My Journey

Upfront disclaimer: What I’m about to share is free. I’m not selling anything and there’s no reason to buy anything to get your health back. Our creator has given us all the tools we need to live our best life. Also, I’m not a doctor. I’m just a normal person who has tried to manage my weight (unsuccessfully) for over 10 years. I finally found my answer and have educated myself with scientific, unbiased, truth-based evidence on the practices I’m about to share with you.

The short version is that I’ve used prayer, intermittent fasting and keto to lose 60 lbs in 13 months.

Here’s the long version. It all started when I read a book called The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung in December 2017. It was a game changer. It explained why all the other diets I had ever tried had failed (or worked short term but then I ended up gaining it back). It’s not about will power. It’s about INSULIN. If you want to understand the science behind what I’m about to tell you, please go get that book ASAP! If you’re not too much into science and just want to know how to get started, look up Dr Jason Fung on YouTube. He has a ton of free information out there. He’s also not trying to sell you anything, he just wants to help people. Beware, there’s a lot of bad science out there, funded by companies that make sugar and/or highly processed refined foods for a profit. You have to dig deep to find out who funded each study, or you can just read Dr Fung’s book. He tells you who funded each study and whether its good science or not. Another great book, which is a much shorter read, is Delay, Don't Deny by Gin Stephens.

The Obesity Code’s recommendation for breaking insulin resistance and resetting your body back to its factory settings is FASTING. Yes, I said fasting. Intermittent Fasting (IF) to be exact. Please don’t stop reading because that word scares you. I didn’t think I could do it, but the science behind it made too much sense to not give it a try. So, on January 1, 2018, I started fasting 24 hours at a time on MWF. It looked like this: I would go from dinner on Sunday night to dinner on Monday night with only water, black coffee and unsweet tea. There are many variations of IF and I’ve actually tried them all. See below in the FAQ for more about this.

<Pause for a Personal Testimony>
Right after I started my IF journey, Satan attacked like never before. He attacked me from every angle you can possibly imagine. He attacked my kids, my marriage, my health (major cancer scare), our finances, job situation, school struggles with my kids, my relationship with people who I thought were friends, my trust in the church, everything!!! Basically, my world crashed and burned. Satan knew I was on the brink of a major breakthrough with my relationship with Christ and he wanted to stop it anyway possible. But God is faithful!! He chased after us like never before and drew us into His loving arms. His Holy Spirit showed me that my fasting practice was about much more than my physical health, but about my spiritual health as well. I began using my fasting times as praying times. I fully surrendered to Him like never before. I repented, I fully forgave those who had hurt me, I left all of my hurt, anger and betrayal at the foot of the cross and trusted that He would rescue me from my misery, even if my circumstances would never change. I prayed for big things, miraculous things and claimed victory in His name over every aspect of my struggles. Then, Lance and I began praying together. Every night, we spent a lot of time in prayer together, sometimes hours. We prayed for each other, our kids, our neighbors, our finances, our marriage, our grief, our health and much more. Lance prayed every single day for me to continue on my health journey and for Him to bless me in my efforts. I’ll wrap this up by just saying that God is faithful. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will never fail us. He answered every prayer and then some. He has already redeemed or is in the process of redeeming every trial that came our way. Please reach out to me if you want to talk about this. I will happily drop anything I am doing to talk to you about a relationship with Christ or answer any questions you have.

Oh, and I’m happy to share that Lance and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary by renewing our vows on June 15, 2018. We recommitted ourselves to God, to each other and to our family. We’ve never been happier or healthier in our marriage.

<Back to the health journey>
With IF, I lost 10 lbs really fast. But then I stalled. I didn’t gain any of my 10 lbs back, but my weight loss slowed down to almost non-existent. I knew it was because I was gorging and eating crap food in my eating windows. It was then that I found a bible study called Taste for Truth by Barb Raveling. It doesn’t have any diet advise it in, rather it helped me change my mindset about my body, my choices and what God has planned for me. Another total game changer. I highly recommend it. I started praying for God to show me specifically what He wanted me to do for my physical health. I’m going to share with you what God revealed to me in terms of a conversation. No, I didn’t have an audible conversation with God, but the Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly.

Me: God, I know that my body is a temple. I know that I have not treated that temple the way You want me to. I’m sorry God. Please forgive me. I have tried and tried to fix this problem on my own. Nothing has worked. What would You have me do?

God: You are on the right track. You need to keep fasting and keep seeking me. But there’s more. What did you learn from Dr. Jason Fung (see The Obesity Code above) about the science behind fasting? And about the way I designed your body to function???

Me: That I need to keep my insulin low. If I keep my insulin low, then my body will metabolize the stored fat for energy. Scientifically speaking, this process is called Ketosis. When I fast, my body begins to enter Ketosis. Huge benefits are realized. But then my eating window opens and I’m giving it pasta, sugar, processed grains, processed anything, etc. Ketosis comes to a complete halt at that point.

God: Bingo! I want you to stay in ketosis even when your fasting is complete. You need to start the keto diet.

Me: I can’t

God: Why can’t you? Don’t you trust me?

Me: It’s too hard. I will fail.

God: I am telling you that you won’t fail. This is my plan for you and it is good and for your benefit. Why will you not at least try? If you try and fail, so what? At least you will have been obedient to me and you will know that your failure was part of the plan from the beginning. But if you never try, you will never understand how many good things I have planned for you. If you trust me, you will lose 40 lbs in 3 months.

Me: You’re crazy! But I will trust you God. I will give it a try.

That was on April 4, 2018. 3 months and 20 days later, I had lost a total of 40 lbs!! Have I mentioned yet that God is faithful?! Not only did I accomplish what He said I would accomplish, but during those 3 months, my husband and I went on a fabulous vacation for our second honeymoon.  That’s right, I actually lost weight on an all-inclusive, have as many drinks and food as you want, vacation. I enjoyed every moment of that vacation and never once felt deprived or like I was on a diet. I did splurge a couple of times (life is about balance afterall), but I still came home lighter than the day I left.

To start keto, all I did was started tracking my net carbs (total carbs less total fiber) and made sure that my net carbs were less than 20g per day. It was surprisingly very easy. Cravings disappeared. Energy went up, weight started melting off, blood pressure went down, headaches went away, fatigue went away, achy joints when away, my skin started glowing, my plantar fasciitis went away, and I could go on and on. I have no desire to have cheat days or cheat meals. I don’t even feel like it’s a diet. It’s just the way I eat now, the foods that I desire have changed. I fully intend to incorporate these disciplines into my life forever.

Please understand that the best way to do keto is to focus on whole foods, plant-based foods, green veggies and healthy protein. Then you fill in the rest with healthy fat. Uneducated keto is eating bacon all day and chugging butter in your coffee. Or eating a ton of “ketofied” processed foods (like packaged veggie chips, or foods with artificial sweetener). It’s best to avoid processed foods as much as you can.

I LOVE fasting and keto. I feel so good with both practices. I have a new-found peace in my life. I will forever incorporate these practices into my lifestyle. If you want to chat one on one, message me. I’m here to help, listen, talk, cry, celebrate, whatever. I fully believe that God had me walk this journey so that I could help others who are in the same place I was in.