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Episode Description: 

Ready to jump start your keto excitement and motivation? Join Carole for this episode where she interviews past and current clients about their keto weight loss success! You’ll hear where they started, their results, keys to sustaining their success, and more!

Connect with Keto Coach Carole:

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KetoLifestyleSupport
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Transcript:

Carole:

Well, hello there. How are you doing today? I’m so glad you’re joining us. Oh my gosh. Are you ready to kick up your excitement and motivation for Keto Success in 2022? Yes. We’ve made it to this year, everyone. Hey, we’re live and I got some questions for you. Are you ready? Are you trying to reboot? Let me reboot my question. Are you trying to reboot your keto diet in 2022, or maybe you’re ready to take your keto success to new levels this year? Do you want to hear some amazing keto stories straight from the source? Well, you know what, this episode is for you then, because I am going to be chatting with three of my clients about the amazing success they’ve had over the last few years, and they’re going to share their tips and strategies with you about their success. So, welcome to the show.

Carole:

This is keto chat live, and I am your host Carol Freeman. I have a master degree in nutrition, clinical health psychology. I’m also a board certified ketogenic nutrition specialist. And my lawyer wants me to get this medical disclaimer out of the way really quickly. Let you know that this show is not meant for… I can’t even read my own medical disclaimer. All right, let me reboot that as well. That’s going to be the theme of the show, is reboot. This show is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. It’s not medical advice nor intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any condition. If you have questions or concerns related to your specific medical conditions, please contact your qualified personal healthcare professional. So, just to start out with, I can see that we’ve got some viewers watching live. I can’t actually see who you are unless you comment.

Carole:

So, we’d love to have you join the show. Just type a comment in the box there and let us know where you’re joining us from. Also I’ve got a little fun quiz for you to participate in. It’s two of my guests today actually live in the same state. And so see if you can guess which state that is. I mean, we’ve only got 50, so you’ve got one in 50 chance of getting it right. All right. So, up first, help me welcome to our show Annie, everyone.

Annie:

Hello.

Carole:

Loud of applause. Oh, actually let’s do this. Yay. Welcome, Annie.

Annie:

Thank you.

Carole:

Oh my gosh. All right, Annie. Yay. I’m so excited.

Annie:

Thanks.

Carole:

So, without giving it away, Annie is one of the ones that lives in the same state as one of the other people. I told her beforehand, try to remember not to say where you’re from so that we can keep the excitement and suspense going for those of you that are going to play the game and guests along with us. So, Annie, welcome. Normally I’d ask like, where do you live? Okay. Keep that a secret for now, but thank you, Annie, for being here. Do you want to share a little bit about yourself without giving away where you live?

Annie:

Sure. I will just share a little bit that I’ve been with you in the program for about a year. Oh no, a little over a year. And I am a pastor and I have had chronic migraines and weight, and all this stuff that I came to you with feeling pretty despairing about at the time. And yeah, came across to you and your story and really resonated with your journey, and thought, wow, I’m going to give you a whirl. So, we connected and I was just really impressed from the start. And off we went on this journey. And so it’s been over a year that I’ve been with you.

Carole:

Oh, that’s wonderful. I’m so glad. So, you you shared one of the things you were struggling with before you started working with me was chronic mic grains. So, tell us a little bit more about like, when you were in that desperation point, trying to find a solution for this, what were the things that you were struggling with? What were your fears? What even made you consider doing keto?

Annie:

Yeah. Well, I moved to the place in which I live, which I’m not going to say where I live. I don’t want to give away.

Carole:

Yeah.

Annie:

But I moved here and there’s wonderful food, and I put on 30 pounds here and that I didn’t see that coming. And so that didn’t help because I have sensitivities to foods, but I struggled with chronic migraine for 22 years. Pretty much a migraine every day for 22 years.

Carole:

Wow.

Annie:

I just like many people with chronic pain, you’re just always searching and searching and searching. And so I came across your story. I don’t know if it was on YouTube or whatnot about your accident and you had migraines. And as soon as I hear that, I was like, oh, I need to explore more. And that’s how I came to be with you. And I would say that it has helped immensely. The keto diet has helped me immensely. I still can get them, but not as often. And I’m still going to figure out other things that are triggers, but I’m thrilled. Absolutely thrilled.

Carole:

That’s wonderful. We’ve got Susan here from Chicago. She’s a regular of the show. Welcome, Susan, so glad that you’re here. And so those of you that are just joining us, I have a little quiz going. Two of my guests here today, so today’s theme is Keto Success-A-Palooza. Isn’t that a clever name everyone? So, two of my guests today actually live in the same state. And so that’s our quiz for today, is see if you can guess which state two of my guests are from today.

Carole:

And so comment where you’re joining us from, like Susan has, thank you so much for joining the show. The show is interactive and want to acknowledge those of you that are here watching live. Okay. So, Annie started exploring keto for migraines. You’d put on about 30 pounds that you wanted to look take off as well. I mean, ketos great for a two for one punch there for resolving both of those issues. So, my first program that people go through when they work with me is just a couple months long. So, do you remember back then, this was over a year ago or maybe about a year ago., What results did you see in just a two month period?

