NANCY
Nancy had been on most of the diets out there. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, low fat, counting calories, etc., and had managed to lose weight on all of them. But it was a struggle and she was always hungry and tired. Even though she lost weight, she never maintained that weight loss for more than a few months and as soon as she started eating "normally" again, the weight came back on and then some. When she started Atkin's in October, 2003, everything about the eating plan seemed wrong. Here she was being told she could eat healthy fats like butter, full fat cheeses, the skin on her chicken if she wanted to, and plenty of vegetables and salads with "real" salad dressing on them, but she couldn't eat pasta, bread or rice which were formally a staple of all her low fat diets. It took quite a while to get used to that idea, but slowly she started to adapt to her new low carb WOE. The weight came off on a slow continuous basis and her energy level increased, plus the biggest bonus was she never felt hungry anymore. She lost weight in places she had never lost weight before like her upper thighs and hips.
Nancy reached her goal in September, 2004 after almost a year. She tries to eat mostly fresh foods that she prepares herself, but does eat some protein bars, uses low carb bake mixes, and buys the occasional sugar free candy bar. She advises anyone who is interested in eating low carb to make sure to thoroughly read the book that your particular diet is based on. There's a lot of wonderful information in those books and if you just skim through them, you'll never truly understand why that diet works, and why eating low carb diet is a healthier way to live. Looking in the mirror and seeing the results she has gotten and knowing the health benefits of a low carb diet helps to reinforce Nancy's commitment to eating this way for the rest of her life.