A Carb-Restricted Transformation

1/3/2012

Meet old Rose:

I've struggled with weight my whole life, but especially since puberty, when I began to balloon. The only diet that worked for weight loss (I tried a lot) was a 500-cal/day regimen that I could only sustain a few months at a time before getting weak and ill. In my late 30s I finally tried Atkins and lost 40 or so pounds, but my (now ex-) doctor begged me to quit, so I did and regained all the lost weight, plus more.

Fast-forward into my early 40s: I was riddled with joint pain, weighed over 220 pounds, and was on a cocktail of anti-depressants and anti-seizure meds. I had just found out I was adopted, and that my birth mother had weighed over 300 lbs at one point. Fed up and scared, I went to a nutritionist and paid a lot of money to be put on a 1,200 cal/day standard low-fat diet, which I complied with meticulously, despite being miserably hungry all day long. And I worked out nearly every night, too. After five weeks, I was up a pound. The light bulb flashed for me: I needed to eat low-carb, and to heck with my doctor and conventional wisdom.

I quit the nutritionist's program and started the Protein Power plan in April 2007. By June I was down to 190, but my weight stayed their for nearly two years, despite eating less than 30g carbs/day. However, I was able to ditch my anti-depressants, so I stuck with the plan, tweaking here and there (dropping dairy, skipping breakfast, even upping my carbs) to no avail; I was stalled. Finally I tried something that initially sounded crazy to me: An all-meat, "zero-carb" (ZC) diet.

To my utter surprise, it worked beautifully, and quickly, too. I started in September 2009, and by December was down to 155 pounds. My joint pain disappeared completely, too. I've been ZC ever since then, with one (failed) "safe starch" experiment during the 2010 holidays. I had my labs done in June, and my doctor was shocked at my perfect numbers. Not only had my weight dropped, but every single number was in range, and my triglycerides were 32 (a number that won't surprise low-carb researchers). Despite those numbers, she still insisted that I was killing myself with a fork, and that's why she's now my ex-doctor.

I plan to eat this way for the rest of my life. Not only has my health improved spectacularly, but I have no cravings at all, and food takes up very little of my mental energy. I don't think everyone needs to go "zero-carb" -- far from it -- but for me, it's been pretty close to a miracle.

Meet Rose Today:

What was the biggest challenge to adopting a carbohydrate-restricted or paleo diet?
Overcoming my doctor's extremely agitated objections. The first time I did Atkins, years ago, I listened to her and regained all the weight I had lost. She's now my ex-doctor.

What advice (if any) would you give to someone interested in trying a carbohydrate-restricted or paleo diet? Were there any obstacles that you overcame that could help future dieters?
Read Gary Taubes, either book (GCBC if you can handle the in-depth analysis). Being armed with that excellent information gave me the insight I needed to realize that my doctor's fears were misguided, and that my results told the real story.

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13 Comments

Cody

1/3/2012 05:56:03 am

Way to go Rose! New Rose is a hottie! Look at those toned arms! Whoo hoo!

Mary Lewis

1/3/2012 12:02:03 pm

Thank you Rose for sharing. I, too continue to stand my ground as a low carber who has maintained 90lbs down since 2002 with an additional loss in the last year for a total of 106lbs down. And like you, I have great blood work and and a fistful of health conditions vanquished!

Rose

1/21/2012 09:03:26 am

I didn't even see there were comments here, lol. Thanks, Cody, and congratulations, Mary! You're a great inspiration to me, that's for sure.

Ida Fiorella

1/21/2012 01:02:10 pm

Hi Rose! I have been following a low carb plan since 2001, and my story is so similar to yours! Before I started low-carbing, my doctor wanted me to go on cholesterol lowering meds. But, now my doctors say that my cholesterol is "PERFECT"! I loved hearing your story, and knowing that others are experiencing excellent health and permanent weight loss following a low-carb plan, despite what the establishment would have us believe.

Alexandra

1/24/2012 02:40:08 am

Thanks for your story, Rose. I too, am stuck, but I'm going to try your ZC diet!

Rose

1/26/2012 12:46:35 pm

Ida, congratulations on your success, and good for you for not caving in to the statin peddlers, too!

