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Post 1: Christie (December 6th, 2003, 10:35 PM)

(Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2003 7:45 am by Likesspace) Before listing my reason for the above subject line I would like to take a moment to introduce myself to the board. I am a 40 year old male who lives in a small town in southern Illinois. I started doing Atkins in July and so far have lost a total of 58.5 lbs. When first beginning this WOE I was told by several people that this was a dangerous diet to be on and that I should consider greatly the health risks involved. Of course I simply ignored their well meaning advice since I wanted to lose weight so badly. Now even though I was sure that they were simply uninformed, last Saturday I got a wake up call that made me think that quite possibly they knew more than I did about the dangers of this diet. I will try to explain.......... In the early 80's I lost over 100 lbs. while doing my own version of a starvation diet. Not only did I diet religiously, I also took up a very popular sport at the time called racquetball. Now for those of you who aren't familiar with racquetball it is a game which must have been invented by the Marquis de Sade or one of his cohorts. It is high speed, high energy game played in very close quarters and it's not unusual to get your butt bruised by your opponent hitting the ball into your backside. It also is not unusual to lose 3 or 4 lbs. during an hour of play becasue within that hour it is estimated that the average player will run approx. 2 miles. Now the thing that I remembered about racquetball was that it was first of all fun, second of all good exercise and thirdly a good way to meet the young ladies that would gather in the gallery to watch the matches. This last memory was so appealing that once I had lost 50 lbs. on this WOE.....well my mid life crisis kicked in and I decided to give the sport another try. Now my first time out I was really happy with how I held up. I played about half an hour without even the slightest amount of problem and I honestly felt that I was ready for any and all opponents regardless of their age. I was playing men who were mostly my own age, at the time, and I'm proud to say that I was beating most of them with very little trouble. Last Saturday I had a game scheduled with a co-worker who is 31, and knowing from past experience that he is extremely competitive I made sure that I prepared for our game by staying up very late on Friday night and drinking 4 glasses of a very deep, dry Burgandy. As I arrived at the court I marvelled at how I was only slightly affected by feelings of nausea, dehydration and sleep deprivation and as I entered the court I actually felt confident that I could beat this young pup and send him home with his tail between his legs. I was afterall "racquetball man". We warmed up by hitting the ball back and forth and when I was satisfied that I was hitting my best low corner shots I suggested that we begin the game. To this he replied "you're dead"........ (Smart aleck little punk)....... so the game was on. Anyway, we started the game and I quickly went out to a slight lead. This only increased my confidence and as my confidence increased I began to play harder and harder. I mean just because I am 40 years old and still 50 lbs. overweight, this does not mean that some young whipper snapper can take advantage of "racquetball man" on his own court. This could not be allowed. Now let me digress here for a sec and put in that when I was playing racquetball back in the 80's I was in fairly good shape. I was lifting weights, boxing, cycling, playing softball, playing hockey and any other form of exercise that I could work into my non busy schedule. Racquetball was simply another form of exercise to which I foolishly felt I could continue to enjoy. Well to make a long story short after just a few minutes of play I took a "header" into the sidewall. This occurs when you are charging a wall shot and get tripped up. Although I put my hands down to catch myself my forehead hit the wall first, snapping my neck back at a very uncomfortable angle. Shortly after the initial shock my hands finally did reach the floor but unfortunately my little finger was under my racquet which smashed said finger between the racquet and the court floor. Now normally this would have been enough pain but when you're as old and overweight as I am, you continue to fall for quite some time after the action first begins. The next pleasant feeling was of both knees slamming into the floor as blood began to trickle from my forehead and little finger. Honestly, even though the pain was terrible, there was a part of me that was simply thrilled to have ANY type of sports injury at my age. Now a lesser (or smarter) man might have given up his quest at this point, but not "racquetball man". I had decided to win this contest and win I would! For the next hour and a half I played all out and finally did defeat this young lad 4 games out of 5. I went home that day feeling on top of the world. My energy level was up so high that I felt I could have played for another hour and a half. I couldn't wait to get back to work on Monday to tell all of my other co-workers how "racquetball man" had completely beaten this man who was nearly 10 years younger than himself. It was a fantastic feeling that was only marred by the fact that within 12 hours, "racquetball man" found himself to be a cripple that could barely get out of bed! Now I could go on with many painful descriptions of trying to bathe and take nourishment and use the bathroom while feeling physically deformed but I won't bore you all with the details. I am merely sending this post as a warning to all others of how the Atkins diet IS a dangerous way of life. Not only does it make you lose weight at a very rapid rate but it also gives you the illusion that you are somehow superhuman and can do things that you did 20 years ago, without any problem. Suffice it to say that I've learned my lesson. I am confident that lack of sleep, increased age and overindulgence in wine had absolutely nothing to do with these injuries that I've sustained. My family members and friends were right. This is a dangerous way of eating that should be avoided by all. Please don't fall into this trap as "racquetball man" did. Sincerely, "shuffleboard man" (written with tongue firmly planted in cheek)