Britney Custard was on her way to the customer service desk of a department store when she started having problems with her lower back during a short walk.
She weighed nearly 300 pounds at the time, a huge strain on her 5-foot-1-inch frame.
Custard had a sore back and was out of breath. She started snoring at night and felt like she was going blind during the day.
“As I gained weight, I realized I was losing my attention. I felt ignored,” Custard, 38, who lives in Canton, Michigan and goes by the nickname Lucky, told TODAY.com.
“I started having problems with my lower back and I was like, ‘This is ridiculous. I can’t even fully parent like this. ‘ A change had to happen.” ”
The change that worked for her was the Atkins Diet, a low-carb lifestyle that emphasizes high-protein foods, fats, cheese, low-carb vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Limit bread, starchy vegetables and fruits.
weight gain
Custard said she had noticed since childhood that she weighed more than other children. But she was active, performing, tap dancing, and modeling locally.
When she was 8, during a meeting with a modeling agency, the agent told her mother: She is starting to gain her weight. ” Custard says he will never forget the comment.
As an adult, her main food choices were carbohydrates, primarily bread and pasta. A typical breakfast is leftover pizza, and dinner is often croutons and a salad topped with fried chicken, she says.
In 2018, Custard was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) after enduring years of menstrual irregularities and weight gain. PCOS is a hormonal imbalance that affects 10% of women of childbearing age. Office of Women’s Health.
Not knowing when my period would start made it difficult for me to expand my family and travel.
Custard’s mental health also suffered as he continued to worry about his weight. “Throughout her life, she was like, ‘Why can’t I be as small as the person next to me?'” she says.
She had a miscarriage in October 2019. At that point she weighed 273 pounds, but she gained over 20 pounds over the next ten months. She reached her maximum weight of 297 in August 2020.
weight loss
The first step in losing weight was keeping a journal to identify behaviors and triggers that lead to overeating, says Custard.
“Whenever I had an urge, whenever I had a desire, I used to write down my state of mind. Why would I have a desire like this?”
“Oh yeah, I find myself eating bread when I’m in this mood. When I’m stressed here, I just order it. I’ll buy you a pizza.”
Custard said that by observing himself and analyzing his diet, he realized he was eating a lot of carbohydrates and drinking a lot of soda. That’s when she started considering a low-carb diet.
She stopped drinking soda and juice first. She then began eliminating high-carb foods. “Some people say one day at a time, but I say one food at a time,” says Custard about eliminating problem foods. “Get used to it, and you won’t feel as much craving when you stop doing things.”
She now avoids pizza and pasta completely and rarely eats bread. She focuses on lean proteins and vegetables. Custard eats some fruit, but tries to avoid overdosing on sugar.
Breakfast might mean eating meal replacement bars. Custard calls himself a “major salad head,” so lunch and dinner might be romaine lettuce and salmon or chicken.
When I’m craving carbs, I eat turkey wraps instead of turkey sandwiches. Her favorite exercise her routine is vinyasa her yoga with a focus on flow.
Custard says he now weighs 163 pounds and is “day and night” from a peak weight of nearly 300 pounds. “Right now she’s running around with her sons,” she says. “It’s very nice.”
Some experts praise low-carb diets, noting that they are effective in weight loss and seem to reduce hunger.
“When you restrict carbs, your body is better able to burn its own body fat because it has less sugar to burn for energy,” Dr. Jeff Voleck, a professor of human sciences at Ohio State University who has studied low-carb diets for 25 years, previously told TODAY.
But is it healthy?
the American Heart Association Evaluate popular diets As for how well it matched up with a heart-healthy diet, Atkins categorized it as a very low-carb diet, giving this type of plan the lowest score.
While the ultra-low-carb diet has benefits such as emphasizing non-starchy vegetables, nuts and fish and avoiding added sugar, it also limits fruits, legumes and whole grains, which can lead to nutritional deficiencies, the AHA said in a paper. 2021 Scientific Statement. These diets are high in fat even without restricting saturated fat, he added.
Custard said Atkins was a cure for her biggest problem, eating too many carbs, and she believed she could stick to the diet long-term. Custard encourages others to understand what her eating style is working for her body.
