Harvard Medical School & U of CA Study: Having Fat Friends Makes You Fat!

In a study of 12,067 individuals and 38,611 of their friends and relatives it was determined that fat people have fat friends and family. OK - more than that. They discovered what they believe is an actual causal relationship.

It goes without saying that fat people might have fat friends and family. Family members might share the same genetics, the same upbringing, the same environment, fondness for the same types of foods, and would likely have the same instruction and examples from their parents growing up.

Overweight people having overweight friends is also something that on the face of it would seem obvious to me. It's not like someone who is seriously morbidly obese is going to be hanging out with all the athletes and fitness fanantics (or more to the point, visa versa). Anyone who has been there knows the stigma of being overweight. Those who discriminate against folks who are overweight are likely to not want to have them as their closest buds. Let's face it.

But supposedly this study, conducted by Harvard Medical School and the University of California has factored all that into their study, and has determined that there is a causal relationship actually in effect. One person in the study gets heavier and as a result their friend is likely to get heavier too. According to this study, in same sex friendships, where one person put on weight, the other is 71% more likely to put on weight as well. I wonder if it is in part that people tend to have friends their own age and folks at certain ages tend to put on weight (women have babies, men get too busy at work for softball and regular excercise,...).

If the study is correct, I guess it all goes to the power of influence we all have. I would imagine we all don't even have an inkling about how much we influence others. As a general statement, I would bet that even those that are beyond our immediate sphere of influence are affected by us, and may have never even met us before!!

We all know this at some level (conscious or unconscious). Just look at how concerned parents are when their kids starts running with kids who might not be a positive influence on them! And how happy we are when they are with really good kids (well behaved, successful, positive, happy, well adjusted, respectful, etc). This is especially true when they start dating and begin shopping around for a husband or wife (times a thousand)!!

I know that when I meet someone who tells me about an exciting new movie, or a good new restaurant, or some new activity that is really working for them I pay attention - and if it makes sense I might even jump in and try it (for better or worse). This is especially true of folks who are enthusiastic and have alot of facts and reasons to back up thier arguments.

At work we recently worked for a couple of months with a couple people who were rabidly enthusiastic about the Apple Macintosh laptop computers. It wasn't long before we were plotting on how we could buy one. As a result (in this one example) I believe that the wives of at least two of my coworkers (who met and listened to the Mac-o-Philes/Mac-Vangelists) now enjoy computing on Macs instead of PC's! All as a result of the exposure of my team to the influence of these two fired-up people. Hey, as a result... I'd LOVE to get one for myself!! :sigh:

Before I started eating low carb I watched a bunch of folks go on diet after diet. When someone was particularly effective I would ask what they were doing. It peaked my initial interest in this low carb way of losing weight, eating, and living. They included a couple of folks at work, my very own brother, and a new doctor I met due to some health circumstances. So even I am here where I am as a result of the influence of others.

Once I started losing weight I was waiting for someone to notice. Nobody did for a long time. I lost 10 lbs. Nothing. 20 lbs - Zip! It took some fairly longish time for the very first people to notice. That is probably on account of how large I was to start with (Around 410 lbs). A big giant overweight fellow. When you start out lsoing weight being that heavy, as a percentage it probably takes a bit more weight loss to be noticeable to others. When you do something like this - you do actually WANT to have your weight loss at least noticed by others!! And it is awesome to actually think about potentially having some influence on others in a positive way too! To be able to help others move towards better health and a better life!

In a few months (November) I will be a year into this and I am about 89 lbs down now and I am really only just starting to get lots of comments from folks at church, at work, and who just know me casually. It is so refreshing to hear folks ask me about my weight loss - FINALLY!! :smile: I have a very long way to go. I may be doing this for another couple years before I hit GOAL/rock bottom (if the Lord tarries and allows me to live that long).

Hopefully, I will be able to have the same positive influence on my family, friends, coworkers, church members, and acquaintences as well! And hopefully some of the great new changes I have made in my life over this past year will also be something to encourage others to give Atkins or low carb life a try!! Today I am aware that a brother in-law has gone on the program, and my brother has reportedly restarted after getting off the plan for a bit. Who'd a thunk it?

IHT report on the Harvard Medical School and University of CA study:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/25/healthscience/fat.php

The Good Doctor Atkins

I sure am happy that Doctor Robert C. Atkins developed and promoted the Atkins low carb approach to eating and living!

I know that he didn't "invent" the concept of low carb eating himself, as at least some people have likely eaten low carb for many, many thousands of years! Take the Inuit (for example) and other groups of people on the planet who have subsisted on a primarily low carb diet for ages.

Doctor Atkins did develop a specific plan towards eating low carb that (I believe) is healthy and so very easy to follow, and produces tremendous results. More importantly, it is a sustainable way of eating and living for the long term! Doctor Atkins, along with William Banting and countless other low carb legends are responsible for so many people losing weight and attaining improved health and vitality in their lives (including me) - for which I am so tremendously appreciative!!!

It just riles me that some folks out there are under the misconception that the late Doctor Atkins died of heart problems or in any way as a result of his diet - or that are knowingly spreading misinformation about the doctor or the diet program. I know lots of folks have written about this, but I thought I ought to do my part to correct misinformation out there regarding his death and the merits of the way of eating he proposed.

Here are some excellent links for those who might want to read about this online:

USATODAY.com - Atkins wasn't obese, hospital file shows

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-02-10-atkins_x.htm

Statements on Atkins' death

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-02-10-atkins-statements_x.htm

Snopes.com - Death of a Diet Doctor

http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/atkins.asp

As I go through my life and see so many enormously obese people - morbidly obese, without hope, in dispair, with lousey and deteriorating health I want to shout from the housetops that there is hope! That this plan works! That *YOU* C-A-N DO THIS!!!!

It is easy!!! EASY!!!! It doesn't have to be an awful struggle or a white-knuckle test of wills. Losing weight and improving your health doesn't have to be a giant endurance test of starvation and desperation! You don't have to be hungry all the time! You don't have to excercise yourself into the ground! There is a way you can lose weight, get healthier, and not suffer or feel so deprived (as you have to do on so many weight loss programs)!

The folks who spread this misinformation - whether they are sincerely misinformed or have an agenda... are potentially affecting the lives of so many folks who can be helped by this way of eating! I hope that the links posted above clear up any questions any reader may have about this... and may be able to open someone's eyes about the tremendous benefit to the Atkins low carb way-of-eating and weight-loss program.

