 
Hello, my name is Amber and I'm a 29 year old Domestic Engineer (stay at home mom). :) I have a wonderful husband, Cory, and we have been married for 8 years and we have an adorable little girl, Alexa, who is 4 years old. We live in Central California were my husband and I were born and raised. Cory is an Information Systems Engineer for a huge internet security software company in the Silicon Valley, a job he LOVES.
The first picture was taken in February of 1999, I'm not sure exactly what my weight was here since I never weighed but I'm sure I was at least 300lbs. The second photo was taken at a friend's wedding in November of 1999. I still hadn't weighed but my size 26/28 clothes were starting to get too small. After seeing these two pictures I knew I was WAY out of control. Of course, I already knew I needed to do something but these photographs really clinched it for me. My size was slowly creeping up so I knew this was it!!!!
Cory and I started the Atkins plan on December 27, 1999. I was at my all time highest weight of 300 lbs. (yikes!) and on a 5'2" frame believe me, I was almost as round as I was tall. :) I had 170 lbs. to loose. Cory was at 274 lbs. and wanted to loose about 80 lbs., he is 6'2" so his weight problem wasn't quite as big as mine but still we both wanted to be healthy, both to set a good example for our daughter and too improve the quality of our lives. Cory is and has always been very athletic and always wants me to participate like I used to; however, because of my weight I never felt like I could and that made me feel TERRIBLE. So, in addition to wanting to be strong and healthy for my daughter, I want to be strong and healthy for me. I want to swim, water ski, snow ski, play basketball, go hiking and do all the other things I used to love to do. This summer I plan to do all those things!! Well, I guess snow skiing will wait until winter. :)
The third picture was taken in March/April of 1999 and I had lost 50 lbs. and three dress sizes at that point. I knew this was going to be a way of life for me because the diet was so very easy to stick too because I didn't crave the candy, pasta and bread that I used to. My health had also improved tremendously. Before I started Atkins I had at least one migraine headache per week. They were starting to control my life. After just one week on Atkins they were gone!! My energy level went up right away also.
At this point, I knew I could make it all the way to my weight loss goal.
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