LowCarbCompatible.com™

I am a 49 year old woman and have been overweight most of my adult life. The very first diet I ever attempted was when I was 15 years old. I was sitting at the dinner table with my Mom, Dad, and sister, and we were talking about our weight and needing to lose a few pounds. My weight was 130 lbs., but I don't remember how tall I was at the time. As an incentive to get me to lose weight, my Dad made a bet with me to see which one of us could lose 15 lbs. first. My Dad knew I was very competitive and I am sure he knew it was a great way to get me to lose weight. I don't remember what the bet was, but I do remember I won it. I didn't use any particular diet and chose to cut my portion sizes, which is what worked for me that time.

I continued to maintain 115 lbs. as a teenager and when I graduated high school at 18 years old, my weight was 125 lbs. Over the years I would gain a few pounds and then lose them which caused me to become a yo-yo dieter. The next time I remember losing a bunch of weight was when I was 21 years old, and I was going to get married the following year. My starting weight was 140 lbs. and I lost 22 lbs. starving on a low fat diet. The only food I remember eating was air popped popcorn because I would eat it constantly as my snack food. I was successful in getting my weight to 118 lbs. and maintained that weight before and after getting married to my husband. My husband liked my weight at 118 lbs., but the rest of my family did not. I preferred my weight to be 125 lbs., and once I got back to that weight, I tried very hard to maintain it.

I found out I was pregnant one month after I turned 25 years old, and my weight was back up to 140 lbs. again. I gained over 70 lbs. during the length of my pregnancy and my beautiful, healthy daughter weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. at the time of her birth. When my daughter was six weeks old, my weight was 170 lbs. and I was happy to see 40 lbs. disappear from having her.

I continued to gain weight over the years and my weight was up to 197 lbs. when my daughter was two years old. I started my low fat diet again, and because I was unable to continue with it long term, I fell into my old habit of yo-yo dieting again. Over the next two years I gained and lost weight so often that I can't even remember the numbers anymore. At one point I started walking with my husband every night while I was dieting, and I reached 179 lbs.

When I was 28 years old, I became pregnant with my second child. I didn't gain as much weight with this pregnancy because I was sick and couldn't keep any food down through most of it. My second beautiful, healthy daughter also weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. at the time of her birth. When she was six weeks old, my weight was 189 lbs.

My youngest daughter was only five and a half months old when I became pregnant with my third child. I had just turned 29 years old and never did reach the weight I was before I became pregnant the first time. I was able to keep my weight gain to a reasonable amount, even though I was able to eat with this pregnancy. My healthy, adorable son was 8 lbs. 3 oz. at the time of his birth, and I can't remember my exact weight at the time, but I can remember it was under 200 lbs.

To be continued...