Annie:

In the two month period, I definitely saw a massive amount of weight loss. It took longer, I think, for my body to detox and find its new rhythm, but yeah, I dropped quite a bit of weight. My sleeping changed dramatically. I went from not being able to sleep well to sleeping very soundly. It sound like one of my favorite things to do, but I now can sleep. I used to have to take Benadryl every night to sleep, and now I don’t need to take it anymore. I just can kind of conk out and sleep through the night. What else? Oh, the brain fog was a big thing. That kind of left and found myself more alert and had more energy. I was so much more encouraged and it’s funny what encouragement can do when you start seeing some results. You’re like, oh, it just really did a wonder for me. Yeah.

Carole:

And as I remember too, that confidence for you also came back because you were somebody that had really struggled with your weight most of your life.

Annie:

That’s right.

Carole:

So, gaining this 30 pounds was like really unsettling. You didn’t recognize yourself, and so being able to lose the weight quickly, brought back a lot of confidence for you, right?

Annie:

Yeah. And I didn’t know how to get it off. So, I had gained it and like you said, never struggled before. And now all of a sudden had like a second person to touch me. I tried everything and then got more and more insecure and discouraged. So yeah, I forgot about that. That’s right.

Carole:

There’s so much that we’ve been doing, Annie, this week on the coaching calls, as I’ve been having everybody just keep a log, a diary, or maybe electronic document or something of all the things that have gotten better, and then just keep adding to that. Because it’s really common that we forget how terrible we felt before, and all the things that got better. And the ladies that have done this this week have just been like, oh my gosh, I forgot about that.

Annie:

Right.

Carole:

I forgot about that and I forgot about that. And if you can keep a running list of those things, it’s really powerful for keeping your motivation up, right? Because when you get so far away from your old self, the pain self, the bring car monster in your brain, it’s really easy for it to go like, ah, things aren’t that much different. This isn’t worth it to do this much work to change your eating habit. And so that’s one of the things I’ve found over time is that, if you can keep a running tally of all the things that get better, not only do you get all kinds of surprises, the longer you do it, it’s really reassuring and reaffirming to look back at that list and show yourself how much hard work [crosstalk 00:09:32] paying off.

Annie:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Carole:

Well, so beyond the first two months, what results have you seen like in the last year?

Annie:

Definitely I have seen, my weight came off, so that was wonderful. My relationship with food has shifted somewhat. I still need to work on other things, but kind of being more intuitive and more insightful on what I’m eating and how that affects my body has really helped. Yeah. And I think just on the coaching calls and my pod, my crew, just the encouragement I get through them and the connection I get from them just really has been so helpful through the year. Because when I do get a migraine, I can kind of go, okay. I don’t know if I want to keep the course because I’m in pain. And I just want to go to my go-to to make myself feel better, whatever that may be. And to have the crew there, to support me and encourage me in those moments is amazing. So, that’s one of the best things that came out of this year.

Carole:

Oh, that’s great. That’s perfect because I was going to ask next like, what are the musts that you’ve had for your success? So, the community connection, I’ll just explain a little bit for our viewer. I’m going to call this, but the level of support that I offer my clients, there’s nothing else out there like it. We have so many different layers of support and I’ve just found that providing all of that is essential to people being able to make long term changes of any kind. And so Annie mentioned the pods, we have small daily text groups. They’re both for support, but accountability as well. So, people make a pledge every day to their group that I’m going to stick with keto, and the people that are in that have found it to be really, really valuable.

Carole:

And coaching calls, and email support and a peer mentor. And so just providing all that layers of support. So, basically I want to have people to feel a cocoon of loving keto support around them at all times, and that’s great to hear that that’s been so instrumental and you’ve been able to stick with that.

Annie:

Absolutely.

Carole:

And that really is a pattern that I’ve seen that the people that engage in that community support are able to stick with it, and through the challenges they’re able to not give into that. So, that’s great. So, you’re migraines dramatically reduced. So, you went from having nearly one a day to like, how frequently would you say are they now?

Annie:

I will get about three a month.

Carole:

Okay. Wow.

Annie:

Yeah. That’s huge for-

Carole:

Yeah. So, you had a 90% reduction. So, you went from 30 days of migraines to three.

Annie:

Correct.

Carole:

That’s absolutely fantastic. Yeah.

Annie:

Yeah.

Carole:

Yeah. And I definitely have had ladies that even gone through, working with me, that weight loss wasn’t even their front line, but definitely migraines are so debilitating. So, those of you out there that are struggling with that, you know what that’s like. Wow, wow.

Annie:

Yeah. And even when I get my migraines, I still feel like success.

Carole:

Okay.

Annie:

Because it’s such a change from just every day having pain and managing your pain with drugs or whatever you need to do, to just managing them three time a month, it’s like night and day. So, to me, I’m like well, I won.

Carole:

Yeah.

