My Story
Dear Desperate Dieter:
If you’re like me, you’ve spent far too many years trying diet after diet after diet! Some even worked – but not for long. Because the diets require extraordinary efforts or wildly different eating or exercising habits, they never really get integrated into your lifestyle.
So, after the diet is “over” you go back to your regular habits – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but eventually you go back to the same habits that got you in trouble in the first place!!
Wouldn’t you love to discover a program that works quickly, is easy to stay on, creates great results, and teaches you how to maintain the results over time? Read on…
Diets Don’t Work
We’ve all heard this – and we know, deep down, that it’s true. Weight Loss Diets don’t work. They may be useful for a time, but eventually most of us fall off the wagon – in fact 85% of us will gain the weight back within 2 years unless we have some kind of behavioral support.
That’s because anything that requires us to use willpower alone is bound to fail over time. The only lasting hope is to permanently modify what and how you eat. And generally that means having support while you are relearning how to eat.
It’s Really NOT Your Fault!
Many of us started the yo-yo diet journey in our teens and twenties. Some of us had no problems until we hit our 30s. And some of us discovered in our 40s that our bodies had changed so much that whatever we had used before simply no longer worked!!
Unfortunately we live in a society that values instant everything – from instant gratification to instant fast food to instant results! Any of these set us up for long-term failure.
There’s no question the fast food industry has done more to obesify this country than anything else. And the glamor industry has done more to skew our self-images than anything else! We have both extremes – a population where 68% of us are overweight and 32% are obese – and a segment that is so concerned about extra pounds that they starve themselves into anorexia. Neither extreme is healthy physically or mentally. And both extremes have serious physical health consequences!
I Was In the Same Spot As You!
I have struggled with my weight ever since I hit puberty. At first it was only a few pounds – and because I was so physically active, it didn’t hold me back very much. By the time I was a senior in high school, those few pounds turned into 20.
So I tried some variation of the Mayo Clinic Diet (remember that one – grapefruit and coffee and hardboiled egg breakfasts for 2 weeks). It seemed to work and I dropped 10 pounds. I still wasn’t “optimum” but it was good enough for me.
Then I went off to college and out into the working world. Eventually, when I got pregnant with my daughter my weight shot up 30 pounds. After she was born, I dropped 10, but then stayed there. After several months of again trying many different programs, a friend introduced me to the Atkins diet. Finally, it seemed I had found something that fit my personal body type and needs! After losing 30 or more pounds I was again feeling good about myself.
But low-to-no carbohydrates is difficult to maintain and even though I liked this diet a lot, eventually I again went back to my previous eating habits, unable to sustain the low-carb lifestyle.
I Tried Some of the Strangest Diets!!
Over the years I have tried so many different diets I can’t even remember most of them! There was the time I tried the South Beach Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, I even fasted for 6 weeks – drinking only water for the first week and then eating one grapefruit every 3-4 days. And eventually I would go back to my most successful diet – the Atkins low carbohydrate diet.
The thing is, by then I was putting weight on pretty quickly – once even gaining 40 pounds in about 3 months. Nothing seemed to work but Atkins, but those results were short termed, too.
Then there was the time in my 30′s when I became convinced that I was poisoning myself and I became afraid to eat. I would take a bite of food and it tasted strange, so I would spit it out. At the same time I started having difficulty swallowing so I kept a glass of water by me all the time and would take a sip every time I became afraid of not being able to swallow.
Needless to say, I lost a lot of weight during this time, and interestingly, after I got over whatever that poison fear was, I kept it off for 2 years – and I kept it off without even thinking about it. In fact, I figured I would never have a weight problem again because in that 2 year time I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and had no issues with weight at all.
You know how the Universe steps in to remind you not to be so smug? Well guess what happened – at some point my “immunity” stopped and unfortunately the weight piled back on!
Eventually I went back on Atkins again and over a 9 month period I took off 65 lbs. This time it lasted about 4 years, but then we moved to the Redwoods, a beautiful but foggy place that does not encourage exercise, and the weight started creeping back on.
I Even Became A Vegetarian
During the mid-1990s someone convinced me to try a different way of eating – eating nothing but fruit until noon and vegetarian fare the rest of the day. Well, that was as far from Atkins as I could get and after 6 months and 40 more pounds I gave that one up for good! I never really got used to so much sugar in my diet nor the lower protein and lack of dairy. I really missed the eggs and cheese – and believe me, there is no acceptable substitute for cheese!
