Today I'd like to share 5 inspiring success stories of those who took part in our January KetoDiet Challenge and won prizes worth over $2,000! All 5 participants took part in our challenge together with thousands of others. Their stories have been picked as the most inspiring ones.
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Maggie's Success Story
Hi I'm Maggie! I'm 31 years old, 5’6, 218 lb starting weight and a video editor by trade. I've struggled with binge eating since high school, but didn't start putting on weight until my 20s.
I know that my binges are a combination of eating a high carb diet and the binge habit that I've ingrained in my daily routine. I suffer from the binge/purge cycle in that I binge eat, hate myself for bingeing, attempt calorie restriction/cardio, and binge again because of the restriction. I’ve mostly recovered from this eating disorder (thanks to reading the book “Brain Over Binge” by Kathryn Hansen), but still mindlessly overeat, preventing any weight loss.
In 2012, I got in great shape (145 lbs + muscle) for 2 of my friends’ weddings doing a typical bodybuilding program/"clean eating" diet (high protein/high carb/low fat). It was a very time consuming program, eating 6+ meals a day and spending close to 2 hours in the gym 6 days a week. This lifestyle is not natural, and caused a great deal of stress throughout the process.
My digestion suffered and most of my time was spent timing and calculating my meals perfectly. I loved seeing the results, but suffered anxiety if I missed a workout or ate something that wasn’t on my meal plan. After the weddings, I crashed back into binge eating, causing me to gain 70 pounds in just 2 short years. I constantly struggled to get back into that lifestyle, but continued to gain weight. I’ve been anywhere from 195-228 lbs since 2014.
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Why Did You Join?
Weight loss, skin and digestive issues.
What Helped You Stay on Track?
After the first day, I decided to start posting photos of all of my meals for the duration of the challenge on Instagram. Several times I really wanted foods that weren't keto, but knowing that you were seeing my posts every day helped me to stay on track. Eventually the non-scale victory of fitting into pants that I'd never worn gave me the motivation to keep going as well.
How Has KetoDiet Helped?
I've been wanting to go Keto for a long time and have played around with it many times, but actually participating in the challenge has helped me stay on long enough to achieve the benefits of the diet.
Aside from weight loss, my digestive issues have vastly improved. Just the reduction of bloat in my stomach has made a tremendous difference in how I feel and look.
I also have had several skin issues for a long time including Keratosis Pilaris (bumps on the backs of arms) and bouts of Chronic Urticaria (hives). I have already noticed a reduction in the amount of bumps on my arms and haven't had any issues with hives or other allergies this month.
What Are Your Favourite KetoDiet Recipes?
I LOVE the Cinnamon & Pecan Keto Porridge and have made it almost every weekend. I also love making Deviled Eggs and am a big fan of the Jalapeno Popper Deviled Eggs recipe! I can't wait to try some of the bread recipes soon!
How Can We Improve?
I really enjoyed having the Community page for this challenge. The only thing I would have liked to see is the ability to add a photo to our profile (Martina of KetoDiet: noted!). It would make reading everyone's posts feel a little more personal and face-to-face. Other than that, I really think the challenges you do are so helpful and I can't recommend them enough to my friends. I'm so grateful to have been able to participate and look forward to starting the 60 day challenge on the 13th! Thank you so much for all you do!
Maggie's Progress during the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge
During the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge, Maggie lost over 10 pounds, 2.5% body fat and a total of 6 inches!
Aysia's Success Story
A public figure who keeps saying "No" because of my weight and low self-esteem. I made a decision to start saying "Yes" for 2017. I realize that I can't continue to hide behind the weight. If not now, when. The time is now. I started a page out of complete brokenness after having two choices, commit suicide or write my first post. With tears in my eyes and bent over in pain, I wrote my first post sharing my experiences of rejection and abandonment. It was an anonymous place to write notes to myself that grew beyond what I ever imagined. My battle with major depression has caused extreme weight gain. Because of this, I've declined many speaking engagements throughout the US. For many supporters of my Facebook page, Meditate on Good things, would either find themselves surprised or would have never guessed. I am one of the millions affected by mental illness, I am the face of Schizophrenia.
