Hello.  My name is Bill, and I'm a carboholic.

I used to be a regular here.  For almost 4 years I followed the Atkins program.
I lost 84 lbs. and weighed less than I had in 30 years.  I enjoyed my menus and
had no trouble staying on the program.  I exercised daily.  My blood pressure
was down.  And although my total cholesterol was near 300, my HDL was nearly 100
and my triglycerides were low.  The program worked for me when nothing else had.

Then I began to fall off the wagon.  I still tried to follow Atkins but began
adding more veggies and fruits, hence more carbs.  I regained 10% of the weight
I'd lost.  That didn't bother me because I expected to gain a little as I went
into maintenance.  Whether due to the added carbs or something else, however, I
began to over eat.  And, yes, at some point calories do matter.  I knew I was
eating too many calories but couldn't seem to keep from snacking.  Slowly my
weight increased another 10 pounds.  I experimented with things like lite ice
cream and discovered my carb addition drove me to consume a half gallon in 3 or
4 days.  Then last summer I injured my knee and had to stop my exercise program.
Another 10 pounds were added over the next 6 months.  The final straw was in the
last month when on three occasions I bought a dozen Krispy Cremes and ate them
in 4 days or less.  My weight gain from my low point was approaching 40 lbs.

Time to do something.  Fortunately I've been able to exercise normally for the
past month.  And for the past week I've gone back to a high protein/low carb
diet.  The cravings have lessened and I've loss a couple pounds.  Last week I
opened an old vacumm sealed pack of KetoStix and tested.  No color change but
they are so old I didn't know whether they were still good.  This morning I
tested again and this time the stick turned pink.  Hooray!  My diet change is
starting to work.

Why so excited about a little pink?  Because tomorrow I'm leaving on a 12 day
golfing vacation.  That pink gives me the incentive to stay on program during
the trip.  I even plan to walk with a couple guys in the group every morning.
We have a breakfast buffet that includes lots of eggs and meats. We keep
groceries in our room for lunch between rounds so I can easily stay low carb
there.  And most of the places we eat dinner offer plenty of Atkins friendly
menu items.

I suspect there's a good chance I can actually lose weight on this trip.  I'll
report when I get home.  It feels good to be getting back on track.