Beth Leggate's Story

Beth Leggate had been struggling with PCOS since her twenties and kept gaining weight despite all her efforts. In 2012, her father passed away. In conjunction with her low-fat diet, this brought on serious bouts of depression.

Her marriage and home life were suffering but “everything began to really turn for the worse” in 2016 when her second child was born.

Said Leggate, “I was suffering from terrible postpartum depression and had sleep apnea, blood pressure as high as 250/190 chronically, skin issues that caused my epidermis to peel and crack leading to bleeding on my face and legs, back pain which kept me bedridden, and mood swings so sudden I felt like a monster.”

She found Dr. Berg’s videos on YouTube during her research of low-carb diets for her PCOS. As a result her entire life changed rapidly. “His videos were addicting and I couldn’t stop watching them,” she said. “The education made logical sense.”

From Dr. Berg, Leggate took to heart the knowledge that health comes before weight loss; she only pursued better health. Weight lost was a byproduct. In fact, the non-scale victories like wearing her wedding rings again, tying her shoes, lifting her kids, riding roller coasters, and buckling her seatbelt on an airplane were the best parts for her.

Even though the symptoms of her diet, weight, and mental state were surely a cause for change, she was really prompted to shift her lifestyle by her faith and her children.

“When your kids cry because you are too tired and overweight to play with them, it triggers something inside of you,” she said. “I had always been overweight with health problems but now it affected my family.”

With the exception of support from her husband and mother, Leggate’s biggest battle during her keto journey was with other people.

“Everyone seems to have a take on what is healthy and what is not healthy.  I was over 100 pounds (45 kg) overweight and no one mentioned anything to me,” she said. “But as soon as you start losing, albeit in a non-conventional way, everyone dives in to offer an opinion. I kept myself motivated by watching other weight-loss transformation videos on YouTube.”

Since starting keto, Leggate has lost 117 pounds (53 kg). Her first 100 pounds (45 kg) melted away during the first six months. Today she says that if she had the chance to revise her keto journey the only thing she would do differently might be to walk for 45 minutes a day.

“I seriously feel like I can wake up every morning and do a million push-ups,” Leggate said. “I learned how to play a bass guitar in [less than] five months. I’m closer to age 40 and can now play in a band. My mind is clearer and I wake up with zero excuses for doing new things. I can’t ever say I’m too old or my back hurts now. There are zero excuses.”

To anyone considering starting a keto journey of their own, she had this to say: “Do not give up. It is most certainly possible to lose weight like I did, an unfulfilled PCOS victim heading for upwards of 350+ pounds with each day that passed. You are most definitely not a lost cause. Find someone who understands (even me!) and cling to that person.”

Favorite Way to Exercise: Walking and weight training

Favorite Keto Recipe: “I keep it simple so I haven’t made any keto recipes for myself,” Leggate said. “However, I do know how to season meats really well! Favorite is pot roast made with butter, rosemary, salt, and garlic. Stick that wonderfulness in a crock pot for nine hours and enjoy!”