Celeste's Story

I first learned about the Nutritarian Diet in 2010 after coming across Eat for Health in a local bookstore. Prior to that, I had been mostly vegan since 2006, but I would sometimes eat something non-vegan when we went out to restaurants. Always, arthritis pain in my hands and knees would flare up after one of these restaurant meals, but I hadn't connected them to the meals yet. As I began to eat more fully Nutritarian, I realized the pain flare ups were connected to whenever I consumed oils or cheeses, so I began completely avoiding them.

I became 100% Nutritarian in 2016 when I became part of the Women's Nutritarian Health Study, and I have remained so ever since. At that time, I lost about 10 pounds and my weight hovered around 125 to 130 pounds. I wanted to reach 120 pounds, but I never seemed able to quite reach that weight. I tried the 10 in 20 Detox programs, but I was still unable to lose weight. I also tried Hello Nutritarian's recipes.

During this time, I led an active lifestyle, gardened, taught PE classes at the school where I worked and did the exercises with the students, did Pilates and yoga, and during COVID I began to do exercises that were online. I also had the DVD of Dr. Fuhrman's recommended exercises and did those regularly. I bought a Power Plate and began doing the exercises  with that equipment for osteoporosis that Dr. Fuhrman also recommended when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2022.

This year, I decided to try this more intensive Fuhrman program to see if I could break the weight loss barrier I was having, despite following a Nutritarian diet, eating increasingly lower amounts of calories, increasing my overnight fasting period, and eating just two meals per day. In addition, my LDL cholesterol had been slowly creeping up over the years, despite complete elimination of all animal products and all salt, oils, and sugars, and I wanted to find out why. I continued to have weight fluctuations between 125 and 130 during the program and wondered why I still wasn't losing weight and keeping it off. During one of the Q and A sessions, Dr. Fuhrman talked about how we must be scientists and experiment with what works for our unique bodies to lose weight. That appealed to me because I am a biologist and always loved doing experiments. So, I tried something different and joined The Vegan Gym. I found that a combination of the heavier resistance exercise, a 1200-1300 calorie day staying with just 2 Nutritarian meals a day and increasing my protein to between 80 and 90 grams per day has done the trick. After following this regimen, I have lost 7 pounds in 50 days and have nearly reached my initial goal of a weight of 118 pounds. But at this rate and with this success, I may even lose a few more pounds to reach that BMI of 20 that would be more ideal.

I'm grateful for all I have learned about nutrition and fitness in the Nutritarian programs I've attended, and I'm glad Dr. Fuhrman brought up the topic of being scientists to discover what works for our own body.

Results may vary.