Episode 23: Plateaus, Gut Health, Accidental Over-Fasting, and More

Welcome the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm Jen Stevens, author
of the New York Times bestseller Fast Feast Repeat, and I'm Sherry Bullock,
longtime intermittent faster and health and wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this
podcast is for educational and motivational purposes only, and it is not intended to
provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are not doctors, so make
sure to check with your trusted healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it
comes to any medical treatments or medications. Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or
an experienced intermittent faster, tune in each week to get inspired, to learn,
and to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, we
are so glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's episode of the Fast
Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast. How are you doing today's Sherry,
I'm doing I'd say great, but I'm sleepy. We were talking before recorded
You're struggling with sleep. Well record this It is November eighth, even though
it comes out early December, and the time change happened this weekend and I
have such a hard time with this one. This is the one I have
a hard time with because my natural circadian biological clock likes the other time.
I wake up at five thirty in the morning and I'm ready to go to
bed at nine pm. Then the time changes and I wake up at four
thirty in the morning and I want to go to bed at eight pm.
And that just feels wrong, like socially unacceptable. Although funny story sharing.
My mother wakes up at four thirty, does she? Yes? Now she
gets up at fore. Well, I'm like, oh my god, the
biology is strong. I was gonna say. They do say there is a
genetic component to like whether you're an early riser or not. Yeah, And
you know, Will is now pretty much he's now that he's the at twenty
four, he's more of an early riser and he doesn't like to stay up
late. You know, he was in a band for a while and playing
open mic nights and all that, and he said, I can't go off
that late play. That's why as an artist instead of a musician now,
because you can do art at anytime. Right, That's so funny. We
just have that early biological clock. So I'm just like dragging, and it
doesn't seem like I don't know. Maybe eventually I'll just be like I'm waking
up at four thirty and going to bed at eight. Who cares? Maybe
I will. You can flip back in April or whatever it is. Well,
I mean, maybe I just say I go to bed at eight.
I think you'll. I think you'll adapt. I will, but it's still
takes a while. I always force myself to stay up, like I have
to force it so so you don't struggle in the spring. It's in the
fall that you struggle. The spring is like, I'm like, hallelujah.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm all for staying on daylight Savings time
forever. And then it was so interesting when we had was her name,
Beverly the diabetes expert we interviewed on lifelessly y Yates. Yeah, she's great.
I love her. I just saw her in October and then she told
us that like people are metabolically healthier during Central Standard time versus Daylight Savings time,
And that just blew my mind because I feel like longer days, more
activity, more spending, more time remember, and that all I know is
I must be healthier when I'm doing what my biological clock wants me to do.
That's all I know. If I'm having to force myself to stay in
bed and force myself to stay awake, that doesn't feel like it's better for
me. No, maybe a more more or less people. Fewer people are
like me though, with the really really early rising. Here's a funny story.
I was just at my sister's house for the weekend, and she lives
in a fairly small house that they designed and built themselves, and it's got
an unusual floor plan. But the bed for the guest bed is in a
closet, Like literally it is in her closet, so there's no light at
all. It is pitch black in that closet. So I was there when
the time change happened, and the next morning I woke up my eyes like
shot open. I mean it's pitch dark because I'm literally sleeping in a closet.
I pick up my phone and look at it four point thirty, So
it's not like light cues or making me wake up. I mean, it's
just something. I'm so curious why the guest bedrooms in the or the bed
is in the class she has a because she has a closet. They built
a one bedroom, one bathroom house is what they did. Oh, she
has a lot of entertaining space, Like there's like a thousand Like her entertaining
space is like a thousand square feet. It's bigger than the beach cottage.
The main part, it's the kitchen. She's got a dining large dining room
area with a big dining room table, a large seating area, and then
another sitting area in about a thousand square feet. It's really open. And
then she's got a big walk in closet, very very big in her bedroom
and bathroom. But they've put a bed in the closet. It works.
I'm gonna guess she doesn't have a lot of overnight guests. No, I
think she may have designed it that way, but no, she loves to
entertain. Alison loves to have people over and I love being there. But
you think you would like be able to sleep really really late in a closet
with no light. Now they are adding they're adding a building in the back
that's going to be like she loves to grow flowers and gardening, and it's
going to be like for doing flower arranging. But they're also going to put
a bathroom and a guest bedroom. Okay back there, so that'll be nice.
So like a little gardener's cottage with a like a little guest yeah,
like a little guest house. Yeah, yeah, nice. And it'll have
like a little I don't know, kitchenette, but it'll have a sink and
everything in then a little sitting area. So also when people come over,
like we were all there for the shower, because Alison loves to entertain.
