Episode 116: Regain in Maintenance, Structuring Your Up Day, Strategies for Closing Your Window, and More

<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm
<v Speaker 1>Jen Stevens, author of the New York Times bestseller Fast
<v Speaker 1>Feast Repeat.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm Sherry Bullock, longtime intermittent faster and health and
<v Speaker 2>wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this podcast is
<v Speaker 2>for educational and motivational purposes only and is not intended
<v Speaker 2>to provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are
<v Speaker 2>not doctors, so make sure to check with your trusted
<v Speaker 2>healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes to
<v Speaker 2>any medical treatments or medications.
<v Speaker 1>Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced intermittent faster,
<v Speaker 1>tune in each week to get inspired, to learn, and
<v Speaker 1>to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, we
<v Speaker 1>are so glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's
<v Speaker 1>episode of the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast.
<v Speaker 1>How are you doing today's Sherry, I'm doing great. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>me too. It's been such a cool August. We're recording
<v Speaker 1>this in August compared to like what it normally is,
<v Speaker 1>and it was so funny. When Cal was here visiting,
<v Speaker 1>all he talked about was how hot it was like
<v Speaker 1>he was gonna die because he lives in San Francisco,
<v Speaker 1>where it's so different, and it was hilarious. I'm like, cow,
<v Speaker 1>you grew up in Augusta, Georgia, which is like the
<v Speaker 1>hottest place on earth. It's like living in the oven.
<v Speaker 1>He was to complain about how hot it was all
<v Speaker 1>the time. Well, and it's not even that hot. I
<v Speaker 1>mean it's August, but it was like eighty eight degrees.
<v Speaker 1>And he was like complaining, I thought.
<v Speaker 2>San Francisco had some humidity.
<v Speaker 1>No, he kept talking about the humidity. It is not
<v Speaker 1>like here, okay, And we looked and it was like
<v Speaker 1>ninety one percent humidity here at that time.
<v Speaker 2>Really. Yeah, Well, it's seventy four percent of humidity in
<v Speaker 2>San Francisco right now, but it's only it's also only
<v Speaker 2>sixty three degrees really, so the difference between like the
<v Speaker 2>high all week is in the sixties, tomorrow gets up
<v Speaker 2>to seventy.
<v Speaker 1>So we went at the end of August in twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty three. I had my flip flops and I was
<v Speaker 1>regretting my feet were cold.
<v Speaker 2>To San Francisco and August yeah really, yeah, I've never
<v Speaker 2>been there.
<v Speaker 1>Well, we're going in November. Well, and I were going,
<v Speaker 1>like I said last week, and I'm just knacking my
<v Speaker 1>ugs exactly exactly. It'll be an ug trip.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I think the most miserable trip I ever took
<v Speaker 2>is I was going to Dallas years and years ago
<v Speaker 2>to a NASCAR race and it was the first weekend
<v Speaker 2>of April, and I thought, oh, it's Texas, it'll be warm. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>And I didn't take a jacket. It was so cold.
<v Speaker 2>It was so cold that I had to go to
<v Speaker 2>like Walmart and buy a blanket to take into the
<v Speaker 2>racetrack to cover up with.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, April can be a crapshoot all around the South. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>especially here at the beach. It's very cold in April.
<v Speaker 1>It might even be like you might think it's warm
<v Speaker 1>because it says seventy two degrees, but the wind coming
<v Speaker 1>off the ocean, yeah, will make you freezing. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Vac humid air that always older, makes it feel hotter
<v Speaker 2>than it is until it gets cold, and then it
<v Speaker 2>makes it feel colder than it is.
<v Speaker 1>I mean we literally have like ninety something percent of
<v Speaker 1>humidity because we're on the ocean, like everything rusts. It's
<v Speaker 1>a completely different place. I love that humid air though.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well it's good for your skin and hair.
<v Speaker 1>I think so.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's good to sweat. We don't like to sweat,
<v Speaker 2>but it's good for it. Detox is your body. There
<v Speaker 2>you go, so all right, Well we have a weekly
<v Speaker 2>celebration and this week it's from s K in Perth, Australia.
<v Speaker 2>It's titled two Years, One Journey, a Lifetime Transformed. August
<v Speaker 2>seventh mark two years since I took a deep breath,
<v Speaker 2>looked in the mirror and chose to change not just
<v Speaker 2>my body but my life. What began is a simple
<v Speaker 2>decision to try intermittent fasting became so much more than
<v Speaker 2>a weight loss strategy. It became a commitment to myself,
<v Speaker 2>a quiet promise, whispered in the dark moments, that I
<v Speaker 2>would no longer settle for less than I deserve in
<v Speaker 2>health and strength and in happiness. Through this lifestyle, I've
<v Speaker 2>lost over sixty five pounds, five dress sizes, and over
<v Speaker 2>forty three inches. But more than that, I've lost the
<v Speaker 2>weight of doubt, of insecurity, of feeling the frustration of
<v Speaker 2>being able to achieve excellence in every aspect of my
<v Speaker 2>life except this, And in its place, I've gained discipline, confidence, peace,
<v Speaker 2>and clarity. I've gained mornings when I wake up feeling strong,
<v Speaker 2>evenings where I rest without regret, and days where I
<v Speaker 2>know I'm living with purpose. I've gained a version of
<v Speaker 2>myself I never thought possible, and now I can't imagine
<v Speaker 2>living without it. My success hasn't been without setbacks. I
<v Speaker 2>regained about twenty pounds. There were hard days when my
<v Speaker 2>body ached, when my mind wavered, when the old habits
<v Speaker 2>called louder than the new. I've been led down rabbit
<v Speaker 2>holes and slipped in my journey. But through all this
<v Speaker 2>I never let go. I kept showing up because every
<v Speaker 2>step forward was a step towards myself and a promise
<v Speaker 2>to always show up for myself every single day. This
<v Speaker 2>is the new version of me. This is the body
<v Speaker 2>that could squat two hundred pounds, dead left two hundred pounds,
<v Speaker 2>bench press one hundred pounds, and overhead press eighty pounds.
<v Speaker 2>This is the mind that wants to learn to keep
<v Speaker 2>educating myself and to help others achieve the same successes.
<v Speaker 2>This is the heart that gives without holding back, because
<v Speaker 2>the void in it is now full of self love
<v Speaker 2>and overflowing with happiness. And joy to share. This journey
<v Speaker 2>isn't just about fasting. It's about choosing myself again and
<v Speaker 2>again through discipline, grace, and belief. I am not the
<v Speaker 2>same person I was two years ago. I am better,
<v Speaker 2>I am lighter, I am stronger, I am free, And
<v Speaker 2>this journey it's just getting started.
<v Speaker 1>That's fantastic. Yeah, maybe do we know that's okay? She's
<v Speaker 1>in our community. We absolutely love her and we know
<v Speaker 1>about her story. But that weight that she regains. Talked
<v Speaker 1>about rabbit holes is going down that protein rabbit hole
<v Speaker 1>that's out there. You can't avoid it. If you're on
<v Speaker 1>any kind of social media or YouTube, you can't avoid
<v Speaker 1>the protein push. And she went down that rabbit Because
<v Speaker 1>you know we're right now, women are being told we
<v Speaker 1>want to be strong as we age. Yes, Cherry and
<v Speaker 1>I agree with that, but the messages you must overeat
<v Speaker 1>protein to do it, we do not agree with that.
