I was a little overweight to begin with--I was at 170 pounds when I was previously at 150--but what really got me into Atkins was gaining some 70 pounds over the course of 4 months or so when I went on a mood stabilizer to deal with my bipolar disorder. I've changed medicines since then but I'm still dealing with the aftermath. I've never been this big before in my life but I think it's taught me to appreciate how thin I really used to be.