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Kristi Ray Ledgerwood, 43, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in February 2022, and it scared her into changing her life. She had seen the impact the disease had on her family firsthand. “I lost my dad, my grandmother and another family member to diabetes,” she says. At the time, she weighed 329 pounds, could barely walk without pain, and had what she calls a “grocery list” of health problems, including arthritis in her spine.
Ledgerwood had tried many different diets and exercise plans over the years, but she was never able to stick with them. This time, her doctor recommended a low-carb diet to help control her blood sugar. “I knew my health was the most important thing. I knew I couldn’t quit,” she says.
Thanks to the low-carb diet, a walking routine and medication, she’s lost 201 pounds, and she’s maintaining her weight at 128 pounds. She’s also seen these non-scale victories in her health and her life:
- Her A1C levels, which are a marker for diabetes, are down from 8.4 to 4.5.
- Her fasting glucose level, another indicator of diabetes, dropped from 280 to 78 to 85.
- Her kidney function is normal.
- The inflammation she used to notice in her body is gone.
- She can sleep all night in bed. Before, it was so hard for her to breathe that she had to sleep upright in a chair.
- She can walk five miles a day.
- She can play with her 9- and 13-year-old kids in the park instead of watching them from the car. “I used to have to sit on the sidelines while they did stuff. I’m excited that I can do things with them,” she says.
- She has more stamina. “My mom lives three hours from me, and every time she visits, she notices how much more energy I have,” she says. “She’s so proud of my progress.”
- She no longer…
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