She does beautiful job. Did you see the pictures I did table? She's
just amazing. It's like what you would expect like a Southern table to look
like. It was absolutely beautiful. Beauty does beautiful job with the flower arranging.
But it'll be like her flower arranging space. And also though shaking go
in there, her husband when we're ourboy's over, he can escape and I
have to feel like he's stuck with all the people. Yeah, well that'll
be nice, It will be well. Today we have a celebration story out
of California and this person wrote in. They said, I just wanted to
reach out and thank you for this IF lifestyle. I have been fasting for
a year and a half. I'm fifty six, all my labs were headed
to unhealthy levels. My height to waist ratio was in the unhealthy zone.
Enter if. One year later, all my labs are low normal. My
fasting glucose has gone from ninety to seventy three. I've lost five inches from
my abdomen and my height to waist ratio is healthy now. Also, I
have had severe knee pain for years. Doctor said it would just be something
I have to live with. Enter intermint fasting with four to six hour eating
windows each day, with some occasional up and down days, and now I
have zero knee pain. I know that it's due to intermittent fasting because lately
I've been displaced for my home, staying at a hotel with free breakfast and
not fasting like I was prior. My knee pain is back. I am
literally limping again. Free breakfast is not worth it. The decrease in inflammation
is so clear to me. I am just so grateful for this lifestyle and
your podcast's always grateful Mona. Well, Mona, it is great to hear
from you, and I just want to say I did not invent any single
thing about the Internet and fasting lifestyle other than the phrase the clean fast.
Everything I've got I pulled together from research from other people, from protocols.
That's what teachers do, right, We gather up everything there is to know
about a topic and then we tell you about it. So, you know,
I'm really grateful that I've been able to teach you about the intermittent fasting
lifestyle and that it has really helped you heal. I mean, all of
your labs were going in the bad, the wrong direction, and now they're
all normal and on the lower end. That is just spectacular. Yeah,
And you know sometimes I was when I was reading this and she's saying that
she was staying hotel with free breakfast, not fasting, and I was like,
no, but sometimes you've got to learn that hard lesson because like she
now she knows. I mean, that's like, yeah, we're gonna call
that negative reinforcement, right, right, she did something that she doesn't normally
do and now her pain is back. So I mean that just is very
reaffirming that this lifestyle is helping her live a pain free life. And I
love that. It's true. Learning more from those types of experiences, right,
probably next time, I mean, we're not going to say you could
never eat a hotel breakfast again, right, never, we're not going to
say that, but you're going to know what you're getting into and you might
not want to eat it, or maybe you just have it one time and
I make a practice of it. Yeah, we're actually having breakfast for dinner
tonight. That's fun. I always love to do that. But so you
can have breakfast at any time of day, nighttime, it's still delicious.
People in the community call it Brenner. Yeah, that's that works. We're
having Brenner tonight and I just satisfying, makes you feel good. And then
at eight o'clock, I'm ready to go to bed. I even tried eating
a little later sherry to think if I could just you can trick your body.
No, no, no, no, last night it's eight fifty five.
I was like, I did it. I made it till nine,
and I like got got ready for bed real slow. Well, as I
say, I have an idea too, that might help you. If I
do some exercise in the evening, I get like an extra energy boost.
Do you ever take an operation? Fight doesn't help? Well? See,
it's so pitch dark, it's nighttime, it gets dark at oh see we
live far well you're on the edge of the time chain. I am on
the edge at the time zone. It gets dark, so am I.
I'm like at the ocean. So I'm at the ocean where it gets dark
sooner. Yeah, it is pitch dark. I can't go for a walk
after dinner. I guess I could take my flashlight. But I do have
the vibration plate. I can get on that. But yeah, well,
your early bird albums, I guess I do it every year. So now
we have a question from a listener. This was sent in by Melissa from
Kansas. She said, I started clean fasting ten months ago. My starting
weight was two hundred and eighty and I'm currently sitting at two hundred and forty
five and I seem to be at a plateau. My small goal is to
just be under two hundred pounds. I was diagnosed with PCOS, which is
polycystic Iberian syndrome. I always think I'm saying the s wrong. Is that
right? Polycystician syndrome? Okay, at age sixteen and my weight has yo
yoed most of my life. I'm currently in my mid forties and had a
major depressive episode two years ago. I decided that I needed to take control
of my life after that. I have found that on the days I fast,
my mental help is so much better than the days I lengthen my window,
which is an extreme blessing. I usually have a three to four hour
window each day. I am trying to eat more whole foods and am choosing
less ultra processed foods. I even started making my own sour dough bread.
