My Low Carb Story

First a little background! I grew up in a family that was overweight. So naturally being overweight was something that, well, came naturally! My family also has a history of heart problems, diabetes, and high blood pressure just to name a few! At times I have had problems with my BP, but never to the point of being on medications. I have watched my loved ones struggle with and die from the same illnesses as we speak.

So now here is my story! Starting way back in Kindergarten, I was teased mercilessly in school due to the fact that I was overweight. Even to the point that they would put "kick me" signs on my back and actually kick me. Now I wasn't supper heavy, and at my heaviest I weighed 185. I held it there through most of my high school years. Needless to say I had very little to NO self-esteem! I didn't have many boyfriends, but when I did get one I held on for dear life. So tightly in fact, that I became pregnant at the age of 17. After I had my baby I never lost weight; it just kept going up and up and up. I was into my 200's. I married my son's father, but soon divorced a couple of years after because he was physically abusive. This helped add to my weight and decreased my self-esteem and increased my self-loathing. By this time, I had reached 220lbs and it was still climbing.

Well, here is where the story gets better! I started going out with a guy that was my best friend since I was 15 (he was even an usher in my first wedding! lol). This was very wonderful, except for the fact that he and I both had a love affair with food. Together we shared our love, our food, and our weight gain! When we married I was up to 230lbs. I was very depressed! I was so desperate I talked to my mother-in-law who had been going to weight watchers and lost a lot of weight and convinced me to join, too! So I figured, "Why not?" So they put me on a low fat diet. I was sooo hungry all the time. I did loose weight though! I got down to 198lbs. But because I was hungry I was not able to stick with the plan and gained it all back and plus more. I had hit another new high of 250lbs!

Well my DH and I started trying for a baby right after we married and was not having much luck. I had seen a few different doctors. One of which told me to loose 25lbs to "prove" I wanted a baby and then he would try to help me. This was devastating. It was too much for me to bear and sent me spiraling into a horrible depression. So bad in fact, that I was put on medications. Needless to say I did not go back to that doctor or any other doctor until 3 years later, but I'll get to that in just a minute.

So being on depression medication, and feeling like a failure to my husband and as a woman I was pretty much as low as I could get. Then one night I was up late and seen Dr. Atkins on a late night program of some sort, and he was telling about his eating plan. I don't know really why this caught my attention but it just did, so I did the same mistake that quite a few of the newbies did, and just started eating all meat and cheese, and NO veggies and I didn't read the book. Well I lost weight, and pretty quickly I might add, but couldn't maintain that way of eating because I wasn't doing it right. Not to mention DH was eating everything right in front of me and it made it so hard to stay focused. So I fell off after 3 months after I started. But even in that short time I was able to get off my depression meds because it had leveled out my mood swings long enough to get my head back together.

Later that year, my friend bought me the Dr. Atkins book, and I read it from cover to cover. It made so much sense to me, and realized what I was doing wrong! I got back on the wagon and my DH joined me too. Which is a good thing because he was diagnosed with diabetes and was put on medications to control it. Well, I had lost all that weight and a few extra pounds as well. Hubby did great too. He lost about 30lbs in 3 months. I too lost about 30lbs and was feeling great! In November I took one last chance and seen another doctor about trying to have a baby. He reviewed all our tests he said that he believed it to be a male factor! WHOA! That was the first time I had heard that! So I went home and did some research on the computer to find out what would help out my DH's little guys and started him on a vitamin regimen that day while still eating LC. Finally the news we had wanted to hear after 6 and half years hit the day before Valentines Day; we were going to have a baby (born October 14th 2001-10 years after my other son)!

(This is where it gets bad again!) SO of course I went off LC because I thought being pregnant gave me a license to eat EVERYTHING! I had heartburn and nauseated the WHOLE 9 months! ICK! I probably could have avoided that if I had made better decisions with my foods, but I had everything that was a big NO! NO's! (My goodness I was drinking slurpies every day because I was convinced that was what settled my stomach? DUHHH! What was I thinking!)

After I had my baby in October I continued to gain weight. I think I reached 257lbs, so I jumped back on LC eating wagon again. Lost 60 or so pounds and was doing great. Well until summer hit again! Ice cream and fast food called, and I soon gained ALLLLLL my weight back plus (yup you guessed it!!!) MORE! I had finally hit my all time high of 272lbs as of January 3rd 2003! I was tired of feeling crummy about myself, and how tired I felt when I was not eating LC, but most of I was tired of all my mood swings when I ate all those HC foods (I refused to go back on depression medicines because I knew that once I got back to LC it would be better). So between that and the fact that I found out I was also going to be in my cousin's wedding (first time I was brides maid and not the bride ..LOL), I had found all the motivation I needed!

For the next 10 months I continued to eat low carb, and incorporated some type of exercise in. Now I am pretty lazy by nature so exercising was and continues to be a hard thing to stick to, but for the most part I can say that at the very least I walked 1 mile 4 to 5 days a week throughout summer and into the fall until the weather cooled off. Needless to say I looked great and felt great for my cousins wedding! My relatives were very impressed!

So here I am, and have realized that something happened in this last year. I have not only changed how I ate, but most importantly how it helped me physically and psychologically! I am getting my self-esteem back, and I am starting to accept myself. I am no longer paranoid of being in public and watching people look at me just knowing they MUST be thinking something negative about my weight. As for the physical health side, I don't have any more problems with my BP, or getting the shakes if I didn't eat, and I am not tired all the time! My heart rate is back to the normal range instead of 100 - 103 BPM. I don't have any problems with IBS, or acid reflux! Heck I can even move around better!

Now one year and 3 months later I have lost 102lbs, and DH has lost 60lbs and is no longer on diabetic meds. I still want to loose another 35- 40lbs yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally this WOL and WOE has truly become the "normal" way to live, and sure I have had my days, or at most a week of eating HC foods, but I always come right back to LC'ing because I know how much happier I am. I am out doing things I have not done in years, in smaller clothes than I wore in high school. I no longer just exist? I am ALIVE!

Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, New and Revised Edition author: Robert C. Atkins asin: B000C4T48I