Hello all,

I'm a newbie here...just found the forum today.

I picked up the Atkins book 4 or 5 yrs. ago, read it and got pretty stoked about it. I weighed 232 and, over the course of about 3-4 months, reduced my weight to 200. I was proud of that, but didn't really stay with the program.

Anyways, since that time, I've gone up and down (mostly up), yo-yo-ing and at the beginning of this new year found myself at 240lbs. Well, I just turned 39, so on my birthday, I resolved to get into the best shape of my life by 40. I did this once before on my 25th birthday; I resolved to quit smoking (cigarettes) and have been an ex-smoker ever since!

So, I've decided to adapt the Atkins eating plan again and here I am. My wife hasn't enjoyed the same success on Atkins, although I don't believe she gave it enough time. Anyway, she is concerned about me being on it again because a few stories have circulated about it adversely affecting some people's health, maybe even contributing to a couple of deaths.

I'm not at all convinced of this....conversely, I feel that the Atkins plan is basically eating the food God put here for us to eat in the first place and not eating all the other packaged and processed junk that litters our grocer's shelves.

So, I'll now begin to comb through these threads, reading all your posts and hopefully finding the inspiration and encouragement I need to be a faithful Atkins eater once again!

Good Luck and Good Eating to you all!