Granted - even if Doctor Atkins was the very picture of health, ...or, even if he was not - the relevance of any single individual is probably not statistically highly relevant in evaluating the efficacy of any of the many ways of eating, dieting, or weight loss. The many, many folks that have consistently lost weight on low carb ways of eating, who have maintained their weight losses over the long term, and the many scientific studies that have concluded that the Atkins and similar low carb diets *ARE* effective - are the real measure of the effectiveness of this program!!

Like Finding Money in Your Pocket!

Found Money! Isn't that the best most exciting thing? You are going through some of your old stuff, maybe an old suitcoat or pants or a jacket you haven't worn in a long, long time - and there it is! A wad of money long forgotten. HUZZAH! WONDER OF WONDERS! It is like winning the lottery on a much smaller scale (of course). This hasn't happened to me often in my entire life, but found money is a wonderful thing!

So, ...I didn't actually find money. What I did find (still in it's original unopened plastic wrapper) a box called "The Essential Atkins for Life Kit", that my wife had purchased long ago and stuck on a counter next to alot of our cookbooks and similar books. I just noticed it for the first time! I could hardly wait to open it and thumb through all the secrets and hidden treasures that lay inside.

It contained an Audio CD called "Atkins - Staying Motivated for Life", some handy references ("Choosing the Right Carbs for Life" and "Staying on Track for Life - Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Lifetime Maintenance"), a bunch of LC recipes, and alot of good advice on living the low carb life. I will probably be going through this for the next month or more pouring over things and maybe trying a recipe or two or three.

Kindof a very nice surprise! My wife got it on sale at "Books a Million" ages ago, she said. I had no idea!!! "Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Maintaining a Low Carb Lifestyle, Permament Weight Loss, and Optimal Health", it reads on the front cover. For some reason I had never ever seen this before! Opening the wrapper was a little like Christmas!

I have already listened to the first few tracks on the CD and it was kinda nice to hear the voice of Doctor Robert C. Atkins himself as well as some others talking about the Atkins program, the results seen, and about the program itself and how it works.

Now this is really a kit for ongoing maintenance as the carb counts indicated are for 45, 60, 80, and 100 Net Carbs - something WAAAAAY Waaaaay beyond what I need to be doing right now. I am needing to be alot closer to induction levels to continue to lose. Recently my carbs creeped up to the levels mentioned in this program and my losses slowed and probably even stopped. Ketosis was extinguished or at the very least slowed down. Now I think I am getting back on track and am watching closely as my weight is once again moving downwards. It has taken a bit for me to tweak my menu hard enough to put the breaks on the excessive carbs and get things back in swing again. It probably took a week to get rockin again - and the juries still out. I will be convinced when I break past my last low to new territory and start seeing my losses at the old familiar level.

Someone else indicated that a phrase had already been coined for this phenomena - carb creep. Well, that's just what I let happen around the magins (no donuts, just cheese, nuts, and other things a little too much, too often). And so I am now doing something that is proving to undue carb creep - some personalized course correction and mental adjustment, and increased metrics on what I am doing. Holding myself accountable. Bad decisions lead to bad outcomes. God's absolute law in effect, You reap what you sow! Sowing higher carbs reaps a stall. ARGH!

Anyhow, even though this Kit is meant probably for Ongoing Maintenance, and is not for the phase of Atkins where I am at right now (at least not by my own tracking and measurement) it is still appreciated and a neat find! I can still learn how to eat low carb for life, and to maintain whatever I manage to lose (hopefully a great deal more than I have lost already)!

And it is motivational! One thing I have noticed that many low carb heros (I admire) do, is to constantly read and learn about this way of eating/living. They read the science and studies going on. Books by experts. Information about related diet plans. Books about the psychology of changing how we think and act.

Some are nearly amatuer nutritional experts, and a few actually are recognized experts. Others mearly learn a little more info, techniques, tips, etc, as they continue eating low carb to ensure that they make better choices, they stay motivated and on-track, and so that they avoid pitfalls. There is nothing like thinking you have arrived to derail you in whatever you are doing! You always have to continually work to improve at everything!! I have found that true in many areas of my life. You are either going forwards or backwards. Making progress or losing ground.

The Time's: They Are A Changin'

I dunno - but I think things have been slowin down for me lately. My wife has noticed it herself and has commented to me on it. She thinks I am stuck in the 330's. I am spending more time here than I have at weights previously, I think. My rate of loss has slowed some. I am still losing. I am on the verge of busting into the 320's, still. Just way more slowly. I noticed I am about down another belt notch lower than the last one, and it is about time to drill more holes or get a smallerish belt. That is one good thing!

The cycling of my weight up and down has continued - retaining water weight and riding up, then dropping down to new lows. But I am dropping less lately than before. On one cycle recently I noticed a .4 lb drop (POINT FOUR) from one new low to the next!!! Still it **IS** in the right direction.

ARGH!! I have been getting disgusted enough that I stopped logging my daily weight (something I probably shouldn't do I suppose) and have mostly been logging my weight online when it hits new lows.

I am probably getting to the point where things I did in the past with impunity - still losing weight - I can no longer get away with. I have been reading online alot and thinking about things. Am I in a stall? Have I just hit a levelling off period? Or do I need to crank things up or cut things back just to get things going again??

I am not eating massive amounts of carbs. My average is still 1.9 lbs loss a week since January, but still lately I am certainly doing somewhat less which is frustrating. I still have plenty of bodyfat tho. So it's not even like I am leveling out at rock bottom!

I have been contemplating all kinds of things. Beginning to work-out or doing something to raise my metabolic rate. Jumping on to some lower calories low carb thing to bust things loose (perhaps do a Kimkins or a M/E kinda thing for a short period)? It's probably just me needing to cut back on the cheese and salad stuff a bit. Get more ON PROGRAM than I have been lately. I probably haven't been counting carbs tightly enough, and that is perhaps the deal. I haven't been going nose-down into carbs, but maybe overdoing it on cheese or the salad bar or the like. I may need to get back on fitday and do some fascist level logging of things and tracking day to day much harder.

The past couple of days I have had the stomach flu bug. Massive intestinal disruption in very socially unacceptable contexts (if you know what I mean). I have had a bad headache and stomach ache. I am hoping that going through this might be enough to propel me into 320-land. We'll see.

Hanging in there. Keeping on Keeping on. Staying the course.

Extra! Extra! Read all About It!! Diets in the News...

You can't help but notice a number of recent diet related news articles recently popping up in your newspaper, or on Google News, or in your local TV or Radio News spots.

"Stanford Study Declares Atkins the Winner!" declares one...