I do have a weakness for sweets. I feel like my weight loss has
been very slow and would like to see more weight come off, but am
feeling stuck. I know that I want to eat every day and don't want
to do ADF if possible. Do you have a good suggestion for a tweak
that could jump start my weight loss that is not ADF. I am loving
my non scale victories. Should I just focus on those? Yeah? I
have so much to say about that. So you have PCOS, which generally
means that you're going to be having pretty high circulating insulin levels because that just
goes along with PCOS. So I do think that what you eat is going
to really make a difference. You say you have a three to four hour
window each day, which is great if you don't want to do ADF.
I think you're really going to have to take a look at your food choices
and you're probably going to need to delay some sweets. I would really recommend
getting your fasting insulin done if that's something that you can do, Melissa,
you can go to walk in labs, you can order yourself if your doctor
is not in a position to order that for whatever reason. That's going to
give you an idea of kind of where you're at metabolically right now. If
that insulin's you know, really high, that really can make weight loss a
little bit harder. So you know, that might be the motivation you need
to tweak your tweak your eating. And then this is going to sound maybe
off the wall, but I've recently been reading Fiberfield. I had my brain
glitch there. I was like, what is it called? I keep thinking
The Well Fed Gut? What is the Well Fed Gut? Is that a
different book? I don't know that book. Okay, I think maybe that's
a different book. But he definitely a different book. Or maybe I don't
know that one. I don't know. I'm have to look it up.
Maybe maybe I just maybe I feel like the book should be called The Well
Fed gut. I don't know anyways. Fiberfield by doctor Will. I'm not
even going to say. Is that how you say it? I think it's
Bolschwitz, Yeah, okay, doctor B. He goes by doctor B.
I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the the gut microbiome,
but as I was reading his book, I'm just blown away. He's very
much evidence based in the information that he shared. It's super eye opening.
He actually talks about pcos and how your gut plays a role in that,
and not just pcos but insulin resistance, diabetes, and even mental health.
And you mentioned your mental health is better on the days where you're having you
know, good long fast Some of that could be in relations to just blood
sugar control. When our blood glucose is really swinging high and low, that
can really affect your moods. A lot of people get really anxious when that's
happening. Other people have almost angry outbursts. I mean, think about like
that whole angry thing, and that is really just blood sugar dysregulation. So
I really think knowing your fasting insulin is a great place to start if you're
interested in, you know, really diving into why you need to eat healthier,
and you need somebody to give you the motivation to do that. Pick
up that book, give it or read. It's easy to read. He
writes in a manner kind of like jin He really does. He explains everything
very thoroughly, and it's written in a conversational style. He's kind of funny,
very down to earth. It's not intimidating. It's really inspired me to
include a lot more plants and fiber, prebiotics and stuff into my diet.
So I think that could be very beneficial for you too. And he would
love that you are making your own sour dough bread. Yeah, well,
now we're to talk about that too. Sure. I meant to bring that
up at the beginning, and I forgot. I actually am listening to Fiber
Fueled, right. You inspired me because you mentioned the other day that you
were reading it, and so I was like, you know, because I
was driving back from Augusta listening to stuff. You know, it's boring drive,
and I'm like, I need something to listen to. So I downloaded
the audio book for Fiber fuel huh. And there's just something about hearing it
like you had. It gives you time to process it differently, right when
I read very very quickly, like my eyes, Like when I go to
play trivia on Thursday, I've already written the answer down like before other people
because I just read very very quickly. But that's also not good when you're
reading information sometimes, like I read it so fast that I'm just I'm getting
the big parts. That's me, I speak. I made the glosses.
Yeah, what doesn't seem important to me, But maybe I'm missing some important
pieces exactly. So I'm listening to it right now. I'm in the introduction,
and you know, he tells the story at the beginning of somebody that
was his patient that comes into the practice and she had been gradually restricting her
diet more and more and more. She's following all these you know, influencers
who are telling her about what to stop eating. Oh, oxalates, Oh
you know what things, Oh, don't eat grains. Oh. So when
she was she was only eating like kale and not on a chicken. I
can't something in kale or something. Yeah, And he said something that blew
my mind that I actually he said there are no studies that he could find
about bone broth and gut health and I'm like, what, because you know,
we just hear that from so many people. Usually they're trying to sell
you boe froth. That's true. The people who are telling you that bone
broth will heal your gut would like to sell you bone broth. And I'm
like, that's really interesting. So I actually did a search uh huh Gut
Health, bone Broth, PubMed No, but they did talk about, you
know, bone broth is great for lowering inflammation perhaps, but that doesn't mean
it's it's you know, changing your gut. Yeah, inflammation is big.
