My Story

Hi, my name is CJ and I have lost 247 lbs, no surgery, no pills, just low carb, sensible portions and exercise. I have been low carb since December 2003, but went back on induction in July of 2009.

I have a medical condition(PCOS) that my body just can't process carbs correctly so it stores them instead of burning them. It makes me crave carbs, makes me sick and makes me gain weight like crazy. Since going low carb I feel great, have a lot more energy and I am not starving all the time. I also eat a lot less and feel fuller a lot easier. I was able to shrink my stomach capacity on my own, without any surgery. I wasn't as hungry and over time ate less and less until I was back to normal portion sizes. I have done all of this just from having a low carb lifestyle and exercising.


Cutting out the carbs was NOT easy for me at first. The PCOS makes me crave carbs like an alcoholic craves alcohol. It was very hard the first two weeks but then it got easier and the more I lost the more I realized that this was indeed a lifestyle change and not just some diet that I would only do for a short time. This is truly the way of eating that my body needs. Within the first 4 months I had lost 108 lbs and my doctors were shocked. Then I lost 200 lbs. total, maintained it for over a year, was in a car accident on bed rest for 6 months gained 130 lbs. back.... I lost 40 lbs. of it slowly over a couple years. Then since July 2009 I have lost 116 lbs and feeling better and back to the gym and normal activities. I had been told that I would never be able to go to the gym again after my accident and that was just pretty hard to swallow at 27 years old.....I didn't want to give up, I decided I just couldn't accept that and I had to try harder.

It took a few years to recover from that accident and I have been going to the gym again since September 2009. At first my workout's were shorter and I was using low weight on the resistance machines just to be able to do something since I could not really do any cardio.Then I added more reps over time and then in March I started walking more and then in May I got on the treadmill. I signed up to do a 5k walk/run in September and I wasn't sure if I could make it or not, but I told myself I was going to do it, I had to do it.

I was worried for awhile but then I made it to 3k, 4k, 5k and the first time I made it to 5k it took me an hour and 45 minutes and I was worn out! Now I am consistently doing 5k in an hour and I have made it up to 8k on the treadmill and 10k with additional walking around in stores after the gym. I still have a pinched nerve in my shoulder and if I push myself too hard then my knees, hips and back will bother me too, but I have strengthened my core a lot so that helps. I will get sore muscles but the only real pain I have felt with my current workout is my knees if I push myself too hard or increase my speed too fast. I go to the gym and work out at home as well 4 to 6 times a week.

My Stats as of 8/4/2010 were:

245.8 total lbs lost
Body Fat down 33%
253.3 lbs of fat lost
12.3 lbs of muscle gained
My resting heart rate is down 45 beats per minute from 110 to 65.

Total inches lost:
Neck is down -8"
Left Arm is down -15"
Left Forearm is down -3.5"
Bust is down -29" (Mostly off my back)
Under Bust(Band) is down -22"
Abs are down -44"
Waist is down -38"
Hips are down -37"
Left Thigh is down - 19"
Left Calf is down -5.5"

I have shared my story with friends and family and some people I didn't even know on a low carb health and nutrition forum and I had lots of requests for additional information on what I was doing and the feedback has been amazing. I decided to go ahead and make this more public and share with  more people so I made this blog. If it ends up helping even one more person then the effort it took to make it will have been worth it. :)