“The Diet Doctor lifestyle has been a revelation to me!”

John always ate what he considered to be a reasonably healthy diet. For breakfast, he would usually eat bread and bananas, or porridge with honey and a banana. Lunch was generally a sandwich with soup, followed by a slice of cake or a cookie.

On most days, John would have meat with a rich sauce and potatoes or pasta, along with a few vegetables for dinner. He would also snack on chips, nuts, and cakes in between meals. This was usually complemented by beer and wine on the weekends.

John was in good health up until his 40s when he was diagnosed with high blood pressure, and was told by his doctor that he would need to be on medication for the rest of his life. By that time, his weight had also started to climb, but he hadn’t previously felt concerned enough to do something about it.

Later in 2014, at age 57, John’s health started to deteriorate more rapidly. He was told that he had type 2 diabetes.

Then, in February of 2018, he suffered a vertebral artery dissection, which is a tear to the artery in the neck that supplies blood to the brain. To treat this, doctors were forced to put John on a blood thinning medication.

To add to John’s long list of medical issues, he was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease later that same year. For John, his experience with the disease has brought on a tremor in his right arm, as well as, a dragging in his right leg when he walks. These symptoms tend to worsen with cold weather.

How John found keto

John’s ever-expanding list of health concerns, combined with the fact that he felt generally out of shape, caused him to become increasingly interested in living healthier.

In January of 2020, John stopped by his local bookstore and purchased Downsizing by UK politician Tom Watson — a book that changed John’s viewpoint on health and wellness.

The author had gone from 309 pounds (or 140 kilos) to 196 pounds (or 89 kilos) in just one year. How? By following a keto diet. His achievements inspired John. “I thought if he can do it, I can do it,” John says.

In the book, John read that the author recommended an online low-carb resource called Diet Doctor. And so, on January 11 of this year, just after John turned 63, he took the plunge into keto and became a Diet Doctor member.

John’s health improvements

After John started keto, he almost immediately noticed his energy levels increase. And, in the five months since he adopted this lifestyle, this has helped him to start taking longer walks with his dog while listening to audiobooks, podcasts, or uplifting music.

He started his journey by walking 1.2 miles (2 km) along the Scottish shore, and has worked his way up to a minimum of 6.8 miles (11 km) daily. “My dog absolutely loves me now that we walk more,” John says.

John thinks exercise is necessary on any health journey. As people become healthier, their desire to exercise increases — and this is a good thing. Just make sure to do the types of exercise that you like, he explains.

When it comes to exercises John enjoys, he loves to walk and swim — even though the recent pandemic doesn’t allow him to visit his local pool and do the latter. He also rides his bike and has started taking three-mile (or 5 km) rides two to three times per week.

Additionally, when John went keto, his weight started falling off — almost immediately. Today, he’s 53 pounds (24 kilos) lighter than he was when he started.

As he’s lost the weight, his high blood pressure also improved — but not enough for him to completely go off his medication yet. Nevertheless, he’s excited to see what other health benefits he’ll reap in another year on keto.

John’s keto lifestyle

When John first started eating keto, he had three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. These days, though, John completely skips breakfast and simply starts his day with diluted sugar-free squash, a type of juice concentrate, and coffee.

Once he breaks his daily fast, he then goes on to have two meals for the rest of the day.

When prepping meals, John follows Diet Doctor meal plans: “There are so many delicious recipes, each week is an adventure into keto cooking,” John says.

Here are some of John’s favorite Diet Doctor recipes that he often has for lunch and dinner:

John’s top three tips for people going keto:

1. Think of keto as a life-long lifestyle change. If you want to lose weight with Diet Doctor, you need to change your lifestyle in order for it to work long term.
2. If you’re hungry, eat something. People think that they have to starve to reach success, but that may in fact hinder success. If you’re hungry, eat something to take the hunger away. Otherwise, your cravings may get the better of you and cause you to completely fall off the low-carb wagon.
3. Don’t weigh yourself every day. Weight loss isn’t a linear process, so don’t expect your weight to go down each day. John recommends only weighing yourself once per week, so that you don’t become discouraged by minor weight fluctuations.

Comment

Congrats on your success, John. We are thrilled that Diet Doctor played a role in helping you transform your health. Thanks for sharing your message and helping motivate others to do the same!
Best,
/ Dr. Bret Scher

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