Emma from Sydney Australia’s Low Carb Success Story

Emma from Sydney Australia is 33 years old and 5′ 7″ tall. She has been following the Atkins program for four months, and has dropped from a high weight of 85kg (187 pounds) down to 67Kg (147.4 pounds). She is well on her way to her goal weight of 63Kg (138.6 pounds). She is already at her goal size of 14 Australian (a size 12 in the United States), down from a starting of size 18 Australian (a size 12 in the United States).

“I had no real trouble with my weight until my pregnancies,” Emma told me. “I have two children, and put on 10Kg (22 pounds) with each pregnancy. I was unable to lose any of the weight I gained during pregnancy, but at least I did not gain any further weight afterwards. I just stayed the same weight for four and a half years after my second child was born. Since going on Atkins, I have been losing about 1Kg (2.2 pounds) per week.”

“I did not try any other diets specifically. I just tried to eat lower fat foods and in general eat less. This went on for years with no effect at all.”

“I heard about other people who were having spectacular success with the low carbohydrate way of eating. The low carb approach also seemed to make more sense, to me, scientifically, than other diets.”

“The good part of low carbohydrate eating is losing lots of weight. It has also improved my asthma dramatically because following a low carbohydrate regime reduces mucus production (which clogs my lungs). I do still get asthma when I get a cold though, so I still take my medication when I feel a cold coming on.”

“There are a few bad parts to low carbohydrate eating. One is not being able to eat Chinese or Italian. Going to cocktail parties or afternoon teas, where ALL the food is high carbohydrate is difficult, and not being able to eat anything is also not fun. Having people tell me I am damaging my kidneys, etc., and that I will just put all the weight back on if frustrating. Also, it’s hard not being able to eat as wide a variety of food as I used to,” Emma continued.

“I am actually losing weight easily, and I never feel hungry. It requires a fair bit of will power, but I think I will be able to stick to it. The maintenance stage may be difficult as I try to find the ‘magic number’ of carbohydrates that will enable me to maintain a constant weight.”

“Feedback from family has been positive. My husband is on the Atkins diet as well, so he is obviously very supportive. He has a lot further to go than I do with weight loss, though. I was initially getting a lot of skepticism from coworkers telling me the diet wouldn’t work or that it would ruin my cholesterol levels. Now that they have seen how much weight I’ve lost, they are all asking me what my secret is! They keep trying to tempt me with cake and other disallowed foods, but I never succumb.”

When I asked Emma if she has any advice or tips for other low carbers she shared:

Cheating?

Exercise and bit of will power! But, if you have cheated, don’t feel too bad about it, as you can always lose the weight again. However, there should really be no need to cheat unless you are in a situation where you are very hungry and there is absolutely no low carbohydrate food available.

Stalls?

Some people panic when they don’t lose weight for as little as a week. I never lose any weight in the week of my period due to water retention, and I think a lot of women don’t take their periods into account when weighing themselves weekly. If the stall continues for a long time, make sure you are not starving yourself and slowing down your metabolism too much. Also, try going back to Induction for a while.

The most important points to remember?

Don’t worry too much about what other people think. When you lose lots of weight, they’ll all be jealous and will eat their words.

In closing, Emma said she would like to add:

“Low carbohydrate diets are finally getting a fair bit of publicity in Australia, although it’s not all good publicity. However, the word is spreading. My husband has converted several people in his office to Atkins. I wish food manufacturers would catch up and actually concentrate on low carbohydrate foods instead of low fat foods. Low carbohydrate products are difficult to buy in Australia. I want to see labels that say ‘99% carb free’ instead of ‘99% fat free’.”

Emma belongs to and participates in an online support group for low carbers in Australia at yahoo groups. Here is the url:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LowcarbOz/

We look forward to an update when Emma reaches her goal weight!