I am sending you a note to thank you for changing my life.

Out of despair, I made a choice to purchase your TKS lifestyle a year ago. I was broken and had never really dieted in my life. I had been suffering menopause symptoms for many years as well as many other ailments.

I had always been large and many people would say i was big boned therefore why try. I did not even realize that my husband had gained weight over the last few years. We both started the keto lifestyle 12 months ago. My husband has lost 10kgs. I have lost 35kgs. We are now maintaining and loving the difference in our life including falling deeper in love with each other. We have more energy and clarity of mind. I have gone from size 22 to a size 10

I have never been this size in my life. I feel really proud of both of us. At first walking past bread shops and smelling freshly baked bread was so hard. Now when we eat higher carb days our stomachs just moan all night.

We eat sugar free chocolate and have a wine or two most nights. We do not feel like we are restricted with this lifestyle, but have a better choice of foods than what we used to eat.

Again, thank you.

I would like to thank Deborah Murtagh and the wonderful TKS Dream Team for this empowering TKS journey I have been on since August1. I commenced with the 30 day one dress size challenge in which I lost 6.9 kgs and 74 cms.

To say I was astounded was an understatement. I have been dieting for about 40 years. I’m 72 now. Never have I experienced weight and body measurement loss in such a healthy wholistic way.

At the moment I’m am on a 14 day detox phase and I’m doing well on that too. While being on the detox I have released another 1 kg and a further 14 cms. So all up I’ve released 7.9 kgs and 88 cms.

This TKS program is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Not only the weight and size loss but the mindset work which teaches you to work on the issues that have led to weight gain but also teaching you how to adjust your thinking and your inner dialogue to allow your mind and body to heal and allow yourself to acknowledge that you are worth the work you have to put in to not only achieving your goal of a more healthier mind and body but to eliminate toxins from your body and to reduce or get rid of inflammation which can be the catalyst for many illnesses as we age.

I have a few more stages to go through and I’m looking forward to each one. I will be shown ways to do more healing for my body and soul and the a maintenance phase that will show me how to maintain my weight loss and how to keep it off for life.

I have no hesitation in following Deborahs educational teachings into TKS. It is the most wholistic approach to health and well being I’ve ever seen and I’ve tried every diet and weight loss plan I could get my hands. From lotions and potions to starvation diets to buying food that tasted disgusting to meal replacement shakes. That’s why I’m here with Deborah Murtagh. None of them worked. After you lost a bit of weight it would all go back on plus more when you started normal eating again.

I thank you Deborah and The Ketogenic programme for showing me the way to get my life back and heal my body and my inner being. I have not felt so well and healthy in many mnay years. I don’t remember feeling this whole before. To be seeing a me that I haven’t seen for 40 years or so.

I will never look back as you have given me the tools to be the best version of myself that I can be and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul.

I still have another 10 or so kilos to lose but I’m in this all the way

Before was taken in July and after at the end of August.

Weight loss was 17.5 pounds and inches lost were 32.5. I went from 212 pounds down to 194.5 and changed from a 50 inch bust and hips to 46 inches; I actually found my waist. Where to start; my life has altered utterly and completely. My health has improved over 1000 percent; my eating habits have improved beyond measure and I am able to get into at least a size smaller clothes. I am so utterly delighted.

I have had a long and checkered relationship with food which has gone through many phases including starvation diets; meal replacement plans and even 2 failed gastric bands. Nothing has worked so well and so healthily as Deb’s 30DC and beyond. I have a way to go yet to get to my goal weight so have now embarked on the TKS plan with further ongoing success. Onwards and downwards I say.

With regard to my health, I had so many niggly complaints that have now either disappeared or improved greatly. I had HBP which has now reduced to normal: I had constant GERD which has totally disappeared; I was always tired and lethargic and now I have so much more energy and get up and go; I was puffing and panting whenever I moved and I really, really hurt all over; that has totally disappeared now. I had bladder leakage which has steadily improved as has my loud snoring (my husband says thanks by the way). I could go on ad Infinitum but all I can say is Deborah has totally and wonderfully changed my life.

I am only sad I didn’t discover her earlier and have just started to come to terms with the physical and psychological aspects of a truly healthy lifestyle at the ripe young age of 71.

As I scrolled back through old photos tonight, I realised that I don’t have many full-length ones of me over the past few years…for so many reasons 💔 BUT I wanted to celebrate the release of 10kgs today with a visual reminder of what & who has been released in kilos and the deep inner healing that has been released IN me over the past 10 weeks ❤️👏🏼🙌🏼💛👑

The photo on the left is me at my heaviest, 90.5kgs (I’m 5 foot 3) in June 2018 after a 2nd marriage had collapsed & nearly killed me in the process. The photo on the right is me out for brunch with my 3 amazing daughters on Fathers Day weekend (September 3rd 2020 here in Oz) and showing off my new black linen shirt – and my fresh joy & new body!

I started on July 13 this year at 78.3kgs, I signed straight up for TKS after my friend Sarah Russell raved about the 30 day dress size challenge, after listening to me say “I’m tired of feeling sluggish ALL the time, I’m over the crazy high estriadol levels in my body, I’m sick of living with the chronic pain of 2 bulging discs in my neck from a car accident August 2019 – I’m desperate for radical change”!!

Well friends, radical change it has been!!!

My body has never had me be so kind, loving and nourishing to it in its 45 years of full-on life.

My fridge and our meals have never been so colourful and happy.

I never thought I’d be making my own kimchi and coconut yogurt, growing my own herbs and greens, batch cooking my fave proteins to make sure our fridge is stocked with easily accessible good foods to add to salads or veggie cook ups and rejoicing when my fave brand of blueberries are on sale!

