New To This Forum

[JennyO]

Hello, I am new to this forum, however I am not new to Atkins or low-carb. When I first started the Atkins diet, and noticed within a few hours the change it had in me, I contacted a lawyer because I wanted to sue the American Diabetes Association and the American Medical Association for the lack of information and bad treatment I had received for many years. You know what? In the land of law suits, I could not find a lawyer that would do that for me. They all told me that for me to sue I had to have permanent damage. I think I consider overweight and what accompanies it permanent damage. I was insulted and I am still very angry about the whole situation.

I was 310 lbs on a 5' 5" frame. I am 60 years old, high blood pressure, blood sugars could not be controlled, 50u of Insulin daily, 4 different medications for high blood pressure, Glucophage, Avandia. I don't remember, but I was taking 13 diff medications a day and feeling very bad. I would go to work and people would tell me that they thought I was going to die on my chair. Well, I lost my job eventually and in trying to get better to be able to see if I could find another job, I found Atkins. The very first day I felt like I had taken amphetamines, that is the energy I had and the hyper I felt. I could not go to sleep until about 4 am. I had this feeling for about 2 days and then by the 3rd day I felt fine and normal.

I lost about 70 lbs during the first 7 months and then I stalled. I could not lose any more weight. I wanted to be around 200 lbs for my youngest son college graduation and I was not able to make it and then I got depressed and left the diet for about 4 months. Gained 30 lbs back and of course my blood sugars are not in control any more.

Three days ago I went back on induction trying to bring my blood sugars down again. I had eliminated all diabetic medication, but I have not been able to control my high blood pressure. I also have diabetes retinopathy and a lot of other things. I am at 250 lbs again and trying to see if I can make it to 200 this time.

I am reading everything in this forum to see if I can get some ideas. I was able to get a disability because I could not find a job and I don't have insurance at this time, so it is only me trying to survive until I am eligible for Medicare in Nov of this year.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
JennyO

[Coop2004]

Welcome jenny O, I may move your post to its own so maybe some others here can help you, as I don’t know the agencies in the USA.It will get lost in this thread ok

Read read read and test test test but you know that.....question is...do you do that.

Its only way to control diabetes thru Atkins. ya I hear ya about annoyance with medical module but the stress of law suit in my opinion is not worth this early death you will get from stress which I believe is harder on the body than fat.

I think we all have done what you did believing in the medical model and I come from that background with my training but over the ys have learned that the art of medicine has not taught up with the science of medicine and ultimately we each are held accountable for what we do and how we do it. I too told my endo I felt they were being negligent by continuing to tell patients to do the diabetic program, here in Canada it is our food guide which is as bad as your pyramid, probably almost the same I would think.
I was on about 400 gr of carbs on diabetic program and used five injections a day totally 155 units, mainly fast acting insulin and within 32 hr had to quit it all.

I feel like tony the tiger.....grrreeeaaaattt.....when I follow atkins to the T which I have done for almost 17 months until got tad lazy over holidays and did allot of carb creeping as I had been on a stall for about 6 plus months and got kind of settled in.

I think its a stage we all go thru ….darn it…….but I would like to get to about 160 lbs and decdied to go back on induction Jan 2. I am down 7 lbs and hubby is down 6 lbs and we both feel so good we wondered why the heck we strayed abit.

I did not really cheat except for one occasion on new yr day but the carb creeping of legal things got me craving and hungry as heck.

My BG did not rise and in fact were better than all the non-diabetics in the room after my cheat, so my body is still burning efficiently and I felt good about that.

You asked for advice, it appears you are living without much money but this is what I would like to give you as feedback since you are open to learning…………

1. give up on idea of getting any money from anyone over this as stress will kill ya young

2. Small walks, anything, are better than sitting and doing nothing,

3. Drink allot of water, it really does make a diff.

4 clean house of all illegal foods so when you feel down /tired/bored you don’t have access to those foods.

5. We are going to announce new induction program for any diabetics here who have strayed, stalled or gone off the program so that if they feel they need to redo induction we are here as a team.
This of course is not to abuse it but use it as suggested in the book by Dr A.so think about joining with us. I just need some time to develop a post to announce it and am running in my job and not much time.havnt been here much lately.

6. Stick with us, whine, talk, vent, chat, joke or whatever but stick around, I witness that those who do best are ones who stick around.
……….our buddy……. 4myself4mykids was doing great guns, had tremendous life stresses with things and mom's death but is back and re doing her program and I know we can offer support here and I know it helped me in the past.

You and only you can care for yourself, we cannot depend on a doctor, a system or an agency so we must learn from each other, stick together and make it happen.IMHO anyhow 
You can do it.
:wave

[Twisti]

HI and Welcome!!!!

No suggestions sorry....Canuck pretty much said it all... :yes

Post here often, wed love to get to know ya...plus if you dont, they hunt ya down....trust me, i know this.... :yes

[2big4mysize]

woo hoo welcome to the board.

You know it will work and when you get stalled again (yep that is a normal part of all weight loss even Atkins) come post and we will all see if we can spot something you are overlooking that just might tweak your program and poof you are out of your stall and back losing again.

We have a forum for those who need to lose more then 100 pounds if you'd like to join the centruy club too . We have an exercise challenge that is bases on your abilities this week so come join the TDL challenge too.

