From 290 Pounds to Confidence: My Keto and Intermittent Fasting Transformation 

How did you discover keto? 

I came across Dr. Berg about 3 to 4 months ago. At the time, I was managing a restaurant, and a girlfriend I worked with kept talking and talking about the wonders of this ketogenic lifestyle.  

Did you have any problems with your weight or health before going on keto?  

 I’m 36 years old, and I’ve always struggled with my weight. I was always overweight and experienced all the horrible insecurities that come from being fat in middle school, high school, and beyond.  

That’s the hard part. The mental struggles that come with being overweight–trying to stay strong and confident while constantly feeling like you don’t look like the real you that’s locked inside that overweight body.  

Besides the draining insecurities, I have always experienced horrible headaches — the kinds that feel like your forehead is a pane of glass being pressed from the inside and about to shatter.  

At that time, it was like everything my coworker was telling me about keto was falling on deaf ears. I just didn’t get how restricting your diet and eliminating refined carbs could possibly make you feel good.   

Boy, was I wrong.  

Suddenly, at Christmastime of 2017, I had one of those “moments of clarity.”  

I was at my heaviest. I weighed somewhere around 290 pounds. I could hardly walk. I sat in my bedroom at my mother’s house and cried and cried. When you cannot even walk around the mall during Christmastime because your feet can no longer support your own weight, that’s pretty sad.  

I finally relented. I thought about what my girlfriend had said about the keto diet, and I thought, “Well, why not try this?… Maybe, just maybe, she’s right.” And I started reading and watching everything I could about ketogenic eating by watching Dr. Berg on YouTube, whom everyone doing keto was following on Facebook.  

At that time, I was thinking, “How could anyone possibly lose weight eating all these meats and delicious cheeses?”  

But I took a leap of faith, and I’m so glad I finally believed in someone.  

I decided January 1st, 2018, would be MY date. I promised myself, I WILL give this a chance! There must be a way of losing weight out there that is actually healthy and long-lasting, where you don’t gain the weight back the minute you find happiness….”  

How has your health improved since you started keto?  

As I said, in January of 2018, I totally dedicated myself to a ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting, and I am now down 70 pounds in just 8 months.  

I struggled with different types of headaches for years and years, but I haven’t had any for six months! I believe reducing my sugar and carb intake helped with this.  

Now, my feet don’t swell. I work hard walking around all day, and I still feel that high energy. Like I used to as a teenager. It’s amazing how good I feel. I just want to keep sailing down this road to see how thin I can actually get–but the thing is, I feel so good now; I don’t really care whether I lose any more. I feel so positive, good, and confident, I’m fine where I am now, or if I lose more!  

I feel absolutely great.  

What did your diet look like prior to adopting keto?  

I had tried other diets, and let me tell you–not only did the weight come back immediately, but it was just too much trouble for any human to withstand.  

For example, in January 2016, I joined another program. I bought all the containers and the food, and worked out hard 7 days a week. In the end, it just added more stress and more “have tos” to my day. I wondered,”Where’s the simplicity in things?”  

Not only did I not lose much weight, but any weight loss I achieved immediately came back on my body. Dr. Berg’s program is the only program I’ve found where it doesn’t seem like the body is just sitting there waiting to re-absorb the weight like a sponge.  

Plus, Dr. Berg’s program is SO EASY. The more I started researching, I came across Facebook, and all these people are following Dr. Berg, doing this thing called Healthy Ketogenesis and intermittent fasting.  

How does an average day of eating/fasting look for you on keto?  

As far as the food goes, I had never eaten enough vegetables. I’d throw them on the plate, then throw them away. Now, vegetables are a major portion of what’s on my plate. I strive to eat nutrient-dense foods and to eat a majority of vegetables.  

Here’s what I’ve done to lose weight and how I’ve applied Dr. Berg’s program:  

I fast for 18 hours every single day, from 6 p.m. to 12 p.m. I don’t eat at all before noon or after six, and I rarely get hungry. Sometimes it’s just a habit. Eating is. And that habit passes.  

If I do get hungry at bedtime, I drink water and try to get out of my head to focus on something else, and I’ve found that even with a bad slip of some kind, just give it two weeks, and all cravings and desires for sweets and refined carbs disappear.  

I don’t restrict the number of meals I eat so much; I restrict the WINDOW of eating. So, I try to make every single meal count and fill myself up so that I don’t want anything else. I just fell in love with avocados again, and I’m eating them at every meal.  

My staples are those grass-fed eggs, fatty meats, avocados, and lots of nutrient-dense vegetables.  

My new venture now is to open a ketogenic/IF bistro, something like a home food delivery system to help people cook ketogenic meals with ease and help people discover this wonderful way of living!  

Any other details you want to share?  

Dr. Berg’s videos make it so easy to follow the program or learn about virtually any health problem. It’s like, “Here’s the problem. Here’s what can help.” And boom! Things improve with fast results.  

His simple five-minute videos on intermittent fasting and the ketogenic lifestyle have allowed me to absorb the principles of this program no matter where I am–the car, the gym, watching YouTube in the morning, or before bed. Now, finally, I found SIMPLICITY in things!  

This lifestyle has reversed all the stress in dieting for me and given me back my self-confidence. And people are saying, “You are absolutely glowing.” And I’m like “Hey, I feel good for once, while I’m losing weight.”   

As far as my weight goes, I was 287 pounds, and now I am 217. I’m losing weight fast–but doing it healthily.  

I’ve never felt better or happier.