Sammy From Scotland’s Low Carb Success Story

Julie Westly October 4, 2002 Inspiration, Low Carb Success Stories, Personal Experience Leave a comment 1,076 Views

Sammy From Scotland’s Low Carb Success Story Told By Sammy

I have been overweight since my early twenties. I have been on a few diets over the years but was never really serious about them. However each time, I would always say to myself, “Right, Sammy, this time next year you’ll look a totally different person!” Of course, it never happened. I was too fond of chocolate, Coke, and pastry, and I would always revert back to eating those foods.

All the previous diets I’ve been on have been low-calorie ones. They never lasted for more than a week or so because, as I mentioned, I just couldn’t live without chocolate, Coke, pastry, etc. This made low calories very hard to follow. For the first few days, I would be really dedicated and exercise a lot. But that would soon fall by the wayside and I’d be back to my old habits. Most of us are addicted to sugar, and it’s a hard cycle to break.

I have been low carb for six months and had only first heard of it when I started. My wife sent away for the Atkins books and decided to give it a try. I must admit, I was skeptical when she first started. After she had been on it for a few weeks, though, she suggested that I try it since she seemed to be losing weight. I did, and have never looked back!

The good parts of this way of eating are that being a meat-eater, I can still have as much as I want. There are also plenty of high carbohydrate recipes that can be converted to low-carb. The bad parts?… Well, I still can’t really indulge myself with chocolate, etc., for fear of getting addicted to it again. I also miss bread, I guess… Well, actually, no I guess I don’t.

When I moved into the maintenance part of the Atkins program, I started to allow myself ½ a slice of bread per day. I couldn’t bring myself to eat a whole slice, but after a few days I even cut that out.

At the moment I’ve put myself back on Induction. Not because I’ve put a large amount of weight back on, but for the last three weekends I’ve gone a little bit mad with high carbohydrate stuff, and I decided I was perhaps on the slippery slope. I decided going back to Induction would be just the thing to keep me on track.

I found this diet fairly easy all the way through, and do feel I can eat this way for the rest of my life…. However, never say never.. eh? As for the health benefits of low carbohydrate eating and my subsequent weight loss, my snoring has almost stopped, I sleep better and wake up refreshed in the mornings instead of grumpy. Also, I had a slight eczema problem, which has cleared up completely.

Feedback from others has been mixed, really. My parents tell me this way of eating will ruin my health because they ‘read it in the newspaper.’ Some friends tell me I’ve lost too much weight and should stop right away, while others marvel at how well and different I look. Quite a few people have asked me for help in getting started with low carbing, which I’m glad to do, but I tell them to read up on it first before they make their minds up. All in all, I feel that the feedback has been about 50/50 positive and negative.

As with all of our ‘Success Stories,’ I asked Sammy to offer up some advice to fellow low carbers. Here is what he said:

Cheating on Your Low-Carb Lifestyle

Going from my own experience, I would tell them to get it out of their system, eat what they have to eat, and then get right back on track. I lost 3 stone, 3 pounds (45 pounds) in about 5 months and cheated more than once. It’s not the end of the diet just because you cheat; there’s no point in making yourself miserable over it.

Stalls on Your Low-Carb Lifestyle

It happens on any diet; you have to accept it and hang in there. The weight will eventually start shifting again. If you lose at a steady pace, say 2 to 3 pounds a week, then you may not face a stall.