Speaker 1: Welcome the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm
Speaker 1: Jen Stevens, author of the New York Times bestseller Fast
Speaker 1: Feast Repeat.
Speaker 2: And I'm Sherry Bullock, longtime intermittent faster and health and
Speaker 2: wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this podcast is
Speaker 2: for educational and motivational purposes only and is not intended
Speaker 2: to provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are
Speaker 2: not doctors, so make sure to check with your trusted
Speaker 2: healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes to
Speaker 2: any medical treatments or medications.
Speaker 1: Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced intermittent faster,
Speaker 1: tune in each week to get inspired, to learn, and
Speaker 1: to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, we
Speaker 1: are so glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's
Speaker 1: episode of the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast.
Speaker 2: How are you doing today's Sherry, I'm doing wonderful.
Speaker 1: I'm glad. Anything new going on with you?
Speaker 2: Well, let's see, my husband's had oral surgery last week
Speaker 2: and he's on vacation for two weeks. This is his
Speaker 2: final week. I'm going to need a vacation when he
Speaker 2: goes back to work. Poor Eric. Yeah, I love my
Speaker 2: husband dearly, y'all.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 2: But he's a lot. He's on the spectrum. Communication is
Speaker 2: not his strong point, so sometimes we struggle when we
Speaker 2: spend a little bit too much time together. We're very different,
Speaker 2: like we compliment each other, but we're so different, right,
Speaker 2: high energy, he's low energy. I'm extroverted. He's introverted. He
Speaker 2: doesn't understand my need to connect outside of the house.
Speaker 2: He's very content to just sit here in the house.
Speaker 2: So my salvation has been doing coaching because I get
Speaker 2: to come into my office and shut the door and
Speaker 2: talk to people. So anyway, yeah, he'll be back till
Speaker 2: week work next week. And then he gave me for Christmas,
Speaker 2: he gave me six do nothing days. It's September. I
Speaker 2: have not used any of them because I'm not very
Speaker 2: good at doing nothing. So, like, what does to do.
Speaker 1: Nothing day for you? Like I do? I would say,
Speaker 1: do you.
Speaker 2: Want I had a day to do nothing?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: No responsibilities? I don't figure out what he's gonna eat.
Speaker 2: I don't like if I want to lay in bed
Speaker 2: and binge to watch a TV. I want to lay
Speaker 2: in bed and binge watch TV. I don't want to
Speaker 2: watch what he wants to watch. My husband likes to
Speaker 2: dictate every hour of the day what we're gonna do,
Speaker 2: what's next, what's next? And I hate that more than
Speaker 2: anything in the world. I do not like a really
Speaker 2: structured day. I'm very go with the flow, do it
Speaker 2: feels good. And so to me, that means he has
Speaker 2: to stay out of my life. He has to wait
Speaker 2: on me hand and foot, and I don't have to
Speaker 2: lift a finger. And so that's what he gave me
Speaker 2: for Christmas. Because I'm always like I wish I had
Speaker 2: a day where I had nothing thing to do. I
Speaker 2: can just turn my brain off and escape. And uh
Speaker 2: so I told him, I said, just what, you know,
Speaker 2: when you go back to work, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 2: cash in one of I do nothing days.
Speaker 1: And they don't expire. I would assume you could save them.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I mean yeah, or I'm gonna have a
Speaker 2: lot of do nothing days between now. The problem is,
Speaker 2: last time I said I was gonna do a do
Speaker 2: nothing day, I ended up cleaning out the hall closet.
Speaker 2: M Because I'm not very good at doing nothing.
Speaker 1: I mean neither I would.
Speaker 3: I was like, that sounds Wait was that a gift
Speaker 3: for Eric or a gift for you? My brain just
Speaker 3: gets tired. I have a very busy brain, you know, questioner.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm constantly thinking of this or that, or
Speaker 2: researching this or reading that, or you know, working in community,
Speaker 2: and and then my brain just gets tired. And I'm tired,
Speaker 2: especially after long weekends at work where I work really hard.
Speaker 2: And uh I I'm just like I want to check
Speaker 2: out from the world sometimes and just turn off my brain.
Speaker 2: And the only way I can do that is just
Speaker 2: to watch something mindless on TV. But I don't really
Speaker 2: get that luxury and Eric and I don't watch the
Speaker 2: same kind of TV. So I don't know. This is
Speaker 2: my second marriage. Why do men always get to control
Speaker 2: the TV remote?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I have never been allowed to have the remote.
Speaker 1: I would want to controlled it. That was That's always
Speaker 1: been me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, if I get the remote. He's like, you
Speaker 2: can't have the remote. It's my remote. You don't even
Speaker 2: know how to work it. And I'm like, well, I
Speaker 2: don't know how to work it because I'm never allowed
Speaker 2: to touch it. So yeah, I yeah, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 2: gonna cash in some you know. You know, I was
Speaker 2: kind of inspired to s K and community was talking
Speaker 2: about her kids were going back to school and she'd
Speaker 2: had a busy season and she last week she took
Speaker 2: like a week of just rest to recovery, and she
Speaker 2: was gonna just do what she wanted to do and rest.
Speaker 2: She was taking time off from the gym and kind
Speaker 2: of just reset her mind and relax. And I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, I need to do that. I've been on
Speaker 2: the go since April. I feel like, so downtime's important.
Speaker 2: We need it absolutely. All right, Well, let's celebrate. Well,
Speaker 2: actually this is a triple celebration. This comes from Sarah,
Speaker 2: a member of our DDT community, and it really goes
Speaker 2: to the power of sharing. She said. Number one, my
Speaker 2: mom just finished her twenty eight day fastart and she's
Speaker 2: loving fasting. She's actually pretty healthy, but she's always chasing
Speaker 2: that smaller number and has the biggest diet brain ever.
Speaker 2: She said. She loves if she feels great and doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like she is denying herself any foods that she loves.
Speaker 2: She does eat much better than me in general. Number Two,
Speaker 2: my dad, who is diabetic, has found great success lowering
Speaker 2: his insulin resistance with the long fests. I listened to
Speaker 2: Jin's book with them, and he is probably going to
Speaker 2: use the eating window approach when he isn't doing down
Speaker 2: days in order to heal his diabetes. What about me,
Speaker 2: you ask, I am down thirty pounds since May the twelfth,
Speaker 2: which is below my pre pregnancy weight. I gained a
Speaker 2: good amount before pregnancy and breastfeeding, but this is a
Speaker 2: huge goal. We are going to try for number two
Speaker 2: starting in December, and I want to be a healthier
Speaker 2: mama for my firstborn and fingers crossed the second. Thank
Speaker 2: you all so much for your support and a place
Speaker 2: for me to come to for advice. Thank you Jin
Speaker 2: for bringing us all together and getting the IF word
Speaker 2: out there in a fun and easy manner.
Speaker 1: Well, Sarah, I love it, And congratulations to your mom
Speaker 1: and your dad, and I love that y'all are getting
Speaker 1: healthy together as you anticipate number two. So now we
Speaker 1: have a question from a listener. This question is from
Speaker 1: Wondering in Saskatoon, interested to know what you gals think
Speaker 1: about L glutamine and slippery ELM supplements. Do they break
Speaker 1: a fast? I'm only getting conflicting answers on Google. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would not google that. That would definitely not.
Speaker 2: Google doesn't know this.
