potatoes actually have less sugar than the white ones! Who knew? I guess I didn't. People have been so surprised that I gave those coca-colas up though. I never used to get sugar "highs" because I was so accustomed to the stuff!

I learned how to cook real food! I new how to cook before, but most was mixtures of processed foods. I found low carb substitutes for nearly everything I could desire.

I feel like I'm at a reward show writing this, because I have so many people to thank and most of them are on this forum. The number one person I have to thank is the coworker who advised me about the atkins diet, dispelled the myths, and offered encouragement. She is not on the forum. However, I learned so much from this forum that helped me tweak my diet and activity. I learned that this is not a "diet" but a way of life. I know that if I begin eating the way I did before, I'll gain it all back. Hopefully if I continue to keep my sugar down and try to eat whole foods rather than processed foods, I can maintain for life.

I might have treated the atkins diet like a short term fix if I hadn't have found this forum. I learned about adding coconut oil to my diet to increase fat and calories. Before I added more fat to my diet, I was getting way too few calories - 900 a day. Now I think I am about 1645 - 2000 per day. I did not freak out with stalls and only did minor tweaking when I experienced a "stall" lasting more than 2 weeks. I even went up a few pounds every month. If I new I was eating what I was supposed to eat, I didn't let it get me down and I never thought of quiting the diet.

I'm still going to come on the forum. I do have a new goal and that is to change my body fat and to build muscle. My new goals will be about body fat percentage rather than "weight."

Something I have noticed is that I believe I look better at 134 than I did when I was this weight years ago.

I'll post another after picture perhaps later today or in the next few days.

Thank you all for your support, answers and corrections to my fuzzy logic I had sometimes! :D