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I found Carole in mid-May 2018 and haven’t looked back since!
I’ve lost 41 pounds in 4 months, lost 3 shirt sizes and 2 pant sizes.
I am off all my diabetic and blood pressure medications.
I’ve cut my sleeping pills by 2/3.
My joints don’t hurts, I’m not stiff in the morning, I can tolerate the heat more,I can keep keep up with my grandchildren, I was an emotional eater, I’ve been able to talk myself out of eating something that will kick me out of Ketosis.
I’m happier and healthier than I’ve been in over 30 years and will be Keto for the rest of my life!!

Transcript:

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us. My name is Carole Freeman. I’m a certified nutritionist and certified clinical hypnotherapist. Today I’m real excited because I get to interview Karen [Rushford 00:00:29]. She is one of the ladies that’s just finished up my program. She’s been with me about 14 weeks, 15 weeks now?

14.

14. And I’ve invited her to stick around as one of our peer support coaches, because she’s had an amazing transformation like a lot of the people that I’ve worked with. And she just wants to inspire and support others on their journey as well. And so welcome, Karen. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit and chat with me and share your story with others.

Thank you for having me. It’s been an amazing journey. I am so happy that I found you. I was floundering keto when I found you. And the information that you’ve taught me has made a huge difference. My life, my husband’s life, and even in my mother’s life. We’re all eating keto now. So that’s been awesome.

I’m 62 years old. I have three sons in their thirties, and I have six grandkids. We’re retired, and so we have a lot of time to sit around and eat. But we’re not eating anymore. We are enjoying this, not thinking about food all the time, not being hungry all the time, and just eating when we’re hungry. And eating fun stuff like butter and cream and meat. And you can’t go wrong with that.

Mm-hmm (affirmative), that’s so great. That’s great. So take us back before working with me and before keto. What was going on in your life and your health? How was Karen back months and months ago?

Karen was unhappy. Not a lot of confidence. Tired. I got winded really quickly. I couldn’t keep up with my grandkids. My sons keep saying, “You gotta do something, mom. We want you around a while.” And that gave me a guilt trip there but I just … I didn’t have it in my head or my heart or whichever one wasn’t working correctly.

And I have this amazing [inaudible 00:02:49], and we’ve talked about dieting every year when I see him. And last year he said … I had mentioned that I was diabetic, and that I was going to start the diabetic diet. And he said, “No,” he said, “Keto is the way to go.” And I was like, “What?” So he told me a little bit about it, and I started it. And had good results the first couple of weeks. But I didn’t know the things to eliminate, which Carole taught. I didn’t know all the ins and outs and the little tricks and things. So the way it last for the first month was good. And then it became like a pound or two a month. So for basically four or five months we really didn’t lose anything. We didn’t gain anything, but didn’t lose anything.

And then in May I found Carole. And I filled out the application, and I thought, “She’s never going to accept me,” so I didn’t think another thing about it. And then I got the email that said, “Hey, we’re going to have an interview.” And I was excited, extremely excited. So we had the interview on Friday, and I started on Monday. That was May [inaudible 00:04:03]. And I haven’t looked back, except compare where I am today with where I was.

Okay. So in 14 weeks now, how much weight have you lost?

I have lost 36 pounds. I have gone down two pant sizes. I have gone down three shirt sizes, three to four shirt sizes. I can breathe. I’m not winded. I can walk up the stairs one at a time instead of two feet on each step. I can, to a point, still need to get some weight off, but I can keep up a little better with my grandkids. My arthritis has gone pretty much away. I have a list here. [inaudible 00:04:55] all of my blood pressure meds. I am off of my diabetic meds. Let’s see. [inaudible 00:05:06] heat tolerant. I am not, but I’m getting there. Anything hot outside [inaudible 00:05:13]. I could not take it. And now I’m able to do warmer and warmer weather, and still be outside, which I find amazing. Because it’s been so long since I could go outside and enjoy myself really. So that’s been fun.

I don’t have any stiffness in the morning when I get up. I’m sleeping better. My breathing is more normal. I’m not constantly heavy breathing because I can’t catch my breath. I am, or was, a huge emotional [inaudible 00:05:44]. And one of the things I’ve learned is that I can talk myself out of it by telling myself that I don’t need to eat because [inaudible 00:05:55] happening, if I can do something about it, I do it. If I can’t, I have to let it go. But I don’t need to [inaudible 00:06:02] myself. And so I’m able to talk myself out of some of those things, which has been extremely helpful.

