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:

[BibChr]

I'll disagree with you.

Glad it worked for you, but you oversimplify, and if someone took you too seriously, he might just never make the change.

In my case, I felt so bad that being told "exercise exercise exercise" would have just meant "forget it forget it forget it."

In my case, I made the eating switch, and purposed to ramp up the physical activity as I could. To my great surprise, that was in fact almost immediately. But it was only as I felt better, thanks to the eating switch.

So I WALKED one of the three flights of stairs up, and all three down, instead of using the elevator, for a week. Then all three. And I parked further away. Then further. And so on.

To tell a grossly obese person that the first thing he has to do is exercise, is to give him one more reason never to think seriously about losing weight.

Dan

[Xenalyte]

I haven't dropped much either - I'm led to understand the caffeine is helping me keep it on. However, I'd rather saw off a leg than give up Diet Coke.

[BibChr]

I still doubt direct causality. Actual research is going in the other direction.

And once again, if my experience and others' is an indication, give me "dangerous."

Dan

[Mamzelle]

Gee, it was my own personal physician who turned me on to locarb.

Went in for my checkup to see my rolypoly gyn turned all lean and buff--so I tried what he had.

Most of the criticisms I've read of the Atkins plan boil down to "post hoc, ergo propter hoc." That means if you shake hands with someone and they drop dead, handshaking is very dangerous...

There has been no establishment of increased renal failure by healthy people doing Atkins. Those with kidney disease should not try Atkins--

There was some discussion that Atkins might cause gall bladder disease, but all overweight people (especially women in the "four f's" category--Fat, Forty, Fair and Fertile) are at increased risk. If you lose weight, also, you are at increased risk of gall bladder disease. So naturally there's a lot of GBD numbers floating around any diet.

Some new studies indicate a possibility that locarb eating (and that means more fat and protein) increases the "good" cholesteral and decreases triglycerides. But we need a good look at that.

There is an epidemic of Type II diabetes in this country--this used to be called Adult Onset diabetes until it became epidemic among children. --Just in the past few years, mind you. Video games get the blame, but I'm betting it's the twinkies.

[wheelgunguru]

Like I said, if you check the links, you'll see both sides. But I know that as of today, 11-4-03, the docs with whom my wife works are down on Atkins.

I personally don't have a weight problem, but I do struggle with cholesterol. I went on a lifestyle-change diet for about a year. Then, I got so frustrated with lifetime dieting I concluded that, since none of us is going to get off the planet alive, why bother?

I do sympathize with the "battle of the bulge." I merely stated an observation.

If so many disagree, then that's certainly their prerogative.

[sam_paine]

wheelgunguru......Buzz Off!

You are a condescending nitwit to tell me to do a "google" search to learn about my health decisions.

I have discussed my diet/exercise actions with my doctor as I have returned to my target weight over the past year of a low-carb diet. His advice and his vigilance beats anything your wife overheard at the dentist office hands down! My blood tests show no adverse health effects at all....IN FACT I no longer take Lipitor for cholesterol. And I eat bacon!!! ARrrrrrghh! That should give your wife fits. Ha! Get lost, riteous dude.

[BibChr]

Breaking news: everyone who loses weight DIES!!!

Bring me pizza and beer!

< /parody >

Dan
(c;

[Mamzelle]

Michelob Ultra!

Make that extra-thin crust with extra-thick cheese!

[FeliciaCat]

If you read Ribeye's post, it does advise to stay away from alot of carbs (flour, rice)...I believe his post was just trying to point out the need for commonsense in dieting.

For what its worth, I am a BIG fan of low carb eating.

[BibChr]

I just heard that Corona Light is lo carb. You?

Dan

[.38sw]

I just did a search on Yahoo using Atkins diet plus cholesterol. The first page had more links suggesting that the diet doesn't cause an increase in cholesterol than links saying it does. Very confusing. Here's the link: search results.

