My name is Teresa and I've been on a diet of some type since I was in my early teens. You know, it was just 10 lbs, but it might as well have been 40 or 50 lbs. I can remember Mom making my lunches and actually being embarrassed that my sandwich was a stinky tuna fish sandwich on skinny bread. (I'm actually surprised I lived through those days, tuna and light mayo in a hot locker for hours. yuck) She'd throw in an apple and sometimes a dill pickle or Weight Watchers Skinny Chips. I don't think I ever lost weight during high school.
I can remember during our gym class one day, we all had to dress out in shorts and t-shirt. We were lined up sitting on the gym floor with our legs sticking straight out feet together. I looked at the girls on either side of me and noticed that they had gaps between their thighs and my thighs were touching.
I used to pray that I would wake up taller, thinner and with long straight blonde hair. lol Dawn would break and I'd look in the mirror, nope, not this time. I was still short, chubby with a mop of brown curls. I imagine if God had answered that prayer, first I would have probably died of a heart attack when I looked in the mirror, but I'm sure I still would have thought up something else that I wasn't happy about.
After 4 years of high school I graduated still needing to lose that same 10 lbs
Moving on, I grew up, got married, had babies. After each baby, I would go on an extreme diet and lose weight. Actually after I had my son, I got down to my high school goal weight and then found out I was pregnant again. I never made it back to that weight.
I was able to maintain a healthy weight for 10 years, but due to some health issues I had to have 2 surgeries over the next 2 years. My gallbladder had to come out. I can remember co-workers telling me to prepare to gain weight. They were right! It was like someone went in and completely rewired my digestive system. Then the next year was the big H. I was only 32 years old and had to have a complete hysterectomy. Once I recovered, the weight came on with a vengeance. It didn't matter what I ate, how much I exercised, which diet program I obsessed over, I couldn't stop the pounds from just piling on. I gained over 70 lbs that year.
I looked back at the beginning of my dieting.
1978 Freshman year. 14 years old, 5 foot tall and 113 lbs.
1986 Post Pregnancy 23 years old, still 5 foot tall and 103 lbs (after strict dieting)
1988 Post Pregnancy 25 years old, still short (lol) 116 lbs (same strict diet, but not quite as strict)
1988-1995 Weight fluctuated between 116-125
1995 Post Surgeries 32 years old, and 188 lbs
1996-2013 I dieted myself up to 217 lbs
2013 Self Employed Business owner 50 years old, stressed, working long hours, size 18 pants too tight to sit in comfortably, but too ashamed to buy a size 20. Miserable and desperate.
August 2013 I found a company that promoted a weight loss supplement. The testimonies could have been written by me. Digestive issues, hormonal issues, painful joints, dieting but not losing weight. I started taking these supplements and in 2 years, I was at 142 lbs. I still wanted to lose another 20 lbs or so, but only maintained between 142-149 for the next 2 year. Suddenly, I could tell that something wasn't the same. My digestive issues were flaring up again, my hips would hurt getting out of bed and I was starting to gain weight again. I was still eating good, I was exercising, but I was gaining weight and freaking out. Not only because I was gaining weight, but because I was promoting this product as a distributor. How could I tell people how wonderful this supplement was when I was gaining weight? After gaining back over 20 lbs, I decided I needed to get my head wrapped around another diet. It had to be my fault that I was gaining weight again, so I continued taking the supplement and started Weight Watchers Smart Points in September 2016. Weighing in at 165 lbs, but I just knew that Smart Points would work for me because my sister was having great success.
I counted points, I checked menus, I didn't go over my points, in fact there were many days that I didn't eat enough points and this is when the madness began. These words kept going through my mind: "You MUST eat ALL your points EVERYDAY. You can eat whatever you want as long as you stay within your points." It's 9pm I've still got 10 points left, what do I do? Eat a cookie. The problem? Eating that cookie tripped a breaker. My power to control myself was gone, I felt like I was stumbling in a dark room and couldn't find the light. One cookie turned in a sleeve of cookies. I felt out of control, crazy and I had failed.
On January 20, 2017 53 years old, 179.8 lbs I changed my life. If you remember, in my very first sentence I said I'd been dieting since high school. Somewhere between 1978 and 1993 I remember Weight Watcher, Diet Center and Low Carb. I hated the low carb diet. I couldn't eat all that meat. I NEEDED my fruits and veggies. Okay, so that morning I was on Facebook, promoting this supplement that I still believed in even though I was gaining weight daily. I sat in front of my monitor closed my eyes and said a prayer out loud. "God, show me the path."
You know when you're on Facebook and there are advertisements for stuff on the right hand side of the screen. When I opened my eyes, on the right hand side of the screen I saw Diet Doctor. I had no idea what it was, but in the back of my mind I knew God was showing me my new path.
This website is for the Ketogenic Diet. Keto for short and even though it's called a diet, it's so much more. It's a lifestyle. Once you go Keto you'll never go back. And that's how my journey began.
October 19, 2017 (1 day shy of 9 months of Keto) 54 years old, shorter than I used to be, 132 lbs Happy and Healthy.
I have people I've known for years and years who don't recognize me, I have people asking me what I'm doing, I have people asking for recipes, menus, how to get started. So I decided to blog about it.
I hope you enjoy it and visit often.
Teresa
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. It is important to seek the advise of your doctor before beginning a new diet.
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