Annie:

But I still want the three to go away, but I’ll take it. I’ll take. If it’s three, it’s three.

Carole:

Yeah. Wonderful. I mean, not wonderful that you still have three, but 90% reduction, well worth the effort. So, good job.

Annie:

Yeah. True story. Yeah.

Carole:

So, this, isn’t always a fun question, but where do you think you’d be right now had you not found me or my programs?

Annie:

I mean, the migraines would probably still be there. I’m just convinced that I think keto just works for my body. It just worked for me for my weight loss. And I’d tried everything. Every diet you can think of out there. Paid a lot of money out there too and found no success in it. So, I’m sure I would be struggling with weight and probably a bit of depression like I was when I came to you. Yeah. So, that’s where I’d probably be. Right where I was when I met you.

Carole:

Yeah. And maybe even a few more pounds than you were before.

Annie:

Yeah.

Carole:

Yeah. But not a fun thing to think about.

Annie:

Yeah. No.

Carole:

So, what’s your outlook for 2022? What do you have on your personal health goals for this year? What do you see possible and what’s on your list of wishes? Wish list.

Annie:

My wish list. Well, first I decided to do the new fast track this round. And I debated, because I thought, well, I have the tools for keto. Do I really need to do it? And then I thought, it’s like a really good show. You know a really good show that you get and then the series comes to an end, and then you’re like, gosh, I’m going to start over because I bet you money I missed so much at the beginning. That’s why I’m deciding to do it, because I was overwhelmed when I began. And I remember it’s a new language and tried to get as much as I could. So, I thought, oh, what a great way to do it again and get even more. And then hopefully connecting with the functional medicine doctor that you are connected with. And that will be my second layer to go, okay, what could be other triggers for me? So, I have a whole plan of what this year’s going to hold.

Carole:

Oh, that’s great. Yeah. And I’m glad you’re sharing that too because I haven’t been able to connect with everybody that’s enrolled in the new version. And so I’m putting on my notes here about another thing to talk about in the modules. Yeah. So, I think connecting with Dr. Ruiz, the functional medicine doctor that I recommend for people, he may have some tools and things that he can do that we could get your migraines down even fewer and less frequent.

Annie:

Yeah.

Carole:

So, that’s great. Yeah. And so you shared too that you’re like, ah, I missed much the first time and one of the other ladies that’s going to be doing it as well. She texted me today saying that that was one of her concerns was like, “Ah, there was so much before, am I ready to do this again?” So, you’re going to be in good hands. People, they’re thinking along the same lines as you are. I’m really excited about the new improved, revised content for you all, but also just the fact that we have counting our peer support coaches that will have 13 of you going through this all at the same time.

Annie:

Wow.

Carole:

That creates a lot of excitement and momentum, and just a really solid cohort and community to connect with too. So, glad you get to be a part of that.

Annie:

Yeah, me too. I’m excited.

Carole:

Bruce, thank you for watching the show and joining us. Bruce says, “Today I’m below 200 for six days in a row.” So cool.

Annie:

Yay. Yay. Yay.

Carole:

Congrats, Bruce. How long has it been since you’ve seen that number on the scale? So, that’s what we say you got to wonderland. The first number on the scale has a one in it. So, congratulations, Bruce. That feels really good. Well, anything else, Annie, you want to share before I let you go? Any other tips for people considering keto, any tips you have for people that have been struggling on it? How do they stick with it?

Annie:

I would say for those who are considering, that I recommend this program. And one thing I did learn that is really important that I still tap into is that our bodies are also different. And that I learned that through this program. So, as I got on the coaching calls and people, my body wasn’t doing exactly what theirs were and I kind of learned along the way going, oh, but mine does this, and mine works like this. And that’s been instrumental in my journey with weight and wholeness health. And so I just recommend it. And the support and the people you meet in this program are just amazing. I think you’re stuck with me because I don’t want to lose my pod or my crew.

Carole:

I love it.

Annie:

You’re just so lovely. So, yay.

Carole:

Thank you so much for sharing your story success. And, Annie, all the credit goes to you because you’re the one that’s been putting in the hard work. I lay out the plan, you followed it, so you get all the credit for doing the of hard work and it’s definitely paying off for you. So, congratulations there.

Annie:

Well, thank you. I definitely couldn’t do it without you. You’re instrumental. So, thank you.

Carole:

Thank you. It’s been an honor and a privilege to be helping support you on your journey here.

Annie:

Thank you. Thank you.

Carole:

I know you got to run to something else. Thank you so much for taking the time on your busy day to be here with us, and I’ll be seeing you next week in the new program too.

Annie:

I’ll see you next week.

Carole:

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Annie:

Bye.

Carole:

Thanks, Annie. Let’s see Bruce. Okay. Last time Bruce saw the one hundreds on the scale was the turn of the century. So, over 20 years ago. Wow. Congratulations, Bruce. That must feel really good to reach that goal. All right. Again, interactive show, let me know you’re here. I’ve got a quiz going on and the quiz is, two of my guests today live in the same state. So, I just thought it’d be fun if you all try to guess. Which state do you think that two of my guests are from?