<v Speaker 1>You need to eat a sufficient amount of protein, but
<v Speaker 1>it's way less than people might think. And let your
<v Speaker 1>strength gains be your study of one. If you're unable
<v Speaker 1>to build muscle, then you can increase your protein and
<v Speaker 1>see if that helps. But if you are able to
<v Speaker 1>build muscle, then you're eating enough protein, right Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And honestly, your body's gonna let you know if
<v Speaker 2>you need more protein. It mind does very loudly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah. Even though I don't eat as much as cherry,
<v Speaker 1>it lets me know.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And the other thing is, I think people when they
<v Speaker 2>look at protein, they're looking at just protein sources like meat.
<v Speaker 2>But you be amazed how a big salad with different
<v Speaker 2>veggies and cruciferous veggies and some seeds and a little
<v Speaker 2>bit of animal protein mixed in there. You would be
<v Speaker 2>surprised just how many grams of protein that turns out
<v Speaker 2>to be.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, oh, definitely. I went down a rabbit hole of
<v Speaker 1>reading about protein restriction and longevity. Did I talk about
<v Speaker 1>this on the podcast already? I know you and I
<v Speaker 1>have talked about it behind the scenes, but I went
<v Speaker 1>down the rabbit hole. And you know, some longevity experts
<v Speaker 1>that study longevity actually recommend protein restriction. Now I'm not
<v Speaker 1>you're recommending protein restriction, you know, but you can read
<v Speaker 1>about it and see what you think. But I said, okay,
<v Speaker 1>what would that look like for me? And for me,
<v Speaker 1>protein restriction would look like forty grams a day, And
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, well, okay, do you know that it was
<v Speaker 1>practically impossible for me to limit myself to forty grams
<v Speaker 1>of protein a day even though I was I just
<v Speaker 1>did it like two days because I was like, this
<v Speaker 1>is to see I just wanted to see. But I
<v Speaker 1>tried to limit myself to forty grams of protein to day,
<v Speaker 1>which is technically protein restriction for me. And like a
<v Speaker 1>piece of whole week like Dave's Killer bread had like
<v Speaker 1>five grams of protein, so if you have a sandwich
<v Speaker 1>that's ten and you know I love my beans and
<v Speaker 1>even potatoes. I mean I was like, wow, any kind
<v Speaker 1>of dairy tons of protein, right, So it was practically
<v Speaker 1>impossible for me to limit my protein even in an
<v Speaker 1>eating window yep, which made me go, wow, you know,
<v Speaker 1>we don't really know everything. I've ever seen anyone analyzed protein.
<v Speaker 1>They always say we're eating more than we think.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, And if you think that, you if you
<v Speaker 2>really think, I mean, I've had people say I can
<v Speaker 2>only eat thirty grams a day. What do I do
<v Speaker 2>if you're only getting thirty grams of protein in your
<v Speaker 2>window during the day, I'm going to just go out
<v Speaker 2>on a limb here and say that you are significantly
<v Speaker 2>under eating in your window. And I bet they're not
<v Speaker 2>really counting all their protein. Right.
<v Speaker 1>So if someone thinks they're only getting thirty grams a day,
<v Speaker 1>I bet it's because they're only looking at the meat
<v Speaker 1>and the eggs or whatever that they think of as
<v Speaker 1>the protein source. Are you looking at your wh wheat
<v Speaker 1>bread and counting that vegetables have protein? And here's a
<v Speaker 1>great tip, chat GPT. You don't have to calculate it.
<v Speaker 1>You just tell it what you had, and it calculates
<v Speaker 1>it for you. It'll even give you like a percentage
<v Speaker 1>and a breakdown. And so those couple days when I
<v Speaker 1>was playing around with it, I just let chat GPT
<v Speaker 1>keep a running total for the day. You just keep
<v Speaker 1>going back to the conversation. Now, I had some Lima beans.
<v Speaker 1>You wonder what's that? You know, you can actually upload
<v Speaker 1>the screenshot of the label and it can read the
<v Speaker 1>label and all that. So you're probably not eating as
<v Speaker 1>little protein as you think you are. I was shocked,
<v Speaker 1>and so I'm definitely not worried that I'm not getting
<v Speaker 1>enough protein. Well.
<v Speaker 2>And two, like, if you were to google how much
<v Speaker 2>protein like is in a chicken breast, say, well, a
<v Speaker 2>lot of times they'll tell you based off of a
<v Speaker 2>three ounce serving, but very few people are only eating
<v Speaker 2>a three ounce serving of chicken breast. I mean, a
<v Speaker 2>conventional chicken breast these days can be easily eight ounces
<v Speaker 2>of protein, and there's.
<v Speaker 1>Forty five much as three. Yeah right, yeah, so yeah, Really,
<v Speaker 1>the metric is are you able to build muscle. If
<v Speaker 1>you are able to build muscle, then you are having
<v Speaker 1>sufficient protein to build muscle. If you are not able
<v Speaker 1>to build muscle, then you are not. And nobody can
<v Speaker 1>tell you what that number is, although people try to,
<v Speaker 1>because even the recommended daily allowance is an average of
<v Speaker 1>people that they've checked and looked at, and it's and
<v Speaker 1>they found some people needed more, some people needed less.
<v Speaker 1>And we also have the added wrinkle when we're fast
<v Speaker 1>and clean, we have increased protein recycling when autopogy is upregulated,
<v Speaker 1>and that's something we can't quantify. We don't know how
<v Speaker 1>much protein your body just recycled, but if it's reusing
<v Speaker 1>old protein to build muscle, you ate zero protein and
<v Speaker 1>yet you're still able to build muscle from that recycled
<v Speaker 1>junkie protein, like maybe it's burning up an old scar, right,
<v Speaker 1>So anyway, something to think about. So now we have
<v Speaker 1>a question from a listener. This question is from Patty
<v Speaker 1>in Atlanta, Georgia. She says, Hi, I love your show
<v Speaker 1>and I look forward to listening each week. I'm Patty.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sixty eight years old. I'm five to two, and
<v Speaker 1>I currently weigh between one twenty eight and one thirty one.
<v Speaker 1>I've been fasting for four and a half years. My
<v Speaker 1>protocol is between nineteen and twenty one hours of fasting
<v Speaker 1>a day. Some weekend days it may only be seventeen
<v Speaker 1>or eighteen hours, depending on what's going on. I started
<v Speaker 1>my intermittent fasting journey at one fifty and lost twenty
<v Speaker 1>five pounds in the first year. I maintained that weight
<v Speaker 1>at times, seeing one twenty three for the past four years.
<v Speaker 1>For the past six months, my weight has been averaging
<v Speaker 1>around one twenty eight to one thirty. I realized that's
<v Speaker 1>only a three to five pound difference. But my clothes
<v Speaker 1>are tighter. I pulled out last year's shorts and most
<v Speaker 1>are way too tight. I do carry any extra weight
<v Speaker 1>around my hips and butt area. I don't understand how
<v Speaker 1>five pounds can make such a difference. I bought new
<v Speaker 1>jeans the other day and I had to buy a
<v Speaker 1>size ten when previously I was wearing eights and even
<v Speaker 1>had some sixes. I look heavier with the five pounds,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm not comfortable. Do you know why my body
<v Speaker 1>composition is going in the wrong direction? Any suggestions for
<v Speaker 1>me to get back to my size eight genes? Thank
<v Speaker 1>you so much, well, Patty.
