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Hi my name is Rich. I've been doing Atkin's since September 25th 2009. As of this morning I have dropped 43 lbs! It feels really good putting on my "old" clothes that had gotten too small for me. I started at 363 lbs and my first goal is to get to 250 lbs by May 2010. This morning I weighed in at 320 lbs, so I'm well on my way of reaching my goal and I couldn't be happier.
I'm not sure how many other people have done this but before I got to bed each night, I envision how I'm going to look when I reach my goal, and how I'll look when I reach my ideal weight. Considering I haven't always been this big, I know pretty much exactly how I'll look at my initial goal weight and my ideal weight. Good thing I took pictures way back when!
I was always the overweight kid growing up, but if you look at today's obese children, I really wasn't that bad. For example, when I was 10, I was 5' tall, 105 lbs. At 11, I was 5'2" 137 lbs. 12, 5'4 158 lbs. 14, 5'9 180 lbs, 18, 6'0 235 lbs. When I was 18, I was "asked" to join the Marines (the recruiter called me). Anyhow, I was slightly over the initial entry weight of 228 lbs. I need to go from 235 to 228 in less than 3 weeks. Long story short, I worked out with one of the recruiter assistant and lost the weight and entered bootcamp at 228 lbs. Skip to graduation day (5 months later) and I weighed a svelt 168 lbs. This was the perfect time in my life for this to happen. 19 years old, fit and trim. I was able to reconnect a few months later with people I knew from high school that used to make fun of me being overweight, and boy was I so glad that I did. They had nothing bad to say about me now.
However, all this was short lived. My weight slowly crept back up and I maintained a weight of around 180-185 lbs for a few months during MOS training, but when I entering the fleet and got stationed in Okinawa, I got stuck with mess duty as soon as I got there and ended up working in the cafeteria for 3 months, 6 1/2 days a week, from 4am to 9pm. I had little to no time to work out and I constantly went to the snack area to grab a cookie or a piece of cake. My weight balloon to well over 200 lbs. For my height (6'0") I was to maintain a weight of 203 lbs, however, we were short staffed because of various deployments and such. No sooner than when I got off of mess duty, we went to the field for training; 1 Month. Less than 2 weeks into the exercise, Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. Well, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to go as I was on guard duty and they already pick those that were going to be sent. But the point I'm trying to make, I didn't even really exercise (run, pull-ups, etc.) for close to 9 months. I can't quite remember why, but we didn't do any PT and basically we were left to take care of ourselves during this time. I've always been the type that needed to be pushed, you can imagine I was way out of shape. Shortly after I came back from vacation in Japan (pic below), my company started regular 3 times a week PT and I was far out of shape by then.
Japan, 12/1990 - 210 lbs.
Anyhow, I'll cut to the chase. I ended up being on a weight control program while in Okinawa. While on weight control, you forfeit your chance for rank promotion, deployments, etc. Really sucked. I ended up rotating back to the states a few months later. I end up at Camp Pendleton California, and I somehow lost some of the weight I gained and checked in at 208. I flew under the radar for several months until I failed my physical fitness test. It was only 3 pull-ups, 80 situps and a 3 mile run in under 24:40. I either failed on the run or the pull-ups. I never was able to do pull-ups until I got under 200 lbs, but I think I managed to get 2. Anyhow, I was put back on the weight control program. I believe the program was supposed to be for a limited time, but I was on it for at least 3 months. Around this time I didn't really care if I was kicked out or not, so another long story short, by this time, it was right after the Desert Storm ended and there was too many active duty Marines and they needed to scale back. They started discharging people over 25 years in service, weight control, etc. I heard from my Sgt that the battalion commander, when he got wind of me, noticed how long I was on the program and said, "Get his fat *** out of here!" and that was it. I had to got discharged 9 months early before my initial 4 years was up.
It all worked out for the best as I landed a security job at the local news paper and was on the waiting list to be a correctional officer. During this time, I was weighing around 225 and within no time at all, I was up to 268 lbs. I'm talking less than a year. Well, I was offered a job in the I.T. department and have been here ever since, going on 16 years now. I was able to drop my weight and get down to 238 lbs, but that didn't last long either and with in a couple years, I was up to 290 lbs. By early 2002, I was weighing 308 lbs.
July 1997 - 238 lbs.
