Me and my ‘diet’

I do clearly remember the day I found Kimkins – June 9, 2007. That Saturday morning I announced to my husband my weight, 233.3 and told him that was it, I was going to go back to good old fashioned Atkins, lots of chicken and meat and pork.  Then I went off to the grocery store to stock up, at check out I saw the Women’s World and decided to purchase it.

 Brought the Magazine home and read the Kimkins Article and it made complete sense, a lower fat, low carb was what I needed, so I joined immediately and kind of followed the program.  I say kind of because I have a long dieting history and A LOT of diet knowledge.

 Guess a little history of me is in order.

• Mom put me on Weight Watchers when I was in 6th grade, I weighed about 120 and was 5’3″
• Joined weightwatchers at 16 for the first time – weighed probably 150-160
• Senior year of HS did the nasty liquid protien – remember that cherry tasting stuff- OMG
• Bought about every diet book and magazine for about – oh ever-
• Got really slim after college on the “Date Diet”, coffee and an bagel at break, Tab/Diet Coke and Popcorn for other meals, drinks after work if going out, and real meals with even dessert if a “date” was paying.  I was dating alot then so this worked and I maintained about 132 until I met my husband.
• Knew I was obese when I got married – 5’4 and 148
• Joined WW again after wedding – got nowhere
• Gained to 158ish then went to work for WeightLoss Clinic International as a sales consultant and later director.  This was a 500-800 calorie a day program, low fat, and higher protein- I actually got down to 130 again, but I ate as I wanted on the weekend and followed the 500 cals on the weekdays
• Left WLC, had a baby, and settled back into the 150-160 range still considering myself obese
• Moved a couple of times and fluctuated back and forth between 150-180.  Dieting was easy, maintaining impossible, probably because I never considered myself slim, always thought- when I gained a pound or six, “Oh well, I have ?? pounds to lose anyway, what will this -fill in the high cal food- hurt.
• About 9 years ago I really discovered Atkins and with the help of the internet I also learned even more about diet and also how food worked for me.  I went from 184 to 149 in about 4 months.  In the end I was eating an ultimately healthy diet, proteins, veggies, natural fats, no dairy, no caffiene.  I was also walking an HOUR a day.  I was amazing! but I still thought I had more weight to lose …
• Went back to school and discovered this level of careful eating and intense exercise was difficult/impossible, slowly the scale went up, and up and up.  Graduated 3 years later at 202 (never had been there before except when pregnant)
• I had gone on a diet almost each day from that time forward, I kept trying to go straight back to the intense eating plan I had been following years before.  Each daily failure added a few more – “Why bother” calories and pound and I each year another 6-8 pounds.

So the day I choose to go to normal Old Fashioned High Fat Atkins was a turning point.  I had accepted that all or nothing dieting was not going to work – Atkins was a good program that worked for me in the past and if I needed to tweak it, well I could do that down the road. 

So I took on Kimkins – the biggest differences between “My Atkins” and how I practiced Kimkins was

• the use of those Wishbone salad spritzers – YUM!  That has made such a difference, no more drowning salads ( or anything else slightly low carb) in Ranch Dressing
• Veggies – Cauliflower, broc, brussel sprouts, cabbage – cucumbers, salad stuff are all somewhat free foods for me, I really don’t count veggie carbs
• I stay away from ‘white foods’ you know the bread, potatoes, rice, and sugar
• I don’t really count carbs

So now exactly 3 months later, I am down 39 pounds to 194.3.  I feel great, less joint pain and much more energy.

Kimkins has been great primarily for the forums and support.  With all the fussing going on about this program I am seeing alot of forum changes which is a shame, I will still post into our little challenge group  but also expand my thoughts over here and hopefully this little blog will keep me going

Writing all this out has been quite an experience – made me think about alot of things in my life and realize that I need to think about maintenance of this weight loss starting TODAY!  What I have accomplished so far must be maintained!

 Thanks for reading!