<v Speaker 2>First of all, as we age, unfortunately, our bodies just change, yeap.
<v Speaker 2>Unless you are actively working to build and maintain and
<v Speaker 2>or build muscle, add muscle weight to your body. We
<v Speaker 2>just it's just inherent. We lose muscle mass as we age,
<v Speaker 2>and after menopause we do start to distribute and hold
<v Speaker 2>on to fat on our body differently than prior to menopause.
<v Speaker 1>Is all women, not just intermittent fasting women. This is
<v Speaker 1>right being a woman.
<v Speaker 2>That's right. And so you know, because of that, it
<v Speaker 2>may require you to do some tweaking. You know. We
<v Speaker 2>notice three pounds of muscle is way more compact than
<v Speaker 2>three pounds of fat, right, so you may feel that
<v Speaker 2>five pounds of fat is showing up significantly for you.
<v Speaker 2>I would really have you look back at when you
<v Speaker 2>were actively losing weight. What were you doing and since then,
<v Speaker 2>have you had a little bit more window creep? Are
<v Speaker 2>you enjoying more indulgent foods in your windows? Has your
<v Speaker 2>activity changed? You know, I know it's been really hot
<v Speaker 2>this summer in Atlanta, So have you stopped going out
<v Speaker 2>walking and like you used to do when it was cooler?
<v Speaker 2>You know? Have you have you had you know, some
<v Speaker 2>extra celebrations, vacations, those little things. You know, they can
<v Speaker 2>put on a few pounds here and there and then
<v Speaker 2>suddenly you look and you're like, oh, my maintenance weight
<v Speaker 2>is now five pounds heavier. So really, my biggest suggestion
<v Speaker 2>to you is to really keep an eye on your
<v Speaker 2>food quality. It could be if you're having lots of
<v Speaker 2>long windows on the weekends that is preventing your body
<v Speaker 2>from you know, shifting into fat burning come Monday to stay. So,
<v Speaker 2>how are you feeling while you're fasting? Are you still
<v Speaker 2>feeling energetic? Are you still fasting with ease? Those can
<v Speaker 2>be signs as to what your body is doing during
<v Speaker 2>the fast. And then, like I've said before, get active.
<v Speaker 2>If you're not active, that can make a world of
<v Speaker 2>difference in your body and your body composition. So yeah,
<v Speaker 2>food quality, tighten up your weekends and get active again.
<v Speaker 2>It's so important and I believe that's all I have.
<v Speaker 2>Do you have any other ideas, Jen.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, And I want to talk about the myth of
<v Speaker 1>maintenance being one weight that you just stay at forever.
<v Speaker 1>Maintenance is a range and it sounds patty like you
<v Speaker 1>are at the high end of your range and you
<v Speaker 1>don't like it because your clothes don't fit, and so
<v Speaker 1>you've passed beyond it into the next level where you're
<v Speaker 1>having to buy new clothes, so you're actively gaining a
<v Speaker 1>little bit more. So, Maintenance is not just you get
<v Speaker 1>to a weight. You keep doing what you're doing. You're
<v Speaker 1>lack and you stay there. Maintenance is also vigilance and
<v Speaker 1>when its diligence, well it said diligence and vigilance. You
<v Speaker 1>got to be vigilant, and then you've got to be
<v Speaker 1>digit what diligious I've lost, you know, when you start
<v Speaker 1>saying words and you're like, what word even is that? Anyway?
<v Speaker 1>So when your pants start getting tight, you have to
<v Speaker 1>tighten up what you're doing. And you know I've been maintaining.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I started fasting in twenty fourteen. It is
<v Speaker 1>now twenty twenty five. I hit my initial goal in
<v Speaker 1>twenty fifteen. So I've been maintaining now for over ten years.
<v Speaker 1>And of course I don't weigh anymore, but my clothes
<v Speaker 1>tell me when my jeens start getting tight, it's time
<v Speaker 1>for me to tighten up. And that happens probably a
<v Speaker 1>couple times a year. I don't like make a big
<v Speaker 1>deal about it or freak out about it, but it happens.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, whoop. I'm kind of at the upper end
<v Speaker 1>of my maintenance range right now, Sherry, Right, And.
<v Speaker 2>You're like, well, I've enjoyed a lot of really delicious
<v Speaker 2>ice cream.
<v Speaker 1>I've had a lot of people visit and I took
<v Speaker 1>every one of them to the cup and cone and
<v Speaker 1>serve side. I had more ice cream, I had more
<v Speaker 1>restaurant meals. I'm getting ready to go to Florida for
<v Speaker 1>eight nights, and you know what, when I get back,
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to be tightening it up for a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>But I'm not going to ever feel deprived or like
<v Speaker 1>I'm dieting. At no point have I felt like I
<v Speaker 1>was dieting. I just know, Okay, time to stop buying
<v Speaker 1>heavy cream and keeping it in my fridge. Time to
<v Speaker 1>go a little more veggie centered meals, not eating out
<v Speaker 1>the ice cream season is over, and that's just how
<v Speaker 1>it works for me. It's balance, and so the vigilance
<v Speaker 1>means that you don't get to the point where you
<v Speaker 1>have to buy another size up without noticing you're about
<v Speaker 1>to get there, and then you tighten up. But maintenance
<v Speaker 1>does require some work, and when you start getting up there,
<v Speaker 1>you got to bring it back down. And for me,
<v Speaker 1>it's just simple things. I know that too much butter,
<v Speaker 1>too much cream, too much cheese, too much restaurant meals,
<v Speaker 1>too much ice cream. That's it. Knock those things out
<v Speaker 1>for a bit. I'm still eating a little devious food.
<v Speaker 1>I will never not eat delicious food, right and I'm
<v Speaker 1>never going to do anything that feels like I'm dieting. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but I mean I don't tighten up.
<v Speaker 2>I was going to say too. You know, if you're
<v Speaker 2>a person and you're very socially active on the weekends
<v Speaker 2>and that's why you're having longer windows on the weekend,
<v Speaker 2>you might be one who's like, Okay, well I don't
<v Speaker 2>want to change what I'm doing, but you might add
<v Speaker 2>in a meal less Monday, and you know, have it
<v Speaker 2>to day on Monday, and an up day on a Tuesday,
<v Speaker 2>and that'll help you burn through any excess glycogen that
<v Speaker 2>you have added over the long weekend windows. And you
<v Speaker 2>know that'll encourage your body to shift into fat burning
<v Speaker 2>on Monday, and then on Tuesday you get your little
<v Speaker 2>metabolic boost from that up day, And all of that
<v Speaker 2>is going to be helpful too as far as shifting
<v Speaker 2>your weight and getting that extra few pounds.
