Age: 35
Starting Weight: 240 lbs
Current Weight: 190 lbs (goal 135 lbs)
Total Loss: 50 lbs (half way to goal!)
Occupation: registered nurse (RN)
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Hi, my name is Jennifer. I’m a 35 year old [critical care] nurse from Charleston, West Virginia, and this is my story.
I can remember being on a diet the first time when I was in grade school. My late mother was constantly on some sort of fad diet throughout the years — a Cabbage Soup Diet, a popcorn diet once, Physician’s Weight Loss Centers — and more often than not, Weight Watchers.
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When I started going through puberty at age 9, hormonal changes brought on weight gain. I made my first trip to a Weight Watchers meeting — complete with my little ‘weight tracking’ book and miles and miles of food exchange lists. I was excited at first, it was a little like discovering a new challenge and uncharted territory — but I lost interest very soon, and lots of activity melted the weight off anyway over the next 4 years.
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My freshman year in high school, I became obsessed with my weight. I ate nothing but salads and a little meat here and there, and I would do Kathy Smith workout videos every day as soon as I got home from school, then step on the scale to see if I’d lost any weight. At 5’5″, I weighed in at 125 pounds and thought I was still huge.
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Then, my boyfriend got sent over to Iraq the next year during Desert Storm and my battle with emotional eating emerged to the forefront. I had long comforted myself with starchy foods — macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, etcetera during my childhood. By the time he came back to the States, I was devouring family size pizzas in one setting and I clearly remember waiting for my food to settle mid-stride, then going right back at it.
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The particular emotion wasn’t important — happy, sad, frustrated, distraught. I turned to food to deal with my problems.
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Over the next 15 years I made the diet rounds to end all diet rounds. I tried almost everything. I was getting ready to have gastric bypass surgery in 2002 when I discovered the Atkins diet. Suddenly, the weight started melting off. I lost over 30 pounds eating pork rinds, cheese, deli meats, chicken wings and countless other foods that make me cringe to think of them now. I also discovered low carb beer, and started working their carbs into my daily intake.
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Not surprisingly, the weight came crashing right back.
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In 2008, I journeyed to California with my best friend on a 4th of July trip. I had ballooned up to over 240 pounds. I could barely fit in the airplane seat. I was down to one pair of jeans that fit, and they were skin-tight, because I absolutely refused to buy anything over a size 20.
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I had found the Kimkins Diet 2 years before on a low carb thread and purchased my membership. I think I started and stopped 4 or 5 times right after I discovered the WOE [way of eating], then filed it under “too hard” in my mind because it [Kimkins] wouldn’t let me have my beer, my cheese, and it discouraged cheating.
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While I was in San Diego, my mind kept drifting back to the plan — and a little voice told me firmly, “Just try it when you get back.”
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Always afraid of my emotional eating habits sabotaging me, I began making small changes when I got back home. I wasn’t ready for the plan in its entirety, because losing weight would mean change for me, and change (I knew from experience) brought all those old fears to the surface — and required the comfort of binge eating for compensation.
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I read through [forum] posts, prayed, posted, and finally started the plan in earnest late November of 2008. I think at one point I read every post in the ‘newbie’ section, and finally, the light turned on: low carb, low fat, moderate calories = success …*lasting* success.
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To this day I have lost over 50 pounds on the [Kimkins] plan. I have made countless friends on the forums, and am currently involved in several challenges. Kimkins works — and it is continuing to work for me, as I have around 55 pounds left until goal.
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I have battled my emotional eating disorder throughout my weight loss thus far, and I am winning — as a matter of fact I am in the home stretch. In my current challenge, the members have been working through many emotional issues we face from day to day. We’ve uncovered different strategies to help us overcome our saboteurs — and we’ve made wonderful friendships during the process.
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My success at Kimkins has been twofold — the plan has given me the tools I need to reshape my body and chip away at my damaged metabolism. My hypertension is gone. I have tons of energy and I have discovered a new healthy respect for my body — it’s an engine, and I own the key as well as operate the controls.
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Conversely, I have discovered a new ‘family’ of sorts on the site forums — and more than once their support has pulled me away from consistently beating myself down — and taught me ways to build myself up.
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I am so grateful for the Kimkins plan. Had I not put it into action, I probably would have been well on my way to weight loss surgery by this time — and possibly very ill. Kimkins has given me free reign to undo years worth of metabolic damage and the opportunity to reach my goal of 125 pounds again. I can’t imagine ever looking back at 240 again — and I never will.
