Who says Low Carb Doesn't Work?

Daniel, my stepson, has made tremendous progress on the Atkins Low Carb life! He started at the end of November 2007 at around 270 lbs and now weighs somewhere between 215 and 220 lbs! Look at the tremendous difference achieved in just a few short months (Before and After)!!!!

Dan is now planning on moving into maintenance levels of low carb life. 

He is healthier, he can jump higher than ever before, and is just doing awesome. 

And as for mental performance on low carb - Dan just completed his second year of college, winning accolades for his academic performance - graduating summa cum laude, receiving the Student Leadership award for his campus, and was named the department student for the area he is focussing his studies in. 

Now we just have to convince a few more members of our family to join us in the low carb life!

Tonight Dan made an awesome killer low carb pizza (pepperoni & supreme style)! I think I liked it better than regular pizza!!! He found the recipe on the Net, but I may post it here later for those interested! It is absolutely wonderful!! It is great that he is finding all the good things you *CAN* have on the low carb life, rather than lamenting those things you cannot have!

WAY TO GO, DAN!!!!

 

Are *YOU* Making Low Carb New Years Resolutions?

I thought it would be a great idea to post a quick link to those just starting out - making new years resolutions for 2008 to begin eating (or resume) the low carb way of life.

You too can be successful, lose weight, feel better and achieve better health by simply changing WHAT YOU EAT!

The great thing about low carb is that it is a way of life where you can lose weight and still EAT! In fact, if you are hungry on this diet you are NOT EATING ENOUGH, and YOU NEED TO EAT!!! And if you are having intense cravings, you are definitely not getting enough FAT IN YOUR DIET!!! When I began this diet at 410 lbs, I was eating 4500 calories a day and losing weight like crazy!! While that is not the case anymore, I still eat till I am content and full (No White-Knuckle, test of willpower here) and I am not feeling deprived or like I am doing without.

And you can eat practically all you want (or all you can stand) of tasteful foods like meat (steaks, chicken, tuna, salmon, burgers, pork chops, ham, bacon, etc). And you get to eat NUTRITIOUS MEALS full of low glycemic VEGGIES like broccolli, green beans, calliflower, asparagus, etc!!!

How to do this and be successful:

1.) Pick a low carb plan that is right for you. Research them and pick one. I prefer Atkins, but there are South Beach, Protien Power, Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, the Zone, Primitive Diets, etc. to choose from. Read the books. Follow the plan to the letter.

2.) Carefully track everything you stick in your mouth. Especially at first. You need to not "wing it" but to "know it" as far as carb counts go, and permitted foods in the phase of whatever low carb eating plan you are on.

3.) Get committed. Tell people. Announce it. Make it official. Stick with it.

4.) Get support and information from one of the low carb forums. Join. Start a journal. Post often. Make friends. Get to know folks there going through the same things you are. Get to know the seasoned veterans who have been successful over many years! Start a low carb blog. Get accountable. Some folks blog everything they eat and do (activity wise) on a daily basis.

5.) Read and understand all you can about this way of life. Lots of information is online.

6.) Focus on what you CAN EAT, not on what you cannot. Find some of the tons of low carb recipies out there in the forums and in cookbooks and on the Internet. Try new things. Learn how to eat and survive in any setting. You can eat low carb in almost any restaurant or situation if you are determined to!!

7.) Make sure you get into ketosis and through your initial period on the new lifestyle - as it takes a week or two or three to make changes in your body. Be prepared to get through it. You body may have to switch from fueling itself from dietary sugars to other metabolic processes and there is a certain period for that changeover to take place (as fuels are depleted in stored muscle cells and in the liver).

8.) Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns. Low carb probably isn't the best for developing little babies and little kids, pregnant women, and folks with certain health problems (like liver problems, certain diabetes conditions need to be carefully managed, etc). See a doctor if you are not sure and ensure that you are not putting your health at risk. This isn't a scary or seriously risky proposition for most folks, but one size does not fit all, and proper medical/health advice is probably recommended for some folks in certain situations!!

I am not a doctor and do not even pretend to play one on TV. I am enthusiastic about this way of life as I believe it is the way to eat best without endangering your health (compared to the heavy sugar laden typical western diet) if it is done right, and if necessary, with medical supervision.

Follow many of the links on this page and you will learn lots to help you be successful. One thing about this way of eating is that it is a technique that I believe *CAN* enable you to be successful over the long haul (compared to most other diets and ways of eating). Of course, if you get off this way of eating and go back to going face-down in the ice cream, sugary drinks, and donuts - don't be surprised if you Blurrrp! right back up to where you started, or even above that weight!!

Low-Carb Lollygagging in 2007 & 2008!

I am so excited to have completed my first complete year *and* calendar year of low carbing it! I started in November of 2006, and have continued Atkins-style low-carb living through all of 2007!!

2007 was wonderful and an absolute banner year for me to reach new levels of weight loss and health through changing the way that I eat. I am now convinced more than ever that (for at least some of us), low carb is the way to go! Throughout 2007 I have lost over a hundred pounds (almost 110 lbs), and have gone from a 62" waist to a 50" waist. My neck size on my shirts has shrunk a couple inches as well from a 22" neck to comfortably fitting in shirts with a 19" neck. Very productive lollygagging there!!