<v Speaker 1>Off, yep, exactly. And you know it's going to take
<v Speaker 1>a little time, but don't stress about it, and know
<v Speaker 1>that you have the tools, and you know, I'm going
<v Speaker 1>to Florida, like I said, for eight days, I am
<v Speaker 1>planning to stick to one meal a day most of
<v Speaker 1>the Day's not when I'm flying, because I like to
<v Speaker 1>eat when I'm on my layover because I get airsick
<v Speaker 1>when I land. My inner ear stuff. But when we're there,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to snack around the pool at two
<v Speaker 1>in the afternoon and have the charcootery and then go
<v Speaker 1>out for a big dinner at eight pm. I'm just
<v Speaker 1>gonna wait till we go to the dinner. And that
<v Speaker 1>last year I didn't do that. I opened up my
<v Speaker 1>normal time of two. Then my windows stretched longer every day,
<v Speaker 1>big restaurant meal every day. These are my friends that
<v Speaker 1>love to eat as much as I do, and I
<v Speaker 1>just can't do that for eight days.
<v Speaker 2>Not gonna yep, all right, So our next submission is
<v Speaker 2>both a lesson in the Clean Fast and a question.
<v Speaker 2>This is from Melanie and Huntington Beach, California. She says, Hello,
<v Speaker 2>I've been fasting since November twenty twenty two. I have
<v Speaker 2>been cleaned fasting very easily and love the lifestyle. I
<v Speaker 2>have experienced hypogocenia since my early twenties, and I dreamed
<v Speaker 2>of not eating all day, having to plan my meals,
<v Speaker 2>knowing when my next feeding will be, or having to
<v Speaker 2>have food in my purse that would feed a family
<v Speaker 2>of four. An acquaintance told me about the Glucose Revolution book,
<v Speaker 2>and little did I know, it would change my life
<v Speaker 2>forever and be the gateway for my IF lifestyle. Eating
<v Speaker 2>vegetables before every meal, as the book suggests, made it
<v Speaker 2>so that I did not have to eat constantly all
<v Speaker 2>day long. I have never been one to eat in
<v Speaker 2>the morning or before my workout, so that was easy
<v Speaker 2>for me. Around mid afternoon, I would eat my first
<v Speaker 2>meal that started with grazing on a salader veggies, then
<v Speaker 2>an entree, and often with dessert after I would be
<v Speaker 2>full for the entire evening. After a few weeks, I
<v Speaker 2>realized that I was intermittent fasting. Shortly after, I found
<v Speaker 2>fast FeAs Repeat on YouTube. After reading that, I realized
<v Speaker 2>that my gum had to go, which was very easy.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know my weight at that time, but it
<v Speaker 2>was somewhere around one hundred and fifty five and I
<v Speaker 2>am five foot eight and fifty two years old. I
<v Speaker 2>was able to lose a few pounds and I could
<v Speaker 2>help on my clothes and how I felt, and when
<v Speaker 2>I was very pleased. I did not change my diet
<v Speaker 2>at all, and I was thrilled that I could eat
<v Speaker 2>dessert every day and maintain my weight while eating one
<v Speaker 2>meal a day, usually over a four to five hour
<v Speaker 2>eating window. I'm happy to tell anyone who will listen
<v Speaker 2>about if. And I kept giving away my fast Piece
<v Speaker 2>Repeat books, so I'd always buy a new one to
<v Speaker 2>give to the next person who was interested. Things were
<v Speaker 2>going well, except I was not losing weight, which I
<v Speaker 2>now know was because of my food choices and eating
<v Speaker 2>those desserts every day. But I was maintaining around one
<v Speaker 2>hundred and forty six pounds last June of twenty twenty four,
<v Speaker 2>my acupuncture has instructed me to spray a homeopathic topical
<v Speaker 2>spray under my tongue for extra benefits. I told her
<v Speaker 2>that I could not do that as I am a faster,
<v Speaker 2>and she told me that it's only water and it
<v Speaker 2>would be safe for fasting. I trust her and have
<v Speaker 2>been a patient for nearly twenty years. I'm sure I
<v Speaker 2>do not need to tell you, and that you can
<v Speaker 2>guess what my next sentence will be. It actually took
<v Speaker 2>months until I realized I was dirty fasting, which is
<v Speaker 2>not fasting at all, sad face. I was struggling immensely,
<v Speaker 2>as I had zero energy every day and I could
<v Speaker 2>barely lift my arms some days. My fasting protocol had
<v Speaker 2>been one meal a day the entire time, except for
<v Speaker 2>a couple weeks where I had two meals. There were
<v Speaker 2>many days I was not able to work or get
<v Speaker 2>off the couch and go to the gym, which was
<v Speaker 2>always very easy for me. I did not know it
<v Speaker 2>was wrong with me, and my friends and family suggest
<v Speaker 2>I go to the doctor. I'd lapsed and everything was normal.
<v Speaker 2>It wasn't until mid December that I realized the spray
<v Speaker 2>that I was spraying under my tongue was a culprit.
<v Speaker 2>Every single morning, I was unknowingly breaking my fast and
<v Speaker 2>because I had two years under my belt, it was
<v Speaker 2>very easy for me to fast twenty four hours and
<v Speaker 2>average nineteen to twenty six hours fasted every day. When
<v Speaker 2>I was not well during those months, everyone suggested that
<v Speaker 2>I eat, but I was adamant that I did not
<v Speaker 2>have to because I'm a faster and that fasting is
<v Speaker 2>good for me and easy. Thank God for this podcast
<v Speaker 2>because listening to it something clicked. One day when Sherry
<v Speaker 2>mentioned feeling like you're in a coma because of lowlood sugar,
<v Speaker 2>that is exactly how I felt every day. I must
<v Speaker 2>mention that I'm on HRT and even removed my estrogen
<v Speaker 2>patch thinking it had something to do with my lethargy.
<v Speaker 2>It did not make a difference, so I put the
<v Speaker 2>patch back on. You both are talking every day about
<v Speaker 2>clean fasting and making sure people check that they clean
<v Speaker 2>fast and for me, it is like a broken record.
<v Speaker 2>As I would have thought I would be the last
<v Speaker 2>person to be tricked into dirty fasting, and for months
<v Speaker 2>at that. I hope it shows how dedicated I am
<v Speaker 2>as a faster that I would literally push through every
<v Speaker 2>single day for months and months, feeling awful and continuing
<v Speaker 2>to fast because I knew it wasn't my fasting that
<v Speaker 2>was bad for me. A lot of realizations came to
<v Speaker 2>me near the same time. For instance, I have very
<v Speaker 2>dry skin, and I have since I was a little
<v Speaker 2>girl being a faster. I am very proud of myself
<v Speaker 2>that I don't need my heels scraped anymore while getting
<v Speaker 2>a pedicure. So when I noticed that my heels were
<v Speaker 2>making a crunchy sound on my bed sheets, I knew
<v Speaker 2>something was wrong as I was not getting the benefits
<v Speaker 2>from fasting. Another very unfortunate thing happened to me during
<v Speaker 2>this time, and I gave into twelve pounds up to
<v Speaker 2>one hundred and fifty eight and I could no longer
<v Speaker 2>fit into ninety percent of my genes. I give you
<v Speaker 2>this background to let you know I'm finally doing ADF.
