When Christine first wrote to us at Diet Doctor in 2017, she had just turned 50 and had been on the keto diet with intermittent fasting for less than a year.
She shared in her popular success story how she was "blown away" by the changes that came with adopting a keto diet.
After a lifetime of dieting, in just eight months she'd lost more than 80 pounds (36 kilos) but she had also lost daily headaches, monthly migraines, cystic acne, ovarian cysts, joint pain, inflammation, and sleep apnea.
"I've gained a renewed joy for life and more energy than I know what to do with," she wrote back then. "I am so very grateful for real food and your website - it has truly given me the gift of life to enjoy with my family and friends for many years to come."
We caught up with Christine to see how it is going, five years later. She's doing better than ever, with more than 100 pounds (45 kilos) lost to date. Plus, she has a full-time career as a keto health and wellness coach, author, motivational speaker, and keto entrepreneur.
"I am still experiencing great success in health and life," she says.
Here's the inspiring update to Christine's story, which has been lightly edited.
What is your name, age, and where do you live?
I am Christine Trimpe, age 54, and I live in Berkley, Michigan.
On January 13, 2022, I will celebrate the five-year anniversary of landing on the Diet Doctor website through a random Google search of the keywords hormones and fasting.
As I said in my first letter back in October 2017, after thirty years of yo-yo dieting, and failure after failure, I never in a million years thought I would still be sharing a success story. But here it is, five years later, and I am still experiencing great success in health and life.
To catch you up, I did reach my desired healthy goal weight in January 2018, losing in total more than 100 pounds (45 kilos). I will live the low-carb lifestyle to maintain my health forevermore!
How do you respond to people who say a keto diet is unsustainable?
I like to ask those who doubt, "How can eating delicious, whole, real food be unsustainable?"
A huge part of my emotional journey was learning to accept and appreciate the truth that I have finally found and could stick with a way of eating to heal me physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I cherish the blessing that real food is available for us; we can use this food as medicine to heal.
So I am able to scoff at naysayers who told me this low-carb way of eating is unsustainable!
Tell us about all your health improvements
I reversed and improved so many chronic health issues, but my favorite ones to share are my victories over: obesity, exhaustion, NAFLD (fatty liver disease), OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea), migraines and headaches, inflammation and joint pain, metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance.
You can read more about each of these healing stories in my Keto Heals series over on my lifestyle blog JoyfulKetoLife.com.
Did you have any struggles that you've learned from?
Yes, about two years into my new lifestyle, my life flipped upside down with a very stressful family situation plus a new stage of life - menopause. I call this season of my life menostress! I think a lot of women in their fifties can relate.
But I was prepared for this difficult time thanks to my low-carb lifestyle. I'm grateful every day for the healing that occurred before these storms of life hit hard.
Being healthy in body, mind, and spirit truly helps when facing trials and tribulations of any kind. I confidently attribute this fully satisfying way of eating and these positive lifestyle changes in helping me maintain a healthy weight.
I'll be honest and tell you that stress and menopause are out to sabotage your goals - but sticking with a low-carb lifestyle has kept me on track and optimistic. I did gain a few pesky menostress pounds, but I am confident they will fall back off eventually.
I share this part of my journey to encourage you not to obsess about the number on the scale. There are so many indicators of good health - focus on your non-scale victories and the progress you make with reversing your chronic health conditions, first and foremost.
What else has happened that you would like to share?
I am now focusing on increasing protein and decreasing healthy fats while still staying in a state of ketosis. It's exactly what I need. The most important thing to me is feeling healthy and younger at 54 than I did at 44, 34, and even 24!
As many people ask me to share my experiences, I decided to become a certified health and wellness coach. One of my favorite things to do is to connect with people over coffee. That's how my new career began - meeting with friends and family personally and now with people all over the world via Zoom.
My passion is to serve people who find themselves in the same place I was five years ago. I've been there, I know how you feel, and I know where you long to go.
I left my corporate accounting career of thirty years in February 2021 to have more time to connect with people who need help and hope for healing. It's been a tremendous blessing!
I've also just published my very first book, a Christmas devotional about joy, because truly the greatest gift I've received in this journey is my renewed joy in living. I've gone from being a full-time corporate controller to being an author, speaker, and health and wellness coach full-time!! All because of the keto diet.
What advice would you give to others?
I do have a few hard and fast rules that work for me, and I know they will motivate others, too:
- Learn the science, apply the science, and change your life. I point everyone to Diet Doctor for this information.
- Plan and set goals. You must set goals to know where you're going.
- Plan extended periods where you don't eat. Intermittent fasting is my secret weapon to win the battle over my food addiction.
- Say no to cheating. It's easier to stay on track than get back on track.
- Know your limits. For those rare occasions that you might plan a celebration treat, make it low carb and don't consume too much.
I have more to share about each of these topics in my video series on YouTube: I Was Sick and Obese (5 Rules for Success). There, I reflect on the top things that worked for me. I hope they inspire you to join this journey of healing through a low-carb lifestyle.
I will forever be grateful for the Diet Doctor website and the vision of Dr. Eenfeldt for creating this website.
And a special shout-out to Dr. Jason Fung because his short video series ( What is Fasting?) is the first video series I watched when I landed on this website. Those videos lit the spark I needed, and I've never looked back.
I'm still in awe that spending an evening reading and watching free content on the site changed my life forever. I subscribed even before my free two-week challenge was over.
I will be a lifelong member of Diet Doctor because I believe so strongly in the hope for healing shared here every day. Not to mention the great recipes -my favorite is the Keto Avocado pie.
I hope my story has given you tons of inspiration and encouragement plus a lot of motivation to begin your own journey of healing.
I wandered, hopeless, for 30 years - but I know that the life-changing information you find on the Diet Doctor site will impact your journey, too.
So dive in. . . you're about to go from a mudslide to a joy-ride! Let's go!
Congratulations on your 5-year keto anniversary, Christine. We love hearing about long-term success from people who find the keto diet to be life-changing, sustainable, and delicious.
Not only have you improved so many health conditions and lost more than 100 pounds (45 kilos), you have made a dynamic career out of your keto success and are helping other women achieve similar results. You are truly carrying on the Diet Doctor mission to dramatically improve world health.
~Anne Mullens
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