In her late 60s, Kay Franklin, a hairdresser from Oklahoma City, finally found the weight-loss success that had eluded her. Franklin, now 72, was able to lose 50 pounds in a year and has kept it off for three years. She went from 208 to 158 pounds. She’ll still never be a swimsuit model, Franklin says, but she loves her new shape and is very happy with her appearance.
EH: When did you first realize it was time to lose weight?
Franklin: I have tried to lose weight most of my life. I have a long dieting history and occasionally had weight-loss success through drugs and other fad diets — I tried anything that looked promising. But after losing weight, despite white-knuckling it, I always seemed to gain it back. I was forever looking for a way out of my constant battles with my weight. My goal had always been to lose 50 pounds.
EH: How did you get started this time and to what do you attribute your weight-loss success?
Franklin: It was an accident. On a whim, I went online and typed “Free Calorie Counter” into a search engine. It came up with Everyday Health’s My Calorie Counter. I decided to try it and so I put in everything I was eating. I began to see just how many calories I was eating — I couldn’t believe it. The numbers really opened my eyes and it made it much easier for me to focus on my goal to lose 50 pounds.
EH: What type of diet and diet tips did you follow?
Franklin: I started by aiming for 1,400 calories a day, and that really worked. I didn’t have dramatic losses at first, but I could see that I was on the right track. I can eat all types of foods, but I learned it wasn’t going to be healthy eating if I didn’t start paying attention to sodium, fiber, and sugar in the foods I was eating. On special occasions I may go as high as 2,000 calories a day, but I never go above that. I’ve discovered my weight-loss success is all in the averages. I like to say that I’ve never gone to bed hungry or stuffed too full. I live in the middle. I found out that it is not as boring as I thought and that I can live very nicely with my food choices.
EH: What’s your exercise schedule?
Franklin: I use a treadmill. I try and exercise for at least 20 minutes a day as much as four days a week. Because I own my own shop, I still work as a hairdresser and I keep active.
EH: How long did it take until you started seeing results?
Franklin: The first week of my new diet, I knew I was onto the answer for me. I was and I still am very grateful. It took a year for me to lose 50 pounds.
EH: How do you stay motivated and maintain your weight-loss success?
Franklin: I blog. I also post on three groups on My Calorie Counter where we share our daily ups and downs and weight-loss success stories and failures. I am fortunate enough to like doing the food log. Earlier this summer, I passed my 1,000th log.
EH: What’s your biggest food weakness?
Franklin: Baked goods. But I work with portions and occasionally I have what I like. The old taboo diets never worked for long in my old life. They seem to bring on a backlash where I end up by rebelling and eating more. If I get into the sugar, then the next day I have a craving. I do damage control by keeping below 50 mg on the daily sugar target. We all have to examine our own weaknesses and create our food plans that work for us. We’re not all the same.
EH: What other diet tips do you have?
Franklin: One of my best diet tips is that the battle is won or lost at the grocery store. Don’t keep poor choice foods within reach. Would a recovering alcoholic stock a home bar?
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