Speaker 1: No, No, Google's just fine and whatever somebody else has
Speaker 1: said about it. And people say crazy things like you
Speaker 1: know anyway. L glutamine instructions are to take in the
Speaker 1: morning on an empty stomach for digestive support. Slippery Elm
Speaker 1: says take three times a day, hard to do in
Speaker 1: a four to five hour eating window. Other ingredients in
Speaker 1: the slippery elm are hypermellos cellulose and magnesium sterrate. I've
Speaker 1: just started taking these two to help with constipation issues
Speaker 1: and still unsure if they will help, but I'm interested
Speaker 1: to try thoughts.
Speaker 2: Okay, yes, L glutamine is an amino acid, and amino
Speaker 2: acids basically our food. They're a building block of protein
Speaker 2: and they do stop atophagy. And also you should not
Speaker 2: need digestive support why you're fasting, right, Like fasting is
Speaker 2: digestive support. So I mean, I mean, acids are great,
Speaker 2: but you definitely don't want to take it while you're
Speaker 2: fasting because you're going to lose the benefits of your
Speaker 2: fast And then slippery Elm is a fibrous plant and
Speaker 2: it basically forms a gel in your bowels, much like
Speaker 2: chia seeds do or cilium huskas, and all of those
Speaker 2: are foods, and we don't want those foods during the fast.
Speaker 2: You know, if you're having constipation issues and you want
Speaker 2: to try the slippery elm in your window, go for it.
Speaker 2: You Know, something else that I just feel like I
Speaker 2: need to point out is I'm not sure how long
Speaker 2: you've been fasting. A lot of people start to have
Speaker 2: issues with constipation in the early days of intermittent fasting.
Speaker 2: Your digestion runs on a circadian rhythm, just like your
Speaker 2: sleep and every thing in your body, right, and so
Speaker 2: when we adjust when we eat, then it takes time
Speaker 2: for our bodies to catch up. We have a new
Speaker 2: circadian rhythm in you know, applied to our digestion, and
Speaker 2: so a lot of people notice constipation in the early
Speaker 2: days as well. You know, katosis does pull excess fluid
Speaker 2: out of our bodies, and so you know, if you're
Speaker 2: having problems with constipation, this could be a fluid balance issue.
Speaker 2: So you might try in the mornings, if you're not
Speaker 2: a coffee drinker, for instance, try starting your day with
Speaker 2: a big glass of hot water because that can help.
Speaker 2: That's great for digestion. Make sure that you are taking
Speaker 2: a quality magnesium supplement, one that has like magnesium citrate
Speaker 2: in it is going to be helpful for constipation. And
Speaker 2: you know, make sure that you're eating quality whole foods
Speaker 2: in your eating window to help support that as well.
Speaker 2: But yeah, to answer your question, both of those things
Speaker 2: belong in the eating window.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, the tricky part is that supplement
Speaker 1: dosages are assuming you're eating all day, right, and like,
Speaker 1: for example, the elglutamine says take in the morning on
Speaker 1: an empty stomach. Well, your stomach is empty toil way
Speaker 1: later in the day. So even if you're opening at
Speaker 1: two o'clock, you are having an empty stomach, so take
Speaker 1: it to open and you're still following their directions. They
Speaker 1: tell people to take it in the morning on an
Speaker 1: empty stomach because that's the only time most of the
Speaker 1: world has an empty stomach. So that in mind, And
Speaker 1: if something is like a plant or food like, you
Speaker 1: just know Google isn't going to give you the right
Speaker 1: answers if it's food like, if it's protein, if it's
Speaker 1: an amino acid, if it has fat in it, All
Speaker 1: those things need to go in your eating window, and
Speaker 1: it's once you realize you know that these are the
Speaker 1: things that don't break a fast. Minerals, black coffee, plain
Speaker 1: tea water. So when you're trying to figure out does
Speaker 1: this break a fast? Is it one hundred percent minerals,
Speaker 1: is it black coffee, plane tea, plaine water. If the
Speaker 1: answer is no, and it's food like or it's giving
Speaker 1: you nutrients of some sort, nutrients belong in the eating window,
Speaker 1: the fast is something different. So keep all that in mind,
Speaker 1: and that should really help because you can figure it
Speaker 1: out yourself if you understand why we're fasting. And I
Speaker 1: also wanted to just remind people that we have a
Speaker 1: favorite magnesium and it's bioptimizers Magnesium Breakthrough. There's a link
Speaker 1: in the show notes and we both really do take.
Speaker 2: It, Yes we do, and my husband too, And I
Speaker 2: just wanted to throw this out there too. I just
Speaker 2: looked up elg ludamine for gut health and it says
Speaker 2: to take it on an empty stomach with meals. So yeah,
Speaker 2: so basically take it and then yeah, take it on
Speaker 2: empty stomach ten to fifteen minutes before you eat, so
Speaker 2: open your window, take it while you're prepping your food
Speaker 2: that's going to take you ten minutes or whatever, and
Speaker 2: then eat all right.
Speaker 1: Good to know. So yeah, again, it's most people the
Speaker 1: only time they have an empty stomach is first thing
Speaker 1: in the morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's specifically for gut health. The elglutamine has
Speaker 2: different benefits to it, so if you're doing it for
Speaker 2: gut health, it's with meals, all right. So our next
Speaker 2: question is for Melissa Hijen and Cherry. I'm writing from
Speaker 2: San Jose, California. I'm forty five years old, five foot four,
Speaker 2: and I've been practicing intermint fasting since March of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. At the time, I weighed around one hundred
Speaker 2: and ninety pounds. Over the following year, I played around
Speaker 2: with different fasting schedules, and I successfully reached my ideal
Speaker 2: weight of one hundred and thirty pounds by March of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three. Once I got to that goal, I
Speaker 2: wanted to shift into maintenance and I began eating once
Speaker 2: a day. However, by April of twenty twenty four, my
Speaker 2: weight had crept up to one hundred and forty eight pounds.
Speaker 2: I continued one meal to day, but by May of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, I had reached one hundred and eighty
Speaker 2: pounds again. That was the turning point where I purchased
Speaker 2: Gin's book and I reached the podcast for support. In
Speaker 2: June of twenty twenty five, I began a thirty six
Speaker 2: hour protocol and then in July I transitioned into ADF
Speaker 2: as recommended in the book. So far, I've lost about
Speaker 2: five pounds. I understand that one meal day is considered
Speaker 2: a maintenance protocol, but I'm struggling to understand why I
Speaker 2: didn't maintain. One major change I made during the time
Speaker 2: I was gaining was shifting towards a vegetarian lifestyle. I
Speaker 2: significantly reduced my protein intake and focused mostly on vegetables.
Speaker 2: I wasn't eating pasta or bread, and I thought I
Speaker 2: was making healthy choices. I've decided to reintroduce me into
Speaker 2: more protein into my diet. As for activity, I walked
Speaker 2: for an hour every day and I recently joined a
Speaker 2: gym to bring more variety and structure into my movement routine.
Speaker 2: Health Wise, I'm generally doing well. I had a short
Speaker 2: period of low iron and I was prescribed a supplement
Speaker 2: which I no longer need. One thing that surprised me
Speaker 2: was a shift in my insulin levels from the fours
Speaker 2: in April of twenty twenty four to the ten in
Speaker 2: June of twenty twenty five. I am not really sure
Speaker 2: what caused that, possibly perimenopause. It's something I'm beginning to consenter.
