That was me last weekend. You don't suck. I fall into the same trap of equating self-worth with weight. So take the advice that I should give myself. You are worth more than the sum total of the numbers on the scale. If you eat badly this weekend, it does not make you a failure of a person. It just means that you need to pamper yourself while you're sick. You'll go back to eating healthy right away.

Well, it's been over a week (10 full days as of this writing). I wish I had some imperical data to share with you, but I did not weigh myself at the beginning. However, I CAN say that I do feel better (healthier) in just this beginning and there is evidence of some loss (next notch on the belt, etc.).

I can say that I have actually stuck to the plan, even in the first couple of days before I knew about "Carb Counting." I went back on the first three days and added up and it turns out I stayed below the magical 20 carbs per day number with ease; well below on some days since.

Had a couple of cravings, but just acknowledged them to myself and moved on, often munching on a ThinKrisp to get past it (Gn2Dnlnd should really like me - I've gone through about 6 or so containers in the last 10 days!).

At the end of two full weeks, I will weigh myself. I know I was somewhere in the 265-270 ballpark. I figure if I am under 260 I will be happy, under 255 and I will be ecstatic. If I'm under 200, I will call a doctor. If I'm under a doctor, I'll call my wife.

Doesn't most of our culture equate self-worth with weight? I know that most people I encounter think less of me because of my weight. You'd think that would make me work harder at weightloss, but it just makes me give up. I'd make such a lousy anorexic.

I'm bulemic.

I just keep forgetting to purge.

Yes. Which stinks. I've always had a few extra pounds. Actually before I turned 14 I had nearly 40 extra pounds and I was a lot shorter, then I lost it all and stayed pretty normalish thin until the year before I got pregnant the first time. Even then I had maybe 20 pounds I wanted to get rid of. Now after two babies in three years I have a lot to lose. I do feel like people treat me differently. It may very well just be that I'm sensitive about it, therefore I'm extra suspicious of people treating me differently.

I feel like less of a person, though. I hate that feeling. I had it my whole life except for a few magical years where I was thin enough and my self confidence was high enough to not let a few pounds bother me. Now my emotions may tell me I'm completely worthless because I'm fat, but thankfully I have my head yelling at me that that is ridiculous. Which is good because feeling worthless just leads to complete shut-down for me.

You wouldn't make a terrible anorexic. From your eating habits it seems as though you eat almost as little as an anorexic does. The thing about having an eating disorder is that you have to exercise all the time to lose weight. Your body stops burning calories when you stop eating, so you have to force it through exercise.

Mind you, I'm not at all recommending that route. I spent a few eating-disorderish years as a teenager and it wasn't fun. I was never stick thin like an anorexic, but I was thin enough. I would kill to be that thin now, but I always felt fat then. Stupid teenagers.

I'm trying my best not to feel like a useless lump because I have some weight to lose. Dieting makes me feel so much worse at first, because I fail a lot before I finally succeed. Keeping a positive outlook helps me to eat better though. Once I lose enough for my clothes to be loose than it's much easier. I need to do some serious meal planning though, because I ran out of food that's on my plan earlier than expected.

It's so much easier for men to be fat, it seems. Much more socially acceptable. And you can measure weight loss by belt notches. ;)

Prudence, you are worthwhile, no matter what you weigh. I'm sure plenty of people here will back me up on that. :)

Yes. Which stinks. I've always had a few extra pounds. Actually before I turned 14 I had nearly 40 extra pounds and I was a lot shorter, then I lost it all and stayed pretty normalish thin until the year before I got pregnant the first time. Even then I had maybe 20 pounds I wanted to get rid of. Now after two babies in three years I have a lot to lose. I do feel like people treat me differently. It may very well just be that I'm sensitive about it, therefore I'm extra suspicious of people treating me differently.

I feel like less of a person, though. I hate that feeling. I had it my whole life except for a few magical years where I was thin enough and my self confidence was high enough to not let a few pounds bother me. Now my emotions may tell me I'm completely worthless because I'm fat, but thankfully I have my head yelling at me that that is ridiculous. Which is good because feeling worthless just leads to complete shut-down for me.

You wouldn't make a terrible anorexic. From your eating habits it seems as though you eat almost as little as an anorexic does. The thing about having an eating disorder is that you have to exercise all the time to lose weight. Your body stops burning calories when you stop eating, so you have to force it through exercise.

Mind you, I'm not at all recommending that route. I spent a few eating-disorderish years as a teenager and it wasn't fun. I was never stick thin like an anorexic, but I was thin enough. I would kill to be that thin now, but I always felt fat then. Stupid teenagers.

I'm trying my best not to feel like a useless lump because I have some weight to lose. Dieting makes me feel so much worse at first, because I fail a lot before I finally succeed. Keeping a positive outlook helps me to eat better though. Once I lose enough for my clothes to be loose than it's much easier. I need to do some serious meal planning though, because I ran out of food that's on my plan earlier than expected.

It's so much easier for men to be fat, it seems. Much more socially acceptable. And you can measure weight loss by belt notches. ;)

Prudence, you are worthwhile, no matter what you weigh. I'm sure plenty of people here will back me up on that. :)

Wow! My first double post!

If self-worth = weight,

then weight = self-worth,

and more weight = more self-worth.

I didn't realize just how valuable I was!


Seriously, though:
Best thing you'll ever do, IMHO.

I got stressed out and ill and stopped. I'd better start again.

I forgot to post an update (as if anybody cares)

Last Wednesday (Nov. 2) was the 2 week mark from beginning the low carb diet. While unfortunately, I did not have an accurate measurement from the beginning, I know I was somewhere in the 265-270 range. On November 2, I weighed 248. Needless to say, I was excited. I figure at this rate, by the end of February, I should be down to 85 pounds.

Actually, I have been wondering how it's been going. :)

That's awesome Kevy! You must feel great about that much weight loss! Now that you've been on induction for two weeks, it's time to move on to maintenance. The Atkin's book warns about the temptation to stay on induction. That can be very damaging to your health. Your body needs carbs to function. So time to start adding in some healthy carbs and watch the weight loss slow down a bit to a healthy pace.

I did my diet pretty faithfully for a week and lost eight pounds. Unfortunately, then I discovered that I had really not grocery shopped properly to sustain that kind of eating for two weeks. So for the last week I've tried to stick to the plan as much as possible, but it ended up only being about halfway.

I've kept six of the pounds off (some of that is water weight from eating so much veggies and protein anyways) and am starting fresh today. I've planned out every meal and snack and only shopped for a week at a time. It took me several hours to plan. I'm finding this to be more difficult than when I was on Atkins/South Beach because you count carbs, protein, and veggies. I feel better though because on the other diets I felt very bogged down by all that meat. Now if I can just fit in some exercise...