She Started Dieting Early On
Karen’s quest to shed a few pounds began innocently enough after high school. She attempted the Stillman diet, which consisted of mainly high-protein foods and no sugar intake. Karen was able to lose around 20 pounds, but she was never fully satisfied with the results. All it took was one glimpse at an unflattering picture from a concert in Lake Tahoe to completely throw her off.
Richard and Karen Carpenter. Photo by Cito Franco / Shutterstock
She felt ashamed by her visible paunch and decided it was time to hire a personal trainer to help her whittle down her size even more. She was advised to go on a high carbohydrate diet, which, in conjunction with the many workouts, made her bulk up. But for Karen, big and fit was never the goal. She wanted tiny and slender. She decided to take matters into her own hands, and gradually, normal dieting mutated into deteriorating starvation.