What did your diet look like prior to adopting keto?  

Raised in a traditional Southern home on a diet of just about all the wrong things, I developed bad eating habits. Hamburger Helper, corn, cornbread, gravy and biscuits, fried potatoes, fried chicken, and so on were common meals in our home.  

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

When I joined the Army at 18 years old, I was 186 lbs. I got into lifting weights and bulked up to a solid 210 lbs. while maintaining a 31- to 32-inch waist. However, when I left the Army, I got a job in sales management, and the 210 lbs. quickly turned into 280. Before I realized it, I was 300 lbs.!  

So, I was in my mid-20s, 5’7”, 300 lbs., and in really bad health. I had insulin issues, blood pressure issues, severe joint inflammation, and just all kinds of sickness and illness due to my bad diet. 

In my late thirties, I got on the Atkins diet and dropped my weight to 220 lbs. My weight would vary from there to 240, and I did that all the way until I was 40 years old. I got a book called Sugar Busters, started following that diet plan, and actually got down to 175 lbs. However, with a big appetite and eating low carbs, good carbs, no sweets, and no bread, I still got up to around 225 lbs. again. That’s where I was in November of 2016. Since I’ve been lifting weights off and on since I was 17 years old, I’ve always been interested in bodybuilding. 

So, in November of 2016, I made up my mind that I was going to compete the following year in a bodybuilding competition. I started at 225 lbs. in November and weighed 162 lbs. in May 2017 for the Vulcan Classic. The traditional bodybuilding diet is really hard because it’s so close to offsetting the amount of energy you’re burning from working out. That was a terrible 7 months of my life, working out 2 to 3 hours a day, which left me at least 800 to 1000 calories deficient.  

How did you discover keto?  

After the Vulcan Classic in May of 2017, where I took second in the Master’s Classic Physique division, I found the keto diet. As I began to prep for the state championships following the keto diet, I was already seeing improvements.  

How has your health improved since you started keto?  

So, here I am right at 50 years old, and I’ve gone from 300 lbs., taking 15 to 20 pills a day for all my health problems, to 172 to 175 lbs. All my levels are in the normal range, and my inflammation, fatigue, sleep problems, depression, and anxiety have all improved.  

I feel so much better. It is unreal. 

Any other details you want to share?  

I began to hold classes at a local gym where I work out, and I’ve helped multiple people lose anywhere from 50 to 80 lbs. and even as much as 90 lbs.  

Ten weeks before the state championship, I had hernia surgery, and my lifting was very restricted. However, even when lifting very little, the keto diet kept me lean, and I was able to place in two different divisions at the state championship show here in Alabama. 

I’m simply amazed at how easy the keto diet is and how many people I have seen turn their lives around, including some family members. 

I am a minister who has been in the addiction ministry for years. I realized, a long time ago, that my food addiction was very similar to an addiction that I used to have. The weight issues resulted in knee surgeries and arthritis throughout my body. I knew that I couldn’t just get free of one addiction and still be addicted to food. I began to pray and study, and that’s how I found the keto diet. All I can say is, it has changed my life, and I’ve led people to the diet and helped them change their lives too! 

To go from 300 lbs. at 26 to 170 lbs. today, the first thing I had to do was change my thoughts. 

Results presented are not typical. Individual results will vary.