On December 21, 2007 I was resting on the bed after a long hard day of last minute Christmas shopping. I was lying on my back when I noticed that occasionally I was gasping for breath. I thought, “Man, I must be really tired today. I can hardly breathe.” After awhile, I noticed that my only relief came when I turned on my side or when I placed my hand under my breast -- something I had heard my mother often say and do.

Then another thought hit me. A much more frightening thought. Have I gained so much weight that I can hardly breathe? The next morning I stepped on the scale to get the reality check of a lifetime. I weighed a whopping 286 lbs!!!! All I could think was OMG!!! How did I get this close to 300 lbs and not even know it???

I started to rationalize: It's baby weight. Just holiday weight. It’s water. I’m big boned. All the usual excuses. The facts of the matter were:

* At that time my daughter had just turned 2 years old and I weighed less than 286 lbs when I was released from the hospital when she was born!

* I may have added some pounds from the holidays, but that was in addition to the ones I already had!

* Yeah, although I am big boned, there was still a lot of excess weight on top of them -- which is even worse!

* Although, some may have been water – come one, no one has 100 lbs of water weight! I went through the holidays thinking, “Enjoy yourself now because January1, 2008 YOU HAVE WORK TO DO!”

By time the New Year rolled around I was 291 lbs!!! I had tried several other diets before. Correction. I had tried everything before: Weight Watchers, South Beach, grapefruit diet, Atkins and every kind of diet pill you can imagine!

At that moment I started contemplating weight loss surgeries -- Lap Band and gastric bypass. I immediately ruled out gastric bypass because it just seemed a bit drastic to me. The Lap Band surgery seemed like the lesser of two evils so I went to the information seminar and consultation. I was told the surgery was only a "tool" and I would still have to diet and exercise! “Huh? You mean to tell me I am going to pay you $13,000 to fix me, but I still have to diet -- and exercise??? And in addition to that I would have to lose about 45 lbs [before surgery]?” Whatever!

So, I set out to lose some weight on my own. I went back to the Atkins diet, because out of all the diets I've tried before, I had the most success on that one. I had lost 23 lbs in a month in 2004.

I had been on Atkins for a disappointing week and a half when I was watching The Mike and Juliet Show with my husband. They were exposing fad diets that did and did not work when we heard about Kimkins. The panel did a very good job of drilling the guest, but I just couldn't help but think, “OK, you lost weight. Kept it off. Clean report from the doctor. What’s the problem again? Oh -- you lost some hair. GET A WEAVE OR A WIG AND CONSIDER YOURSELF BLESSED!”

Like millions of others I'm sure, I decided to see for myself. I poked around the [Kimkins] site for a few days, read the testimonials (even posted a few), until finally my curiosity got the best of me and I joined. On January 11, 2008 my life changed for the better. By January 22, I had already lost 21 lbs and was already feeling fabulously confident!!! [Wow, 21 lbs in 11 days!]

I'll tell anyone, for me this is not just another diet -- it a way of eating. A lifestyle change! And it works. BUT, it’s not for the faint of heart. You have to be committed to the lifestyle change or you will be easily distracted. Thoughts of, “When I reach my goal I can eat normally again,” often run amuck in my head!

I know the only reason I haven’t reached my goal yet is because I get distracted so easily, LOL! I would be nothing more than a bold faced liar if I said I don't have my weak moments. I’ve cheated. I’ve fallen off track quite a few times recently. However, the very best part is that this way of eating is very forgiving. If you fall off the wagon, you jump right back on and ride again. You don't have to wait for the next day or the next week. You can restart at that moment. You can restart as many times as you need -- just as long as you do it.

There are several people on the Kimkins site who have been there and are who are more than willing to offer their support and share their knowledge. You are never judged or criticized for being human. My KK buddies -- especially the FABULOUS FOR FALL GANG -- are my rocks! They will give you the hug, pat on the back, a thumbs up and the occasional ((((smack)))))) back to reality when you need it!

- Jessone, Kimkins member

Note: With Kimkins you can restart as many times as you want -- for free! Never pay a restart or new registration fee.