Emily’s weight loss journey
Emily is a 51-year-old stay-at-home mom who has “been on the rollercoaster my whole life” and struggled with her weight, food, depression, mood, and self-esteem for most of her life.
She was “over 200 pounds in my twenties… thought that was the end of the world, terrible.” After she had her children, Emily reached 300 pounds in her late 30s. “I had a horrible relationship with food.”
When she was 46 and contemplating gastric sleeve surgery to lose weight, a friend offered to “one more time” go through a weight loss diet together. “This accountability piece, this person that was wanting to show up for me and say ‘you and I, we’re going to talk every single day, and we’re going to figure this out.’
It happened to click that I found the right modalities, and I had the right relationship and the right accountability for those pieces to come together for me.”
Fasting and Carnivore Diet: the perfect combination
Emily started out by fasting, saying, “Fasting was fantastic for me emotionally,” which helped her in several ways. “I got the body recomposition, and I got a lot of benefits, a lot of self-confidence, a lot of success. Carnivore and fasting together were the last 50 pounds.”
Overall, she achieved a 150-pound weight loss, losing half of her body weight and maintaining it using a carnivore diet. She attributes her success more to the carnivore diet than fasting: “Carnivore is so powerful; I think it’s way more powerful than the fasting…but I think together they work really well.”
The Simplicity of the Carnivore Diet
Like many people, Emily found that keto itself was challenging due to all of the “keto treats” that are used. “There’s too much stuff on the keto road that has the artificial sweeteners that combine sweet and fat together, and I lost control with those foods. I lost control with the nut butters, lost control with the fake keto treats.” She found that a part of her was always looking for the loopholes, the “cheater rules.”
Emily found simplicity and functionality in the carnivore diet that solved these problems for her. “The simplicity and allure of not having cravings was what fascinated me about carnivore.”
A friend had chronicled her mental and emotional journey overtime on a carnivore diet, and Emily thought, “I got to try this; I have to see if this is the final finisher that’s going to make all the difference for me.”
Her family eats this way too now, and she says, “It’s very beef oriented…my husband…makes up six beef patties and bacon, and makes these patty-bacon sandwiches for lunch. We’ve got two air fryers out for whoever wants to cook themselves meat, whatever they want, and we keep chicken wings available; my little guy likes those a lot.”
Emily had “a lifelong issue with depression. I’ve been medicated, you know, during that. I haven’t had to go near any of that.” She recommends that “patients, throw out the scale; please, this is a healing first protocol…reach out for community.”
