Kristen

I’m really not even sure where or how to start, but I want to get this out there so maybe someone, somewhere can say it helped them.

I joined Low Carb Friends in late 2005, even though I lurked on there for years. At the time, I was about 50 pounds overweight, and going through a very rough spot in my life. I had done Atkins before, and it worked really well, then back to back pregnancies and not giving a darn what I ate piled the weight back on. I was so desperate at the time. I was divorced and alone with two toddlers, broke, depressed, and worst of all to me, also fat again. My self esteem was in the toilet, and I wanted to get back to being happy, for myself, but it was more for my kids.
I started Atkins again, and was losing pretty quickly, about 3 lbs per week, give or take. But I wanted more. I wanted the extra weight gone ASAP. Around that time, Kimmer dominated the main lobby of LCF. Her story seemed a lot like mine, and I felt that I could really relate to her. Also, like I said, threads dedicated to her way of eating, threads other posters asking her questions, were plastered all over the main page of the LCF bulletin board, so I figured she must be doing something right! So, I looked at all these threads, took in all the information, and jumped into it with both feet. I didn’t CARE if it was unsafe or not, even though her water fasting speeches threw all kinds of red flags in my face.

And so I started the Kimkins plan. First day I lost a pound. Cool! Over the next few days, I kept losing more weight, some days a pound, some days up to three pounds. WooHoo! It was working!! It didn’t matter if I felt like crap, I mean, Kimmer addressed that in her threads, right? It was just my body *detoxing* from being too carbed up. Dizzy spells were really no big deal, I figured they would be gone in a few more days. Then a few more days turned into a week, then two weeks, and so on. You get my drift. It didn’t matter that my energy level was 0 and I barely was able to work and take care of my kids, when I was thin I would have TONS of energy and feel great! So fast forward to around week 3 or almost week 3, I don’t even remember. Got up, went to work, dragged ass all day long. Picked up the kids, came home and made dinner, did the whole nighttime routine, tucked the kids in and finally sat down I barely made it through the day I felt so horrible. I heard the phone , so I get up to answer it, my ears start ringing and I can barely see. I feel dizzy and scared. The next thing I know I’m waking up on the floor. I looked at the clock, and realized I was only out for a few minutes, so I was relieved but still scared. I ate something and started feeling a little better, so I went to bed and decided I was going back to Atkins. I laid in bed crying wondering what if I hadn’t came to after passing out? What if one of my babies came out in the morning and found me dead on the floor? What would happen to them? Would they ever be able to be ok after finding their mom dead? How long would they have ended up being alone for who knows how long until someone came to check on us?

That was it for me. Sure, I want to be thin, but I want to be alive more. Please, if something ever doesn’t seem right, look into it. Think about it rationally. If you decide to try it and you don’t feel right, stop. Just use your own common sense and gut instinct. It’s there for a reason.