Mary Jackson,
59, Houston
Height: 5'3"NOW:
133 lbsIt worked for me
“I’m confi dent
in my own skin!”nutrition
Mary Jackson struggled to reposi-
tion a patient, a routine task in her
job as a geriatric caregiver, when
she noticed the activity was causing
her to sweat profusely. I’m only 57,
but I’m going to need this kind of
help soon if I don’t get my weight
under control, she worried.
“I always felt ‘less than’
because of my weight,” Mary
admits. “I’d tried Atkins but
couldn’t stick with it, so I resigned
myself to the idea that this was
just how it would always be.” But
when Chris and Heidi Powell from
TV’s Extreme Weight Loss launched
their at-home Transform cellphone
app, Mary decided to give their
carb-cycling advice a try, switch-
ing between lower-carb days and
higher-carb days. On higher-carb
days, Mary enjoyed oatmeal, fruit,
sweet potatoes, quinoa or brown rice.
Mary’s body responded well, and
enjoying carbs as often as four days
a week helped stave off feelings of
deprivation: “If I wanted chips and
salsa, I knew I could have them. I
was never more than a few days
away from enjoying my favorite
foods.” This was a game-changer,
she says. “I know people who have
had success with strict keto. But for
me, this approach is just
more balanced.”
By carb-cycling, Mary
lost 77 pounds, includ-
ing 14 inches from her
waistline. “The things
we’re told about life
post-menopause are
just not true. At this age,
change is possible.”
She adds, “I’m in better
shape now than ever.
Best of all is feeling con-
fident in my own skin!”8/26/19 First for women 29
THEN: (^210) lbs
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OOD;
FOTOLIA;^ GETTY(^2)Sample meal
Shrimp bowl Sauté 8 oz. of
shrimp,^1 ⁄ 2 cup of green beans
and a handful of spinach in 1 Tbs.
of olive oil. Serve with^3 ⁄ 4 cup of
cooked white rice.For even faster results, Dr.
Mercola suggests
selecting carbs
like underripe
bananas, papa-
yas and mangos, all
of which are high in resistant
starch—a form of carbohydrate t hat
cannot be broken dow n by t he body
but has been shown to increase post-
mea l metabolism by as much as 70%
for three hours. “These starches turn
into short-chain fatty acids in the
gut, and they actually get converted
into ketones, which helps the body
switch in and out of ketosis more
easily,” explains Dr. Mercola.
Prefer more savory carbs? You
can dial up the amount of resistant
starch in rice or boiled potatoes
with one simple cooking hack: Add
1 tsp. of coconut oil to the cooking
water, then cool for 12 hours before
reheating. Research shows this sim-
ple tweak changes starch at a molec-
ular level, increasing the resistant
starch in rice tenfold and reducing
its calories by as much as 60%.
You can stick with phase two
of t his plan as long as you’ d li ke,
Santos-Prowse says. “Continue
with the practice as long as you
need until you’re happy with your
body composition.”lism with carb breaks
Mary
lost(^77) lbs!