[jabader]

Hello forum,

I visited this site and picked up some good tips last week (lettuceburgers!). I am one week on the Atkins path and pretty happy with the results so far. About two days in I realized that what they say about not being hungry on the Atkins diet was true. I feel in control of my appetite, for the first time ever.

I am moderately obese middle aged man. I have never successfully dieted before - never really tried because I failed within days, maybe dropped 2-5 pounds (just trying to eat "healthy and less") and put them back in a week, the reason for failure was the same - I got very hungry. So i've been adding about 2-5 pounds a year since high school, mainly in the gut. For most of my life i have had the attitude of a epicurean, enjoying the consumption, being a big eater, big drinker. My diet has been typical North American meat & potatoes & beer and junk. I think the hardest part of losing weight for me has been to give up the "indestructible" self image. Having kids helped to change my priorities, I want to be healthy and mobile for a long time to come. So this change of attitude has been about a five year process.

I came to the Atkins diet by process of elimination. Nothing else works.

Eating "healthy" (whole grains, less red meat, more vegetables, less processed foods) seems to have no effect. I know i have been eating a lot healthier for the last five years (thanks to my wife) prior to that i had a pretty bad case of bachelor diet. and really it had no effect on my creeping obesity.

Exercise seems to have no effect. This is a strong claim but in the last year i have a pretty valid experiment. I took on a paper route (for health reasons), which means 40 minutes of fast walking/or 30 minutes cycling every morning. At the time i assumed this daily does of exercise would help me lose weight. I did loose a little for a few weeks but it all came back (and then some more).

Eating less doesn't work (for me anyway). I applaud those who have the willpower to endure hunger pangs every day and not eat. I don't. When i get hungry, I eventually eat. I think i did taper off the "binging" type of behavior - eating too much at a sitting over the last couple years.

So really none of these things changed my metabolic "set point". And by the way, there wasn't really much i could do to get fatter either, not that i ever tried. My weight has been pretty darn consistent no matter what. Also i have had persistently elevated blood sugar and BP - just below the standard definitions of diabetic and hypertension.

My remedy.

Ok so far i have lost 8 pounds in a little over a week (losing 40-50 would be the goal). I am amazed that i can choose to eat or not to. I am somewhat targeting calories as well as carbs. I know that my body needs approx. 3200 calories a day to sustain now, and 2700 a day at my target weight. I'm holding loosely to a target of about 2000 calories a day. Yesterday i had about 1400, i think it helps to shake off a couple pounds to have a low cal day. I never had much of a sweet tooth so it was mainly giving up the cereals that was tough - but i can't say that i have really craved them. Staying under 15 grams of net carbs has been really hard. I probably average a little over 20. I had liver and onions one day and realized after it blew up that days carb count. I'm not bothering to change my coffee habit, and cutting out beer in exchanged for the occasional whiskey seems to be manageable. So ok i'm cheating, but so far, so good, so what?

diet: beef, eggs, cheese, pork, chicken, ham, fish, spinach (lots), mushrooms, onions, celery . . . samplings of other veggies. coffee, diet pops & herbal tea.

supplements: multivitamin, green tea extract, siberian ginseng, cod liver oil.

overall: feeling good, really pretty normal throughout. I am hoping to continue losing 5 pounds a week (high results = high motivation) & stay in induction till the end of november, but i know it will get harder from here. The carb manager app has been quite helpful though it has some annoying flaws.

I want to thank the posters of this board for the enthusiasm and good ideas.