Another thing that I have learned that’s helped me a lot is, not that I can’t have things, it’s that I choose not to have things. Which puts me back in control again. And that has helped so many times. And even when I’m out with people, it’s like, “Well, you can have this.” “No, I don’t want it. Not I can’t have it, but I don’t want it.” And they don’t keep badgering me. They let it go when you say you don’t want it. So that’s been very exciting.

Saw a couple of relatives last week that we hadn’t seen since the first of April. And they’re guys. And they noticed that I had lost weight. Guys aren’t usually … But these two notices that I lost weight, which was so much fun. I really, really enjoyed it. We’ve traveled with them a lot. And we’ve always had to stop every so often so I could rest, because I just couldn’t keep going. And everywhere they walked when we were there with them, I was right with them. And we didn’t have to stop all the time. It’s just an amazing feeling to be human again. I know I was human before, but to be able to do things that normal people, not fat people, can do. And it’s been a long time.

12 years ago I had my knees replaced. And I am just about back to the point I was when I had them done. So for 12 years I have been pretty much the weight I was when I started. It’s numbers that I’m happy to see. I’ve got 11 numbers left, but I’m happy to see the ones that I have. I know I’m going to make it this time. It’s not a, “Well, I’ve always failed, gained it all back, whatever.” I’m not going to do that this time. This is my life, and it’s in my control. And I’m going for it. [inaudible 00:08:11].

Good work, Karen. Congratulations. And I love how thorough of a list you have, because you know that that’s one of the things I taught you is that the bigger your list of why you’re doing this and remembering and noticing and comparing all those changes and improvements, that’s what keeps you going, that’s what keeps you making that choice and saying, “I don’t want that,” is because this list of stuff is so much more delicious than any food is.

Definitely, definitely. And that’s one of the weird things that some people I tell, some people I don’t is when you [inaudible 00:08:52], I did. But I don’t anymore. And I don’t quite understand the body chemistry, whatever, but it doesn’t happen anymore. Which is really cool.

Yeah, yeah. That’s something that I started noticing in my clients and myself early on, I don’t know, six or eight months in or something like that. And it was something that happened to me. My mom had told me that once you had a baby, that’s just the way our bodies work as women is that we have urinary incontinence or stress incontinence, or when you laugh or sneeze or something like that, just a little comes out. And that’s just part of being a mom in the world. And that’s something that every one of my keto clients has noticed, that it’s either on the journey that it’s decreased, or it’s completely gone away. And so there’s something there with inflammation that makes those muscles in the bladder just not work the way that they should. So yeah, that’s so great.

And I’m curious. So you mentioned early on that one of the people that was voicing concern about your health was your son. So what does he think now?

Oh, my son, he is just thrilled. He consistently tells me how great I look and how great [inaudible 00:10:06]. He was very conscious about where we can go, what we can have and what we can’t have. He wanted to go sushi. I said, “Yeah, that’s not going to work.” And he was, “Fine, we’ll go [inaudible 00:10:22].” But he’s very happy. He’s happy to see the change in me. And not just weight-wise, but happiness, confidence. All the boys, all three of them, are very supportive. Every once in a while one of them will, “Are you supposed to be eating that?” “Yes, I can eat that.” But they’ve been very supportive, and they’re very happy with the results that I’ve had. And just encourage me to keep going.

You’ve inspired other people in your life to make this change. So tell us more about how this has rippled out to other people in your life.

Well, my husband started doing this with me. And then another month or so later my mother started doing it [inaudible 00:11:08]. My daughter-in-law recently, she’s heard about it since we started, and she’s kind of done a little bit of it, but she hasn’t really been into it. So a couple of weeks ago she said, “I want to do this.” So she’s doing it. She’s having a little more trouble with committing, I think, is more of what her issue is. But she’s working [inaudible 00:11:31].

My mom and dad’s pastor and his wife are both doing it. [inaudible 00:11:39] going out and multiplying there or something. I don’t think we’re getting anybody [inaudible 00:11:44].

You never know who’s going to be impacted by your story and success. So what success? Like your husband that’s been doing it along with you. And you said your mom, right? What transformation have they seen so far?