Many large loser have a problem with forgetting that as they get smaller their bodies need less cals to do the exact same actions and they are still eating their Atkins like they did in the early days and when they addjust their protions downward the scles move again. females lose about 9 cals a pound and ofr your 70 pounds that would be 630 calories of food changes so you can see how failing to make just that one change could stall out your Atkins as just one example of something you might have not thought of when you were stalled and got frustrated. I had a 12 week stall and was going nuts in summer 2003 here you can ask the old timers about the slug diet

Happy low carbing to you.

[canuck]

My goodness 2 big i recall when you stalled and then when you fell, you were so honest and so willing to work hard, that is how i am going to be, you are my model. :hug

[Binsk]

Welome JennyO. You are going to love 2Big and Canuck, they are so helpful and supportive.

Here's to a better year in 2005.

[Coop2004]

Welcome, JennyO!! :wave

:hug

Linda (Coop)

[JennyO]

Hello everyone, and thank you for making me feel soooo good. I appreciate your advise. I have forgotten about the law suit, it was just how I felt in the begining. I was so angry with all my doctors for not suggesting low carb before!!! However, I started Induction on Monday, but I have not lost a single pound. It takes forever to lose weight, but I am patient. Last time, when I lost 70 pounds, I lost them in a very strange way. I could go 2 months without losing any weight and then one week I lost 20 lbs in two days. I could not belive that. Then it happened again with another 10 lbs. If you look at it afterwards, you would say I averaged a 10 lbs loss each month, but it was not like that. During the first two weeks of Induction I only lost 4 lbs, only to regain 2 the third week of Atkins. But I got a program called Fitday and I track everything I eat on it. I am between 15 and 21 gr a day.

This morning when I tested my bs, the reading was 275 and it scared me to death. So I tested another finger and it was 145. I don't know why this happened, but I think I am going to buy another meter, although this is only about 2 years old.

I took a Glucophage XR pill because I have diabetes retinopathy and I am really scared of having these high readings.

Anyway, count me in the Induction people if you develop such a group. I am delighted to meet you all. I will keep you posted as to my success. I want to be able to get to at least 200 lbs. so bad. Then, I will think about getting to 180.

Thanks a lot for everything.

Jenny

[canuck]

OOOOO Jenny ya….that is hi, did you have hand cream or anything on the finger with higher reading.
Strips can read differently if lid left off or in bathroom with humidity.

I would call and ask for new meter, they will give you one for free so you'll use their strips or tell them you dropped it and they want to keep you as a consumer so will send free one, ask for some free strips to try it out, I always do and they ever say NO.

Try get am one down as it helps for whole day, don’t go off meds until stable for long time and talk it over with doc.

Want to protect those eyes for sure.

Read induction 2005 thread and post results there, ya I lose funny too, I lose a ton initially and then nothing for ages and lots of inches but have stalled with both and bouncing since about June so was ready to redo induction and get cravings under control so now feel waaaayyyy better.

If need help with anything just ask but stay involved, it helps me to keep on straight and narrow and 2 big will have her whip out there to snap your behind if ya get lazy so paddle bloody fast so she cant catch up.LOLOLO
:wave

[2big4mysize]

the reinduction groop is up in the dioabetics board Canuck posted it but called it something else with a 2005 in it.

Sounds like you do a lot of fluid retention and they whooshie it goes. We all do that but on a much smaller scale then you.

Our bodies are very complicated and they need us to retain shpe for chemical reaction reason so they add fluids to the tissues where the fats that are being removed for fuel are coming from. This also causes a different pressure on our bio chenm systems and when we exceeed our bodies limit for this fluid biochem change we release a chem and whoosh pounds derop off over night. If youcontinu with shuch high changes you might want to talk with your doc about it as that excess fluid can cause blood pressure changes too.

Happy low carbing

[canuck]

were you referring to me 2 big or jenny, my bp is excellent and no fluid retention, used too when bigger.
Hear I thought yer were gonna deny you had a whip....jeesh..... :hug

[JennyO]

Yes I have congestive heart failure and I retain a lot of fluids. I have so many health issues and I am sure they are because of my many years of dealing with uncontrolled blood sugars. But I am working hard on this.

[canuck]

goodonyajenny...this low carbing will help, i know.

[JennyO]

Canuck, I just read your story and loved it. Mine was similar and my kids tell me that I am obsessed with Atkins and low-carb. They don't understand me. I was 310 lbs and had gotten down to 230 and went back up to 250 which is where I am right now. The one thing is that I was not able to get rid of my blood pressure meds because it continue to be very high. I also have congestive heart, arthritis, allergies and goiter. I can not wait to get my bs back under 100 and to start losing weight again. I know that I lose very slowly, so I am patient. I started Induction on Monday and have done it very well. I track everything I eat, so I know that my carbs are under 20, however no ketosis yet. Did you also lose the weight very slowly? I am 60 years old, so I am older than you are.
Thanks.

[sassyone]

Jenny, we are glad to have you here! We all have stories so similar to yours! Most people on Atkins are doing it solely for losing weight. But for those of us who are unfortunate enough to have diabetes- it is a life saver! Literally! So from now on you have to have the mind frame that you are doing this to save your life! And you need to make your family understand that as well. And the weight loss is a wonderful side effect! So be patient with the weight loss- it will happen. Some people who are very successful on Atkins lost nothing during induction- some never get into ketosis- or at least they were not aware of it- but just keep doing what you are doing and it will happen. Like Canuck, or mentor, said, don't stop taking your meds until you have your BG under control. Before I started Atkins I was having readings like yours in the mornings- over 250 some days- and it scared the crap out of me! I am no longer on any meds at all, which is very common if you are diligent. Best of luck to you, stay involved on the board- it is so helpful and fun too! And when you need :help just ask for it!