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Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:00 am
Posts: 101
Location: Nearly There
Low-Carb Plan: Atkins-Protein Power-Me
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Debbie in MissouriOriginally Published: 06-01-2004 My name is Debbie and I am from Missouri. I have been married for 18 years, and have two children, two dogs, and one cat. My dear Mother has also lived with me since 1991, when my Dad passed away. I have been overweight since I was a child. The summer before I was to enter the 3rd grade, I ballooned up and could not get into any of the clothes my Mother had made for me to wear. Scared that something was terribly wrong with me, my Mom took me to our family doctor. He just laughed and said I had gotten a new wardrobe the easy way. I wish now I could go back and thump him on the head and ask him 'What is so easy about being overweight?'
By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I weighed 185 pounds At that time I had already reached my top height of 5.5". Needless to say, I have been called everything imaginable by my school mates and even by my family. Children can be cruel, can't they? One friend of my brothers always called me "the gang".
That same family doctor put me on a diabetic diet the summer before my Junior year in High School, and I lost an incredible 50 pounds. That was the last time I was to be so small, though. My older brother was always thin as a rail.
When he came home from serving in Vietnam, he seemed ravenous. I guess they didn't get much good old American food over there, and he ate and ate. I was still desperately trying to maintain my 50 pound weight loss, but it seemed impossible, living in the same house as the eating machine.
Before I knew it, I was back up to 160 pounds, and that's what I weighed when I got married, a week after graduating high school. It turned into a bad marriage, and I turned to food. During those nine years of marriage, my weight went up and down like a yoyo. It was during this time, at about 180 pounds, that I originally found Dr. Atkins and read his first book. I knew then that this was for me. I started my low carb lifestyle right away, and lost an amazing 25 pounds in about three months. I felt great and I was looking good. But I let my sister in law (who was a nurse's aid) convince me that this way of eating was bad for my kidneys, and I stopped low-carbing. Of course I gained all the weight back, and more. By the time my then-husband and I divorced, I was over 200 pounds.
When I wed the second time, to my soul mate, I weighed an incredible 230 pounds I was only 32 years old - but I looked and felt like I was 60. My husband also had a weight problem, so together we tried every diet out there. You name it, we tried it -- twice. Except Atkins. At my heaviest, I weighed 285 pounds When my husband said he would like to have children, I didn't think I could do it safely. But my doctor disagreed, so we got pregnant. I was terrified that I would go over the 300 mark during my pregnancy, but thankfully, I only gained 6 pounds.
Years went by, and my weight went up and down. I lost 70 pounds with Jenny Craig, and put it back on. I lost 50 pounds with a diet drug called Meridia, and put it back on. Nothing I tried worked for long. By now, my knees were shot, my ankles were weak, and I had developed high blood pressure. My doctor told me It was only a matter of time before I became a Type II diabetic, and that if I didn't get the weight off, in ten years I would probably be in a wheel chair because my knees wouldn't tolerate the burden of all that weight much longer.
Then, seventeen months ago, a young woman in my office went on the Atkins diet. She was quietly but noticeably losing weight. I asked her how, and she told me she was doing Atkins. Atkins! I said 'Well, I did that years ago, but isn't it bad for you?' She told me no, and suggested I read his new book, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. I bought it, read it and said 'this is it!' This time it has to work.'
On Jan. 2, 2003 I decided to give myself one more chance at a normal life by starting the Atkins diet again. I thank God everyday that I did. That was 59 pounds ago!
I limit my carbs to between twenty and twenty-five per day. I have experienced several serious stalls, but I will not give up. Losing weight slowly is going to insure that I keep it off. I feel like a new woman! I am now 50 years old, but feel like I am 30 again.
In Dr. Atkins book, he talks about being insulin resistant. I discovered last October (after a five month stall) that I have Wilson's Thyroid Syndrome. My body does not use the thyroid hormone it creates, so it does me no good. Which means I basically had no metabolism whatsoever. But since my doctor put me on the "T3 protocol" I have begun losing weight again. Through all this, I did not give up. Even though I had at that time only lost 36 lbs, I already felt better than I had in years. Even if I didn't drop another ounce, I had decided I was going to stay "Atkins for life". I am so glad I didn't give up or let the mainstream media's continued bashing of the low carb lifestyle and my lack of weight loss discourage me. I stuck it out, and for the first time in over 20 years, I am down to 200 pounds. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I don't care. I am healthy, happy, and getting stronger and stronger as each day passes. I have gone from a size 26 jeans to a size 18 and
have lost more than 30 inches overall. I am hoping to lose another 40 or 50 pounds, but I have not set a time goal. I know that if it is right for my body, it will happen. I love this way of eating and will never NEVER go back to the low fat lie! My favorite thing about low-carbing is that I don’t even have to think about it. It came very naturally and easy for me. I love the fact that I can go to almost any restaurant and eat a healthy, legal low carb meal and not feel one bit deprived or as though I am “on a diet”.Sharing Success StrategiesQuote:  Deb says: "My best advice is the same as you always read in these success stories ~ STICK WITH IT!
Your body will, from time to time, just have to stop and re-adjust. If you give up during one of those times when you are metabolically challenged, you will give up all the progress you have made.
The saying “patience is a virtue” has never been more true than when you are going through a stall. You KNOW if you go back to your former way of eating, you will regain all the weight lost and then some. BUT if you STICK IT OUT- you can only win. Even if you only stay where you are, you are still better off than you were before you went low-carb." Poorgirl's Easy Kitchen Creation· 2 cups chopped cauliflower
· 6 slices bacon
· 2 Tbls dried onion
· 1 small tomato
· 6 large eggs
· 1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar analyzed)
· 1/4 cup additional shredded cheese for top
· 1 Tbs parsley Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a small loaf pan with Pam (or any non stick spray).
Reconstitute 2 Tbls dried onion in cold water for 10 mins then drain well.
Sauté 2 cups of chopped cauliflower in 2 tbls of olive oil.
Chop up 6 slices of bacon and add to the cooking cauliflower until all is done through.
Chop 1 small tomato.
Drain the cauliflower/bacon mixture and put into a bowl and add the onion and the tomato.
Crack 6 eggs into this same bowl and mix well. Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheese. Pour into the sprayed loaf pan and cook for 45 mins or done in the middle. Turn out onto a warmed plate and sprinkle more cheese and parsley on top.@ 4 total servings, this has 5.1 Net Carbs each: 539.3 calories; 44.9g fat; 7.1g carbohydrates (1.8g fiber; 3.5g sugar); 26.3g protein
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