Ginger’s Success Story

This will be the first of many (I hope) Success Stories I’ll be posting about my readers!  Ginger’s story includes what she has to say about her 60 pound weight loss – what made her do it, her plan, and her tips for staying on track.  If you’re a regular reader you know my philosophies on fitness, but I don’t have a monopoly on getting healthy.  There are many ways to go about it, and I’m always excited to share personal transformations!

This post celebrates my mom.  She is proof yet again that diet is 80% of fitness.  I am so proud of her committment and determination to get in shape!  She started almost a year ago, and you won’t believe what she’s accomplished in the past 10 months.  More importantly, the success she’s experienced has inspired her community to follow her lead, and the results are in – pretty impressive stuff!  The new habits that my mom adopted have helped her build a brand new lifestyle.  She and my dad are super active, so her renewed fitness will enable both of them to enjoy their retirement to the absolute fullest!

HEIGHT   5′ 7″

STARTING WEIGHT  217

CURRENT WEIGHT   157

POUNDS LOST            60

MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE

For me it was the usual I guess – bad pictures, compromised lifestyle, inability to present the image I used to and the big one for my age…health.  Right after Christmas last year I knew change had to come.  I had tried different  ways to lose weight and had some real success (Weight Watchers, Nutri System, Jenny Craig), however; I could never maintain the weight loss.  Not a new story at all.  I realized that the more I ate, the more I wanted.  At this point I will say that my cholesterol was high…borderline type 2 diabetes.  I weighed 217 lbs and had just turned 65.

HOW I DID IT

I had just began to hear about low carbs and protein.  Could that possibly work?  I then started analyzing my diet and WOW, did I ever eat those carbs.  All this time it was all about low fat, low calorie.  I went to the used book store and started looking for information.  I picked up a copy of Atkins for Life, took it home and read it twice.  This was the first time that a diet really made sense to me.  How the body metabolizes the food was most interesting.  The ability to lose and maintain the weight gave me renewed determination to try one more time.

Atkins has a two week induction period where you have 20 grams of carbs per day.  Meat, eggs, some cheeses, avocado, lemon juice, cream, butter, a variety of vegetables, olives, and certain oils are some of the items to start the diet.  After two weeks, your body starts to burn fat, not carbs.  When your body burns fat the hunger pretty much goes away.  At that point you can choose to stay on the induction or move on to the next phase where you add 5 net grams of carbs a week until you are 5 to 10 lbs from your goal weight.  Because I needed to lose so much weight I stayed on the induction plan for 3 months and then started adding in nuts, berries, more veggies, and fruits until I quit losing weight.  That determined how many carbs a day I needed to maintain my weight.

For exercise, I walked about 30-45 minutes 4 times per week.

I want you to know that the weight just fell away and I wasn’t obsessed with food all day.  The key for me is not being hungry!!!!!!  I went about my day and ate out whenever I wanted.

WHAT NOW?

At this point I have been on maintenance for 6 months and bounce up and down a few pounds around my goal weight.  I am experimenting with how much exercise I need weekly and add a few high carbs on occasion.  I am a work in progress but proud to say I lost 60 lbs!  We spent this summer in Colorado with other campers and some were so inspired by how I looked, they tried the lower carb diet too.  Three months later we had a combined weight loss of 197 lbs.!

EATING OUT

During the induction phase Mexican is no chips, tortillas, beans or rice, but aha!  You can have quacamole, sour cream, salsa and all the fajita meat you like.  Burger joints allow for a hamburger patty, no bread or fries, veggies, mustard and real mayonnaise.  Cobb salads are great, as well as steaks and chops…..yum.  Barbeque…..ribs, brisket, turkey, no sauce and salad with low carb dressing (blue cheese, ranch, oil and vinegar).  We eat out a lot and there is a large variety of places where you can stick to your plan.

TIPS FOR FUTURE TRANSFORMERS

  • Read lables…who knew how much sugar was in ketchup and other sauces?  Low sugar ketchup is available and it tastes good.
  • Low carb tortillas taste better than you think. 
  • During the weight loss phase, I weighed buck naked every day.  Only fair to weigh what God gave ya!  I weigh every 4 or 5 days now to stay on track.
  • Don’t beat yourself up or throw out the plan just because you gained weight.  You will drop weight when you least expect it.
  • Drink that water and know that sometimes when you think you are hungry, what your body wants is water.
  • Atkins Online offers you even more information if you’re interested.

STAYING ON TRACK

Due to my weight loss I got rid of all but a few pieces of clothing.  I have had soooooooo much fun buying a new wardrobe, accessories, undies and even adding belts to my outfits.  My husband laughs at me because he catches me all the time “playing dressup” in my new duds.  I have a new lease on life and feel pretty for the first time in many years.  I even put on a swimsuit and got into the pool with my grandaughter.  Never thought I’d see that again.  I have newfound energy, goals, ambition and a renewed interest in life in general.  Having always fought my weight, I am now able to enjoy life in a way I never have experienced before.  I’m actually looking forward to the upcoming holiday season this year because I have the tools I need, and I know how to use them!

Do you have an inspirational story?  Please take some time and share the details of your experience and what you’ve learned on your journey!

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