I can tell you I feel so much better, fit into clothes better, look better and just feel like it's been an all around improvement so far!

For 2008 I am planning on gradually implementing moderate excercise and more consistent and vigorous physical activity into my life. We purchased a used low-end elliptical machine from a local Goodwill store which I have begun making good use of (it was broken and fixed with an $0.80 part), and I recovered some old dumbells from the in-laws (that I had left there for the use of others in the family). I may start back with some light free-weight workouts as well in 2008.

I will be continuing to monitor, manage, track, and maintain a low carb way of eating. I may be spending more time weighing my food and preparing meals ahead of time this year than I did in 2007. I suspect I may have to pay more attention to portion control, calories, and foods that may trip me up (like cheese, etc) when I overdo them. Carb creep may be a problem as I slack up on the fascist level of control once in a while - to my own detriment.

Thanks to my family and to all of my low carb friends and supporters who have shared so much encouragement, support, advice, information and research, etc!!!

In 2008 I hope to be joined by a number of family members including my oldest stepson (who has been back on Atkins style low carb for a couple months now with great results), and my wife who is also planning on beginning low carb living in 2008! I have a brother-in law and possibly two brothers (and a sister in-law) who may also be low carbing it in 2008!!

Low-Carb Diet As a Treatment for Cancer?

Time and CNN have a really interesting article found here:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1662484,00.html

It is entitled "Can a High-Fat Diet Beat Cancer?"

In the article scientists are speculating that a high-fat ketogenic diet can help folks with cancer! A German doctor named Otto Warburg (a winner of Alfred Nobel's Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1931) studied cellular metabolism and respiration of cancer cells.

Based on his research and discoveries, scientists are wondering if switching a body from a carbohydrate rich diet to a ketogenic diet would be beneficial for folks suffering from certain cancers. Doctor Warburg discovered that cancer cells can live even in the absence of oxygen and that the cancers fueled themselves exclusively by a process called glycolysis - creating energy through the fermentation of sugars in the cytoplasm.

You can read about him here:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1931/warburg-bio.html

You can read about his ideas here:

The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer, Otto Warburg
http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Loxygen2.htm

"Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. Almost anything can cause cancer. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause.

The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen (oxidation of sugar) in normal body cells by fermentation of sugar.

All normal body cells meet their energy needs by respiration of oxygen, whereas cancer cells meet their energy needs in great part by fermentation. All normal body cells are thus obligate aerobes, whereas all cancer cells are partial anaerobes.

From the standpoint of the physics and chemistry of life this difference between normal and cancer cells is so great that one can scarcely picture a greater difference. Oxygen gas, the donor of energy in plants and animals, is dethroned in the cancer cells and replaced by the energy yielding reaction of the lowest living forms, namely the fermentation of sugar.

In every case, during the cancer development, the oxygen respiration always falls, fermentation appears, and the highly differentiated cells are transformed into fermenting anaerobes, which have lost all their body functions and retain only the now useless property of growth and replication. Thus, when respiration disappears, life does not disappear, but the meaning of life disappears, and what remains are growing machines that destroy the body in which they grow."
The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer, Dr. Otto Warburg, June 30, 1966

Reading all this and trying (in my own way and at my own level) to understand it - let's face it I am not a scientist and don't even play one on TV) it sure makes me think that the low carb folks who say "SUGAR IS POISON", might be on to something. Kudos to those who took their education to a level where they can actually contemplate the cellular chemistry, metabolism, and biological activities described by Doctor Warburg and in related papers and understand it and apply that in meaningful ways.

Carbohydrates and sugars in all their various forms are certainly ready fuel for the body, but maybe it wasn't intended to be consumed at the tremendously high level we do it (here in the the present day United States) without serious negative consequences to your health - think diabetes, various digestive conditions, high blood sugars, etc.

And reading things like Nancy Appleton's list of "147 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health" (found here: http://www.nancyappleton.com/ ) and frequent research found on Jimmy Moore's Livin Lavida Low Carb Site (http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/) it seems to add up in study after study to be shown to cause or be related to numerous health problems. I read the article at Time/CNN with great interest and will be very interested in watching and learning from this study as it progresses.

Your two cents of input is appreciated! What say you?

Celebrating!

I hope you will forgive this self-serving and gratuitous post, chock-full of Happy Happy Joy Joy, Happy Dancing, Happy Feet, Celebration, Gladness, Mirth, and Wonderful News!!!

I weighed earlier today at 308.8 lbs, which by my reconning is over 100 lbs down from my starting weight last November 1st, 2006!!!

Thanks to all my low carb friends who encourage, motivate, inform, uplift, share, entertain, strengthen my commitment and resolve, and otherwise help me be successful on this new Way of Eating and Way of Life!!! I appreciate all you have done to help me, for visiting my online blogs and journals and posting and doing all the many things that mean so much to me.

THANK YOU!

and.... THANK YOU DOCTOR ATKINS!!!!

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!!

Science, Research, and Recent Articles of Interest

I thought it would be neat to list some recent published articles about low carb research from a variety of sources. Hopefully this is interesting reading for low carbers and for those considering the low carb way of life.

There have been alot of studies recently and pro low carb research in the news. Various studies are discovering low carb advantages in long term weight loss, compared to other diet programs, and in metabolic or hormonal advantages we are only just beginning to understand. This is special interest as recent articles are highlighting the growth in overweight Americans and higher numbers of folks struggling with diabetes and blood sugar issues.

