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:

[Coleus]

as serious health issues have developed from this "diet", >>>

What?

I lost 70 lbs., cholesterol dropped 100 points, triglycerides dropped 700 points, BP went to normal, could now run 3 miles with no problems, etc.

Atkins was vindicated a number of times this year from scientists studying his diet. Man was made to eat meat. It's wonderful.

[Nataku X]

I feel that the true insulin resistance cases (where people lose weight by eating lots of Atkins, but couldn't lose weight on 800 calorie hospital diets) are very rare and possibly limited to those who have abused sugar all their lives--probably by using cola as a substitute for water and fries as a substitute for vegetables.

But, back to the point--there's no way that this couple featured in the article didn't eat fewer calories on Atkins. A tiny paltry Fast Break bar is 300 calories. 300 calories is also a McDonald's double cheeseburger, sans bun. It's not hard to figure out which way is more satisfying. :)

It's just a mini-pet peeve of mine to hear the Atkins people say in the same breath, "Carbs are evil, not calories" and "I never feel hungry, I rarely snack!" Oh, well. The post-induction Atkins plan is certainly a lot more healthy than munching down fat-free cookies and pretzels all day long...

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Wow, nice name calling. Too bad for you, and your doctor and wife and everyone else that has lied to you, there is no study that shows long term health problems for people rejecting the USDA high carb diet.

The Atkins is not an "all meat" diet, nor is it a "high protein" diet. It is a diet that gets people to give up on the refined carbohydrates that Americans in particular have become addicted to.

But go ahead and believe those without any evidence to back them up. I'll go ahead believing case after case of people losing weight, lowering cholesterol, and living healthy lives.

Facts are terribly inconvenient at times, aren't they?

[CobaltBlue]

Not sure what is meant by "true insulin resistance." Most doctors and researchers use the term to apply to metabolic Syndrome X, caused by a combination of obesity and inactivity - it causes Type II Diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart attacks, strokes - in other words, it is one of the predominant causes of death in the US.

A calorie of fat or protein causes an insulin resistant person's metabolism to respond differently than a calorie of sugar or starch. Protein and fat make you feel sated, sugar and starch make you feel hungry and want to eat more.

If your body doesn't respond like this, you probably think what I am saying is nuts. If it does respond like this, you may be insulin resistant.

[Taffini]

I have a chocolate problem. This Halloween I bought candy I can't eat, the kind with peanuts and Kit Kat, which I don't like.

I made it through Friday without eating any of it.

Notice I didn't buy Mounds which usually I manage to eat about 10 with 3 or 4 cups of black coffee.

I also waited till the last minute to pick up the candy bars. If I get it early half of it is gone after the kids get into the TIED UP grocery bag.

[Coleus]

I haven't seen any conclusive evidence that a low-carb diet has produced serious health issues. Can you provide a link to back up that assertion? In fact, I recall just this year a couple of studies reported on the benefits of low-carb dieting.

NFP>>

Low carb has been vindated in the medical community, yes, there are a number of studies which prove that those on low carb lose the most weight and have the greater health benefits. If Low Fat/High Carb truly worked we would be a country with NO heart disease, diabetes, with low cholesterol and NO STATIN DRUGS. Our bodies were made for low carb., fruit is ripe in all parts of the world for only for a few months. Sugar was never around in most parts of the world and we ate whatever was walking or swimming by our tent, cave, wigwam, etc.

[Taffini]

The Atkins Diet is NOT about all the meat you can eat



This is true. You can eat all the salmon and other "good for you fish" plus chicken and turkey. You don't have to eat beef floating in grease like the anti-Atkins people say we do. They also forget about all the vegetables we eat. BUT they talk up pasta which is nothing but white flour, water and salt. I sure that is good for no one.

[Grit]

Try a "meatza," using spiced ground beef/pork/whatever as your base instead of a carby crust.

Ah, but my wife is not yet one of the "converted". So, rather than make two pizzas my half of the crust goes in the trash. :)

[wheelgunguru]

You apparently missed the post that precipitated my response. One of your tolerant/"conservative"/Atkins brethren drew first blood.

Get your facts straight.

[Taffini]

Venti Americano

What is that? I want it.

[wheelgunguru]

our web site

What? This web site is reserved for narrow minded fat people?

You're right. It's no place for me.

[wheelgunguru]

Tell your wife she has my deepest sympathies that the doctors with whom she works are so unenlightened.

