The Your Level Fitness Podcast 020: Chat with Kate

Where’s the best place for listeners to connect with you?: Instagram (@keto.kayte)

What’s one habit you do almost daily?: I drink at least 2-3 liters of water a day min

What’s one of your normal routines?: Meal planning is big for me so I try to meal plan in advance as well as track my good on my carb tracker before I eat so I can prepare for what my day looks like. I understand this isn’t always the case or realistic but I find I’m most successful when doing this, it keeps me accountable and easier to stay on track. I k ow this is t necessarily a typical routine but for me and my journey, it has definitely developed into one.

How long did it take for the above routine to stick? : Probably a few weeks of consistently doing it that it just became part of my norm.

Describe your weight loss journey.: Ugh, where to begin! lol. I struggled my whole life with being overweight as a child to morbidly o see later in my youth and adults years. 

I was diagnosed at 18 years old with a disorder called Polysistic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS for short) which impacts your hormones and can lead to various health issues including weight gain and longer term can impact insulin resistance, diabetes and heart disease if it’s not managed). At the time instead of a motivator it gave me a reason for why I was the way I was (obese, slightly depressed and overall feeling like life was unfair and dealt me a crappy hand). I continued to live my life as I was, not wanting to change my eating a habits or life at all because my friends/peers didn’t so I felt that I had the right to live the same way and eat the same way, full well knowing my body was different and couldn’t process food in the same. 

I continued to gain an immense amount of weight through my 20’s and into my early 30’s. I thought I was enjoying life to my fullest (literally and figuratively) but I was hiding behind my unhappiness of what my life had turned into. 

I had tried numerous weight loss strategies and programs over the years with minor success and always lead to me gaining the weight back plus some. 

My complete lack of self worth and drive for life was fading. I constantly feared having a heart attack at the age of 28! We are talking my highest remembered weight in high school was I believe about 280lbs and my highest overall weight hit 375lbs(probably slightly higher as I couldn’t weigh myself on a standard scale so I stopped for a period) which was in January of 2019 when I decided to turn things around. 

Some major life events occurred in my relationship at the time which put me into a place of self reflection and assessing my self worth. I had realized at this moment that I was worth fighting for and that I wasn’t going to give up. 

I started following some weight loss journeys on Instagram which I found inspiring and startling to hear a lot of stuff about keto. I did weeks of research trying to future out how I could do it and would it make sense for me based on my PCOS. It’s seemed overwhelming to know where to start and all the details, it seemed so scientific but I ended up just jumping on. My reasoning was whatever the possible long term effects this way of eating could have in my body, would be far less harmful then what I have been doing to my body so there was no room but for improvement!

I started my keto journey in February of 2019 and here we are just over a year later and I have lost a total of 112 lbs and with plans to continue and hopefully lose another 70ish lbs.

What’s a skill you developed as a result of working through your weight loss journey?: I think probably would be the skill to include self care into my life and the importance of this. I always put myself last and now I have learned that I need to put myself first, especially if I want to be the best person and mom I can be to my son.

What has that skill led to outside of weight loss?: I feel that my self love and care journey have given me the confidence to get my life back and try to inspire others to know that it is possible! So I’d say my ability go foster self love/care in myself has helped to translate to the bigger picture.

What have you learned about yourself over the last year or so?: That I am strong AF and when I am
determined to do something, I can do it!! And that I’m worth it!

What advice would you give to someone working through their weight loss journey?:Don’t give up!!! I am living proof that even when you think here is no chance and it’s not possible, it is!

What resources would you recommend listeners check out?: 

Dr. Eric Berg on YouTube
Carb Manager app

What are you working on now?: Continuing my weight loss and self love journey! I have big plans for myself over the next couple years so I look forward to seeing what I create for myself.

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