Carole:

You have a on in 50 chance of answering it, and then the more people guess, the more it eliminates the wrong one. So, let’s see if you guys can get it before the end of the show. I’ll reveal it at the end, but I would love to see you guys just start guessing that. So, are you ready for our our next success story? Help me welcome Karen. Let’s get the clapies there. Yay. Karen’s here.

Annie:

Hi.

Carole:

Yay. I’m so glad you’re here, Karen. Welcome. Welcome. Karen is one of our peer support coaches. How long have you been with me now? It’s like over three years.

Annie:

Yeah. 3.5 years. 3.5 wonderful years.

Carole:

We get to be good, close community, but I’ve never actually met her in person. She lives several states away for me. I’m not going to say which one, but it turns out that her and Annie actually live in the same state. If anybody wants to start guessing, if you’re too far off, we can maybe give you a few hints or something like that. Well, Karen, I’m so glad you’re here. Well actually, do you want to us a little bit about yourself without revealing where you live?

Karen:

Yeah. I’m wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother. I live in a really nice place. It’s nice here. Moved from a big city to a small town and I’ve really enjoyed that. Problem with that is that I quit working and the weight went on. And so I’ve been heavy for a while. Since my children were born, actually. I started gaining it with my first son, but I’m in the process of getting rid of it.

Carole:

Yeah. And getting to know Karen over the last three plus years, I know that her number one love and priority in her life is her family. And you’ve just got an amazing support system and lots and lots of love that surrounds you. I know that that’s one of the reason why you started this keto journey is that they all loved you so much. They didn’t want you to go anywhere. So, take me back before you ever met me. What were things you were struggling with and your fears at that time that led you to seek out help with keto.

Karen:

I had just been diagnosed diabetes. And I went to one of my physicians and mentioned that I was, because we’d talked about weight before and mentioned that I was going to start the diabetic diet. And he said no. he said, that’s not good. He said, do keto. So, I started. looked around for what I could find, because he really didn’t give me a whole lot of anything. And then I hit a plateau. I thought, okay, I need some support. I need somebody to tell me what I need to do. And so I started looking around and I found you. I was out of breath all the time, My knees hurt. It was hard to walk. I have some small grandchildren that were hard to chase, because they could go a whole lot faster than I could.

Karen:

I had temperature issues. being outside in the heat was just horrible. So, I spent all the nice days in the house, which wasn’t a whole lot of fun because the kids wanted to be outside. I had high blood pressure, I was on sleeping meds, Russell’s leg meds. I had a lot of acid reflux, and I was at the highest weight I’d ever been. So, I found you and it was such a relief. I started out and I didn’t look back. I started to see results right away. I no longer take sleeping meds, restless leg meds, blood pressure meds, acid reflux meds. I still am on a small diabetic, but we’re working on getting me off of that. I have more energy. I can chase the kids now and my temperature has regulated, and I can be outside with them in the heat. And I’m not dying to get in here and sit down again.

Carole:

And you’ve lost quite a bit of weight too, right?

Karen:

I’ve lost 65 pounds.

Carole:

That’s great.

Karen:

It’s been a road. It’s been an up and down, up and down. I’m not one of those that consistently went down, but that was my doing, not the keto doing. I would go off and I would just absolutely binge and be right back where I started from again. So, we’ve worked out a system that works for me of sprinting and being off for a little bit, and then sprinting again. I’m on my third sprint and it’s worked really, really well.

Carole:

Yeah. I just love having you as part of our team because people see success stories online, and they think that it’s like, oh, I start here and then I lose all the weight, and then that’s all she wrote. And then I just move on with my life. And then when people struggle, it’s hard. How old are you, Karen?

Karen:

65.

Carole:

65. When you’ve been eating a certain way for 65, at that point it was 62 or 63 years. When you’ve been eating that way, it’s not like you just change that overnight. It takes a long time to change that. And we live in this world where there’s these highly addictive foods, they are designed to make as crave them. And when we’ve eaten them a long time, it’s work to change those habits. I love having Karen here to share her story because it shows those of you that are struggling out there, it’s more common than not. It’s not that you just wake up, flip a switch and then everything’s easy after that. It takes ongoing effort and revising and fine tuning. Karen, what do you think is the number one reason why you didn’t give up on yourself?

Karen:

The support. The support I get from you and the pods, and the coaching calls. If it wasn’t for all of that, I would be where I started plus a whole lot more. And so I am so grateful for your patience and your kindness with me through all of this. Being a support coach, I felt like I was really letting you and the program down because I wasn’t consistent. But you were there to support me and to tell me this is normal. And you’ve been there holding my hand, which is exactly what I needed. And that’s why it’s worked. That’s why I’m still here.

Carole:

And this is the eating approach that you’ve been able to stick with the longest of anything you’ve ever tried, right?

Karen:

Yes, yes.