In a recent coupla-million dollar study comparing the Atkins diet and several others (the Ornish Diet, the Zone Diet, and the LEARN Diet) the Atkins was found to be the one with the longest lasting and best results. As I understand it, participants of the study were selected to try one of the diets, and were trained in how to do (eat/live) the diet program. Then they were not rigorously managed through the diet process, but left to their own devices for a period of time. In the end, only the Atkins diet had the longest lasting results, and only the Atkins and LEARN diet participants continued weight loss after the six month period from starting the program. Some excellent articles have been written in low carb blogs about the results, about the comments made by various leading nutritional experts, etc. It is well worth looking into if you had not seen this previously.

An additional spate of recent articles proclaim that "Diets don't work". A new study conducted by Dr. Tracy Mann (a professor at UCLA) and her students was recently published in an edition of the journal "American Psychologist" finds that for most people, dieting just doesn't work. They examined the results of approximately 31 diet related studies that had at least one year of follow up data. They found that 41% of people who go on diets end up gaining the weight back and put on **additional weight** from the place they started.

This is something I often noticed and told my wife about every time she told this fatbody about someone elses recent diet. "Just sit back and wait", I would tell her. They will gain it all back, AND THEN SOME shortly. I was never never ever wrong about this, to my recollection. This is one of the reasons I waited so long to pick a plan of weight loss. I wanted something that could last a lifetime, or at least for a very long time - before I started. I met a doctor who kept the weight off for ten years on this way of eating before I started this, and have since met other low carb heros who have lost a hundred or more pounds and have kept it off long term with a low carb way of eating.

The last couple of days there have been a spate of articles stating that the predilection for some to gain weight may be genetic and not the fault of the fat person. That may be. I wonder if this is somehow in response to the articles and studies proclaiming diets don't work...

Anyhow, I am not on a diet. I am on a way of eating and a way of life. So I have nothing to worry about! What say you?

I think I MUST be a TIGGER!

I feel like Tigger on Whinney The Pooh!

350.2 lbs this morning!

"Bouncey bouncey, bouncey bouncey, fun fun fun fun fun! The most wonderful thing about Tigger's - is I'm the only one!"

I am certainly bouncey!!!

"Bouncing is what Tiggers do best!"

I really must be a Tigger!

From WikiPedia:

Pooh states once that "He always seems bigger because of his bounces", implying that the other animals think of Tigger as being larger than he truly is.

"Tiggers don't like honey."

(yep - that's the low carb Tigger talkin!)

Sounds about right...

Beware the Heffalump's ! And Woozle's!

(honey eating monsters!)

"T-I-double-guh-err (T,i,gg,r) , which spells Tigger."

PLEASE STAND BY for this Important Announcement!

This morning I weighed and was 350.2 lbs! My wife told me I should have stood over the sink and spit till I had lost a few ounces (I couldn't tell if she was serious or joking). I just figure another week or two and I will easily be down in "340's-Land". That will be nice!

My wife has been joking with me lately telling me that I'll be in my 70's and 80's still trying to break 350 lbs. It does seem like it is a long time coming, compared to losses I experienced before. But it is coming, and the trending is right, so I am sticking with the plan.

If all holds "true-to-form" I will spend a day or two tops at the new low, then BLOOOOOOP! on up to 4-5 lbs over, then the next day a couple pounds more. After that I start losing a couple pounds a day until I hit new lows again. It is a cycle that is happening over and over again. I am waiting to see some really remarkable drops again.

I have read Victoria Shephard's blog (http://stumblingtobethlehem.blogspot.com/) where she talks about the "Whoosh Fairy". I don't know about fairies and leprechaun's and unicorns and other mythical creatures (OK, I do..., and I Do Not believe in them!) - but I would love to see some more "whooshing" going on here. There is nothing quite as rewarding as watching the scale and pounds whoosh away!! I may pray a little and jiggle things around a little in my diet to see if I can get this bouncing around to stop and more whooshing to happen.

One kind friend and reader suggested pasta dinner might trigger another whoosh, but I am a big giant chicken. I have been mostly cheat free since I started. I say "mostly" since I allow myself to indulge in cheese on occasion, but I doubt I am exceeding my carb limits much, if at all. I may occasionally go over induction levels (~20 grams of carbs), but I am pretty sure I am not going over OWL (on-going weight loss) levels (~40 grams of carbs).

Anyhow, I am mostly happy with the forward (downward) progress with my weight, and am hanging in there. Though if I REALLY KNEW a plate of pasta would put me back into a whoosh-land loss again, I would be CHEATING like a really bad-actor, and eating that pasta!

One nice thing happened today. I had to preach at my local church tonight, and my wife brought out some old suits from the closet I haven't worn in about eight years or so. Maybe not that long, but I think so. Anyhow, the interesting thing was that they actually FIT!!! Yeah, the pants were a little bit tight, but they fit just the same. So I got to wear a nice suit tonight instead of my ussual Dockers and business casual attire. That felt nice! A little more down and they will fit well! It will be nice to be able to wear some of my old suits!!

Anyhow, I am going to bag it. Busy weekend and I am all tuckered out!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my little blogfest and mini news update!!

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LATE BREAKING NEWS!
We Interrupt this program....

This morning I broke 350.0 lbs and weighed in at 347.4 lbs!

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

Forward Progress! Steady As She Goes!

Well, I finally got past 352.0 this morning. Seems like the past few weeks I have been bouncing against barriers to my progress. I will be 352.0 for two mornings in a row, then BLOOOOP on up to 356 or 354.8 for no apparent reason. It is frustrating as I am staying low carb, avoiding all the evil-nastybad-awful things but my body is still doing odd things.

This morning I was down to 351.2 lbs. Lowest weight ever for me in "Who Knows How Long?". I gotta tell ya, it felt GREAT to see those numbers. I am waiting to break through below 350.0 lbs, but it isn't coming as fast and as easy as it did a couple of months ago.

One friendly reader surmised that perhaps I need to up my carbs, just a little. She may have something there. I have been keeping pretty tight control over them, trying to not let them get outa control and into "dropping out of ketosis-land". Still I am seeing forward progress overall, and that is the main thing!!

I checked my blood pressure last weekend for the first time since I started this way of eating and living. I was at 128 over something in the 90's on my best reading. While that may not be great for many folks, for me it is wonderful! I knew it had to be lower, but it was nice to see it for myself. I have run from the high 130's through as high as 160 on the top number in the past (the higher numbers if I took cold meds, or was under mega-stress, which happens occasionally). The bottom number has been in the mid-to-high 90's and maybe 80's at it's best.

I have had so many benefits since I started eating this way. I don't get all jittery if my blood sugar drops too low anymore, or sleepy and drowsy headed if I eat alot. Blood sugar is really steady and I feel great since gluconeogenesis provides the blood sugar it's supply. It is so regulated to the amount I need to feel good!

