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Hi everyone,
My name is Rachel. I am 23 and from Charleston, SC. I joined the message boards well into my Induction phase. With the help of atkins.com forums and finally reading the book, I've realized I really need to be eating more veggies and a lot less cheese! So I believe I am going to stay for one more week on Induction and then move to OWL. I really want to lose the weight for good this time and not just have a quick fix for a couple months. So I know that I need to go through the necessary steps and not try to 'skip' ahead with endless Induction.
My journey has been a long and strenuous battle with weight. In the 9th grade was when I first learned about 'weight' and what was too much. At 15 years old and 5'2 I weighed a whopping 149 lbs. At this time, my mom had me start Atkins with her. Along with exercising and eating well, I managed to get down to 130 lbs. Over the course of the summer, with vacations and such, I was back up to 140. Then when school came around again (10th grade) I started back into eating less carbs and managed to get down to my all-time lowest weight (in memory) of 120 lbs. I looked good and felt fantastic!
I believe that I stayed down at that weight probably for about 6 months or so. That August before 11th grade, I met a boy and we started dating. Over the course of the school year, I'm pretty sure I stayed at least below 130 lbs and I've always loved my pictures from prom that year.
Of course, my boyfriend at the time worked after school and didn't eat dinner until later in the evening. I always ate dinner within an hour of coming home (just an early eater and my mom always had it prepared at that time). So if I wanted to hang out with my bf, I ended up eating two dinners and of course the second one was not very nutritional. By the time I graduated from highschool I was back up to 150 lbs. I didn't feel too big but I was not exactly totally comfortable with myself at all.
Here comes college and the freshman 15 (or 20 in my case). I think that by the end of my first semester of school I was up to 170 lbs and it was gross! I really needed a change. I started eating a lot of popcorn... I know that is strange but everyday I pretty much only ate a bag of popcorn and maybe some real dinner. Not good for my insides but I managed to get down to about 145 lbs. I felt good with this, of course it didn't last too long. By the middle of my sophomore year, I was back up to 165 lbs. At this time my family (immediate, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents) decided to start up a 'Biggest Loser' for the family. There was a cash prize incentive for the person who lost the largest percentage of weight in 4 months. Well I started eating a lot less, but this time it was normal food with 3 meals a day and snacks inbetween. I also starting exercising again, this time with The Firm. By May 1, I had slimmed down to 135 lbs and had a $500 cash prize in my pocket. Over the summer I reached 129 lbs and was buying small clothes and feeling the best I had felt in years (at least since 10th grade). I went back to school and slid backwards.
Over the course of junior and senior year, I got back up to 168 lbs. I felt disgusting but all attempts at losing weight fizzled quickly. I just wasn't into it. Then in February of my senior year, my boyfriend (of 5 1/2 years) and I broke up. It was really tough on me. The break-up coupled with a senior project I detested, graduating, finding a job, finals, moving to a completely new place (I'm originally from northwest PA), starting a job, and finding a roommate I wasn't eating or exercising correctly and on Feb 15th I stepped on the scale to find myself at my all-time highest weight ever of 185 lbs. It really scared me to think that my body could get so massive and that 200 lbs was a real threat. It always seemed far away and now it was just a couple months and 15 lbs away at my current rate.
Last week it clicked, I really needed to lose weight and get to a place where I was happy with myself and my body. I had the most success with low-carb in the past and thought I'd go right back to that. It guaranteed the best chance of getting down to a good weight for me. I started ANA on Jan 16th and I haven't looked back. It's been almost 2 weeks and I'm now down to 174.6 lbs. I'm going to stay one more week on Induction (hopefully I can get below 170) before I start on OWL. I know that everyone says you need to move up and your body will work with you and lose weight correctly and less quickly to ensure permanent weight loss.
I started exercising again today. I'm gonna start with some videos, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs, and The FIRM. I also have a pilates video that's pretty great. My ultimate goal in exercise is to get the new ChaLEAN Extreme (too expensive right now! - need to save up for a couple weeks) and complete the entire 90 days. I would really like to complete the program before my best friend's wedding in July (I'm a bridesmaid!). I'd also like to try some jogging (I started a program and got through 4 weeks before I stopped due to it being FREEZING outside) again and be able to jog continuosly for about 20-30 minutes.
I believe that exercise along with my new eating will help me shed the weight once and for all. I've always had success with forums and message boards because everyone is there to cheer you on. I will try my best to help you along as well. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, suggestions, or encouraging words.
Happy Eating (and exercising),
Rachel
HW = 185
CW = 174.6
GW = 120 (maybe lower, let's just get here first!)
