‘The Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond Reveals How She Lost 55 Pounds, And It Wasn’t A Keto Diet Or Intermittent Fasting

Popular food blogger and Food Network host Ree Drummond, better known as The Pioneer Woman, is excited to share how she lost 55 pounds over the past year. Probably the best news of all is that she did it without resorting to the popular low-carb keto diet or intermittent fasting that’s become so popular these days.

“Roughly one year ago, I decided I wanted to lose weight,” the 53-year-old Oklahoma native said in an Instagram post earlier this week. “I had zero idea how I was going to do this, I only knew that I needed to start.”

The “Pioneer Woman” host described how “weight had crept up” while “exercise/activity level had all but slowed to a stop” while she focused on work over the past few years. It also didn’t help that Drummond was cooking and eating for a living, constantly surrounded by delicious foods. The Food Network star is known for her hearty, midwestern dishes that are wholesome but not necessarily diet friendly.

Drummond’s final straw came when her daughter Alex got married in May 2021. The best-selling cookbook author explained on her blog that she was at her heaviest weight during the months before the wedding and has since lost a significant amount of weight by making small changes. 

“I just knew I had to start,” Drummond wrote. “One year later, I’ve lost 55 pounds.”

The star went on to explain what she didn’t do. “I didn’t use a trainer, I didn’t do Keto or Paleo or follow an official diet, I didn’t eat specialty foods, and I didn’t do intermittent fasting,” Drummond wrote on her blog. “Those things work for lots of people, which is wonderful! I just hadn’t had success with them.”

Instead, the cooking show host focused on eating fewer calories, putting smaller portions on her plate, and weighing meals using a food scale. She also increased her protein intake. Drummond ate fewer sweets and stopped drinking alcohol. 

Besides changing what she ate, Drummond also shared with fans that she started getting serious about being more active. This came in the form of simple swaps such as buying a standing desk to use at home, walking more often, and lifting weights. Drummond also incorporated a rowing machine into her routine and started using the Happy Scale app to keep tabs on her weight.

“Maybe it would be better to say perspective change instead of lifestyle change,” the Food Network host continued. “Because that’s what it has been for me. During the first five months (and in the ensuing months) of my journey, I experienced a seismic shift in my perspective of everything I’ve mentioned.”

“After the experience of the past year, I feel better,” she continued. “I have more energy. I’m more motivated to take on projects and put things on the ol’ calendar. Feeling good bleeds over into all aspects of my life. And that has changed my outlook.”

Finally, Drummond said the whole experience has given her renewed confidence and energy.

“Today I feel stronger, more in balance (both physically and mentally), and I have more spring to my step,” she concluded. “I am wearing clothes I wasn’t comfortable wearing a year ago, I feel better about the way I look, and I’m smiling more (yes, even more than I smiled before, which was a lot — haha) and that is a nice feeling at age 53.”

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