Low Carb Success Story Rebecca Latham

Rebecca Latham Before & After
Rebecca Latham Before & After losing 23 pounds of fat while adding back 7 pounds of muscle.

Rebecca Latham Stats

  • Beginning Weight: 158
  • Current Weight: 136
  • Height: 5’3”
  • Age: 58
  • Current Plan: Ketogenic Paleo

Rebecca Latham is a small business owner residing in Illinois. She pursues many interests as part owner of a golf course, working as a teacher at JoAnn Fabrics, and running her home business in longarm quilting. She’s describes herself as artsy craftsy. Rebecca has always been interested in healthy eating and food as well.

The Motivation

Rebecca Latham Low Carb Success Story
Rebecca Latham Low Carb Success Story

Rebecca started her low carb journey because she was overweight and was unhappy with the way she looked. She tipped the scale at 158 at 5’3” and was measured at 46% body fat. She had a friend that was doing Atkins and losing weight–but Rebecca felt sorry for her, feeling sure her friend was slowly killing herself. Eventually her friend talked her into reading Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution and  Rabecca was quickly convinced. She tried the diet in 2000, but it didn’t seem to work for her, so she attempted several other diets, mostly higher carb, low fat plans. She starved all the time and was obsessed with food. In 2009, her husband Bill was having some health problems and his doctor told him to use the Atkins plan. Rebecca joined him and they have been living the low carb lifestyle ever since.

Low-Carb Results Speak For Themselves

Rebecca became very heavily involved in the Atkins community forums. While she didn’t lose weight at first, because she struggled with hormonal imbalances, she kept at it for health reasons. Once her hormonal issues were straightened out, she slowly started seeing results and lost 23 pounds of fat, while adding back 7 pounds of muscle. And honestly, she simply looks amazing. When I asked her what her secret to looking youthful was, she told me it was part diet and part genetics. I can only hope I look half as good as she does when I’m approaching my 60s.

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Rebecca feels she’s probably had it for a long while, as she never knew what to test for. Her husband is also diabetic and both have seen their blood glucose drop into the normal ranges with low carb living. Bill’s fasting blood glucose is usually in the 90s, and Rebecca’s tends to run between the 70s and 80s. This is a big improvement over the pre-low-carb numbers. Bill is now off his cholesterol medications as well. Rebecca admits that her blood glucose numbers weren’t really horrible to start with, but now she has them completely under control. If she eats the wrong foods, her numbers zoom up and can take days to go back down.

Avoiding Illness on Low-Carb

Rebecca becomes very animated when speaking about the health implications of consuming the wrong kind of carbohydrates. Her health has improved a great deal. She has better stamina than before, her mind is sharp, and her day to day tasks are more comfortable, as she doesn’t experience the pain she used to deal with regularly. She admits she started out doing this for vanity, but eventually realized that for her, this was about so much more–specifically her mental health.

Her main focus now is to concentrate on avoiding the illnesses that run in her family. She’s already made a huge difference with her diabetes diagnosis (even so far as to say she’s reversed it), but she’s learned that removing grains from the diet can have a big impact on a variety of diseases. Rebecca’s mother and grandfather passed away in their 50’s and 60’s due to ALS. She also lost her other grandfather to Parkinson’s disease, and there are a couple of different forms of early onset dementia in her family as well. With that kind of family history, Rebecca isn’t taking any chances. Reading Grain Brain by Dr. Pelrmutter has gone a long way to convincing her that these neurological diseases can not only be reversed by eating low carb, but can be avoided in the first place.

Since July of 2012 she has been on a low carb, ketogenic, Paleo plan. She avoids all grains, legumes, sugar, and artificial sweeteners. Her diet is high in saturated fat and she stays around 25 total carbs or less. She doesn’t count calories, but they tend to fall around 1,500 or 1,600 per day.

Helping Others With Their Low-Carb Diet

Her advice to those starting a low carb or Paleo lifestyle is to look beyond all you’ve been told about nutrition and health. My Plate and the food pyramid are inverse to what is true. She recommends everyone do their own research and get back to real food basics.

Rebecca has learned that she has to be her own advocate. She reminds us that you can’t blindly believe doctors, articles, experts, and the like. No one cares more about your health than you do. Do your own research and stand up for yourself. She has no problem telling her doctor what she has learned, and if the doctor can’t work with her, she finds a new doctor.

She finds inspiration in many places. One person that has helped her tremendously is Jimmy Moore. She admires his tenacity to find what works for him, despite the struggles he’s experienced. She now knows what works for her body–Paleo, low carb, and ketogenic living. She often searches the internet for the latest information and applies what she learns to the methods that work for her.

