For Chrissie, a post-surgery decision makes all the difference.

As many, I have struggled with being overweight 90% of my life. In 2000, I skyrocketed to a 210 lbs, a whopper for my 5’3” height and medium frame. I lost a lot of that (in my 39th year) by walking a lot and eating fresh, unprocessed foods. I was lucky, I was living in Italy.

However, in 2004, weight started creeping back up and in 2007, being hired to sing on a cruise ship, I needed to drop 20 lbs. (I was about 180 lbs at that time.) It was easy! I ate no-low carb and walked an hour every day. Work on the cruise ship was great! The food was terrible for crew and I was active – walking and exercising – and down to 160 lbs and in my prime at 47 years old!

Fast forward to menopause at age 49 and the tummy arrived. The tummy I’d NEVER had… some tough events in life and suddenly I found myself living back in Southern California packing on the pounds. Oh, it was great to have all that Mexican food and goodies that I didn’t have in Italy. But the weight piled on rapidly and soon I was back up to the mid 180s.

I met my husband at that weight and he loved me and married me. But a month after we married, I had a total hip replacement with a six-week no weight bearing order. Life that year did not turn out as expected. Continued pain, continued weight gain and revision hip surgery a year later. Weight was creeping up and I tried a non-dairy ketogenic diet. I lost a grand total of 4 lbs. The weight kept piling on and in December of 2018, I reached a whooping 201 lbs.

So, what really led me to getting serious about my health? Well, at the beginning of December 2018 I was doing a stretch on my living room floor and let out a blood curdling scream as my hip socket came out of its joint only 16 weeks after the hip revision surgery.

The first doctor couldn’t get the hip back in and, after a return visit to the ER the next day, a fabulous orthopedic physician’s assistant got me put back together. After waking from anesthesia, he told me that I was in the top three of the hardest closed reductions he’d ever done.

“Why is that?” I asked him.

“Well, you’re short” he said matter-of-factly. Then more hesitantly he added: “And then, there’s the weight.”

I’m not easily offended, nor am I stupid. It was a BIG wake-up call. About a week or two later I was listening to Dennis Prager on the radio and he was speaking with a guest about intermittent fasting. That guest was Dr. Jason Fung. As I listened intently, something was clicking and I thought: ‘This is the missing key!’ I bought the book by Dr. Fung and on January 8th, 2019 I started my intermittent ketogenic diet regimen.

Today, I weigh in at almost 160 lbs! I am not saying I was perfect but I did my best to follow the 36-hour fasts and eating ketogenic. I had sailing trips to Mexico (three of them) with my husband and while I didn’t go “crazy” eating, I allowed myself some freedom. I usually did a 16:8 fast on the trips and just tried to go easy on the carbs.

Even with those trips, I have had a steady weight loss. I have about 20 to 25 more lbs to lose and I am starting to incorporate strength training into my regime. I think that is the hardest thing of all. My orthopedic surgeon is thrilled with my weight loss and I think I may have made him a believer in intermittent fasting and ketogenic diet.

What has been helpful has been Jeff’s support and the TFM site. So much useful info and great support! I think that has truly helped me stay on track, even when I felt like giving up at times! Thank you, Dr. Fung, Jeff, and everyone at TFM! You have changed my life.

(P.S. My husband is pretty happy too!)

By The Fasting Method

For many health reasons, losing weight is important. It can improve your blood sugars, blood pressure and metabolic health, lowering your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. But it’s not easy. That’s where we can help.