In May of 2002, I was introduced to Atkins for the first time. I was so happy to read the book that tears came to my eyes and I thought to myself, "can this be? I can eat meat & cheese and lose weight?!" Well, I took to Atkins like a fish to water and dropped 32 lbs. I'm not sure when I got off track, but I stopped doing Atkins and resumed my old way of eating and ballooned back up to 310 lbs about a year later. Skip ahead a few more years and I ended up ballooning up to over 350 lbs. I later dropped the weight using an unhealthy "highly addicting" method that I don't care to get into right now, but I was able to drop back down to 280 lbs with in the next year (2007). By the Sept. 2007, I kicked the habit and my weight slowly started creeping back and I was up to 336 lbs by Nov 2007. My girlfriend and I joined 24 Hour Fitness during this time and I was able to drop 10 lbs in the first couple weeks, however, I ended up quiting 24 Hour because I injured my shoulders and didn't feel like going anymore. This was early 2008, and by June 2008, I had balloon up to over 360 lbs.
June 2008 - 360+ lbs.
Skip ahead to September 1, 2009. I'm still weighing 365 lbs. I now started working out again. All this time - 16 years at this job - I've had a gym membership in our on-site fitness center. I finally get back to working out after many years off, but this time I switch my eating styles. My wife (former girlfriend) starts cooking me breakfast and lunch to take to work and it gets me going towards eating "right", however, by end of September, I only lose 2 lbs. On 09/25/09, I decided right then and there that I was going to go low carb - ATKINS. I officially started at 363 lbs and haven't wavered off my WOE since and as of today, I weighed in at 320 lbs. I ended up getting a two-year membership to 24 Hour Fitness from Costco. It was only $299, so that was an awesome deal, plus I still have my gym membership from my job. Today I really look forward to hitting the gym and on days when I don't really feel like it, I go anyways and always feel better afterwards. I have since cut back on the amount of weight I was lifting and the days I was going to the gym because of my torn rotator cuff injuries, however, I bought an awesome NordicTrac Elliptical and a ProForm recumbent bike from Sears to workout at home. So now I have all the tools at my disposal and I don't have an excuse not to work out anymore, except for the occasional sore joints. One day I'd like to have my own home gym.
This morning I checked all my calendar entries for my weight and it would appear that I've been steady for over a month now losing 2 lbs every 4 days. So I calculated that I'd meet my first goal of 250 lbs by end of April 2010. By mid-summer, I'll be around 230 lbs and will be able to reach my goal weight of 225 lbs by August! I must admit, I'm a little scare of the outcome. It's been so long since I was in shape that for some reason I'm starting to miss seeing that fat guy in the mirror.
Anyhow, that's my story. I came over to this website to see if there's a better alternative to board on Atkins.com
I'm not sure how many other people have done this but before I got to bed each night, I envision how I'm going to look when I reach my goal, and how I'll look when I reach my ideal weight. Considering I haven't always been this big, I know pretty much exactly how I'll look at my initial goal weight and my ideal weight. Good thing I took pictures way back when!
I was always the overweight kid growing up, but if you look at today's obese children, I really wasn't that bad. For example, when I was 10, I was 5' tall, 105 lbs. At 11, I was 5'2" 137 lbs. 12, 5'4 158 lbs. 14, 5'9 180 lbs, 18, 6'0 235 lbs. When I was 18, I was "asked" to join the Marines (the recruiter called me). Anyhow, I was slightly over the initial entry weight of 228 lbs. I need to go from 235 to 228 in less than 3 weeks. Long story short, I worked out with one of the recruiter assistant and lost the weight and entered bootcamp at 228 lbs. Skip to graduation day (5 months later) and I weighed a svelt 168 lbs. This was the perfect time in my life for this to happen. 19 years old, fit and trim. I was able to reconnect a few months later with people I knew from high school that used to make fun of me being overweight, and boy was I so glad that I did. They had nothing bad to say about me now.
However, all this was short lived. My weight slowly crept back up and I maintained a weight of around 180-185 lbs for a few months during MOS training, but when I entering the fleet and got stationed in Okinawa, I got stuck with mess duty as soon as I got there and ended up working in the cafeteria for 3 months, 6 1/2 days a week, from 4am to 9pm. I had little to no time to work out and I constantly went to the snack area to grab a cookie or a piece of cake. My weight balloon to well over 200 lbs. For my height (6'0") I was to maintain a weight of 203 lbs, however, we were short staffed because of various deployments and such. No sooner than when I got off of mess duty, we went to the field for training; 1 Month. Less than 2 weeks into the exercise, Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. Well, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to go as I was on guard duty and they already pick those that were going to be sent. But the point I'm trying to make, I didn't even really exercise (run, pull-ups, etc.) for close to 9 months. I can't quite remember why, but we didn't do any PT and basically we were left to take care of ourselves during this time. I've always been the type that needed to be pushed, you can imagine I was way out of shape. Shortly after I came back from vacation in Japan (pic below), my company started regular 3 times a week PT and I was far out of shape by then.