Speaker 2: My current PA is not very supportive of my fasting lifestyle,
Speaker 2: but I truly believe in it. I just want to
Speaker 2: understand my body better so that I can continue this
Speaker 2: way of living in a sustainable and healthy way. I'm
Speaker 2: not fixated on a specific number, but I know I
Speaker 2: feel my best and I'm most comfortable in my body
Speaker 2: around one hundred and forty five pounds, and that is
Speaker 2: the general direction I would like to head towards again.
Speaker 2: If you have any insights on what might have contributed
Speaker 2: to the regain or ideas for how I can tweak
Speaker 2: things to get back to where I feel my best,
Speaker 2: I would be so grateful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wish I could just look at that what
Speaker 1: you've said and say, Okay, I know exactly what the
Speaker 1: problem is, and it's this, Melissa, but I don't. Also,
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure what you mean by one meal
Speaker 1: a day exactly You know. Do you mean you were
Speaker 1: having a one hour window and one plate of food.
Speaker 1: If so, it would be very surprising to regain that
Speaker 1: much weight eating in a very short tight window. When
Speaker 1: we say that a short tight window can be more
Speaker 1: of a maintenance protocol, that's because our body does tend
Speaker 1: to slow down if you're having a short tight window
Speaker 1: every day. But not eating enough would not make you
Speaker 1: gain weight unless you started eating more. Like if you
Speaker 1: didn't eat enough for a long period of time and
Speaker 1: your body slowed your metabolic rate, then you started eating
Speaker 1: normally again. Now you have a slowed metabolic rate, you
Speaker 1: would expect your weight to go up. But if you
Speaker 1: started eating less and you kept eating less and you
Speaker 1: never started eating more, I don't know why you would
Speaker 1: gain all of that weight. So I don't have enough
Speaker 1: information here to know why. You did have a major
Speaker 1: change in what you were eating. And you said you
Speaker 1: reduced your protein intake. I don't know what you mean
Speaker 1: by that. Perhaps you mean meat protein. Maybe you have
Speaker 1: a body that needs more meat protein. Sherry does, she
Speaker 1: needs more meat protein, and so I would just think
Speaker 1: about that. Maybe how are you eating before you changed
Speaker 1: your diet? Maybe that is the way your body thrives you.
Speaker 1: We're not all the same. We have bioindividuality. So you
Speaker 1: mentioned a vegetarian lifestyle, and one thing we might do
Speaker 1: when we're not having meat, we might slip in more dairy.
Speaker 1: Like for me, if I'm not having meat, I might
Speaker 1: have more cheese, and so I end up eating more
Speaker 1: fat because I'm eating high fat dairy. So you didn't
Speaker 1: mention dairy at all, but dairy is one of those
Speaker 1: things that whenever my dairy goes up, up, up, up, up,
Speaker 1: so does my weight range. I can feel my honesty
Speaker 1: pants getting tighter, and so I really have to keep
Speaker 1: my eye on dairy just because it's really easy for
Speaker 1: me to overdo it. So I'm not really sure if
Speaker 1: your dairy intake increased during that time, But that's the
Speaker 1: only thing I could really think of that might have
Speaker 1: been it.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say too. I see a lot of
Speaker 2: people when they switch and they stop eating animal protein,
Speaker 2: then they start eating like lots of nuts, which are
Speaker 2: very high you know, calorie dense food, avocados, oils and
Speaker 2: that sort of thing. And you know, you don't really
Speaker 2: you know, you said you switched to a mean we're
Speaker 2: of a vegetarian lifestyle. But are you using any like protein,
Speaker 2: like plant based protein powders right, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Did you increase your nut intake? Are you eating a
Speaker 2: lot of peanut butter? Now? Are you eating more grains
Speaker 2: and pastasa?
Speaker 1: She wasn't.
Speaker 2: Weren't But you know, like sometimes we do. See. I mean,
Speaker 2: we have people come in the community who have been
Speaker 2: long term vegetarians or vegans who have weight to lose, right,
Speaker 2: So there's more at play than you know. I eat
Speaker 2: mainly vegetables, and that doesn't necessarily mean that you're eating
Speaker 2: in a balance that's going to produce weight loss. You
Speaker 2: could still eat in excess of what you need. And
Speaker 2: for me, when I don't eat meat, I can't get satisfied.
Speaker 2: So I ended up having longer windows and eating a
Speaker 2: ton just to try to get physical satisfaction. Which is
Speaker 2: why I know for me, I cannot be plant based.
Speaker 2: My body does not. It doesn't work for my body.
Speaker 2: So those are just some things that think about. But
Speaker 2: you know, the other thing too, is you are at
Speaker 2: that age of perimenopause, so that does affect your body
Speaker 2: and the way that you store fat, and it affects
Speaker 2: your blood sugar and your blood glucose control. So you know,
Speaker 2: it does not surprise me that you're insulin went up
Speaker 2: because Jen experienced the same thing.
Speaker 1: I did when I went through menopause. My INFLUW went up,
Speaker 1: and then after I got on bioidentical hormone replacement therapy,
Speaker 1: it went back down.
Speaker 2: And really start paying attention to how food makes you feel.
Speaker 2: Do you feel energetic after eating or do you feel
Speaker 2: slumped and slow and sluggish after eating, because that'll give
Speaker 2: you a good idea of you know, whether or not
Speaker 2: that food's working for you. But if you have not
Speaker 2: had your thyroid tested, I would get that tested as well,
Speaker 2: just to make sure that you're not having some hypothyroidism
Speaker 2: because that kind of tends to go hand in hand
Speaker 2: with perimenopause as well.
Speaker 1: Yep. And again, you know, we talked about calorie density
Speaker 1: and that can confuse a lot of people. They're like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I thought you said calories and calories
Speaker 1: out wasn't very effective. Well, we know that our bodies
Speaker 1: don't work exactly like a calorie calculator. You know, you
Speaker 1: can try to calculate calories in, but your body's going
Speaker 1: to do all sorts of things with the on the
Speaker 1: calories outside, so it's never going to be a perfect
Speaker 1: math equation. But for satiety, you know that feeling of satisfaction.
Speaker 1: Really calorie dense foods like nuts and cheese and cream
Speaker 1: aren't going to lead to you feeling as satisfied as
Speaker 1: these high fiber foods, and so you can eat like
Speaker 1: I've realized, I don't do well opening with cheese and
Speaker 1: crackers anymore because that doesn't give me any satiety. Cheese
Speaker 1: is very, very calorie dense, and then the crackers are
Speaker 1: a crunchy dry food, and dry foods don't give us
Speaker 1: good satiety. I was just hearing Kevin Hall, who's a
Speaker 1: science researcher, talking about satiety and also some other research
Speaker 1: that's been done. Dry foods don't give us good society,
Speaker 1: and the cheese doesn't either. So by the time I've
Speaker 1: eaten a whole plate of cheese and crackers, I've had
Speaker 1: a lot of calorie dense food and very little satisfaction.
Speaker 1: And technically that was a vegetarian meal, right, but I'm
Speaker 1: not satisfied, and so I'm going to eat more and
Speaker 1: the quantity of the food, the calorie density does matter,
Speaker 1: so just because you know, we're not saying you should
Speaker 1: count calories and you need to restrict your calories. We
Speaker 1: can over eat and I set that in fast East repeat.
