Before: 200 lbs.
After: 136 lbs.
Program Used: Atkins diet

Is That Me?!

Julia Lawler’s “egad” moment came during a Florida vacation with her husband, John: She saw her reflection in her new size-16 tankini and “was disgusted,” says Lawler, now 46. She knew she had been gaining, sure, but it wasn’t until that April 2003 day when she truly noticed that her weight of 190 lbs. was too much for her 5-foot-6-inch frame. (Part of the problem: She never shed the pregnancy weight after the birth of her youngest son, now 18, as she had after giving birth to her older sons, now 29 and 27.)

Like the Big Cheese

Clearly, it was time to do something about all that extra padding. But she wondered: Could a burger- and cheese-lover really slim down? Then, Julia, a bank analyst, remembered that her boss had ditched 20 lbs. eating just that kind of food. That’s when she decided to give his diet a try — and bought a copy of New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins, M.D.

Beefing Up

She immediately took to the Atkins diet’s emphasis on meats, eggs and cheese. “I could still enjoy the foods I love,” she says, “including hamburgers!” She balanced out the beef with loads of lean protein, such as chicken breasts and white fish, and cut out the carbs (bye-bye, buns and fries). When she hit a pound plateau, Julia turned to John, 53, for support. She also logged on to lowcarbfriends.com for real-world help. And she kept in mind Dr. Atkins’ golden rule: Exercise is nonnegotiable. Except Julia, a self-professed “couch potato,” really didn’t like the idea of going to a gym. Could she find a way to work out at home?

Muscling Her Way to a Younger Bod

Julia started with 15-minute walks around the block in her Louisville, Ky., neighborhood. Soon, she was up to 40-minute jaunts, five or six days a week. But when she popped in workout videos by fitness gurus like Kathy Smith and Cathe Friedrich (see “3 Things Every Dieter Should Own,” at right), Julia started to see a real difference in her body. To build muscle, she used a pair of 3-lb. hand weights, then a resistance band and, later, a stability ball. In seven months, she was down to 136 lbs. (hello, size 6!) — a weight she has maintained ever since. To keep the weight off, Julia loves hiking and biking with John. And he’s more than happy to be her workout buddy: “Now,” he says, “I get to spend more leisure time than ever with my beautiful wife!”

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Did You Know?
Atkins dieters lose at least twice as much weight as those who follow the Zone, LEARN or Ornish diets, according to a new study.