Also I have not had to take Prilosec or Alka Seltzer (sorry antacid manufacturers) as I no longer am having reflux, acid shoot up my esophagus, or any of the stomach acid problems I had before! I was one of the Alka Seltzer companies biggest customers I am sure - probably have to lay off a few thousand workers on their assembly lines now. Sure feel sorry about all that!

I also had to go out and purchase a tool to drill some new holes in my belts, as I had gone down well past the end of them and they were getting loose on me. THAT IS A WONDERFUL FEELING!!!! I want to keep one of my belts as I drill hole after hole to be able to see myself how far I have come as I lose down to lower inches and pounds.

And one other new and exciting thing happened... my wife had to make a "ring snuggy" for me out of some tape, as my wedding band was about flying off my hand every time I moved it to do something. THAT IS ALSO A WONDERFUL FEELING!!! Even my fingers are getting a little smaller, tho the cold weather is also a factor I am sure. Still, I haven't had THAT particular problem before!

Thanks to all how stop by here to check on me and see how I am doing! I AM DOING GREAT! I am loving life and living well on my low carb life. I am about to the point when people are starting to notice at work a little bit. I had my first question asking if I was losing weight from a coworker the other day. It was nice since I had lost around 50 lbs by that point, and you would think surely ***someone*** would notice my shirts getting baggier, my belt pulled tighter, my neck shrinking inside my collar, etc.

But being so heavy at the start (and still being really heavy) it will probably take even a while longer still for most folks to notice. I am OK with that. It gives me something to look forward to!

Messin Around with Spreadsheets...

Well, it is something to analyze the data points I have already and to project where I might end up and when. Of course this **is** imperfect science, but it still is something to focus on and hold on to mentally as I face the continuing challenge of working to reach goal weight.

I basically searched my computer and best I can tell, I must have started this weight loss around the beginning of November 2006. I wasn't even sure, except that I knew I must have started after the middle of October. I found some info I downloaded about the Atkins diet on October 28th, and I think I started not too long after that.

Based on this I wonder if I didn't start out at over 400lbs, perhaps 410 or so. I will never know for certain, but based on my current rate of loss and the timeframe - it is possible. Anyhow, at whatever weight I started (and that is all hypothesis, since I didn't have a scale that would weigh me then anyhow, and I was already into my weight loss before I weighed across two mechanical scales at ~370 lbs), I have enough real data from multiple weighings to know what rate I am losing at currently. I had my nice digital scale from 370 lbs on.

If I continue to sustain weight loss at this rate I can postulate an optimistic date that I will hit goal weight (which currently is about 170lbs). This is probably unlikely and a little overly optimistic. Still there are others who have lost similar large amounts of weight in a relatively short timeframe.

Chances are though, it will take me somewhat longer to get there, as the rate of loss is likely to slow as I near goal weight (I would assume). Also, most people encounter a weight loss stall (or several) as they try to lose down to their goal weight. So I generated an estimate based on a more conservate loss of weight overall, that might take this into account. I now have a good series of high and low benchmarks (brackets) to compare myself against and to overlay my actual weights against - and see how my progress is going.

I may also find that I am overly optimistic about my goal weight at some point, and have to move that up to a higher weight at some point - but I am going to try to shoot for it (170 lbs) and see how healthy I look and feel (and am) as I get nearer to it. It is an ambitious goal. I weighed more than that when I graduated High School.

Optimistic Weighing: Musings on an Honest Scale...

Weighing are the metrics of my new weight loss. Keeping score. Standing in judgement - quite literally. There are all kinds of ways to do it, I suppose.

I have found that I and many others have a tendancy to weigh early in the morning. When we have gone the longest without food, after getting rid of the byproducts of the days eating and drinking gone before. And yeah, ...weighing buck-naked - no weight from any clothes or shoes, I even take my watch off. When I am at my lowest possible weight of the day.

During the day I find that my weight may fluctuate as much as 3-7 lbs from my weight in the early morning. And day to day it fluctuates up and down, though mostly down. The past couple of weeks it has been really bad as I have been fighting water retention and/or weight gain for some reason. My calves have been getting really swollen, and once I lose the water weight I see I am still going down over all. I drink alot, and I think I need to. But for some reason on some days I seem to be retaining alot of the fluids.

I suppose it might be more honest to weigh in the middle of the day, or at the end of the day. It would seem to be more honest - as really for most of the day I am weighing higher than I report from my morning weigh-in. But I still need to see myself at my lowest weight during the day, and if I am weighing consistently at the same time I guess it is OK. I guess I am going for the most positive and optimistic reading I can.

The other area of honesty is when you are on the scale. It is hard to resist standing on the scale in certain ways to make the scale read the lower number or the higher number. I am trying hard to stand there flat on the middle and take my medicine. But I so want it to be the lower number that sometimes I catch myself wanting to see the lower number by shifting on the scale a bit. I am trying to resist this type of dishonesty too, by not doing that (though the differences are only in a couple of ounces).

It is funny how badly we (those of us engaged in losing weight) want to see the lowest possible number on that scale tho. And how important it is for me. And how important it is to have an honest number. Good metrics. But also how important the encouragement of seeing positive momentum is, how important positive thought and self-talk is, and even encouragement from others.

Random Thoughts & Reflections

It is funny. I have been talking about going on a diet ever since I met my wife (over 8 years ago). I have no idea how much I weighed when I married her, but it is a safe bet that I weighed much less than I do now. I was never really ready to pull the trigger, because having gone through this kinda thing once before (lost >100 lbs and kept it off over 2 years) I am aware of how much effort and commitment this really takes. I told her that I knew I could do this, and that I would do this, but I never really got around to it. I guess I was afraid that starting without the level of laser-like focus, drive, concentration, and motivation would mean failure.

After all these years of bloating on up to higher and higher weights, I finally felt I had to do something and make a change. It wasn't some major crisis in my life that made me do it. It wasn't any ultimatum from my wife or others. I just knew I had to do something. I was getting large (OK, Gargantuan) and was having more and more health problems related to my weight and health. And the thought of wanting to be here for my kids in the long run (like over the next 10-20 years or more) was an impetus, and if not, to at least be able to secure some life insurance for the wife and kids at some point.

While I believe that God sets our span on earth, and that this is regardless of what we want or do to a large degree (I never believed in all these anti-aging and preservation programs people are after, wanting to extend their lives or in some cases live forever on this earth), I do believe though that God does also do things in conjunction with immutable laws he has set up - things like you will "Reap what you sow".

