Posted on 11/04/2003 9:00:21 AM PST by wheelgunguru
Embarrassment, Health Issues Prompted Dieting
Many people have struggled to drop a few pounds, but what happens when you need to lose several hundred pounds?
Several years ago, Steve and Melissa Horstman of Boone County, Ky., decided that they didn't want to live with their weight problems anymore, and they used the emotional pain over being overweight to reach their goals.
Melissa and Steve met on the Internet several years ago and soon learned of their common bond: obesity.
"When you weigh 150 pounds over, you don't go out and socialize," Melissa said.
The couple met, dated and married, but humiliation struck again on their honeymoon when the airline pilot told Steve he would have to buy two seats next time because he was too big for one.
"It wasn't until after we got married that I saw on a daily basis how his weight was on his health," Melissa said. "I was afraid I'd just found him and we were just married, I was going to lose him."
Steve's weight topped out at 571 pounds. He recalls "just standing there in the winter and you're breaking a sweat just standing there because your back hurts and your knees hurt."
Despite the physical pain, Steve said the emotional toll on his health was greater.
"(It hurts) when you walk into a store and a 3-year-old looks up at their parent and says, 'Look at that fat man, Mommy,'" he said.
"It broke my heart every day," Melissa said. "I could see the people behind him. The looks, the whispers, the pointing."
Fad diets failed. Surgery was too expensive. So Melissa began looking into low-carb solutions like the Atkins diet.
Once the couple decided to try to the diet, major life changes were in order. First on the list: Eliminating the junk food that is tough to avoid for most people and irresistible to a 571-pound man.
"I could go to a certain drive-through and get eight sandwiches and four large fries, 10 to 12 cans of soft drinks a day, not the sugar-free kind," Steve said.
Steve weighed himself daily on a large scale in a local drugstore. The scale provided a printout, and Steve saved every one of them.
"At June 19, 1999, I was at 472 pounds," he said as he flipped through the printouts. "I'd lost about 100 pounds at that point."
Melissa dropped her weight, too, but for Steve, the diet was nothing short of a miracle. He was swimming in his size 6x shirts, and his 72-inch waist pants started falling off his waist.
Steve kept the belt he wore at his highest weight and punched new holes in it as he dropped the pounds.
These days, the couple is happy to simply blend in when they go to the mall.
From the time the couple changed their lifestyle, Steve has lost more than 320 pounds, and Melissa is down more than 100 pounds. They're proud of each other, and their confidence is at an all-time high.
"I always kid with her, 'How did that guy get that hot girl?'" Steve said.
"To go from people pointing and making faces and whispering to being hateful, to being mistaken for Howie Long ... He's extremely hot!" Melissa said of her husband.
Steve said he can't imagine going back to the overweight version of himself, and he's working to lose even more. His current weight is about 250 pounds, and he told Cooney it feels like "walking on air" when compared to his old weight.
"It's a terrifying thought," he said. "Just looking in the mirror and seeing the old me is motivation enough."
Redemption for Melissa comes in many forms, including a recent high school reunion.
"Nobody recognized me," she said with a smile.
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When you was eating "normally", how did you feel around ten-thirtyish in the morning?
How did you feel after two-thirty every afternoon?
Every mid-morning, after a wholesome bagel breakfast, I'd be famished by ten-thirty, and have to have a snack.
In the late afternoons, I'd get the "sleepies".
I thought this was normal--but since I've been on Atkins neither of these things happen.
I did not mean to imply that zero carbs are good. (in fact its just about impossible.) Just that it is ok (during induction) to have days with less than 20 carbs including days with zero, not every day, but occasionally.
I have read the book. And I do know that zero carbs is not the best. I have been doing Atkins for 2 years. You do not need "salad".
I was trying to point out that there are other vegetables besides salad greens and to explain to zx2 that 2 cups of "salad" a day is not mandatory, since he/she does not like salad greens.
I have no idea if that is listed on the website - I've never read the website. I was quoting zx2 quoting the website.
Atkins is a multi-phase lifestyle change. It totally changes the way you look at food.
No doubt about that. But it is a very easy lifestyle change. I lost all the weight I wanted in 6 months and I've been maintaining ever since.
I am hesitant too give much advice because your mileage may vary.
I only know what worked for me. I avoided all "bad carbs" completely for two weeks. But I can tell you that it would be nearly impossible to stay under 20 grams of carbs and still eat bread/starchy vegs since 1 slice of bread nearly blows that whole idea. (I would not suggest meat all day and 1 slice of bread)
Getting only 20 grams of carbs makes it important to eat quality carbs. Also the rapid spikes in insulin that those foods cause will likely not help the goal of induction which is to jump start your body into a fat burning machine.
Forget Atkins. Try the (Normal Person's) Junk Food Diet:
Men: TWO sandwiches, ONE large fries, TWO cans of soft drink per day.
Women: ONE sandwich, ONE small fries, ONE can of soft drink per day.
Add a normal-sized breakfast and one other (normal sized) meal, and you have a normal person's daily diet.
No books to buy, no complicated programs to learn. Just use this handy rule of thumb: Unless you are a pregnant woman, do not eat for more than one person.
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