50 Pounds Gone Since Easter

Today, Beverly shares her success story. If you would like to share your own story, click here. These will be published on Fridays as long as they keep coming.

Almost 50 Pounds Gone Since Easter,
by Beverly

My success story so far……

I’ve been on a low carb/good fat diet now since Easter of 2012.

I can’t tell you how good I feel since losing nearly fifty lbs. to date.

My complexion is a healthy color, blotchiness and redness gone. I have mental clarity. Gone are the choking sensations during the night to wake up out of breath. I’m not out of breath at minor exertion.

Best of all is the quick succession of new clothing sizes! But let me back up and explain how and why I started on a low carb diet.

A couple of years ago, I began getting rashes, mostly on my torso.

The itch was maddening and the medical doctor said I was allergic to “something” and gave me steroids to treat the symptoms.

The steroids helped temporarily but the rashes kept returning, spreading to the rest of my body.

By this time, I was peeling large chunks of dead skin off the bottom of my feet daily, and it was getting much worse.

By winter of 2012, my feet and entire body were swelling with fluid and additional weight, tipping the scale at an all time high of 302 pounds.

That number in itself was mortifying but the condition of my health kept me awake at night, often in tears.

I had big commitments upcoming and knew I was physically unable to meet them without help.

The bottoms of my feet were cracked, bleeding and secreting lymph. I could barely get around anymore, further complicating the weight problem. My feet hurt so badly I felt like I was walking on razor blades all of the time.

Sometimes I even had minor chest pains. Hopelessness to overcome the weight settled in and depression was taking hold. Not that I ever really contemplated suicide, but death didn’t really look so bad.

At least I’d be out of my misery and have a perfect body waiting for me in Heaven.

But my kids still need me (or so I like to think) and didn’t want them to watch me deteriorate for the next however many years.

My chiropractor had been encouraging me to go on a low carb diet for awhile. On a visit in April to get an adjustment, I showed him the feet.

If I wanted this to go away, he told me it was time to get serious about the food going into my mouth.

The problem, it seemed, was associated with a yeast build-up in my body and possibly gluten intolerance.

In my mind, I was having a kicking-screaming temper tantrum, not wanting to change any habits or give up anything for a cure. But I agreed to his detox diet (which was very restrictive) for a five week period.

Not really believing it would work, I eventually made up my mind to follow it to the letter— just to see what happened—in case he really was right.

Besides, what did I have to lose?

And I might even accidentally lose a few pounds in the process. Besides, five weeks wasn’t forever—I could do this.

By the end of week one, the swelling had gone down a lot and the lymph secretions were GONE!

Although my scale was minus a battery and unable to give me a number, I could tell that some pounds had disappeared as well.

Hmmm… maybe Doc was on to something here.

The detox time flew by. It certainly wasn’t always easy to say no, but I did it. Cravings all but disappeared within a week or so.

I walked into the office after five weeks, head held a little higher than the last visit, confidently knowing I had lost weight.

Imagine how excited I was when he kept moving the scale down, down, down to a total of twenty-four pounds lost in that short time!

Somewhere along the line, I had already decided that this was an eating lifestyle I could live with and didn’t even need his encouragement to continue.

Meat? Yes! (He was the first doctor to tell me that bacon is a good thing to put on a salad! Of course I already knew that, but bacon is frowned upon in most medical circles.)

Cheese? Count me in! (Although my doctor is not a fan of dairy products, as 4-H dairy leader, I over-rode his veto of dairy products.)

I researched different schools of thought regarding low carb/high fat diets and compiled a bunch of recipes.

I love to cook and collect cook books, so I started compiling a new book with some good recipes, sorting out and getting rid of the not-so-tasty ones in the process.

Gone are soda, sugar, processed foods and most grains from our household.

Occasionally, my teenagers whine about the lack of baked goods that used to load our kitchen cupboards, but they still get a treat now and then to keep them from all-out revolt.

I can pretty much avoid the stuff when I do bake and have totally lost any cravings for fast food (Except that occasional bit of chocolate and a few bites about once a month cures that).

So here I am, just over four months later. I put on a blouse I bought shortly after I started low carb. It is huge and I’ll probably put it in the mission box.

It’s hard to believe that only one season ago, I bought this and, although it wasn’t tight, I pushed some of its buttons as far as I dared!

I have another seventy-five pounds or so to go, so I’m nearly half way there.

Sure, I still have to fight the food temptations that creep up, but saying no gets easier with time.

And it’s not like I won’t ever have a piece of pizza or something—I’ve given in three times since I started!

The peeling skin issue has improved immensely, although not entirely gone. That will just take more time I guess.

I’m becoming more tuned into my body signals like when I’ve eaten too much fruit, which contains yeast.

The itching sneaks up on me but at least now I know what it is and don’t have to ingest some potent pharmaceutical cocktail to get rid of it.

It’s just back to detox for a week or two and all is well. (Oh, fresh tomatoes from my garden! How I long for you but you must be patient! I’ll return to you soon, just in smaller doses!)

Each pound lost is another notch in my confidence belt. Each forbidden food that fails to reach my lips is another step closer to the prize.

I realize now that I was an addict, thanks to Kris’ blog article about sugar addiction.

I cried—no sobbed—-while reading his article over and over. His words described me.

Although I had given up soda before I started low carb, sugar, junk food and fast food were my addiction and they had me cold.

It was prayer and determination that kept me going early on. Now I have a sense that God has more in store for me in the future, possibly to share openly and frankly with others about my mission to overcome.

Another thing I’ve noticed about low carb/high fat way of life is that even if the scale isn’t moving or moving at a snail’s pace, I feel like I am still reducing in size.

I can’t really explain it but perhaps the fat cells are shrinking or shedding? I don’t know, but the clothes continually feel looser, even if the scale has only shifted a tiny amount.

There are three things I want as this weight loss journey continues into a lifetime of good health.

One has to do with career and business. I’ll save that one and let you know when I write another chapter in my weight loss story.

The other two are more tangible and immediate.

One, I want to ride a horse. I used to ride some as a young woman, but never had personal access to a horse any time of day or night.

I don’t mean to ride for just a one time thing, but learn to ride and do it for fun.

We’ve got a great system of horse trails within the county and I want to see them from the trail, not the staging area where we moms sit and wait for the girls to finish their fun.

In my mind, I was too big to crawl on a horse and ride. I didn’t want to hurt the poor thing, for Heaven’s sake! (Yes, I know it’s a pack animal, built for strength, but in my mind I was too much for the horse to bear.)

I also admit to being a teensy bit scared up there that the horse will take off on me and I’ll be flat out on the ground. Since I’ve tackled my fears in the weight arena, it’s time to tackle another fear in the equestrian area.

My daughter’s steed can use some extra exercise and I think I’m just the person to give it to her.

Two, I want to dance. I want to feel light on my feet again. I want to take ballroom dancing lessons and learn to float across the dance floor.

OK, so maybe float is an unrealistic goal, but I think reasonably graceful and coordinated might be within reach with some practice.

So there it is in a nutshell. I hope my story inspires someone to take the first step or to just keep taking the next step.

Thanks for the blog, Kris, and the opportunity to write this update.

Best wishes to all!

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