So, I finally figured it was time to stop sowing donuts and Cokes and sweets and all my beloved pastas and breads and all, reaping piles of fat and weight gain and health problems, and change my life. My lifestyle. My eating style. Whatever. And I have embraced the low carb lifestyle. Atkins style eating is pretty much what I am doing. I am probably moderating my life somewhere between the induction phase and the OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss) phase, trying to mostly keep my carb count to 20 or less, and I figure if I am overdoing it ever, I am pretty sure of being at 40 or less carbs each day.

The Atkins Low Carbohydrate Way of Eating

It is pretty simple. Meat (hamburger, beef hot dogs, bacon, ham, turkey, fish, sausage, chicken, etc). Some Cheese (within limits and with moderation). Some nuts (low salt, not peanuts and cashews so much, but almonds, macadamias, etc). Low glycemic veggies (green beans, broccoli, pickles, olives, salads with oil and vinegar, etc) in regular and deliberate inclusion in the daily diet, with moderation. Plus some vitamins and nutrititional supplements.

I have eaten 4500 calories in a day and lost weight. Probably because I am so large this is working for me, but I am full and hardly ever hungry on this diet (Way of Eating) and am steadily losing weight (over 40 lbs down at this point, and working on being 50 lbs down) and I am feeling better each day.

Friends & the Support You Get and Don't Get

It's funny who in your life will support you when you do these things, who believes you are bound to fail (or will reserve comment or support or interest until you get so far into this), and who it is who will mock you and poke fun at you and be basically a big giant negative force in your life.

I have been reading personal stories of interaction with these types of folks online in the TDC (Triple Digits Club) support forum at the forums.lowcarber.ca site lately and have had a couple of personal experiences with real jerky people lately myself. I guess that isn't a unique phenomemon. I guess the premise for these folks is, "make yourself feel good by making someone else feel bad". Wow. What a concept. I suppose we have all done that to others at some time ourselves (or many times, if we were 100% honest with ourselves). Still it pretty much stinks to feel tarred and feathered and mocked and laughed at by others. Some people are fairly cruel and low-life. I still remember the kids who did this kind of thing to me at times when I was young in school. It really sticks with you, for the rest of your life - even if you couldn't care less about the people doing it. It's funny why their opinion should matter to you or why it should affect you, but it does just the same.

It takes all kinds in this world, and my life is pretty much surrounded by all of them. Sure, most people are pretty indifferent, and I wouldn't expect it to be necessarily a big deal for them - if they didn't much care about you. It just depends on how much someone likes you, is rooting for you, and hoping for the best for you. But it is also pretty interesting to have folks reveal their hearts to you in how they act and speak towards you, and to take note of that.

Here's to the Nice People!

I am extremely glad for a few Christian friends, a couple good folks at work, my wife, my parents, my father in-law and mother in-law, and my kids and all the love and support they give me.

Thanks too for those who drop in here to support me in my own personal quest.

It matters so much to me! Thank You!!!

Getting all Evangelistic about Low Carb: Drinking the Kool-Aid

I am also a bit perplexed as to how I should behave on this personal program of weight loss, healthy eating, and self improvement. I have watched so many people lose weight over and over again. Yo-yo dieters. My wife would say, "Look at so and so, they've lost so much weight on LA Weight Loss" or some other program. I would always say, "Give it some time, and watch and wait. They'll gain it all back and THEN SOME". And I was always always right about this. Yeah, I probably haven't been the most supportive person myself in the past either. These folks would be dancing around celebrating their weight loss for a little bit, then back to the donuts and BLOOOP! They would explode back up past where they started. I kept seeing this and didn't want this for myself.

It is hard to fight your body, as God made it just so - to preserve your life in difficult times, and to adapt to changing circumstances. All the little regulators in your brain, glands, DNA or whatever are always trying to help you live. If you starve it, the body (brain or whatever) slows the metabolism and adjusts - so that when you go back to eating like always you shoot right back to where you started (and then some).

This is one of the reasons I think I waited to get on the stick so long myself (fear of bloating back on up above where I started, and what that would mean to me). I never wanted to be one of those people that has to have the fire department come and get them out of their house to the hospital or something (as they are so heavy). And fear of starting when I wasn't 100% committed to this, as I know from my own past efforts that it can be really really hard to lose weight and maintain it long term.

Well, once I met folks that had lost the weight and kept it off with this way of eating for ten years or more, and once I heard my own brother lost weight (~80 lbs) in a few months time, I was ready. And guess what?

It isn't really all that hard this time!! I am not starving. I am not having irresistable cravings. I don't feel washed out, light headed, deprived, etc. In fact, I feel great, am eating, am comfortable and feel full all day, and my health has improved dramatically (especially my blood sugar issues, frequent stomach acid problems, acid reflux, etc).

One thing I have always hated about many DIETERS is the way they seem to turn into CULT-LIKE fanatical people about their diet. It always made me uncomfortable, and I always watched so many of them yo-yo back on up later.

I sorta feel like I am becoming one of those people, all excited about this way of eating and I can't help but feel great about it and to express myself about it. I am trying to not make others feel bad about themselves or overdo it. But I can't help but tell my wife and a couple others how great they might feel if they did this - not even to lose weight, but even just to get control of their blood sugar issues and health issues they are going through.

I hope that if you are reading this you won't count me into the camp of annoying cult-like fanatical people about my way of eating. No doubt about it, I am excited about this and I do want to share this with others! Still there is something about selling flowers on the streetcorners and at airports... (smile) that I am not so comfortable with.

I started this blog just as an excercise of focus and an outlet for me while I am doing this for myself. I am glad if you read this and benefit from this in any way. I sure feel great about how I feel, and how this way of eating is working out for me. I appreciate your support and interest in reading this. If you are kicking around the idea about doing this, I hope you would read about it, learn all you can about it and jump in and try it. The water is fine! And what have you got to lose anyhow by trying it?

And if this way of eating isn't for you - That's OK too. I know that not everybody has my body type, my problems with health issues and with weight gain, and most are probably doing "just fine" on their own. I can live with that.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Can't you just hear Julie Andrews singing that song from the Sound of Music? Well, listen harder, then!

Actually, I thought it might be good to mention some of the beverages that keep me going. I think it is important to continue to have flavor in your life and to both eat and drink good stuff!

I've always been "big on beverages". I would often get a coffee, milk, and orange juice with breakfast (in my pre-low carb days), for example. And I think I have been drinking lots for a long time, perhaps since I went on the low calorie diet in my thirties and just got used to drinking so much water, tea, etc.