<v Speaker 2>I have heard you both suggest it when people are
<v Speaker 2>at plateaus, as I have not lost the extra weight
<v Speaker 2>for nearly four months after resuming clean fasting at one
<v Speaker 2>meal a day, and I actually gained another five pounds
<v Speaker 2>to reach one hundred and sixty three pounds. The lowest
<v Speaker 2>weight that I see in my Happy Scale app is
<v Speaker 2>one hundred and forty three. Back in March of twenty
<v Speaker 2>twenty three, I stepped away from the scale because I
<v Speaker 2>would let the number determine my happiness for the day.
<v Speaker 2>I am using the scale now because I'm optimistic about
<v Speaker 2>ADF helping me to take off these extra pounds. So,
<v Speaker 2>finally to my question on the up day, is it
<v Speaker 2>better to have a ten hour or twelve hour eating window?
<v Speaker 2>I noticed for the metabolk boost, but I'm wondering what
<v Speaker 2>will help me get the weight off. I am very
<v Speaker 2>process oriented and I like to stick to a program,
<v Speaker 2>even though weight Watchers, twice, calorie counting and keto never
<v Speaker 2>worked for me to drop weight. I'm hoping you don't
<v Speaker 2>tell me to do whatever works for me, because I
<v Speaker 2>can easily do either. I'm looking for some guidance as
<v Speaker 2>I don't have any one close to me who fasts.
<v Speaker 2>I'm a member of your community and I love to
<v Speaker 2>check in and get support there as it is wonderful
<v Speaker 2>to summarize. I just started ADF and I've only completed
<v Speaker 2>ten days My protocol is up day, down day repeat.
<v Speaker 2>I'm so appreciative of any answers and guidance you both
<v Speaker 2>can give.
<v Speaker 1>All Right, one thing I would say, and this is
<v Speaker 1>just a little, tiny, little minor wording tweak here. Instead
<v Speaker 1>of thinking of it as upday, down day repeat, think
<v Speaker 1>of it as down day repeat. We don't need to
<v Speaker 1>have an upday before a down day, although if you're alternating,
<v Speaker 1>you're going to, but you must have an upday after
<v Speaker 1>a down day. So that's just a little thing. Down day,
<v Speaker 1>upday repeat. Okay, So you know, I love that you
<v Speaker 1>shared this, Melanie, because every day we see people in
<v Speaker 1>the community who are struggling and they're fast and not
<v Speaker 1>feeling and we say, are you taking any medicine? Is
<v Speaker 1>there anything you could be doing, and that they don't
<v Speaker 1>think of stuff like what they might be spraying under
<v Speaker 1>their tongue that their homeopathic doctor asked them to take, right,
<v Speaker 1>And so those are all the little kinds of tiny
<v Speaker 1>things that may seem tiny, but they're making a huge difference.
<v Speaker 1>So it was breaking your fast and that sent you
<v Speaker 1>down into a spiral of not feeling good during your
<v Speaker 1>fast for months. So I'm glad that you figured it out.
<v Speaker 1>And also that when you went back to the clean
<v Speaker 1>fast you started feeling better. That's really good good to hear.
<v Speaker 1>So that's how you can tell that was it. You
<v Speaker 1>felt bad while you were using it, as soon as
<v Speaker 1>you stopped using it, you feel better. That's a good sign.
<v Speaker 1>So I would say twelve hour up days with three meals.
<v Speaker 1>Just keep it simple, you know when we tend to
<v Speaker 1>think that, well, for trying to lose weight, then I
<v Speaker 1>know ten would be better than twelve because you're gonna
<v Speaker 1>eat less than ten than you eight and twelve. But
<v Speaker 1>then you'd have to remember why we're doing the up day.
<v Speaker 1>The up day is not the weight loss day. It
<v Speaker 1>is the metabolic boost day. So you're not going to
<v Speaker 1>eat twice as much food as your body needs over
<v Speaker 1>a twelve hour period, and so it's going to balance out.
<v Speaker 1>We lose fat on the down day, we metabolic boost
<v Speaker 1>on the up day. Air on the side of longer versus.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And I want to jump in two because sometimes
<v Speaker 2>people think, just like you, that oh, the shorter the upday,
<v Speaker 2>the better, and so they're trying to squeeze three meals
<v Speaker 2>in into eight hours or ten hours, and they're miserable,
<v Speaker 2>and they often are like, I just can't eat three meals.
<v Speaker 2>Only two meals on my upday works for me. Well,
<v Speaker 2>when you're trying to get your three meals in a
<v Speaker 2>really in a short period of time, you're also really overwriting,
<v Speaker 2>like listening to your body, listening to satiety. There's this
<v Speaker 2>kind of push to like, oh, I've got to hurry
<v Speaker 2>up and eat this, and then people are like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I'm miserable in the evening. But if you simply relax
<v Speaker 2>into your upday, wake up in the morning, don't make
<v Speaker 2>it a race to resume fasting, use the entire day.
<v Speaker 2>Eat breakfast, stop when satisfied, have lunch, stop when satisfied,
<v Speaker 2>have dinner, stop when satisfied. It really just kind of
<v Speaker 2>takes that kind of frantic energy out of the up day,
<v Speaker 2>and you're going to be so much more comfortable a
<v Speaker 2>time and time again. When people try to have too
<v Speaker 2>short a window, they're trying to make sure they get
<v Speaker 2>all their nutrients in. They're trying to, you know, do this,
<v Speaker 2>and they want to eat all the things they want
<v Speaker 2>to eat. But then you don't feel well and then
<v Speaker 2>you think, oh, adfs not for me, or people like oh,
<v Speaker 2>adfs not to me because I eat too much on
<v Speaker 2>the up day. But if you can relax into the upday,
<v Speaker 2>it's so much more comfortable.
<v Speaker 1>Spread it out.
<v Speaker 2>I literally cannot do a full update in less than
<v Speaker 2>probably ten and a half hours, So.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, spread it out, give yourself time, let it rest
<v Speaker 1>between the meals. On the flip side, though, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't go out and get like milkshakes and ice,
<v Speaker 1>and you're not just like trying to eat as much
<v Speaker 1>food as you can get in right you want to.
<v Speaker 1>I like the way you described it as a nice
<v Speaker 1>breakfast and then you stop when you're satisfied. I wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>have a tiny breakfast. I wouldn't have like a yogurt
<v Speaker 1>with a little sprinkle of granola on top. That's a
<v Speaker 1>tiny breakfast. Don't have a diet breakfast, have a hearty breakfast. Yeah. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>And now it's time for our segment called what's your Why.
<v Speaker 1>Most of us have weight loss in mind when we
<v Speaker 1>get started. That's a great reason to do intermittent fasting,
<v Speaker 1>but there is so much more to what intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>can do for us beyond weight loss, And I genuinely
<v Speaker 1>believe that if your why is deeper than weight loss alone,
<v Speaker 1>You're more likely to find long term success and view
<v Speaker 1>intermittent fasting as a lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>This week we have a why from Julien titled My
<v Speaker 2>Why because it Truly Works. I had a visit with
<v Speaker 2>my nurse practitioner yesterday. I had been discouraged recently because
<v Speaker 2>she put me on amlodipene a month ago because my
<v Speaker 2>resting heart rate was so low of forty to five
<v Speaker 2>fifty beats per minute. I had thought it was just
<v Speaker 2>because of IF, but she didn't like it, so she
<v Speaker 2>did an EKG and then put me on the medication.