Don't feel sorry for her. She's 5'7, 125 pounds. She's never had a weight problem.

[RedWhiteBlue]

I posted a reply to your question late last night ... don't know what happened to it. Here's a second try!

The best source for the details of the SB diet is the book. I have not read the Atkin's book, so my information is second hand and I stand to be corrected on the details of that diet. My source is two of my sisters, whom I eat dinner with every Sunday, and the subject often gets around to low carbing since they are on the Atkins diet.

There IS a difference between SB and Atkins during the first two weeks. In SB there is NO carb counting and NO induction of ketosis (therefore none of that "bad feeling" some experience on Atkins). In the first two weeks of Atkins, one is limited to 20 carbs per day and the goal is to induce one's body to enter the state of ketosis. There is NEVER any carb counting on SB, just a differentiation of "good carbs" vs. "bad carbs" and "good fats" vs. "bad fats." However, like Atkins, the first two weeks are designed to break the cycle of high-glycemic carb cravings.

I don't want to type the entire contents of the good/bad food lists here, but will attempt to hit the highlights: During the first two weeks, "good carbs" are identified as artichokes, apsaragus, beans (black, butter, chickpeas, green, italian, kidney, lentils, lima, pigeon, soy, split peas, wax), broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celer,. collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, mushrooms, snow peas, spinach, sprounts, tomatoes (limited to one whole or 10 cherry per meal), turnips, water chestnuts, and zucchini. It is my impression that many of these would not be allowed during the first two weeks of Atkins.

On SB, good fats are olive oil, canola oil, and peanut oil. I would also put sunflower oil in this category. Meats are limited to lean cuts. This is the case no matter what part of the diet one is on. I don't think that Atkins makes this distinction, and allows pretty much any cut of meat or any type of fat.

After the first two weeks on SB, the following items can be re-introduced: fruit (except for bananas, canned fruit, fruit juices, pineapple, raisins, and watermelon), whole grain breads and bagels, high fiber cereals, whole wheat pasta and cous cous, green peas, popcorn, small sweet potatoes, brown & wild rice, barley, pinto beans, black eyed peas.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

This web site is reserved for narrow minded fat people?

Yes, once blood is drawn, it's time to whip out any and all insults you can muster. Of course, the people you are fighting against used to be narrow minded fat people who have discovered that low carb eating makes sense and they are now healthier more open minded thinner people.

Why is a diet that has been around for 30 years and has shown a reduction in weight and cholesterol among users and has converted many skeptics (including some leading dieticians in the last few years) such a threat to many doctors?

Don't deal with the facts, deal with the speculation of what it "might" cause although no study can back up those speculations. Yes, that is the way to win people over. Facts, results and studies be damned! Maybe this isn't the website for you.

[wheelgunguru]

Maybe this isn't the website for you.

Maybe this isn't the website for you. Is your name Jim Rob? You're just a visitor like everyone else.

Don't contact me again.

And, stay off my threads.

[dread78645]

The controversy doesn't deal with low-carbs. Lowering carb intake is obviously a part of dieting.

It's a little more complex than that. The goal is to reduce caloric intake to match your metabolism.

Eating carbs raise your serum glucose causing a rise of insulin secreted from the pancreas. Insulin allows the cells to use the glucose for energy.
As the glucose is depleted insulin levels drop.
This triggers a response to eat again.

Foods high in fat give a sense of being "full" without jerking around the blood glucose. So there's no insulin peak and valley --no craving to eat again a few hours after a regular meal. ==> Fewer calories eaten.

The Atkins controversy deals with excessive protein intake which produces strain on your renal system.

The Harvard study of a high protein diet (no mention of the increased water intake or mineral suplemnts required by Atkins) of ~1600 women showed impaired kidney function in about 10%. All of whom had prior renal problems.
Since most people don't have their renal functions tested; the study comes to the dubious conclusion that high protein diets are hard on the kidneys and therefore nobody should go on those kinds of diets.
(No conclusions from the running/broken leg study, so far)

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

Dietary cholesterol is only about 4-6% of serum cholesterol. The liver & intestines make up the rest; otherwise vegans would have -0- colesterol. And what do you think of the Masai in Kenya who consume nothing but meat and milk (~ 1lb of butter fat/day!) who average serum colesterol levels under 170mg/dl?