Japan, 12/1990 - 210 lbs.
Anyhow, I'll cut to the chase. I ended up being on a weight control program while in Okinawa. While on weight control, you forfeit your chance for rank promotion, deployments, etc. Really sucked. I ended up rotating back to the states a few months later. I end up at Camp Pendleton California, and I somehow lost some of the weight I gained and checked in at 208. I flew under the radar for several months until I failed my physical fitness test. It was only 3 pull-ups, 80 situps and a 3 mile run in under 24:40. I either failed on the run or the pull-ups. I never was able to do pull-ups until I got under 200 lbs, but I think I managed to get 2. Anyhow, I was put back on the weight control program. I believe the program was supposed to be for a limited time, but I was on it for at least 3 months. Around this time I didn't really care if I was kicked out or not, so another long story short, by this time, it was right after the Desert Storm ended and there was too many active duty Marines and they needed to scale back. They started discharging people over 25 years in service, weight control, etc. I heard from my Sgt that the battalion commander, when he got wind of me, noticed how long I was on the program and said, "Get his fat *** out of here!" and that was it. I had to got discharged 9 months early before my initial 4 years was up.
It all worked out for the best as I landed a security job at the local news paper and was on the waiting list to be a correctional officer. During this time, I was weighing around 225 and within no time at all, I was up to 268 lbs. I'm talking less than a year. Well, I was offered a job in the I.T. department and have been here ever since, going on 16 years now. I was able to drop my weight and get down to 238 lbs, but that didn't last long either and with in a couple years, I was up to 290 lbs. By early 2002, I was weighing 308 lbs.
July 1997 - 238 lbs.
In May of 2002, I was introduced to Atkins for the first time. I was so happy to read the book that tears came to my eyes and I thought to myself, "can this be? I can eat meat & cheese and lose weight?!" Well, I took to Atkins like a fish to water and dropped 32 lbs. I'm not sure when I got off track, but I stopped doing Atkins and resumed my old way of eating and ballooned back up to 310 lbs about a year later. Skip ahead a few more years and I ended up ballooning up to over 350 lbs. I later dropped the weight using an unhealthy "highly addicting" method that I don't care to get into right now, but I was able to drop back down to 280 lbs with in the next year (2007). By the Sept. 2007, I kicked the habit and my weight slowly started creeping back and I was up to 336 lbs by Nov 2007. My girlfriend and I joined 24 Hour Fitness during this time and I was able to drop 10 lbs in the first couple weeks, however, I ended up quiting 24 Hour because I injured my shoulders and didn't feel like going anymore. This was early 2008, and by June 2008, I had balloon up to over 360 lbs.
June 2008 - 360+ lbs.
Skip ahead to September 1, 2009. I'm still weighing 365 lbs. I now started working out again. All this time - 16 years at this job - I've had a gym membership in our on-site fitness center. I finally get back to working out after many years off, but this time I switch my eating styles. My wife (former girlfriend) starts cooking me breakfast and lunch to take to work and it gets me going towards eating "right", however, by end of September, I only lose 2 lbs. On 09/25/09, I decided right then and there that I was going to go low carb - ATKINS. I officially started at 363 lbs and haven't wavered off my WOE since and as of today, I weighed in at 320 lbs. I ended up getting a two-year membership to 24 Hour Fitness from Costco. It was only $299, so that was an awesome deal, plus I still have my gym membership from my job. Today I really look forward to hitting the gym and on days when I don't really feel like it, I go anyways and always feel better afterwards. I have since cut back on the amount of weight I was lifting and the days I was going to the gym because of my torn rotator cuff injuries, however, I bought an awesome NordicTrac Elliptical and a ProForm recumbent bike from Sears to workout at home. So now I have all the tools at my disposal and I don't have an excuse not to work out anymore, except for the occasional sore joints. One day I'd like to have my own home gym.
This morning I checked all my calendar entries for my weight and it would appear that I've been steady for over a month now losing 2 lbs every 4 days. So I calculated that I'd meet my first goal of 250 lbs by end of April 2010. By mid-summer, I'll be around 230 lbs and will be able to reach my goal weight of 225 lbs by August! I must admit, I'm a little scare of the outcome. It's been so long since I was in shape that for some reason I'm starting to miss seeing that fat guy in the mirror.
Anyhow, that's my story. I came over to this website to see if there's a better alternative to board on Atkins.com
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