Speaker 1: Just because we don't count calories, it doesn't mean calories
Speaker 1: don't count in the way of if you put in
Speaker 1: more fuel, your body's going to store it. Right, there's
Speaker 1: no free fuel. None of them are free. You know,
Speaker 1: we've had the periods of time where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: if you eat low carb, you can eat as much
Speaker 1: as you want because low carb feods foods are free,
Speaker 1: or the whole low fat era as long as you're
Speaker 1: not eating fat, everything else is free. Or now it's protein,
Speaker 1: eat all the protein you want, it's free. Nothing is free, right,
Speaker 1: So you want to eat foods that make you feel
Speaker 1: satisfied without those really calorie dempse foods. For me, it's
Speaker 1: butter cream and cheese. Those are the ones that when
Speaker 1: I freely eat too much of them. Ice cream, those
Speaker 1: are the things that I can tell make a difference
Speaker 1: for me, not in a good way. Right, Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: now it's time for our segment called what's your Why.
Speaker 1: Most of us have a weight loss in mind when
Speaker 1: we start intermitting fasting, and that is a great reason
Speaker 1: to begin, But there is so much more to what
Speaker 1: intermittent fasting can do for us beyond weight loss, and
Speaker 1: I genuinely believe that when your why is deeper than
Speaker 1: weight loss alone, you're more likely to find long term
Speaker 1: success and view intermittent fasting as a lifestyle.
Speaker 2: So this week we have a wife from Selene. Selene
Speaker 2: wrote well. She titled her post or DDD plus if
Speaker 2: plus me equals power potion love it. My why was
Speaker 2: at first weight loss, like probably most of the people
Speaker 2: who chose the I of lifestyle weight loss, not for
Speaker 2: esthetic but for feeling better in my body. This tummy
Speaker 2: I developed over the last two to three years and
Speaker 2: not being able to move the same as when my
Speaker 2: weight was kind of under control. That was my first why.
Speaker 2: But after almost two months of living it, I must
Speaker 2: say that this why has changed. I can see now
Speaker 2: how much food was dictating my life. I was afraid
Speaker 2: of food, and my diet brain would constantly direct my choices.
Speaker 2: I was rarely eating guilt free. Looking back now makes
Speaker 2: me realize how much I was chained by all of
Speaker 2: the negative thoughts around feeding my body. My mind is
Speaker 2: now unchained and I am back in charge. Knowing that
Speaker 2: I could eat what I want during my windows has
Speaker 2: been a real game changer. I choose real food because
Speaker 2: I enjoyed them. Thank you to the taste buds for
Speaker 2: resetting I eat the right quantity. Thank you for regaining
Speaker 2: my ability to recognize satiety. I listen to my hunger calls,
Speaker 2: which are always in line with my windows. Thank you
Speaker 2: for having regained the capacity to recognize real hunger. Being
Speaker 2: back in charge and knowing that I'm capable of making
Speaker 2: the good choices for my body is actually my real
Speaker 2: Why now? Thank you again and again for having shared
Speaker 2: with the world the tools that make this possible for
Speaker 2: me today.
Speaker 1: I love that fooling. That is beautiful, all right?
Speaker 2: So we have a question from D in Oklahoma. D wrote,
Speaker 2: hygienis Sherry Briend recently guided me to the Fast Feast
Speaker 2: repeat book and podcast. I thought I had been intermint
Speaker 2: and fasting, but I learned that I had never done
Speaker 2: a clean fast. After a little heartache that I could
Speaker 2: no longer have my yummy bubble waters or Celsius to
Speaker 2: get me powered up before my workouts in the morning,
Speaker 2: I have accepted black coffee as my source of caffeine,
Speaker 2: and I am trying to embrace the boredness. I feel
Speaker 2: like the clean fast has been such a game changer,
Speaker 2: and I'm eager to share and encourage everyone around me
Speaker 2: about the health benefits of intermittent fasting. I'm a forty
Speaker 2: year old woman who's five foot eight and around one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty five pounds. I have an athletic build,
Speaker 2: and I live a fit and active lifestyle, working out
Speaker 2: five times a week with high intensity interval training, spin, yoga,
Speaker 2: and weight training. I also have two young children who
Speaker 2: keep me running my question. After encouraging my husband to
Speaker 2: join me in this healthy lifestyle with the benefits of
Speaker 2: weight loss, he wanted to do some research of his own,
Speaker 2: and he came across an article from twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: or where the American Heart Association said it linked an
Speaker 2: eight hour eating window slash intermint and fasting to a
Speaker 2: ninety one percent higher risk and cardiovascular death. It did say
Speaker 2: that short term there were health benefits to intermint fasting,
Speaker 2: so he's not completely off board. This article is very
Speaker 2: disheartening to me because ultimately I hope to live a
Speaker 2: very long, healthy and mobile life, and I guess I
Speaker 2: just wanted to hear your thoughts on the research and
Speaker 2: maybe some encouragement. Thank you, ladies for all you do
Speaker 2: to help guide all of us fasters on our intermint
Speaker 2: fasting journeys.
Speaker 1: All right, so this is something we definitely talked about
Speaker 1: a lot. Episode fifty eight, we went through it in
Speaker 1: great detail. So we put a link to that in
Speaker 1: the show note. So go to episode fifty eight and
Speaker 1: listen to it. And I know this is going to
Speaker 1: pop up, by the way, Sherry, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you saw it in community yesterday, someone's made another paper
Speaker 1: out of this data. Here's what's happened. Here's some data
Speaker 1: that they gathered. Okay, they gathered this data like in
Speaker 1: I don't know how long ago it was. It was
Speaker 1: a long time ago. They gathered some data where people
Speaker 1: did two surveys about what they ate the day before. Okay,
Speaker 1: think about that for a minute. People did a survey
Speaker 1: about what they ate the day before, and then they
Speaker 1: did another one two weeks later. So they did two
Speaker 1: surveys I don't know, fifteen years ago about what they
Speaker 1: ate on the previous day. Now, think about how many
Speaker 1: previous days you might have had. What day you're answering that.
Speaker 1: But they took all that data and they followed these
Speaker 1: people later to see what kind of health issues they
Speaker 1: were having. And then they said, wonder if we could
Speaker 1: make some connections based on what they ate two days
Speaker 1: back fifteen years ago. And I could be wrong about
Speaker 1: that the number of years I'm just trying to remember,
Speaker 1: but let's see if we can find any commonalities. And
Speaker 1: of course we all know intermittent fasting is getting a
Speaker 1: lot of buzz. People are interested in it, like, oh, look,
Speaker 1: we can see how much these people, how many meals
Speaker 1: they said they ate, and we could use that. And
Speaker 1: so that's what they did. And basically what they found
Speaker 1: is the people who on the two prior days reported
Speaker 1: they ate fewer meals had some sketchy health outcomes. But
Speaker 1: I want you to understand something that is so important.
Speaker 1: Skipping a meal is not the same as fasting. And
Speaker 1: I actually talked about this in twenty eight day fast
Speaker 1: Start day by day in the negative Nelly's section, because
Speaker 1: even when I wrote that, there were people using this
Speaker 1: data set to say stuff about what that data set showed.
Speaker 1: This was not a fasting study. They were not fasting.
