Why would anyone believe that eating fat makes you thinner?

You may be wondering why I'm so willing to believe Gary Taubes.  Why I'm so eager to abandon sugar and Nutella and breakfast cereal and cinnamon toast.  And pancakes.

I began 'dieting' (which I'll use as 'trying to lose weight') when I was in high school.  My clothes were getting tighter, and I didn't want to buy bigger clothes.  A friend had an eating plan from her doctor, so I copied it and followed along.  I believe the goal was to eat about 1400 calories per day.  It was an easy 'diet' because I wasn't really overeating.  I'd essentially give up fat and sugar for a few weeks and lose five to ten pounds.

Of course, I gained weight in college.  I gained weight after college.  So after I was married, I decided to get into shape once and for all.  I joined a gym with my sister-in-law.  I abolished fat from our home.  I ate more fresh fruit, more yogurt, more vegetables.  I started at about 150 lbs and got as low as 137.  At 137, my hip bones protruded in a most unattractive way.

But at 137, Dave and I decided to have a child.  I didn't know a person could be so hungry or so tired.  Pregnancy took over every moment of my life.  I drank gallons of milk, ate everything in sight, and gained weight until I weighed about 180 when Kirsten was born.  So I started my weight-loss effort again.  Only this time, nothing happened.

I walked hundreds of miles with Kirsten in her stroller.  I joined a new gym, and worked out in the mornings before going to work.  I think I got down to 165 before deciding I'd just eat healthy--low-fat and high carbs healthy--and try not to gain any weight.

I weighed at least 180 when I got pregnant with Graham four years later.  Oddly, I lost weight early in that pregnancy.  People didn't believe I was pregnant because I appeared to be shrinking.  When Graham was born, I weighed over 200 pounds.

After his birth, however, I lost weight without even trying.  I could eat anything and lose weight.  Graham was a much more vigorous nurser than Kirsten, and I got to breastfeed him for much longer.  And once he was bottle-fed, the pounds came back.

I observed many things during these efforts to lose weight.  First of all, except for during pregnancy, I seldom ate any more than anyone else in the room.  I'd be at lunch with two or three significantly slimmer colleagues, and we'd have the exact same entree.  Yet they were thin and I was fat.  I also thought it was strange that in my childhood, when I was underweight, I ate a steady diet of roasted meats, gravy, whole milk, and lots of butter.  Why was I skinny then, but heavy now?

In 1996 I quit my job at Microsoft and became a stay-at-home-mom.  My first priority was to join a gym and lose all that extra weight.  For six months, I wrote down every morsel of food that passed my lips.  For six months, I went to the gym five times each week, and then walked three miles on the weekend.  After six months, I had lost nine pounds.

I took my steno pad to my doctor, who agreed I should have lost more.  She gave me a prescription to Phentermine for two years.  Phentermine worked *great* and I got down to about 170.  But once I went off the Phentermine, the weight came roaring back...and then some.  I weighed 230 and wore a size 1X.

For the next several years, I just ate what I felt like eating.  And to my surprise, I remained the same size for fifteen years.  I lost a little weight taking Topamax and gained it all back when I switched to Nortriptyline.

So there I was, convinced that low-fat, high carb diets don't work.  I knew that I wasn't overeating, or lying about what I ate.  My mom would come visit and insist I had to do something about my weight.  I'd ask her what I should give up.  I'd eaten exactly what she'd eaten during her stay, and in fact, I'd eaten much more than usual because she always either buys or makes us a luscious dessert during her stays.  She also likes to sit down at 3:30 or 4 for a cup of coffee and something sweet.

So when I read in "Why We Get Fat" that I've been overeating *because* I'm heavy, I'm interested.

No weight loss yet.  Stay tuned.