Great job! New Orleans is to blame for my current weight situation. How in the world did you lose weight in that city!?!? Mmm...fried food and beer....

Wow! You look great!! I bet staying away from all that delicious food is challenging. I'll drive to new orleans just to eat ><. I've skipped school once or twice for cafe du monde and masperos lol I'm just glad gas prices went up.

You are doing very well. Your hard work is definitely showing! Great job!

Yeah the food here does create weight loss issues. It's definitely the reason I was heavy to begin with. There's always some kind of food festival going on and there's also the regular food of course - fried seafood, beignets, pastas... great restaurants like Emeril's, Port O' Call, Paul Prudhomme's restaurant K-Paul's... and then there's the party atmosphere and all the alcohol . It's a challenge!

Good on ya, pal! You don't even look like the same person! Fantastic job on the weight loss. YOu must be very determined, so I'm sure you'll also be able to lose the love handles (which I can't see anyways!). Keep up the great work!

ABBA

Oh, they're there... I've taken a couple of pics... maybe I'll grow a pair and get up enough nerve to post it one of these days.

Thank you all for your support!

Wow, you look amazing!

Look at you bringing sexy back! Whoo hoo!!

I did Atkins too for a while, lost close to 35 pounds on it. I just loved the way I felt on a low carb diet. No bloating or water weight ever. I'm thinking of going back that way lately, just because the weight loss was fairly consistent and faster than me just watching my calories.

I'm curious about this "low glycemic index lifestyle." I know I have a book that talks about this that I haven't fully read yet. How do you like this lifestyle? Is your weight loss steady and consistent? Any challenges?

Here's my Low GI "bible": Glycemic Index of Foods, GI Value

Doing Low GI, for me, is good for maintaining my weight. However, I find that when I eat things that drift from a true low carb way of eating (including Low GI) that I find it easier to justify eating things that aren't quite as healthy (a piece of fried food or a dessert for the most part). Now that's not necessarily a bad thing - I don't want to deprive myself of everything forever. My weight fluctuates between 173 and 178 for the most part. Whenever I get to 178, I start to really watch the carbs and even stop eating whole grain rice and bread. I guess what I'm getting at, is that Low GI and weight loss don't go together for me. Atkins/Low Carb has really been the only thing that ever worked for me to lose weight. Maybe it's because when I'm doing Atkins, I'm completely motivated toward weight loss and I do a much better job with temptation knowing that the ketosis is going to get messed up if I eat carbs or sugar. Low GI is a more healthy long term lifestyle, though. What I need to learn to do is to eat Low GI and avoid temptation.

Since I've been visiting this forum, I've been re-inspired to work on my love handles and I'm back on a very low carb diet. It's impossible to read the success stories and look at the pictures here and not get motivated!

You look great! And so much younger... And I see NO evidence of a gut! Congrats!

Thanks for sharing. I know what you mean about throwing off ketosis, then it's the 2 day wait to get back there. I found that I was often not hungry on low carb, which I really enjoyed. Plus I love eating sausage for breakfast, and real cheese. LOL

It's good to know that Low GI is good for maintaining, that has always been the hardest part for me. Good for you for keeping 178 as your red line not to cross over. Way to stay in control. I think next week I might do low carb again too, just to see if it shakes up my weight loss. I'm doing weight watchers, but they do have a plan called "core" which is similar to low carb, though it allows more lower carb options, options that you wouldn't see in induction, so I will have to keep those to a minimum. Keep at it and those love handles will be gone in no time!!

I say neighbor because i'm over in Picayune MS... anyway, you did an awsome job. I recently joined this forum as well and have been extremely inspired by the success stories here. And yours and everyone else's confirms my belief that there is no magic pill or diet. YOu just have to pick a healthy eating style that you can live with ( I did atkins too for a while but I discovered I could not handle it so i'm kinda low glycemic, small portions, etc) and excercise, and just keep on truckin'.

Anyway, kudos to you and keep it up!

Er, you're a hottie. And you know what, you don't have to get rid of your tummy completely. I mean, you look fine now. If what you have is excess skin I think the only way to get rid of that is through surgery. Otherwise, I'd say weight training.

Wow! What a huge (or lack of huge) difference!

Thanks catiew21, Genteel Poverty, Emi & RadiantPebble!

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Well, on another note... I bought a new scale today after getting weighed at the Dr.'s office... turns out my scale is off by NINE FREAKING POUNDS!!!!!!!!!! I thought I weighed 173, but it turns out I'm 181.6. (A bought a digital one that also measures body fat by sending an electric impluse through your body - that turned out the same as my caliper measurements of 24.9%). I'm bummed that I'm practically 10 lbs heavier than I thought. Ugh. I've been using this scale all along. I wonder if I was actually closer to 255 when I started?

But ya know what.. it's about getting healthier! And it also doesn't change the fact that you are looking amazing. I bet you were up that 10 when you started, so your accomplishments aren't any less.