<v Speaker 2>My blood pressure was also high, so I'm not able
<v Speaker 2>to get off that medication quite yet. But yesterday I
<v Speaker 2>went back for a check on the medication and my
<v Speaker 2>blood pressure. With the meds and also losing even more weight,
<v Speaker 2>my blood pressure and pulse were perfect. The even more
<v Speaker 2>fun part is that she told me that my blood
<v Speaker 2>work from four weeks ago was perfect. My blood sugar,
<v Speaker 2>my kidney function, my liver function, my electrolytes. She showed
<v Speaker 2>me the past few years results and wow, it is
<v Speaker 2>amazing to see the blood sugar be in a healthy range.
<v Speaker 2>I used to be on met Foreman and I have
<v Speaker 2>been off that for a year. I have been intermittent
<v Speaker 2>fasting for fourteen months. I'm down fifty seven pounds with
<v Speaker 2>thirty to forty more to go, but my health is
<v Speaker 2>already better at one hundred and ninety pounds heavy. Just
<v Speaker 2>imagine how much healing will continue between now and my
<v Speaker 2>goal and maintenance weight. Our bodies love IF and I
<v Speaker 2>am so grateful to have found it.
<v Speaker 1>That is fantastic to lean Wow. I mean, you can't
<v Speaker 1>argue with those test results getting better health plan with
<v Speaker 1>the side effective weight loss. Even if you never lost
<v Speaker 1>another pound, you wouldn't want to stop doing intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>for those health benefits.
<v Speaker 2>All right, So we have a question from Andrea of
<v Speaker 2>Portuguese living in the Black Forest of Germany. Dear Gin
<v Speaker 2>and Cherry. First, I want to thank the universe for
<v Speaker 2>finding your podcast. It's truly a blessing. I'm forty four
<v Speaker 2>years old and I'm not new to intermittent fasting. The
<v Speaker 2>first time I tried this lifestyle was three years ago,
<v Speaker 2>where I had extraordinary results. I managed to lose fifteen
<v Speaker 2>kilos in four months. But I had no idea about
<v Speaker 2>clean fasting, and like Gin, I had what's called diet brain.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't eat fruit because experts said it had too
<v Speaker 2>much sugar. I didn't eat beans, bread, rice, potatoes, or
<v Speaker 2>dairy products, all because I listened to these types of
<v Speaker 2>opinions not to mention how I should fast when I
<v Speaker 2>was on my minstrl cycle, which led to me having
<v Speaker 2>a huge binge after getting the desired results and going
<v Speaker 2>on vacation. And then you can imagine what happened. I've
<v Speaker 2>listened to a lot of episodes of your podcast, and
<v Speaker 2>my god, it's been an eye opener and change of thinking.
<v Speaker 2>I discovered that I don't work well with prohibitions, and
<v Speaker 2>that was the number one reason I didn't continue. I'm
<v Speaker 2>currently in my first month of fasting, and yes, you
<v Speaker 2>can see and feel the change. I'm not going to
<v Speaker 2>lie and say that I'm not doing it to lose weight,
<v Speaker 2>because I do want to lose ten kilos, but I'm
<v Speaker 2>here for the energy, the clarity of thoughts, and everything
<v Speaker 2>that fasting makes me feel. I feel that this time
<v Speaker 2>I'll be able to maintain this lifestyle because I don't
<v Speaker 2>prohibit myself from anything, which means that my attitudes towards
<v Speaker 2>food is relaxed and not repressive. As of Portuguese. I
<v Speaker 2>have a healthy diet, very Mediterranean, with lots of veggies, fish, meat,
<v Speaker 2>and fruits. That was never the problem. I have a
<v Speaker 2>sweet tooth and I love, love, love bread with a
<v Speaker 2>heavy coat of butter and jam first thing in the morning.
<v Speaker 2>You can imagine how the rest of the day went
<v Speaker 2>after that. I am one hundred and sixty eight centimeters
<v Speaker 2>and at the moment seventy six kilos. My goal is
<v Speaker 2>to be at sixty three kilos and that is when
<v Speaker 2>I feel my best. I question to both of you
<v Speaker 2>is related to vacations, because in two months I'm going
<v Speaker 2>on three week vacation and to be fully honest, I'm
<v Speaker 2>a little scared of not sticking to my fasting window.
<v Speaker 2>Can you please touch on this subject of fasting and
<v Speaker 2>enjoying at the same time your vacations. Thank you, girls
<v Speaker 2>for everything that you're putting into the world about health
<v Speaker 2>and living our best life. Ps. I will be joining
<v Speaker 2>the community and I.
<v Speaker 1>Look forward to seeing you there. And for anybody who's wondering,
<v Speaker 1>go to Jen Stevens dot com slash community and you
<v Speaker 1>can find it. And there's also always a Lincoln Show notes.
<v Speaker 1>All right, so three week vacation. You're right to worry
<v Speaker 1>because you definitely don't want to stop fasting for three weeks.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, I'm usually a little more relaxed when
<v Speaker 1>I go on vacation. But like I mentioned of minutes ago,
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to Florida for eight nights. And last year
<v Speaker 1>when I went to Florida for eight nights, I opened
<v Speaker 1>my window at my normal time most days, two o'clock
<v Speaker 1>and snacked around the pool, snacked in the condo, snacked
<v Speaker 1>wherever we were. Maybe he had would have been considered
<v Speaker 1>a light lunch, but then we went out to a
<v Speaker 1>really big dinner every night, and I had a really
<v Speaker 1>big dinner every night. By the end of that trip,
<v Speaker 1>I was feeling sluggish. I was napping in the afternoon
<v Speaker 1>around the pool. I felt real heavy in my clothes.
<v Speaker 1>And I came back and I said, well, I'm not
<v Speaker 1>doing that next year. So I have a different plan
<v Speaker 1>this year. I learned it the hard way because I
<v Speaker 1>had not been on a trip that was eight nights
<v Speaker 1>the whole time I've been in in passing that the
<v Speaker 1>longest trip I went on. And so this year I'll
<v Speaker 1>probably eat two meals on travel days. But when we
<v Speaker 1>were at the condo, I am going to wait until
<v Speaker 1>we go to dinner to open my window, and I'm
<v Speaker 1>going to enjoy the heck out of it, because literally,
<v Speaker 1>anything we're around snacking on, I've had that before. Right,
<v Speaker 1>There's not a single thing they're going to be snacking
<v Speaker 1>on that is going to be something that I like,
<v Speaker 1>haven't eaten in my life, and we'll never get to
<v Speaker 1>eat again. I do not need to eat a snack
<v Speaker 1>at two o'clock in months through the afternoon because if
<v Speaker 1>I actually a little bit that I'm really hungry, and
<v Speaker 1>now we're not eating dinner till eight pm because these
<v Speaker 1>friends like to go out late instead of not meeting
<v Speaker 1>even more because I'm hungry, Whereas if I keep fasting,
<v Speaker 1>I won't be hungry till we get to dinner and
<v Speaker 1>then I'll eat my good meal and that'll be it.