Carole:

Yeah. And I have tried to reassure you the whole time that while we have the fantasy that it’s easy for everybody and nobody struggles, and you lose the weight and don’t look back, that it’s really important for you to be there as an example of like, no, we don’t give up. Was it on Monday that I did the little squiggly line thing? Did I do that again where I’m like, everybody thinks that your journey is a straight line, but really it’s this squiggly line and it’s all part of the learning process along the way too. And while you beat yourself over not being perfect, you still are off all those medications and your health is so much better had you not done anything too. So, I’m always pointing out like, you got to give yourself so much credit about how much better off you are, how much healthier you are, how much hard work you have put in and how it is paying off too.

Karen:

You’ve set redefine success. Success is no longer the number on the scale. I mean, that still means something to me, but the success is all the meds that I’m off of and the things that have straightened out. That I can go outside during the heat with the kids and I can chase them, and those are the successes. The weight is a nice success too, but that’s not the most important thing.

Carole:

And we have your lab markers as well. The fact that you’re off of these medications too, shows that you are healthier than you were before too. So, what’s your outlook for 2022? I think you’ve got some lots of sparkle in your eye about what you see coming for yourself this year.

Karen:

I see great things on the scale this year. My lab markers are good. So, I’m not needing anything in that respect anymore. Dumb clock. But I can see good things with my weight. The way we have this sprint going, it’s been so effective and I can see that going really well for the rest of the year and making some serious progress. Getting into numbers that I haven’t seen in 20 and 30 years. And I’m looking forward to that. I want to hit like our other guests did. I want to see the wonderland again. I haven’t seen wonderland in a very long time and I want to see Wonderland again. And that’s where I’m heading. I’m heading

Carole:

You’re getting very close. And I know that you’ve got the tools and confidence and support to get there. So, I’m very excited for you this year. It’s interesting because when it’s weight loss, you don’t think of like new lows that you’re going to hit. New heights of success and new lows on the scale too. I’m excited as well.

Karen:

I am very excited. And it’s because of you and your program, and the support. Had I just gone through the program and that continued on, I would’ve been done. But because there was the support there and I knew you and everyone else was there, I wasn’t alone anymore. And part of the community and that means so much. It’s so valuable.

Carole:

You’re definitely part of us. Well, anything else that you want to share with anybody watching, listening, tips for success or anything else that you’d like people to know?

Karen:

You can do this. It’s sustainable. It’s not going to be straight down. There will be ups and downs. You are unique. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. What they’re doing. You see all the stories of these people losing huge amounts of weight in very small times, but that’s not reality. Just have faith in yourself.

Carole:

See what a great coach you are. That’s such kind, loving, inspirational words to share with people. I love it. So great. It’s really cool how something you said is very similar to what Annie said too, and how you’re all unique and different and don’t compare yourself to other people and that you’re all on your own journey.

Karen:

Yeah.

Carole:

We love you all as you are and your uniqueness, and that’s what we’re here to support too. So, wonderful. All right. Well, so glad that you’ve been here, Karen. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, and I’m so excited to see this what this next year brings for you. So, thank you again for being here. Oh, I should bring the clapies back up. Here we go. Yay. Thank you, Karen.

Karen:

Thank you.

Carole:

All right. Well, I feel like I’m hosting a comedy show right now, because I’m like, all right, let’s give it up for our next guest coming to the stage. Oh, share with me as you’re watching, what’s most inspiring for you. I don’t have any guesses yet, I’ll reveal it at the end. Somebody’s got to remind me, reveal at the end which state do do Karen and Annie live in. You’ve got a one in 50 shot, but also the more you guess the more we eliminate and the closer we get to the answer too. So, everyone, welcome. My next is Rita. Yay. Give it up for Rita, everyone.

Rita:

Hello everyone.

Carole:

Welcome, Rita. We can’t share where she lives because she’s not going to spoil the quiz that I’ve got with everyone. But welcome, Rita. Will you share a little bit about yourself, tell people who are?

Rita:

Yeah, so my name’s Rita. I get to share whatever the other two didn’t-

Carole:

Yeah.

Rita:

So, I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota area. And so today it’s quite cold. It was below zero. Yeah, getting, getting used to that. I don’t know if you ever get used to it, but you learn how to manage it. So, I’ve lived here for quite a while. I moved around a lot over all the years. I work for a large food company in food, safety and quality, and I’m married and no kids. I think I probably had struggled with my weight, probably most of my life and now I feel like I’m on the track and I’m getting everything figured out

Carole:

Oh my gosh. I don’t know what the coldest temperature have actually been in. I’ve never been in the Midwest during the winter. So, I can rule that out. Probably the teens or below in the Northwest probably is the coldest temperature. And I’m sure that 10 degrees cooler is a really big difference. So, I can even imagine what that’s like.

Rita:

And it’s funny here now, though, we have these below zero temperatures. Next week when it’s 25, it’ll feel very warm.

Carole:

Yeah.

Rita:

It’s just amazing how your body adjusts because your first time in the year you hit 25, you think it’s cold. Well, now next week that’s going to feel great.

Carole:

Right.

Rita:

Yeah, it’s crazy.

