Dawn's Story

Weight loss and better health have been a lifelong journey for me. At age 40, I was 378 lbs. and diagnosed with pre-diabetes. That kicked me into gear and over the course of three years I lost over 200 lbs.’ and was in the best shape of my life. I kept the weight off for many years. But in 2016 my mom was diagnosed with cancer for the third time. Within a year both my parents  died five  months apart. Grief took hold and I started gaining weight. Then, two years after my mom’s death, my sister died at 56 years old of heart disease. Food addiction took hold again and I gained more weight. Then last year my last sister got pancreatic cancer and passed away at 62 years old. I gained more weight, eating through my grief yet again.

So, there I was, 57 years old, my whole original family was gone and weighing in at 273 lbs. I was feeling like I was back in my 378 lbs. body as I had taken a fall the year before and had fractured my back. I also had arthritic knees, a bum shoulder and high cholesterol. I was feeling hopeless when in November 2024 I received an email about Dr. Fuhrman’s weight loss detox program . It was  a three -week program and I really didn’t know that it could help me much since I was so food addicted and sedentary. But I decided to give it a try. I had known about Dr. Fuhrman for  many years  and  read a few of his books. I had tried his nutritarian plan several years before for  a month. But I hadn’t been fully in it back then. This time I was going to be all in.

A few weeks before it started, I got my ducks in a row. I lost a few pounds  and  was heading into my three  weeks already feeling pretty good. The first few weeks  it was hard to give up so much and I didn’t feel very good. I was super tired and had some junk food my family brought home. But I was able to not cave in even with headaches and a general unwell feeling. Dr. Fuhrman assured me that it was just my body detoxing from my old SAD diet.  What I noticed early on though was I no longer had cravings.

When after the three weeks past I decided to just continue the program. I told myself I’d do it for three months. Then I figured I might as well do the six -month challenge to try to lose 5 BMI points. As the months went by and the weight continued to come off what I noticed most was my lack of desire to go back to my old ways. I joined the platinum membership so I had been asking Dr. Fuhrman some questions and, in his matter,- of -fact way he was making me realize that my frequent desire to eat and snack in between meals was toxic hunger and recreational eating not true hunger. I also noticed that just having three square meals a day with nothing in between kept the scale moving quicker too.

So here I sit 52 lbs. lighter and I have actual “peace with food” which is something I have desired my whole life. To not use food as comfort or for boredom or grief or the other millions of reasons I used to use it.  Recently I was out in my yard gardening again all day. It feels so good getting some stamina back. Getting back to doing all the things I used to love doing. Feeling alive again! I now plan for more weight loss like it’s a given, not something I wish for. I have faith in myself that I can reach whatever goal I set for myself, that the scale will keep moving down.

Thank you, Dr. Fuhrman, and all the other wonderful people, on Dr. Fuhrman’s website that I have gotten to know. I look forward to the rest of my life living as a healthier person.

 

Results may vary.