Anyway, I just thought that was super interesting. But I wanted to recommend
that book to everybody, and I would like you to audio audio it.
Listen to it. It really is good. So in the meantime, he
helped that girl figure out what she could add back, and you know,
a healthy gut can tolerate leuctins and grains, and it just has helped me
realize, like you said, he's very evidence based, and you know,
people will take like a little study and then they blow it up and then
they start repeating things, and then we start believing that that's true. Because
we've heard twenty people in the health and wellness space say it right. So
we're like, well, it's got to be true. Twenty people in the
health and wellness space have said it, and I like all of those people
it must be right. Then we start looking into the science and we're like,
oh, wait a minute, that the preponderance of evidence does not support
that well. And one thing that he's really good about is like he says,
Okay, you know, there was this one's study and in test tubes
this proved to be true, and so people ran with this, but when
you apply it to actual humans in practice, the results are not the same
as test tubes because humans aren't test tubes. And so, you know,
he's able to really kind of deep some things because he's like, yeah,
you know, this one study said it was true, But what you don't
hear is these three or four other studies are giving different results, and in
real you know, practice with live patients, we're not seeing those same results
exactly. Fiber fueled highly recommended YEP. To Melissa's question, I definitely would
encourage encourage fiber fueled and thinking about what you're eating real food. You're already
moving that direction, but I also want to talk about your weight loss I
did some math, and you have been doing intermittent fasting for ten months.
So let's think about that. If you've been doing intermittent fasting for ten months,
we know the fast start. The first month, we do not expect
to lose weight, so let's just say nine months. If we're losing at
a nice steady pace, about a pound a week is what you should expect
to lose over time. That doesn't mean every single week it's one pound.
One week might be one point two, the next week is point eight.
But over time average of about a pound is really really good. So I
did the math. You have lost thirty five pounds so far, and thirty
five pounds divided by nine months means you've lost about four pounds a month,
which is right on track. So I know that feels so slow, especially,
you know, we look at the checkout counter and the you know right
now we're recording this November eighth. Then on the checkout counter magazine it says
lose forty pounds by Thanksgiving, which is in two weeks. You're not going
to do that. We're used to those claims. Intermittent fasting is not quick,
So I would keep doing what you're doing you don't want to do ADF,
don't do ADF. Food choices, though, are powerful. And I
don't know how you're judging that you're at a plateau, because you said I
seem to be at a plateau so many times, Like just today, I
had a conversation with somebody in the community who said I'm stuck, and I'm
like, are you weighing daily and calculating your weekly average average? And she
said yes, and then she told told me her last four averages, she
is not stuck, right, And maybe she hadn't been actually doing the calculations,
but she had the daily weights and then she went back and calculated because
I asked her to. But they were steadily going down week after week.
And so I really want to encourage you if you think you're at a plateau,
determine are you really? Because if you weigh daily and then take the
time to calculate your weekly average, and I really think doing it once a
week instead of using happy scale is really going to show you more so that
because on happy scale it gives you like what your trend is and that changes
day to day. That can be just as confusing as well. That's what
I tell people don't only look at your happy scale app once per week,
right, that's a great way of doing it too. I only looking at
it one hay oyday. My day is Monday, So on Monday, I
look at my happy scale to see what I did over the last week.
That's because at the top it does say weight loss over the last seven days
yep. But if you're looking at it every day, that trend is going
to show variation, and that that confuses some people, makes them upset because
well, yesterday my weight trend was one point two and today my weight trend
is point six, and then they get upset. So it's really we're trying
to step back from the daily fluctuations and just look at the big picture.
So you might not be at a plateau. Your weight loss has been mathematically
where is on target. So way daily, once a week you need to
look at that trend. Whether that's add up seven weights, divide by seven.
It takes one minute to do that, and then tweaking your food choices.
And I also want to point out something that you said, Melissa.