<v Speaker 1>And we also stay up too late for me, so
<v Speaker 1>I won't be like going straight to bed at none
<v Speaker 1>like I normally do. But it's just a matter of
<v Speaker 1>wanting to feel good on the trip. I mean, it
<v Speaker 1>didn't ruin my life. I came back and got back
<v Speaker 1>on my regular plan, and I was fine, but I
<v Speaker 1>didn't feel my best and I also don't weigh I
<v Speaker 1>don't know how much my weight might have gone up.
<v Speaker 1>No big deal, you know, I'm still fitning in my clothes.
<v Speaker 1>But I don't want to feel like that again. So
<v Speaker 1>I completely don't want to repeat what I did last year,
<v Speaker 1>and I have a new plan for it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And it sounds to me she was fasting well
<v Speaker 2>and then she went on vacation before and kind of
<v Speaker 2>maybe lost the plot and we hear this. Yeah, so
<v Speaker 2>I think it's really important before your vacation to really like,
<v Speaker 2>I know, you don't do good with you know, prohibition,
<v Speaker 2>as you say. For me, it's really about making sure
<v Speaker 2>that my actions align with my goals. And my goals
<v Speaker 2>are to feel good, to have great energy, to sleep well.
<v Speaker 2>And I don't want to come back from vacation because
<v Speaker 2>I've done this my very first cruise as a faster
<v Speaker 2>long windows alcohol dessert every night, and I came back
<v Speaker 2>and felt horrible and I really felt like I had
<v Speaker 2>the flu for three days. I couldn't get off the
<v Speaker 2>couch until the third day, and I felt that switch
<v Speaker 2>flip again and then I'm like, oh, oh, that's how
<v Speaker 2>I'm supposed to feel right, and I learned really quickly.
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to go through those three sluggish days
<v Speaker 2>of feeling lethargic, not having energy, and not being alert.
<v Speaker 2>So to me, it is not a compromise. It is
<v Speaker 2>not me missing out because I choose to keep a
<v Speaker 2>tight window on vacation. You know, if there's a day
<v Speaker 2>that there's a really fabulous lunch and I'm not going
<v Speaker 2>to ever get to experience that again, sure, I might
<v Speaker 2>have a two meal day exactly, but on a five
<v Speaker 2>or six day trip, I'm probably going to do that once.
<v Speaker 2>On a five day trip have two meals. For the
<v Speaker 2>most part, I like to still stick with one full
<v Speaker 2>meal and really thoroughly enjoy it and make sure it's
<v Speaker 2>window worthy.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like when y'all came to visit me, You and
<v Speaker 1>Roxy came to visit early July. One day we did
<v Speaker 1>go out twice, but every other day we just had
<v Speaker 1>one meal a day. We went to a restaurant and
<v Speaker 1>had a meal. Yes, and that was.
<v Speaker 2>It, and that was very satisfying.
<v Speaker 1>It was we had great meals. We weren't restricted at all,
<v Speaker 1>whereas the year before I would have the shark eater
<v Speaker 1>in the afternoon and we did a little right nacking.
<v Speaker 1>But this year, I was like, I didn't even get
<v Speaker 1>all that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we didn't miss it at all.
<v Speaker 1>I thought, y'all was people lazy. I was like, I'm
<v Speaker 1>not getting all that. If they want it, we can
<v Speaker 1>go get it once they get here. But we didn't
<v Speaker 1>do it. We just went out at ate and it
<v Speaker 1>was fine. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Well, and I told some of a community once they
<v Speaker 2>were worried about vacation, I've been having a good time without,
<v Speaker 2>you know, while maintaining a window or whatever. And I said,
<v Speaker 2>you know, I think the point of vacation is have
<v Speaker 2>such a great time with the people you're at and
<v Speaker 2>exploring where you're vacationing at. The food is the last
<v Speaker 2>thing on your mind.
<v Speaker 1>Now, I'm going to enjoy the dinner every night. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not going to say it's the last thing on my
<v Speaker 1>mind going out to eat of these ones.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I meant day during the day that's not going
<v Speaker 2>to be late and yeah, yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So we have a question from Closing Trouble
<v Speaker 1>in California. Hello, Jen and Sherry. Thank you ladies for
<v Speaker 1>producing such a fun and helpful intermittten fasting podcast. I
<v Speaker 1>started IF right after Thanksgiving for about four months now,
<v Speaker 1>and I've really been enjoying it. I do a daily window,
<v Speaker 1>ranging anywhere from five to eight hours. I typically in
<v Speaker 1>my windows somewhere between two to four PM, and I
<v Speaker 1>aim to close by ten PM. I am forty one
<v Speaker 1>five foot four and I weigh around one twenty eight.
<v Speaker 1>I tossed my scale during the first twenty eight days,
<v Speaker 1>and I honestly never brought it back into my life.
<v Speaker 1>I have noticed so many other health benefits since I started,
<v Speaker 1>such as my genes size dropping. I feel better in
<v Speaker 1>my clothes, I have more energy. I'm thrilled with my
<v Speaker 1>new lifestyle. I never had much weight to lose when
<v Speaker 1>I started, and I've chronically been one of those five
<v Speaker 1>to ten pounds over my goal weight people. But I
<v Speaker 1>was tired of constantly having to analyze what and when
<v Speaker 1>I ate. Intermittent fasting gives me freedom to eat what
<v Speaker 1>I want during my window, and also the freedom to
<v Speaker 1>not have to make any decisions during my fasting, not
<v Speaker 1>to mention the significant money I'm saving from not buying
<v Speaker 1>lattes every time I was out and about like I
<v Speaker 1>used to. I am an emergency medicine physician. I work
<v Speaker 1>many overnights and late nights. I have always been a
<v Speaker 1>zero to one hundred work hard, play hard, all or
<v Speaker 1>none kind of person, which actually works really well with
<v Speaker 1>intermittent fasting. My struggle is closing my window. Once I
<v Speaker 1>get going on my days off, I find it very
<v Speaker 1>hard to close my window, and I often close later
<v Speaker 1>than I intend to, or I just keep eating or
<v Speaker 1>drinking one last glass of wine up until bed. If
<v Speaker 1>I'm watching TV with my husband and he is still snacking,
<v Speaker 1>I find I want to have more dessert or another
<v Speaker 1>glass of wine. Are there any tips or tricks you
<v Speaker 1>can provide that help facilitate closing the window and what
<v Speaker 1>to do after your window closes and when you want
<v Speaker 1>to sip something? Do you give yourself some kind of
<v Speaker 1>countdown on when the window closes to get all of
<v Speaker 1>your last snacks and drinks in. Any tips or tricks
<v Speaker 1>or advice would be greatly appreciated. I searched and couldn't
<v Speaker 1>find any advice on tips for window closing, so I
<v Speaker 1>figured I should ask thanks again and keep being amazing.
<v Speaker 2>Well. I have a two part answer. One, if you're
<v Speaker 2>using dessert or wine as a way to now a
<v Speaker 2>lot of times people use wine as a way to
<v Speaker 2>unwind before bed, but really it really negatively impacts your sleep.