Low-Carb Diets Combat Metabolic Syndrome

http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/07/20/hscout606585.html

More Evidence Favors Low-Carb Diets

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-7-17/57747.html

Low Carb Hormone Discovered in Mice

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2007/07/14/5317.html

Low-Carb Diet Finding: Study Identifies New Regulator Of Fat Metabolism

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605121134.htm

Good diet + exercise = less insulin in the brain and a longer life!

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=27898

Low glycemic load diet may improve acne

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL06845320070720

Americans Getting Heavier And Heavier (Study Predicts that 3 of 4 Americans will be overweight by 2015!)

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77493.php

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.

WOW! Fitday Rocks! I STINK!

OK. So I logged my food today. All of it I could remember.
:Hangs Head in Shame:
Man - was I off track! I dunno if this is a typical thing tho or just an exception.

I was catering my own meal today and probably overdid it. Fear of starvation I think. Totally unreasonable. But probably something STUPID like that made me overcompensate. ARGH! I don't normally do this but I am going to learn to make my meals myself. I am a pretty clutsy cook. I burn stuff. I ruin it. I make major mistakes doing the best I can. My best just HAS to be better than today!!!

Anyhow - here's to tomorrow!
To measuring, tracking, and tweaking.
I need a good swift kick in the head evidently!!
Back on track!!!

Looking for a Little Digital Precision in My Life...

When I started the low carb WOE (Way of Eating) I was pretty fanatical about tracking the carbage (and other details -fat, carbs, calories, sodium, etc) real close. It helped me develop some really positive habits. I have stayed mostly at induction levels, straying a little here and there but surely staying within OWL levels. I got an account at fitday and tracked everything I ate closely.

I started out around 410 lbs I think, and I am currently at around 322 lbs (though like always my weight has been fluctuating alot up and down). It has been 255 days since I started and I figure I have lost about 88 lbs so far. That works out to an average of 2.41 lbs per week, so not so bad on average. I would say that I was probably losing weight at a faster rate early on and have slowed down a little bit lately. In fact I am starting to get concerned (not major-league concerned, but concerned nonetheless). The past week or two things have been moving slower for me I think. I have been trying to bust through to somewhere between 310 and 320 for the past few weeks. Even on my best efforts my cycles of up and down still have been leaving me around 322, ...though the swings have not been swinging up nearly so high lately.

I am getting fired-up and more motivated than I have been in a while! With a number of popular low carbers seeing tremendous weight loss results on Kimkins lately (in a short period of time) I am thinking I might purchase a digital food scale and get back to the really critical and precise tracking/accounting/analysis of my foods and drinks on a daily basis. I also purchased some Rubbermaid/Tupperware kinda plastic containers so I can pre-cook, measure, and prepare meals ahead of time for myself and store them up in the fridge or freezer. Kinda make my own "Nutri-System" or "WW" type TV dinner meals. Prepackaged No brainers. I am not really thinking about doing Kimkins myself, but maybe a little more carb-conscious and maybe even more carb and calorie restricted on my Atkins than I have been lately.

I would love to see my weight loss moving at a slightly higher clip, and I am getting the realization that as I am losing down to the point that the things that have been working well in the past are working "less well" for me today. My basal metabolic rate is getting lower and so my body is probably more sensitive to any excesses in carbs or calories. Maybe too my body is starting to adjust or push back a little. The weight isn't flying off like it used to, and it appears a little bit like I am hitting some kind of wall or weight loss speed bump anyhow. It might be perfectly normal. It might be a short term thing. Who knows?

I figure I can really get back to tracking things on fitday.com again and tighten things up a little where I need to. In talking with my wife about where I am at and how things have been going the past few weeks we are looking at things that might be causing some slowdowns. Right now I am suspecting small bags of peanuts I eat as snacks at work on occasion, maybe too much cheese occasionally. It is possible that I need to be doing more water and less Diet Sodas and drinks. Maybe less coffee and cream. I dunno. Maybe portions need to be smallerish as I get smallerish. All I know is if I want to continue to see good results I may not be able to lacadaisically lollygagg around about this but may need to be a little more strict with myself. Cut back here and there. Track it. Analyze it. Make some changes. Then see what happens.

If you can recommend a good digital food scale I am all ears. I am looking into what is good out there. I think this is the next logical step for me. I have already determined the following:

- I think I want a digital one versus a mechanical kitchen scale
- I think I want the "tare" or add-to feature that allows you to zero out the weight of a plate or bowl, or add a series of ingredients and measure each incrementally.
- I guess accuracy is important
- I would think the granularity (precision) of measurement is important
- I would also think having a larger upper weight capacity is important too. Some are smaller.


---- Kimkins Contraversy ----

I have been watching and reading some of the Low Carber blog comments and uproar about the Kimkins diet program lately. I have no problem with other folks doing that if that is their decision and it works for them. Same as I feel about Weight Watchers or LA Weightloss, or NutriSystem or whatever.

