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All her life Najla was very slim and was able to eat a variety of food without problems. At the age of 28, while she was pregnant with triplets, her health started to decline. She suffered quite a few losses, including 2 of the babies and the loss of her mother to stage 4 cancer. “As you can imagine, I very quickly became depressed and struggled with stress eating. This was the main factor for all my weight gain and I was also mentally struggling to control my diet.”
“I noticed that when I was with my friends or at family events I started to feel self-conscious about taking pictures as I really didn’t like how I looked. I would only take selfies from a high position and hated looking back at myself. Then, one day I was looking on Facebook and the memories popped up from a few years ago with pictures of myself. At that point I realized how much I had gained and how I needed to mentally and physically take care of myself for my child and to make my mom proud. That is when I really started to take control of my life.
After talking to a friend about how she was struggling with her weight and a low carb diet, she was directed to Dr Berg’s page on Facebook.
Many of Najla’s friends had warned her about eating high amounts of fat and the possible side effects. At that time, she had watched so many of Dr. Berg’s videos that she trusted what he said and the information she was learning about Keto. Then when she started losing weight, that alone convinced people that it worked and she even started translating the videos into Arabic to give the information to other friends!
“My husband is a type 2 diabetic and after watching Dr Berg’s videos about this issue I started to persuade him to diet with me. When he saw me losing weight it pushed him to start himself and now he does not need to even take any diabetic medicine.”
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So far, Najla has lost 50 pounds with Keto & Intermittent Fasting!
How do you feel now compared to before?
First of all, I feel so much more comfortable in my clothes. Nothing is tight on my body and skin anymore, this is why before I hated shopping. I have so much more energy to spend time with my daughter and I love taking pictures. I have so much more confidence in myself and I feel proud to reflect that on my daughter. This pushed me to start to coach other people to follow keto and I gained a lot of personal satisfaction from helping other. Before, I had asthma and had problems with my glands because here in Oman the weather changes from very hot to average. My immune system was very weak however, now I feel fit, strong and healthy. I rarely get sick.
What were the major lessons you learned from Dr. Berg?
· Healthy fat is good for weight loss.
· You can enjoy your life with a restricted diet (keto).
· It is never too late to make a change.
· Your weight cannot control you, you can control it.
· I improved my medical knowledge about the body.
What was the hardest part about losing weight?
Making sure I have all the shopping in the kitchen to make what I want. Also, making sure I have prepared food in advance during working times so I don’t face a problem. When joining gatherings my friends respected that I was on keto however, some were following ‘dirty keto’ recipes and I felt obliged to eat it when it didn’t fit my plan.
What is the best part?
Seeing yourself changing and others commenting makes it all worthwhile. I feel healthier and more confident.
What would you have done differently if you could do it all over again?
I feel I did my best throughout my journal and really it went from good to excellent as I gained more knowledge from Dr Berg’s videos. I kept a journal and wrote down notes for every video I watched and would revise every few days and share my knowledge with people (in Arabic and French language) on my Instagram page.
What encouraged you to not give up?
· Before and after pictures.
· Seeing the weight reduce on the scales.
· Feeling so healthy with more energy.
What would you like to say to someone reading your success story?
It is never too late to make a change in your life, even after facing the hardest times. Believe in yourself. YES, YOU CAN!
What is your favorite way to exercise?
Walking and jogging. However, I focused on the diet more than exercise as at the beginning I had problems in my knees from carrying triplets.
What is your favorite keto recipe?
Any recipe that uses eggs as I love eggs. Also cauliflower pizza, BBQ’d meat and salad using olive oil, dry mint and lemon.