Mom of 3 Sheds 15 Pounds Going All-in on Diet-to-Go’s Keto Plan

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A Diet-to-Go Success Story

About Ashley:

Name: Ashley Ternan
Age: 39
Occupation: Stay-at-Home Mom
Meal Plan: Keto-Carb30
Favorite Meal: Breakfast Pizza
Start-date: Dec. 19, 2019
Starting weight: 170
Height: 5’5”
Pounds Lost: Current weight 155
When I get a craving, my go-to trick is: Eating 3-4 Fritos or a spoonful of whip cream, or coffee with whip cream
My favorite way to track my weight loss is: My clothes. I have a weird understanding of my body and what goes on when I put on a pair of pants or something
 

Raising three children, volunteering at school, running a small online business and managing a household didn’t leave a lot of time for 39-year-old Ashley Ternan to think about her health.

Ashley is married with three kids — two boys, 8 and 6, and a 3-year-old girl. She also runs a small online business called Diaperstakethecake.com, where she creates custom, unique diaper cakes.

Ashley had struggled with her weight since freshman year of high school, yo-yo dieting and watching her weight go up and down over the years.

“In college I gained the freshman 15...my parents said,’If you lost 20-25 pounds, we’ll buy you a whole new wardrobe,’” Ashley said. “Let me tell you, I lost that weight.”

But out of college, the real world took its toll.

“With a job, family, you know, I gained that weight back,” Ashley said.

Ashley’s first child also had an impact. Ashley developed gestational hypertension, a condition characterized by high blood pressure.

“You retain a lot of fluid,” Ashley said. “I went from 145 to 211 with his pregnancy.”

Ashley did shed much of that weight shortly after giving birth, but experienced similar issues during her second and third pregnancies, even being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, a condition that causes high blood sugar during pregnancy.

After her third child, the weight did not come off in the way it had with the first two.

Three years later, Ashley’s comfortable weight of 145 pounds was still far away.

“My breaking point was...I started at 168, 170, and I haven’t been able to get below 160,” she said.

Ashley knew she had to make a change — and that it needed to start with her diet.

Her experience managing gestational diabetes prompted Ashley to look to what she knew would work for her: the keto diet. The ketogenic diet works by forcing your body into ketosis, the physiological state where your liver produces ketones to break down fat instead of carbs. (It’s what we do when our bodies are in survival mode.) The result is often significant and rapid weight loss.*

“I think people have a misconception of ketosis, but you can do it by eating fewer carbs,” Ashley said. “I stay under 30 carbs per day.”

That’s the exact approach of Diet-to-Go’s Keto-Carb30 menu, which offers a variety of delicious meals and has only 30 net carbs per day.

Ashley started researching meal plans, including one her parents had tried that involved drinking shakes.

“My mom said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never been so hungry in my life,’” Ashley said. “I looked at the price and was like, ‘Oh my God...I don’t feel good, but I don’t want to spend that money on a bunch of shakes.’”

Ashley began researching other options and soon found Diet-to-Go.

“I don’t have to do anything but put my meal in the microwave!? I don’t have to make my own dinner!?” Ashley said “… I thought, ‘I might as well give it a try.’ And wow! The food is phenomenal. It’s better than the food you find cooking at home!”

Ashley said she was surprised how much she liked it.

“Honestly, it’s been great,” she said. “There are certain meals that yes I like, and some that are okay … the ease of it and I know it’s healthy. There are good portions of vegetables. There are good sizes of protein.”

Ashley also said she loves that she can substitute out meals she doesn’t enjoy as much.
 

“The fact that it’s healthy and it fits within my lifestyle of a busy mom of three,” Ashley said. “And that it’s low carb; I don’t have to think about it!”

Asked how she manages her meal plan with three kids and a husband at home, Ashley said it’s easy.

“The kids and husband have a limited food palate,” she laughed. “I’m the cook in the house, and that’s scary! I heat something up for them — nuggets, chicken, frozen 

pizza — and then we sit down and eat as a family. Somehow it just winds up working.”

Ashley’s also able to manage her love of sweets and cookies by putting them into her husband’s office.

 “The kids know they’re there,” she chuckled.

Ashley’s 15-pound weight loss is not going unnoticed, either.

“I was at the school the other day and one of the teachers … I stopped by to say hi, and she said, ‘Oh my gosh! You look great!’”

Ashley said ultimately, it’s about finding what works for you.
 

“I honestly believe that there is a certain diet for every person, and not every person can follow a keto diet, and not everyone can do plant-based or calorie counting,” she said. “You have to find what works for you.”

Diet-to-Go offers four distinct menus to accommodate most diets:
 

• Balance, focused on calorie control and nutrition
• Balance-Diabetes, a diabetes-friendly menu designed to help control blood sugar naturally.
• Keto-Carb30, which is carb-restricted and focuses on healthy fats
• Vegetarian, an adaptation of the Balance menu

What diet do you think would work best for you? Find out with our free online diet analysis.

 

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Author: Caitlin H
Diet-to-Go Community Manager

Caitlin is the Diet-to-Go community manager and an avid runner. She is passionate about engaging with others online and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. She believes moderation is key, and people will have the most weight loss success if they engage in common-sense healthy eating and fitness.

 

Diet-to-Go Success Stories

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