Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

[Emre Yigit]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Fantastic! Inspirational! Thank you for sharing, and congratulations for sticking with the program. I know trips can be a little tricky in the first couple of stages of OWL, but if you have your scales with you, you can't go wrong.

All the best.

[Sarina D]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Sarina, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to give us an insight as to how you ate. Some people would have thought that the Atkins way of eating was just too restrictive with all the foods that you cannot eat.

However you battled and that is brilliant. I believe that not eating dairy foods could infact be helpful. My husband tends to over eat on the cheese and we have had to cut back dramatically on the cream.

Your rhubarb idea sounds great. I add rhubarb to jelly which over here is made with aspertame your idea is much better and is absolutely legal. The cream cheese is also something that I have to be careful of as it is delicious and again I tend to over eat it. We have also found that nuts and berries caused us to stall so for the moment they are off the menu.

You are a great inspiration to us again thank you for your tips which I have found very helpful. The idea to eat several small meals instead of three regular ones is a brilliant idea to keep the metabolism going. The only problem is remembering to eat as hubs and I are rarely hungry even though we are eating a fraction of what we used to. I think you have hit the nail on the head little and often is the way to go.

Thanks Sarina you are our hero I wish you continued healthy and happy living.

Awe, thanks cookiecate.....you're a darling!

I'm glad that some things I shared you find to be helpful, you're most welcome!

Good for you and your husband to be able to identify the items that are slowing things down or posing a difficulty for you and making the decision to cut them out. It doesn't mean we'll always have to cut them out, it may just be not the right time for where we're at.

I can TOTALLY relate to you regarding the cream cheese and finding something that can be easily over eaten because it's so delicious....I'm in the same boat and I get frustrated when that happens to me.

I'm excited for you and your husband, it's wonderful that you and your husband are able to do this together....what a great support you are to each other!

Keep in touch and let me know how you're both doing. Please send my warmest regards to your husband and tell him to keep up the great work, we're all here cheering the two of you on in your journey!

Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words and encouragement they mean a great deal to me.

Sarina
-----------------
Heaviest weight - 403 lbs. (2007)
April 1, 2008 - 387 lbs. (This is when I initially started to lose weight…but was not on Atkins at this point)
Atkins start weight – 347 lbs. (July 19, 2008 – began Atkins)
1st major goal met -----100 lbs. lost as of Oct 2, 2008 - Hit 300 lbs. on this day – From April 1-08 when I initially begin to lose weight.
2nd major goal met - 151 lbs. lost as of Jan 13, 2009 - Hit 249 lbs. on this day.
3rd major goal met - Wed, May 13-09 - Reached losing 200 lbs. in just over a year and a couple of months.
4th major goal met – Reached “Onederland” June 6-09 – 198 lbs.
Current weight – 191 lbs.
Goal weight - 150 – 160

[cookiecate]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Sarina, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to give us an insight as to how you ate. Some people would have thought that the Atkins way of eating was just too restrictive with all the foods that you cannot eat.

However you battled and that is brilliant. I believe that not eating dairy foods could infact be helpful. My husband tends to over eat on the cheese and we have had to cut back dramatically on the cream.

Your rhubarb idea sounds great. I add rhubarb to jelly which over here is made with aspertame your idea is much better and is absolutely legal. The cream cheese is also something that I have to be careful of as it is delicious and again I tend to over eat it. We have also found that nuts and berries caused us to stall so for the moment they are off the menu.

You are a great inspiration to us again thank you for your tips which I have found very helpful. The idea to eat several small meals instead of three regular ones is a brilliant idea to keep the metabolism going. The only problem is remembering to eat as hubs and I are rarely hungry even though we are eating a fraction of what we used to. I think you have hit the nail on the head little and often is the way to go.

Thanks Sarina you are our hero I wish you continued healthy and happy living.

[Sarina D]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

WOW, thanks so much everyone!!!

I haven't really been on the board very much (compared to the time I'm on normally).

I FINALLY reached "Onederland" June 6-09 What a relief!!!!!

I have 41 lbs. left till goal....if my body feels great at 150 lbs that is...if not I'll settle for 160 lbs BUT I'm going for 150 lbs.

I have as of recent increased my cardio and workout routines. I'm back to working out in the morning before I go to work and in the evening after work. I had stopped my morning workouts and was just doing everything in the evening.

I have some pictures that have been taken of me over the last few weeks that I'm hoping to add here soon as an update.

You guys are awesome, thanks again for all your support and kind words!

Eama, I am thrilled that you are doing Atkins and can tell you....if this way of eating can work for me, I am confident that it can work for you. I am greatly restricted by food allergies...dairy, nuts, some veggies and fruits and all fish and I've made this work well for me even with such restrictions. I know you will be successful with this way of eating, just be sure to follow it by the book. Eat exactly what you're suppose to, exercise and drink lots of water and before you know it you won't just be losing weight but you'll most importantly feel better. I can totally appreciate what you mean about starting out with a lot of weight to lose and feeling that it's almost impossible.....been there done that, however, the truth is....we're the ones that are truly in control and have the power to make it happen! Once we believe in ourselves and comit to ourselves in combination with this way of eating.....it DOES happen. Feel free to pm me anytime. If you don't hear back from me right away I haven't forgotten about you or anything like that, it will be because of time restraints on my end. I have been dealing with a number of medical things lately and the time I have had to come on the board as well as keep in touch with my Atkins family hasn't been very much but I will for sure get back to you so feel free to pm me anytime. We're all in this together and we'll support each other and get to our goals together. Pat yourself on your back for making the decision to get healthy...way to go! I promise you it's not impossible.....you deserve good health and all the happiness and freedom that comes along with it.

