Tracey Ross lost 60 pounds on low-fat, but has switched low-carb for health

It’s not everyday you hear a story like the one I’m about to share with you today. Most of the time, we hear people talking about going on a low-carb diet so they can lose those few extra pounds they’ve put on so they can then go back to whatever eating plan they choose. Most of the time, that means returning to the same bad habits that got them overweight or obese in the first place. Still others believe they need to switch to a low-calorie, low-fat diet once the weight has come off with low-carb (I’ve never understood this, but that’s the way some people think!).

But for Tracey Ross, she is doing something radically different from the norm. After dropping ten dress sizes and over 50 pounds on a reduced-calorie, portion-controlled diet that was low in fat and high in complex carbohydrates, Tracey now realizes she needs fat and doesn’t need the so-called “healthy” carbs as she once believed. That, along with her addiction to sugar, has led her to livin’ la vida low-carb to maintain her weight and health. WOO HOO!

I asked Tracey why she wanted to lose weight in the first place and like most of us she has struggled with this issue for most of her life. For her, it began at the age of 12.

“I can recall being teased and called chubby all the time. I never felt comfortable in my skin,” Tracey said. “I can recall wanting so badly to be able to tuck in my shirt and not feel self-conscious about my fat stomach sticking out. It’s pretty awful to live in a body you dislike.”

So like most of who have had the low-fat message hammered into our heads for decades, Tracey decided to go on that diet thinking it was her only hope for lasting and permanent weight loss. And despite her success on it just like I had on a low-fat diet in 1999, Tracey ran into trap that comes with counting calories–namely that she believed she could have anything she wanted as long as she kept the calories within her allotted budget of 1600-1800 per day, including ice cream if she wanted it. After reading low-carb research student and women’s fitness expert Cassandra Forsythe’s book Women’s Health Perfect Body Diet, Tracey “couldn’t believe what she had to say.” (Click here to listen to my podcast interview with Cassandra from a couple of months back).

“Cassandra mentioned how some women are not carb tolerate (which she called greens & berries women) and I felt like finally the puzzle was coming together,” Tracey recalled. “After reading that, I figured I’d be a guinea pig and see what happens!”

Add to that the fact that Tracey’s low-calorie, low-fat, portion-controlled diet “wasn’t working to maintain my weight” and the healthy low-carb lifestyle was looking like a very good option for helping her do that along with beating the sugar cravings that were dogging her hard. And deep down inside of her, Tracey said she felt an emptiness that wasn’t being filled with all those carb-laden foods she was consuming and she couldn’t put her finger on it until one day it hit her right between the eyes.

“It was fat. I was so afraid of fat, always picking reduced-fat and fat-free products,” Tracey stated. “The only fat I ate intentionally was flax seed oil. I also had bad anxiety too. I feel it was the hormonal imbalance from my low-fat diet.”

After doing some personal research about body shaping and diet makeup, Tracey came to the conclusion that calories do indeed count, but it is the quality of the calorie that makes the difference.

“I always thought a calorie is a calorie,” she admitted. “I reached deeper and started questioning. I read up a lot on the glycemic index.”

A typical low-fat menu prior to her low-carb lifestyle looked something like this for Tracey:

BREAKFAST
½ Whole Wheat Bagel with light cream cheese,
6-oz soy milk
½ of a grapefruit

MORNING SNACK
Pria 110-calorie snack bar

LUNCH
Hummus on Whole Wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, and avocado
Small apple
Diet soda

AFTERNOON SNACK
1 oz of roasted almonds

SUPPER:
3-oz Grilled Chicken breast
1-cup Whole Wheat egg noodles
Sautéed mushrooms
Small side salad with light olive oil dressing
½ low fat frozen yogurt

What does her new and improved healthy low-carb diet menu now look like? Check this out:

BREAKFAST
2 omega-3 eggs scrambled w/full fat cheddar cheese
A small piece of melon
Coffee w/cream

MORNING SNACK
Greek yogurt with sugar free syrup and a plum
or
1/2 cup of berries
or
Atkins bar

LUNCH
Salad of spinach leaves and a burger patty
Mushrooms, cucumber, red onion and Blue cheese dressing

AFTERNOON SNACK
Almond butter w/celery sticks
or
1 oz macadamia nuts

SUPPER
Grilled salmon w/pesto sauce a
Side of broccoli
Dark chocolate or berries and cream

That’s quite a difference in food now, but Tracey says emphatically that she LOVES her new low-carb lifestyle–and it truly has become a change in her way of life like nothing she has ever done before.

“I do see myself doing this forever,” Tracey remarked. “I never see myself going back to the ‘everything in moderation’ plan. It just failed me. I always knew sugar was an issue for me. Now I know it for sure.”

And the benefits to her health have been absolutely incredible already–a flatter stomach, clearer skin, more energy than ever before, and best of all, NO SUGAR CRAVINGS!!! The hunger from her low-fat dieting days is gone and Tracey admits “food controls me a whole lot less now” and she is “less afraid of it” than she was before.

“I know this is how my body works best,” she concluded. “I think the hardest part has been the lack of support like when people question me when I put a pat of butter on my veggies or pick full fat sour cream over low-fat.”

Tracey said finding sites like my “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog and discussion forum have given her the support she has needed to be confident about living her low-carb life knowing she is not alone despite all the naysayers.

“Sometimes I just feel so alone because mainstream nutritionists just don’t understand me,” Tracey revealed. “I feel crazy sometimes and alone in this. I’m sure you can relate.”

Absolutely, I think we can ALL relate to that, Tracey! The good thing is we are NOT alone and we do have each other in the low-carb community to lean on for strength during the most difficult times. The key is to remember low-carb living is for life…not just as a gimmick for losing a few pounds.

“Everyone does low-carb as a quick fix,” she commented. “But I feel I struggled harder than I should have to lose the weight with all the constant cravings and never feeling full on my low-fat diet.”

Anyone who has ever been on a high-carb, low-fat diet knows all about that, Tracey! THANK YOU so much for sharing your inspiring story with us about how you decided that livin’ la vida low-carb was the way you wanted to live for the rest of your life following your low-fat weight loss path. Keep up the fabulous work and CONGRATULATIONS on making a decision that will have a positive impact on your weight and health for many years to come!

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