Sure.... My journey has been just that, a journey, I did not arrive where I am over night and I am not done yet  I have written a blog post that talks a little about my battle with the scale and you or anyone else is welcome to read that here gracioushealth.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/a-word-about-weighin g-in/  but my story in a nutshell is this....

I have struggled with my weight since about 3rd grade, I was always teased growing up and felt like i was different, and I really didnt know why I was overweight and other kids wern't I just thought I was made differently, some people were fat some people were thin, some people were asian some people were white etc etc... I didn't feel like I ate enormous amounts of food or anything like that, and in reality looking back, I didn't, I was just eating (being fed) the wrong kinds of foods, everyday and pretty much whenever I wanted, I had no restriction on what I ate as a child if I wanted ice cream or candy or soda or pizza I pretty much was given what I wanted, if I was not a very active child (which I was always swimming or playing sports or climbing trees or something) i probably would have been much larger than I actually was. By the I was in 8th grade I weighed 208 lb's and by the time I graduated high school I weighed 280 lb's this was mainly because of eating the toxic standard american diet daily and not knowing any difference, I also believe genetics have a part to play in obesity but they are not fully to blame. I hid myself, I had self loathing, I was ashamed and I also liked to eat, fast food and sugary food all the time, also drank lots of soda. I dieted many many different times from the age of 9 years old on up, but I never understood the concept of healthy living until I got to my late 20's I had an idea but  for a while took on the standard american dieters approach and bought all of my products labled "fat free" "sugar free" "low calorie" etc...   still toxic food as far as i'm concerned (part of my journey was learning this). I had dieted my way all the way to 322 lb's at the age of 29 and then I finally threw in the towel and decided that WLS was the only "cure" and I was going forward with it. Maybe it was because I finally gave up on diets and because I was praying a lot for the answer but my dad called me one day and said I want you to read this book called "perfect weight america" that was around Christmas time of 2008 while I was already on a waiting list to get my WLS sugery of which I still had more than 6 months to wait for. The book was so eye opening for me, and I started on a new journey toward total health I started to eat clean food, whole food, natural food and I uped my exercise (I always exercised, even at over 300 lb's) I incorporated a program called isagenix that helped me to cleanse my body and release a lot of toxic fat, and little by little I have changed just about everything in regards to the way I eat and exercise and how I think about food and feed my family, it has been a a total life change and I am a firm believer that there really is no other way or quick fix. It took (and still takes) a lot of spiritual and emotional work as well as the physical and mental work, I will say this though your mind is powerful and i am a firm believer that you lose weight in your mind first! i now have a love for eating and living naturally, there have been many bumps in the road, but it is all part of the journey, I have taken my love of natural health to the next level by enrolling in school to become certified as a holistic health coach and want to help others on in their journey to total health, that is my story in a nutshell, thanks for asking, sorry if I rambled too much

Congrats to you Deb on your decision to do this without WLS, it is a hard road to walk but it is so worth it!

Here's an Atkins, low carber forum

http://forum.lowcarber.org/

Hello, discovered this site when doing a search for obseity help.  I'm 70, and have several medical conditions, feel like second hand goods most of the time.  I think my life would be totally enhanced at this age with a shedding of 60 pounds or more.  Idealy probably a 100 pounds, but at 70, lets be realistic, 60 would made a huge differance and I would older but maybe not older than dirt.
My doctor doesn't care what I do, just lose weight.  Okay, easy to say when you're a normal weight person, but in real life when you're the obese one, good luck, especially at my age.  Surgery is not a good option for me due to a heart condition. 
What other options do I have?  I've done Weigh****chers more times than I can count, its a great program but at this age, to sit in a crowd of strangers, I've already done it, been successful for awhile and it's lost its luster for me. 
I also get very angry at myself because I can't seem to tame this monkey on my own.  I've also been successful in the past in doing it on my own, but now I'm so stuck, it's like I have an urgent death wish and refuse to see the light. 
My health depends on me taking some kind of action. 
I've checked into Medifast, great program but I don't like being told I "have" to buy their food after I pay a super high fee just to get into the program.  Same with Jenny and Nutri, I don't want to be forced to eat food from some manufacturer that tells me its the only way.

Any ideas, any suggestions, any success stories, anyone anything that has worked to motivate you if  you couldn't have the surgery, and were stuck like super glue to a diet filled with sweets and other self iindulgences.
Exercising, I've had both hips replaced, one knee, back surgery, - I'm limited to theraputic pool work outs once or twice a week when I'm not working.

Glad to have found this site, I'm counting on maybe some trigger that will switch on the light and get me motivated. 
I also read on the Medicare site they now offer help with Obsity, it talks about counseling in a medical setting.  However when I called Medicare, 5 different times, got 5 different people, no one could give me a detailed description of what kind of help I can have or where to get it.   The best answer I got was talk to your doctor.  I did that, he didn't seem to know what Medicare was paying for either, I even called the clinic accounting office *****ferred me back to my doctor.

Does anyone know anything about this new Medicare coverage for the obsese?  Does anyone know of a reputable clinic in the twin cities (MN) where one could go for help?

Looking forward to hearing what advice you all may send my way.

Snoopers