Studies done with rabits and canines in the '50 and '60 on cornary heart disease made the conclusion that cholesterol caused the disease.
Human studies on men looked for the same link, and found it.
Thus the 'cholesterol causes heart disease'. duckspeak.

This conclusion wasn't questioned when similar studies on women were inconclusive, as were studies of larger populations (Framingham) --also inconclusive.
And studies of genetically modified pigs that produce twice the "normal" levels of colesterol showed no correlation in death rate from any cause.

Testing on drugs that reduce only colesterol levels showed no difference in cornary death rates, but had higher incidence of stroke. Nasty.

Newer drugs, the statins --like Zocord, have improved motality rates due to heart disease, regardless of colesterol levels. So they work on some other less understood facet of the disease.

This shows to me (and maybe to you), high colesterol is not a cause, but at most, a symptom of cornary heart disease.

Losing weight is about lowering calories and increasing exercise. You can lower calories through any combination of foods, not just by lowering carbs.

True. See above.

Cutting out the fat at 9 Kcal/g seems obvious to reduce when protein & carbs are 4 Kcal/g.
But fats satisfy your sense of hunger sooner and better then carbs. So you tend to eat a smaller equivelent fat calorie meal and the without the glucose spike & crash you don't feel the need to snack.
It's difficult to control eating when your blood sugar/insulin is on a roller-coaster caused those carbs.

BTW, my wife is a medical professional who told me the docs, with whom she works, despise the Atkins diet because of the health problems they're seeing.

I see your anecdote, and raise you 10 million Atkins stories.
(You'd better hedge, there's a bunch of South-Beachers, too).

If you want more info, go to Google, and type, "Atkins Diet Dangerous."

The Google law:Seek and Ye will probably find exactly what you want to believe.

BTW, my best wishes are sincere, not "ominous."

Not directed to me. but so were mine.

[Taffini]

Does anyone know of a brand of hot dogs that are carb free?

[.38sw]

Well, that's a pretty rational post. Refreshing. The issue of cholesterol and heart disease is quite interesting. Trying to reduce your cholesterol levels by reducing saturated fat intake doesn't always work, because we manufacture our own cholesterol. Some people can diet diet diet and still have sky-high cholesterol levels because they are genetically predisposed for those levels. Then there is the "stickiness" issue of blood components. Now it seems that if you eat a lot of foods with trans fatty acids (hydrogenated vegetable oils) the "stickiness" of the fats in your blood increases, thus causing the plaque on your arteries. I have completely cut out the hydrogenated oils in my diet - no margarine, no shortening, only butter, olive and safflower oils (although I haven't worried that much about saturated fats). I eat very little of the high carbohydrate foods like rice, pasta, bread, and no sweets. I'm not worried about high cholesterol and renal failure, and I don't eat tons of meat - just the usual portions (about a 4 ounce serving), but I fill up on fresh vegetables and some fruits, and snack on things like nuts and cheese and crunchy veggies. Hm. Sounds kinda like Atkins, doesn't it? Last time my blood was checked, I had an excellent HDL/LDL blood cholesterol level and ratio, my triglycerides were fine, the blood glucose was fine, and so was my kidney function.

I did a search on google as suggested, and saw nothing definitive on why Atkins was dangerous (no actual studies). I saw a lot of "many nutritionists believe" and "it is possible that" and "it is thought that" the Atkins diet may be harmful, and I looked at a lot of links. Not all, there were too many, but lots of them. Many of the links led to nutritional supplement websites and the like, but I didn't see much in the way of links to newspapers or medical journals. So it seems that the "Atkins is dangerous" school of thought is a lot of conjecture. I do know that the low fat diets didn't work for me - I was hungry all of the time. I lost weight, but couldn't maintain it because of the constant hunger.

[wheelgunguru]

The Google law:Seek and Ye will probably find exactly what you want to believe.

No. My post said they could find both sides of the issue. Read it in its context. It was absolutely non-adversarial. Then some moron jumps on my case saying he doesn't need anybody making his choices for him. Right! Like the choice to get fat in the first place.

"But I have a genetic predisposition to obesity. Whaaaa!" Baloney. You get fat because you eat. Period.

Re concerning Atkins, in the final analysis, we believe what we want to believe. I could care less. I've never been fat, and don't plan on it.

And, if I were, I would not need to simply supplant one food group with another. I would exercise the necessary self-discipline to lose weight. Were not talking rocket science, here.

It's all about consumption vs. expenditure. It's that simple.

[bamabaseballmom]

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