The REAL Jo Heeley Low-Carb Weight Loss Success Story

The media missed the story, but Jo's here to set 'em straight!

If there's one thing we can always count on almost automatically from most media coverage of people who have lost weight on the low-carb lifestyle is they're just gonna get it wrong. The great Dr. Mike Eades blogged about this very subject just last week with a low-carb success story named Phill Novak appearing on CNN recently (they only gave a cursory mention to his diet and focused almost exclusively on his exercise--I interviewed Phill about his DIET for my podcast show on Monday). It's just a sad reality in mainstream media coverage these days that we have to come to terms with.

As a writer myself, I try to make sure the information I provide is as accurate as possible according to the research and knowledge I have about that subject. With that said, sometimes there is pertinent data missing from articles I have written and I respond accordingly. Such is the case with this December 2006 blog post about a low-carb weight loss success story named Jo Heeley. She lost a total of 84 pounds following a low-carb eating regimen and her story was featured in a popular British newspaper called The Sun.

Unfortunately, the author of that article (apparently no longer available online) took judicious liberty to make up and embellish the story to appear as if UK nutritionist Amanda Ursell had something to do with Jo's success. Well, in a word--WRONG! I recently heard from Jo Heeley herself and she said the column was fraught with so many "errors" it wasn't even funny.

Jo wasn't impressed by what The Sun editors did to her low-carb story.

"I find it quite frightening how these articles are literally changed to suit the point of view of whoever pays the money," Jo shared with me in an e-mail. "My issue is only a trivial one, but what inaccuracies are in 'big' news!!???"

That's true! But we'll leave that discussion for other blogs about media to discuss. For now, I wanted to hear THE TRUTH about the REAL Jo Heeley low-carb weight loss success story and she's been gracious enough to provide it for us here today. She actually began following the Atkins diet (BY THE BOOK!) in June 2003 about "half-heartedly" since she "didn't think it would work" and went on to hit her goal weight in February 2004. Now, she's been continuing to eat this way ever since because "I love it and it's so easy."

AMEN TO THAT, Jo! CONGRATULATIONS on your success and I'm very pleased and honored to provide your story in your own words with my readers today. Keep on shining bright as an ambassador for livin' la vida low-carb and inspiring people in the UK and around the world to follow in your footsteps to better health!

Here is Jo's story from Jo herself:

Several years ago I was bumbling along, weighing in at 210 pounds and growing. I loved my food and had a very sweet tooth. I would spend my days eating chocolate, cakes, biscuits, crisps and then have three big meals a day. At night I'd feel quite sick, laying in bed with heartburn, indigestion, wishing I hadn't been such a pig and vowing to start my diet tomorrow!!! But the next morning I'd be up eating all over again.

At the end of May 2003 my cousin came to stay with us for the weekend, he was raving on and on about the Atkins diet and had lost 28 pounds. I thought it sounded like total rubbish and had heard through the media that it was dangerous. But my cousin kept on and on and I have to say I couldn't believe what he was eating and still claimed he was losing weight! Anyway, before he left he brought me a copy of "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" and told me to try it--just for two weeks...I didn't read the book but just glanced at the "allowed" foods on the Induction page.

The first few days, I exchanged my usual high-carb foods with low-carb snacks. Every time I wanted chocolate or crisps I'd have a piece of cheese or meat. Meals would be roughly the same as I'd always had but without the fries, pasta, potatoes, etc.

On day 3 of Induction, I remember thinking I was coming down with flu or something because I felt "headachey" and miserable. I didn't give up on my low-carbing because by the end of the first week I felt absolutely great with more energy, my IBS had vanished, my aching joints had gone and I even FELT THINNER!!

Two weeks in and (I remember this vividly now) I was sitting in the garden enjoying the sun and I looked at my watch at 2:15pm when I suddenly I realized I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast! This was a MAJOR breakthrough for me because never before in my life had I ever forgotten to eat!

It was at that point I went and got the Atkins book out again and actually read it. I finally realized that everything about low-carb living I was experiencing was true just as Dr. Atkins wrote! I was indeed a major carboholic--totally addicted to them and without even realizing it. At this point, I knew I'd broken free from my addiction.

I lost 10 pounds in that first two weeks and after a while I realized the weight loss formed a pattern. I'd lose about 5 pounds over two weeks which would then be followed by two weeks where I didn't lose weight but I lost inches.

