• Education ➜
• Star McDougallers ➜
• Star McDougall Stories ➜

Samantha: Lost over 100 Pounds and Made a Lifestyle Change for Her Growing Family

Four years ago, when my first son was born, I was 274 pounds. I started drinking Atkins shakes and eating cheese, bacon, eggs and meat in hopes to lose the massive recent weight gain. A few years prior, I had lost 40 pounds following a different diet. Nothing was taking the weight off this time. My doctor even suggested I was not telling the whole truth about my eating because she didn’t believe a “no/low carb diet wouldn’t do the trick”. I was even walking about 2-3 hours a day!

My heart broke and devastation ran through me when my body wasn’t producing enough milk to feed my son. I felt that formula was poison, and I had failed as a mother. I knew I needed to make a change. I immediately began to look for the healthiest diet on the planet. Using formula would only be for one year and I vowed to make sure he ate health promoting foods from there on out. Childhood diabetes was my biggest fear for my baby’s future, and all of the research I read and watched showed that parents must lead by example, which meant I had to make the change too. 

When the Starch Solution popped up on Instagram I laughed and thought it was too good to be true. Eat my favorite foods and lose weight? Nothing else had worked so I figured I would give it a try. Within two weeks, 12 days to be exact, I had lost about 10 pounds, my post baby depression was finally lifting and I began to feel like myself again. Four years and a second child later, I am still 100 pounds lighter. My weight gain for baby number two was only 20 pounds and that came off two months after he was born.

Today, I am still losing weight – slower, but still losing. I have shifted my eating toward all whole foods (maximum weight loss) and away from pastas and breads. I am the only person I know who has lost such a huge amount of weight and kept it off. I have led such a happy and positive life with this simple change that my husband, mom and sister have also transitioned their lifestyles to the Starch Solution after seeing how much it benefited me mentally and physically. 

I cannot thank Dr. McDougall enough. You have forever shaped the outcome of my family’s life and I wish there was more I could do or say to show my appreciation. Many blessings.

Update June 2024

Each year as summer starts it marks another year of my starch-based eating! This year I was in a polite conversation with a friend over it “not working” and shared this photo. I am still the only person I know who has lost weight and successfully kept it off. Anytime I have fallen off (usually holidays or vacation, though still vegan it’s higher fat/oil) the starch-based eating is SO easy to come back to. I wanted to just reach out and give an update (I was even so blessed to be a star McDougaller a few years ago) and say thank you for being called to work on sharing the truth about food!!! You have changed my life, my family’s and my mom’s (a cancer survivor) life too!!!