When I was 10 I was put on Weight Watchers, Atkins by 11. During my high school years, I tried Dexatrim, my mom's diet pills, and Ayde's candies. And as for food, I counted calories and ate crap from Hostess and McDonald's. I also tried eating healthily. The funny thing is that I wasn't ever overweight during any of that time. People were worried that I would be someday. At age 17, I was 5'2" and 103 lbs.
It turns out they were right.
I went sugar-free at age 20. Then I started eating sugar again at 21. Then I joined a lady's gym called Spa Lady but they went bankrupt and I ended up losing more money than weight.
In my late 20's I was 20 lbs. overweight. I lost weight on Weight watchers, made my goal weight, and earned my lifetime membership. Twice.
The third time I went on Weight Watchers it was 10 years later and I was 100 lbs. (at least) overweight.
I was eating less than 20 grams of fat per day on the Fat and Fiber program WW offered. I lost about 50 lbs. and then stayed there. I was also losing my mind. I couldn't focus and I didn't know why. I felt very tired, kind of sick, and usually hungry. And I stopped losing weight.
But, ya know... I don't give up easily. Way back when I was in high school, my Mom found a recipe called "peel-a-pound soup". It came with a claim that it was so low in calories that your metabolism would burn up more consuming it than your body would retain!
While that sounded great, tasted good, and filled us up, the feeling of satisfaction was so short-lived that it really didn't help us to lose weight. Since then I've been searching for that magical "the more you eat, the more you lose" food.
After years of trying different things, I found a recipe that worked and it freed me from BS roller coaster dieting forever. I ate my recipe, which I call Joy!, consistently and I lost the other half of the weight and then some. This time I felt good. This time I kept the weight off. What was the difference?
Fewer carbs and more Joy! This was the magic combination that really worked for me. Year and years later, it still does.
Yes, these pics are both me, the first in 1996 and the second in 2013.
I tried to sell my product and my plan but I found out it was so far ahead of its time, it failed. People were very interested when they saw my before and after pics but it all seemed so ridiculous to lose weight eating some kind of a rich and fudgy dessert. My product contains a lot of coconut oil and therefore a lot of fat. It could be bad for the heart! And I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, just someone who wants to be thin and energetic.
But apparently, it wasn't bad for my heart. My LDL improved by 20 points and it wasn't that bad, to begin with. My HMO doctor's a very smart lady in internal medicine with a specialization in prevention. I asked her what gives since I was eating so much coconut oil and it's supposed to be a dreaded saturated fat that'll kill me. She said and I quote. "I can't say but I will say that you should just keep on doing what you are since it's working for you."
Ummm...OK.
Then I wrote and published a book about my journey and included the secret recipe for my dessert which I call Joy! I also wrote a 7-day guide to getting started on my low-carb, keto-friendly plan. The guide has been available for free to members of my community for a couple of years now.
The book is on sale on amazon for 19.99. Besides me, I ran a trial with 10 people who tried the start-up and the recipe.
90% of the participants lost weight and 100% reported feeling more energy.
And that's that! As I said, the start-up plan is really all you need, and the recipe, which is included in the book. I'm done trying to sell it. I'll be happy enough going back to caring for and educating young children in the fall of 2021.
But it gets even better than that. Because of the pandemic, I decided to put my precious recipes on the member site, for a limited time only, along with the start-up plan which is always there. I really don't want to make any money on weight loss right now, I just want to get back to the thing I love the most, early childhood education.
I started a non-profit organization last spring and my goal is to mobilize and unite parents and early childhood providers 0-8, in support of inclusive sensory and emotional education, (think intentional play and one-on-one reading time for all) especially in the earliest years.
My new website is here if you're interested in checking it out.
I've made my living by running a child development home for the last 30 years and, although I did offer parenting and weight loss counseling for a time, I've taken that offering from the table for now. If people want to try my startup program and my secret dessert, they can do it for free.
My 7-day start-up is on the membership-only part of my site. For a limited time only, so are the secret recipes. You need to sign up here, but it's completely free. The book and the recipe are copyrighted but you can save the free recipes on the site and share them with your friends as long as you don't try to sell them or my product.
Nanci J Bradley is a child and family educator, parent, author, family aerobics instructor, and all-around fun-loving person. She believes in the power of sleep, lifelong learning, healthy eating, fun, and more than anything else, PLAY! She studied early childhood education at Triton College and received her BS in education from Northern Illinois University in 1986. She received her MA in human development from Pacific Oaks College in 2011. She lives and teaches in Madison, WI
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