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.
Before:
After: 
I think that you misread that. Atkins does not "require" 2 cups of salad greens per day. It does suggest no more than 2 cups per day to begin.
Walking is a solitary "excuse-proof" exercise. You can't use the excuse that your tennis partner didn't make it or that it's too cold to play or that it's raining, etc. Walking can be done anywhere, anytime and in any weather. Actually it can be miserable walking in the rain but there are walking alternatives even to that. I have a treadmill for lousy days. At work (I walk at noontime as well), there is an indoor shopping mall where I can go on rainy days and get a quick three miles in with no problem. I simply walk around the perimeter of the mall on both levels, making sure that I also walk the perimeter of the anchor stores. I have it worked out where I walk exactly a mile on each level, so I do the bottom level, walk to the top level and do that and then do one more lap on the bottom level before going to my car. Just about exactly three miles.
To break up the monotony, I take "road trips" every weekend to someplace new. Could be a state park, the beach, a town center or out on the country backroads. I've found dozens of good places for walking during this past summer. During the week, I stick to the same few routes but I now have an MP3 player that I carry with me so that I can discover new music or listen to a book on CD (easily converted to MP3). When I am on the treadmill, I watch DVDs. Currently I'm working my way through the "Civil War" documentary by Ken Burns.
It's also pretty much an "injury-free" exercise. I highly recommend it to those who need a long-term exercise programme that actually works.
Albeit I miss my Meyers Rum daily ration and a Cold Corona every evening. Passing on the sugar and starch is pretty easy and staying very low on the carb counts and cooking foods in healthy ways is working well........Carlo3b has some very good recipes.
Congrats on completing Boot Camp !..............Stay Safe !
That's what he says, and that's what I do. He says unlimited protein. Unlimited. Just go until you're satisfied. I think I am eating too much cheese, though.
Like Jimmy Carter, you have lust in your heart, and so do I when I look at those pizzas!
Good for you. Seriously.
However, here's what my internist says about Atkins: It damages your kidneys. However, kidneys can repair themselves unless you go beyond the point of no return. Then, the kidney damage will appear at some later point in life.
He says Atkins is o.k. for around three months. During that three months, you need to be making other changes in your lifestyle, viz., exercise, compiling lower calorie menus, etc. Because you cannot stay on Atkins forever. Your body won't tolerate it.
Typically, what happens is that people start a diet and lose weight. Then they return to their former lifestyle and pick the weight back up.
My wife, a med student, just had a lecture on this very subject. The problem (with Atkins) is that the protein molecule is the hardest of all the molecules on the kidneys.
I'm not talking about you, because your post wasn't out of line, but, honestly, you'd think I just said that Ronald Reagan was not a nice person, from some of the posts I received.
I'm just looking at another side of the issue.
That's awful.
KFC Sets the Record Straight
Fried Chicken Can Be Part of a Healthy, Balanced Diet (LOUISVILLE, KY - Oct. 28, 2003) - KFC Corporation announced today it is setting the record straight - fried chicken can, in fact, be part of a healthy diet.
To educate the public and make its point, KFC will begin airing a new national advertising campaign that lets consumers know the truth about the fat, carbohydrates and protein in its fried chicken. The ads compare KFC Original Recipe® Chicken Breasts against a Burger King Whopper®. KFC also is providing complete nutritional information about its products in all its restaurants nationwide and on its Web site.
"We want to set the record straight. Consumers should no longer feel guilty about eating fried chicken," said Scott Bergren, KFC's Executive Vice President, Marketing and Food Innovation. "Consumers will be surprised to learn they can enjoy fried chicken as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Of course, they should eat all food in moderation, and balance that with an appropriate amount of exercise - it's all about energy in, energy out."
How tall are you? How much protein and total calories do you eat a day? What do your workouts consist of in terms of resistance training and cardiovascular fitness? Maybe we can help.
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