Carole:

Wow. Well, like you said, you’re not used to it, but you’ve been experiencing it for a while.

Rita:

Yep. Yep.

Carole:

Well, well take us back. So, you’ve been with me just a little over a year. So, take us back to before you found us, what were you struggling with? What were your fears? What had you considering keto?

Rita:

Sure. So, like I said, I’ve always been active, but I’ve always struggled with my weight over the years. And in December of 2020 I was turning 50. So, at the start of 2020, I was like, I feel like I’ve got everything else in a good spot in my life, it’s time for me to figure out my issue with weight. And I was already trying some low carb stuff. And so I was trying to do keto on my own and had a little bit of success. I lost 15 pounds on my own and was able to keep that off. But then everything just stalled and whatever I did, it didn’t seem to make a difference and was very frustrating. And I actually don’t know why, but for whatever reason I’m like, I’m just going to start looking for help. And so one evening I just started online, just starting to look for keto and keto coach. Because I felt like keto was a good option for me from the little bit that I saw that I would like that, and came across you.

Rita:

And before I knew it, I had signed up for your initial consultation to see if it was a fit. And before I knew it, I was moving forward and the train had left, and I was on this ride, which has just been great and I’m so happy. And the reason I did it, because it was October and I’m like, man, that 50th birthday’s coming up pretty quick. And I still am a long ways away from my goal of where I want to be. So, that’s where I’m like, I obviously need help because what I’m doing isn’t working. I guess maybe turning 50 was a real driving force for me to start taking action.

Carole:

Yeah. Usually people have something. Sometimes it’s an age milestone. It used to be when we would go to like high school reunions. I don’t think people go to those much anymore, but it’s a family member’s wedding, I’ve seen that. Sometimes it’s kind of a medical wake up call that people have where there’s like some diagnosis or something that like Karen shared how it was like her diabetes diagnosis was a wake up call for her. So, it sounds like for you that 50 milestone for whatever reason was something that really motivated you to make big change.

Rita:

Yeah.

Carole:

Yeah. So, you enrolled a couple months before your 50th birthday. And so what results did you see? Do you remember back then, like the first two months, what you saw?

Rita:

I do. I was looking a little bit, well, Annie and Karen were talking a little bit too. So, as I think back, I think I lost somewhere around 15 pounds, and I remember it took a while for the scale to start moving. But I immediately started feeling better. Probably the biggest surprise that I had was how well I was sleeping. I used to wake up every night with leg cramps and I always thought that was from going to the gym. And I just assumed that that’s what it was. So, when I was able to sleep through the night, that was an unexpected win. That was amazing. But as I look back, I lost over 25 inches in those first two months. It wasn’t a ton of weight, and that’s what I think kept me going early on, is I was seeing a little bit of weight loss, but I could tell that my clothes were fitting differently and I was feeling different.

Rita:

And then like I said, just that sleep was a huge thing. And then I think it’s just the motivation of all of your information, but then it’s also that motivation of how you talked about how as you… It takes some work to get your body into ketosis and to get there, and once you’re there, you don’t want to mess that up. That was a really driving force for me is that, it’s not worth it to me to go back and have to work through that path again, I’m like, it’s just not worth it. And so that was a real motivator for me.

Carole:

And so fast forward a year, what did you say? 13, 15 months now?

Rita:

Yeah, I think about 15 months I think. So, I have lost 76 pounds and or 60 inches. Yeah. I think it was Bruce earlier, I hit there on the day after my 51st birthday, I hit Wonderland.

Carole:

Congratulations.

Rita:

So, that was exciting. That was kind of my original goal. And now I’m going to keep going and I have an idea in mind of what I think my next goal will be, but I’m just going to see where it takes me.

Carole:

Earlier this week, I pushed people to come up with a longer list than that. So, what were some of those things that you remembered earlier this week that you’d forgot? I think I probably have some written down, but do you remember what you-

Rita:

Yeah. Some of that was the leg cramps and the sleeping, but one of the other reasons I wanted to do this and had to kind of figure this out with my weight, it’s all the simple things in life. Like you don’t have to worry about, oh, I’m getting my picture taken. What am I going to look and how do I need to stand? Or am I going to be comfortable in this chair if I’m going to the theater? All those little day in and day out things that you deal with, those have all been wins. I’m like, I don’t even think about those things anymore.

Rita:

And then the other one I think I talked about, Carol, was, I would always have battles in my head of, I want to eat well, I want to eat good, but this really sounds good. What do I do? And I eat good and I just gain weight. And then I have something that I thought I shouldn’t have and then I’d lose weight. It was always this constant battle of, what am I going to eat? And I don’t have that battle anymore. I just know what my options are, and that is so freeing not to have that inner battle on a day-to-day basis.

Carole:

That’s great. Well, that reminds me too. I was going to ask you, what’s a typical day of eating look like for you, because everybody wants to know like, what do you eat, what’s your secret?

