More than one way to shed pounds

By Deborah Taylor-Hollis

Four weeks of the New Year have passed, and for many your resolution to start and succeed at a diet has failed miserably and you are done. Some of you never had a diet in your resolutions, for whatever reason, and a few of you are still successfully on your diets. More power to you.

I started my diet on Aug. 7, with the final goal of losing the 60 pounds that I had put on since my wedding day, when I was already 20 pounds over the lowest adult weight I had ever had.

I had dreaded starting another diet, another moment to reevaluate what I eat and why, another chance to change my habits for life. But last August I saw that I hated what I was becoming, and that nothing less than a permanent change in my eating habits would ever be sufficient. I needed to start over in the way I put things into my mouth.

I went back to a diet that worked well for me for a month last year--the Atkins diet, a low-carb, low-sugar diet with lots of proteins and natural fats. The one the diet people hate. So far, I have lost 40 pounds and have not had my stomach growl from hunger pangs once in 5 1/2 months. I have, however, had a lot of people growl at me.

My friend Jessica, who is a nurse, was appalled that I was going on such a restrictive diet. She was truly afraid for my health. My dietitian at Kaiser (a woman who must weigh at least 275) said her own weight was perfect for her height and that I needed to lose no more than 10 pounds or so--back when I weighed in at 200.

Even the woman at the bakery (the bakery!!!) turned on me when she heard the word "Atkins" and yelled out that it was dangerous and deadly.

My doctor keeps checking me for signs of rigor mortis, but just can't find anything wrong. My blood pressure is down, my cholesterol is down, my weight is way down, and I am never hungry or cranky. What I am is a cholesterol addict whose own body is so efficient that any sugar, in straight form or as any starch (including vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains) is used at less than half the rate of most other humans. If NASA dietitians conducted a poll about who could live the longest with the least, I am "The Survivor." I don't need to prove it on that island.

Because people like me, with extremely efficient engines and normal functioning thyroids are in the minority, most standard dietary protocols are useless to us. I spent 28 years doing what the diet industry suggested, and from age 15 I kept gradually putting on weight throughout my life. If I had continued down this non-productive path (eat sensibly, drink plenty of fluids, get moderate exercise), I would weigh in at close to 300 by my 50th birthday--and I do not think that is acceptable on any ratio chart, even if I grew to be 6-foot-5.

Unfortunately, those of us that are cholesterol-challenged are unheard, ignored and threatened when we try Atkins. It doesn't matter how many diets failed us, we are told that they have to work, or that we must have done it wrong. We are told that if exercise isn't slimming us, it is our fault because we did too little of it. We are told that if we get hungry--nasty, ravenously, growling angry-gonna-attack-the-girl-scout-cookie-seller hungry--that we don't have any self-control and that it is--once again--our own fault. So when we fall off the diet, the one nobody could succeed on, and no one would try but us, it's all our fault, anyway.

I finally wondered why I would be so miserable if it was such a good diet. Using that criteria, I threw out all the diets with limits on when or how much I could eat. "Normal" people don't starve themselves when they are hungry, so why should I? Normal people get to eat after four in the afternoon--why not me? Normal people do not have to weigh their chicken, count calories from a book, eat only from the red box, or use some fancy game card to get a darned piece of meat, so, again, why should I?

I go to the doctor every month. I take all the supplemental vitamins and minerals, and with no adverse effects, my doctor supports my choice to eat what actually gives me results and not empty promises.

When I lost the weight, it threatened people. That protein diet is a scary thing for the world to admit works. It proves that the diet industry is not always right, and it disproves the age-old lie that we are the weak ones that can't make the diet work.

It's not my job to make a diet look good. It's the other way around, and from now on, it's not my fault. Of course, I have another 20 pounds to go. Wish me luck.

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Contact Deborah Taylor-Hollis at DTHollis@metronews.com.

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