Atkins Diet Success Still At It Two Years Later

Kent Altena just passed the two-year mark since starting the Atkins diet

Reading that headline, you would think this blog post was going to be about ME. While it is true that I passed my two-year anniversary of being on the Atkins diet back in January of this year, there's another good friend of this blog whose weight loss success story is eerily similar to mine.

Kent Altena, aka Bowulf at his blog which I have previously told you about, began livin' la vida low-carb on March 31, 2004 when he tipped the scales at 419 pounds. By that point in my weight loss experience which had me starting off at 410 pounds, I had already dropped over 80 pounds and well on my way to becoming a success. But Kent was just getting started and had no idea what he was getting himself into! Or maybe he did.

In a blog post from Friday called "2 Years Down! A lifetime to go...," Kent goes down memory lane and celebrates the weight loss gift that the Atkins diet has given to him over these past two years.

"I might not have known it at the time I started or battled through a case of Induction flu and negativity for the loss of a number of comfort foods, but for the first time in my life, something just clicked that made the subsequent success assured."

Me too, Kent! It was as if you just get "locked in" to what you are supposed to be doing and then do it. It all made sense at that point.

And, like me, Ken was an "Atkins-hater" before he started his own journey because he couldn't believe something so wonderful could actually help you lose weight and keep it off forever. But it wasn't until Kent saw his own brother become successful on the Atkins diet that he decided to give it a whirl for himself (I wish MY brother would follow my lead).

Thinking back to my decision to begin Atkins after being so adamantly opposed to it, I wrote about two specific people in my book "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" whose amazing successes left an indelible impression on me that perhaps I was wrong about the Atkins diet. I never forgot what both of these people had accomplished and I am so thankful for their example.

Finding someone who has already accomplished what you want to do is incredibly motivating. That's why people like me and Kent are constantly sharing our stories with other people so that they too can be successful at losing weight the low-carb way. IT CAN BE DONE!

Like an incoming cadet in the Atkins army, Kent absorbed all the information he could about low-carb living and in making better choices for himself. With intense tenacity and rigorous dedication, he resolved to to "stubborn" about his eating habitsand was amazed when the scale kept going down and down and...down some more. In all, he dropped 186 pounds!

CONGRATULATIONS, Kent! I KNOW exactly how you feel. LOL! I'm probably the closest person you'll find that can understand all that you went through to get where you are today.

From the epitome of an obese slob to the "exercise is not a dirty word" athletic individual you are today (he even ran a 10k trail run in November 2005!), Kent has discovered life is so worth living as a healthy man. Is it ever?!

I LOVED this part of Kent's testimony because it is oh so true for all you naysayers who think this can't be kept up over the long term:

"I have been in a number of different places where the diet was seemingly not low-carb friendly. I knew though that I was on a journey that could point in only two directions -- forward or behind, meaning I could either be the guy who stayed on target or the guy who was on the path to return to my old ways. The same resolve that got me to goal is still carrying me to stay at goal and below."

Amen, Kent! Once you reach your low-carb weight loss goal, the battle has only just begun. Keeping this way of eating up for many more years to come is what will prevent either one of us from ever getting up over 400 pounds again. Or 300! Or even 250 pounds!!! Not gonna happen, is it Kent?

Kent says he is still learning a lot from his weight loss journey and excitedly awaits each new day as an opportunity to be educated once again. Despite the detractors to livin' la vida low-carb, Kent says he's not changing a thing!

On behalf of the readers at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, CONGRATULATIONS Kent! May two years become twenty and a lifetime of low-carb success. God bless you, my friend.

Read the rest of Kent's inspiring post by clicking here.