‘I Gained Tons Of Weight After A Family Tragedy—But Discovering Keto Helped Me Turn My Life Around’
My name is Savannah Tyring and I’m 28 years-old. I live in Kentucky, where I am a mom of three little ones, whom I home school. I also work as a part-time server. After a family tragedy and then the wonderful birth of my third baby, I was ready to pivot to a healthy lifestyle—and I’ve lost 70 pounds.
I struggled for years with being an emotional eater. I was a very broken girl who had found herself in an abusive relationship when I was a teen. After I left that relationship, I was embarrassed and ashamed of what happened, so I hid those feelings, pushed them deep down inside. Instead, I ate them. (Shortly after leaving and putting myself back together as best as I could, I met my now-husband and the love of my life.)
Even though I had incredible things happening in my life, I still felt I was missing something. And I did what I do best—I ate my way through every emotion—happy, sad, or whatever I was feeling. I had no self-control when it came to food. I would never tell myself no. If I wanted something, I ate it every time.
I was also the girl on every fad diet, but I always gave up. I would lose a little weight and then reward myself because of it. I would drink shakes and take so-called miracle diet pills. I joined the gym but would never go. I threw thousands of dollars down the drain for expensive diet programs, all because of my desire to be “skinny.”
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Then, our lives changed forever when I lost my baby almost four years ago.
With my now-husband, I was pregnant again with our third son, who had Down syndrome (we had named him Isaiah). Our worst fears about the whole pregnancy came true: We lost him. I had to deliver Isaiah just like I had to deliver my other two children—and the experience left me in an emotional hole I thought I would never come out of.
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After losing Isaiah, I lost all control of myself. I packed on so much weight. I mourned with food because that’s how I taught myself to deal with trauma.
Then, I soon after became pregnant with my daughter. I still had so many unresolved emotions from losing my son and never dealing with the abuse in my past, and I continued to eat my feelings through that entire pregnancy and afterward.
My husband and I were blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby girl. But I still wasn’t healthy or happy with myself yet. I knew I was holding onto the traumas, depression, and anxiety that had formulated over the past 28 years of my life. I tipped the scale at 220 pounds and wore a size 18. I developed gut issues. I was embarrassed about my weight, my health issues…just everything.
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I finally decided I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to find a way to be truly happy and healthy for me, my beautiful children, and my husband.
In March 2018, I found my true strength and I started my weight-loss journey. I wanted to know what it felt like for once in my life to never give up and to find genuine happiness. Piece by piece, I fixed all the broken parts that use to hinder me from succeeding at actually keeping the weight off long term.
I started following the ketogenic way of eating. You’ll notice that I don’t refer to it as a diet, as it’s truly a lifestyle for me. I was eating low carb, high fat, and moderate protein. Loading up on carbs never did me any favors, personally.
I had my best results sticking to meat, veggies, berries, and limited dairy (I can’t go without my Bulletproof coffee!). I try to keep it simple and easy, and eating this way has worked wonders for me (though everyone has different physical and mental needs, so don’t forget that!).
I’ve also implemented intermittent fasting along with my keto practices. Another tip: I shop the outside perimeters of the grocery store, where you mostly find the produce, and I also get most of our groceries from different online retailers that specifically cater to organic, whole, and real foods.
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A typical day of eating for me tends to be pretty simple, since I have three little ones, ages 2, 4, and 6.
I try to remind myself to eat when I’m hungry, stop when I’m full. Trying to learn when I wasn’t really hungry, just bored, was hard, but my whole new eating plan got a lot easier once I was more conscious of my emotional eating cues.
- Breakfast: I fast until 10:30/11 a.m. and have coffee
- Lunch: Deli meat wraps with a salad
- Snacks: Blueberries, cheese slices with pickles, or boiled eggs
- Dinner: Steak with vegetables (typically cauliflower or broccoli)
- Dessert: A Ketofit bar or a handful of Lilly’s chocolate chips
I also finally started using my gym membership. I try to work out four days a week with cardio and weights. I don’t do anything too crazy or something I’m not ready for. I keep it basic. Plus, my three children keep me on the go.
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I’ve lost 78 pounds in a little over a year. But losing the weight wasn’t the hardest part of my journey.
Weight loss is a mental and emotional battle before anything else. I had to retrain my brain to use food for fuel and not comfort; that has been by far one of the biggest obstacles I have overcome in life.
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For me to find success on my journey this time, I had to heal from the inside out. Finding true happiness isn’t what the scale or the mirror says, it’s from within. Practicing self-love every single day pushes me everyday to be a better, happier version of the girl I was last year.
I committed to losing weight to get my life and happiness back, for my children and for myself. For any other women out there starting a health journey, find your Why and stick with it. At the end of this weight loss journey, being skinny won’t change anything if you don’t love yourself for what’s on the inside.
For more amazing beauty, fitness, and weight loss transformations, check out the rest of our Transformations Week collection.
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