A Wonderful Support System: Mary from Alabama’s Low Carb Success Story

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

A weight problem since the age of 12

Mary from Alabama is 30 years old. She has been following the Atkins diet since February 29, 2000, and has lost 56 pounds, even though she takes the Depo Provera shot, which is known to cause problems with weight gain in some women. She told me she started having a problem with her weight at the age of 12, a time when many young girls will start to struggle with extra pounds.

Like many of us, Mary has tried and failed at a variety of weight loss attempts. She has found low carbing to be the end of her diet roller coaster ride. When we visited, Mary told me her past diet attempts included Weight Watchers, Richard Simmons, low-fat diets, soup diets, Dexatrim, walking, aerobics, and a few others she couldn’t remember right off hand.

Mary tried Weight Watchers and Richard Simmons before Atkins

Mary tried Weight Watchers because, as she said, “My mom and sisters had gone on it and lost some weight. I thought maybe this one was for real.” Her ability to stay on the plan was short-lived, though, and she only managed to stick with Weight Watchers for six months.

Mary also gave Richard Simmons a try. She had seen his television show and noted: “He had lost his weight and it sounded so good!” Although giving it her best shot, she found that after only three months, she was not able to stay with the program any longer and quit. She continued to look for the answer, the way for HER to lose weight.

Mary tried low fat and soup diets after hearing they were supposed to be healthy. Mary said it “wasn’t long” before she once again, gave up, not being able to stick to any of the programs. Each day she grew more desperate, still searching for something that would help her conquer this demon: obesity.

Mary could not remember any good things about these diet attempts, only that she was tired, and had no energy. “Emotionally, it was a roller coaster ride,” she added. When I asked if she would ever consider trying any of these diets again or recommend them to others, she replied resoundingly, “NO!”

Mary felt they were hard to follow and even harder to stick with. “You could not have enough to fill you up. You stayed hungry and that resulted in munching. I was MISERABLE!!” With every attempt, she would lose some weight, gain it back, doubling what she had worked do hard to lose.

Mary believes she was addicted to carbs

Mary found out about low carbing just two days before she started this WOE (way of eating). She believes she is/was addicted to carbs. She had gone to her doctor and weighed in at 308 pounds. She was ready to have surgery done to get the weight off. Her sister brought her the book by Dr. Atkins, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. Mary added, “We had prayed to God to send us the answer and He did, 2 days later.

Mary shared, “The good things I have found about low carbing are that you are not hungry, you feel great and you have energy! You actually lose weight, and your blood work is wonderful!” She feels it has worked amazingly well, where other attempts have failed. She attributes this mainly to the fact that she could eat and not go hungry. Mary told me she hopes and prays she will be able to always eat this way. One thing she is noticing now is that the foods she used to eat “before,” do not taste as good as they used too.

My blood pressure is down, so is my cholesterol

When asked about health benefits Mary said, “My blood pressure is down, so is my cholesterol. When I used to walk, it would kill my lower back, now…….no pain at all! To me, that is a miracle in itself!” Emotionally, she says she is no longer as moody as she used to be.

She told me she has a wonderful support system in her newsgroups, friends and her husband, who also follows Atkins. “My husband is a diabetic and has been on the diet since February 29, 2000, too. He is off insulin and Ameryl because of this way of life. Oh yes,” she added, “he was on blood pressure medicine, too, and guess what? He is no longer taking that, either!” His weight was dropped from 265 pounds to 205pounds. His blood sugar levels used to be above 250; now they stay around 62 to 115. “Yes,” Mary says, “we are so happy!!!! His blood work now comes back just wonderful, where everything used to be sooo high.”

A wonderful support system

Her family is encouraging and supporting of this way of eating. “My sister goes on and off of it all the time.” But, Mary adds, “Some people have the wrong idea about this WOE (way of eating).” She feels it needs to be talked about more by our doctors. “It seems most of them want us to stay fat and eat high carb.”

It was a pleasure to meet and have Mary share her story with me. What an inspiration she and her husband are to the low carb community, their friends and family! It was a pure joy getting to know her. I wish her all the best with her newfound freedom from searching for the “one that will work.”

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