Alexandra, I'm glad you're going to give it a shot. If you do go to all-meat, the best advice I can give you is to read -- if you haven't already -- Phinney and Volek's book "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living." They're not specifically zero-carb, but they have both been researching ketogenic and ultra-low-carb diets for many years. In fact, I recommend their book along with Taubes's books to anyone who wants to seriously pursue a low-carb or very low-carb lifestyle. Good luck!

Mary

2/4/2012 12:02:24 am

Rose, you are so inspiring. Thank you for sharing your success. Thinking of you helps me stick with my plan! You are amazing. :)

Portesa

2/10/2012 11:58:33 am

Rose, those pics are amazing! I've followed you on Paleohacks, and think of your story often as I struggle with what feels like a hopeless sugar addiction. I just downloaded the Phinney and Volek book you recommended and am very excited to read it. Thanks for sharing!

mike

10/31/2012 12:22:16 pm

Greetings. I am on my way to adopting a zero carb diet myself in an effort to cure stomach problems. However, I just cant convince myself that I don't need as much vitamin C as I would on a diet high in carbs. So I have been eating a lemon or two per week. What are your thoughts on vitamin C?

Dana

11/7/2012 01:39:30 pm

In animals that synthesize vitamin C, which is most of them, they synthesize it from glucose. Accordingly, even in animals that *don't* synthesize vitamin C (a later mutation), the vitamin enters their cells through the glucose receptors. Someone eating a diet really high in sugar is going to experience competition between their vitamin C and their glucose in terms of which gets into the cells first.

Now, it won't kill you to have vitamin C circulating around in your bloodstream, but it *will* kill you to have too much *sugar* there. So if it comes down to having to choose which substance will be put into your cells first, your body will put off the vitamin C and get your sugar level back into the safe zone.

Unfortunately in this circumstance, vitamin C is water-soluble. So if you have a bunch of excess in your bloodstream, eventually it'll circulate around to your kidneys and be dumped off in your urine. If you've already gotten what you needed, that's one thing. But if you haven't absorbed enough, you could find yourself in trouble. This is why explorers to the Arctic regularly got scurvy even if they brought citrus along: they also brought lots of sugary foods. Meanwhile the local Inuit were not eating vitamin C competitors at all, so the little bit they got in animal tissues (including, most notably, the adrenals, which are vitamin C hogs during the animal's life) was enough to keep them going.

It also helped that their collagen proteins were healthier in the first place (collagen being one of the things vitamin C helps to maintain) because they weren't eating a ton of sugar that was glycating them.

Anyway, if I were eating a fruit *just* for the vitamin C, I'd want to favor one with a good protective peel, so lemons are a good choice. Also, an entire lemon has 12g of carbs and half of those are fiber carbs. (6g net carbs.) And on top of that you get well over 100 percent of your recommended daily intake of vitamin C. If you are just transitioning to a VLC or ZC diet then you will still have a lot of issues to clear up, probably including some borderline nutritional deficiencies. It might not hurt to make a lemon a daily thing for a while, just to catch yourself up and give everything a chance to heal. It'd be a rare person indeed who'd suffer metabolic consequences from 6g net carbs a day. But eventually, if you just want all carb out of your diet or even if you're just tired of eating lemon, you could probably cut back to every other day and be fine. I think the experts came up with our current recommended daily intake based on the needs of a person eating 300g of carb a day. Someone on VLC or ZC probably has less of a need. I'd just play it by ear and see how you feel.

wheresthebeef

2/4/2013 10:30:22 pm

I'm very interested in zero carb for my digestive and autoimmune problems. I'm already pretty low carb compared to SAD and I'm 105 pounds so I dont need to lose weight so much. I'm not sure what I should eat.

lublor

2/13/2013 12:35:38 pm

Who is your doctor in the Eugene area now, and do you recommend them? I'm Paleo and in the hunt for a new doc.

Jaqi

5/21/2013 05:41:59 pm

Hi Rose! Well done!! I've also transitioned to the Zero Carb Lifestyle and feel AMAZING!!!! Its for my PCOS, Fructose Malabsorbtion & FODMaPS issues. What vitamins/ supplements are you taking? If any?
Im not eating any organ meats for the time being (once the gag reflex wears off, I may give it a try O_O) I just dont want to deprive my body of any nutrients? Are we getting enough nutrients from meat & fish & fats? Thanx!!

A Carb-Restricted Transformation

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