Feel Great

I learned what a “diet” was at age six when my pediatrician placed me on my first one. Each week I had to weigh in and if I lost weight, I got a toy. So began my lifelong journey in search of a healthy weight. Also at age six, I began swimming competitively. When I quit competitive swimming at age 15, I was swimming four to five miles per day and I was still slightly overweight. I tried Atkins and Weight Watcher’s in high school, HCG in college, Physician’s Weight Loss in the early 80’s, Weight Watcher’s Round 2 in the late 80’s, No-Fat in the early 90’s and then I became vegetarian. This seemed very natural to me as I had not been a large consumer of meat at any part in my life. We evolved to the vegetarian lifestyle over time and I found that I could better control my weight, but it still varied. Throughout the course of my life I have weighed as much as 300 pounds. Since becoming vegetarian, my weight has been easier for me to control but I have had my times! About 5 years ago I lost 70 pounds by counting calories. I maintained that loss for a couple of years. This has been a typical pattern for me. Lose, maintain for a while, and then it begins creeping up again. At the end of 2016 I was up 10 pounds. By the middle of 2017, I had not lost those 10 pounds. I was counting calories (1200 or less per day) while maintaining a fairly physical lifestyle. I also knew that the calories that I was consuming were not the right kind. Peanut M&Ms and kettle cooked potato chips do not make a healthy body! I knew that if I didn’t do something that by the end of 2017 I would be up by 20 pounds and the weight gain cycle would begin yet again. I heard about NutriMost on the radio. I decided to get the body composition analysis and listen to what they had to say. I am very skeptical of “diet plans” since there are so many bad ones out there. On the day of my initial body composition analysis, at age 58, I learned that I had the metabolism of an 84-year old. I also learned that I was dehydrated even though I drank almost a gallon of water every day. Before I committed, I researched NutriMost and Tanita scales. I asked what the success rates were for patients following NutriMost two years after they had finished the program and they had impressive answers for me. I learned that everyone in the office had followed or was following the NutriMost plan. I especially liked that this was not only an eating plan but also a detox and cleanse. I had to get rid of the sugar cravings! I took the plunge and began the NutriMost diet in mid-August of 2017. My goal was to lose 20 pounds – the 10 that I had gained and 10 more for good measure. I knew that I would still be overweight but thought that it would be a weight that I could reasonably maintain on my own. At the end of phase 2, I was down by 29 pounds. In the six months that have since elapsed, I have lost about 30 more pounds for a total of about 50 pounds. And, I am eating more now than I ever have in my entire life. I now have the metabolism of a 39-year old (I am 59), am hydrated and I no longer crave sugar. My BMI is normal. I have made the very personal choices to not add sugar or flour back into my diet and I feel better than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I still get flour in pizza crust (because I won’t ever give up pizza!) but I have learned how my body processes various foods and I can make adjustments that allow me to maintain my weight without feeling restricted. I am consuming more calories now than ever at 1700 to 2000 calories a day. I quit taking diabetic medicine and am maintaining good sugar control. I was afraid that my cholesterol would rise due to the fat consumption, and it did not. The associates in Dr. Abood’s office plan have been a tremendous resource as I have worked through the plan. I feel great, and people tell me that I have a new vitality that they have not seen in me before. The lifelong journey to a healthy weight will never be over for me, but now I feel like I am on a path that I can follow forever thanks to Dr. Abood and his associates.