I am not sure Kimkins is for me tho. I don't like the idea of going low carb and very low calorie (and I have read the debates about describing this diet as low calorie). It reminds me of my own personal experience being on a low calorie diet (First NutriSystem then my own low calorie version of that later) where I ate rabbit food every day, and got so sick of salads and chicken and teeny-tiny "TV-dinner" type diet dinners (with a few tiny micro-chunks of meat in them) after a couple years of it that I could not eat it for years afterward. I lost a hundred pounds then and kept it off for over two years doing that though!

It really was a white-knuckle diet program. I have found Atkins to be so much better and different. I think Atkins is much more sustainable than low cal dieting. It can be a workable way of eating for life. Anyhow I have a pretty visceral response to the very idea of it just based on that experience of mine alone. It brings back some BAD memories or hunger pains, self-denial, and struggle with a way of eating that was difficult for me and not sustainable over the long-haul.

I guess the other turn-offs for me personally when you get past the gut-level reaction are first the commercialization of the program (not unlike other commercial weight loss programs that are nationally recognized), and then also secondly remembering the folks who had heart problems or other problems many many years ago on these high protien low calorie systems/diets that were all the rage when I was on NutriSystem years ago. I can't remember their names but they involved protien drinks and possibly doctors. I remember the big stink in the papers and news at the time about some folks dying on these diets (Heart Muscle Loss, I think, if I recall correctly). So protien diets that are very low in calories or perhaps in some sort of necessary nutrition are scary to me too.

Anyhow I wish Jimmy Moore and Sparky's Girl (and others of my online friends doing Kimkins or other similar programs) all the best on thier new efforts to make some breakthroughs to their goals. I sure hope it works out well for them and they are obviously enjoying great success so far. The results from those doing Kimkins are tremendous and undeniable. The Kimkins-ers also seem to be a very supportive and enthusiastic group.

I also think that those people that are making a stink about this kinda low carb diet probably have good intentions, or perhaps a reservoir of personal experience and recollections that frames their points of view. I certainly think that there is room enough for folks to try different things, and if they are safe and will produce long lasting results - we will see.

For me, I am sticking to the Atkins low carb plan, but may tighten things up and be more restricted and controlled myself as I hit little bumps in the road or struggles here and there and find that I need to do. One of these days I may even start to excercise a little!

NY Times: The Hideous Masters of Gluttony

The New York Times (the Sports Section of all things) has an interesting article about the world of competitive eating, and in particular, the Nathans Hot Dog eating contest entitled "The Hideous Masters of Gluttony". It is a funny name for the NY Times article in and of itself, just thinking about that alone.

You can read this article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/sports/othersports/06sandomir.html?ref=sports

It is kinda interesting reading and thinking about these world champion competitors that prepare their bodies for so much food, so fast - food that they cram by the handfuls into their gullets (Hot Dogs in their Buns, Twinkies and Cannoli's, Pies, Quesadillas, Jalapeno Peppers, SPAM, donuts, etc.).

It is an intentional spectacle of gluttony to the point of pain, and to the point where containment of the massive quantities of food ingested becomes a problem. The most skilled eaters even study and practice the science and techniques of eating so much food so fast, and at keeping it down.

I suppose we have all had times where we have overindulged, and eaten too much in one sitting, for the shear pleasure of the tastes, and textures, and simple satisfaction of eating pleasant food - though it is doubtful many of us have gone to such extremes as competitive eaters do. Watching these things or reading about them has kind of a tabloid or Jerry Springer quality to it. Like a bad accident you stop and watch amazed and revolted and shocked at the same time. In this instance it entertains us and disgusts us at the same time. Sort of like watching the freak show at the fair, or seeing someone eating glass or swallowing swords.

So much of our lives revolve around food. The connections we have with food are so visceral we remember vividly the great meals we have had, and we even build much of our lives around food. Birthdays, celebrations, wedding receptions, closing business deals, anniversaries, dates, picnics, parties, fairs, carnivals, pot lucks, and other great times would not be the same without food.

Now that I am low carbing it, working hard to watch (be aware of and control) what I eat, and how much I eat, and even when I eat, I probably find more of interest in reading about these competitive eaters than I would have ever had before. Watching them eat with a passion to try to surpass perhaps even their human limits reminds me that I have overeaten myself in the past. Eaten myself into a condition testing my own limits and impacting my own health in the process. Reaching a whopping 410 pounds (or so).

Too much good food. Great food. Too much stuffing high carb sugary stuff down my gullet. Too much fast food. Too many Cokes. Too much desert. Too much bread and pasta and rice and potatoes. Too many good times. Too many excellent restaraunts. Looking back on it, though I did not eat the volume of these competitive eaters, I wasn't eating right and I was eating too much of the wrong stuff over a long period of time. To me, today, looking back on it - it is just as much as spectacle and just as disgusting.

Now I am celebrating low carb heros - more than these spectacles of overindulgence. I celebrate those who have carefully considered and controlled what they eat. Cutting out the carbs and sugars, and controlling their portions. Making wiser choices. Eating meat and eggs and veggies and other low carb choices. Cutting out the sweets and the sugary drinks. And the potatoes, and rice, and bread, and pastas that so quicky turn to sugars in our body.

It's funny too that a number of these competitive overeaters are thin. Kobiyashi (sp?) and others are not the big heavy & overweight folks you might imagine. And I got enormous and I never once ate giant plates full of hot dogs or pies like they do. I often ate no more or no more often than the folks I was with, though occasionally I did just a little.

