Hi All. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (10.5 A1c) 7 years ago at age 50 after decades of being overweight. My doctor really pressed me to take Metformin, but I told him I wanted to treat my condition with lifestyle changes and immediately went to work on myself. For the first year or so I cut my carbs to 70-80 a day and that drove my A1c down some. Then, through the Virta Health program I reduced my carbs to below 30 per day and that normalized my blood sugar within a month! Of course I dropped weight along the way, but I hit a plateau after a 30-pound weight loss. This was a looong plateau - almost 2 years. Even at the lower weight my blood pressure was elevated so there was more work to do. I was also struggling with my psychological relationship with food. Emotional setbacks had me eating too many keto treats and this would either keep me stuck at my plateau or cause the weight to creep up. I was seriously considering taking Mounjaro and had it in my possession, ready to go. That’s when my friend Vic, the newest coach on Tro’s team, gave me a pep talk. He said I have what it takes to reach my goals without taking a drug. I’m happy to report that he was right! I doubled down on my efforts, doing whatever necessary to get the weight down further and normalize all my numbers. The game changer tools for me were protein-sparing modified fast days, keeping my carbs below 10 per day, cutting out nuts and cheese and eliminating all keto sweets except for Zevia Soda. Zevia is just the sweet hit I need. It satisfies cravings and keeps me on plan. Currently I am about 10-15 pounds from my goal weight (total of 45 lbs lost!) Another key to my recent success was getting more active. I go to the gym every other day and do resistance training and some light cardio. I’m amazed at how my body composition has changed after just 5 months of effort. I believe mastering the food is the easier part of the equation. It’s the psychological aspects that were harder for me to overcome. For decades my relationship with food was toxic. I ate too much of the wrong foods and was convinced that efforts to change were useless because 99% of us backslide to old habits, eventually regaining the weight and impacting our health yet again. What I needed was better tools and community support - precisely what is offered on Dr. Tro’s app. If you commit to this lifestyle and stick with it over time you will get results and that will motivate you to keep going. Then, eventually, you get to where I have been fortunate enough to arrive - extremely close to achieving my goals. Very soon I’ll be in maintenance, which I am well aware will present a whole new set of challenges, but I know in my heart I can keep going and continue to better myself. Go for it, people! Your health - feeling good in your mind and body - is so worth the effort. Best, Scott

Posted by Scott H at 2023-09-25 15:38:26 UTC