Hi! I’m Melodie. I am 53, married to a farmer, and have five children: Jason-33, Candice-25, Kelli-23, Rachael-19, and Judson-9. Yes, I know they are strung out, but each one of them is a precious gift from God. My hobbies include gardening, scrapbooking, and raising chickens and goats. What follows is an account of my Weight Loss Journey. It is lengthy, but if you have the time to read it, perhaps it can be an inspiration to you.
My Weight Loss Journey
On February 4, 2002, I stepped onto the scales and saw that my weight had soared to 249 pounds. I was constantly tired and achy. I was having difficulty walking up and down stairs. Making love was no longer any fun. In fact, I don’t know why my husband, Don, even had any desire for me. I was not only BIG, but parts of me were beginning to sag, especially my tummy. My size 2X clothing was stretched to the limit, and I refused to go a size higher.
Some of this weight had piled on over the holidays. But most of it I lugging around for the last 15 to 20 years. I had tried every diet and exercise program in the book. I would lose a few pounds, only to gain it back … plus a few more. Over the next few weeks, I attempted to diet following the Richard Simmons plan. I couldn’t stick to it for even 3 days.
For the previous 5 years we had struggled with rebellion from our daughter, Kelli. One day, Kelli and I had a blow up over the inappropriate clothes she had put on for work, and she moved out. I cried to God, “She’s your child, too. I can’t do anything more for her. She is in your hands.” Soon summer came, and I was too busy to even think about my weight. When the holidays came, I ate with reckless abandon. I recall one evening, when we had friends over for supper. I had gorged myself so much that I was in pain. I actually thought that I was having a heart attack.
Skip forward a few weeks. I was visiting with a friend. She asked if I had been losing weight. I told her, maybe so, because my clothes were fitting looser. I got on the scale. I had somehow lost 20 pounds. I don’t know where it went, or how it got there, but I was glad to be rid of it. The only explanation I could come up with was that I no longer struggled emotionally over our dilemma with Kelli. As Kelli’s graduation approached, I discover that I could almost fit into my favorite dress. I wanted to look nice and not be an embarrassment to her when I attended her graduation. That gave me the motivation to stick to my diet and exercise faithfully. By graduation I had lost another 5 pounds, and I fit into that dress! Don looked at me and said, “You really are losing weight, aren’t you.” Funny, I had to lose 25 pounds before my husband even noticed the change.
At this time I developed arthritic pain in my hips, so I visited with my friend, Kim. She had rheumatoid arthritis and had gone on a diet to alleviate the pain. But she informed me, “Oh, I don’t do that any more.” She introduced me to Somersize. I read the book, but it was just too bizarre for me, so I tried eating just fresh vegetables and whole wheat bread, which did take away the pain in my hips. However, I just couldn’t get that diet out of my head. I kept thinking about the success stories, and how there had been new discoveries that it was the sugar and low quality carbohydrates in our diet that were making us overweight, not the fats and proteins. I talked with Don about it, and we decided to give the diet a try.
On July 18, 2003, we began Somersizing. For 2 whole weeks, I didn’t drop a pound, but I felt so much better. Don felt better, too. For quite some time Don had been plagued very frequently with heartburn that caused him to awake during the night, gasping for breath. After just three day on Somersize he was relived of this torment. Soon I began losing about 2 pounds a week.
Then I heard about Atkins. I had experienced ketosis following the birth of Kelli and Judson, and although I had not known at the time what it was, I knew it was incredible to have no appetite and to lose so rapidly. Now I had found a way to deliberately induce ketosis. Immediately I started Atkins. I was miserable. I was tired and had no energy, and my weight loss came to a screeching halt. I went back to Somersizing, but it seemed that the few days I was on Atkins had disrupted the momentum I had been enjoyed. Finally I did start losing, and by Thanksgiving, I had lost a total of 63 pounds. I was down to 186, the same weight that I had lost down to after Candice and Kelli were born. And that is where I stalled.
For the next 2 years I yo-yoed up and down, but always settled at 186. Finally in the fall of 2005 I broke the cycle by rigidly following my diet and working out twice daily. On Kelli’s wedding day I weighed 178 and fit perfectly into a lovely size 16 dress.
Then came the holidays and a never-ending cold which prevented me from working out, and back came the pounds. By the time we took our trip to Hawaii in February of 2007, my weight was back around 195. Only this time I didn’t just gain weight, I gained fat around the middle. I knew it was the carbs. We had them for breakfast every morning. I would work like a horse all day and be too tired to fix something nutritious for supper, so I would just have a bowl (or usually two) of cereal. Finally I began out-growing all my clothes. I had to do something.
My Journey Takes a Different Path
While waiting in line at Wal-Mart, I noticed a picture on the cover of a magazine [Woman's World 6/12/07]. The caption read “Better Than By-Pass.” I bought the magazine, then checked out the web site referred to in the article. Boy, they wouldn’t even tell you what the diet was unless you paid them $60. I stewed over it for several days. I really wanted to have a success story like the ladies on the website. I had to do something, because what I was doing was not working. I sure didn’t want to buy a new wardrobe, so I decided to shell out the $59. I began the Kimmer Experiment on June 16, 2007 weighing 193 pounds.
In only 3 months I had lost 35 pounds. Then came the news that Kimmer was a fraud. That sent me into a tail spin. I felt totally lost, betrayed, helpless. Finally Don and I talked it over, and decided that, in spite of the rumors and controversy, the bottom line is, KIMKINS WORKS! So we went right back on the diet, and soon began losing weight. When the holidays came I relaxed, put back on a few pounds and had a rough time getting back into the swing of things. But finally I did and the pounds began melting away.
This morning when I got on the scales it said 150.5. That’s a 98.5 weight loss. I celebrated by buying an new pair of size 8 jeans. Quite a difference from the size 2X’s I used to squeeze into.
… Kimkins member, “Morningsong”