Nothing Seemed to Work!! I Was So Frustrated…
Then an interesting thing happened…or rather, didn’t happen. Suddenly, Atkins no longer worked for me. Oh, it would work for a couple days – long enough to get the water weight off, but then it would stop, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to kick in again!
When my job became so stressful that I actually had to take two months off from work, my weight went up again. I didn’t realize it at the time, but stress causes increased cortisol – and that equals weight gain. So back on the yo-yo.
I tried counting calories. I tried portion control. I tried over the counter stuff from Costco and the pharmacies. I even tried some raw food & smoothy tricks. Nothing worked. I was getting desperate enough I even considered fasting again.
One of my friends elected bypass surgery and seemed to be doing very well with it. I toyed with that idea, but I don’t like surgery and didn’t like the finality of having my stomache stapled. I kept remembering my other friend who almost died because of an infection he got during the surgery and the friend who had such high hopes but only lost 20 pounds. Besides, I really wanted to be in charge of my life – not have some surgery limit it!
A Light At the End of the Tunnel?
I guess when you are serious about your intent and ask in the right ways, the Universe brings the opportunities to your door. One day I heard about a program with 25 years of successful results. A program that not only took care of the food aspect but provided a health coach to support me on the program. And, the reports I was getting from people on the program said not only were they losing 3-8 pounds a week, but the food tasted good, too! And, it was convenient and affordable.
No memberships to join. No meetings to attend (except one-on-one calls with my health coach). No shopping – the food was shipped to me each month. And did I mention affordable? The meals themselves only cost about $10 per day – I used to spend that much just on buying lunch out.
And the program gave me someone I could contact when I needed help, support, or celebration!
I Couldn’t Wait to Start! Was This My Answer?
I ordered my first package and it showed up the day before Thanksgiving. I knew we were going to friends’ for the holiday, so I semi-started, but still ate a small Thanksgiving dinner. The next day we went wine tasting and again I watched my food intake, but still had fun. Imagine my delight to discover on Monday morning I had lost 4 pounds! Amazing!!
And everyone was right – the food tastes good! It’s convenient and quick, and you get to mix and match what you like the best.
I even took it on a three week vacation to Florida which included an 8 day cruise to the Caribbean. I ate 2 small meals every day during the cruise (including dessert every night), and STILL lost 7 pounds during that time! All I did was switch over to the “maintenance” portion of the diet during the cruise – I had fun and still lost weight! Already I’d learned how to eat in a healthy way that supports my body.
In 12 weeks I lost 38 pounds. That’s a little more than 3 pounds a week – and without any exercise. One of my male friends lost 65 pounds in 10 weeks – but you know how much more quickly guys tend to lose weight compared to women! As of April 15, I’m more than 50 lbs lighter and my goal is another 24 pounds, which should happen in early May 2009.
The best part is that I intend to NEVER have to do this diet thing again!! Because now I have the tools, the skills and the support to make sure it doesn’t happen again!
Could This Be Your Answer Too?
If you’re tired of trying diet after diet, if you’re ready to make a healthy decision to regain the body you love, if you have a strong desire to look on the outside as beautiful as you are on the inside, this is the program for you!
If you want a safe and effective way to conquer this thing once and for all, if you want a program with verifiable results (25 years of experience), if you want a program that over 15,000 physicians have recommended, then you owe it to yourself to find out more!
If you’re thinking, “It can’t be that easy!” you may be right. It takes sticking to the plan, and getting right back on it again if you fall off. But isn’t that the same with anything in life?
Maybe you’re wondering how much of a hassle it might be? Well, if you can use a measuring cup and read a clock, if you want to focus your energies on things that empower you rather than having to count calories or carbs or fat or ….
If you’d like someone to answer your questions, help you self correct as you learn what works for your body, provide ongoing support and cheer you on your way, then this is the time to enter your information below and click the button to schedule a complimentary telephone session and find out more!
There IS Something You Can Do
Simply enter your name and email address below. You will receive an invitation for a complimentary coaching call and a link to further information you can read through to help you decide that now is the time and this is the program to help you get back to a body and a life that you can love.
Warmly,
Katie Darden
Your Health Coach