Rita:

Yeah. Because I had already tried it on my own. I had tried some of the intermittent fasting. So, when I first started, I went back to three meals a day just to kind of keep it simple and make it really simple. And then I quickly went ahead and moved. And so I typically have two meals a day. Most of the time I’ll have lunch and dinner. Lunch is typically a salad with some protein, and then in the evening I will have some sort of protein and sometimes a vegetable, sometimes not. Sometimes it’s just a protein. That’s one thing for me. I don’t have any issues getting my protein in. I don’t think you can have too much protein, but I am definitely on the higher side of what a lot of people are for how much protein they eat. And then sometimes I go to the gym over lunch. And so if I go to the gym over lunch, I will switch and I will fix some eggs and probably some sausage for breakfast, and then I’ll skip lunch.

Carole:

Okay.

Rita:

So, that’s kind of my typical deal. I typically have the same thing for lunch every day. I’ve kind of figured out a mix of salad. I can have blue cheese dressing, which is awesome. So, I pretty much have the same lunch every day and then I’ll mix it up in the evening with different meals.

Carole:

Look who’s here, everyone. It’s Valerie. Hey Valerie. Welcome. Welcome. Glad you’re here. And let’s see. So, what have been the musts for your success? Looking back over the last year plus, what are the things that really have made this different than things you’ve tried before?

Rita:

So, one is your program and the support. So, I was very diligent about joining the weekly coaching calls, because that’s just always helpful because one, you could get questions answered, but then just, you always learn something. And even now as I joined the coaching calls, you always learn something or you get reminded about something. Also as a coach, I enjoy seeing people’s journeys. And people’s journeys, it’s so much more than weight loss. And even my friend the other day was just telling me that she was telling somebody about me and just listening to her talk about how I’m just a completely different person, and there’s a lightness to me that wasn’t there. So, those coaching calls help. I think having people that support you.

Rita:

So, my husband, my family, my friend, Sharell, who’s my workout partner. She was there. And so I know sometimes people want to hide what they’re doing. And so for me having that support and people knowing within my life was important. I think the other one for me was tracking. That was my verification. I lost inches early on, but over this last year, like both Annie and Karen said, everybody’s path is different. I will sit at the same weight and, or gain. So, like right now I’m up a few pounds for quite a while, and then I’ll have a significant drop and I’ll hit a new low. And then almost immediately I hit that new low, I go back up and then I just hang out there for a while, and then it drops.

Rita:

And that’s just been my pattern all along. So for me, the tracking and weighing food, I always weigh my food. And then the tracking was a verification for me that I’m doing the right things, and I’m not off plan, I’m not off track. And that was just a verification for me that weight loss is going to go back down. I’m doing the right things. So, that’s been key and I think an important for me.

Carole:

Yeah. So true. I should give you an award because I think you’ve been absolute, most consistent I’ve ever seen with somebody coming on a coaching call every single week. I would say in the last 15 months you might have missed like one week, maybe two?

Rita:

There’s a few when I’ve been traveling or gone that it hasn’t worked, but most of the time I’ve been there.

Carole:

So reliable that you’re on every single week, and that is definitely something that I’ve seen with all my clients, the ones that really consistent with showing up for themselves, really makes a big difference too. So, definitely that’s one of the things I can see that you’ve been doing that contributes to how successful you’ve been too. And the tracking as well. Like you said, not only tracking your food, but just being able to track your weight as well. It’s almost been entertaining to watch your pattern develop too.

Rita:

Yeah.

Carole:

And if we wouldn’t have had all that data, people on their own would’ve just given up. Anytime you hit a plateau, they would’ve given up, but we had enough months that we could see like, no, this is how your body does it. And literally it was like stair steps. Stay at this one weight and then drop down, and then stay at this next one. And because you had been such a good job at tracking that we had data that, no, this is what it’s going to look like. So, anytime that you hit that plateau and it like, you’re now probably maybe a little more comfortable with like, oh, it went up a little bit. No, but that’s my pattern.

Rita:

Yeah. I mean, I wish the pattern was faster, but it is what it is. But I also look at it that I’ve proven to myself though that I can maintain this. And so I’m not going to get there to a weight loss goal and now I’ve got to convince myself that, okay, I can maintain it. To me, I’ve already proven that I can do that. So, I think that’s an important viewpoint and attitude to have towards it as well.

Carole:

Yeah. That’s such a great point, Rita, because so many other diet programs are like, you just do this crazy thing until you lose the weight, and then you change back to what you’re eating before. Whereas my approach and the philosophy I have is like, let’s practice eating the way you’re going to eat the rest of your life from the beginning. Like you’ve seen is like this is just how I eat, and this is how I maintain my loss. So, there’s not some crazy, now we’re going to change everything about what you’re eating and hope that you eat the weight off. It’s just silly to think that people have that kind of expectation. All right. Here’s the question that doesn’t feel good for people, but where do you’d be now had you not implemented these changes and learned and got the support that you have?

Rita:

Given that everything that’s happened with the pandemic and all that and working from home, I probably would’ve been in a worse spot. I mean, I was trying to do stuff, but at some point when you’re not seeing success, it’s hard to keep going. And I think that’s where I was. So, I think that was the benefit of all the support from how your program is set up. But then I also saw wins along the way and that helped keep me motivated. And then the longer you go, the easier it gets. So, I probably would’ve been in a worse position than where I am today.

