2003-04-03 - 10:37 a.m.

several people have been commenting on my weight and size lately. normally, i consider that type of thing to be terribly rude and kind of sexist. but i recently lost about 25lbs so i'm actually really proud of how i look for the first time in a long time. bathing suit season is coming up and for once i'm not shaking inside with dread!

friends who have struggled with body issues and weight gain have asked me for my successful formula, so i'm going to go into some detail below. i've become a bit of an evangelist for this method. i really feel that i found some kind of key, and after struggling with shame and low self-esteem for a long time i'm so relieved that i want to tell the world! the best part is: its pretty easy to do.

i've always had a lot of weight fluctuation. when i had a sedentary webernet job, i gained a lot of weight. then i took up biking, and lost most of it. i had a terrible bike accident, and got another webernet job that required a lengthy commute, and became quite heavy. then i took up kickboxing and lost a lot of the excess weight on a diet of steamed rice and fried eggs (!). i moved to new york and took up yoga, felt like a million bucks. then i shattered my wrist in an accident and didn't exercise at all for almost 2 years. feeling sad and in some pain, i couldn't be in my body. i reached the heaviest weight yet. this year i decided i had to make a change.

i read about the atkins diet and decided to try a modified implementation. for the month of february, i tried to keep my total carb intake around 15g per day. i was not always successfull, but even coming close seemed to be enough of an effort. for packaged foods, the carb levels are marked clearly in the nutritional information. i found out pretty early that most packaged food is loaded with sugar and carbs, so i mostly avoided things that weren't specifically 'low-carb'. an excellent resource for non-packaged foods is here. but basically, avoiding all sugar, potatoes, pasta, bread, and rice will probably work just as well.

when i cut carbohydrates from my diet, i really craved them at first. for almost the first week, i actually fantasised about bagels. sugar was the worst for me; even late in the process if i cheated and had a little sugar, i would wake up the next morning ready to spoon sugar into my mouth. i begin to really get a sense of how sugar can throw my body chemistry into chaos. i also ended up cutting back on coffee and alcohol, for similar reasons. coffee was making me really high-strung and hungry, beer seemed to make me feel full and sluggish. i still enjoy a glass of wine once or twice a week with friends, but i cut out the beers after work. as far as The Diet is concerned, wine is probably okay, but beer is loaded with carbs. i only did this for a month, so i knew that it wasn't like i was giving up the guinness for good.

so what did i eat? a lot of meat. vegetarians will probably have trouble on this diet. a lot of tofu, too. cheese and eggs became a vital part of my diet, i eat an omelette almost every day. protein shakes and low-carb energy bars make great in-between meal snacks. vegetable stir-fries with tofu are a frequent dinner. i've been known to walk around running errands with a packet of salami in my bag for snacks. i never felt deprived, though. i ate as much as i wanted whenever i wanted. just no carbs.

in combination with retraining my eating habits, i also started going to the gym. i had been swimming all summer but i decided i needed to start lifting some weights. mostly, i discovered stretching. i stretch and do sit-ups every day except sunday for about 20 or 30 minutes. i lift weights for 30 minutes 3 times per week. any exercise is probably fine, though: the idea is to get oxygen flowing through the body, it helps burn fat. that's why the stretching is important, coupled with deep breathing.

the last and most important thing is to drink water and lots of it. i try to drink a half-gallon of water per day (that's 64oz or eight cups). i don't make my goal every single day, but i usually get close. squeezing a little lemon in the water makes it easier to take. this helps detoxify the body and supports the kidneys.

i've lost the weight i wanted to get off, and now i'm in the maintenance phase. i still try to keep my carb intake low, but i'm not forbidding myself the occasional bagel here and there. i still avoid sugar. i have bread here and there but try not to fill up on it. i'm still working out 3 times a week and i still stretch every day and drink lots of water.

all i can say about this program is that it worked for me, and fast. i lost 15lbs in the first month of carb abstinence, and that was even considering that i cheated here and there, and was confused about a lot of the intake levels for the first week. even when i began to introduce some carbs into my diet in march, i continued to lose another 10lbs.

have you ever lifted 25lbs? i was carrying that around with me every day. i feel so much lighter now, i have tons more energy. i'm stronger and more confident. if you're even thinking about losing weight, i strongly encourage you to try this program for a month. it may be the key for you too.