Couple Loses Hundreds Of Pounds On Atkins Diet

wlky ^ | 11-04-03

[wheelgunguru]

Embarrassment, Health Issues Prompted Dieting

Many people have struggled to drop a few pounds, but what happens when you need to lose several hundred pounds?

Several years ago, Steve and Melissa Horstman of Boone County, Ky., decided that they didn't want to live with their weight problems anymore, and they used the emotional pain over being overweight to reach their goals.

Melissa and Steve met on the Internet several years ago and soon learned of their common bond: obesity.

"When you weigh 150 pounds over, you don't go out and socialize," Melissa said.

The couple met, dated and married, but humiliation struck again on their honeymoon when the airline pilot told Steve he would have to buy two seats next time because he was too big for one.

"It wasn't until after we got married that I saw on a daily basis how his weight was on his health," Melissa said. "I was afraid I'd just found him and we were just married, I was going to lose him."

Steve's weight topped out at 571 pounds. He recalls "just standing there in the winter and you're breaking a sweat just standing there because your back hurts and your knees hurt."

Despite the physical pain, Steve said the emotional toll on his health was greater.

"(It hurts) when you walk into a store and a 3-year-old looks up at their parent and says, 'Look at that fat man, Mommy,'" he said.

"It broke my heart every day," Melissa said. "I could see the people behind him. The looks, the whispers, the pointing."

Fad diets failed. Surgery was too expensive. So Melissa began looking into low-carb solutions like the Atkins diet.

Once the couple decided to try to the diet, major life changes were in order. First on the list: Eliminating the junk food that is tough to avoid for most people and irresistible to a 571-pound man.

"I could go to a certain drive-through and get eight sandwiches and four large fries, 10 to 12 cans of soft drinks a day, not the sugar-free kind," Steve said.

Steve weighed himself daily on a large scale in a local drugstore. The scale provided a printout, and Steve saved every one of them.

"At June 19, 1999, I was at 472 pounds," he said as he flipped through the printouts. "I'd lost about 100 pounds at that point."

Melissa dropped her weight, too, but for Steve, the diet was nothing short of a miracle. He was swimming in his size 6x shirts, and his 72-inch waist pants started falling off his waist.

Steve kept the belt he wore at his highest weight and punched new holes in it as he dropped the pounds.

These days, the couple is happy to simply blend in when they go to the mall.

From the time the couple changed their lifestyle, Steve has lost more than 320 pounds, and Melissa is down more than 100 pounds. They're proud of each other, and their confidence is at an all-time high.

"I always kid with her, 'How did that guy get that hot girl?'" Steve said.

"To go from people pointing and making faces and whispering to being hateful, to being mistaken for Howie Long ... He's extremely hot!" Melissa said of her husband.

Steve said he can't imagine going back to the overweight version of himself, and he's working to lose even more. His current weight is about 250 pounds, and he told Cooney it feels like "walking on air" when compared to his old weight.

"It's a terrifying thought," he said. "Just looking in the mirror and seeing the old me is motivation enough."

Redemption for Melissa comes in many forms, including a recent high school reunion.

"Nobody recognized me," she said with a smile.

Before:

After:

[Zack Nguyen]

I just saw that you said you are 5'10. 177-179 is excellent for 5'10 in my opinion. Your body may recognize this and not want to lose more weight.

[Zack Nguyen]

I just saw that you said you are 5'10. 177-179 is excellent for 5'10 in my opinion. Your body may recognize this and not want to lose more weight. Not to say you can't do it - it just will be more difficult than if you were 25 pounds overweight.

[carton253]

Please feel free to... I just had a check-up since I'm half-way to my goal. My doctor says keep going. My blood work looks good, I can see my collar bone again, and I feel great. And he says I can do the Atkins for Life plan if I want. So, from him, I hear the exact opposite of what your doctor says... Oh, well!

[California74]

You can stay on Atkins forever. Atkins is a means to get to a "normal" diet, after the first 2 very strict weeks, you are supposed to slowly start adding carbs. When you're close to your goal, you add more carbs to see how many carbs you can eat and maintain your weight without gaining. The idea is to end up with a balanced diet of fruits, legumes, veggies, etc.

You can't stay on the INDUCTION phase of Atkins, which is the most strict, that I'd agree with.

[carton253]

A breast of KFC has 11 carbs. They shoot a sugar solution into their chicken for taste. Just a heads up.

[Squantos]

Corona Light ?!?!?!? Uhhh Ohhh !

