By Julie Westly, CarbSmart Contributor
Posted 11/22/2001
Vonnie from Australia is 34 years old and has gone from 245 pounds to 154 pounds, just 9 pounds short of her goal weight of 145. She has dropped from a size 22 to a size 10 on her way to her goal size of 8.
Vonnie follows the Atkins program.
Vonnie has had a weight problem ever since she was 11 years old. She has tried several times to lose weight with various attempts that have included low fat, low calorie, and starvation dieting. She has taken Duramine, Ephedrine, and laxatives in her attempts to lose weight as well. In desperation, Vonnie even TRIED to become bulimic by taking ipecac syrup! At one point she joined Weight Watchers, and exercised excessively. "Give me time, and I'm sure I can come up with more ways I tried to lose weight!" she laughed.
"I joined Weight Watchers for only a few months. I did the low fat, low calorie thing on and off for many years. There was nothing easy about it. I was always hungry, would binge, and feel then guilty afterward. You know, the usual vicious circle. I would do total starvation for up to three days at a time."
"I would exercise excessively for about a year, every few years. I am convinced there is a 'superior mindset' mentality with many excessive exercisers. This made it easy at the time. Of course, the fact that I looked 'cut' and looked good in a micro-mini helped a lot, too! But looking great and not having time to enjoy the more important things in life is not a good payoff for me."
"I took Duramine, but only for a few months, as it became harder to 'doctor shop.' For about a year I took Ephedrine combined with low calorie dieting, in the form of Medislim, which has been banned in Australia for years now. I quite liked the 'buzz,' but hated the 'subversiveness' of them. I had to go from chemist to chemist, doctor to doctor, to keep up my supply. Then, of course, I had to take sleeping pills to get to sleep at night!"
"I attempted bulimia for no more than a week at a time, as I couldn't bear the Ipecac, and sticking my fingers down my throat rarely worked. I used laxatives on and off over the years.
"In all cases," Vonnie continued, "I was trying to lose weight fast, and the diets were unsustainable because of hunger and cravings."
"There was nothing good whatsoever about any of these weight loss attempts, except that I did get very fit with the excessive exercising. It was very hard, though, with an hour and a half in the gym six days a week. What kind of life is that?"
"Most of my dieting attempts made e feel like a FAT FAILURE, or a druggie. I actually THOUGHT I felt great doing the excessive exercise, but looking back, I was miserable. I looked good, but I had no time for any sort of life. Except for during my 'exercise phases,' any weight loss was purely temporary. Now I realize, the reason I failed many of these attempts was because of the carbohydrates! I would never try any of these again, NEVER! Low carb is a way of life for me!"
"I read about the Hollywood stars losing heaps of weight on low carb diets. It was Jennifer Aniston that did it for me. Of course, I now know she was following the Zone, which the media calls low carb, even though it definitely isn't. It motivated me to buy and read Dr. Atkins' book, which I initially rejected as a load of rubbish. But one year later, out of sheer desperation, I started looking into doing Atkins again. I found the ASDL-C newsgroup, reread the book, got my blood work done and started the diet. I was still unconvinced it would work, but I desperate to be 'seen' (particularly by my partner) as doing something about my weight. And I
have never looked back!"
"The great parts about this way of life are too numerous to mention, so I'll just mention few. Health, and eating healthy, delicious, and FILLING food! My wicked PMS and excruciating period pains have DISAPPEARED!! Although, I'm not trying to fall pregnant (I was before I began this way of life), I get loads of EWCM. I rarely got any before. (PCOS'ers and others with fertility issues will know what I'm talking about!). My asthma is all but gone. Even though I have yet to do one single bit of exercise, I can walk without wheezing, climb stairs, run to catch a train, piggyback my two-year-old. There are also as some nice 'intimate' advantages," Vonnie grinned.
"This diet has worked where everything else has failed. For starters, I have lost 40 kg (88 pounds) in 10 months. I am no longer obese, just ever so slightly overweight. Hey, I'm a size 10!! I'm NEVER hungry, not even during my time of month."
"This is a way of life, not a diet. It is very easily sustainable. I never, ever have trouble finding food to eat at restaurants, friends homes, or even on international flights. It's the easiest thing I've ever done in my life."
"For me 40 kg of fat = 40 kg of sadness, worry, depression...GONE!! The hardest thing is getting your head around the whole fat is good, carbohydrates are bad thing. Years of well-meaning brain washing by those who think they know best is hard to put aside. I don't blame anyone for being skeptical....at first."
For Vonnie the ASDL-C newsgroup is invaluable support. "If you ignore the cliques, the high and mighty oldies, the misinformation, the well-meaning but ill-informed advice," she added "there are lots of good recipes and tips."
"My partner has always been supportive of all of my endeavors. He has never had a weight problem but he is definitely a low carb convert. He reads labels for me, and always orders low carb items from restaurant menus so we
can share. My mother is supportive because she sees it works, but she still can't quite believe it. She calls it the 'indulgence diet,' but raves about it to all and sundry. They are all jumping on the bandwagon. And falling off, left, right, and center, but jumping on the bandwagon nevertheless. How many times do I have to tell them to READ THE DARN BOOK????" Vonnie laughed.
Vonnie's low carb support newsgroup is the alt.support.diet.low-carb newsgroup can be found at: http://www.grossweb.com/asdlc.
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