‘Doing Trauma Therapy Before Starting Keto Made My Weight-Loss Journey Possible’

My name is Sarah Evans (@myketolife2), and I am 40 years old. I am from Toronto, Canada, and I am a full-time mom of four, executive assistant, and training to be a spiritual director. I went to trauma therapy before starting my weight-loss journey, then got hooked on keto, to lose 80 pounds in a year.

I have tried pretty much every diet plan out there. My attempts all had a similar pattern: I would go all-in, confident that each weight-loss effort would be the success one. Then I would derail and binge more. I felt extremely powerless to my behavior.

I came to a point where I had given up altogether, but also knew that wasn’t the answer. Something deeper was at play. I had to pause and address my deeper issues through therapy. I did trauma therapy with a psychologist, who helped me revisit and work through some memories of events as a child and heal mentally first.

As I was working through stuff in therapy, my highest weight was 255 pounds, at 33 years old. I was also in the midst of raising four very young children at that time and found it was very hard to turn the tide on my health in those years. It all felt overwhelming!I was tired all the time, my knees were in pain, and I had plantar fasciitis. I also had a very strange burning sensation that seemed related to my nerves that went right down my left lower leg and into my foot.

After I did trauma therapy for a year, I knew I was ready to start my weight-loss journey. It finally felt natural.

Because I had done the inner healing, I was taking on my weight-loss goals from a different headspace. I was ready. Of course, I was nervous to try again after so many failures, but I had a new inner confidence. And I knew I could do it while being kind to myself, and without all the perfectionist tendencies in my other attempts. When I began my health journey, I was 39. I officially began January 15, 2019.

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

I had heard about the keto diet but quickly scoffed at it as another fad diet. I was wrong about it.

One day I ended up buying The Keto Diet book by Leanne Vogel but didn’t read it for months. However, over the Christmas holiday in 2018, I began reading and was hooked.

I began watching YouTube videos and discovered this way of eating was so different than I had thought. I did a month of research and preparing before I actually started to change the way I ate.My family doctor was also a huge advocate. Along with keto, I also eat in windows, rather than snacking throughout the day. Keto, low-carb living works for me because the foods are incredibly satisfying and filling, and right away I felt stable and satisfied.

I started my journey by eating three meals a day. My only focus was on carb count (not calories), and not snacking between or eating after dinner. I wanted to know what it felt to eat until I was satisfied at those meals. This was my primary focus for several weeks.

Then, when I felt ready, I began to track my fat and proteins. Next, about two months in, I began by challenging myself to short intermittent fasting periods, then worked up my fasting to longer fasts. I allowed a balance of being intuitive and listening to my body, but also challenging myself. It was all about the small changes for me.

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

I also approached my sugar and carb addiction like that of someone dealing with addiction. I had to abstain completely from sugar not knowing if I could ever emotionally return to it. However, after 18 months of eating this way, I mentally and emotionally felt a shift where I was ready to indulge in sugar at celebrations. But for me, the timing of those indulgences needed to be planned out, as it was easy for me to slip back into old eating habits.

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Here’s what I eat in a day now.

  • Breakfast: Coffee with heavy cream
  • Lunch: Two pieces Dimpflmeier Power Slice bread with butter, three eggs, spinach, fried avocado, ¼ cup of almonds.
  • Dinner: Lemon garlic salmon, green beans and Brussels sprouts with slivered toasted almonds (cooked in a healthy oil or butter).
  • Dessert: On weekends my daughter makes an amazing vanilla ice cream topped with berries (in our ice cream maker). It is unbelievable!

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

I attempted to exercise at the start of my journey, but I intentionally decided to hit pause for a bit.

It felt like too many things all at once, and I didn’t want to get overwhelmed. When starting keto your body feels quite lethargic (or at least it did for me) while you’re shifting from being a glucose burner to a fat burner.

Then, I began to reincorporate exercise after I lost the first 50 pounds. I found I needed exercise as I had so much energy to burn. I still feel that way!

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

These four changes made the biggest difference in my weight-loss results.

  • I did my research. I was able to understand the reasoning and science behind why I was making these choices. There was a mind-to-heart connection for me that also became a conviction. Taking that time, without jumping into it blindly, prepared me mentally and emotionally.

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

  • I asked myself the question, How can I set myself up for success? I found that I needed to commit myself to a year of eating this way because I knew that it would get hard and I would lose motivation, stall, and lose interest. But over time, I would see changes. I figuratively and literally needed to see myself through all of those seasons. This helped me avoid impulsive eating.

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  • I made small changes. I broke my journey down into smaller steps, which helped me avoid getting overwhelmed at the start.

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

  • I took monthly measurements and photos. Each month, I would take my measurements and side-by-side pictures to see the progress. My longest weight stall was the time I actually lost the most inches. It is really important for your own motivation to measure your success in multiple ways!

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

I lost 80 pounds in a year, and I have been maintaining that weight loss for a year now.

If your story sounds similar to mine, there could be underlying emotional things that need tending to. When we keep hitting a brick wall, take time to step back and turn to outside help. That being said, tending to my health was also a big part of my healing journey. The two could not be separated.

It was empowering to see that I could stick to my weight-loss journey and find that inner “I want this” that I had longed for all these years. The weight loss is definitely motivating, but what is all the more motivating is the self-discipline I’ve developed.

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A post shared by Sarah | ⬇️ 80 pounds | Keto/IF (@myketolife2)

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