Read the inspiring story of one man's 180-pound weight loss after years of failed diets. Jimmy Moore transformed himself from morbid obesity into the healthy, vibrant individual he is today. Be inspired by his message of triumph and hope.
My name is Jimmy Moore and I have quite a story to tell you about the incredible change that has happened in my life beginning on January 1, 2004 that will forever alter the direction of my future forever...and for the better!
You see, I used to be a morbidly obese 410-pound man on a one-way ticket to an early grave! After decades of poor eating habits, lack of any meaningful exercise, and just a general apathy about trying to live healthy, it had all caught up to me and I felt trapped thinking this was just the hand I had been dealt with no hope for ever overcoming it. It's a helpless feeling to think you will always be fat and there's nothing you can do about it. And that's EXACTLY what I felt for most of my life.
Don't get me wrong, though. I had tried all of the diets out there that have been popular, including Slim Fast, taking Dexatrim pills, eating rabbit food all day long...but NONE of them fit the bill for me. And in 1999 I did an ultra low-fat (almost no-fat) diet because we have always been taught that eating fat makes you fat and I did surprisingly well on it losing 170 pounds in just nine months. But there was only one problem-I was constantly hungry which made me irritable, tired, and feeling like I was going out of my mind! And my stomach was so bloated and big I felt like I was a lot WORSE off than I was before my weight loss. One day my wife Christine asked me if I would go to McDonald's and get her an extra value meal and I asked her if I could have a Big Mac meal "just this one time."
Anyone who has ever been fat knows what happened next.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I gained all of that weight back from my low-fat diet experience and then some until I made my way up above 400 pounds towards the end of 2003. My wife Christine was so worried about my health and with good reason. Although I didn't suffer any major health problems at the time, I was on prescription medications for cholesterol, blood pressure and breathing issues. Then, a series of events in the Fall 2003 led me yet again to give a serious look at losing weight again. But I didn't want to feel like I did in 1999 with all the hunger and frustration that miserable low-fat diet gave me. So I turned to a sound and proven nutritional plan that would be satisfying and sustainable for helping me lose weight and keep it off for the rest of my life as I pursued a permanent and health lifestyle change. That's when I decided to begin the Atkins diet.
Let me be clear what I mean when I say the Atkins diet. No, I didn't just start eating less carbs and turn to a diet consisting of meat, eggs, cheese and a pound of bacon each day. Contrary to popular belief that has been spread in the mainstream media and from those so-called health "experts," that is NOT the Atkins diet-not by a long shot! What I did do was read Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution from cover to cover so I could learn how and why this way of eating works and then I started applying it. Yes it was difficult in those first few days as I was going through some pretty major withdrawals from my 16-cans-of-Coke-a-day habit along with eating whole boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes at a time among other things. But I stuck with the Atkins dietary plan because I HAD to do something about my weight this time and NOTHING was gonna deter me this time around. My health DESERVED the chance to be good for a change.
By the end of the first month after beginning my New Year's resolution to lose weight in January 2004, I had shed a total of 30 pounds. HOLY COW!!! At the end of the second month, another 40 pounds were gone and by the time I had been on Atkins for 100 days, over 100 pounds were gone forever from my body. Words simply cannot describe how I felt going through this incredible journey and I will never be the same again. Although it wasn't an easy road by any stretch of the imagination, I am so thankful I found the healthy low-carb lifestyle because I went on to lose a total of 180 pounds that year. More importantly than my weight loss, though, is the fact that low-carb living gave me my health back. All of those prescriptions I was taking for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and breathing problems were all history within nine months of being on the Atkins diet. And to this day, I have yet to take another medication for any health ailment. WOO HOO! Who says your health doesn't improve on the low-carb lifestyle?
As 2005 rolled around and people began to take notice of my very noticeable weight loss, they wanted to know how I did it. After probably telling my Atkins low-carb weight loss success story at least a bazillion times, I finally said I would create an online journal or web site to talk about what I did as well as work on a book about it for the benefit of helping others. I had never even heard of a blog when I decided to start one in late April 2005, but a friend of mine told me how incredibly easy it was to set one up and start writing right away. Writing has always been a passion of mine and I had been doing it ever since college before the Atkins diet. So it only made sense to combine my enthusiasm and skill for the written word with my newfound commitment to healthy living the low-carb way. It was a match made in heaven ready to take on the world! And I've never looked back.
Almost immediately people began flocking to my new blog which I had dubbed "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" (since I was living the low-carb life and a fan of the popular Ricky Martin song!). The blog has just continued to grow exponentially ever since and now garners around a quarter million monthly pageviews. In October 2005, I released my debut book entitled Livin' La Vida Low-Carb: My Journey From Flabby Fat To Sensationally Skinny In One Year. In November 2009, I finished my second book related to low-carb living called 21 Life Lessons From Livin' La Vida Low-Carb: How The Healthy Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew to continue educating, encouraging, and inspiring others who are overweight, obese, and unhealthy to do what I did. Additionally, I have since started several more blogs, a twice-weekly podcast show that airs on iTunes featuring interviews with the experts, a popular YouTube video series with my wife Christine, and so much more! You can find out more about what all is happening with me at LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com.
Feel free to e-mail me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. THANK YOU again for being here and I look forward to getting to know you and help you become that happy, healthy, and fit person you were always meant to be.
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