My name is Rachel. I am 23 and from Charleston, SC. I joined the message boards well into my Induction phase. With the help of atkins.com forums and finally reading the book, I've realized I really need to be eating more veggies and a lot less cheese! So I believe I am going to stay for one more week on Induction and then move to OWL. I really want to lose the weight for good this time and not just have a quick fix for a couple months. So I know that I need to go through the necessary steps and not try to 'skip' ahead with endless Induction.
My journey has been a long and strenuous battle with weight. In the 9th grade was when I first learned about 'weight' and what was too much. At 15 years old and 5'2 I weighed a whopping 149 lbs. At this time, my mom had me start Atkins with her. Along with exercising and eating well, I managed to get down to 130 lbs. Over the course of the summer, with vacations and such, I was back up to 140. Then when school came around again (10th grade) I started back into eating less carbs and managed to get down to my all-time lowest weight (in memory) of 120 lbs. I looked good and felt fantastic!
I believe that I stayed down at that weight probably for about 6 months or so. That August before 11th grade, I met a boy and we started dating. Over the course of the school year, I'm pretty sure I stayed at least below 130 lbs and I've always loved my pictures from prom that year.
Of course, my boyfriend at the time worked after school and didn't eat dinner until later in the evening. I always ate dinner within an hour of coming home (just an early eater and my mom always had it prepared at that time). So if I wanted to hang out with my bf, I ended up eating two dinners and of course the second one was not very nutritional. By the time I graduated from highschool I was back up to 150 lbs. I didn't feel too big but I was not exactly totally comfortable with myself at all.Here comes college and the freshman 15 (or 20 in my case). I think that by the end of my first semester of school I was up to 170 lbs and it was gross! I really needed a change. I started eating a lot of popcorn... I know that is strange but everyday I pretty much only ate a bag of popcorn and maybe some real dinner. Not good for my insides but I managed to get down to about 145 lbs. I felt good with this, of course it didn't last too long. By the middle of my sophomore year, I was back up to 165 lbs. At this time my family (immediate, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents) decided to start up a 'Biggest Loser' for the family. There was a cash prize incentive for the person who lost the largest percentage of weight in 4 months. Well I started eating a lot less, but this time it was normal food with 3 meals a day and snacks inbetween. I also starting exercising again, this time with The Firm. By May 1, I had slimmed down to 135 lbs and had a $500 cash prize in my pocket.
Over the summer I reached 129 lbs and was buying small clothes and feeling the best I had felt in years (at least since 10th grade). I went back to school and slid backwards. Over the course of junior and senior year, I got back up to 168 lbs. I felt disgusting but all attempts at losing weight fizzled quickly. I just wasn't into it. Then in February of my senior year, my boyfriend (of 5 1/2 years) and I broke up. It was really tough on me. The break-up coupled with a senior project I detested, graduating, finding a job, finals, moving to a completely new place (I'm originally from northwest PA), starting a job, and finding a roommate I wasn't eating or exercising correctly and on Feb 15th I stepped on the scale to find myself at my all-time highest weight ever of 185 lbs. It really scared me to think that my body could get so massive and that 200 lbs was a real threat. It always seemed far away and now it was just a couple months and 15 lbs away at my current rate.
Last week it clicked, I really needed to lose weight and get to a place where I was happy with myself and my body. I had the most success with low-carb in the past and thought I'd go right back to that. It guaranteed the best chance of getting down to a good weight for me. I started ANA on Jan 16th and I haven't looked back. It's been almost 2 weeks and I'm now down to 174.6 lbs. I'm going to stay one more week on Induction (hopefully I can get below 170) before I start on OWL. I know that everyone says you need to move up and your body will work with you and lose weight correctly and less quickly to ensure permanent weight loss.
I started exercising again today. I'm gonna start with some videos, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs, and The FIRM. I also have a pilates video that's pretty great. My ultimate goal in exercise is to get the new ChaLEAN Extreme (too expensive right now! - need to save up for a couple weeks) and complete the entire 90 days. I would really like to complete the program before my best friend's wedding in July (I'm a bridesmaid!). I'd also like to try some jogging (I started a program and got through 4 weeks before I stopped due to it being FREEZING outside) again and be able to jog continuosly for about 20-30 minutes.
I believe that exercise along with my new eating will help me shed the weight once and for all. I've always had success with forums and message boards because everyone is there to cheer you on.
I will try my best to help you along as well. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, suggestions, or encouraging words.Happy Eating (and exercising),
Rachel
HW = 185
CW = 174.6
GW = 120 (maybe lower, let's just get here first!)
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