Speaker 1: And I tell this story in twenty eight day fast
Speaker 1: start day by day. I have a friend who told
Speaker 1: me she's like, I do that fasting thing like you're doing.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, tell me about it. She's like, well,
Speaker 1: I really just pretty much only eat dinner. Okay, So
Speaker 1: if you asked her to fill out a survey, she
Speaker 1: would say she didn't eat because she didn't eat lunch
Speaker 1: and she only ate dinners. That sounds like she's eating
Speaker 1: one meal a day, right, Well, guess what though, she
Speaker 1: starts her morning with green juice. First thing in the morning,
Speaker 1: she's drinking green juice. Then all day long she put
Speaker 1: lemon in her water, she might have herbal tea, she
Speaker 1: might have a smoothie, and then she only eats dinner.
Speaker 1: So is she fasting sherry? Absolutely not, not even a
Speaker 1: little bit. She's putting stuff into her body all day long.
Speaker 1: But if she had done a survey about what she
Speaker 1: ate the day before, she only ate one meal. So
Speaker 1: that's why this is so confusing. You can only make
Speaker 1: conclusions about fasting if someone is fasting, and if you're
Speaker 1: not fast and clean, like you couldn't go in and
Speaker 1: have fasted surgery after having green juice and smoothies and
Speaker 1: lemon in your water. They would be like, you're not fasting.
Speaker 1: And so I think it is really really doing a
Speaker 1: disc nervous to the entire world to say that this
Speaker 1: is anything to do with fasting because those people were
Speaker 1: not fasting. Maybe they had coffee with creamer in it
Speaker 1: all morning. They're not eating breakfast, but they're having coffee
Speaker 1: with creamer. We don't know. Just because you're eating all
Speaker 1: of your solid food within a window of time does
Speaker 1: not mean you're fasting. And so take all of this
Speaker 1: with the grain of salt when you see it, really
Speaker 1: look at what they were doing and were they actually fasting.
Speaker 1: Like if they said we randomized people too fasting and
Speaker 1: told them to fast clean and eat one meal a
Speaker 1: day and we follow them for eight years and they
Speaker 1: all had heart attacks, well that would be a better study.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think that's what would happen, but
Speaker 1: that would have been you know, they were actually fasting.
Speaker 1: But we don't even know if what those people did
Speaker 1: the day before was what they do all the time, right,
Speaker 1: I just don't.
Speaker 2: Know that somebody decided and this was not a peer
Speaker 2: reviewed research, This was like an.
Speaker 1: Inhines data is what it called the n H A
Speaker 1: N E S whatever that stands for.
Speaker 2: So basically what they asked people, what did you do
Speaker 2: for these two days?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: And then if these people said, oh, well, I didn't
Speaker 2: eat all day until dinner time, they called that intermittent fasting.
Speaker 2: But that's not intermittent fasting. That's more like intermint eating.
Speaker 2: And you're missing all the benefits of fasting. I guarantee
Speaker 2: you these people were not clean fasting all day. Right.
Speaker 2: We also don't know what was their health to begin with.
Speaker 2: Are they smoking all day? Are they smoking all day
Speaker 2: and eating drinking sugary, creamy coffee all day? Because let
Speaker 2: me tell you, I work with a girl. I watched
Speaker 2: her the other day. I about fell down, like about literary,
Speaker 2: just was like what is happening? Watched her put sugar
Speaker 2: in her coffee. This is at three o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2: She's sitting at her desk at the Narses station. Got
Speaker 2: a cup of coffee. She pulls a bottle of coffee
Speaker 2: mate powder out of her bag and she puts in
Speaker 2: like four heaping teaspoons into a little twelve ounce maybe
Speaker 2: coffee cup. And then she has a container of sugar
Speaker 2: that she just poured freely into the coffee and started
Speaker 2: up and started drinking it. And I'm like, what are
Speaker 2: you doing? I mean, so she doesn't eat all night
Speaker 2: at work? Is she fasting? Absolutely not, But if you asked.
Speaker 1: Her she would say she hadn't eaten, but she exactly eating, Yeah,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: And I also know, you know she's gone outside and
Speaker 2: having smoke breaks too, so who knows what her metabolic
Speaker 2: health looks like. And the end thing, I mean, the
Speaker 2: takeaway is she's not an intermittent faster. But this study
Speaker 2: would have said this person only eats once a day,
Speaker 2: she's an intermittent faster, and that is that's false, right,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just not accurate. So I put a
Speaker 2: bunch of links in show notes and I added one
Speaker 2: to Sherry awesome. And these are basically rebuttals from experts,
Speaker 2: from cardiologists, from fasting researchers like Christa Verity, Jason Fung.
Speaker 2: Christopher Gardner has a rebuttal in one of these, and
Speaker 2: they really tell you the problem with this and how
Speaker 2: people jump to conclusions, and you know how it's just
Speaker 2: sort of a retrospective observational study and you cannot establish
Speaker 2: causation with this. There's just so many flaws in this,
Speaker 2: and so take a look at those that we've linked
Speaker 2: in there. You can show them to your husband. Bottom
Speaker 2: line is, if he doesn't want to be an intermittent faster,
Speaker 2: he will find all the data out there that he
Speaker 2: wants to that says why he shouldn't be one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2: So I mean just kind of take it with a
Speaker 2: grain of salt. If he gives you pushback, he's probably
Speaker 2: not really wanting to be an Internet faster. And unfortunately
Speaker 2: that's not something that we can, you know, make people do.
Speaker 2: If they don't want to, they have to buy in.
Speaker 1: And what I've added in the show notes was actually
Speaker 1: not a rebuttal. It was a study from twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four and it was an actual study where people were
Speaker 1: doing intermittent fasting. They weren't just like looking at reported
Speaker 1: data from sixteen years ago. And they found in their
Speaker 1: study that intermittent fasting improves cardiovascular risk factors. So it's
Speaker 1: in there. And this is a direct quote from the study,
Speaker 1: directly from a study about cardiovascular help and intermittent fasting. Quote.
Speaker 1: Intermittent fasting has shown positive effects on numerous cardiovascular risk factors,
Speaker 1: and a second quote says the primary efficacy endpoint was
Speaker 1: significantly greater in the intermittent fasting group compared with the
Speaker 1: control group, So they were better at the end of
Speaker 1: the study four weeks. They did it for four weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, and what's funny is that the American Heart Association
Speaker 2: released something in November eighteenth, twenty twenty one that said
Speaker 2: intermittent fasting may protect the heart by controlling inflammation. Right,
Speaker 2: so basically, whatever information comes out, they publish it. I
Speaker 2: don't know that they have a solid stance on this,
Speaker 2: So it's one of those things I just really would
Speaker 2: encourage you to do your research and the methodology.
Speaker 1: Yes, how did they come to this conclusion? Was it
Speaker 1: actually fasting? That's the main thing. And so I'm so
Speaker 1: irritated that it's come back out again. They've published another
Speaker 1: paper with the same data. Stop publishing got data again?
Speaker 1: Right anyway, And then it gets a lot of attention
Speaker 1: and they'd be like, oh my god, you're gonna die.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's frustrating, and it comes up a lot,
Speaker 2: and things like this will continue to come up, and
Speaker 2: you know, I also linked an episode of this podcast
Speaker 2: where we really kind of dug into when this was released,
Speaker 2: and then we talked a lot about how to dig
Speaker 2: into research studies and determine how the research was conducted.
Speaker 2: You know, how valid is it, what parameters were used,
Speaker 2: who was doing it, who paid for it, that sort
Speaker 2: of thing.
Speaker 1: Never read the interpretation of the study. Go read the study.
