Hi Karen,

Thanks for your support. I guess I probably was managing my emotions with carbs. I certainly was (am?) a total out of control carb addict. Although I've never been a drinker, I take this low-carb thing one day at a time, with a very similar methodology to AA.

As for how I lost all that weight: One day I was 33 years old and 387 pounds. I gasped. How did that happen! I tried to lose weight but on Weight Watchers and 1000 calories daily I managed to gain weight slowly but steadily. At best I could lose about 1/2 pound. I eventually found my way to Dr. Flancbaum at Van Italie center in Manhattan. He is probably the world's leading expert on gastric bypass surgery (a more advanced, modern version of stomach stapling. My stomach is now the size of an egg). On July 19, 1999 I went under the knife. By that point I had starved myself down to 363. I quickly got down to 250 where I stayed. Struggling I worked my way over the next year down to 218 and that was when I started Atkins. Perhaps had I done Atkins back in the beginning I would not have needed the surgery, but I don't regret my decision for an instant.

Now I'm 35 and getting used to life without carbs. I had one day of failing but 29 days of success so all in all very good. I've been using fitday.com to track my food diary and have found that I am eating between 1000-1400 calories a day. One day I did 1700 but the next I really wasn't hungry and only at about 800. I guess it all balances out in the end. According to my activity level I should be losing about 1/2 pound a day. For Aprill, that was true. I hope to do the same in May but we'll see. I'm sure I was eating the same # of calories before but could not lose weight with all those carbs. This is working.

Anyway, that pretty much sums it up. Thanks!