For what initially started out as post postpartum depression 5 years ago progressed to major depression because I believed that it wasn't an illness but a state of mind. After spending much of the 5 years rebuking the devil for such a diagnosis, blaming others for what didn't work in my life and rejecting the doctor's recommendation, my illness progressed and food became my prescription of choice. Now that I understand the connection is to having good health mentally and physically is, it's also clear to me that managing such illness and making every effort to become and remain is a responsible choice. I feel it's ever so critical for me to acknowledge where I am, find a support system to help me get to where I need to be. I've accepted the help from doctors I believe I need. Discovering Keto challenged me to acknowledge that mental health was only a part of my battle. Being physically healthy is just as important. And now, I've accepted the support of the Keto Diet Challenge.
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Why Did You Join?
To lose weight with consistent efforts and gain healthy habits to become a better me.
What Helped You Stay on Track?
The only thing that helped me stay on track was this challenge. The accountability and the interactive support makes all the difference.
How Has KetoDiet Helped?
This is the first time in my entire life that I committed to anything to better my health. My self-esteem and confidence is back. This challenge gave me the tools and support to give 100% and to remain focused while overcoming bad habits while battling mental illness.
What Are Your Favourite KetoDiet Recipes?
My favorite recipe from the blog is the keto buns. They are yummy! However my sweet tooth weapon of choice is no doubt the Maple and Pecan Fudge Fat Bombs!
How Can We Improve?
More interaction with the founder especially on IG (Martina of KetoDiet: I'll do my best to get involved but I do have a very busy schedule working on more recipes to help our participants stay on track :-)). It gives me that extra motivation and push just knowing she's watching what we're posting. A quick "like" if we tag the challenge or a thumbs up comment or hit the heart. She did it once for me at the moment I wanted to give up the challenge. That one like on one of my photos carried me two weeks knowing that any moment she can be watching and reading.
Aysia's Progress during the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge
During the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge, Aysia lost over 16 pounds!
Jay's Success Story
I recently retired from the Air Force and have seen my weight go up over 30 pounds in 7 months so I'm looking to get my weight under control. I also have high blood pressure and at 41 years old I know that I should be in much better health than I'm in so I'm hoping to get my BP levels back to normal as well and commit to an overall healthier lifestyle.
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Why Did You Join?
Lose weight, gain muscle, and better my overall health. I've been eating without regard since retiring from the military and have decided to eat better and live a healthier lifestyle.
What Helped You Stay on Track?
The recipes from the keto diet blog helped me to plan my meals each week. It enabled me to stay on track with eating properly and without having to resort to cheating. Also my wife has been a big supporter and always makes sure cook keto friendly meals for us so that I stick to it.
How Has KetoDiet Helped?
The diet has helped me reach my short term goal of losing at least 25 pounds in 30 days. I've never had this type of success on the many diets I've tried in the past. I plan to sign up for the 60 day challenge starting this month to continue towards my long term goal of losing 60 pounds in total.
What Are Your Favourite KetoDiet Recipes?
So many dishes from the keto diet blog are my favorites but I really enjoyed the Fettuccini Alfredo since I'm a big pasta fan. That satisfied my thirst for pasta and is a weekly staple in my house now.
How Can We Improve?
I think the challenge is great the way it is. It's not complicated and fairly simple for anyone to follow. I commend you on it and appreciate putting together such a great source for those looking to better their diets and lives.
Jay's Progress during the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge
During the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge, Jay lost 29 pounds!
Chanel's Success Story
I'm back for this 30 day challenge after falling badly off the wagon and regaining 11.4 of the 16 kg I had lost! I'm trying to stay positive and do it right this time!
I'm 38 and have been a full blown sugar and carb addict and yo-yo dieter for as long as I can remember. I've tried any and everything to lose weight and beat the addiction, but always ended up failing. I started my Keto journey in March 2016 when I weighed in at my heaviest - 89.5 kg. I'm only 5.7"! I'm now at 85.4 kg and desperate to lose it and take back control! I must say I am a total convert, but for all my hard work, I do still feel the dreaded sugar addiction lurking in the background. It's honestly like a drug for me.
Giving up smoking was the easiest thing in the world compared to sugar! I tend to have the hardest time on the weekends. From a health perspective, I also started to notice the bad signs again. I am often out of breath after climbing a small flight of stairs and even getting up off the floor is tough. I struggled to paint my toe nails as it meant squishing myself to reach them! My skin is terrible and my mood and anxiety is so so bad again! My relationships suffer especially with my husband and I spend an incredible amount of money on junk food which I'd hide and secretly eat and now I'm too shy again to even walk at our own home pool in front of him in a swim suit! I'm not enjoying summer because of it. I'm feeling scared about starting again but I hope to be strong and make it work! I really want to change and be healthy!