Speaker 1: Read the study, see who funded it also. But when
Speaker 1: you read the study, like I can remember when I
Speaker 1: was teaching my fourth grade gifted kids about how to
Speaker 1: do about the scientific method and how to ask a
Speaker 1: question answer it. I was also doing some research for
Speaker 1: I guess it was when I was writing. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it was for, but anyway, I was doing
Speaker 1: some research about food. I always say them, but this
Speaker 1: is years and years ago. They did a terrible study
Speaker 1: design where the groups were doing totally different things, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, fourth graders, let me tell you
Speaker 1: these different groups. And I read to them about the
Speaker 1: groups and They're like, what, they didn't control their variables?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: See?
Speaker 2: I think were time third or fourth grade that you
Speaker 2: have to control your variable.
Speaker 1: Right, And they didn't, like, they did not control the variables.
Speaker 1: And so the fourth graders were able to find the
Speaker 1: flaws in the paper that I read to them, the methodology.
Speaker 1: They're like, no, no, no, no. And it's really really,
Speaker 1: really hard to control variables in people, right, because you
Speaker 1: changed one thing and something else changes that you weren't expecting.
Speaker 1: Like I was listening to Kevin Hall, he's the one
Speaker 1: who did the ultra processed foods research. He did the
Speaker 1: Biggest Loser study. He's done some really really good research,
Speaker 1: and he was talking about all of his studies, and
Speaker 1: he talking about his own studies tells you the flaws
Speaker 1: in them, because unexpectedly here was another variable they trying
Speaker 1: to control for these. But then oops, remember how I
Speaker 1: talked a minute ago about how dry food isn't dissatisfying
Speaker 1: in the ultra processed food research. Barbara Rolls, who's done
Speaker 1: a lot of research on satiety, said, wait a minute, Kevin,
Speaker 1: you gay you know where the ultra processed diets more
Speaker 1: of the dry food. And he's like, well, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe so, and said that's a variable that you can't
Speaker 1: account for. So the best you try to do, you're
Speaker 1: still going to have things that are confounding the results.
Speaker 2: Well, and any nutrition research done like this is inherently
Speaker 2: flawed unless you have your participants in a controlled environment
Speaker 2: where you are feeding them.
Speaker 1: Which Kevin was doing. They were doing that.
Speaker 2: Right, and they don't have access to food. When you're
Speaker 2: just pulling people and you're asking to fill out surveys
Speaker 2: and you're taking information that way, people inherently misreport what
Speaker 2: they've eaten, how much activity they've done, the intensity of
Speaker 2: their activity. You know, all of that is so variable.
Speaker 2: And then there's just human flaw in there in that
Speaker 2: people forget or they think they ate this much, but
Speaker 2: they didn't really measure it, and they have no idea
Speaker 2: what a serving of nuts is. You know, it's like
Speaker 2: how many servings of nuts did you eat this week?
Speaker 2: And this person thinks, okay, well I ate nuts three times,
Speaker 2: so I had three servings of nuts. But were they
Speaker 2: eating a cup of nuts every time they ate, because
Speaker 2: I'd be twelve servings of nuts, right. So there's inherent
Speaker 2: flaws built into so many research studies unless they're in
Speaker 2: a controlled lab environment.
Speaker 1: And even Kevin Hall in the controlled lab environment can
Speaker 1: go back and look at every study and say, here's
Speaker 1: the little flaw there that you figured out As you
Speaker 1: go you realize, oh, that was different even though we tried,
Speaker 1: it's impossible to keep everything the same except for one
Speaker 1: thing with humans. All right, we have a question sent
Speaker 1: in by Beth. Hello, ladies. I have been a dedicated
Speaker 1: intermitten faster since November of twenty twenty four, after discovering
Speaker 1: your podcast on my loser app. Then I read Fast
Speaker 1: Feast Repeat and delayed on tonight. I've lost and kept
Speaker 1: off twenty five pounds since then. I am fifty five
Speaker 1: years old, five foot five, and I currently weigh one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty nine pounds. I was a hardcore five
Speaker 1: hour window for a year plus, but I've loosened up
Speaker 1: a bit five to eight hours, and I've stayed steady
Speaker 1: at one thirty eight to one forty two. I'd like
Speaker 1: to be in the lower one thirties eventually, and I
Speaker 1: know I need to tighten my window again to do so.
Speaker 1: I've listened to every episode of this podcast, and I
Speaker 1: don't think this question has ever been answered. You talk
Speaker 1: a lot about the five hour window being the sweet
Speaker 1: spot for weight loss, and that has certainly been the
Speaker 1: case for me. What I don't understand is why you
Speaker 1: are both still at a five hour window when you're
Speaker 1: in maintenance. I guess I hope that when I get
Speaker 1: to maintenance, I might enjoy six to eight hour window
Speaker 1: long term, but that does not seem to be the
Speaker 1: case for either of you, who have been doing this
Speaker 1: for much longer than most of us have. Thanks for
Speaker 1: all of your helpful info and for building a community
Speaker 1: of intermittent fasters.
Speaker 2: For me, this I mean, I don't have a solid
Speaker 2: answer for this. I can tell you my experience and
Speaker 2: my hunch. Right, Okay, even though when we get to
Speaker 2: our goal weight, we still have body fat. Everybody has
Speaker 2: body fat, right, So if I wanted to have like
Speaker 2: a six to eight hour eating window like you suggest,
Speaker 2: I would have to be very, very regimented in my
Speaker 2: eating to make sure that I was not eating in
Speaker 2: excess of what my body could burn every day, and
Speaker 2: I would likely not get into katosis every day, because
Speaker 2: we know that you're not going to get into katosis
Speaker 2: every day until you burn through all the glycogen from
Speaker 2: the food you ate the day before. So the longer
Speaker 2: your window and the more you eat, the more glycogen
Speaker 2: that you are storing in your liver, and then you
Speaker 2: want to fast sufficiently to clear that glycogen and you know,
Speaker 2: get into fat burning that day. That's where you get
Speaker 2: your good energy from. That's where you get your balanced
Speaker 2: blood sugar from.
Speaker 1: And then you.
Speaker 2: Eat in your eating window. And when you have a
Speaker 2: long eating window, we see appetite correction goes away pretty
Speaker 2: quickly for people. They start eating two big meals and
Speaker 2: then those two big meals become a meal and a
Speaker 2: snack and a meal, and they start eating more. They
Speaker 2: lose touch with satiety. They start eating things that they'd
Speaker 2: never even had a taste for before. While they were
Speaker 2: having tighter windows, they start including more desserts in their
Speaker 2: window because their window just gets to the point where
Speaker 2: it's longer than it needs to be, and you end
Speaker 2: up eating foods. When you have a shorter window, You're like,
Speaker 2: I have five hours to eat and I'm going to
Speaker 2: choose my foods mindfully. I'm gonna choose foods that make
Speaker 2: me feel good and support my fast the next day
Speaker 2: and whatnot. When you get a longer eating window, it's
Speaker 2: just like that more's more kind of thing. You've got
Speaker 2: a longer eating windows, so you eat more, but do
Speaker 2: you need more? And then you're not flipping the switch,
Speaker 2: and then you're more hungry during your fast.
Speaker 1: And what ends up.
Speaker 2: Happening is eventually that eight hour window becomes a ten,
Speaker 2: becomes twelve, and then pretty soon people aren't basting anymore.