You said on days that I fast, my mental health is so much better
than the days I lengked in my window which makes me think you might have
maybe a little more window creep than you realize. That's just something to think
about. Yeah, I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that either,
Yeah, because I kind of when I was thought maybe she was doing alternate
day fasting until I saw that she said she does not want to do that,
and she's going three to for our window. So I hope you're fasting
every day, Melissa, right, And then I wanted to say too,
where you say that you seem to be at a plateau. There is something
that we see happen quite a bit. People will initially lose a lot of
weight at a pretty fast clip, which if you're losing a pound a week,
that's a pretty fast clip of weight loss for you. I know it
doesn't seem like it sometimes, especially when you have a lot to lose,
but that is a pretty substantial amount of weight to lose in one short period
of time, and the body oftentimes just pauses weightless, and it's doing a
systems check. It's are we ill? Is there a threat? Are we
in a famine? What are we doing? Why do we need to hold
on to some weight because we're in a period of stress or illness or whatever.
And then once you know, your body kind of gets to lay the
lane and says, Okay, everything is cool. I'm eating, I'm well
nourished, there's no illness to fight off. Then weight loss resumes, and
I mean we see this time and time and time again, as you know
a lot of times, especially when people have sort of a dramatic loss early
and then their bodies will kind of pause. And then if they give it
two three weeks, then weight loss picks back up again. And I think
that's completely normal. Yeah, and then over time it still will average out.
Yeah, yep. It comes in like fits and starts like a little
wish and then a regroup and then a wish and then a regroup. Yeah,
and then the plateau chapter a fast feast repeat. I have a survey
that we did in the Advanced Delayed on Deny Facebook group back in the day.
That group is no longer active, but it was a great little group
at the time, and I did a little survey, well, how did
you bust your plateau? You know what? The number one answer was time?
Time. Yeah, time, give it time. Sometimes a plateau happens,
but you know why. I mean, if you're like, Okay,
well I haven't been making really great choices. I'm restaurantulging. I've been eating
out a lot, I was on a trip. I you know, have
had long weekend windows. I mean, so sometimes plateaus happen because we have
changed what we're doing. But if you haven't changed anything you're doing and you
kind of move into a plateau, just give it a few weeks and see
if you know it busts loose, and if it doesn't, then you can
do some tweaking. Yeah, sometimes you just need to give us some time.
Give it some time, all right. So now it's time for our
segment called What's Your Why? And you know, most of us come to
intermittent fasting for the weight loss. We stick around for so many other reasons.
It's fine for weight loss to be part of your why. That makes
a lot of sense, But there's so much more to what intermittent fasting can
do for us beyond weight loss. So in my new book twenty eight day
fast Start day by day, I ask readers to craft their why statement before
beginning. And when your why is deeper than weight loss alone, you are
more likely to find long term success and view intermittent fasting as a lifestyle,
So when we asked the community to share their why, we got some amazing
answers. Amanda, she said, my why is health and making it easier
to maintain a healthy weight. I have endometriosis, and following Mark Mattson's advice
to fast eighteen hours a day in the paper effects of intermittent fasting on health,
aging, and disease, has really helped me to lower the inflammation into
metriosis causes, and a lot of symptoms have lessened or even disappeared. Fasting
isn't a miracle cure, of course, but it helps a lot. As
a wheelchair user, it was also hard to maintain my weight even with the
healthy diet I was already eating, but adding fasting has made it simple.
I actually have to eat more in my eating window than what I could before
I started fasting in order to maintain my healthy BMI of twenty one point five.
And as a side note, I started eighteen six in November twenty twenty
and I actually stick to an average of nineteen hours a day now since I
noticed that helps even more with my IBA symptoms. I am forty two years
old now and all I know is that I am never going to quit.
Yeah. I love that Mark Matt's in that article. I still know.
It came out on December twenty sixth of twenty nineteen, because that was when
all of a sudden people were excited about intermittent fasting for help. Because if
you look at the title of that Effects of intermittent fasting on health, aging
and disease, weight loss is not even in there. Nope. And we
had our Facebook groups at the time, and we had a question, why
do you want to join this group? Hopefully bots wouldn't answer it, right
to be one guy said the girls, the girls, okay, block Anyway,
all of a sudden people were saying help instead of weight loss. Usually
people just said I want to lose weight. But all of a sudden,
after that article came out in the New England Journal of Medicine, it was
help and that like was so exciting. Maybe he wanted to lose weight to
get the girls. I don't know, weird like Caes was looking for some
girls. I'm not sure. If you ever want to really have an interesting
life, run a Facebook group, a really large Facebook group. You see
all sorts of crazy things. I hope you found some girls somewhere else.