When I got off that diet (years ago) I went right back to sugary Cokes and major amounts of High Fructose Corn Syrup in all it's many flavors and packagings, along with lots of milk and other stuff to drink. And I was always about drinking the XXL sized drinks - probably how I ended up an XXXXL in the end, huh? Yeah, no kiddin!

Now that I am LCing it, I am trying to cut back on the coffee some, drink more tea and water, and find good things to drink. The thing is, I think most of the diet drinks that are sweetened with aspertame taste like they have formaldahyde in them. I mean they are flat-nasty drinks. Sure I will drink one now and then, but I am trying to go for healthy drinks that I can drink that are permitted under the rules, and then also drinks that are satisfying my need for flavor and all.

So here's what I have been drinking lately:

Lipton Diet Green Tea


It tastes great, and might even be good for you. They say that green and black teas are a great source of antioxidants and so they may even help prevent cancer or other problems (with free radicals and all that stuff I won't even pretend to understand). It is definitely low carb and satisfies pretty well - both from a thirst quenching and a flavor point of view.





Sobe Green Tea

Sobe make some great tasting beverages and I also like their version of diet green tea. No aspertame, zero sugar, Carbs=1g, not too shabby. And it's earned the South Beach seal of approval evidently.

All kinds of free radical fighting antioxidents must be cram-packed into these bottles in some way that my mind could not even understand. They fill these babies with "Goodness Machines", and cap em' off when they are just cram-packed with all kinds of excellence & goodness!

Well, I kinda like em' pretty good anyhow. :)






Pepsi One Diet Cola

Pepsi Cola has come out with a type of diet soda that omits for some reason all the High Fructose Corn Syrup, and even the aspertame. Instead they use sucralose, better known as Splenda (the trademarked name of a productized version of sucralose I suppose).

The main thing about Pepsi One. It just tastes great!

And it is refreshing! For a Cola and soda fiend like myself it is nice to have something to drink that doesn't taste like I am being punished ("NO SWEETNESS & GOODNESS FOR YOU! BANISH HIM TO THE LAND OF FORMALDAHYDE TASTING NASTY DRINKS!"). I try not to overdo it and to just try to find more good and healthy options to drink. But it is nice to have a frosty cold cola over ice once innawhile.

There are more things that I am drinking, but this single post is probably going on long enough. But Why did I want to comment on what I am drinking? Well so many starting out on the LC life are worried about never having anything GOOD to taste anymore, and envision I suppose sucking cold greasy lard and fatty bits from meat, smiling and saying "Hmmmm, this tastes GOOOOD!"

Well - there actually ARE GREAT TASTING food and beverages out there, and you don't have to be locked into that kind of thinking - that you have forever given up on all good tasting food and beverages. You need to realize that there are many food and beverages that are actually good for you and satisfy!!!

Hang in there and look for low carb products that are both good for you and satisfy! Don't give up! Search for the wonderful LC recipes out there, and look for the permitted products that are full of taste and flavor. YOU CAN DO THIS!!! You can fill your world with good tasting, satisfying food and drink, and never miss a thing. Lose weight or maintain weight loss, be healthy, and feel great. And don't miss out on a thing!!!

The Atkins Low Carb Diet Must Be Good For Your Eyes!

I am thinking that the Atkins low carbohydrate diet (Way of Eating) is really wonderful on the eyes! In fact, to prove it I have created this eye chart, just to test. It is wonderful, as I have found that I am actually able to read lines lower and lower each day, thus PROVING beyond any disputable fact or reasonable doubt, that the Atkins low carb diet is great for the eyes!!!

Of course, my eye chart starts at 400 lbs, and although I am not a trained medical professional, and as such my opinions on this matter are purely my own and of no real significance to anyone else, I would believe that some folks might actually require another model of the eye chart. In fact, I hope that one day I myself may have my own vision improve to the point that I will need a new chart as well!!!

This morning I weighed myself and I found that I was back down to 361.4 lbs! It seems like whatever hump I hit I am over. At least I hope so. I have found that lately I am feeling like I have more energy or am a little lighter on my feet. I was told this would happen at some point, but I really haven't felt that till now. Hopefully this good feeling will continue and I will continue reading my eye chart at lower and lower lines. I have been hovering over 360 now for a little bit, and I am so anxious to get below that. It's like an invisible barrier I keep bouncing off like it has some kind of Star Trek force shield or something. Well, hopefully we will puch through even this in the next few days (maybe tomorrow), and be on to new places.

Like they might have said in Trek (no I'm not really a trekky) if perhaps Capt. Kirk, "Bones" the doctor, and Scotty got together and wanted to live healthier on a low carb lifestyle:

"Low Carb... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Low Carber. Our continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out a new life; Perhaps even new civilisations... To boldly go where we have never gone before!"

It is an adventure! And you certainly take yourself to wonderful new places! And you might even find yourself boldly going where you have never gone before (even lower on the new Atkins diet eye chart).

The TDC (Triple Digits Club)

One of the support forums available online at the lowcarber site http://forum.lowcarber.org or http://www.lowcarber.ca is called the Triple Digits Club (or TDC). It is a forum for members with at least 100 lbs to lose, and also for folks who have already lost 100 lbs or more.

Recently there have been posts by members in this forum recognizing those who have lost 100 lbs+ that are so encouraging to read! Some of the folks are there long after they have lost 100, 200, or 300 lbs (or more). Their posts are encouraging and they never fail to lend support, encourage, and share advice to others that are working their way down to goal weight. The nice thing I see is that many bristle at the suggestion that low carb eating is a "diet", when for them it is not something you do and then stop and start eating like they always have. They are there to continue maintenance, and to keep in touch with the community, and ideas, and way of eating that have changed their life. In fact, those returning members who treated it as a "diet" are often back to re-lose the same pounds all over again!

It is so encouraging to me to read the member posts, advice, and journals, and to check the gallery for their before, in-progress, and after pictures. Some of them look so much healthier, prettier/handsomer, and in some cases they even look like even younger and more vital people! In fact, a few even look like an entirely different person altogether, and if they didn't include their progress pictures throughout their weight loss journey - you would suspect some sort of fraud was in effect.

I need all the encouragement I can get, and this is a tremendous place to give and to receive support and to get a sense of community - that you are not in this alone!

It is always encouraging to read when someone has broken through a new barrier in weight loss, and read about their journey to ONEderland (being in the hundreds from 100 - 199 lbs).

As for me I have a long ways to go to get to Onederland, but I am on my way.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Another Success Story on Low Carb!

The Times Online in an article entitled "The fat lady slims", tells of a woman named India Knight who lost 5 stone (70 lbs) on a low carb diet that has evolved into a "whole way of eating". She customized her diet to meet her own way of living, and she did it while "having a social life, and eating family meals".

