Hi everyone,

Here's my story.

A couple of months ago a spontaneous headache lasted three days. I've never had migrains before but this one kept me in bed with the blinds drawn. Initial visits to the GP, a haemotologist, an ultrasound and various bloodwork educated me in the terms 'neutrophils' and 'fatty liver'. After further tests everything turned out OK, but the experience spooked me. My GP, a lovely lady and an ex-marathon runner, said, 'Cut the drinking'. The haematologist, after asking my weight (235lb/6'1"), said 'That's rediculous. Loose weight'.

At least they were honest.

A couple of weeks later, after ignoring their advice, I went for a time trial 4km swim but got out of the pool at 2km, exhausted and disappointed. I was not fit. In fact, I had put ON weight during my swim training. I attributed this to poor diet and not enought consistency in my swimming.

That was one week ago today.

When I got into the office I went to talk to our Chairman. Although he was only slightly overweight, he had been on an LC diet, lost 24lb and looked great. Our CTO, who definately was overweight but works in another office so we never see him. He amazed everyone at the Christmas party by turning up 66lb lighter. His clothes (He had not done the big reshop yet) were hanging off him.

That was enough for me. I started that morning. Atkins. Cold turkey on caffeine and alcohol too.

I felt hungry for day 1 & 2. Uncomfortable headaches too, which I put down to the combination of quitting sugar and caffeine concurrently. Made it hard to concentrate on intellectual work for those 2 days, but the desire to flush my system combined with the realization of this subtle dependency pushed me through. At the end of day 2 I caught a miserable head cold which, combined witht the headaches, wiped me out when I got home. This was the low point.

Through the first week I've been living on a staple of bacon, eggs and tomato for breakfast, a big veggie salad lunch with meat and cheese thrown in and dinners of steaks, sausages and a couple of steamed veggies. My cravings pretty much had disappeared. I have a family so the kitchen is loaded with everything you can expect, chocolates, bread, cookies, milk, ice cream - I just don't touch it. I've always been a big red wine fan but so far I've been pulling to corks out for my wife who sits there appeciatingly but never having seen my pour a glass without joining her.

Truthfully, temptation was still there (esp. the wine!) but I just could not believe that I could loose weight with what I had been eating. In fact, I was worried that at the end of week 1 I would be heavier. So, I stuck to Atkins, although my veggie intake was pretty big (I don't think I stuck to the 20gm strictly).

This morning came. First weigh in after 1 week. 7lb gone. Somewhere. I don't know where. It just vanished.

Maybe I'm a bit of a skeptic, but so far so good. It's coming up to Christmas which is always a challenging time for eating well but there is no time like the present. You can't beat the feeling of renewed energy, which is returning more than ever after the initial jolt.

My wife dug up a picture of me on a surboard 15 years ago at 180lb and stuck in on the fridge. You have to smile about those things.

Congrats on the loss Tornado and welcome to the board.

Hi, Tornado! Your story is truly inspiring, and here's wishing you the best success!

Now, how's this for a couple of success stories in the making? One brother-in-law started Atkins the first part of October at 265 pounds. He's currently down to 225-230. My own husband started the first of October at 205, and right now he's at about 192, working on 185.

You just keep doin' what you're doin' and you will make it!

Thanks for the welcome coolazchic. I'll be watching your progress!

LilaCotton, looks like your whole group is having great success. Looking at the pounds lost there is impressive. Even more impressive is the before and after waist size. This is where it really hit home for me. In another life my waist was 32". I had been overseas for a few years where I put on weight. When I got back my mother brought a pair of pants around that she had found (Only a Mother would keep these.) Just looking at them brought it home for me. When you look at what you used to get into and can't even fit one leg into it's hard to believe you were that person.

In some ways waist size is a better guage of progress than weight. Clearly you can kid yourself if you want to, but there's no doubting the discomfort you feel when you start to outgrow your clothes and your wearable wardrobe shrinks. Being able to fit into the seven beautiful suits I have but have not been able to fit into for years is one of my goals. I distintly recall the first time I put one on at the tailor, thinking, 'This is too baggy, take it it', and the tailor telling me that I needed a little room for comfort and that it would be fine. Well, there's a big gap between both sides of the zipper now. How did this happen??? (I know exactly how. Years of overindulgence).

Just one waist size will be a big victory I think.

Tornado, congrats on your loss. This woe will help renourish your body in ways that many ( if not most ) diets cannot boast of. "Weight" until you have blood work done and see how righteous those numbers will be.
Keep it up and why don't you visit the recepes board for some cooking ideas?

Black57

Tornado,
Welcome and congratulations on your loss! Make sure that you are drinking lots of water too... it helps in so many ways.
You definitely have my respect for doing this with a houseful of cheat foods! I cleaned my house right out before I started doing Atkins, and DH has been doing it with me since day 1 (even though he didn't really need to lose much weight).
Welcome to the boards, hope to see you around some more!!

Cheers,
Jenn