That's all I know. Well, we have a question from Greg in Kansas
City, and I just realized we had a question from Kansas and now a
question from Kansas City. So she says, Hello, I need help busting
a three month plateau. I have been intermittent fasting for five months. I
saw great results in month one and two and was down thirty pounds and eleven
inches. I started at three hundred and ten pounds. The scale and tape
measurements have not moved despite forty eight hour fasts followed by one meal a day
and increased exercise walking in excess of ten thousand steps per day. Any suggestions
of what to tweak next? Yes, yes, Greg, Yes, And
I'm so glad that you wrote in because if what you wrote is exactly what
you're doing, then I think you might be plateaued because you're over overdoing the
fasting. So you've been fasting for five months, but you're saying that you
have plateaued for three of them. That's a lot of plateauing. And again,
like we said earlier when we were talking to Melissa, I would love
to know exactly how you're defining that plateau. Are you weighing daily and calculating
your weekly average, because even for men, that makes a difference. Russ
Shanahan, who created the Happy Scale app, created it because he himself would
get upset with his fluctuations, and of course he's got that. I have
an interview with him on intermittent fasting stories from maybe twenty it was early.
He was early Rush Shanahan. You'll find it, but he talked about how
having that trend really helped him to realize what his weight was actually doing over
time. So if you're not doing that, I would highly encourage you to
do that. But if you saw great results in month one and two and
the weight loss has stopped, I would really look at what you're doing.
And you mentioned forty eight hour fasts followed by one meal a day and increased
exercise ten thousand steps a day. So if you were really doing a forty
eight fast followed by one meal a day, that is not sufficient refeting for
your body. And so you know, internet fasting is very protective of your
metabolic rate unless you overdo it, and there is nothing that will protect your
metabolism from slowing down if you are literally overstarving your body. Your body's like,
oh my lord, we're going to die. We're walking ten thousand steps
a day. We're fasting for forty eight hours then having one meal, so
that would not be sufficient. Your body is going to really slow things down
to try to keep you alive because your body is thinking something awful is going
on. So it's like what I mentioned earlier when we were talking about the
plateau for Melissa. So your body may have said, wow, thirty pounds
down and then it went into that pause I talked about. But your body
says, all systems are not go right. I'm undernourished, I'm underfed,
and I need to hold on to every pound that's on my body right now.
Yep. And that's what we found in the Biggest Loser study. Kevin
Hall, who I didn't realize Kevin Hall did the Biggest Loser Study because I
didn't. I wouldn't like a nutritional nerd back then that I am now.
Kevin Hall is like one of my favorite research scientists. Like, how many
people have a favorite research scientist, Well, I do? I have three?
I guess I don't know, maybe more, but Mark Natsen, Kevin
Hall, Tim Spector, they're up there. Christopher Gardner, he's another one
of my favorite research scientists. But Kevin Hall did the Biggest Loser study and
they found that when they followed up with the biggest losers, their metabolic rates
were five hundred calories per day lower than someone their size who had not gone
through the dieting that they had gone through. That just shows that their metabolisms
said help slowed things way down, kept them low. The people who struggled
the most were the ones who were managing to keep their restriction down. Their
metaboliums had recovered the least because they were white knuckling it through. So if
you were fasting for forty eight hours and then just having one meal and then
going back to a long fast, your body is really really panicking. So
what you really need is alternate daily fasting. And with alternate daily fasting,
you know, forty eight hour fast is two full days of fasting. That's
not every other day fasting. Every other day fasting is like you might fast
one day, then you wake up the next day and you're not fasting.
So because it's too overnight periods, it's like thirty six hours when you wake
up the next day, but then you have like a twelve hour period.
When they did the research on alternate day fasting and found that didn't slow metabolic
rate. They were not trying to have an eating window on the up days.
They woke up that day and they just ate. They were told to
eat one hundred and twenty five percent of their caloric needs. I actually was
listening to Christopher Gardner today on the Zoe podcast, and he said, like,
for example, men tend to eat an average of three thousand calories a
day. So you know, we're not going to tell you to count calories
because of all the flaws in that, but one hundred and twenty five percent
of three thousand calories is a whole lot of calories, right, That is
what they were told to do in the research on alternate day fasting. Their
metallisms didn't slow. So thirty six hour fast, twelve hours eating repeat,
what you don't want to do is forty eight hour fast, one meal repeat.
That is going to be too much. And so my advice would be
I would actually maybe pause for like a few days completely no fasting at all,
give your body maybe like a three day refeed, and then start some
alternate day fasting thirty six twelve. Think about it like that thirty six twelve
that your body needs that that refeed and you might see a little weight gain
at first if your metabolism has been slowed and you've been really severely under eating.