That tells me that the consistancy over the long run is so very important, and that the food choices I make are so important. I got huge eating a little more than I should, too often, for too long. I got seriously overweight and in seriously lousey health eating foods that satisfied my desire for taste and sugar and texture (with lots of carbohydrates) for too long. Now I am reversing the trend.

By eating great food, great meat (steaks, burgers, hot dogs, sausage, bacon, pork, turkey, chicken, tuna, salmon, tilapia, turkey, etc) and plenty of good low glycemic veggies, nuts, and lots of eggs - I am full and satisfied and still losing weight. I am never suffering. No white-knuckle test-of-will diets here. I eat till I am satisfied. I eat healthier foods than ever before. My health has improved. I even snack. I eat low carb deserts - low carb cheesecake and low carb ice cream.
I no longer have blood sugar issues: where I get shaky if I haven't eaten, and sleepy if I eat alot. I no longer have acid reflux and esophageal spasms. I no longer have gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). My blood pressure is lower. I have more energy. I feel so much better - better all the time. I am wearing smaller clothes. I fit in booths and chairs and tight spaces better. I have lost the better part of a hundred pounds so far, in less than a year.

Without suffering. Without really going without or feeling that I am. Without missing the sugars. Without being hungry. Without that starving sensation where you are about to gnaw your arm off (you are so hungry).

It is wonderful!! If you find yourself in the same situation I did last November (and haven't necessarily personally set any world eating records in your recollection) - and want to improve your lot, this is the absolute best way to do it. I highly recommend the Atkins or other similar low carb way of eating for you (Atkins, South Beach, Protien Power, Carbohydrates Addicts Diet, Kimkins, Sugar Busters, etc). You too can have great results and better health before you know it!

YOU CAN DO THIS!
IT IS EASY!

IT WORKS!

If you want to jump in on the low carb way of life I recommend the following:

1.) Get one of the good low carb books and read it - and follow the directions to the letter. Wait to modify the program once you have been on it a good while. Keep your carbs low 20 grams or less each day to start - and get into ketosis (not to be confused with ketoacidosis - a potentially life threatening condition that is *NOT* associated with these low carb diets) and stay in ketosis.
2.) Get some online support from other low carbers. There are about 4 or 5 online low carb support sites available - some linked off this site! Introduce yourself. Participate. Setup a journal. Post often.
3.) Remove the low carb temptations from your environment
4.) Plan ahead and work hard to learn about all the low carb and low glycemic options and recipes out there. Try them. Learn what to avoid.
5.) To start do not count calories or fat grams or anything else - just count carbs and keep them low. Make sure you are making good choices with your carbs - eat healthy and satisfying veggies!
6.) Get a scale or find some place to weigh. Weigh yourself and keep track of your weight daily or weekly (or at some interval that works for you).
7.) Drink lots of water each day!
8.) Visit low carb web sites and read and learn all you can about this amazing way of life!!

Good luck on *YOUR* low carb journey!!!!

From Far Away to Here, With Oh..., So Long to Go!

I have been at the low carb lifestyle not quite a year now. OK, according to the date calculator (http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html) it has been 233 days, or 5592 hours, or 335,520 minutes, or 20,131,200 seconds so far, to be a little more exact (but still off by some margin of error).

It seems like I ought to have arrived already at some level, and yet at another I know I have probably another couple of years ahead of me just to reach goal, and a bunch of years after that just to be able to say that this isn't some kind of yo-yo thing (diet followed by failing miserably and rapidly and massively regaining the weight lost).

Altogether I am trying to lose about 240 lbs give or take, which is a whole person. A whole entire very large person. Like trying to lose a linebacker or something. (smile).

My wife and I compared pix from September before I started and more recent pix. It is startling in some ways, but also kinda depressing too at the same time. Even tho I have lost ~87 lbs to this point, it hardly looks like it to me. Sure I see my face a little better defined, and my guts are smaller. I know my belt is tighter and I am lighter. But I still sorta look just the same. (sigh).

Anyhow - I am in this for the long long haul. For days and weeks and months and years more, if Lord Willing, I should be fortunate enough to live that long. So this is just a tiny pit stop on the road to where I am going. The road to better health, a fitter me. A higher quality of life. Hopefully here with my wife and my kids, and my friends and those I rub shoulders with in life.

Mentally Winning or Mentally Losing the Game

We all know that a lot of top sports performance is the mental-body connection. Where the Winning Spirit and attitude separate the difference between the greats, the almost greats, and those that are not successful at what they set out to do. It is amazing to me to see myself and others struggle through rough spots on this journey, and the mental gymnastics that it takes to stay on track, focused on the goal, and committed to this as a way of eating for life. I am fascinated by how people think, and especially by how successful low carbers think and live their lives.

Not to say that it is especially difficult, or especially easy either. I think it may be different for one person compared to another too! But one of the biggest factors may be one's attitude. I have heard it said that "One's attitude determines ones altitude". That is really true in the workplace. Speaking with other veteran managers it is one of the main things one looks for in hiring new people (after making lots of hiring mistakes over the years and learning what works and what doesn't). A positive mental attitude is a very high percentage of a winning package in the workplace. If you can get someone with a positive attitude who is honest and reliable, is willing to work hard, can learn new things well, and is good with people, ...you about have the total package for a great employee.

