How I Lost Over 140lbs

[justamy]

i decided to start a thread about my weight loss journey since it's the new year & SO many are making the resolution to lose weight and/or get fit.

on Jan. 6th 2009, i was brave enough to get on the scale. i had a dr's appointment that day so i figured i should weigh myself at home to absorb the shock i would get at the dr's office. the scale read 267lbs. a bmi of 48.8 on my tiny 5'2 frame. i was horrified. i decided that was the day i would change my life, my health, husband and kids were depending on it.

i had previously lived a low carb lifestyle prior to having my children and was successful with it, so i decided to try again. the first few days are always terrible, the withdrawls from sugar are awful but all that did for me was solidify how important getting away from it was. after that, i was well on my way to losing weight at a great pace. 20 months or so later, i was down to 125. 142lbs down from my starting weight. that's where i currently am and am trying to drop down to 120 or possibly a tad lower.

many people i know have since followed suit (including dh, who has lost 80lbs ) and are all having fantastic success. a lot of people want to know my eating/exercise plan. exercise, i don't have a plan. i just plain don't do anything other than walking sometimes if i have to get somewhere. what do i eat? foods low in carbs. i do not count fat grams, calories, nothing. not even my carbs really...i just eat foods that i know are low in carbs. meat, cheese, sour cream, cream, greek yogurt, non-starchy veggies, low sugar fruit (berries) nuts & seeds. it's a delicious, healthy and excellent way to live.

i guess i'm posting all of this because i (like SO many others) thought for years there was only one way to lose weight and i failed time after time at it. i would be hungry all the time and binge. i lived off of things like 100 calorie packs, rice cakes, brown rice, whole wheat pasta and lean cuisines because they were "low calorie". i found for me and many others i know, it's not how much i was eating, but what.

[lekate]

Congratulations!

[momof3heathens]

I lost 130 lbs low carbing. I have regain 40 of those over the past couple of years stress eating. I am restarting today as well.

[Appleby]

well done you're an inspiration.......

[justamy]

I lost 130 lbs low carbing. I have regain 40 of those over the past couple of years stress eating. I am restarting today as well.

congratulations & best of luck to you! i'm sure you'll lose the weight in no time

[updatelee]

I lost 65lb by learning what to eat, low carb, low sugar. If Im going to eat food that does contain carbs or sugars I make sure they are in the least processed form possible.

ie whole grains and white flour are very different.

processed white sugar is very different then the natural fruit sugar in apples.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Wow, congratulations! It totally gives me inspiration!

I plan to start dieting again after baby number 2 is born, been doing great not to gain weight since I'm still holding A LOT from baby number 1, but after the baby I want to lose A LOT.

Thanks for the post!

[Nandiva416]

Congratulations! What an inspiration you are! I have always, always, said that low carbing was the absolute best way to lose weight. Thats what I did many years ago, and I maintained it. You will drop the weight FAST once you remove sugars and processed junk from your diet.

there are ALOT of low carb haters out there...once you start low carbing, and vocalize it, people WILL give you their two cents worth about how its not good for you.

Dont listen. Just do it. Justamy is a perfect inspiration!!!

[justamy]

Congratulations! What an inspiration you are! I have always, always, said that low carbing was the absolute best way to lose weight. Thats what I did many years ago, and I maintained it. You will drop the weight FAST once you remove sugars and processed junk from your diet.

there are ALOT of low carb haters out there...once you start low carbing, and vocalize it, people WILL give you their two cents worth about how its not good for you.

Dont listen. Just do it. Justamy is a perfect inspiration!!!

couldn't agree more! many people are stubborn and refuse to look at the recent scientific data which proves it is the healthiest & fastest way to lose weight! after trying literally every popular diet out there, i just ended up fatter and with higher blood pressure. literally ALL i did was change my way of eating to a low carb one and bam! weight comes off and my dr can't believe how amazing my blood pressure and cholesterol are now.

thank you so much for the lovely compliment

[Natalka]

Well, that's just awesome!

If you have time, maybe some more details if you are willing to share...

so no more bread at all, no sandwiches, etc....?
Any online sites you used or books for guidelines?
How closely was your doctor monitoring you? Did your cholesterol and/or triglycerides go up?
Were you much more tired?
Any trouble with gallstones?
...sorry if TMI - any bowel problems?

[justamy]

Well, that's just awesome!

If you have time, maybe some more details if you are willing to share...

so no more bread at all, no sandwiches, etc....?
Any online sites you used or books for guidelines?
How closely was your doctor monitoring you? Did your cholesterol and/or triglycerides go up?
Were you much more tired?
Any trouble with gallstones?
...sorry if TMI - any bowel problems?

no problem!

no bread, potatoes, corn, rice, pasta etc...now that i'm in more of a maintainence phase i can eat low carb pasta or bread products from time to time. i'm sure i could eat them more often if i wanted to, but i really have no desire to.

the absolute best site i can think of is lowcarbfriends.com, as for books: why we get fat & what to do about it (by Gary Taubes, just came out this week!), protein power plan (by dr. Eades) and Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution.

how close was my dr. monitoring me? no different than usual. actually much less later on because i finally had good blood pressure. my cholesterol numbers have improved dramatically also. my dr. was a big fan of low carb eating anyways so there was no concern on her end and my numbers and progress only gave her less reason for worry.

tired? maybe for the first few days. the first few days on low carb you feel like absolute dog poop, it's commonly reffered to as "atkins flu". it's basically your body going into withdrawl from the lack of sugar. for me, by day 4 i feel amazing and by that time i'm in ketosis, with energy out the wazoo.

gall stones, nope. never had an issue with them. bowel issues? as long as i'm eating the amount of veggies i'm supposed to, a big no to that too.

if you think about it, this is the way we are meant to feed our bodies. humans have roamed the earth for over 2 million years and for over 99% of this time, we lived on basically what we killed & foraged. only in more recent time have we had agriculture and many of the diseases that we have today.

[barbs]

good job!

Do you have before & after pics?

[BuggaBugga]

Wow that is so incredible! Good for you amy! I too am on a seemingly never ending quest to lose.. 40 down 50 to go. Thanks for sharing your story, it is so inspirational.

[justamy]

good job!

Do you have before & after pics?

yep

[momof3heathens]

Hey I am pretty sure I recognize you from lcf as well. I have the same user name there and here. You look fabulous.