I am so grateful for many things in life, but right now I would like to share my appreciation and gratitude to the Lord for some things that He has done in my life. One of those things was to introduce me to a friend of mine named "Brian." Brian and I met at a college-age weekend-long celebration called "Jubilee." Since that time, we have kept in contact and have challenged each other in many ways
Well, in late March, while speaking with Brian on the phone, he told me that he had lost about 40 lbs on the Atkin's Diet. I didn't know much about the Atkin's diet at that time, nor did I know that he was on it! He recommended that I go to Amazon.com and buy the book and read it.
Some of you may be thinking, well, why would someone tell you to go buy the book? Well, I have been struggling with a weight problem ever since I was in middle school. It all started in the sixth grade and it has "blossomed" from there. Something of which I am not proud. But, most recently, I topped out at 375lbs. When I started my job, I weighed about 290 - 300 lbs. Still not good, but at least it wasn't as high as it had gotten most recently!
I bought the book from Amazon.com like my friend Brian had recommended, however, once I received the book, it went straight to the shelf with all of the other books that I spontaneously buy. After returning from a month-long adventure in Hawai'i, I realized I had put on probably a good 20-30 lbs from that trip alone. It was then that I decided "it is time to do something about my weight." Famous last words for most people, and definitely me for sure. Since I had been struggling with this problem for many years, I had many reasons why I wanted to get down to a healthy weight and try to get rid of the fat that was hanging off of my body.
So, I picked up the book on July 10th, 1999. I read the whole thing in one day. I started the program on July 12th, 1999. I took the Atkin's challenge. The Atkin's challenge is to try the diet for two weeks -- rigorously, and if you like it, then move into the next phase of the diet. Dr. Atkin's claimed that you could lose up to 20lbs in the first two weeks. I didn't believe him. However, I was proven wrong and actually lost about 10-15 lbs in the first two weeks. Right then and there, I became a believer. I have been a believer ever since.
From July 12th, 1999 until the day before thanksgiving, I did not cheat even once. Honestly. It was difficult, but I stayed with it and disciplined myself not to eat the wrong things and to eat the things that I was able to eat. Now, the good thing about the Atkin's diet is that the good things are actually that -- good! So, it was not hard to eat the atkins-way, however, it was difficult restraining from some of the natural tendencies that are built into our systems! Sugar -- and bread -- and all of the things I wasn't allowed to have. These were the things I usually ate the most because it took so little time to prepare them! But, I managed to get through all of that, without cheating.
Now, a lot has happened since I started the program. In January of 2000, at 272 lbs, I met a beautiful woman named Evangeline (Vangie) -- we met and became engaged and were married in September 2000. Well, as you can tell if you looked at the wedding pictures, I am not the same weight. Being engaged and married I think I threw off a lot of the cares that I had about losing weight and actually put back on about 50 or so pounds (to the tune of back up to 345-350.
However, the good news is -- I am back on the program. And, for once in a long time - my scale doens't read "E." It reads 328.5. I have successfuly taken back off some of the weight. I will be making updates here to let you all know of progress as "life goes on." You will see below some links for you to view my pictures from various time-frames.