When you start eating more, your body's going to be like storage,
storage, storage. But the good news is when we eat more, it
will rev up our metabolic rate, so eventually your body will be able to
handle it. You know. I see this trend too where people want to
do alternate day fasting and they'll say they want to do it to, you
know, rev up their metabolic rate. They're looking for the metabolic boost.
Maybe they're coming from localorie dieting. And there's this idea and we talk about
a lot that more fasting is better, but the studies have shown that your
metabolic rate stays know steady while you're fasting up to thirty six hours, and
then at thirty six hours you do start to have some metabolic slow down.
So all these people there's like, yeah, I want to do alter it
fasting, but I'm going to push it out and I'm going to go to
forty two hours and I'm only going to eat in a six hour window on
my update rather than using the full twelve hour update. You know your reasons
for doing ADF, but then the way you're structuring your ADF, they're not
driving. Yeah, and I think it's also because Sherry people have the wrong
goals. They they're like, but see, I want the autophogy, and
the longer I fast, the more the autopogy. And so then people are
like, you know, there's nothing wrong. Autopogy is amazing. We want
to have autopogy, but we don't want to just keep there's like, there's
a bigger picture. It's the bigger picture exactly. And so you know,
a little bit of knowledge can actually be a little dangerous because then you start
pursuing things that are actually not what you should be pursuing. You got to
have the day, you got to have the metabolic boost. So yes,
autopogy is amazing, but if you fasted for thirty six hours, you had
increased autopogy, you know, don't say, well I need a fast extra
because I need more autopogy than somebody else. No, right, right,
Yeah, I think just to even call it thirty six twelve is great.
I wish i'd have done that. You could go back and fast that just
now, I was like, can we just not call it eight anymore and
call it thirty six twelve. If I could go back, I would rewrite
that chapter just because I said the minimum eating on an up date should be
six hours minimum. So people are like, all right, I eat for
six hours on the up day, and I'm like, man, I remember
debating that in my mind at the time, and you know, it was
based on what we were advising people in the Facebook groups and maybe the way
you and I can really pack away a lot of food in six hours.
I can't do a six hour absolutely. I always eight to twelve, yeah,
because I know I need a minimum of life, like nine hours to
do it. Well, I sepday minimum in that chapter, minimum of six.
I think I might have said minimum of six to eight. I can't
remember. I wrote it in twenty nineteen, but if I could go back,
that is the chapter that I would be I would call it thirty six
twelve and be very very more specific because I just I guess I didn't think
about the fact that people would would latch onto that as like the goal is
six hours. No, no, that is like if you're not at least
at six, you're definitely not doing enough. So yep, anyway, I
agree one hundred percent. Yeah, So I'm with Jen Greg. Open up,
open up your updays, have real up days. Step away from one
meal a day if you like one meal a day, just do one meal
a day for a while and get see if you can get here now moving
again. I wouldn't right now. I think he needs that metabolic boost if
he's been doing a forty eight fast followed by one meal a day. I
would not just all of a sudden start doing one meal a day. He's
got to have that boost time and then maybe go into one meal a day.
Would you suggest he do the thirty six I would give him like I
would give him a first of all, Like I said, I think he
needs a few days of just refeed, just like three days. Just have
three days that are updays, and then thirty six twelve, and I would
do that for a while. I would do that until your weekly average starts
to trend down, Like I would think about it as a therapeutic protocol,
until your metab great is back where it should be. And you'll know that
because your weight will start to trend down if it starts trending up a little
bit for the first month. Don't be surprised because your body's like, oh,
thank god, food's coming in. We better store it. But then
eventually it'll rev things up. So and when we know that from the work
that they did with the Minnesota starvation experiment, you know their metal, you're
able to recover metaball. You know metabolisms, We don't break them permanently,
thank goodness, right, right, like having to eat five hundred calories a
day or something nonsense like that. But thank goodness, I fix my metabolism,
so it can be. But you kind of have to face the fear
of oops, I might gain ten of those thirty pounds back before you start
seeing like, just think about the curve might curve up for a little bit
and then go back down. Yeah. Well, I mean I'm the perfect
example. When I started fasting, I came from such a restrictive diet that
I gained eight pounds, right, and when I switched to the clean fast,
I gained eight pounds. So but do you just kind of have to
ride that wave and know that you like, what you're doing is healing.