Speaker 2: And I firmly believe it's because they're not flipping the switch. Yep,
Speaker 2: And it gets hard. So when you stick with a
Speaker 2: five hour eating window, Now, can you eat more bountiful
Speaker 2: in a five hour eating window when you're not in
Speaker 2: weight loss mode? Absolutely, but you're still giving your body
Speaker 2: time to burn through it and to get takatosis.
Speaker 1: Each day.
Speaker 2: You're still getting the benefits of, you know, keeping your
Speaker 2: insulin low so that you're not battling with insulin resistance,
Speaker 2: and that you're having good, you know, maintained blood sugars
Speaker 2: for the majority of the day. So you're getting the
Speaker 2: benefits of fasting. There's a little more flexibility. You might
Speaker 2: have room for dessert more often, you might have more
Speaker 2: room to have two meals in a five hour window
Speaker 2: some days. So there is flexibility with a five hour window.
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna say there's probably more flexibility with a
Speaker 2: five hour window than there is an eight hour window.
Speaker 2: That is why I shifted to a five hour window.
Speaker 2: I originally lost my weight with about an eight hour
Speaker 2: eating window. I was dieting a night eight hour window.
Speaker 2: When I got to maintenance, I started to see some
Speaker 2: weight regain, and I shifted to a five hour eating window.
Speaker 2: What I found out was that is where I got
Speaker 2: food freedom. That is where I got to stop, you know,
Speaker 2: really having stress over can I eat this, is this
Speaker 2: going to cause me to gain weight? Or whatever I
Speaker 2: eat in my five hour window, I eat to satiety.
Speaker 2: I choose great whole foods most of the time, and
Speaker 2: then I don't worry about it and I let the
Speaker 2: fast take care of my body.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I have two things I want to say
Speaker 1: about it. First of all, the one thing is you
Speaker 1: say I hoped that when I get to maintenance, I
Speaker 1: might enjoy a six to eight hour window long term.
Speaker 1: I thought the same thing, Beth, if you had asked
Speaker 1: me when I'll on the weight loss phase. I thought
Speaker 1: that my goal would be to have the longest possible
Speaker 1: window that I could to still maintain my weight. And
Speaker 1: I could not even imagine being happy with a five
Speaker 1: hour window. But the truth of the matter is I
Speaker 1: feel better with a window that is five hours or less,
Speaker 1: seven days a week. Than I do when I have
Speaker 1: a six to eight hour window. I feel better with
Speaker 1: a five hour or less window even now. And it
Speaker 1: has to do with, like Sherry said, flipping that metabolic
Speaker 1: switch and having the mental clarity. And here's where I
Speaker 1: think you might be getting a little confused. You know,
Speaker 1: if I continue to just every single day while I
Speaker 1: was fasting, lose more and more and more and more fat,
Speaker 1: eventually I would have zero body fat and I would die.
Speaker 1: And clearly that's not what's happening I'm maintaining. So how
Speaker 1: can I possibly flip be flipping the switch to fat
Speaker 1: burning every day and still maintaining that might sound impossible
Speaker 1: or like a mystery. Well, it's because of my eating window.
Speaker 1: When you eat within your window, Let's say I have
Speaker 1: a five hour window and I eat with in it.
Speaker 1: My body processes the foods that I ate in my
Speaker 1: five hour window. It uses some of the carbs for
Speaker 1: quick fuel or you know, I'll I'll just ate it.
Speaker 1: There's that fuel. It's my blood sugar circulating in my blood,
Speaker 1: but all of it can't be used immediately, and so
Speaker 1: it puts some stored glycogen. So some of the meals
Speaker 1: that I ate in my window are stored as glycogen
Speaker 1: and my liver and my muscles wherever they might be needed.
Speaker 1: And how about the fat that I ate? What does
Speaker 1: my body do with that? Well, if I have more
Speaker 1: fat than my body needs right this minute, it puts
Speaker 1: it away for later. That's fat I'm going to need
Speaker 1: to use tomorrow. So when you're fasting, you're using the
Speaker 1: fuel that was stored during your eating window. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're losing weight in the weight loss phase, you
Speaker 1: might be using the fat that you stored five years
Speaker 1: ago or whatever. But from now I'm in balance. The
Speaker 1: amount that I put away after eating into storage is
Speaker 1: already balanced with the amount that I use during the
Speaker 1: fast to fuel my body. That's why I'm wheat stable.
Speaker 1: So you have to find that balance when you get
Speaker 1: to maintenance.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like, you know, she's having a five
Speaker 2: to eight hour window and she's staying steady. However, it
Speaker 2: looks like she'd like to lose somewhere between eight and
Speaker 2: twelve pounds to get to what she would like to
Speaker 2: be her goal weight. So I think what you're finding
Speaker 2: right now is that having a variable five to eight
Speaker 2: hour window is a maintenance plan. For you.
Speaker 1: Yep, from one thirty eight to one forty two, right, right.
Speaker 2: So if you want to get to the lower one thirties,
Speaker 2: you're going to have to tighten things back up. Once
Speaker 2: you get there, you can play around with the five
Speaker 2: to eight hour windows. You know, maybe two days a
Speaker 2: week you have an eight hour window, and that's working
Speaker 2: for you. But the goal and maintenance is to really
Speaker 2: balance the fasting and the feasting to prevent weight regain.
Speaker 2: To also make sure that you maintain flip in that
Speaker 2: metabolic switch because that's where the benefits are really coming from.
Speaker 2: That's where you feel so good, right, and that's where
Speaker 2: you maintain you know, your appetite correction and you know
Speaker 2: you're not prone to overeating and you don't have hunger
Speaker 2: during the fast. If you have a bunch of eight
Speaker 2: hour windows back to back to back, you're gonna feel
Speaker 2: it pretty quickly. You're gonna feel the difference. You're gonna
Speaker 2: be hungry, you're gonna be a lethargic, You're not gonna
Speaker 2: be motivated to continue your fast. You're gonna want some
Speaker 2: quick energy, and that's what leads people to stray away
Speaker 2: from fasting. Yep.
Speaker 1: We've just seen it a lot, so yeah, and again,
Speaker 1: like you, I never dreamed that I would be daily
Speaker 1: five hours or less this many years in and love it.
Speaker 1: But here I am, so before we get to our
Speaker 1: week of the week, I want to take a minute
Speaker 1: to tell you about my books and what you need,
Speaker 1: and if you are new to intermittent fasting or if
Speaker 1: you would like a refresh, I recommend starting with Delay
Speaker 1: Don't Deny, which I think is the best quick introduction
Speaker 1: to intermittent fasting out there. It explains the clean fast,
Speaker 1: it tells you what to do, and even if you've
Speaker 1: read Fast Feast Repeat, if you're interested in ADF, I
Speaker 1: want you to get Delayedn't Deny the second edition. The
Speaker 1: ADF chapter has updated recommendations, and I really want you
Speaker 1: to read that before you try any kind of ADF.
Speaker 1: And Delay Don't Deny second edition can be found only
Speaker 1: on Amazon if you're looking for the paperback or the hardcover,
Speaker 1: and if you want the ebook, you can find it
Speaker 1: wherever you buy your ebooks, and the audiobooks should be
Speaker 1: wherever you get your audio books. Now, if you want
Speaker 1: to dig in a little more into the concepts, if
Speaker 1: you want to do a book study, for Delay Don't Deny.
