How I Lost 100 Pounds in 2007 with the Atkins Diet

Obesity causes depression, and depression causes you to overeat, which in return causes you to become obese. It's an endless cycle, or at least it feels like it when you are in the cycle. I know; I was in that cycle. I am still trying to get out of it completely, but I have come a long way going from 350 to 220 pounds. The best part is that I'm still in my first year.

Every year, for 5 years straight, I would start my New Year by making the statement, "This year I'm really going to do it. I am finally going to loose the weight. My goals are to come down to 180 pounds." This is what I weighed before I became a mom. Last year, I finally made strives in the right direction. I decided to start the Atkins Diet.

The diet is simple to follow, and the best part is you still get to eat all of your favorite foods (at least my favorite foods).

Getting Started:

Make a list of all of your favorite meats and cheeses

For me this included bacon, Swiss cheese, steak, shrimp, cheese burgers, chicken, summer sausage, Colby cheese, pepper cheese, string cheese, and Virginia ham lunch meat. Make sure you purchase a healthy supply for both at work as well as home so you don't run out. Your biggest enemy is not getting enough to last. This in a sense will force you to cheat (I know).

Per my doctor I am supposed to remind you to also purchase a supply of multi-vitamins to make up for the nutritional loss of not eating bread, fruit and vegetables.

Make a list of daily cheats and determine the proper substitute

My biggest cheat is the candy jar at the receptionist desk. My second big issue was breakfast in the mornings. I never have time to eat at home, so I substitute with cookies, and chips at the snack bar. To substitute this I have a stock of beef sticks, summer sausage, and Swiss cheese in the fridge. Whenever I have a craving I make my way to the fridge, and gorge myself in my stash.

Remember -- You can eat as much meat and cheeses as you want!

Counting Carbs

After 2 weeks of this I started counting carbohydrates in efforts of adding things to my diet. I kept my daily limit to 30. The trick here is to remember that carbohydrates are hiding everywhere. If it's not meat and / or cheese it has carbs.

Here are a few basics for you to consider:

Ketchup - 4g

Mustard - 2.0 gm

Wine - 0.8 gm

Light Mayonnaise - 8.50 gm

Miller Light - 3 gm

Weighing In

This is probably the most important part of the diet (besides sticking to it). You need to get rid of your scale. Make sure there are no scales in the house to prevent you from cheating. Once you have done this find a friend, or family member that you visit regularly, preferably weekends. I visit my mother's house for the weekends so this worked out for me. Weigh yourself every weekend two times throughout the day, once first thing in the morning, and once in the evening before bed. I say this because throughout the week your weight will go up and down, however if you make the commitment to only weigh yourself once a week you will feel great about yourself and have the ambition to continue the diet.

Here are the trends I experienced

Week 1 through 8: 3 - 5lbs per week

Afterwards loose 2lbs week 1, weight stays the same week 2

One thing I have noticed with this diet is once every 3 months I tend to get stuck, where I don't loose any weight. In these instances I will increase my carbs to 40 gm per day for a week, and then revert back to 0 gm. This will bring your weight loss back to 3 -- 6 lbs per week.

And it's that simple! Now my question for you is. My goals for 2008 are to loose an additional 40lbs. Will you join me?