And we have all probably watched a big football game that gets down to the clutch moments at the end of the game where the focus and effort makes the difference and the team that has more of it (focus, effort, and attitude) pulls out the win in the end.

The same thing is true for low carb living I think. Being focussed on the goal, staying in the game and committed to succeeding, and maintaining a positive attitude are so important. The quality of one's self-talk goes a long way to helping one succeed. Visualizing success and achievement of one's goals. Seeing through temptation and realizing that the momentary reward of going off-plan is less fulfilling and rewarding than staying on plan and meeting ones goals.

Folks that are really struggling seem to have one thing in common. Folks that are frustrated with this way of eating are looking at what they don't have and are focussing on that - instead of what they can have. When they look at their food choices all they see is what is verboten and forbidden. They see themselves denied everything and only able to eat some smallish amount of lesser satisfying foods. The ones who are successful focus on what they CAN have. And they focus on all the many varieties of what can be made of those things - wonderful dishes and meals and snacks!

I personally see juicy and sizzling steaks and burgers and fish and brats and sausage and pork and turkey and chicken and so many other things that I CAN EAT. They moan over only being able to eat burgers without the bun and bemoan the loss of bread and pasta and potatoes and REAL COKES, etc. I have learned about new choices cram packed with flavor and that are really satisfying. Pepsi One, Lipton Diet Green and White Teas, Coke Zero, Diet Mt. Dew, Crystal Light, Sobe, Fuse, etc. Frustrated folks feel restricted. Instead I feel like there are many choices, and the longer I am at this and work at learning about them, the more and more choices of awesome, tasty, excellent food there are that I learn I can eat and live on (and live WELL)!

I really enjoy Dannon low carb yogurts and Sugar Free Jellos and Breyers Low Carb Ice Cream and Ice Cream Bars! Low carb Cheesecake made with Splenda is AWESOMELY EXCELLENT! There are so many flavored cheeses and nuts and beef jerkies and beef sticks to eat. String Cheese. Sargento "Stcksters" Cheese sticks of all kinds of cheese flavors. And I am eating more veggies than I have eaten in my whole entire life. Tasty veggies smothered in cheese or cream or in rich flavorful broths, or mixed with mushrooms and herbs.

If you want to succeed at this lifestyle and way of eating you need to have your head in the game. You need to explore and love all the many choices YOU DO HAVE, and stop thinking about what you do not have. You need to be good to yourself and EAT WELL. Hot steaming juicy steaks and fillets and chicken. Cooked with herbs. Melted with cheese or flavorful low carb sauce.

Other Low Carb heros out there have invested in sugar free and low carb syrups and are putting chocolate syrups and fruit over their food. They are experimenting with all kinds of tasty flavors and textures in their food. You really need to get out there and try to make recipes other low carbers have developed. Only beware as some folks have labeled dishes low carb when they have 30-100 grams of carbs or more in the dish - WAAAAY over induction or OWL levels and likely to knock you out of ketosis and fat burning Gluconeogenesis.

One other thing that makes a difference in my mind is whether you see this as a temporary diet (till you reach some goal) or as a way of life and eating from here on out.

It does make a difference I think to how much effort you put into learning about the options you do have. About how well you prepare in advance for the day and week ahead of you. And it does translate to learning and implementing lasting changes into your life. It also makes the difference between long-term serious guilt ridden depression over falling off the wagon, and dusting ones self off and getting back on the program (if one overdoes it or gets off the program at any point).

The person who has a long term focus to low carb eating doesn't wonder if they can't do this. They are sticking this out even through stalls, temporary gains, and hard times. This is the long term deal for them. And either through persistance, trial and error, or tinkering and tweaking they see themselves through the times where the body reaches plateaus or fights back against us in our weight loss efforts.

Successful low carbers hold themselves accountable. They don't allow negative self talk. They understand when rationalizations and excuses are occurring and nip it in the bud. "OWN YOUR DECISIONS", one successful low carb hero I admire tags his posts. And he also tags them with, "Character is that force that enables an individual to carry out a resolution once the mood in which that resolution was born has died." Super thoughts!

Some other last few things that I think makes a difference between winners and losers in this low carb journey is being consistent, making an effort, and willingness to make and accept changes to ones life.

Consistency makes this way of eating easier and easier. You get used to portion sizes and ways of eating (habits) that are successful and help you meet your goals. You try not to eat late at night, and you snack to keep your energy up and stay on track through the day. Consistency means that you learn by force of habit how to do successful things, in easy to learn and remember ways. You get used to portions and types of food that "work" for you, and learn to avoid those that don't.

Making an effort means you go the extra mile and put in the work and time to learn about this way of life. You read the books (Atkins, South Beach, Protien Power, etc) and you study and learn from the experts how to be successful. You read the blogs and web sites and other resources. You look hard for tasty solutions for meals, snacks, drinks, and deserts that are permissible for your stage in this way of eating. It means that if faced with lousey choices you make the best ones or simply wait to eat to do something better. You settle for a diet drink for now, or drink some water. You grab a bag of peanuts. You do what you can instead of breaking down and having what you cannot.

One of the best ways to make an effort is to make preparation. Buy some low carb groceries. Order some LC foods online. Boil some eggs. Make some chicken salad and tuna salad. Have low carb snacks on hand. Get rid of the tempting sugary things in the house, or at least have low carb alternatives at hand.

