Hi, I am Joy. I am not new to the dieting scene. I am in my mid 40s and only begin to gain weight after the birth of my first Son, when I was 18, I generally weighed around 115 to 118 pounds before getting pregnant. After giving birth, I weighed 135. Within the next two years, I gained to 170 pounds. About this same time, I went to work for a large Insurance Company. One of the Adjusters that I worked with told me that he had lost about 75 pounds on a low carbohydrate diet. He told me no pasta, bread, potatoes, anything white. I begin to eat low carb, within the first week, I noticed my clothes fitting looser on me. Then I begin to have to take safety pins to keep them up. I started around January or February of that year and by summer, I had to go back and buy new clothes to fit, I was down to Junior 5 and 7.

I did not gain any of the weight back at all. I begin to go to Pizza Inn and eat Pizza and Salad with my Family and the weight kept coming off.

I did not gain any of the weight back until I was 25 years of age. I was hit by a train in Pine Bluff Arkansas and went from approximtely 120 to 80 pounds. I had broke arms, legs, fractures to my skull, my jaws were wired, I was three months pregnant, I had a traech, broken hip and pelvic. I was in a wheelchair from April to the end of October. In November I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. After giving birth, I landed to 200 pounds. I went on a diet for two months and lost 60 pounds. I had never felt better in my life.

A few years later, I had gained back to 135 pounds. I went to a local PHysician and went on Medifast. For two months, I lived off of shakes and soups. When they begin to feed me, I really did not want to eat. I lost down to 115 pounds. Friends told me that I looked sick, you could see the wires in my face and legs.

At age 35, I begin to put weight back, I was an Adjuster for the Insurance Company and stayed on the road most of the time. I would eat biscuits, etc., from McDonalds, etc and for lunch would sometimes eat a full course meal or eat Hamburgers, fries, cokes. Over the last nine years, I have gone to Diet Center, it cost me over $1,500.00 over a eight month regimen and I only lost 15 pounds. I got discouraged and quit.

I have tried a few times to go back on low carb , everytime I have, I get discouraged or my body feels weak.

In 2000, I lost my job with the Insurance Company, going through three mergers in three years. I went from working out of my home to going back into an Office. I went back on low carb and lost about 25 pounds. For some unknown reason, I got back off of the weight.

In 2003, I lost the second job one week and my Mother in Law the next week from Cancer and eleven days later my Father in Law from Cancer.

It took me four months to find a job. I travel from my home, where my Office is to a Metro area several times a week to inspect homes, etc. I spend most of my time in the car. I am fortunate to find such a good Company to hire me two hours from their Office and putting me out of my home on the spot.

My dillemea is I need ideas to carry with me to eat or places I could go through and pick up, in case I don't have time to prepare something low carb.

HELP, MY SON HAS ANNOUNCED TO ME ON LAST EVENING THAT HE WILL BE GETTING MARRIED IN JULY, I NEED TO LOSE BIG TIME, BE HEALTHY AT THE SAME TIME ANDA WANT TO LOOK AND FEEL GREAT.

ANY HELP WILL BE SO MUCH APPRECIATED.