But, this is the NEW me – the TRUE me!
And, I love me and I like me. And, I respect my body for the journey that we are on… and the life that we’ve lived through…and now I choose to honour it well! 🥰

When I stood on the scales this morning and it was 10.1kgs released as I start day 2 of my Week 11, (week 3 of healing in my 2nd round) I wept. Tears of joy and relief ❤️ I’m heading in the right direction towards my first goal weight and today I’m choosing to celebrate me. I’m trusting in the process and very aware that EVERY part of the process is purposed! (And, planning and preparation are keys for me).

My GP is blown away and super hopeful for these crazy high estrogen levels (as per bloods in May) to show significant decrease in the blood tests that i had last week, me too.

For now, I wanted to encourage you – we ARE all in this together and I’m with you and cheering you on. We’ve got this ❤️

Ps – the mindset work matters!!!

Wow! I’m so pleased I started this journey 12 months ago with a friend! I was in my mid 50’s and starting to feel the effects of menopause. I had inflammation in my joints, was putting on weight, eating the wrong foods and feeling tired all the time. Well 12 months later and over 25 kilograms lighter, my whole being has changed for all the right reasons. My cholesterol is now normal, no inflammation and I’m never tired! My whole family are on board now that they’ve seen how well I am now.

I want everyone to feel as good as I do now. It’s so worth it. I’m worth it!

I have been overweight for at least 25 years where my doctor put me into the obese category. Yes I was overweight most of that time but tried many diets and spent many thousands of dollars on lotions and potions and gym fees only to regain the bit of weight I may lose plus more. This yo-yo dieting was a way of life for me. One thing that really got to me was my disproportionate body shape. I had a relatively small waist however from the waist down was so much larger than the top half. I mean a lot bigger. Big hips and thighs and even my usually slim ankles were getting bigger. 

I used to despair when buying clothes. In the end I was in a AU size 18/20 pants and a 16 up to a 20 top so it was big enough to try and hide my hips and thighs. I would lose up to 10 kilos on some of these diets but my shape didn’t change. 

I spoke to my doctor about my weight many, many times and sometimes he would prescribe slimming tablets that worked for a while but nothing really changed. The bottom half was just blown out of proportion. My doctor said many times that my shape was due to my genetics and I would always be this way so I had no incentive to try. 
It was depressing and embarrassing because the difference was so noticeable that my self-confidence was shot to pieces. This went on for years and years. Yo-yo dieting losing weight things changed but everything stayed the same. As I aged the dieting and the mental damage was done. 

One Sunday I was reading Body and Soul supplement in the Sunday Telegraph. I was interested when I saw the headlines at the top of the page. Are You Bottom Heavy and Out of Proportion, or words to that effect. It immediately caught my attention and I read the article with great interest. Right there and then I self-diagnosed Lipoedema. I knew I was right. I went to my GP the next day and told him what I had discovered and asked him how he could treat this condition. He looked at me like I had my undies on my head and said he’d never heard of it. He knew about Lymphoedema but nothing about the other. I think he thought I was grasping at straws. He sent me into a room with a student doctor and my GP sat on a chair with his arms folded and told me to repeat my story to the student. He shrugged his shoulders and had no idea. Now imagine that this was a doctor for our future generations and he had not been taught about this debilitating disease that had been discovered and treated in Germany generation’s before. 

I didn’t give up. I researched the beejesis out of Google and found a clinic in my local Hospital in Wollongong that had a physio trained to diagnose Lipoedema and give me treatment options. I was right and formally diagnosed with the disease. 

The different treatment options that were explained to me but the options were disappointing. First the only cure was liposuction and that was like \$14000 so that was out. Didn’t want to put my 70 year old body through that anyway. Then I was measured for compression garments for my entire bottom half which are uncomfortable at best and very hot and then told I needed to have a lymphatic drainage massage several times a month. That was at my own cost. The compression garments were subsidised by the government and my contribution was \$100 per year for which I was very grateful. And all this was just to keep the disease from progressing to a more difficult stage. There are 4 stages and I was stage 2. No cure so this was my life from here on in. 

Walking became painful. My legs were just so heavy and ached and sore to touch. My thighs were and are lumpy with pads of swollen fatty tissue on my thighs , hips , butt, and ankles. It was so depressing but I accepted what couldn’t be changed but hated it and my body. 

Fast forward to August 1 2020. I was searching for something to give me a purpose to get me out of bed of a morning and have some kind of purpose. I lost my husband and the love of my life and soulmate in March 2020. Very suddenly. I performed CPR and mouth to mouth but to no avail. My world crashed down around me and my life and my world as I’m knew  it was over. I was in despair and when I saw the August 30DC came up on Facebook I was intrigued and thought that maybe if I had something to focus on it may help with the grieving process and it did. 

I didn’t expect too much. I knew my shape wouldn’t change but I owed it to my family to pull myself out of this dark hole so I joined and then went on to TKS and the rest is history.

I’ve lost a tad over 13 kg and 115 cms. But the best part my shape has changed dramatically and my bottom half has responded to my diet too. I’ve gone down to a 14 pants and even wearing shorts. And even a size 12 at times depending where I buy the clothes but I would say a 14 and still going down.

I am rejoicing in my new shape and I read an article on Safari last night while researching any new treatment that may benefit my condition. I will attach part of a document that I discovered that recommended a ketogenic diet. I was so pleased with the knowledge that there was at last some research was going on to find helpful treatments for me and the other thousands of ladies around the world. 

I accept I probably will never be properly proportioned body wise but I am ecstatic that I can feel normal and be proud of my shape and my efforts and this whole new way of life. 

Colleen O’Dea