Ideal Protein® combines nutrition and support for long-lasting results.

Keira Espada had been thin in high school, but when she stopped smoking, her weight began to climb.

“I put on a good thirty to forty pounds over time,” she recalls. It was the start of a yo-yo pattern, a familiar ordeal for millions of Americans who endure repetitive cycles of shedding weight through dieting only to regain every ounce and more.

Keira tried all sorts of diets to get rid of the extra pounds, including Weight Watchers®, Nutrisystem®, Shakeology® and restricting carbohydrates. Even when she managed to lose weight, it all came back eventually.

By her early 30s, Keira was feeling desperate. At just over 5-feet-5-inches, she was nearly 50 pounds overweight. The excess fat wasn’t enough to qualify her for weight loss surgery – which she looked into – but it made her feel miserable. And she worried about how being overweight could affect her future health.

“I was so depressed about my weight. I didn’t feel good about myself, or even feel like me. I was losing my confidence,” she laments. “It got to the point where I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I had nothing to wear, and I wasn’t comfortable in any outfit.”

Keira, who is 33, works as an administrative assistant for an investment firm and is the mom of young children. She is active in the DeLand Rotary Club, where during a meeting she finally found the turning point in her weight loss struggle. Jeremy M. Gordon, DC, of DeLand Chiropractic & Spinal Decompression, made a presentation about the Ideal Protein plan for losing weight. 

As she listened to Dr. Gordon, Keira realized the Ideal Protein plan was what she had been looking for: a healthy and simple-to-follow weight loss program that could give her long-lasting results. She wouldn’t have to attempt it on her own, either.

Dr. Gordon and his staff, including a dedicated diet coach, would provide the support she needed to ensure success.

Excited about finally resolving her dilemma with weight, Keira was eager to get started.

“The day Dr. Gordon made a presentation about Ideal Protein to the Rotary club, I called his office and got in to see him that same day,” she notes.

Lose Fat, Not Muscle

Unlike many weight loss systems, Ideal Protein is part of a comprehensive, personalized plan. It is based on more than 25 years of experience helping more than five million people lose weight in Europe and Canada, and now a large group of people in the United States.

“Ideal Protein is incorporated into a customized program for patients. On average, our patients lose twelve to fifteen pounds a month,” says Dr. Gordon, a chiropractic physician and clinic director at DeLand Chiropractic & Spinal Decompression.

Dr. Gordon and his staff have helped hundreds of people achieve healthy weights and lifestyles through Ideal Protein. Like Keira, most had already tried other weight loss programs without long-term success.

Ideal Protein helps limit the amount of sugars and dietary fats while providing high-quality protein that is easily absorbed. A key to its success is how it helps burn fat while preserving muscle mass, an advantage for maintaining a healthy metabolism.

“Ideal Protein helps limit the amount of sugars and dietary fats coming in while providing a high-quality form of protein that is easily absorbed,” notes Dr. Gordon. “Some plans merely restrict caloric intake so the body will burn fat. That will also burn some muscle, so people lose muscle mass while they’re on a lot of these diets. On the other hand, the Ideal Protein program focuses on helping people lose weight by burning stored fat while preserving lean muscle.”

There are four supplements that go along with actual food: a multivitamin, potassium supplement, fish oil supplement and calcium supplement.

“We have to supplement because we’re removing most of the dairy, grains and fruits from people’s regular diets while they’re on the program,” explains Dr. Gordon. “Those food groups have a lot of mineral content, so we need to make sure patients still get an adequate, balanced amount of minerals. Consequently, muscle cramps or spasms or things of that nature are avoided.

“None of the supplements are what you see with the different fad diets. There are no diet pills or stimulants in Ideal Protein,” he adds. “The Ideal Protein plan is focused on the body’s biochemistry and burning stored fat through eating properly and through proper nutrition. Ideal Protein teaches people to eat healthy.”

Moreover, another aspect that sets Ideal Protein apart from other programs is its one-on-one coaching and support. At DeLand Chiropractic & Spinal Decompression, the clinic’s Ideal Protein Coach, Tracee Gmitro, meets individually with Ideal Protein clients to guide them on their journey to better health and wellness.

“The meetings with Tracee are weekly, and they help to hold people accountable and monitor their weight loss as they go through the program,” assures Dr. Gordon. “If there is an issue that needs to be addressed, either myself or my associate, Dr. Munson, can come in and speak to them as well. We can also monitor things like blood work as far as cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure and common issues that people may be dealing with as well as being overweight.”

Renewed Confidence

The first week Keira started the Ideal Protein plan, she loved the way she felt. With other diets she tried, she had been bogged down by their complexity or stopped because they featured packaged food full of sodium that made her bloated.

The Ideal Protein plan was easy for her to follow. And it made her feel great – right away.

“I like Ideal Protein because everything is all-natural,” she describes. “Starting in the first week, I felt good. I felt energetic. And when I did my first weigh-in after a week, I’d lost six pounds.”

Keira took advantage of all the support the program had to offer. She met with Tracee and attended the clinic’s cooking classes, where she learned how to create healthy meals and snacks.

“Having their support is very helpful because there are times when you’re stuck, such as not knowing whether you should eat a certain food,” says Keira. “I could shoot a text message to Tracee, and she’d get back to me right away. Dr. Gordon is also available by text, if I need help, and he reached out to me, too.

“They also have a Facebook page that offers all the support from other people using Ideal Protein, where you can get good ideas about recipes and what to do in certain situations,” she adds. “The cooking classes were very helpful, along with meetings where you can learn things like how to prepare yourself for the holidays.”

Keira was delighted at her weekly weigh-ins as she consistently logged weight loss. Over a period of about seven months, she lost 47 pounds. At the start of her journey, she was about to “graduate” to a larger size 12 in clothing. After successfully losing weight, she now wears a size four.

Besides being happy about the cosmetic appeal of her slimmer physique, Keira is also excited about improving her health. She likes that she has much better odds for avoiding health conditions like diabetes because she is no longer overweight.

“Keira went from originally having a body fat percentage of forty-five point five percent to thirty-one point one percent at her last weigh-in. That’s a significant body fat percentage loss and what we’re really trying to focus on,” observes Dr. Gordon. “On the body-mass-index chart, which gauges health risk according to height and weight, she is now in a healthy range. That’s what we like to see for our patients.”

After reaching her goal weight, Keira is now in Phase 4 of the Ideal Protein plan, its maintenance phase. It’s the phase that will help her lock in results and successfully avoid re-entering any yo-yo dieting cycle.

For a year, she will be able to check in for regular weigh-ins, attend classes and meet monthly with Tracee.

“During the last phase, a lot of it is accountability, when people are following a healthy eating lifestyle. They’re still following up with Tracee and checking in, which means we can address any issues that may arise and keep those issues from turning into problems or regained weight,” emphasizes Dr. Gordon.

Meanwhile, Keira can’t get over her good fortune from following the Ideal Protein plan.

“I’m a walking advertisement because everybody who sees me is like, Oh, my gosh! What did you do? How did you do it?” she comments. “I tell everybody about the program because it really works. It gave me energy, and I’m not sluggish anymore. I have so much energy now to run around with my kids.

“And then there’s the self-esteem and confidence it has given me. That’s a big one and important to me. I’ve got my social life back, and I feel good just being healthy.”

 

More Information

• Ideal Protein Overview
• Recipes