Great post!! My girlfriend is starting low carbing soon and I thought your story was great so I sent it to her.

Very well said and keep up the good work!!

Marlaine, you are so inspiring, I totally relate my feelings to your touching story.
I wish you all the happiness and success ahead!

You go grrl!!!

Time for a little update. Here it is almost January and I'm now 27.5 pounds down. There is no question that I'm going on with LC as a WOE. I've been eating this way now for three and a half months and it's become second nature. I'm satisfied with the food that I eat and I don't really miss the things that I've given up. I've encountered some times where it was a little more difficult to stick with and I've found that I have what it takes and I CAN do it! Confidence in myself and LC is growing.

On the way home from my Christmas trip, I was rushing for a ferry and was definately hungry - gnawing stomach and all. I stopped at an A & W drive thru and ordered a cheese burger with mayo only. I figured the mayo would help to prevent the meat from sticking to the bun and it worked perfectly. I was able to peel away the bun and the meat and cheese satisfied my hunger completely. Success!

Christmas itself was the biggest challenge I've faced yet. I was staying with a friend for a week and the house was filled with people and sugary treats. Everytime I walked past a tray of baked goodies or chocolates (and they were there the whole time) I was tempted, but I just kept telling myself: "You don't eat that stuff anymore", and it worked for me. When I was absolutely desperate to nibble and munch along with the other folks, I nibbled pork rinds. Those things put me off food quick!

So....Here is to a Happy and Successful New Year, for me and for all of my new LC friends!!

Cher, chrisews, bushong6, pinkcaddy, sunshine2, BoistonLou, Chrissy...

Thank you each and every one!! for the kind comments. It's amazing how much the feedback in this forum helps me out. I appreciate each of you! and encourage you to share your story of success too!

Marlaine

marlaine,thanks for your story and updates so far.
a great read and very inspiring!
kezza

Marlaine,

Thank you for sharing your story with us. What perseverence!

Seeing that my stats/goals are similar to yours, and seeing (reading) all that you've accomplished, I know that I can do it too.

Keep up the good work!!!

Almost a month since my last update here. In the past month I've lost another 5 1/2 pounds and completed my first two weeks doing Body for Life. I've been doing some kind of exercise 4 - 5 times a week since October and now I've switched over to 6 X a week and I'm loving it. Since I'm weight lifting and building muscle, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with my weight loss over the next several weeks. I'm hoping to lose fat fast enough to out weigh the muscle I gain so that I end up with a net loss, but that will remain to be seen. I'm adding the graph of my weight loss because it reflects the fact that even with constant upward fluctuations, the general trend is obviously down and down and down!

Stats today: 4 months, two weeks on Atkins.
Total weight loss: 33 pounds from 230 to 197
Average weight loss: Approx. 1.5 pounds/week

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Marlaine,

What a great idea to post your loss chart. It shows that even with fluctuations, the general trend is down. I hope others get some comfort in seeing that. Congrats on your ability to start exercising and sticking with it. And congrats on your remarkable progress to date.

I also wanted to personally thank you for all the support and encouragement you post all over these forums. You give a lot of your time answering people's questions, and posting valuable pieces of info. It's because of you and people like you that many of us tune in every day.

Marlaine,

Wow! Congratulations Marlaine... 5 1/2 pounds is an awesome weight loss for the month. You are doing so well. Thanks for continuing to share your success :-) I loved your chart... I chart my progress at Fitday and the fluctuations are so prevalent...but, you're right... the trend is downward and onward (Yay Marlaine ) :Cheer: :Cheer: :Cheer:

AWESOME
I loved your story...I don't know why I didn't see it before. You are such an inspiration....
What a great way to chart your journey....I've been doing it with just numbers on a piece of paper...but your way really shows what's happening.
Thanks for the updates along the way too.

Four years ago, I started walking. My first walk took 20 minutes and I thought I was going to die of a heart attack during the uphill half. I kept walking almost every day for two years until I was walking and running 7-11K a day.

Then I went to college full time for a year and didn't get to walk much. That's when I packed on the pounds all of the way up to 230 from about 190.

When I started on Atkins in September of 2001, I had been walking again, every day, for about 4 months. Walks between 25-50 minutes. I knew that upping exercise would help me lose weight, so I scouted around and decided to join the local community Rec Center.

I love to swim so I started going to the pool. That lead to an aquasize class. I decided I wanted to try out the gym for variety. I've made a point of trying different things to see what I could find that I actually ENJOY doing. I had a program set up for the gym by one of the Fitness Trainers there and I worked it for a couple of months. Then I decided to try a Circuit Training class. I liked that too, but I wanted to get the most out of my workouts and I'd been following Natrushka's progress with BFL.

I read the book and loved the concepts and decided that it is something that I too am capable of doing. Today was the last day of Week 4 of Body for Life, for me and I'm loving it. I'm thrilled with my increased strength. I've gained almost 3 pounds of muscle, lost a net of 9 pounds of fat and reduced a total of 4.75 inches from my upper arms, waist, hips and thighs IN 28 DAYS! Amazing! Thrilling! I can hardly wait to see what I can accomplish in the next four weeks!

Wow, congrats, now we are all watching you for our inspiration.

Update...the journey continues...

It's been just over three months since I last updated here.

I completed my first BFL 12 week challenge and I'm finishing the fifth week of my second. Monday I'm beginning a local challenge that I'm registered for along with my BFl buddy Ruth.

In the last three months, I've lost another 18 pounds. That's just under 6 pounds a month. The muscle I've gained is not included in those numbers.

I've managed to drop my BF (body fat) to 28% from a starting BF of 49%.

I've lost:
8.25 inches off of my waist.
10.5 inches off of my hips.
4 inches off of my thighs.
1.5 inches off of my upper arms.

The thigh and upper arm measurements are from December 30th, so what I lost before then is unknown.

I've gone from a size 20 pant down to a size 13 pant, and they are getting too big. I just bought a tankini in size 10. My last bathing suit was an 18. Muscles are becoming evident. Though there is still fat to come off, there are muscles under it and I'm becoming firmer all over.

I've fallen in love with strength training. I look forward to each and every workout and have only missed two since January. I'm taking a home study course that is the foundation course to becoming certified as a personal trainer in B.C. I'm looking forward to taking the rest of the courses as time and money permit. Whether I ever work at it or not, I'm enjoying the information and knowledge of how to take better care of myself.

I'm happy and healthy and I'm on my way to a goal that I hope to recognize when I get there. At least another 26 pounds.

Before....and about a month ago:

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Marlaine...cool an update. You've have done such an incredible job....as you know...I am your number one fan You give hope to many by sharing your story here....I can't wait to see what we're like by Christmas...wow! Tankini's will be a way of life for us (I'm so impressed that you bought one).

i can't wait until I have my first tankini

hahaha