Hello.

[LFB1966]

Hello, my name is Matthew.

A week or so into my new life regime with Atkins being the diet of choice when it comes to losing weight although I did kick things off with 4 days on some silly soup diet which whilst shifting the weight, was just plain awful.

Recently hit 288lbs and whilst I have had no major health scares I have decided that for all sorts of reasons I have been suffering from a pretty major case of 'feelingsorryformyselfitis' and that its time to stop especially when I look at the good things in my life which are many (in fact it makes me ashamed to even admit that I could have been down in the doldrums for so long given them). And losing a lot of weight is very much part of my reinventing myself.

Lost a fair bit of weight (80lbs +/- 2lb) a few years ago on the Atkins but that was driven more by my ego and a financial wager and I never had any intention of doing the things I needed to keep the weight off and had almost prided myself on my ability to eat and drink what I wanted and still have no problems with things such as blood pressure and so on. Which shows what I twonk I can be

Here because I know I am going to struggle this time for all sorts of reasons not least because my business has had a rotten few years for all sorts of reasons, most of which stare back at me in the mirror every morning, and that I do have some hills to climb but every journey begins with a single step.

Not sure how things work on here so will have a look around but I would like to say a big thanks to this guy....

YouTube - My Atkins Diet Story

Found his video last week and its been very inspiring.

[blueberrylady]

Re: Hello.

Welcome to the board, Matthew!

That was a very inspiring video! He went from a middle-aged man to a kid, it was amazing! And you can do it too! You seem to have gotten yourself out of the funk you were in and are motivated, so just stick to the plan and remember that we are here for you. Good luck!

[sham]

Re: Hello.

Hi mathew welcome to our site firstly i must say you sound determined to do it for yourself that should be the attitude.As a male if you stick to the diet and exercise you will get fast result most of the other male members do aswell read other males stories on the site and see the portal site pictures sre very inspiring all the best you made the right choice.

[imagood1]

Re: Hello.

Hi Matthew, welcome back to Atkins - hopefully this time you will believe the plan works and is something you can stick with even without a bet! Sad that someone bet you you couldn't loose weight in order to get you to loose it.......

The plan works if you work it the way it's written. Once you get use to eating full flavored, wonderful food you'll wonder why you didn't start before. I don't miss anything I "can't" eat...because I honestly believe I could eat those things but I choose not to because I don't want them anymore. Nothing is as important as my health - I have too many people depending on me but until I started depending on myself I wasn't happy or healthy.

Check the recipe sites so you have a variety of foods to eat - stay away from the shakes & bars they are not made to help us - they are made for profit to the company at our expense. Start exercising immediately and keep pushing yourself to go farther. Good luck!

Recipe Sites
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/menus.html
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-diet-14-day-induction/58513-never-ending-induction-recipes.html
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-diet-14-day-induction/6807-induction-recipe-basics-more-recipes-added.html
http://www.sugarfreesheila.com/RecipesPage.html

[LFB1966]

Re: Hello.

Hi Matthew, welcome back to Atkins - hopefully this time you will believe the plan works and is something you can stick with even without a bet! Sad that someone bet you you couldn't loose weight in order to get you to loose it.......

Thanks for that. I'll be honest and say that I always believed it would work but was an arrogant so and so who thought that I should not deny myself anything.

I think with me its been more an issue to do with my drinking and the over-eating just came as a consequence. Never considered myself a problamatic drinker and living in Britain where we have quite a heavy drinking culture you find yourself getting sucked into a pattern of late nights in the pub, followed by an Indian meal, followed by carb-fest at breakfast to get over the hangover and then, after a hard days work what better is there than going back to the pub again ?

So if I knock the booze on the head, which I have done at least in the UK and which I dont miss beyond that desire straight after getting home from work for something cold and fizzy, then its easy for me to stick with the diet which is a cracking one for somebody with my tastes.

The exercise is something that I am going to take a serious look at and also whilst I want to lose weight I want to do so in a way that means I am not hooked to the scales. A couple of pounds per week will do nicely and any more is a bonus.