The keto diet: “Instantly my energy returned!”

Luisa used to think that if you were overweight then you just didn’t exercise enough. And given that she never had any weight issues, she had no reason to believe otherwise.

But when she turned 60, she suddenly started putting on weight despite her religious adherence to the food guidelines and exercising. After a few years of watching the scale tick upwards, she checked out Diet Doctor and keto at the recommendation of her physician.

This is what happened:

All my life I’ve had a great figure, been an exerciser. I ate well, according to the food guide, and lots. Eating well included veggies, fruits, beans, oatmeal – but also lots of bread and butter, pasta, pizza, cake and wonderful, wonderful Hawkins Cheezies with wine or rum and coke when I felt particularly low.

Being an exerciser meant I was able to keep my weight within my BMI and continue to eat as I pleased… I pitied my siblings who struggled with weight and food addiction – they were obese because they didn’t exercise.

But once I rounded 60, it became harder and harder to exercise enough, and the weight started piling on – inexorably, till by the time I reached 65, I was at 167 lbs (76 kg), which is obese, for my frame. I felt embarrassed to have to wear size 16 clothes, none of my other pants or blouses fit – the fat around my stomach was turning me into a barrel-shaped short woman.

My doctor had been warning me for years that I was pre-diabetic – she suggested I check out Diet Doctor and start the keto diet. I was also beginning to see I too had a food addiction, using food to fill a void. I saw a counsellor to help with this. He too suggested Diet Doctor and the keto diet.

Having lived for all my life avoiding “fats” and eating according to the food guide (plus loving carbs!) I refused to embark on anything so radical. Still, the weight piled on and I had less and less energy to exercise or do housework.

Until, at 65, my doctor let me know: OK, you are now diabetic, and will need heart medication and insulin unless you turn this around. You need to try the keto diet, which means giving up carbs and start eating fats. I was shocked. “If I have to give up bread, and pizza and pasta, can I at least become an alcoholic?” I asked, half in jest.

This time, I took her advice. I went on the Diet Doctor site and tried the 2-week challenge. The results are best taken from my journal entries:

“Instantly my energy returned! The keto diet is an answer to my desire for ready-made, delicious meals. Their recipes and meal plans are DELICIOUS! They take all the guess work out of what to eat each day. Lots of new recipes and flavours I would never have tried and really big servings that avoid the deprivation that normal diets bring.

“I realized that my addiction to food was invisible because of my metabolism and energy and exercise habits. But as metabolism slowed, my weight ballooned to 167 lbs (76 kg). I hadn’t recognized that the slow ebb of my energy was the insidious advance of Type 2 Diabetes!”

Today, 7 month later, at 147 lbs (67 kg), I am no longer embarrassed to go out in my fat clothes. My figure is returning, I’ve lost 5 inches (13 cm) from my waist and I am wearing summer clothes I thought I’d never be able to fit in again.

My blood sugar has dropped to pre-diabetic levels and is on the way down. I was so grateful for intervention of the Diet Doctor website that I bought their membership, even though you can get lots of keto recipes online.

I’m still overweight. I still have to lose another 10-15 pounds (5-7 kg) to be in my healthy BMI range. This no longer seems impossible. I know I have to keep the high-fat/low-carb diet for life. Still, it would be nice to be able to include oatmeal and beans in my diet, with the occasional bread.

That remains to be seen.

Luisa

Comment

Thank you for sharing your story, Luisa. I am thankful your doctors persisted in recommending Diet Doctor. Hopefully more amazing success stories like yours will motivate even more doctors to use low carb lifestyles with their patients. Keep up the great work!
Best,
/ Dr. Bret Scher, MD

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