Before and Current Pictures

Need Some Inspiration?

I wanted to post a picture of myself before I started low carbing in January of 2007, but I wasn't able to because we didn't have a scanner back then.

Hubby ran into a before picture among his things that we weren't expecting to find, and he placed it on top of the computer screen, so that every time I got frustrated with my weight-loss efforts I could see just how far I'd come over the years since that photo was taken.

I also ran into a before picture on my computer awhile back that was very close to the weight I was before the day I started Atkins 2002. But not quite.

I think I was about 10 pounds lighter then, but didn't want to post it until I had a current picture to go with it.

When we were in Michigan, my brother-in-law took a picture of what I currently look like, so that he could email it to me (2009). I guess he's learned how to do that now.

Then, hubby's niece printed it out on a Cannon picture printer, (I don't remember what they actually call those), so I could have a hard copy of what I currently look like to go with my before picture, as well.

So now I have a before picture and a current picture sitting on top of my computer.

How I Got My First Digital Camera

On the way home from Michigan, hubby was so impressed with the quality of the pictures his niece gave us that he decided he really, really needed to buy a digital camera for himself.

Awhile back, when we were trying to make it through the winter, and thinking we were going to have to go solo if the contractor he was currently working for wasn't able to catch any bids soon, someone asked hubby if he had any pictures of his work.

Up to that point in time, we really hadn't seen a justifiable need to buy a digital camera.

Not really.

Hubby has looked at them at Walmart from time to time, and I've wanted one for awhile now, so I could put up some real food pictures on my blogs, as well as other stuff.

We stopped into a Walmart on our way home, just for the heck of it, to see what they might cost in another state.

We were not really expecting to buy one.

But we ran into a deal that we couldn't pass up.

A 10.2 pixel for less than $90.

Hubby's brother and my sister-in-law had told us that an 8 pixel was good enough for our needs, (this was 2006, remember), but if we found a 10 pixel for $20 more than an 8, that we should grab it instead, because they usually cost a heck of a lot more than that.

Well, we found a 10.2 pixel for the same price as an 8 pixel, so we took their advice and bought it.

The consequence of that impulse buy is that I won't be able to return to low carb dieting just yet, I'll have to stay on maintenance for a couple more weeks, but at least I now have some honest-to-goodness before and current pictures of myself that I can post for you all.

My Before Picture - 257-1/2 Pounds

This first one was somewhere around 250 lbs or so. Not my heaviest, as I was 257-1/2 when I started Atkins, but it's close enough to be able to see the difference that low carb has really made in my life.

My 2009 Picture: 180 Pounds

And here is what I looked like at 180 pounds:

When I moved to maintenance awhile back, I weighed around 172, so I put on about 8 lbs, or so.

Most of that is glycogen and water, I know.

I'm still pretty bloated in the belly from having to eat at restaurants all the way home from Michigan. Boy was it ever hard trying to stay both gluten and casein free while eating out!

I failed at that miserably.

What Happened When I Returned to Atkins Induction?

I came home bound and determined to return to Atkins Induction, and clean myself out of all of the gluten, casein, and extra carbs I'd eaten the past week -- but that didn't work so well for me.

With no gall bladder now, and my problem with absorbing or digesting fats still giving me trouble, I've spent a great deal of time not feeling well or running for the bathroom.

Plus, I put on about 5 lbs eating very low carbs real quick like, so I had to move back to maintenance to get the weight gain to stop and reverse itself.

Sigh.

I'm not saying that low carb is not the way to go for you.

What I'm saying is that for me, I'm going to have to continue to adapt to my own body. I'm going to have to return to my own, personal, lower-fat way of getting the pounds off.

Because not only is gluten-intolerance an autoimmune issue, but it's also a malabsorption issue. This means what I've suspected all along, ever since Kimkins, is right on target.

• I don't digest fats properly.
• I don't digest dairy products very well.

And until that changes, (IF it ever does), I'm going to have to do low carb my way, which means between 60 to 120 carbs and cut back on my portion sizes.

*UPDATE: 145 Pounds

I found some pictures of what I looked like after I'd lost over 100 pounds tweaking the Atkins Diet, so I want to put those photos up for you, too. The lowest that I've managed to go using a protein sparing modified fast (PSMF) is about 145 pounds:

These photos were taken right after I had done 8 weeks of Hcg, back when the drops were still available over-the-counter. Shortly afterward, I started reacting to sugar substitutes, soy, corn, and dairy -- which made my life quite miserable.

I started experimenting with calorie counting, but that got to be quite monotonous, and when my thyroid went into overdrive, I started to regain the weight quite quickly.

As a result, I tried Jimmy Moore's version of Nutritional Ketosis and ended up gaining 30 pounds before I walked away from that high-fat diet, leaving me at 175.

I was pretty angry at the time, and frustrated because my blood glucose was completely out of control after that.

I tried zero carbs, but that just made it worse and packed on another 10 pounds.

What I didn't know at the time?

**UPDATE - Today: 190 Pounds

I have hyperthyroidism, and happen to be among the 10 percent who gain weight from a fast metabolism, instead of losing weight!

By the time I found this out, I had regained 80 of the 112-1/2 pounds I'd lost from doing low carb.

After being treated for Graves' Disease, I decided to go back to low carb, but the body honestly wouldn't let me do that.

This is not an excuse.

I literally go into starvation mode when I try to cut back on carbs, due to the hyperthyroidism, so I've adopted a backdoor approach instead.

Rather than starting out at 20 carbs, I started with just eating low carb for breakfast and cutting back on the amount of food I was eating for lunch and dinner.

Using this technique, I managed to whittle off 40 of those 80 pounds before moving to Texas to be closer to my kids and grandbaby.

This is me at 200 pounds.

Today, I've managed to shed another 10 pounds, mostly from my face and arms, so I'm down to 190 pounds, but don't have a current picture of that.

Most of this past year, I've been doing low carb to get my blood glucose back under control, but it just kept getting worse.

After reading a little bit about Atkins 100, and seeing the way that plan spreads the carbs evenly throughout the day, I decided to try that at 60 carbs, where I feel best, and my blood sugar corrected itself!

So I'm back to my cutting down on portion sizes plan!