Carole:

Well, I’m so glad you’ve got us. We got your back.

Rita:

Yeah, same here.

Carole:

So, what’s your outlook for 2022? What’s on your horizon for your health, your keto journey, anything else you want to share?

Rita:

I’m excited to keep going. I feel confident that there’s nothing I can’t do. I probably want to lose another 30 pounds. And so I’ve got that on my list. I’m reaching the point too, I’ve got some stuff I’m adding to the list from at the gym. I’ve been doing CrossFit for over five years and I absolutely love it. And I love that I’ve been able to maintain and do stuff all along, but I can do more stuff than what I could before. And like I was telling Carol earlier this week, I did my first double under, and I got three of them on a jump rope this week.

Rita:

So, it’s a simple thing, but that was so exciting. It might have to be a band assisted one, but I want to do a pull up. There’s some things at the gym that I want to try and figure out that I’m like, I feel like I’m at a spot now where there’s some things that before I would’ve just never even tried or assumed that I could do. See where I can get. So, that’s fun as well.

Carole:

I just had a visual of you doing the double under on the jump rope. It means you’re actually starting to levitate and [crosstalk 00:50:01].

Rita:

Yeah.

Carole:

So, your superpowers, you’re gaining there. So, Valerie’s asking, Rita you’re awesome. What goal of yours was the easiest to meet?

Rita:

Oh, shoot. The easiest to meet. Wow. As I look back, because my main goal early on was really weight loss. So, that was easy to meet. I think the thing that along the way is I was amazed at how easy it was to follow Carol’s program and to stick with it. It’s laid out so easily. There’s plenty of food options. I didn’t feel deprived at all. I mean, it was pretty easy for me to stick to the plan and to find foods that I could eat. So, that was pretty easy for me.

Carole:

Thanks for the question, Valerie.

Rita:

Yeah. The other thing we haven’t talked about which was just also very important is salt. So, that was key for me too. And that took me a little while to figure out. But having that extra salt throughout the day has made a huge difference as well.

Carole:

Yes. Yeah. One of my secrets for everybody’s success is the dialing in the salt, which a lot of people miss or get wrong, or don’t get nearly enough. So, yes, still going strong with the salt.

Rita:

Yep. Yep.

Carole:

Well, excellent. Well thank you so much for sharing all that. Anything else that you want to share? Any other tips or tricks or anything else you want to share with people watching or listening?

Rita:

I would echo what Karen and Annie said is that, everybody’s path is different, but it’s really encouraging that’s a great group of people and that support is so key. And to me it’s energizing, like I said, to see people’s transformations. That can’t help, but keep you motivated and keep you going as well

Carole:

Wonderful. Well, thanks for sharing that. None of these were practiced. None of these were planks. I mean, they knew they were coming on, but I didn’t tell them what to say. So, if any of you are struggling with keto, I’ll just do a plug for myself here then. So, if any of you are struggling, you’ve never done keto or you’ve done it and you can’t get it figured out on your own. That’s exactly what I do. So, please take a peek at my website. It’s ketocarole.com. Carole is the very fancy French spelling with an E on the end. So, don’t forget the E on the end of Carole, but if you spell it wrong, actually it should just redirect do the same website too. So, ketocarole.com. Take a look on there. You can find video interviews with Rita and Karen as well, sharing their transformation.

Carole:

I’ve got a whole lots and lots of success stories on there for you as well. So, if this has been inspiring for you, take a look around the whole website. We’ve got all our podcast episodes on there, success stories as well from lots and lots and lots of clients, video interviews and so on and so forth. Let’s bring Karen back on here as well. Annie had to run something else, so she’s not here anymore. But anything in closing ladies that you want to share with our viewers or listeners? Oh, I know what we got to say, the quiz question. Karen, where do you live?

Karen:

I live Iowa.

Carole:

Iowa. I don’t get to congratulate anybody. I’m guessing. It says nobody was guessing. So anyways, Karen and Annie both live in Iowa. All right. So, anything else? Did I forget anything ladies?

Karen:

I don’t think so.

Rita:

I don’t think so.

Carole:

All right. So, next week’s episode. I want to tease next week. I’m going to do a episode on how to lose weight without counting calories. Rita or Karen, have I ever had you counting calories in your 65 and 76 pounds of weight loss, right?

Karen:

Nope.

Rita:

Never, never.

Carole:

So freeing. So, next week I’m going to tell you my secrets of how you can lose weight without actually counting calories. And today we had our three keto success stories, Success-A-Palooza. Thank you all for being here for watching, listening, participating in the show. Thank you to Susan, Bruce and Valerie for contributing. And that’s all for now. Thank you all for watching. Share with a friend. If you know somebody that can use a little bit of keto inspiration and these tips and these stories may help them. So, please share away and that’s all for now. We’ll see you all next time. Bye everyone.

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