Why Did You Join?
Get back to losing all the weight I put on and more when I fell off the wagon and my addictions took over again. Kick my anxiety and carb and sugar addiction and GET HEALTHY!
What Helped You Stay on Track?
Being back on Keto felt like coming home. I was struggling with binging on sugar and carbs before the January challenge but as soon as I got started I could feel the shift towards regaining control.
Keeping a track of everything I ate and actually acknowledging and savouring how good I felt really helped. I could literally see my skin clearing and feel my sugar and carbs addiction receding - it was like I could watch myself changing day by day. My sugar and carbs addiction has been debilitating but now I'm excited about doing things again!
The Keto way of life inspires me and I find myself looking forward to my meals and actually enjoying creating and trying new recipes. Listening to your body really helps, and being flexible is important. I try to plan ahead as much as possible but I do stay flexible and if I feel like beef tonight instead of chicken then I'll make that if it means I really enjoy what I've made in that moment.
Keeping a few options handy helps with that. I also try to double cook so that there are left overs for lunch the next day which means I don't need to worry about finding a Keto friendly meal at work, where there's often an abundance of very non-keto options. I secretly also enjoy how "envious" colleagues are of my yummy lunches - how awesome that we can enjoy so much deliciousness and still shed those kg's at the same time!
How Has KetoDiet Helped?
Doing the keto diet challenge really kept me engaged each step of the way. I used the KetoDiet app as well and that really kept me accountable for my macros. It also feels great knowing you are going through the same experiences with loads of other people from all over the world and they, plus the admins are always so supportive!
I am also especially excited to say that not only have I had such an incredible journey and learning experience on the challenge, this time it was a MASSIVE encouragement to achieve another one of my goals. The KetoDiet challenge pushed me to finally do my first 10 km run/walk race in about 4.5 years and I attribute that to how good I feel following this way of eating and knowing that the challenge really is a huge accomplishment for me!
What Are Your Favourite KetoDiet Recipes?
Definitely the cauliflower rice, Easter keto quiche, bacon and olive omelette and the bacon cheeseburger pizza! The bulletproof coffee is just delicious too though! There's so much variety in the recipes on the blog and that really helps! The blog recipes are my go to find interesting ideas to mix it up at meal time.
How Can We Improve?
To be honest, I'm struggling to think of something that needs to be improved. I found everyone so supportive and the app and challenge area are easy to use. I'm sure with the development of the KetoDiet app there will be more recipes so I'll look forward to continuing to use it going forward!
Chanel's Progress during the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge
During the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge, Chanel lost over 13 pounds and a total of over 8 inches!
Sandy's Success Story
I'm a former carb and sugar addict. Throughout my life I had been able to eat poorly without noticeable damage to my health; then I turned 40. My poor eating habits caught up to me. My metabolism became sluggish and the aches and pains of systemic inflammation started to set in.
Why Did You Join?
My short-term goal with the challenge is to shed 10 pounds and reduce inflammation. My long-term goal is to create a new habit of clean eating.
What Helped You Stay on Track?
I would not have been successful with this challenge without the KetoDiet app. Being able to plan my meals ahead and then, more importantly, track my macros throughout the day was necessary for me to stay on track. I also found the support and encouragement of fellow challenge participants and members of the Facebook group to be a great source of motivation and inspiration.
How Has KetoDiet Helped?
For years I had grown accustomed to restricting calories and increasing cardio workouts to lose weight. But that just left me hungry, fatigued, and with a lot of brain fog. The KetoDiet Challenge opened my eyes to an entirely new way to live! While I'm very pleased I lost weight, it is my improved mood, energy levels, and ability to focus that has me wanting to continue with this way of eating.
What Are Your Favourite KetoDiet Recipes?
My favorite recipes from the KetoDiet Blog and from the KetoDiet app are the Keto Mock Danish, the Cinnamon & Pecan Porridge, and the Chicken Fricassee.
How Can We Improve?
I don't have any suggestions for improving the KetoDiet Challenge. There are ample resources made available for understanding this way of eating; excellent tracking tools provided; and a safe environment created to share concerns, questions, and victories with fellow challenge participants.
Sandy's Progress during the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge
During the 30-Day KetoDiet Challenge, Sandy lost 9 pounds!
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