[Mr. Jeeves]

I think all these Atkins critics work for Archer Daniels Midland.

[Zack Nguyen]

Good for you! God only gave you one body!

[DallasMike]

I personally don't have a weight problem, but I do struggle with cholesterol.

A friend who is quite slender (5'-0'', 105 lbs) and athletic has problems with high cholesterol and high triglycerides. It runs in the family. I convinced her to do Atkins and her bad cholesterol dropped to a normal level, her good cholesterol rose, and her triglycerides dropped by half.

My doctor friends are all supportive of Atkins because it works. Not one has seen a problem with a patient on Atkins unless it's been since I've talked to them last. Maybe the doctors in California are letting their personal prejudices get in the way of practicing good medicine. It wouldn't be the first time.

[Delbert]

I lost 145 pounds in one month once - Got a divorce!

[wheelgunguru]

You can't stay on the INDUCTION phase of Atkins, which is the most strict, that I'd agree with.

That makes sense.

[Eva]

I haven't seen any proof of serious health problems derriving from this diet. My mother-in-law was giving us a hard time about doing the diet, despite the history of diabetes in her family and when she went to her doctor a week later, he put her on Atkins because her blood sugar was slightly elevated.

Atkins works and it is a lifestyle, not a diet.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

A homemade pizza piled with beef, pepperoni, cheese, peppers , mushrooms, cheese, onions, olives, and cheese - the crust is just there to hold the stuff together while it bakes. Then it gets thrown in the trash or fed to the dog. :)

I call that: "a real good salad", minus the bread.

[Zack Nguyen]

Good for you. God only gave you one body!

[Huck]

I am thinking I need to eat less cheese. I think I thought I could eat more than I can. I haven't been counting calories lately, since I went on low carb thing. Basically, it's been steak and eggs for breakfast (say .4 -.5 pounds meat and two eggs), a cup of greens, 4-6 oz chicken and maybe 3 tbsp grated cheese for lunch, and maybe 1 lb of meat for supper, with say another oz or two of cheese, and maybe a 1/4 cup of low carb tomato sauce.

I am 5' 11", 177-179 pounds. My daily routine consists of 50-100 pushups in the morning, plus 25-50 crunches. At lunchtime I go to the gym and do 25-35 minutes cardio on the bike, then another 100-200 crunches in sets of 25.

I drink maybe 4-5 1pt 8 oz bottles of water a day (that's like the medium sized bottle.) I have one cup of coffee in the morning and maybe 2-3 cans diet coke at night.

And I have sugar free jello with redi whip for dessert. Maybe a full cup of redi whip--yeah, that's the other culprit, methinks.

Any advice? before all this I was drinking slim fast shakes and eating buckets of salad every night. the slim fast approach got me from 228 to 173. Atkins is like something new to try because I have stalled out at high 170's. I think I am not doing a rigorous enough job of induction. Looking at it, I think I need to cut back cheese and rediwhip.

[wheelgunguru]

Couple Loses Hundreds of Pounds on Acid Diet

I'm guessing that might do it, too!

[SamAdams76]

Plus, any meat-intensive menu is going to raise your cholesterol level significantly.

Then how to explain my cholesterol actually dropping to 171 after six months of being on a meat-intensive menu? Good cholesterol is up and bad cholesterol is down. Tryglycerides smack in the middle of the normal range. Blood pressure normal for the first time in years. My doctor was astounded with the results (and the weight loss).

If you want more info, go to Google, and type, "Atkins Diet Dangerous." Also, "Atkins Diet Renal Failure." Again, "Atkins Diet Cholesterol."

That doesn't mean a thing. You could also go to Google and type, "Conservative Republicans dangerous", "GOP bad for America" and "Ronald Reagan is the Antichrist" and come up with scores and scores of websites telling you how bad we all are. Good thing most of us are smart enough to sort through the chaff and use our own brains to decide what is best for us.

[carton253]

Huck... on induction, I don't think you can have the tomato sauce. And you might want to check that sauce. It could have hidden sugar in it.

How's your water consumption?

[freedomson]

Do it for Mrs. Huck!

She's cute!

[Huck]

I want to get to 170. I want to get to 32 in waist. I want to be lean and mean. I am trying to turn up the intensity of my work out a little, getting into serious abs burning workout. I appreciate this chance to chat with others about it. I am really thinking cheese may be getting in the way of induction benefits for me. And redi whip.

I am not fat. No one in my office thinks I am fat. But as I get older, I just want to push myself to stay as close to tip top as I can get.