Low carb diets are all the rage (even today). And my first experiment with one happened about 6 months in to my new fit healthy (and happier) lifestyle.
Everything was going great.
I was no longer grounded from driving by my parents because I weighed under 100 pounds (and they knew airbags wouldn’t eject if I was under 100 pounds).
I was no longer whispered about by my peers at school.
I no longer had to go to doctors and therapy EVERY Thursday for weekly weight checks or groups.
And I felt more fit and MORE free than ever…Sort of.
Along with my new fit healthy lifestyle…also came a whole new set of rules.
Like my turkey patties.
My beloved turkey patties.
I soon found comfort in new safe foods. And gradually my anorexia began to transition more to an orthorexia—an obsession with healthy eating (and rules about my food). Eventually, the ONLY thing I would eat is Turkey Patties, steamed veggies and Crystal Light…
In addition, I also began to take to working out…to a little bit of an extreme.
Gradually, my hour long workouts, grew into 2 hours workouts…then 3…then..
The summer before my senior year of high school, I moved to New York to study in a Journalism Program at Columbia University. (Yup I was on my way to becoming the “next” Katie Couric).
That same summer, LOW-CARB DIETS were all the rage. Couple this with being SURROUNDED by girls who were obsessed with thinness, a college campus gym 10 feet from my door and horrible college dorm food, and I was a classic case for OVERTRAINING and UNDEREATING.
I knew how great I felt in my own skin, and I decided to make it my goal that summer to become the FITTEST version of myself as possible.
3 to 4 hour workouts became my norm, as did living off of Protein Shakes, peanuts, tuna packets and egg whites I cooked in the shared living space.
Even though weight loss was NOT my goal, 30 days later, I was 10 pounds lighter—without trying—and when I stepped off the plane back home in Little Rock, my dad’s jaw dropped and my mom’s face turned pale white….
With new habits and new “norms” formed, I was about to be back in the fight for my life.