One day, I decided on a pursuing a target weight to reach for a specific goal. I'd never gotten far enough into a diet before to even think about that one!! I went for 140 pounds (10 stones for my fellow British) which seemed like a nice sensible weight for my height of 5'7" tall. As I got closer to it by November 2003, I started to wonder how to actually stop "dieting." I talked it over with another low-carber who just said "why stop?" Well, I was enjoying my food and I wasn't feeling deprived so I didn't stop. To this day I'm still eating close to Induction-level carbs (occasionally I may add a few low-carb bits and pieces--nuts in particular).


Jo Heeley got a tummy tuck and looks great after her weight loss

My weight actually got down to 126 pounds and then just stopped going down anymore! I'm absolutely fine with that! I'm so much happier today than I ever have been, I love going out with my family and friends, I love clothes shopping and I have so much more energy and confidence now. My life has been transformed completely because of the low-carb lifestyle.

The only regret I have about this experience is that I waited until I was 40 years old to do this and I blame the media and all the scare tactics they use in their stories to prevent people like me from learning the truth about this way of eating. When you think of the kind of rubbish people eat today, it amazes me that something as natural and unprocessed as the Atkins diet can be deemed "bad" for you!

Some mornings I wake up and just have to look in the mirror to make sure its all real. It really was so easy I never knew I was on a diet.

WOW, Jo, THANK YOU for sharing your story. You are a true inspiration to all of us who have realized the power of livin' la vida low-carb in our own lives and can relate to your remarkable story on so many levels. I appreciate you contacting me about getting your story straight and I apologize if my original blog post was demeaning to the work YOU very clearly did to make this happen.

NEVER STOP TELLING YOUR STORY and I'm delighted to have had the chance to share it here for my readers today.

Post-Weight Loss Loose Skin Hanging Around

Two years after losing 180 pounds, my loose skin still haunts me

Speaking of Adro Sarnelli who won "The Biggest Loser Australia" last year, did you see this article about him and the struggle he has had dealing with all the excess, loose skin on his body following his 130-pound weight loss?

I previously blogged about his decision to have an abdominoplasty done, better known as a "tummy tuck." But now he wants to get rid of the rest of his hanging skin at an eye-popping cost of $20,000 plus recovery time off from work.

Here's why Adro decided to do this:

"It was just really disappointing to think that I lost [all that weight] and that I still had the same body that I had when I was fat," he said. "I'm actually left with a whole lot of extra skin which, in my own mind, it sort of leaves me unfinished. I have man boobs and that's something I really hate and would love to get rid of. I also have a really saggy apron area around my tummy."

So with the help of a plastic surgeon and many hours of body sculpting which includes not just a tummy tuck but also a buttock lift, a thigh lift, as well as skin removal from his chest, back, and arms, Adro will soon have a body that will LOOK like that fabulous weight loss success that he was in 2006. Everyone else has seen how good he looks, so now it's time for him to see it for himself.

The payoff was when he got to look at himself in the mirror for the first time after having "heaps" of his loose skin removed for good.

"I actually got to stand up and have a shower so I looked in the mirror and I was actually able to look down," Adro proudly exclaimed.

Now he says he feels "unreal" on the inside and out.

I couldn't be happier for Adro because I know EXACTLY how he feels. I'm right there in the same predicament, too. It's been over two years now since I lost the majority of my 190 pounds and my loose skin problem hasn't gotten any better as everyone claimed it would if you would "just give it some time." In fact, it looks like the problem has gotten even worse! MUCH WORSE!

Many of my new readers who have discovered my blog in the past few weeks have e-mailed me asking about whether I have loose skin and want to know what I am doing to handle it. In fact, here's one of those e-mails:

Dear Jimmy,

I thought I would send you an email regarding weight loss and the dreaded loose skin afterwards. After skin removal surgery, people seem to be very happy with the results. Have you had this surgery? Is loose skin really inevitable when you are very overweight? How do you limit loose skin? Does losing too fast encourage loose skin?

I'd love to know if you have ever written a blog about it. It's very discouraging losing all that weight only to be left with a whole lot of skin and where you have to stay covered up.

Well, as a matter of fact I HAVE blogged about this subject before--SEVERAL times actually. Here are a just a handful of those posts for you to check out:

- "Indiana Reporter Left Hanging After Weight Loss, Too"
- "Dealing With Excess, Loose Skin After Weight Loss"
- "Is There Loose Skin After Atkins Weight Loss?"

So many of you have e-mailed me with your support and well wishes that I can do something about my hanging, loose skin after reading about me blog about it and in the final chapter of my book. You have encouraged me to not get discouraged or ever give up on my dream of getting the skin removal surgery done and I haven't. I KNOW it's gonna happen one of these days.

