I've Only Eaten Meat and Cheese for 7 Years — And Lost 130 Pounds Doing It
My mom never struggled with weight. She has always had an incredible figure, so she didn't really think about sugar or fat when she fed us kids. Like most parents in the '80s, it just wasn't on her radar, but it did start to affect me. By the end of middle school, I considered myself heavy. And while most people experience the freshman 15 in college, I gained more like the freshman 50.
I tried every diet imaginable. I would starve myself down and then regain twice as much. I tried a diet of only pickles. I tried to see how many days I could go without eating solid food. I tried all kinds of nutty stuff. I also did regular things, like cutting calories and exercising, but I could never stay not-fat.
When I got married in 2002, my wedding dress was a size 22/24. Thankfully, I know that my husband really loves me - it's not just for how I look now - because back then I weighed 240 pounds and the weight kept piling on. By 2005, I carried 262 pounds on my 5-foot-nine-inch frame.
I started noticing abscesses on my legs and went through multiple staph infections. My doctor said he could "almost guarantee" that my issues would go away if I cut carbs out of my diet and handed me a brochure. It listed all carbohydrate-heavy foods on the front, which was everything I loved to eat - donuts and bagels and pastas. On the back was a list of non-carbs, and I was supposed to eat only from that list. I thought, I'll try.
DISCOVERING MY DIET
I lost a lot of weight at first while eating as much eggs, cheese and meat as I wanted, but with very limited carbs. By the time I saw my doctor again a year later, I'd lost 80 pounds, and he didn't even recognize me. He was in shock. "I tell people to do this, but no one ever actually listens to me," he said. Well, I did and it worked. He tells me all the time, "Don't change a thing."
What got me to a final weight of about 135 pounds - and staying there - was a diet of only meat, eggs and cheese. And I felt good. I found that if I ate any carbs, it was much harder to maintain the weight without working out like crazy. I thought about cutting them out completely, but, like most people, I thought, It can't be healthy to eat like that forever. So, I did some research.
About 100 years ago, the ethnologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson studied an all-meat diet based on Eskimo people and Inuit Indians. They lived in Canada before produce was able to be shipped from place to place, so fruits and vegetables weren't an option, yet these groups had the lowest incidences of cancer and high fertility rates. I also came across zero-carb groups like Zero In On Health, which validated my feelings that I really was feeling better without carbs, and I wasn't the only one.
My doctor didn't recognize me. He said, 'I tell people to do this, but no one ever listens.'
A common misconception about going zero-carb is that it's all about counting calories and eating chicken breasts. It's actually a very high-fat, high-calorie diet - and you don't need to count a thing. It's as simple as this: You eat until you're full, and then you go live your life.
Another bonus: My sweet tooth disappeared. Your brain only craves addictive substances that it's exposed to. (You know how you don't crave cocaine if you've never had it? Stop eating donuts and your brain will quit asking for those too.)
Then there's the fertility side of things. Before cutting carbs, I struggled to get pregnant. My specialist had warned me that a zero-carb diet might be great for my weight but that other issues, like my ovulation cycle, may not self-correct. Turns out it did. I have three children - a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old.
THE ZERO-CARB LIFE
Every day, I eat about 2 pounds of meat - I usually do a mix of steak or chicken wings, thighs, breasts, bacon, eggs and omelets.
Lately, as a working mom with three little ones, I've been in a rut: eight quarter-pound burger patties per day, which has earned me the nickname "Quarter" at our local McDonald's. I'll have a few in the morning, a few for lunch, a few for dinner. At $4 per pound, it's inexpensive and easy. I do have coffee, and I don't really drink alcohol. Now, I'm not saying everybody should survive off of McDonald's burgers, but I feel pretty great doing it.
My kids aren't zero-carb like me, but they are on a low-carb diet: fruits, vegetables and meat. They don't eat sugar - but that's because they have no desire for it. If we go past the bakery section of the grocery store, they say it smells gross. I'll allow them to make their own choices as they get older, but until then, I'm hoping I can save them some of the heartache I experienced as an overweight kid.
When I'm cooking for my family, I'll put a roast in the crockpot and maybe add some vegetables. My kids eat the meat and vegetables, I'll only eat the meat and my husband gets everything plus a side of mac and cheese. (He can eat whatever he wants and stay at a reasonable weight.) On weekends, my family and I will have an omelet with cheese and a pile of bacon.
I don't really work out anymore. I'm an elementary school music teacher, teaching kindergarten through fifth grade. It's a pretty active job - I'm on my feet singing and dancing quite a bit during the day. A lot of people wonder if I've had skin removal surgery, and the answer is no. After three kids, my body's not perfect, but my only surgeries have been C-sections.
These days, I'm probably closer to 145 pounds because I'm breastfeeding and need the extra weight. I'm confident that will drop off once I stop breastfeeding, but I won't be obsessing over a scale. I stopped weighing myself years ago because my weight just didn't change.
I think of myself like a lioness. If you picture lions out in a field, it's not like they force themselves to get up and go running. And they don't think, I just ate a few hours ago, I should skip that antelope. If they're hungry, they go eat. They go get an antelope, fuel up, and then they lay down in the field and relax until they're hungry again. They just follow their body's lead when they're hungry or thirsty. If I'm hungry at 10 p.m. before bed, I just eat. There are no time or calorie restrictions. You're living like a lion.
I'm not trying to make converts here, but no one can argue with how I feel. I encourage people who are struggling with weight, fertility, memory loss, depression or lack of energy to give this 30 days. If you don't feel better, all you've had is some extra bacon. This may not be the answer for everybody, but it's made me feel incredible.
Kelly Hogan is an elementary school educator, wife and mother of three living in North Carolina. She shares her journey at My Zero Carb Life.
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