Dirty Carnivore Testimonial

Leigh Ann, USA

I've been zc for 10 months. I'm 38 years old, and have more energy now than I ever remember having. I'm happier, more relaxed, and at peace more now than I have been in my whole life.

My Story

Leigh Ann
2003. I weighed about 155 here. I thought I was so thin!
before zc
I was accused of cheating as the scale went up.

During High School, I wasn't fat, wasn't skinny. At 5'8", I was a normal, average teenage girl. When I went to college, I slowly gained a bit of weight each year (alcohol, late night pizza, early AM breakfasts, and a general lack of discipline when it came to food). By my junior year of college, I weighed a slightly plump 145. My boyfriend at the time was a health "nut" - and by nut I mean low fat - and fat free was even better! . He urged me to lose weight and to eat low fat with him. So I did. Because of my desire to please him and to lose weight, I didn't "cheat" - ever. BUT, I gained weight. A lot. (I was accused of cheating as the scale went up.) I was 165 pounds before long. Although we ate the EXACT SAME THINGS... our exercise was comparable... he lost... I gained. I knew then that low fat wasn't for me. Thankfully I ditched both low fat and the boyfriend.

finding low carb

LA It wasn't long before I began hearing about low carb. I was more than happy to try it. I quickly lost 30 pounds and felt great. But like many, my low carb days were full of carb counting... cravings... cheating... and shame at my inability to go more than a few days without a huge binge. Once I FINALLY got to my goal, I never just stayed there. I would gain 10 pounds or so.... Then go strict low carb to lose it... Once I lost it, I would re-gain the 10 pounds or so, and so on and so on. I remained on this roller coaster for five or six years. Each time I gained, it was harder to lose.

success and failure

Then I got married and started having babies. I took pregnancy as a license to eat anything I wanted whenever I wanted. Sweets and fast food were the staple of my diet. Not surpringly, I gained 60 pounds with #1. 40 pounds with #2, 60 pounds with #3, and 70 pounds with #4. After each of the first three babies, I would low carb back down to a weight slightly higher than I was when I had gotten pregnant. This cycle was taking a toll on me. Baby #4 was born in May of 2009, I weighed 238 pounds -- my highest weight ever. That summer I couldn't keep up with my daughters... I was too tired for the pool, too tired to play... too tired to be a mommy. I felt so old. I also obsessed about food - a lot. I wanted to eat alone, secretly. I snuck food. I would low carb for a few days, then give into my cravings again and again and again. I was never hungry at meal times because I ate so much in between meals. Every single day I would wake up with a new resolve to eat "good" that day "no cheating" I would tell myself. And each night I would go to bed mad at myself because I often didn't even make it to lunch without an "off plan" food.

Leigh Ann
September 2009. About 205 pounds. One month prior to starting zero carb, and fighting food every day.
finding zc

Sometime in the late summer of 2009 I began reading about zero carb on another forum. It seemed like the answer I had been looking for, yet I was skeptical. Could I really be free from my food demons? I doubted it, but read every day. Journals... message boards... research. I never really liked vegetables, so I was happy to give them up, but could I go against the years of low carbing (which had proven to be successful short term, but not long term for me). I wasn't sure.

On Halloween Day of 2009 I gave it a try. I was about 205 pounds, and stuck there. I didn't have any Halloween candy... not one bite. Within a few days I knew something was different. I wasn't craving sugar... I wasn't feeling deprived... the obsession about food was leaving. The pounds steadily left too. By May of 2010 I was down to 139 pounds.

During this time, I ate meat, eggs, butter and cheese. Since then I have lost the desire / taste for cheese. I prefer my meat plain, and lots of it. I started off calorie counting. After doing some online hunting, I came up with a number of about 1600 calories a day as a starting point. So I calculated 1600 calories of delicious meat, and ate accordingly. The weight steadily left. Hooray!

LALater I stumbled into IF. I had read about it, but eating only one meal a day was too radical to me. It was enough to eat just meat, but did I have to further isolate myself from the world by eating once a day? Geez! BUT, one day we were super busy, and I never had a chance for breakfast until about 3 PM. I immediately broke a long stall and lost three pounds overnight. Over the next ten days I lost eight pounds with IF. I loved having a big, huge meal to look forward to all morning. And funny, I wasn't even hungry in the morning. I had read about TRUE hunger... and realized that I had probably never even felt true hunger until then.

The biggest and best changes weren't the weight loss though. Although weight loss brought me here, these other changes will keep me here for life. Slowly, along the way, I was becoming the mom that my children deserved. I was re-becoming the wife that my husband had married. I had energy, I laughed every day. My mood was extremely calm. Soon, my daughters were trying to keep up with me, instead of me trying to keep up with them. I'm never too tired anymore. Now we pack as much fun as we can into every day. I'm up for anything - anytime. Bring on the adventures!

Yet, I'm smaller now than I was in June - even though I weigh more.

My dh and I are training for a triathalon. The intense exercise has added back about 8 pounds. Yet, I'm smaller now than I was in June - even though I weigh more. Will I ever see 135 on the scale, who knows?. I hope so, but am not going to lose sleep or eat a loaf of bread if I don't.

I've had a two occasions over the past 10 months when I've eaten off plan for me. I can't believe the exhaustion, joint pain, stomach pain, headaches, and mouth sores I experienced. Did I really used to live like that?

I'm free. From cravings, from food demons, from shame of overeating, from sneaking food behind my family's back. I'm calm, happy and at peace. I'm always in a good mood, and I feel so great every minute of every day. I sleep great, wake up easily, and I eat delicious meat every day - loving every bite.