“Life is marvellous”

Renetté

Would you trust a skinny cook? Renetté certainly didn’t believe that you could. Until she changed her life, lost 110 lbs (50 kg) and became one herself with the help of low carb.

The Email

Dear Andreas,

This is my ongoing story and if you think it is good enough, I would love you to publish it as I truly believe that there are millions of misunderstood and lonely overweight people out there who need help. They need just one Eureka moment to change their lives.

I am one of those people because two years ago I was almost 50 kg (110 lbs) heavier and always tired and always sick.

At the height of my obesity, I had chronic pains in my Achilles tendons and couldn’t stand for more than a few minutes. My body ached, I had headaches and my breathing became strained.

Although I had countless ailments, I didn’t want to embark on yet another conventional diet and fell into the all-too common phrase “I know that I will die, but I will at least die happy”.

I have a genetic blood disorder called thrombophilia which causes deep vein thrombosis or clots in the blood. I was on Warfarin from the age of 21 so I could not consume a lot of green leafy vegetables as they are usually quite high in Vitamin K (which clots your blood) and counteracts with the Warfarin. They say that your first blood clot usually kills you – I have had four or five.

The fact was, that on conventional diets you could only have a small portion of protein, dairy and starch and I couldn’t fill up on green veggies and leafy salads so I was always hungry and felt deprived. I considered conventional diets too punitive and every time I gave up on a diet, I felt like a total loser who could not control my appetite. This wasn’t helping my already low self-esteem.

I started picking up weight in my late twenties, after my baby boy died when I was 34 weeks pregnant and simply ballooned over the years. I could not understand why I was such a glutton. I simply could not stop eating and I was embarrassingly greedy.

The watershed moment was just over two years ago when I was publically humiliated about my weight and what I looked like.

I was so embarrassed but I was also extremely angry and vowed to myself that I would never let such a humiliation happen to me again.

I asked my GP to prescribe a drug which could replace my Warfarin. I told him that I was tired of being obese and I was tired of the various problems which comes with obesity and I seriously needed to go on a diet.

My GP and his entire family were Banters and suggested that I purchase The Real Meal Revolution.

The science behind the Banting way of life made sense from the very beginning and my husband and I started Banting in March 2015.

I loved Banting from the very beginning and the weight started coming off quite quickly. I used to not be able to fit into a size 28 (which is the largest they go in retail clothing shops) and I now between a size 16 and 18, depending on the brand.

The first photo shows the size blouse I used to wear. The second photo is a representation of the 43 kg (95 lbs) I lost at that stage in dry dog and cat food and the last photo is of me standing with my whole body in one of my old trousers – in one of it’s legs.

I am a changed person. My BP, cholesterol and glucose readings are normal and my attitude towards life in general has changed.

Being an extremely enthusiastic cook from a very early age, I always thought that skinny cooks could not have the same passion for their food that I did, but that attitude has changed too.

My hubby and I love good food and love cooking absolutely delicious LCHF meals. We write our own recipes and I believe that we are the ultimate foodies.

I am still obsessed with food but now, and thanks to Banting, the obsession is very positive.

People are more willing to engage with me now, and I get compliments on my achievement on a daily basis. A lot of people ask me to help them with their weight loss and I have realised that obesity is not widely understood.

Almost a year ago I started writing a book on my weight-loss journey but I soon realised that the book had to more than my weight-loss so I started unpacking why I think that I became obese in the first place.

What a revelation when it dawned on me that I had many emotional issues which I was trying to deal with by becoming addicted to food. Just like the drug addict who shoots up or swallows a pill to feel better, I was overeating. Then I felt bad about eating so much, and ate some more to make myself feel better again and so the cycle developed and addition grew stronger. I also realised that I had been depressed for years and was quite literally slowly committing suicide by what I was eating and how much I was eating.

This vicious circle of over-eating to make myself feel better and then eating some more because I felt bad, pulled me up into a blinding tornado which dumped me into a deep and dark pit of despair. I knew that I had to get out of the pit and into the sun but I had no tools to claw my way out… and then, along came Banting.

I have had many conversations with people like me and every single one of them said “That is exactly how I feel!” They all agree to this analogy and by writing my book, I have dealt with many of the issues that I tried to ignore by overeating.

I am still in the process of writing the book and would like to call it “Would you trust a skinny cook? The memoirs of a fat woman” because I am not physically skinny yet but I am getting there and loving it. I suppose that I am no more skinny than Jamie Oliver is naked.

Through this process, I have lost a lot of emotional weight too and yes, I would trust a skinny cook now.

Life is marvellous.

Regards,
Renetté

Comments

Congratulations Renetté, and thank you for sharing your inspiring story!

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