When I was doing Atkins the first time, I started writing a nonfiction book about being low-carb and loving it. The other day, I stumbled on these pages again. They read a lot like blog posts, so I thought, “Why not share them like they are?”
Enjoy!
Like many people, I was skeptical of the Atkins Nutritional Approach. At one point, I read a coworker’s copy of “Atkins New Diet Revolution” and scoffed openly at the ideas it revealed.
Then my mother died and I had a very good reason to lose weight.
About a month after Mom’s funeral, my brother and his wife started doing Atkins. And although I’d sworn I could never give up pasta, potatoes and bread, I listened when Dan said it wasn’t so bad.
I got my hands on another copy of the Atkins book and read it again, with a more open mind — and I decided “What the hell? Nothing else seems to work.”
My roommate and I agreed to do Atkins together. We purged the pantry of carbs and started on Oct. 9, 2003, two days after my 32nd birthday.
The first week, I lost 9.5 pounds. The next week, another 2.5 pounds, then 3.5 more. After a month, I was down 18.5 pounds. After two months, I’d dropped a total of 28. Three months in, I was 37 pounds lighter. In four months, I’d lost 46 total pounds.
My first Atkins journal (the only one I have readily available) only goes through that first 120 days — but 46 pounds in four months is no small feat. It was certainly more success than I’d had on other diets.
That’s right: The low-carb diet I was initially so skeptical about was the one that finally let me get off the diet roller coaster — at least for a while.
I did eventually fall off the low-carb wagon, just nine pounds from my goal of 160. Over the next two years, most of the weight slowly crept back on. I flirted with other diets — most notably a couple-year stint on Weight Watchers. I lost more than 50 pounds on WW (getting 12 pounds from my goal of 170), but stopped following the plan and started gaining.
Last May, after much waffling — and complaining that I couldn’t live without pasta, bread and potatoes, I recommitted to Atkins. Not surprisingly, after a couple of days, I didn’t miss the foods I’d claimed I wouldn’t be able to survive without.
That’s the great thing about Atkins: It totally banishes the cravings. I can walk right by donuts or cake in the break room at work without giving them a second glance. In fact, they smell too sweet.
Huh. Never thought I’d hear myself say that!
I have always been very skeptical of the atkins diet, but you make it seem good. Maybe I should give it a try but not sure what I will eat because my favorite things to eat are carbs….crackers, rice, danish, brownies, pizza,pasta salad
Posted by yoyoliving | February 13, 2012, 6:37 pmI was always skeptical of it, too … until I decided to give it a try.
Here’s a column I wrote about a year before I jumped on the Atkins bandwagon.
And another one I wrote about a month before I took the low-carb plunge (the first time).
Posted by Arlene Hittle | February 14, 2012, 8:03 pm