He Lost 100 Pounds After Implementing Ketogenic Lifestyle

Vic Basmadjian is Now a Nutrition Network Certified Nutrition Advisor & Helping Others; Looking Forward to Attending The SMHP’s Symposium for Metabolic Health 

When Vic Basmadjian was 55, he was obese and his health was headed in the wrong direction.

“I had hypertension and I was pushing 300 pounds,” he said. “Sleep apnea had kicked in, and I knew it was time to make a change.”

Over the past few decades, Vic had repeatedly attempted to lose weight through calorie restriction, and although he’d often lost significant amounts, he had never been able to sustain the weight loss.

“If the yo-yo diet were an Olympic sport, I’d be a gold medalist,” he said with a smile. “I probably have more than 30 years of experience with yo-yo dieting.”

It finally occurred to him that cutting out refined carbs, such as rice, potato, and pasta, seemed to help with his weight loss efforts, and Vic started seeing some weight loss. Soon after, his son asked Vic if he knew anything about the ketogenic diet, and that led Vic to start doing his own research on the internet.

“I started reading about the ketogenic diet on my own and it made a lot of sense,” Vic said.

As Vic implemented more aspects of the ketogenic diet into his life, he realized he was onto something transformational.

“And then I had the good fortune of coming across Dr. Tro on Twitter, and that was all she wrote. The rest is history.”

Tro Kalayjian is a double board-certified Internal Medicine & Obesity Medicine physician, and a board member and founding member of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners (The SMHP™). Dr. Tro had used the low-carb way of eating to lose more than 150 pounds, and now runs a medical weight loss and direct primary care practice in Tappan, NY.

“Dr. Tro was so responsive and so helpful. And that’s basically how I really got started, and how I progressed to where I am today.”

Vic, who will turn 60 in about two months, has sustainably lost 100 pounds, while improving his health and quality of life, and he has now turned much of his attention to helping others.

Vic recently successfully completed the Nutrition Network’s Advisor Training course, his second Nutrition Network course, and he’s now helping others incorporate therapeutic carbohydrate restriction into their lives. Vic previously completed the Nutrition Network’s Group Facilitation Training course. 

Nutrition Network is an education partner of both LowCarbUSA® and The SMHP™, and Nutrition Network courses can be used to satisfy requirements for The SMHP’s Metabolic Health Practitioner (MHP) accreditation.

Vic still works full-time as a successful tech rep in the automotive industry, but said he feels a need to share what he’s learned, with the hope of helping others avoid experiencing the decades of diet failures he endured.

“I had the good fortune to fall into the right people’s hands and guidance. I think it was truly a blessing, and I think it would be selfish not to share it and give somebody else the same opportunity,” he said.

Vic said it angers him to see the dismissive attitude much of mainstream medicine has toward therapeutic carbohydrate restriction and the practitioners who are using it to transform lives through the reversal of obesity and metabolic disease.

“We need to speak up about our success, because these doctors have their hands full. With all the information that we now have today, nobody should have to be obese, and nobody should have to suffer from type 2 diabetes. I will continue this fight as long as I’m on this earth.”

Vic said he has attended The SMHP’s Symposium for Metabolic Health conferences virtually for the past couple of years, and he recently registered to attend the Symposium in Boca in January 2023. There will also be a Symposium for Metabolic Health, August 25-28, 2022, in San Diego.

Vic said he plans to continue his education and hopes to pursue his MHP accreditation upon his retirement from his current career.

He says the information he’s learned from the training and events has been extremely valuable to him as he works to educate and help others. 

“There is huge value. The Nutrition Network courses included a large number of modules with downloadable information that is tremendously useful for anyone involved in coaching.”

Vic said that although he’s made many friends in the low-carb community through social media over the past few years, he’s greatly looking forward to meeting people in real life at the Symposium for Metabolic Health in Boca.

“I am really looking forward to meeting so many of the people who are part of this community,” he said. “Whether they’re practitioners, authors, or everyday people like ourselves, many of these people have become my friends. So this will finally give me the chance to meet and network in person.”

Looking back at the changes he’s experienced in the past five years, Vic said the transformation has changed his life for the better in so many ways.

“I have much more confidence, and am usually in a better mood, with greater mental clarity and energy. I used to come home from work, have supper, and I’d probably end up passing out on the couch.”

Now, Vic says he has the energy to spend more time with his family as well as do other activities including exercise.

Earlier this year, he set a goal to run 5 kilometers before he turned 60, and he’s far ahead of schedule, running 5k twice a week as part of his exercise regimen. He also works out in the gym twice a week, doing a variety of activities including resistance training, sled pushing, battle ropes, and boxing.

“I always had a love-hate relationship with exercise,” said Vic, “and I could never keep it together for a long time because I never really enjoyed it. Now, I’m enjoying the exercise.”

 When asked if he had any suggestions for someone looking to get started on the path toward sustained weight loss and improved metabolic health, Vic said one would do well to become part of a community of like-minded people.

“It’s important to be able to hear about other people’s struggles, and you learn that we have so much in common. Everybody is pretty much fighting the same thing.

Interested in attending an upcoming Symposium for Metabolic Health? Click one of  the links below to learn more and register.

Symposium for Metabolic Health – San Diego, August 25-28, 2022

Symposium for Metabolic Health – Boca, January 13-15, 2023