Freydis,

Your post made me cry. I also grew up in a family where weight was the measure of a person's worth and my parents starting putting me on diets at as early an age as I can remember. However, when I look at childhood pictures, I was big, not fat. It's awful what parents can do to their children, all the while thinking they are acting in their best interest. I pray that I am not unknowingly doing something so awful to my children. I can easily picture my mother or my grandmother being grateful that they had a tumor rather than a weight problem.

Even today, it hurts that my mother continues to consider me a failure because of my weight. And then she wonders why I almost never bring my kids to visit her. I don't visit because I can't stand her staring accusingly at every morsel I put in my mouth!

I too did not know how to lose weight -- I struggled with lowfat, low calorie diets for years -- until discovering Atkins. Now I am astonished at how easy it is. I wasn't gluttonous or unusually lacking in willpower, I just didn't know why I kept gaining weight and I asked many doctors, none of whom knew either. I found out about Atkins reading an article in the New York Times in July; before that I always dismissed him as a quack. Usually I'm a skeptical person; I don't know why I so readily accepted the mainstream evaluation of Atkins for so many years.

I'm having a doctor related issue right now. My ankle, which I broke ten years ago, has been bothering me off and on for several months. My husband, who is average weight, keeps telling me to go to the doctor. I don't see any point in going to the doctor, because I know the doctor will blame the problem on my weight. However, if my husband went in with the same problem, the doctor would treat it seriously. Sad, isn't it? I need a new doctor, but don't know how to find one who will treat me seriously and not just assume every issue I have is a result of obesity. Maybe the recurring ankle problem is a result of obesity, but without checking for other causes how can the doctor know that?

Best wishes to you. I hope you are successful in giving the key to your children.