"And it allowed me to feed my family and me really good food: the beauty of low-carb diets is that you have the roast chicken, the gravy, the beans, the salad, and simply pass on the potatoes. This doesn’t make you feel deprived.", she said.

She describes how she lost the weight without a tremendous need to workout at some bodybuilding gym, but simply walked vigorously and ate well. One nice thing she notes is how the low carb lifestyle has even improved her childrens attitude towards nutrition.

Nice article, with before and after pictures. Way to Go, India!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8126-2542787,00.html

Water Retention & A Challenge Brought!

If you've been reading here you know that I was seriously bumming about maybe retaining some water and gaining some weight unexpectedly - just as I was hoping to hit the 40lbs lost mark. I gained 5 lbs when I was at 361.8lbs just the day before and bloated on up to 366.8 lbs by the next morning. Sure, 40 pounds is not a tremendously huge number, but it's the next big round number for me, and one I was kinda excited about just the same.

Well, ...this morning I had lost some of the water I had retained, and was down from 366.8 to 363.8. But my legs are still a little swollen, and I am still pushing the water and liquids as much as I can. Maybe I will be back down there (~40 lbs lost) in the next day or so.

I am hoping that tomorrow and/or the next day or two will get me back down to the "40lbs Down!" mark (360.0) once again, and I can dance and sing and make merry yet!!!

One thing also happened that was really funny. I have been picking on my little brother who lost 80lbs on Atkins - then got off. The other day I called and he was eating a large stack of pancakes!

Oh my!

This brother of mine is the inspiration for my "IF HE CAN DO IT, I CAN TOO" diet, which is remarkably similar - if not (in fact), virtually identical to the Atkins diet (except with more dancing, singing, laughing, lollygagging, and rubbing my brothers nose in it if I can just pass him up on my way down!). In the nicest way possible, of course.

He is desperately trying to get back into ketosis as he now knows I am closing in on his weight (~20 lbs is all the difference between us) and if he slacks up even a little, he will gain the title of the fattest and heaviest sibling in our family (of seven kids, all grown up now).

I have been the undisputed heavyweight champ in the family for many years now, but now my younger brother is in serious danger of taking the belt, and becoming the undisputed reigning family heavyweight champion!!!

He is getting desperate now! And I can smell fear... Muuahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh! This is going to be fun! I have thrown down the challenge and My brother has risen to it, and now... may the best man win! Talk about motivation! We may end up both starving ourselves to the death (don't worry, neither of us is in any danger anytime soon) in this competition between ourselves.

Ah well, ...it will be fun!

So, if you read this bro, better get your game on...

and better keep your game on!

The pitter-patter of footsteps

you hear approaching fast behind you

is just little ol' ME!

----------------

And on a totally unrelated note in the PRETTY AMAZING STUFF Department

Lookey here & Check this out:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xf9oo_jerome-murat

Wow! He is a pretty talented fellow!! My wife had this emailed to her by a friend and I thought it was worth sharing!

Atkins Diet & Low Carbohydrate Weight-Loss Support

This is another tremendous site chock full of regular folks doing the best they can to simply diet and lose a few pounds or turn to the low carb lifestyle for good. The people there are outstanding and there are plenty of skinny folks there that have lost 300, 200, 100, or so pounds and kept the weight off. So many continue to give back to the people who have supported them, and "pay forward" in helping newcomers to this life, way of eating, and site.

This site is full of low carb and related news, support groups and forums, user journals, Q&A, nutrional information, low carb diet comparisons, photo galleries (before/during/after), and much, much more. And did I mention, it is FREE??!! - No Cost, Nix, Nyet, Nada, ...Zip, Zero, Nothing!

I have found this another excellent source of information and a wonderful support resource for low carbers (new and old). You will find a supportive community of very nice people here! Also HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!


Web Links:

Main Site:
http://www.lowcarb.ca/

Support Forums:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/

The Ever Enthusiastic Jimmy Moore!

One of the first really great places I found on the Net dealing with the low carb diet and life was Jimmy Moore's "Livinlavidalowcarb" web site, podcast, and blog. Jimmy is really a super low carb success story and evangelist of sorts. Jimmy lost over 180 lbs on the low carb lifestyle and has maintainted his weight loss ever since.

And Jimmy has been sharing tons of useful and practical information gleemed from the Internet, medical studies, and he points you to different low carb resources - recipes, products, weight loss plans, personal stories, anecdotes and advice, and healthy doses of his opinions (filled with infectious levels of enthusiasm and energy)!

Jimmy strikes me as a "regular guy" (which is very refreshing) who has found this wonderful secret to weight loss and living and can hardly contain himself as he finds one new and exciting thing after another to share with his readers and listeners. Jimmy has written a book about his weight loss journey called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" (ISBN# 1591138043). He sells the book online at his blog and even provides a free chapter from his book that you can download and read!

While his site is a little bit focussed on pumping up various low carb products, diets, etc. (as are many of the other low carb commercial sites out there like Atkins, South Beach and many others), regular folks will enjoy the many resources that can be found by reading the many postings and links off his website and will learn much. His positive attitude is absolutely contagious and he will help you get motivated to learn about and try this low carb lifestyle.

And Jimmy is living, walking proof that it works! I highly recommend that anyone interested in learning about the low carb lifestyle give Jimmy a look and a listen!


Links:

Jimmy's Blog:
http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com

His Podcast and Internet Streaming Audio "Radio" Show:
http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/

To Learn About his Book (Success Story):
http://www.booklocker.com/books/2183.html

Links to a chapter of his book:
http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2005/10/get-free-chapter-of-livin-la-vida-low.html

His Low Carb Links Site:
http://lowcarblinks.blogspot.com/

Low Carb Lollygagging

Lollygagging... I love that word. It's one of those fun words that maybe very old people throw around when speaking in serious tones in reference to the activities of younger people.

There are a lot of words that I think are fun just to say them or work them into a sentence. I really need to make a list of some of the words and phrases like that that I like to use just for fun sometime. You gotta love the English language. So many fun words and fun things to say and how to say them, yet so little time.

Lollygagging means just fooling around. Hijinks is a word like lollygagging, except that it implies you are maybe up to a little "no good" in what you are doing, while you are doing whatever it is you are doing. I am serious about my low carb living, but I want to have fun and live a little and laugh a little while doing it. Life can't be all serious anyhow, can it??!!

