My name is Diane and I am a grown woman in my forties with a creative spark that has long been dormant up until now. For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with obesity and the inability to lose weight and keep it off resulting in a lifetime of yo-yoing. In the spring of 2024 I reached my heaviest weight ever, weighing in at 310 lbs. I knew then that I had hit a pivotal point and had to try something I have never done before because what I have been doing up until that time was clearly not working, in fact the situation just kept getting worse and I felt that it just got way out of hand.

Since the spring of 2024, I can proudly say that I have regained control of my health and life and live a balanced lifestyle with a steady positive outlook on life. I feel energized and I want to get up and do things, accomplish as much as I can in any given day, be active and work towards a combination of seemingly simple to more complex long term life goals. I am now super motivated as opposed to being in a constant lethargic state.

My life has been a series of major ups and downs with its share of traumatic events. It is fair to say that I have somehow weathered the storms and am the person I have become today through sheer strength paired with an incredible and strong sense of faith along with a solid support system consisting of family and friends. I will not get too personal here, but due to the lack of stability, peace and balance in my life, I have struggled with my weight and have had an unhealthy relationship with food as a result. You can say that I found solace and comfort in food through instant gratification that now when I reflect, was basically like an addiction.

The helpless and hopeless feeling along with major bouts of frustration and ultimately absolute fury at one’s self and circumstances led me to try what became a complete lifestyle change. What started out as an idea of a diet quickly and easily turned into an overhaul of my old habits and simply became a lifestyle very quickly. I began eating an elevated fat and restricted carbohydrate regimen loaded with low carb vegetables and an increase in protein. You can say that I started a KETOGENIC lifestyle, some just use the term low-carb. I began to feel a sense of peace and calm by avoiding the cycle of elevated sugar highs that were accompanied by low sugar crashes. My mood was better than it has been in years, no brain fog, I felt satiated, so hardly any feelings of hunger and also I broke the cycle of the sugar roller coaster I have been on for most of my life – kind of like a sugar detox. I have lost 90 lbs in 12 months and am never looking back on the state that I found myself in when I began this journey. I will also add that I only started to work out at the gym 3 times a week (60 to 90 minutes per visit at the gym) towards the last few months of that timeframe. I am not finished with myself yet, so I consider myself currently being a work in progress as I have yet to achieve my ultimate fitness goals. I am constantly trying out new recipes in the kitchen and that doesn’t stop at delicious meals as I have treated myself plenty to all kinds of desserts and sweets that are low carb, have added protein, are sugar free or just have reduced sugar. Cooking and baking has now become a passion for me since I have started eating new/slightly modified versions of delicious, nutritious and visually appealing foods, both savoury and sweet. I have gained a whole new perspective on food as a result. When I actually did treat myself to something sweet, it was something that i had made myself from high quality ingredients so I didn’t feel as guilty or disappointed in myself that I had succumbed to some unbearable sugar craving, devouring something that was way up there on the list of the worst of the worst for sugar content and unnecessary additives. I had quickly realized that I had overcome an addiction to sugar that had wrecked havoc on my wellbeing for what seems to have been an eternity.