Let me just say one thing that absolutely needs to be heard loud and clear to anyone who is overweight or obese and is worried about having loose skin afterwards. Don't let this issue stop you from making the best decision of your life to lose weight and get healthy. Sure, the loose skin can be an eyesore, but it's a whole heckuva lot better than the enormous pain of being fat. There's just no comparison!

I really don't know why this issue gets people so worked up about losing weight, but it does. Some of the most popular Google searches people who are desiring weight loss put into the search engine is "loose skin after weight loss" or "how do you firm up excess skin." I'm fascinated that people worry about such things when they should be focused on getting their physical health in order first.

At the same time, if I get one more person sending me this link to check out, then I think I'll have to run in front of an 18-wheeler on the interstate! Just for the record, I don't believe much of what this guy has to say, so don't bother telling me about it okay. With all due respect, I certainly acknowledge that there is a possibility that what I think is loose skin may be excess fat that I need to lose, but I don't care at this point. I just want the skin GONE!

I'm still eating low-carb since this has become my permanent way of life and my body fat percentage has continued to drop down from over half when I used to weigh 410 pounds. I've even made reducing my body fat one of my goals for 2007. Nevertheless, now that I'm 220 pounds, I want to LOOK like I am 220 pounds. The fact is I don't like what I see every single time I look in that mirror.

Wanna see what I'm talking about for yourself? I'll warn you, it's pretty disgusting to look at and you would probably think I was showing you a picture of a fat man's body. But, no, this is me.


Shirtless on the beach looking like THIS? Not a chance!

Can you see what I'm facing here? It's incredibly frustrating because as much as I want to truly celebrate my enormous weight loss success, I can't jump for joy when I still look and feel like I'm obese! I often joke with my wife Christine playfully jiggling my former 62-inch waist that has now shrunk down to a 38-inch waist in front of her like some circus freak show. But I don't feel sexy for her and I so much in my heart want to.

It's not just my stomach, though. Look at what's "hanging" from my inner thighs. EWWWW!


There's so much skin in my thighs that they get rubbed raw

When I asked my doctor to take a look at this loose skin issue in my stomach and inner thighs, he told me quite bluntly (which I appreciated!) that the elasticity is too far gone at this point to firm up and tighten from my very large weight loss. He wrote a letter to my insurance company, but they refused to pay for it. The only remedy at this point is to live with it or get the surgery done at my own expense.

Those are my ONLY choices at this point. For now, I'll just have to learn to live with it and move on with my life (which I have). But if ever there was a dream that you wished would come true for you, that's how I feel about getting this surgery. I'm hopeful it will happen to give me that "closure" Adro was talking about.

As for those questions my reader had about the loose skin issue, here's what I think about each one of them:

Have you had this surgery?

No, but I desperately want to.

Is loose skin really inevitable when you are very overweight?

I don't think it's necessarily inevitable just because you are overweight or obese. But if you are like me and the other yo-yo dieters who have gone up and down expanding and contracting the skin so many times, I do think there is a point of no return where it is impossible to expect the skin to be firm short of surgery.

How do you limit loose skin?

Don't get fat to begin with! LOL! I know, that's probably too late for most people, but it's true. That'll DEFINITELY keep it from happening, though.

Does losing too fast encourage loose skin?

Some people have the thought that losing slower will somehow keep the skin from getting loose. But Kimmer from the Kimkins diet, who had a tummy tuck and bosom lift following her 200-pound low-carb weight loss, said in her interview with me that stretch marks are emergency skin and no matter how fast or slow you lose, the "skin isn't going anywhere" and that "losing slowly is no advantage."

She added, "It's exactly like having a skin tight skirt, adding a 2" panel of fabric and expecting the extra fabric to disappear the next time you wash the skirt. Just ain't happening!" I agree with Kimmer because the skin has nowhere else to go but droop down. :(

So now it's January 2007, three years after I began the most lifechanging experience of my entire life. It's like writing an entire book from start to finish, but then not having it published. You have done all that work and maybe even shared it with those around you. But you won't feel right until it is finished and ready for the public to see.

That's how I feel about my loose skin. I've poured many days, weeks, and months into becoming who am I am today these past few years. I'm very proud of what I have been able to do and appreciate all the compliments and adoration that has been given to me. But it's time to send this book to be published and that means getting the excess skin removed.

It won't be today, probably not tomorrow either. But it will happen.