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Hi all
First off I want to thank all the contributors to this board. Over the past several weeks I have been using the board constantly and so many people's posts have been invaluable!
I have had a weight problem for quite some time and battled to drop the weight despite going on various diets and going to the gym daily. A few years ago I moved to China and started a diet of noodles, rice and dumplings and stopped going to a gym. You can imagine what happened next!
D-Day for me was on the 30 November at a little after 2pm. I was in a pharmacy and they had a scale near the door. I hadn't been on a scale for some years, probably because I was scared to find out the truth! This particular day some local Chinese men started bugging me about how much I weighed.
You have to understand that in China, most people are relatively thin and seeing a 'big' westerner is something amazing for them to see, so many ask me about my weight. I always made light of it and brushed it off, but this day they were quite insistent that I get on the scale.
I jumped on the scale and the awful truth hit me square in the face. According to the scale I weighed 150kg (331 lbs). I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would EVER weigh that much! Two things then happened - I was hit with a massive depression that was like a heavy weight physically covering me (I have never really suffered from depression before). The second thing was an instantaneous resolve that I WILL lose the weight come **** or high water!
The first thing I did when I got home was look at different diets. Although I had this depression and new resolve, I knew I had to be wise in losing weight.
I always knew instinctively that my weight problems were caused by carbs and that to lose anything meaningful I had to target this area, so I did a huge amount of research on low-carb diets. The one that stood out for me was the Atkins Diet. On December 1 I started induction.
The first two weeks on induction were extremely difficult for me. I didn't have any carb cravings but did suffer from the side-effects - dizziness, nausea, constipation etc. But I knew that these would be temporary and just pushed on through.
I decided up front that I would not weigh myself daily. I had been down that route before and remembered how discouraged I was if the scale didn't move or didn't move much, so I decided that every Monday would suit me better.
To be honest the results of Atkins has amazed me! Take a look at these figures:
30/11/2009: 150 kg
7/12/2009:146kg
14/12/2009:144kg
21/12/2009: 142kg
28/12/2009: I didn't weigh myself as I was on vacation
04/01/2010: 136kg
Weight loss to date: 14kg / 31lbs in 5 weeks
I was actually quite surprised at today's weigh-in because I did cheat on the Christmas weekend and I thought that I would at least have a stall!
I am currently on a modified extended induction as it seems to be working and just don't feel that I am ready for OWL yet.
The 'modified' means that I am taking some additional supplements like spirulina (3g per day) and wheat grass (1g per day). I also allow myself one block of 85% pure chocolate a week and two cups of coffee a day (the caffeinated variety).
Over the past few weeks, I have found this board absolutely essential for sheer amount of info available. Doing Atkins in China is not the easiest due to the language problems and lack of availability of some Atkins 'essentials', but thanks to this board I have found alternatives and it has made the whole experience MUCH easier for me.
Thank you to everyone!
First off I want to thank all the contributors to this board. Over the past several weeks I have been using the board constantly and so many people's posts have been invaluable!
I have had a weight problem for quite some time and battled to drop the weight despite going on various diets and going to the gym daily. A few years ago I moved to China and started a diet of noodles, rice and dumplings and stopped going to a gym. You can imagine what happened next!
D-Day for me was on the 30 November at a little after 2pm. I was in a pharmacy and they had a scale near the door. I hadn't been on a scale for some years, probably because I was scared to find out the truth! This particular day some local Chinese men started bugging me about how much I weighed.
You have to understand that in China, most people are relatively thin and seeing a 'big' westerner is something amazing for them to see, so many ask me about my weight. I always made light of it and brushed it off, but this day they were quite insistent that I get on the scale.
I jumped on the scale and the awful truth hit me square in the face. According to the scale I weighed 150kg (331 lbs). I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would EVER weigh that much! Two things then happened - I was hit with a massive depression that was like a heavy weight physically covering me (I have never really suffered from depression before). The second thing was an instantaneous resolve that I WILL lose the weight come **** or high water!
The first thing I did when I got home was look at different diets. Although I had this depression and new resolve, I knew I had to be wise in losing weight.
I always knew instinctively that my weight problems were caused by carbs and that to lose anything meaningful I had to target this area, so I did a huge amount of research on low-carb diets. The one that stood out for me was the Atkins Diet. On December 1 I started induction.
The first two weeks on induction were extremely difficult for me. I didn't have any carb cravings but did suffer from the side-effects - dizziness, nausea, constipation etc. But I knew that these would be temporary and just pushed on through.
I decided up front that I would not weigh myself daily. I had been down that route before and remembered how discouraged I was if the scale didn't move or didn't move much, so I decided that every Monday would suit me better.
To be honest the results of Atkins has amazed me! Take a look at these figures:
30/11/2009: 150 kg
7/12/2009:146kg
14/12/2009:144kg
21/12/2009: 142kg
28/12/2009: I didn't weigh myself as I was on vacation
04/01/2010: 136kg
Weight loss to date: 14kg / 31lbs in 5 weeks
I was actually quite surprised at today's weigh-in because I did cheat on the Christmas weekend and I thought that I would at least have a stall!
I am currently on a modified extended induction as it seems to be working and just don't feel that I am ready for OWL yet.
The 'modified' means that I am taking some additional supplements like spirulina (3g per day) and wheat grass (1g per day). I also allow myself one block of 85% pure chocolate a week and two cups of coffee a day (the caffeinated variety).
Over the past few weeks, I have found this board absolutely essential for sheer amount of info available. Doing Atkins in China is not the easiest due to the language problems and lack of availability of some Atkins 'essentials', but thanks to this board I have found alternatives and it has made the whole experience MUCH easier for me.
Thank you to everyone!
At this stage I am very positive that I will make my goal weight by the end of the year.
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