So what is low carb lollygagging? Well, just plain fartin' around and having a good time, enjoying life... and losing weight and feeling great on a low carb lifestyle. I have started this blogspace to record my personal journey of weight loss and weight maintenance down to a new me, which is really just the old me (of course a wee bit older and wiser) without all this blubber. Ideally I would like to lose on down to my old High School weight. Somewhere around there where I feel good, am healthy, and living life well.

Why low carb? Well I'll get to how I got to low carbing it in a little bit. So far I have lost over 37 lbs on the Atkins low carb lifestyle and I am just loving it!!! I am down from around 400 lbs (maybe more than that) to 363 lbs as of early this morning. I am losing weight while sometimes eating 4000 and 4500 calories, though truth be told many days I am eating more like 2000 - 3500. I am always full, not hungry. And especially not the burning intense hunger I felt on a low calorie diet I did before for almost two years straight.

When I was in my thirties I lost 100 lbs and kept it off for over two years. I lost the first 50 lbs on a NutriSystem prepackaged food program, and lost the second 50 lbs doing pretty much the same thing but eating MAJOR RABBIT FOOD (salads from McDonalds and Burger King, etc) and low calorie TV dinners like those from Healthy Choice and similar. But I was major league hungry most all the time, and I was having to work out like crazy - first walking and then running 3 - 8 miles each day and weight training as well for an hour to two hours each day.

Sometimes while on that low calorie diet I was soooo hungry, almost painfully so. I would get light headed sometimes. Sometimes I would not feel well. But I toughed it out to lose the weight and meet my goals. But then life intervened, I got busy with work and with my family and I stopped watching my weight and slowly over the years I added pound after pound till one day I found myself at 400 lbs.

Now, on this low carbohydrate Atkins diet I am losing weight, almost never hungry, and never having the tremendous hunger, cravings, nor most of the effects of hardly eating anything - on a low calorie diet. My blood sugar which before at 400 lbs was fluctuating up and down (getting shaky and jittery when I needed a sugar fix and tired and kinda sleepy headed when I ate). Now it is rock steady. I took it with my wife's blood sugar meter twice and once it was 90 and once it was 130 (after I had eaten).

My blood sugar is produced through a process called gluconeogenisis in the liver where my body uses stored fat to change it into glucose (sugar) for my blood stream. It does so in the amount I need it, at a constant level, and I feel great - ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL - most all the time.

This is probably the most important benefit I am deriving from this diet (strike the work diet and insert "way of life" or "way of eating"). Probably more important than the weight loss itself.

It is wonderful having really regular blood sugar and feeling good - way better than before.

Besides the even blood sugar, I am not popping Alka Seltzer's like candy anymore. The plop plop fizz fizz was practically a way of life for me, and I justified it as more than just an antacid since I figured it might just be the healthiest way to take aspirin and thin the blood a little on a regular basis. No aspirin pill sitting on my stomach dissolving a hole in my stomach. I don't know if aspirin can even do that, but that was the mental picture I had in my mind. With Alka Seltzer the aspirin was all dissolved in water, and posed no threat to my innards. I used to have bad acid problems after eating on a regular basis. I would eat and later sometimes, depending on what it was (onions, late night pizza, whatever) I would practically get sick with stomach acid.

While in my thirties I developed a hiatal hernia (falling apart, huh) and acid would roll up my esophigas and burn it. On rare occasion I would wake up with thick nasty burning acid even up in my sinuses and mouth. Then I developed GERT (gastro esophegial reflux disease). I would eat something that triggered a response (usually steak or beef cubes, or roast beef, or those little mini shredded wheat would do it) and things that should be going down the esophigas started moving up. It felt awful and often led to puking and choking and gagging. Anyhow - gross stuff aside, my stomach has been very acid for years and years, and often I would have to take Prilosec of Prevacid or something like that for a day or several just to knock my stomach's acid production back and let my guts heal.

Well, you would think with all this meat, and eggs, and cheese and peppers and onions and all, I would be having MAJOR problems. Not one bit. I have stopped taking Alka Seltzers on account of stomach acid problems, and have not taken one Prilosec or similar pill since I started. People at work used to muse as I drank my water bottles with Alka Seltzer in them (looking like dirty dish water or something).

Another plus.

So low carb is working out for me so far. I have lost 37 lbs when I have written this, in a matter of a couple months time. I cannot remember when I started this, but it was around the 15th of October, 2006 (but my wife says it was closer to sometime in the weeks before Thanksgiving in November). I can never get dates and times straight. My wife can barely navigate out of our driveway to the mailbox and back - she is so directionally challenged. OK that is an exaggeration and probably unfair to her, but she IS SPACIALY CHALLENGED. I am TIME CHALLENGED. We all have our gifts and our uniquenesses in life. :)

So low carb is really impressing me as a wonderful way of life. I am losing weight, my blood sugar problems have all disapeared, and I am not having acid problems at all, I am never hungry (I get to eat, be full and comfortable) and I am feeling great!!! I hope that more than a diet, I can maintain this as an ongoing way of eating and way of life.

How did I get into low carb? Well a series of chance meetings with a number of people I know. One fellow at work lost alot of weight on it. He gained some back since, but still he lost ALOT. Then I met a doctor at an urgent care clinic, a nice irish fellow here in Tennessee who told me he lost weight and kept it off for ten years and counting. I asked him how and he said meat and veggies, no potatoes, no bread, no pasta, no rice, no sweets, and no cokes. Wow. 10 years!!! Then a good friend had the stomach surgery and lost radical amounts of weight (he was big like me at the time) and sufferred with low energy, intolerance of some foods, and real misery and hunger.

Then the straw that broke the camels back. The last straw. The thing that upset my applecart.

My brother called. The one who was fat like me. He called and told me that HE had lost 80 lbs on the Atkins program. WOW. My brother. So I went on the "IF HE CAN DO IT, I CAN TOO" program (Atkins) the next day.

I am writing this blog as a way to keep track of my progress, serve as a wasteland and dumping grounds for my innermost and deepest thoughts (sometimes not so deep) and deep dark secrets (please don't tell anyone - it's just between you and me), and as a cathartic outlet to release the little inner Mark Twain, Studs Terkel, or John Steinbeck in me. Yeah, I should flatter myself by disparaging their good names in this way - by comparison to little ol me. Hardly fair to them.

Why blog it?

So I can log some interesting things I am learning about the low carb lifestyle, news, about myself, my progress, about fun and stupid and impractical stuff and maybe not-so-interesting and who-knows-what that I am thinking about stuff.

Lollygagging. Serious Lollygagging. With a purpose.

You are welcome to visit here anytime, my good friend (after all... we are like brothers or sisters, you and me). And there is always room for one more good friend in our life, right?

Best Regards,

ndurance1@gmail.com