Like most women, I have adopted the desire to be thinner. Thinner than what? is not the question, I just want to be thinner. Thinner than I was, thinner than I ever was before, thin enough to fit comfortably in my clothes – thinner.

[I know that many people thought I was already at a healthy weight for my frame, but I didn’t feel healthy. I felt fat. And how you feel about yourself is so important. It really doesn’t matter what other people say, you have to look in the mirror every day and like yourself. So please don’t judge me by where my weight was – in fact, when someone is fairly close to their “ideal body weight” it actually is harder to lose weight.]

It doesn’t really matter where you start. One day you look in the mirror and decide, enough!! This happened to me about 9 months ago, when I was planning a spontaneous weekend getaway with my husband. Lucky for me, he was game to go on my weight loss quest with me, and adhere to whatever ridiculous scheme I had concocted (this time!) to lose weight. Weight loss is a constant struggle you see, and I tend to yo-yo between about 130-135lbs. But I was well over 140lbs at this point (how far over, I didn’t really want to know) and I had decided that drastic measures were required. We decided to try the once popular “Atkins Diet”, and embarked upon our weight loss journey around Memorial Day, by having one last DQ Blizzard the night before.

We decided to go on 30gms of carbohydrates a day. According to the Atkins plans, you can either do 20 or 30gms daily for the first two weeks, and since, at that time, I didn’t want to give up my morning meal of a Greek yogurt on the way to work (15-17gms right there), we chose 30gms daily. The first three days have got to be the worst. I remember coming home from work thinking I just needed a cookie! and my husband tossed me a few baby carrots (bless him!) which helped me make it through the night. When I woke up on day four, a miracle occurred: I suddenly didn’t really need carbs anymore. At two weeks, it was so easy to keep ourselves to just 30gms a day, that we decided to go for three weeks. And when I stepped on the scale: I was down to 135!

Fast forward to today. I’m at a steady 122/123lbs. I’m never hungry, and I’m still energetic enough to swim 3500-4500 yards 3-5 times a week (about 60-75 minutes per day) and work out at the gym 3 times a week (60-90 minutes per day). I love my new body!! I love my new found self confidence! This is definitely going to not be a “diet”, but rather, a way of life.