Speaker 1: You can get the Delay Don't Deny Digging Deeper. It
Speaker 1: matches the second edition of Delay Don't Deny. And we
Speaker 1: all know reading a book is one thing, but to
Speaker 1: actually apply the concepts from the book something else. And
Speaker 1: so Delay Don't Deny Digging Deeper helps you apply the
Speaker 1: concepts from Delay Don't Deny in a meaningful way. And
Speaker 1: my school teacher really comes out in that book. If
Speaker 1: you're looking for somewhere to keep track of things such
Speaker 1: as your daily fast, you're eating window, your daily weights,
Speaker 1: your weekly averages, goals, victories, etc. Daily reflections, daily accountability,
Speaker 1: then you need the Delay Don't Deny Life Journal. It's
Speaker 1: a six month journal and some people love it and
Speaker 1: they just keep going back to it over and over again.
Speaker 1: Every six months they get a new one and you
Speaker 1: can find that only on Amazon in paperback. And now
Speaker 1: it's time for our tweak of the Week. And this
Speaker 1: is from Michelle in New Jersey. She's in our community.
Speaker 1: We love her. She says, turns out my updays needed
Speaker 1: a glow up. So earlier this year I had one
Speaker 1: of those aha moments that made me stop mid scroll
Speaker 1: and go, wait a minute, am I doing this whole
Speaker 1: adf thing wrong. I had just posted a pic of
Speaker 1: one of my upday feasts, feeling kind of proud, not
Speaker 1: gonna lie, and then Jim popped in with a comment
Speaker 1: that was basically, hey, Michelle, maybe check out chapter nine
Speaker 1: of the revised Delay don't Denny and make sure or
Speaker 1: you're really up on your up days. Translation, girl, your
Speaker 1: metabolism is waiting for a party, and you've got it
Speaker 1: standing awkwardly in the corner like it's waiting to be
Speaker 1: asked to dance. Then Roxy and Sherry jumped in like
Speaker 1: the adf Avengers, backing her up and reminding me that
Speaker 1: the feast is just as important as the fast. And
Speaker 1: just when I thought I'd heard it all, Roxy dropped
Speaker 1: a post on February fourth, called The up Day that
Speaker 1: hit me like a truth bomb. I was like, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: I get it. I might have been slacking on the
Speaker 1: feast part homework time chapter nine and a reality check.
Speaker 1: Jim's advice was clear, three meals eight to twelve hours
Speaker 1: metabolic boost go. So I cracked open chapter nine like
Speaker 1: it was a survival manual and I realized I had
Speaker 1: some serious homework, not just reading but doing Roxy's let's
Speaker 1: be real post and Sherry's pep talks lit a fire
Speaker 1: under me. No more halfway up days, no more metabolic confusion.
Speaker 1: Let's feast like it's our job. However, at first there
Speaker 1: was panic, and yes, I had a mini freak out.
Speaker 1: Three meals every upday? What if I lose control and
Speaker 1: start eating like that every day? But then I gave
Speaker 1: myself a pep talk, Michelle, don't talk yourself out of
Speaker 1: progress just because it's scary. You've got this. I wanted
Speaker 1: the metabolic boost. I wanted results, so I put on
Speaker 1: my big girl pants, the stretchy ones obviously, and committed
Speaker 1: next up day. I kicked things off around eight thirty
Speaker 1: or nine am, way earlier than my usual newness start.
Speaker 1: Why because I needed a full nine to twelve hour
Speaker 1: feasting window to get that metabolic engine reving. Was it easy? Nope?
Speaker 1: Was I hungry every time I sat down to eat?
Speaker 1: Also nope? Did I do it anyway? Heck yes? And
Speaker 1: once I started eating, I actually enjoyed it. I started
Speaker 1: calling it my f shot, like a B twelve shot,
Speaker 1: But for my metabolism, it is energizing, empowering, and honestly
Speaker 1: kind of fun. Some days I'd look back and think, dang,
Speaker 1: I ate a lot today, But I didn't feel gross
Speaker 1: or over stuffed. I wasn't binging. I was fueling. Turns out,
Speaker 1: eating fifteen to twenty twenty five percent over the recommended
Speaker 1: calories on up days is totally fine. It didn't feel
Speaker 1: like Thanksgiving. It felt like I was giving my body
Speaker 1: what it needed to thrive. So here we are, seven
Speaker 1: months later after course correcting. Note I reinstituted this hybrid
Speaker 1: tool protocol on January first. However, my course correction started
Speaker 1: in February, so overall, as today, after taking measurements, I've
Speaker 1: lost eight inches total. This includes two and a half
Speaker 1: inches from my waist. I ditched the scale a while ago.
Speaker 1: I measure progress by how I feel, How'm a clothes fit,
Speaker 1: and how many times I actually give myself a wink
Speaker 1: back at myself when I look in the mirror. Here's
Speaker 1: what I've learned. ADF isn't just about restriction. It's about rhythm.
Speaker 1: The upday is part of the dance, not a break
Speaker 1: from it. Fear likes to dress up as logic. I
Speaker 1: almost skipped to the feast because I was scared, but
Speaker 1: intension beats restriction every time. Mentors and community matter, and
Speaker 1: this community helped me course correct. Community wisdom is gold.
Speaker 1: Metabolic health takes time, inches lost, energy gained, and consistently
Speaker 1: built over months. That's the real glow up. Sorry for
Speaker 1: the book, but so many thoughts. If you're stuck in
Speaker 1: a stall or wondering why things aren't moving, ask yourself,
Speaker 1: are you really feasting on your updates or just kind
Speaker 1: of nibbling and hoping for magic? Because sometimes the breakthrough
Speaker 1: isn't in doing less, it's in doing more with purpose,
Speaker 1: joy and maybe a little mac and cheese.
Speaker 2: Love it? Yeah, Well, we love to leave you with
Speaker 2: inspiration or motivational quotes, and this week we have a
Speaker 2: message from sk sk wrote Progress is different for everyone.
Speaker 2: It isn't a straight line or a one size fits
Speaker 2: all journey. For some, it might be hitting a major milestone.
Speaker 2: For others, it might be simply making it through the
Speaker 2: day without giving up. What looks like a small step
Speaker 2: to one person might be a giant leap for someone else.
Speaker 2: Progress is personal. It doesn't just reflect where you are going,
Speaker 2: but where you've come from and what you've had to overcome.
Speaker 2: Measuring your off by someone else's timeline can make you
Speaker 2: forget how far you've come on your own. Growth is
Speaker 2: growth no matter the pace, So whether you're sprinting ahead
Speaker 2: or taking cautious steps, you're still moving and that is
Speaker 2: all that matters.
Speaker 1: I love that. Thanks so much for listening today. We
Speaker 1: would love to have you join us in the Delayed
Speaker 1: on Tonight community, where you can interact with both me
Speaker 1: and Sherry, plus the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters
Speaker 1: you'll find anywhere. Go to Jenstevens dot com slash community
Speaker 1: to join us.
Speaker 4: Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to your favorite
Speaker 4: podcast app, and if you haven't already, please leave us
Speaker 4: a five star review that helps new listeners find the
Speaker 4: show and we really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We are a community driven podcast, so to submit your
Speaker 1: success stories, your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's
Speaker 1: Easy moments, or anything else you want us to share
Speaker 1: on the podcast, go to Fast Feast repeat dot com
Speaker 1: slash sub and then listen each week to see if
Speaker 1: we share your submission or answer your question until next week.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening