I am a currently unemployed, almost 60 year old librarian in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I joined Fatsecret in April 2010 after having lost about 10 pounds. My starting weight here was 210 and I was doing Atkins. Back in 1999 I lost about 60lbs on the old Atkins but didn't stick with the lifestyle and gained it all back (with interest). I had also been very interested to read Chris Kresser's blog <http://chriskresser.com/heartburn> about the benefits of a low carb diet on IBS and GERD. And indeed, I can say three years later low carbing totally cured me.

I had always had a tension with Atkins vs a more organic, whole food approach. I usually say my diet is a low carb, organic food diet that avoids grains, legumes, sugar and industrial seed oils. I feel more comfortable with the Primal/Paleo philosophy than with the Atkins way trying to eat standard American diet except with a lot of sugar alcohols and other artificial processed food. So I decided to transition to Primal and that wiped out the progress on my FS ticker which makes me sad.

By April 2012 I weighed about 160 and was hoping to get down another 5-10 pounds before maintenance. But then I got laid off from my job of 20 years. Total tailspin. I continued to eat healthy food but I stopped weighing and logging. By early 2013 I was back up to about 180. So in January of 2013 I starting logging, journaling and joining new FS groups to get motivated. I'm still about 180 in April 2013. Discouraging, but I am going to persevere.

Even at 180 I feel so much better than I did in 2010 with my constant stomach aches and horrible heartburn. I've learned a lot about healthy eating and local organic resources in my community.