Do You Know A Good Way To Lose Weight?

I got an e-mail today from a reader who found my blog after reading one of my recent posts about how NBC's hit television show "The Biggest Loser" may be creating unreasonable weight loss expectations for people.

This very young mother of three children was pleading in her e-mail to me for help. What I could hear her saying above everything else could be summed up in the following question:

Do you know a good way to lose weight?

Hmmm, let me think about that one for a minute. :)

Seriously, there are a whole lotta people out there who have done the diet thing for so many years and still haven't seen the lasting results they have been looking for. And with the failure of the low-fat diet as evidenced by the release of a long-term study this week, people are beginning to question if there really is ANY way to get their weight under control and to improve their health.

Hopelessness. Helplessness. Desperation. These are all very real feelings that people who are overweight or obese feel every single day that they think they can't lose that weight that stares back at them when they look in the mirror. It's an albatross that literally weighs down their body and it drains them physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

I KNOW this because I've been there myself. Weighing over 400 pounds just two years ago, I was in desperate need of something, ANYTHING that would get me out of the mess I had created for myself. It was ME who had the problem with overeating junk food, sugary snacks and sodas, and not exercising and it was ME who had to do something about it.

That's where my reader is at in her life and here's what she wrote to me:

Hello,

I just read what you had written about The Biggest Loser and I wanted to thank you and maybe talk to you a bit about it. You said about how you have or are losing weight and I think that is great.

I have been overweight all of my life and I just did not care. But now I have a husband and three kids and I am only 22 years old. I am short at only 5'2" and I weigh 194 lbs. I finally looked at myself and I just don't like what I see anymore.

I went out and got myself a gym membership and am trying to find a good diet for me. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong because I'm not losing any weight. In fact, I've even put some more on and that scares me to death.

I just don't know what to do. So, if you have any good advice for me, I would love to hear it and I wish you luck with your diet. Keep it up and let me know how your doing with it.

Thankfully, my reader seems to have the right mindset and sincere desire to lose weight. She just needs a clear plan of action to help her accomplish her goal.

Here was my response to her:

THANK YOU so much for writing to me today. I'm glad you found me through one of my articles about "The Biggest Loser." I really am a BIG FAN of the show because it shows people that weight loss is possible when you are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.

If you have been to my blog at LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com, then you know I was a pretty big loser myself -- I LOST 180+ POUNDS IN 2004! The best thing is that I have been able to keep the weight off ever since without a lot of effort or strain because I found a healthy and nutritious way of eating that keeps me satisfied while also controlling my weight.

When I began my low-carb lifestyle on January 1, 2004, I weighed 410 pounds on my 6'3" frame. Although I am tall, that was still a lot of weight to carry around. I was having trouble breathing and took medication for it as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I had a 62-inch waist, wore 5XL shirts, and didn't like the morbidly obese monster I had become.

But all that changed in 2004 as I learned more about low-carb living (you really MUST educate yourself about what is involved with low-carb so you can do it the right way) and started a regular exercise routine for the first time in my life. The results were incredible -- 30 pounds lost the first month, 40 pounds the second month, and nearly 100 pounds in about 120 days! Who knew?!

Of course, I hit a weight loss stall as everyone does and I had the typical aches and pains of losing weight, but I persevered. I wrote about my experience in a book called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" (available from Amazon.com) to help others just like YOU who need to know a real person got through this process and triumphed over their weight problem.

It can seem insurmountable at this point for you, I'm sure. I know because I've been there myself. But that kind of negative thinking has to be thrown out and the believer that lives inside of you needs to come screaming out proclaiming, "I'M READY TO DO THIS!"

Are you ready? Then MAKE IT HAPPEN! You are still very young with a loving husband and three beautiful kids to live your life for. Who knows, you could be the trend setter in your household to begin living a healthy lifestyle that will carry into the adult lives of those kids long after they move out of your house someday. Isn't that what this is all about, breaking the cycle?

I am so proud of you for wanting to do this. That's most of the battle there. But now it's time to take a healthy heaping of that "want to" and transforming it into a "got to" do this mentality. The key is to NEVER give up because the alternative is NOT an option for you. Leave that overweight woman you see in the mirror and start living the life you were meant to live.

Please visit LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com often to find information and encouragement that will help you in your weight loss journey. I invest a lot of time into that web site because I want others to feel and enjoy the sweet taste of victory over their obesity. I will NEVER forget what it was like being fat and am dedicating myself to help others do this for themselves, too.

God bless you and feel free to write to me ANYTIME you need a lift!

For those of you who have overcome your weight problem, does this bring back memories for you? I'll never forget how relieved I was that livin' la vida low-carb was working so well for me. I KNEW even in those early months that I had found a way to not only lose weight (the "diet"), but also how to keep it off (the "lifestyle change"). And I'll keep doing it for the rest of my long and healthy life! :)

Got a question for "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Man" (that's ME!)? E-mail me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.