When it goes either way, it goes rapidly. For example, when I have fallen in love, I have lost a lot of weight because I’m more focused on the other person and not food.

When I have gotten depressed, I have gained weight because I use food as a reward to keep doing the things depression makes difficult.

I have also used medications that seemed to make me hungry all the time.

I have also lost weight trying different diets. I did low fat and lost weight.

I did low carbs and lost weight for free.

The trouble is, I have always gained the weight back and some more. So, now I am trying something new: being a regular human being.

Eating in moderation.

Making sure I exercise every day. My husband and I walk three miles a day and I avoid eating between meals and try to plan out what I am going to eat. When I am going to have a treat, I try to have a very small amount instead of what I would normally want to eat.

For example, today we had small ice cream cones at an ice cream place in contrast to the last time I went there when I had a big sundae.

It’s very frustrating because the weight is coming off VERY slowly.

I’m used to seeing a little bit of weight loss every day or two, but this is not that fast. Yet my doctor said I lost four pounds in about six weeks. At the same time, the other diets were not sustainable.

I think this way of approaching food is, and I really don’t want to be on this roller coaster any longer.

When I lost weight in the past it was right after the birth of my first child. At that time I weighed 170 pounds (after I had her) and wanted to get down some where between 140 to 150 pounds.

I read several diet books before finally deciding on one diet.

The diet I chose to do was the Atkins Diet by Dr. Atkins. I began the diet around the beginning of May 2001. I followed the diet which was not easy to do. If you are not familiar with the diet, it is a high protein, no/low carbs diet.

I had to cut out all of my starches and sugars which meant cutting out bread, soda, tea, pasta, potatoes (of any kind), certain processed foods, etc.

Basically on the Atkins Diet you mainly drink water and eat lots of meat, some fruits and some vegetables. It was hard at first because I would get caffeine headaches, felt like I was starving to death and was always tired. I had almost no energy.

After I was on the diet for about two weeks, it did become easier. I tried to have one cheat day per week but on that cheat day, I did not over do it.

I would limit myself to how many carbs I had that day so I had to watch my intake of sugars, starches and of course, the carbs. If I had a sip of soda, it felt disgusting.

My teeth felt like they were just caked in sugar which was a gross feeling. Anyway, I started losing weight almost immediately. I think after the first two weeks, I had lost about five pounds. At the end of those two weeks, going without carbs no longer had an effect on me.

I didn’t need them anymore. I also seemed to have more energy and no longer had caffeine headaches. I continued with the diet but did no exercise what so ever. I did not have time to exercise as I was a single mom and worked a full time job.

The job that I worked required me to be on my feet and moving around the entire day so keeping active was no problem.

After I had been on the diet for two months, I did lose a total of twenty-five pounds which put me at my goal or target weight of 145. I felt great!!

As you can see, the weight pretty much fell off with this diet and I was very impressed……until one day in August.

In August I became violently ill. I was so sick that I ended up going to the hospital. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me. After a CAT Scan and an Ultrasound, they determined what the problem was.

It turned out that this high protein (high fat) diet had ruined my gall bladder forever. They scheduled me for surgery the following week with a general surgeon.

There I was a week later laying on the operating table under the knife. The surgeon removed my gall bladder which was the size of a Nerf Football, highly enlarged. Even though they removed my gall bladder, the ducts are still there.

To this day, I still cannot have fried or greasy food as it causes those ducts to become clogged and it makes me ill. Sometimes I get sick without eating those types of foods and when I do, I vomit bile which smells like sewage and I’m usually out of commission for about a week.

All I can do is lie in bed in severe pain and wait for it to pass. I’ve never had gall stones, oddly enough. I would not recommend this diet to anyone who appreciates not throwing up bile, having severe cramping and does not wish to have surgery.