Name: Karla Pankow
Age: 42
Residence: Bruno, Minnesota
Job: Emergency medical technician
Home Life: Lives with her partner, Elizabeth Millard, on a 28-acre hobby farm
Peak Weight: 300-plus pounds (She stopped weighing herself at that point.)
Current Weight: 200 pounds
Goal Weight: Under 185 pounds, to reach a powerlifting weight class
Height: 5 feet 9 inches
Karla Pankow’s struggle with her weight gain began in college, when she gained what she calls the “freshman 30.” In her 20s she battled hypothyroidism, which sapped her energy and endurance. That plus her poor diet led to even more excess pounds.
She worked in the pharmaceutical industry, and as her career progressed her travel schedule and stress levels increased. “I tried every diet, shake, pill and pyramid program to lose the weight, but it never worked,” she says.
Her eating habits weren’t helping. “I could easily drink a 12-pack of Mountain Dew a day on the road. Even though I was holding down a professional job and presenting myself in a professional way, I was living on Mountain Dew to get from point A to point B. I was relying on takeout and fast food. I made all the wrong choices. I was like a 5-year-old in a candy store,” she says.
“The highest weight I know of was 300. At a certain point you get so sad about that, you don’t check in. It’s a matter of denial. You’re so used to seeing yourself being heavy — I didn’t realize how big I was,” she adds.
By her 30s her weight played a factor in a range of health problems: fatty liver, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, arthritis, hernias, prediabetes, connective tissue disease, inflammation, joint problems, and migraines. A slew of doctors treated her, but she says none of them ever mentioned that her weight was part of the problem.
You’re so used to seeing yourself being heavy — I didn’t realize how big I was.
“I was in and out of doctors’ offices constantly, but I never had a physician talk to me about my weight,” she says. “I think for 25 years I kept waiting for doctors to tell me I was too fat. Because I never heard it I thought I was fine — I got used to my own skin. When I look back it’s alarming. Just being diagnosed with problems was not enough. Being told I was super-fat might have had a different impact.”
As her 40th birthday approach, Pankow wanted to make a change. “I didn’t want to have another year this fat, where I couldn’t tie my shoes and I was always out of breath,” she says.
HEALTH PROBLEMS PUSH HER TO MAKE CHANGES
In late September 2015 Pankow needed physical therapy to treat her joint problems — and she discovered that she enjoyed the sessions. “Physical therapy taught me that, even though I was depressed and sad about hurting, movement felt good,” she says.
Encouraged, the next month she decided to try one small change in her diet — she replaced Mountain Dew with water. Quitting caffeine made her “crazy sick,” she says, slammed with migraines. “It’s like overcoming any kind of addiction. But I stayed hydrated and kept plugging on.” She saw her weight drop 10 to 15 pounds just from that tweak.
When quitting soda led to weight loss she looked for other changes she could make. To break her sugar habit, she switched to a paleo diet. “For the first time in 20-some years I didn’t count calories or weigh food. I just decided to take out the crap and eat real food and see what happened. Once I did that consistently the weight came off. It’s really simple — it’s not easy, but it’s simple,” she says. When Pankow got rid of processed, fast, and sugar-based foods her migraines, joint problems, and bloating all disappeared.
At one point, Pankow transitioned to an anti-inflammatory diet, which some people with joint problems find helpful. But cutting out foods like tomatoes and peppers felt too restrictive. She moved to a keto/low-carb diet. “Healthy fats, moderate protein, and low carbs felt natural to me,” she says.
She acknowledges that sometimes she gets off track. “I’ll eat cupcakes — those things happen. But if I veer off track the bloat comes back, my skin gets itchy, and I get migraines. I don’t need to go down this track.”
At one point she tested herself, reverting to her old diet, but soon found out that was a mistake. “I really have to stay away from sugar. You don’t reach 300 pounds without having a binge problem. It was alarming how quickly I started putting on weight, she says.” She recognizes that while sweet or carby foods might fit into her eating plan, they trigger cravings.
Related
COMMITTING TO EXERCISE
As Pankow drove home from her last physical therapy appointment, in early January 2016, she decided she needed to maintain her new habit of movement. She stopped at a local gym, Anytime Fitness, where personal trainer Heather Clark showed her around.
Pankow says, “It was hard being a big, overweight girl walking in with this perky blonde trainer. It was a little intimidating. But I took the plunge.”
