When I got to my all-time high of 170-ish and my size 16 pants were difficult to button I decided to do something about it. This was around 1997. I started changing my bad eating habits one meal at a time (this was in my LF days) and started walking. I lost down into the 120's over a 2-year period, just eating better (although I did go through the mantra "a growling stomach is good, a growling stomach is good...." due to my low-fat eating) and a huge increase in exercise.

In 1999 I went to Europe for a week and started a weight-gain trend that leveled off around 135-140 pounds. I joined e-Diets and starved on a 1300 calorie diet to try and get back down into the 120's, unsuccessfully. Then two years ago I was at a technology conference out of town and suffering during all the long seminars and workshops because my size 8 jeans were too tight and it was downright uncomfortable to sit all day. The first evening there I found a bookstore, bought DANDR, and started to read it there in the hotel room. That was it for me. When I got back home I got rid of the carbs and loaded up on the right foods.

It took me two tries though, to get it right. When I lost the weight the first time around I foolishly thought I was "done" with the diet, went back to my old eating habits, and the jeans got too tight again. Last summer I started again, realizing that this isn't a diet, but a WOL.