Atkins Success Story
Cas O’Connor
Cas O’Connor – Age 38- Georgia
I lost 70
My Story
MY STORY:
Oh my, YES, I have lost weight and gotten healthy thanks to Dr. Atkins’ work. I thank my lucky stars every, single day that I learned about the low-carb approach from my doctor.
Basically, I was a willowy teenager (32-30-32), but the Metabolism Fairy caught up with me in college. I went from 130-135 lbs. to about 180 lbs. fast, especially when I got married and hung out with the church crowd and all its potlucks and after-service buffet runs. After I went on a hormonal birth control method, I gained even more weight – and when my mom came up with a recurrence of cancer, the stress of caretaking (and her habit of keeping tons of candy, cake and ice cream around the house) brought me to 190 lbs.
When I hit 31 years old, I realized I needed to lose weight. At first my doctor, tried the normal stuff – telling me to stop eating so much pasta, rice and sugar. I tried it, but cravings killed me. I went up to 200 lbs. He tried putting me on Meridian, a weight-loss drug that had just come out, but it gave me heart palpitations. By then, I was around 210 lbs. It was around October 2001. I had acid reflux, was taking insulin orally, and was “this close” to being a full-blown type II diabetic. I took additional pills for lactose intolerance and year-round allergies. I literally took elevators to get to the 2nd floor. I had no energy and I was sick all the time. I was wearing size 20 pants, but had to leave them unbuttoned to squeeze into them. They were fraying at the inner leg seams like all my jeans did (I bet every big girl reading this will recognize THAT problem!). I measured 44-40-44, so I told people I was “curvey” and “hourglass-shaped” – but I knew I was shaped like an Italian sausage. My doctor looked right at me and said, “Honey, if you don’t lose weight by Christmas, you will be needle dependent.”
Right then I realized just how bad a hole I’d dug for myself. He was talking, but I barely even heard him. Finally, I realized he was talking about Sugar Busters. I said, “Wait, isn’t that like the Atkins Diet?” I’d heard of it, but knew nothing about it except that it was some weird diet where you could eat hamburger patties but not the buns with them. He said “yes,” Sugar Busters was a bit like that, not as extreme. I said, “If I’m going to go to all that trouble, why not just do Atkins instead?” He said, “I can’t flat out tell you to do that, but I think if you want to, it’d be all right.” On the way home from the doctor’s office, I bought a copy of The New Diet Revolution from Wal-Mart. The 300-pound clerk, who could barely even fit in her little register stall, looked at it and said, “Isn’t that the one where you can’t eat bread? I couldn’t do that.” I said, “I think so, but I’m willing to try anything right now.” I read the whole book over the next two days and then threw out everything in the house that wasn’t listed on its Induction pages.
I went 100% gung-ho on the diet. By day 3, I felt like an Energizer battery! My best friend and I watched as the pounds literally melted off during that first two weeks. When I visited my mother to take care of her, she told me, “I was worried you were on some fad diet, but you’re always eating, so it must be all right.” And I was! I ate better on Atkins than I had in my entire adult life, and I was learning to cook better than I ever had. I ate stuff I’d never even heard of – celeriac, fennel root (which I still love to death and consider a special treat), spaghetti squash, and more. And the weight kept coming off. Encouraged, some months later I began making a Renaissance costume with my new measurements, which at the time were about a size 16-18. I was so thrilled.
I can’t say I was even tempted by all the treats everybody else ate. I got so tired of people saying, “Oh, I could NEVER give up bread!” You know what? You’d be shocked what you could give up if a life of sticking yourself with needles was the alternative! No cake tastes as good as losing all that hideous weight. I began to realize just how pointless and awful most bread-type products are. They’re not even worth the cheat. They’re horrible, like Styrofoam and paste, especially commercial white and even wheat breads.
I finished my Renaissance costume around March 2003. And to my astonishment, it had to be taken in about 5″! My mom and I just laughed our butts off, but thankfully she was an expert seamstress and could help me with the alterations. Weight loss had affected my body in such weird ways. My shoulders had gotten narrower. My feet had gone from an 8.5W to an 8 normal width! I could buy shoes like normal girls now – it’s impossible to find nice shoes in wide widths. My neck had shrunk, my rings were loose, and it was like I’d entered some glorious playground just for myself. I realized somewhere during that time that I no longer suffered heartburn, allergies, or lactose intolerance. I wasn’t sure when they went away, but they were apparently not allowed into the playground. The hospital had my mom on the 5th floor, and I made a big point of taking the stairs instead of the elevator. It was tiring at first, but I got used to it – it felt so good to be able to climb stairs!