Cookiecate - As mentioned above, I am restricted in food choices due to a number of food allergies so I'm not the greatest person to ask regarding menu ideas, however, I would be happy to give you an example of how I eat.

For breakfast, I eat 2 x eggs scrambled with brocolli or red/orange/yellow peppers, sometimes I dice chicken up and throw it in or ground turkery/chicken or beef and even black olives (I LOVE black olives). I eat only part of it before I head off to work and then about 10am I eat the rest of it.

I should add here that I don't eat 3 meals a day, I eat anywhere between 4 to 6 and sometimes even 7 depending on the day and the intensity of my workouts. However, what I do is make breakfast lunch and dinner and divide them into 2 or three more meals depending on their size. My doctor instructed me to eat these small mini meals last year and for me it has worked great.

As he mentioned to me, eating smaller portioned mini meals keeps the metabolism burrning throughout the day. Doing so has also allowed me not to feel over full and not to feel suddenly hungry. I know some people only eat 3 meals a day and that works great for them....for me, this is the way I have chosen to eat and as you can see from my results below, it has worked well for me to date. Each person has to find out what works best for them and run with it....for me this works fabulous.

As for stalls, I went through a HUGE stall just recently in May and it was horrible....I think I may have lost only 1 lbs or so...it was so bad I don't even want to look back and see what I lost! It was because I added berries (rung 4) and for some reason I had a lot of problems not to mention the fact that I tore a rectus abdominal muscle and was very limited in my exercise which was horrible.....I backed myself up and went back to rung 1 (veggies) rung 2 and 3 are foods I am alergic to so that is why I went to rung 1. I will try berries again in a couple of months. So far I am content with rung 1 and have no problems being here for the time being.

Okay so back to what I would eat....lunch....I would have salad and cut chicken up into it and drizzle my salad with a tsp of olive oil and use spices such as onion powder and other spices to make it more exciting. Or I would have a piece or two of chicken and veggies, or maybe left over steak and veggies/and salad. Perhaps some lamb and veggies and once again, I would only eat half of it and then eat the rest a couple hours later.

For dinner I would eat either chicken, turkey, beef or lamb with a veggie and maybe some salad.

For a snack...if I really wanted one I would eat olives....occasionally a hard boiled egg or two (if I really felt I wanted something to snack on). Sometimes I would have a couple of dill pickles or if I was feeling really ambitious I would make that mock cinnamon apple recipe with choyote veggies and have a bit of that....that stuff is AMAZING!!! Love it! Or I would eat half a red or yellow or orange pepper....they're nice and crispy.

Recently I experimented with some rhubarb (which is actually a veggie...go figure....I had no idea!!!) and what I did was chop a bunch of rhubarb up and put it in about 1/4 of an inch or so of water in a pan and bring it to a boil and then turn it down and cook it till it was mushy...I added cinnamon and Stevia (natural sweetener) and some agar, agar (seaweed gelatin as a thickener) and then spoon it into small containers and refrigerate it. After about 5 hours it's like a jello or pudding consitency and it's scrumptious!!!!

I wish I could eat cream cheese, I'd be making cheese cakes with pumpkin daily!!!! LOL!!! But hey, these two dishes are my choices when I feel like having a dessert and I'm happy with that.

Thanks again everyone, happy low carbing to all of you!!!

Cheers!
Sarina
-------------------

Heaviest weight - 403 lbs. (2007)
April 1, 2008 - 387 lbs. (This is when I initially started to lose weight…but was not on Atkins at this point)
Atkins start weight – 347 lbs. (July 19, 2008 – began Atkins)
1st major goal met -----100 lbs. lost as of Oct 2, 2008 - Hit 300 lbs. on this day – From April 1-08 when I initially begin to lose weight.
2nd major goal met - 151 lbs. lost as of Jan 13, 2009 - Hit 249 lbs. on this day.
3rd major goal met - Wed, May 13-09 - Reached losing 200 lbs. in just over a year and a couple of months.
4th major goal met – Reached “Onederland” June 6-09 – 198 lbs.
Current weight – 191 lbs.
Goal weight - 150 – 160

[frankiev]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

wow yr an inspiration ........very proud of you keep up the good work sarina .....ciao.

[Eama]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Your pictures made me cry.

Starting out this big... it kinda feels like the whole thing is impossible. Like someone trying to bale out a flooded room with a teaspoon so they don't drown.

You showed me it is possible. You've given me hope, and not just a desperate knowledge that I have to try to do something before I die from being fat.

Thank you.

[kikiphilly]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

You go girl!

[bellafortuna]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Sarina- You look amazing! Your results are so inspiring.

[PurtySmile]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

What great strides you've made!! Thanks SO much for working through the knots in your tummy to share! Quite the inspiration, you are!!!

Congratulations on all your success thus far!

[Brandee]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Wow! That's amazing. Congratulations and good luck on the rest of your journey.

[cookiecate]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Sarina, How marvelous to see your great journey. You look beautiful, you are a lovely looking lady even with extra pounds you still had a lovely face. (That used to make me mad) Oh people would say you have a lovely face and personality, but they did not mention the extra poundage.

I would be interested in what you eat or ate. Did you have any stalls? was there any particular food that you found you could not eat? and most important of all what was your favourite snack?

[sadie@136]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Wow you rock!
congrats

[Lacypie]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

My goodness!! You are looking so awesome! Great Job! Keep it up!

[fofinha]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Big difference....keep up the good work. You should post your before and after picture (so far) on the fridge and that will always give you motivation. you look a lot healthier and younger.

[chgomom]

Re: Before and during - From 400 lbs. to 247 lbs. Not done yet!!!

Wow!! You are a real inspiration!!