My Story:
I have struggled with weight issues my entire life. I would put it on and get it back off, both for extended periods. Never by using a method of dieting, exercise, or lifestyle change. I had a great deal of emotional turmoil and set backs from 2002-2009 and pretty much just let myself go. I had been holding steady around 200-220 lbs, but it started to climb. I don’t have an actual start photo. The start photo provided is from 2014 at a little over 300 lbs. From there I was put on a series of medications that had side effects of weight gain. Toward the end of July 2017 I had a doctor’s appointment. I had always been kidding myself about the weight. That I was ‘wearing it well” or that it wasn’t serious. Something about the number 336 staring back at me on the doctor’s scale broke me. I had to fix it.
I had friends who had had some success with Atkins in the past. They had given up early, but if I know one thing about myself, it’s that I’m incredibly stubborn. I got some of the books and started reading. The New Atkins Made Easy was awesome. So easy to burn through and understand. Allowed me to get started on July 31st, 2017.
The ketosis kicked in so fast. My appetite dropped immediately, which instantly curbed my binge eating. Cutting sugar was easy, I was never much of a sweets fan. And I didn’t wind up missing carbs as much as I thought. I would pre-plan my meals up to 2 weeks in advance on Atkins.com and batch prepare food for myself. Pre-planning was a game changer and made Atkins so easy.
The weight fairly rapidly fell off. And I as I reached my first sticking point, I started to hang out in the Atkins.com community. The moderators there were a huge help, and brought me more clarity of the program. Reading the book helped, but I didn’t fully understand until the mods pointed out a few areas that I had kind of twisted the wording in my head. Everything progressed at full steam ahead again.
I had slowly added in some exercise, but after the first 100 lbs had come off (about 8 months after the start) I got serious with working out. This allowed me to not only lose weight, but reshape myself. I started to develop more muscle, and that classic v-taper. My health markers also kept improving. Before a year was up, I was off all medications.
I kind of got stuck at about 185 lbs. about 15 months on the program which stuck over the Winter of 2018. I never found an ACE or CLL as I worked up through the added foods, and carbs. I finally had to stop adding carbs as I didn’t want to drop below 25-30% Fats for my macros for proper hormone production. I was eating around 2,700 cals per day too, and didn’t want to drop lower on that either. So around the end of February 2019 I started adding in calories a few hundred a week. I figured if I couldn’t lose fat, I would build muscle.
Took until around 4,500-5,000 clean calories a day to start seeing noticeable weight gain. Note: that much whole food is a huge amount. I wasn’t very happy. I kept slowly gaining and lifting weights though the mid Fall of 2019. I made it to 203 lbs, which was my intended cut off. I started a job where I walk about 12-18 miles per day and still lift weights 6 days a week. I’ve slowly cut back calories until I started losing about 1.5 lbs a week, and just adjust as it stalls. It’s the first day of 2020 and I’m down to 179 lbs. I can see the end coming for the few patches of stubborn fat I have. Even after the fat is gone, I figure about 3 more years to build the muscle I want. We’ll see how it goes.
None of it would have been as easy, or even possible, if my friends had never attempted Atkins.
Favorite Atkins Friendly Food: I love my meat and veggies. I always have 1/2 a plate of steamed veggies and around 6-8 oz of meat per meal. Be that 3 or 8 meals a day. If I have starchy carbs, I keep them on the Phase 4 Atkins Friendly list and around a cup per plate. I still stick to things like low carb bread and tortillas.My favorite Atkins product is the Caramel Double Chocolate Crunch Bar. So good. But I eat sweets so infrequently a box of them tends to last me like 6 months.
My Goals:
My goal started with just losing weight, but over time evolved into becoming overall more healthy. Now it is to reach a solid level of physical fitness and maintain it.
How Atkins Helped Get Me There: Atkins taught me how to eat again. How to watch for how foods affected me. Taught me to not freak out about water weight fluctuations. Atkins allowed me a second chance at life. I have no intentions of blowing it. People who see me eat now have no idea I'm still eating 'Atkins.' That's the difference between living the lifestyle and following the plan, as opposed to holding onto Phase 1 and the dieter mentality that 'it's the only way to lose.' Follow the plan, it will work, and you will be good with your carbs by the end.