My mother died in July 2003, and I had to go buy a new suit for her funeral. I was a size 14 by then and absolutely nothing fit; my sister barely recognized me when she flew in. Later on, I bought my first fancy gown, for a date – a long, slim sheath of asymmetrical silk chiffon that I wasn’t expecting to fit into or look good in at a size 12. It fit. Six months later, in 2004, I went bikini shopping. My energy level and the very obvious reductions in my size kept me motivated.
Four years later, I maintain myself around 150 pounds. I just bought two pairs of size 10 jeans and some size M shirts – I can walk into any store in the mall and find clothes that fit and look great. My boyfriend makes a point of telling me how beautiful he thinks I am and we have a very active lifestyle – camping, hiking, and walking everywhere. And best of all, my blood work is perfect – my cholesterol went from 300 to 200, my LDL went from dangerous to normal, my HDLs went from nonexistent to just a hair under normal, and my insulin went from 70 to 7. My blood pressure went from 145/85 to 125/70. I’m as healthy inside as I look outside.
I can’t even tell you how much better I feel nowadays. My jeans don’t wear through at the inner seams anymore. I have the energy of a teenager and NOBODY ever guesses my age (I’m 38) – but usually I’m pegged for 24-25. I will say this: I haven’t had a piece of commercial white bread, a Twinkie, or a Lil Debbie snack in five years. I don’t even buy processed food much, beyond salad dressings. I did learn to bake, simply because I feel if I’m going to “cheat” a bit, it’ll be with foods that are worth it – so my cornbread, fudge, and Tuscan sourdough are famous. But I eat these foods as treats, sparingly and infrequently.
The only hard parts of following this way of eating, honestly, are eating out and having a partner who is not only not low-carb, but vegetarian. It’s a real challenge to find dishes we can both eat, and restaurant eating is so full of potential speed bumps! But by now, I’m good at damage control; I know my body has evolved to be able to have infrequent feasts, so it’s okay to do it once in a while. I’ll never go back to “normal” eating, though. As good as some of it was, none of it was worth going back to where I was in the early part of 2002. NONE of it. To those who’d say in that lofty tone, “Oh, I could NEVER give up bread!” I think: “Then that bread you couldn’t give up will be your fluffy, puffy, starchy, yeasty, pasty white tombstone.” I’d far rather eat real food, good food, food I’ve prepared with my own two hands, food that’s actually good for me and good TO me, than any of that over-processed junk that passes for a standard American’s diet.
MY GOALS:
To get my out-of-control health under control.
HOW ATKINS HELPED ME GET THERE:
I have used some Atkins products in my weight-loss efforts. I loved the praline sauce and those crunchy apple breakfast bars. I still use the Thicken/Thin NotStarch and, oh man, Endulge bars just rock. When I need a real sweet treat, I love the Atkins chocolate ice cream they used to make – perfectly portioned! I’d make whipped cream and make chocolate sundaes with sliced almonds and drizzled with a bit of Godiva liqueur just for taste (yes, I know it has sugar, but 1-2tb didn’t slow me down).
Strangely, my desire for sweet things in general have declined to the point where I really don’t eat that stuff much anymore. But I thought I’d mention I liked them and that I thought it helped to have “legal” stuff to snack on when I was beginning my journey. I’ll be honest with you: the main attraction of the Atkins system was that it didn’t involve buying tons of processed junk like NutriSystem and Jenny Craig. It was natural food, made by hand, that drew me to it and made so much sense. But I did use some of the Atkins products and thought they were helpful.
Nowadays, I love seeing my shopping cart compared to the other people in line. Mine has produce, frozen veggies/fruit (frozen cherries taste just like popsicles!), fresh meat, maybe some herbal tea, compared to Lunchables, two-liter soda bottles, convenience frozen dinners and premade PBJs. I’m the ultimate Atkins poster girl and I’m never afraid to tell people how I lost 70 pounds AND kept it off.
I read of Dr. Atkins’ death some time ago and wished I could have told him he’d made such a huge difference in my life. I genuinely wish he could have seen where I came from and where I am now. Best wishes to EVERYBODY who’s considering this lifestyle change! If I could do it, so can everybody else! You all have my greatest thanks. You helped me save my life.