We have completely cleaned out my mother’s closet. My parents live with us. And so she brought bins of clothes that she knew she wasn’t going to get into because they were too small. Most of them we’re getting rid of before her even trying them on, because she didn’t know she’d gotten so much smaller. So she’s lost like three pant sizes and a couple of shirt sizes. Her A1C was high, and her A1C [inaudible 00:12:32]. My husband [inaudible 00:12:36] four pant sizes. And he’s lost [inaudible 00:12:42].

How much weight is that? Four pant size [inaudible 00:12:48]?

For him it’s been … I think he’s around 35. We have all these numbers. We have a number when we originally started in September, and then we have our Carole number. But I think he’s around 35. But we’re both down 50, 55 pounds from when we started way back when. So we only really got about 20 pounds or so off before we found you, and life changed. Yeah, it’s fun, it’s good.

And you just recently had a very exciting doctor’s visit. Share-

We did. I went back to my pulmonologist who I hadn’t seen in a year, and I had lost 55 pounds from when I had seen him the last time. He was very excited. His nurse is on it,, so we spent 10, 15 minutes talking about it before the doc even got in the room. And then we spent another 10 or 15 more minutes talking about it and how excited I was. He was very excited for me. He said he’s mentioned it to about 25 people, and he said five of them have actually started it and done well like we are and stay with it. Some of them, no, it was too much, too hard. He had one who was waiting for a lung transplant that was told to lose 30 pounds. And he tried to put him on that, and the guy said, “No. I’m Italian, I have to eat pasta.”

So people, they don’t get it. They just don’t. But he was very excited. That was an appointment I had been looking forward to since I started with you, because I knew that there was going to be a big change. And it was all because of his recommendation. He’s lost about 40 pounds on it. And being a doctor, that’s a wonderful thing to have a doctor recommending the keto diet.

Yeah. And it’s rare, and I’m so excited that we’ve got people out there in our health care field. Because it is rare, and it’s still a fringe thing. And unfortunately it’s thought to be the opposite of what’s healthy, but it turns out that what’s thought to be healthy is the opposite of what really is healthy. Yeah. So I’m so excited to have you coming on board as one of our peer support coaches. You’re just so inspirational. And you’re so kind and caring and compassionate. And I know you’re just going to be a wonderful person for people to have to turn to for extra just support and encouragement and all of that. Oh, go ahead.

I’m looking forward to that. And I’m also looking forward to learning more tips and tricks and finer details or whatever from you in the coaching classes. When I sit in on other coaching classes, even if I have no questions, I learn something from a question someone else has asked. So coaching classes, [inaudible 00:16:05] coaching classes are a great resource, no matter how long you’ve been on it. [inaudible 00:16:10].

What are the other … I’m going to ask for some things that you liked about my support program. What was it that stands out? What was different? What made it so successful compared to what you were trying to do before?

You. Your voice is very soothing. And you break things down into small pieces. So it’s easy to read, understand, digest, and then go on. You didn’t let us go ahead in the different master classes. We had to stick with what was to be learned for that week. And it just made it easy. If we had a question, you were always there to answer the question. Just someone looking over my shoulder, I guess, was very, very helpful. And learning ways to deal with things. Like it’s not that I can’t have, it’s that I don’t want to. Things like that that just make a huge difference.

Yeah. Thank you, Karen, so much. And now before we kind of wrap this up, was there anything else that you wanted to share, anything else you were hoping I would ask about?

No, I don’t think so. I think we’ve covered pretty much the different things that I was looking at here. Yeah. Yeah. I’m pretty good here. Ready to keep going.

Well thank you so much for taking the time. And we’re going to share this, you’re going to inspire so many people. And I’m going to bet you reach more countries than I do. I’ve only had seven countries. Well, let’s see if we can [inaudible 00:18:13].

Oh, I hope so.

International [crosstalk 00:18:16].

I’m looking forward to this [inaudible 00:18:17].

Yeah, yeah. Well thank you, excited. This is just the start of your journey. And I just can’t wait. I’m going to be working very closely with you, but I can only imagine what’s in store for you in your life coming up. So thank you so much for sharing your story. Good work, lady. Congratulations on all your success. It’s hard work, you’ve done it all. So good job.

Thank you for all your encouragement.

Oh, you’re more than welcome. Great. Hey, thanks for watching. We’ll see you again real soon. Bye.