7 Years ago February I was in Puerto Rico. My boyfriend and I were taking a small puddle jumper plane to Veiques, the next island over, for a day trip. EVERYTHING that went on the plane had to be weighed, including US! When the pilot asked what I weighed, I said 135 (I mean, thats what my license says. Thats what I’ve always been, and since I had dieted before vaca, surely I must have been no more than 139!) But when I actually stepped on the scale and it said 143, I nearly died. That was the heaviest I have been since I was pregnant with my daughter 8 years prior.

When I got back from vacation, I went into a serious depression. No matter what I have done this past year to lose weight, I could not lose 1 pound. I went so far before that vacation as to spend 3 hours in the gym and eat as little as possible, and I might lose 2 pounds, but I’d gain it back.

I ate great. Mostly soy products. I learned to not like the texture and taste of chicken and ground turkey or beef. I ate a lot of veggies and fruit, and by nature, Im not a sweet eater. I do have the occasional weekend cocktails (okay, EVERY weekend cocktails), but I cant believe that is the sole reason I wouldnt lose weight.

As I was curled up in a ball crying about the fact that I was turning 40 in 6 weeks, my boyfriend said “I hate seeing you like this. Why you go see a trainer? Let them see what you’re eating or what your doing wrong. Its not for lack of trying.”

I agreed. I told him I would go in a week. I needed a week to write down my workout and eating habits so they would have something to analyze. As I was doing that, I had seen that I was consuming around 200 carbs a day. Weird, since again, I ate soy, fruits and veggies, but true.

I looked into what carbs were and how many you should have a day. MANY internet sites said the same thing:

To lose weight, you should consume around 75 carbs a day,
To maintain weight around 175, &
To gain weight about 250.

Well, there ya go…..no matter what I did, I was simply “maintaining my weight”. The soy meat I was eating had 30 carbs a serving, a piece of fruit was about 20 and then in a starbucks skim white mocha at 20 carbs, plus crackers or small things in between. Rice and pasta are 45-55 which is practically my days intake!

I decided to try a low carb diet on my own, and lost a few pounds within a week! A few more the week after….and I was officially on my way to 40 and fabulous!

The hardest part was trying to find low carb foods not just to chicken, which is high in protein and no carbs. But when I finally saw the 137 read on the scale, which I hadn’t seen in over 2 years, it was well worth it.

To sum up, I was 129 by by 40th Birthday, 6 weeks later. .

For a list of my favorite low carb foods, and what I eat to help lose weight, see the main menu page!