Fat Fast CookbookAs a co-author of Fat Fast Cookbook, Rebecca was able to combine her creative inclinations with her knowledge of fat fasting and nutritional ketosis. This, along with her blog My Low Carb Road To Better Health, have allowed Rebecca to be an inspiration to others, helping them along their low carb journeys.

Her future plans are simple–to just live a long, healthy, happy life, and to see her grandchildren grow up. She wants to help others, be inspiring, be mentally healthy, and help friends and family members along the way. She laughs when she says, “I don’t want to lose myself. I’ve been so involved in finding the answers for me. Now that I have, it kind of feels a little anti-climactic.” But she has many wonderful years ahead of her, and I have no doubt she will live them to the fullest. Be sure to check out her blog at My Low Carb Road To Better Health.

Check Also

Get In The Mood For Outdoor Food

Kick-Off Summer! Memorial Day – Get In The Mood For Outdoor Food

Amy Dungan presents a few Memorial Day kick-off recipes to get you in the mood for outdoor food! Low-Carb Cajun Chicken Packets, Low-Carb Mixed Veggie Stuffed Burgers, & Low-Carb Spicy Avocado Dip.

3 comments

  1. First, Rebecca looks very healthy. I’m confused about one part of the article. In 2009 she started Atkins with her husband. He was advised to go on Atkins because he was having health problems. Although what those health problems were are not specifically mentioned, I’m guessing that one of the health problems was diabetes, because later in the article, it is stated that her husband has diabetes, whether it’s type 1 or type 2, is not specified. So that means in 2009 she went on Atkins (low carb), but due to hormonal imbalances (I’m guessing female hormones due to her age) she didn’t lose weight. But eventually she did lose weight. Now here is my confusion. She RECENTLY learned she had type 2 diabetes and she thinks she’s had it for a long time, but she never knew what to test for? How can that be? Her husband is a diabetic. He knew what test he had to give him that diagnosis. She had hormonal issues that were resolved while eating low carb. I’m assuming that she didn’t just make that up, she must have been seeing a doctor. The doctor knows what tests to order to check for diabetes. It’s standard for all doctors to check glucose levels. It’s easy money for doctors and labs. So Rebecca saying she didn’t know what to test for makes no sense. Also, since she was eating low carb before her diagnosis of diabetes, how did continuing eating low carb help resolve the diabetes problem for Rebecca?
    Thank you

    • Sorry, I just noticed this comment. My husband and were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes at the same time. We both had had it for years without knowing, never having been tested. Our doctors had never bothered checking our blood glucose levels.

      When an article like this is written, it is hard to try to squeeze all the details in, so here is some clarification, in case you are still reading:

      When we started eating low carb, as probable diabetics, but not confirmed, our blood sugars were probably normalized. After some time, I started doing my own blood tests, and saw that the results were normal or near normal. In 2016, after this article was written, my husband and I were formally diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic. Our doctor had us go off of low carb for a period of time so that he could get a good picture of what our blood glucose would be if we were not eating low carb. Our blood glucose levels were sky high (I remember mine being 192), and we went right back to low carb.

      To sum up, when we eat low carb, we have normal blood glucose. When we eat high carb, we have blood glucose in the diabetic ranges.

      I hope this answers your question.

      Rebecca

  2. Laureen C Viets

    Hi, I have a history very much like like Rebecca’s, but I’m much older and have a family of Type 2 diabetics. I test my blood sugars, and they are low to normal on a (very) low-carb diet; on a “healthy” diet, sugar-free and high in complex carbs, sugar spills over into my urine (and weight loss is of course impossible, even on severely restricted calories). What can I say? I am a Medical Technologist, and way back in the 70’s I worked for an aged doctor (deemed incompetent by the local medical society) who ordered a GTT on EVERY potential client who walked into her office; at the time I thought she was nuts, but nowadays I think she was spot-on. I would perhaps recommend just a FBS and H IR (Insulin Sensitivity), maybe an A1c, in routine screenings, and I simply cannot imagine responsible doctors not checking for glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. They should lose their licenses. It IS possible to order medical lab tests without a doctor’s order, and while it’s cheaper and maybe less convenient, a person at least has a choice about them. My weight is “normal” nowadays, and my main goal with an ultra-low-carb-diet is to maintain as low a blood sugar as possible. That means fasting blood sugars of 83 mg% or less and an A1c below 5. I take ALA to help (I think it does help), and my sugars are now as low, or lower, than that). Am experimenting with dosages and calories and carb limits. I have been working at this for a little more than a year now, and I can honestly say that great healthy blood sugars are achievable on a low carb diet and that T2D’s who choose to make it a part of their lifestyle should never give up on it. I am so indebted to the creators of Fat Fast I will be grateful.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.