When I was 20, I started taking medication for depression, and gained 40 pounds in about 45 days. It was one of the most miserable experiences I've ever had. I saw the scale hovering around 200 - said to myself, "I wont let myself get over 200". At 210, I said "not over 215" and finally at 222 I said OH MY GOD! It finally sunk in that I actually weighted two hundred and twenty two pounds. I was disgusting. I went to PWC got on some scary drugs and a low fat diet, lost about 50 pounds. Decided I felt good, and didnt want to spend the money on more drugs at PWC, so I stopped going.
I gradually gained and lost weight. In 2002 I hit 220 again, but I was so awfully depressed I didnt care. In 2003 I moved out of the state was atrociously poor (2 person household on one income of $8.00/hour) so I lost weight because we had no food. That was easy, I didnt have a choice, there was nothing in the fridge so it didnt matter if I was hungry or not, I couldnt eat if I wanted to.

Move back home with my parents and slowly gained again. In December 03 I quit smoking (weighing about 180 or so) using welbutrin and ballooned again. I got to 210 and said, ya know, I promised myself a long time ago I'd never get up to 200 again, what happened? I started watching what I ate, low fat, low carb, and low cal and exercizing. Nothing happened.

I found out one day that the nasty sugar drops I felt while doing a low carb diet were "normal" and 1 week later I'd started Atkins Induction.

It just sort of hit me one day what those numbers on the scale really meant. It wasnt just some arbitrary number that wouldn't mean anything, and I could fudge if I moved the scale to a different part of the bathroom, or took all my clothes off, or went #2 before I got on the scale. I thought, ya know - if I weighed what I want to weight, 1 or 2 pounds fluctionation isn't going to mean anything, and I wont need to "trick" myself into thinking I weighed less than I did.

I've only been doing Induction for 4 days - but first of all, I'm not starving to death, and second of all I've already lost 2.5 pounds. This is easy, and I love it.