[TN Prof]

I started the Atkins Diet in July, after a family doctor friend recommended it. My own doctor is quite happy with the diet. I have lost 30 lbs with 40 to go, my husband has lost 50. My Type II diabetes is essentially gone, and I've stopped taking all medication for it, with the doctor's blessing. My blood pressure has dropped to well within the normal range.

The Atkins Diet is NOT about all the meat you can eat. The carbs I get are from eating veggies and salads. After healthly portions of them, I'm just not too hungry for much meat...

I plan on eating this way for the rest of my life. My health has improved too much to ever go back.

[BibChr]

He gets around to that.

But here's where he starts, and I quote:

1) Exercise. Period. You HAVE to move your body. Lift weights, walk, run, garden...move. There is NO excuse for not doing some form of exercise except physical limitations/handicap.

It is to that I raised my objection.

Dan

[Mamzelle]

There's so many new options that weren't out there two years ago!

There's pretty good bread--"Nature's Own."

Breyers is producing locarb ice cream.

There's a whole new line of cookies.

Once you're on maintenance, you can even have a Reece's cup. (Give the other one in your package away).

The notion that this is all bacon and eggs is so silly. I eat more salad and greens than ever, and broccoli has become sweet and delicious (with a drizzle of real butter, of course) now that my taste has adjusted. A nibble of the average dessert is now painfully and distastefully sweet-- and I'm starting to experiment with baking. You know, we can have real ganache and mousses and creme brulees, sweeten cheesecake with Splenda--

And lots of nuts--

[luckystarmom]

I was only 15 pounds overweight, but I can't stand to exercise. However, I can easily take the stairs instead of the elevator. I can easily park a little further away. I also started taking my kids to the park and running around with them.

[maggief]

In the last nine months I lost both my husband and mother to cancer. Not only have I felt emotionally drained but physically, as well. I'd gained twenty five pounds and was having severe bouts of acid reflux. Two months ago I began a low carb diet. My focus was on health, weight loss was secondary. Today I'm down ten pound, but the best news is the acid reflux is all but gone. I was taking 1-2 Tagamet per day. Now I've only taken 2 tablets in the last two months. Amazing. Now ... if I could only sleep at night ...

[Nataku X]

It's not about low-carb. It's about low-calorie. It's much easier to eat fewer calories on the Atkins diet than on the Ornish diet, that's why more people have success on the former.

I'll donate to FR if you can consume the calorie equivalent of 12 soft drinks, 8 Quarter Pounders, and 4 large fries in eggs, butter, and meats at one sitting. You just can't do that on the Atkins diet. I'd estimate (150*12)+(500*8)+(550*4)=8000 calories, that's 10 pounds of steak or 2.5 pounds of butter or 114 eggs. And that's what this guy ate in one sitting.

C'mon, I triple-dog dare ya... (just kidding!)

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Your post 25 is spot on...it EXACTLY what I have done. I started late May this year at 345 lbs (I'm also 6'6") as of this morning I'm 242. I stayed <20 carbs for 3 months, I'm between 20 and 60 now everyday...it works. I wanna get down to 220-235. The funny thing is...having to exercise is not the issue...I want to!

[Huck]

Patience. I know. I was hoping for a quick little jumpstart, but it didn't happen. On the plus side, I get to eat til I am full (a herculean task) every day, and I am not as hungry. I also don't drink hardly as much coffee as I did, though I do still drink diet cola. So, it has been sort of mixed. But pizza and red wine are the two things I do miss. I wanna see a bump or something, so I can start drinking a glass of red wine a night again (big glass.)

[SupplySider]

I'm with you on this. I think you can adopt an Atkins-like approach, but not go overboard on protein, include modest amounts of whole grains, and substitute legumes, nuts and skim milk for much or all of the meat in the protein part of the diet.

This is just my personal approach, and was influenced by the fact that I am a life long vegetarian and love veggie foods, as I am sure many Atkins adherents are influenced by their love of meat. Objectively, though, I don't believe modest amounts of meat or whole grains and pulses will hurt anyone.

Doing this along with biking and swimming I lost eighty pounds and have kept fifty of them off for three years without struggling anymore.