User Profile

This is an adjunct to my personal journal (stormshaman). I've got it public for those of you voyeurs that want to watch me try to drop 220 pounds (i.e. all the weight that I've gained since I got married 11 years ago). Several of the entries are backdated, having been transferred from my personal livejournal.

Starting weight (as of 7/17/03): 440 (est.)

Current weight(as of 1/10/04): 357

I'm following the Atkins diet, with an average caloric intake of 1500/day. I've quit smoking, I don't drink alcohol, and I've cut processed sugar and all refined carbohydrates from my diet.

Comments and questions are welcome (exceptions are noted below). Pictures will be posted from time to time to chart my progress.

Why am I doing this?

I got tired. I got tired of not being able to find affordable clothes in my size, I got tired of being discriminated against for job opportunities because of my size, I got tired of not being able to touch my toes, I got tired of running from the camera, I got tired of hearing relatives say "you were such a cute child. What happened?", I got tired of being treated like a pariah because of my size, and I just plain got tired of being tired all the time.

So I decided to change things.

Yes, there are people that are accepting (even adoring) of fat people--and that's fine. I believe in life as a meritocracy anyway, so size doesn't matter to me. But I just got tired of looking for those people and not finding them. I mean, I only have so much patience.

So here I am, and here we are, and here is this journal for the benefit of those of my friends who aren't on livejournal but want to follow my progress.



What is NOT welcome in this journal:

1) Digs at low-carb dieting. I've tried low-fat for years and it's brought me nothing but sorrow and unhappiness and frustration, so pardon me if I don't take kindly to ill-informed people telling me that I'm killing myself with Atkins.

2) Fat-bashing. Just because I'm working to lose weight to take pressure off my joints and make it easier for me to buy "off the rack", that doesn't mean that I approve of fatphobic comments and nastiness. This includes elitist cracks like "I did 45 minutes on a Stairmaster yesterday--can YOU say that, fatty?" yes, I actually got that from somebody once. I challenged him to a duel with quarterstaffs, and he backed off--go figure.

3) Flames. You're welcome to ask questions. You're welcome to comment. But if all you're going to do is post "U SUCK" flames, then the door's to your left. Please don't allow it to hit you on the way out.

4) Anti-meat propaganda (this kinda gets back to 1), I guess). I didn't scratch and claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat a carrot (besides, they make my blood sugar spike). If Gawd had meant for us to not be omnivorous, he would have given us teeth like a cow instead of tossing some incisors and canines into the mix.

I'm pretty liberal on comments--you can be supportive or unsupportive, that's fine with me. But don't get nasty with me because I do fight back.

Friends (4):

Friend of (3):