The One Diet that Worked to Lose Weight
No one ever said it was going to be easy. It would take discipline, be stressful to adhere to, and might take months or longer to see any results. But, I was 250 lbs. and going nowhere but up. Living in the Midwest, especially in Ohio, its easier to ignore that you need to lose weight. There’s not much peer pressure. Most of the population was just like me and there were very few people here trying to impress anyone.
Trying to lose weight was for me. It was a personal project. I was 39-years-old at the time, when you feel as if time and opportunity is starting to get by you for the first time in your life. So, that had me thinking about what the extra weight was doing to me physically, and what may be going on inside that I wasn’t aware of. I started right at the height of the low carbohydrate frenzy. All the books were out, I read all about these type diets on the web as well and finally just caved in and bought “the Atkins diet” and “the south beach diet” so I could have some type of guide right there in my hands. I read through these books quickly and found that it might just be best to start eating the foods they suggested, in the right quantities prescribed and get into ketosis, where fat would be used for energy. I took a leap of faith at that time and followed the foods and quantities to the letter.
Life was very difficult for the first couple of weeks. It is tough to get those carbs out of your diet, and my family was still very much into them. Denying myself the foods that I had eaten for my entire life was a challenge. I was determined this time to fight and stay on this low carb path though, no matter what. After losing 13 pounds in about 15 days, I had enough motivation to know that something was working here! This pace was due to water weight being eliminated, but after 3 months it was still coming off fast and I was down to 225. The comments began, and they were great! “Have you lost weight?”, “You look different, your face is thinner”, and so on…these continued to reinforce my positive attitude and commitment to eating a low carb diet. After almost a year, I was down to 177 and eating a few of those “cheater” foods here and there, but strict as ever. I also became more educated about glycemic indexes and cut back on all meat and cheese and began to watch the heavy fats. (Also known as “more fruits, vegetables and salads”).
I kept at this diet for three years. It worked for me and I stayed in the 180′s, where I still look very thin, but not anorexic. I will admit that I was not exercising a lot during this and that may have made the results move even faster. My blood pressure went down to normal, from borderline high, and I felt quick and had abundant energy the whole time. My family seemed to hate me as I didn’t eat a few birthday cakes, favorite recipes at the holidays and cut alcohol down to only an occasional low carb beer, two at the most. Was this a success? Yes, as I looked and felt good for about three years. Afterward I began to cheat more and more, I felt that I could gain a few pounds and would be able to handle it. A few more…turned into getting back up to where I was originally and it took about two years. little by little to overturn all that will power from before.
This is my story of the only time I had success losing weight on a diet. I did try some others, (low fat, high exercise, more fruits and veggies, etc), but the low carb method is the only one I was able to make work and stay on for enough time to see 75 pounds come off and stay off. It was worth it, it was so great to fit into smaller clothes, getting positive comments and having women say they were noticing. I am thinking of doing it again soon to try to get healthier and look better than ever!