Yep, and it will go back down, I promise So before we get
to the tweak of the week, I just want to take a minute to
tell you about my new favorite product from Beauty Counter. As the weather started
to change this fall, my skin has started to change as well, and
I noticed that the backs of my arms were getting bumpy, something I've struggled
with my whole life, but since I started fasting, I really only noticed
it in the fall and winter. So I decided to try the Reflect Effect
overnight resurfacing Body Peel. It's a blend of glycolic and lactic acids which exfoliates
dead skin to stimulate cell turnover. It includes mandelic acid, which increases exfoliation
without overdrying the skin, and it includes a blend of oils, including avocado
and Macedamian oil to lock in moisture, leaving skin hydrated and healthy looking.
It improves skin tone while gently exfoliating, and after one week of use,
ninety seven percent of users reported smoother, softer skin and ninety percent reported a
reduction in the appearance of bumpy skin. So I noticed a difference in the
skin on my arms in just two uses, and this week I applied it
to my legs and they are now super smooth and hydrated. Goodbye alligator Skin.
I've included a link to this specific product and show notes, But if
you're interested in any of beauty Counter's products, don't ever hesitate to reach out
to me. All right, that's time for our tweak of the week.
This tweak was submitted by Leslie and Idaho. She said, Hygen and Sherry,
I love listening to the most recent show on ADF. Since I found
all of my success using ADF, I want to share a tip for anyone
struggling with headaches on their down days. I have what's called a migraine sensitive
brain, which means that my brain is extremely sensitive to any slight changes in
electrolytes in my bloodstream. Prior to losing forty five pounds on ADF, I
struggled with chronic migraines for twenty five years and they are all gone now.
However, when I tried fasting, I would consistently get migraines about sixteen to
eighteen hours into a fast. I found through trial and error that I will
get a migraine if I eat a lot of refined carbs and or sugar in
my eating window and then try to fast. The high carbs cause a spike
and insulin that continues throughout the next day and makes burning fat more difficult for
my body. This causes an energy imbalance, leading to a migraine. As
soon as I lowered my carb intake and focused on eating high protein, I
stopped having migraines while fasting. In the end, fasting is what cured my
migraines, even though it initially appeared to make them worse. I'm glad I
didn't just conclude that fasting doesn't work for me, but worked to figure out
how to make fasting work for my unique body instead of giving up. Yeah,
and I think that's true. I think she, rather than just saying
this doesn't work, she made some tweaks to figure out how to make it
work. And you know, we do hear that people get headaches, and
we get a lot of questions from people who suffer from migraines. And I
think overall, what we have learned through the years is migraine sufferers end up
reporting that after adopting an inter fasting lifestyle and getting through the acclamation period becoming
fat adapted, that they have such a huge improvement in their migraine symptoms.
And I want to talk about what she said about having the migraine around sixteen
to eighteen hours in a fast That's right when her body was about to flip
that metabolic switch. At that time, that's when she would get the headache
and her brain was not well fueled. And so she all also found that
issue was more likely to get the migraine if she had a lot of refined
carbs and sugar. And think about that. That is going to delay you
getting into fat burning because that's easily stored as glycogen like so easily like you're
like refined carbs, sugar, bam right into glycogen storage. Now you have
more of it. Whereas high fiber things break down more slowly. We don't
store as much of that. It takes energy to break them down. So
another reason to stick to real foods be more fiber fueled versus the refined and
sugary. Well, we love to leave you with inspirational or motivational quotes to
get you through your week, and this week's message comes from Jessica from the
shoreline of Lake Michigan. I'm paraphrasing, but Maya Angelo said the people might
not remember exactly what you said or exactly what you did, but they'll always
remember how they made you feel. Working in crisis mental health, I'm put
in a special role as the lead direct support personnel to really offer encouragement and
help put the right resources in front of people to help them be successful.
They are incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement, and they tell me how
much they appreciate me. That encourages me beyond explanation. I need to stay
healthy so that I can keep showing up to help others. That is so
true, and I love that Maya Angelou quote. I do as well.
Yeah, people remember how you made them feel. That is exactly true.
Thank you so much, Jessica, and thank you for the work that you're
doing. Thanks so much for listening today. We would love to have you
join us in the Delayed on Tonight community, where you can interact with both
me and Sherry, plus the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll find anywhere.
Go to Jenstevens dot com slash community to join us. Don't forget to
subscribe to this podcast to your favorite podcast app, and if you haven't already,
please leave us a five star review that helps new listeners find the show
and we really appreciate it. We are a community driven podcast, so to
submit your your success stories, your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's
Easy, moments, or anything else you want us to share on the podcast,
go to Fast Feast Repeat dot com, slash submit and then listen each
week to see if we share your submission or answer your question until next week.
Thanks for listening,