The last thing is making changes. Everybody hates change. It is awful. We are all creatures of habit. In some cases we are trying to change a lifetime of developed habits that have been unsuccessful in meeting our objectives (good health, a desired weight, happiness with ourselves, etc). But unlearning old poor habits and learning new good ones is a key factor in being successful. Learning to drink water and other low carb beverages if one has drank the SUPERSIZED COKES and other sugary drinks every day for years and years is a big change.

We have to learn new habits. Practice desired behaviors till they become part of us. They say if you do some new thing for several weeks it will become a habit and they way you do things. We need to work at this too.

OK. One last thing. Get some support. Go online and meet other low carbers. Learn from them. Encourage them when they are struggling. Share ideas. Make friends. Help others and get some help too. Find some of the many success stories online, and make/meet some low carb heros in your life.

Hope you find something here that can help. Keep you on-track. Keep you focused. Remind you of good things that work. Encourage you to make a little greater effort.

Make yourself a success story and become a low carb hero yourself! Good luck on your low carb journey!!!

Getting Others to Jump In to Low Carb

In something of a surprise to me, my brother in-law has decided to jump in to eating low carb. I am very excited about this and hope he has the commitment to really do this with no cheats. I am sure he will see major results if he does! Rather than commit to a goal of losing X-number of pounds in Y-amount of time, he is planning on committing to this way of eating for 52 weeks. That would be awesome if he did so! I really think that this is the way to go, and the way to long term weight and health improvement.

I have been hoping to have an influence on a number of folks but so far have been striking out. My stepson went on and off the program in a couple days time. I was hoping he would be motivated enough to really truely try it, but no. My wife has been teetering, but hoping that something other than watching what she eats will do the trick and suddenly result in massive weight loss (She is somewhat invested in the CPAP breathing appliance, as some sleep center doctor told her that folks who use it lose weight. I wonder if she asked this doc if it would make her breasts larger or her IQ higher if he wouldn't have told her it would do that too....).

I hope that someday my wife will also join me in this way of eating, as I know it would make her feel so much better, and would better regulate her blood sugars and all - and would probably result in weight loss, better cholesterol numbers, and more.

My brother, who was one of the few folks who originally inspired me to do this (he had lost about 80 lbs on Atkins) has since gotten off the way of eating and back to high carb eating, and has regained much of his weight. Even after I threw down the gauntlet and proclaimed him the new heavyweight champ of the family, he has still struggled. For some reason he will eat low carb all day, then eat donuts or some cake or the like. It's almost like - why bother? I suppose restricting some of the carbs and sugars is beneficial, but the whole deal is to get into and stay into a ketongenic state - ketosis. If you are avoiding ketosis by filling your body/liver regularly with sugars, it seems like nonsense to me. But my bro has the same body type as me & my dad and I am pulling for him, and hope that he too can get motivated to get on this plan again 100%.

Anyhow, I am getting to the point where I want to stop and tell everyone that I meet who are grossly overweight (severely morbidly obese) that they don't have to be that way - that there are pretty easy ways to avoid that way of life if you want to. But I've been biting my lips a bit. The few times I have spoken to folks they haven't really gotten it, or don't want to get it. I feel like maybe like me, they need time to get to the place where they too are ready to commit to this way of life and way of eating.

Ah well,.... I am still:

Keeping on keeping on. Staying the course. Keeping the faith. On plan and on target.
Hanging in there...

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?

Yummy Desert

Being on a low carb diet can have it's disavantages. I mean I have passed up alot of really great sweets, treats, and deserts. But I have recently stumbled into a few things that are really excellent low carb treats, taste great to me, and are a neat reward when you feel like something with explosively excellent flavor, that leaves you satisfied. I wanted to share a couple...

Alot of folks recommended the Jell-O Gelatin Sugar Free Low calorie cups. I have been eating those for a few months now and am sure I have exceeded the recommended allowance of Jell-O products in our fridge the past few months. They are wonderful for a quick flavor hit, and a two or three cups are filling enough for me.









But one new product (new to me anyhow) is the new Dannon yogurt. Dannon has introduced a new "Light and Fit" low carb yogurt (only 3 grams of carbs) in a variety of flavors. The local Walmart only stocks the strawberries and cream flavor, but it is truely wonderful. If you are low carbing it, go get some!

Dannon offers other great low carb flavors in the Light and Fit product selection, and I can't wait to try them at my local Walmart. As it is I eat two of the Carb Control Strawberries and Cream and feel like I did when I've just eaten some excellent high quality ice cream or tasty dessert in the past.

I am not a compensated advertiser for either of these products, just a satisfied customer. But I want to share with others the good things I have found that I enjoy and help me on my own low carb diet. YMMV.

Catching up...

Well, this weekend I am catching up on some **much needed** rest, sleep, and some relaxing and downtime. It feels SOOOOoooo GOOOOoooD!

I have been under major stress the past couple of months and I have gotten almost completely catatonic with lack of sleep, stress, long hours, and low carb. Maybe it's just me, but I've always been someone who has eaten something when stressed. Everybody makes that sound like an emotional response to stress, but after the past couple months I am wondering if it isn't even a physical response (as in the bod needs the energy or whatever in the nutritional intake during high stress periods). I also tend to get very sleepy after and sometimes during high periods of intense stress. Dunno why that happens, but it does to some degree.

Anyhow, I have stayed on plan thoughout, but it has been hard. One of the the things I have noticed during this prolonged period of long hours, hard work, lack of sleep, and major stress is that I was really having a more difficult time thinking, made verbal miscues more often (said one word meaning another), and got a little catatonic (low levels of emotion and positive emotional response - like joy, happiness, exhuberance, even being expressive in general, etc).

I have suspected that this low carb way of eating does something to increase your testosterone levels, as it seems to have personally effected me in this way, and I have read about this as well reported from others. But I also believe it probably affects your seratonin levels or whatever your happy spots are in the brain. I think I dealt with stress better when eating carbs personally, and I probably thought clearer overall. However I also think that my blood pressure and stomach acid and other problems where much more severe then as well, and I was heading for major physical problems and breakdown on the road I have been on (eating high carb diet in the past and gaining progressively more weight).

Anyhow, I suspect that low carb, coupled together with high stress and with severe lack of sleep are an evil combination that will rob you of joy and pleasure in life, and make life much more difficult. Probably doesn't take a real brainiac to think of that, but if the idea has occurred to you I can confirm by my own personal experience that has been the case for me anyhow.

Also, in the midst of all this I got an infection on one of my fingers and needed to get a doctor to lance it from the fingernail bed area up to about the first knuckle across the entire top of the finger and also the one side also infected. Looked like an ingrown toenail only deeper down inside and down the length of the finger from the nailbed. Doc gave me a couple prescriptions for really strong broad spectrum antibiotics (one said the occasional side effect was that it killed those taking it). I feel that my immune system being down is another indication of the results of extremely high levels of stress, low sleep, and low carb.

I have stayed on-plan throughout and this morning got as low on the scale as 334.2 lbs! Feeling terrific about that, and know that overall I am doing the right thing for me with this way of eating. That makes it over 75 lbs down now as of today (measuring by my lowest weights in a cycle that bounces around a bit). It will probably be a week or more till I am solidly into this weight at my midpoint/average. But it is fun and nice and rewarding to see even little new points of progress along my journey to better health!

I am not trying to dog low carb eating. It has been wonderful for me and has helped me achieve better health overall. I have hung in there cause it is all I know how to do. There is no way I am going to quit and go back up to the weight I was at (or heavier). I want to be here for my wife and to help raise and enjoy my kids, and to serve the Lord.

Thanks to all my friends and online supporters who are a terrific encouragement to me! I am finally getting to the point where more folks are noticing the weight loss, and that is very rewarding in itself. I have started slowly increasing my physical activity (parking further away and taking stairs more often). I want to gradually ease into it, but get to a point where more physical activity is also a part of my life.

This is your BRAIN on Atkins!

The Ribeye...

Man, I have never had such cravings for steak - especially Ribeye Steaks until recently. They are SOOOO AWESOME! I have always been a Sirloin man, or a Filet Mignon man until now. Well, minor league steaks.... MOVE OVER. I am a 100% Ribeye Man now!

It must be the fat. The marbling that makes them so juicy and melt in your mouth perfect! I am not talking about these little skinny things the grociers calls Ribeyes in the meat section either. I have had some awesome Ribeye steaks recently that are about the best things I have ever put in my mouth!

It is pretty sad. I must confess. I go down the road in the car on the way to work and I pass all these cows in the pasture on the way to/from. Now everytime I look at them all I see is juicy, tasty Ribeyes on the hoof!!! Isn't that pathetic?

Anyhow, you can post your fav steaks and low carb foods, but I am bonkers over Ribeyes lately.

I can't believe I am on a diet now. Eatin great. Never hungry. Losin Weight!

Yeah, ...Baby! EEEEEEEEE DOGGIE!

I am down to 344.2 and I can't help but do a little dancin'.......... (Pardon Me, Please)!

That would be something like 65.8 lbs down so far (literally within spittin distance of 66 lbs)!!!

I know that this is only a testament to how grossly morbidly obese I allowed myself to get (and how much I have to lose), but HEY..., HERE I AM - AND LOVIN IT!!!

I gotta long way to go, and on some days it seems like I see little to no forward progress - or at least my weight is bouncing up and down and up and down and progress at least "FEELS" elusive! All those days of hanging in there and not seeing the numbers I really want on the digital readout of my scale are so frustrating, but make mornings like this morning really special.

Wooooshin on down to new lows is the best!!

One day I will hit a serious wall and the reward will not be in seeing new lower numbers anymore, but in maintaining the loss over the rest of my life - and maybe looking for qualitative gains in fitness and health. SO... here's to enjoyin it while I can, cause there's no sense in gaining it all back just to lose it all again!!!

That to me is the big picture goal. I want to be like others I have met that have kept it off long term, that are still active in the forums and posting and helping and encouraging others who need their help - and sharing all they have learned. They look great but are not about to fall into the trap of thinking they have arrived, and don't fade off into the sunset.

Celebrating the little successes on the way makes it fun. I was happy all day today with just the thought that I had hit a new low like this. In my head I know that if all stays true to form I will bounce around a bit again before I hit another new low later a number of days down the line. Sure, I wish I was at goal NOW. I wish I didn't have to go through all this. I wish it didn't take so long. But maybe I will learn a lifelong lesson. I hope so!