<v Speaker 2>And as a physician, I know that you know that,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm not preaching to you, but I would really
<v Speaker 2>suggest finding a different way to unwind at the end
<v Speaker 2>of your day. We all love to sit around after
<v Speaker 2>dinner and have a glass of wine or I like
<v Speaker 2>to have a glass of craft beer, but I also
<v Speaker 2>know it does not help me with weight loss, and
<v Speaker 2>it also makes me not sleep well. So then the
<v Speaker 2>next day I am not well rested, and I don't
<v Speaker 2>make as good a choices in my window, and I
<v Speaker 2>struggle with hunger the next day. And we want fasting
<v Speaker 2>to feel easy, we want to feel great while we're fasting.
<v Speaker 2>So for me, it's just over the years, that's been
<v Speaker 2>something that has really I've weeded out of my eating windows. So, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>can you come up with some different kind of way
<v Speaker 2>to unwind at the end of the day with your husband,
<v Speaker 2>Like maybe you could take a walk together, or maybe
<v Speaker 2>you could rub each other's feet, or take a relaxing
<v Speaker 2>bath and listen to some music, or you know, find
<v Speaker 2>a new wind down activity. And then the other thing
<v Speaker 2>is if you know that you just struggle to get
<v Speaker 2>your window closed. I would delay opening your eating window.
<v Speaker 2>So if you're trying to close your window by ten
<v Speaker 2>pm and you want a five hour eating window, don't
<v Speaker 2>open your window prior to five pm. Just make that
<v Speaker 2>your hard and fast rule. Rather than saying, oh, it's afternoon,
<v Speaker 2>it's time to open my window, and then your windows
<v Speaker 2>get too long. Really set yourself up by success by
<v Speaker 2>looking at your day ahead. What time do I think
<v Speaker 2>I can realistically close my window today? Okay, it's going
<v Speaker 2>to be ten o'clock. Okay, don't open your window till
<v Speaker 2>five pm, and then you're setting yourself up for success
<v Speaker 2>that way.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that's great. And you know, I go
<v Speaker 1>back to doctor Burt Hearing in his fast five approach,
<v Speaker 1>and doctor Burt Hearing his window was five pm to
<v Speaker 1>ten pm, and he worked. I think he worked at
<v Speaker 1>the National Institute of Health in their metabolic division, and
<v Speaker 1>he was like a doctor. But I think he I think,
<v Speaker 1>if I'm remembering correctly, that's where he worked. And so
<v Speaker 1>his window of choice was five hours from five pm
<v Speaker 1>until ten pm. And so I was thinking the exact
<v Speaker 1>same thing. If you want to have those evenings where
<v Speaker 1>you're snacking until later and you don't want to close
<v Speaker 1>till ten. You just have to open later. And that's
<v Speaker 1>the thing you get to decide. But you do have
<v Speaker 1>to decide one or the other. You either have to
<v Speaker 1>delay or you have to deny. Let's a pick one.
<v Speaker 1>And since we don't want to deny, you just have
<v Speaker 1>to nail that delay. And I know that's only not
<v Speaker 1>happening every single day, you know, you don't have those
<v Speaker 1>long stretched evenings of relaxing and having the line seven
<v Speaker 1>days a week, maybe just on the weekend, but on
<v Speaker 1>other days when you want to close maybe earlier. You
<v Speaker 1>want to close by seven, and you're still going to
<v Speaker 1>have sitting on the couch watching TV with your husband,
<v Speaker 1>but you want to close at seven. You know. For me,
<v Speaker 1>I find having a clean, fast approved beverage makes a difference.
<v Speaker 2>You know.
<v Speaker 1>I go to trivia on Thursdays with my trivia friends,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't really like the food at the place
<v Speaker 1>where we go, and so I've really just not been
<v Speaker 1>eating there. I just sip on club soda, I eat
<v Speaker 1>before I go. I actually close my window by five
<v Speaker 1>on trivia nights now and I sip on the club
<v Speaker 1>soda while we're there. I don't get club soda with
<v Speaker 1>lum I just get regular club soda. And so I'm
<v Speaker 1>fasting the whole time. They're all eating their food. Literally
<v Speaker 1>everything they're eating I've eaten before. I know what that
<v Speaker 1>burger tastes like. I know what that Casadia tastes like.
<v Speaker 1>I don't want it. I'm fasting, and so I just
<v Speaker 1>keep my window closed. So having a beverage that's clean, fast,
<v Speaker 1>safe can help you put it in a wineglass if
<v Speaker 1>you want to. You know, brushing your teeth can be
<v Speaker 1>a signal that your window is closed. That works for
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people. Make yourself a mug of m
<v Speaker 1>T which is hot water, and a mug, so you're
<v Speaker 1>still doing something with your hand and with your mouth.
<v Speaker 1>You know that can make a lot of difference. So
<v Speaker 1>you know the powers in your hands to choose what
<v Speaker 1>you want to do, because you know that opening it
<v Speaker 1>too and keeping your window open late into the evening
<v Speaker 1>is not serving you well. And so you get to
<v Speaker 1>decide whether you delay opening or whether you stick to
<v Speaker 1>closing it, because for me, delaying the opening is always easier.
<v Speaker 1>That's like what I said, That's what I'm going to
<v Speaker 1>do when I'm in Florida. I'm going to delay the
<v Speaker 1>opening until later and it'll be a lot better for me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. The other idea I had too was if you
<v Speaker 2>have kind of a rotating schedule. I don't know how
<v Speaker 2>your schedules set up, but if you know on your
<v Speaker 2>day off that you are just that you enjoy along
<v Speaker 2>your eating window, you might consider doing a down day
<v Speaker 2>on your last workday so you can have an up
<v Speaker 2>day on your off day. And that's another way that
<v Speaker 2>you could set yourself up for success.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's a great idea that can make a big
<v Speaker 1>difference used to strategies that we've got. Before we get
<v Speaker 1>to our tweek of the week, I want to take
<v Speaker 1>a minute to tell you about my books. You know,
<v Speaker 1>I will always be a teacher as my main thing.
<v Speaker 1>That's what I am. I'm a teacher and now I'm
<v Speaker 1>just teaching about intermittent fasting, and so it makes me
<v Speaker 1>very happy to have a wide variety of resources for
<v Speaker 1>you no matter where you are in your intermittent fasting journey.
<v Speaker 1>You know, if you are a teacher, you've heard the
<v Speaker 1>word differentiation. That was a big buzzword when I retired.
<v Speaker 1>We differentiate for the kids, and so I have differentiated
<v Speaker 1>for you. You will want to start with Delay Don't Deny,
<v Speaker 1>which I think is the best quick introduction to intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasting out there. And the updated second edition is available
<v Speaker 1>in paperback and hardback only on Amazon, and you can
<v Speaker 1>get it an ebook and audiobook format wherever you find
<v Speaker 1>your ebooks and your audio books. And if you're thinking
<v Speaker 1>about doing ADF, that's the chapter you want to have.
<v Speaker 1>I've updated the recommendations since fast feast to repeat and
<v Speaker 1>the EIGHTF chapter is both more comprehensive, easier to understand,
<v Speaker 1>and also has the updated recommendation on the upday, which
<v Speaker 1>we have found after all these years of working with people,
<v Speaker 1>what really gives people the best results? And I love
<v Speaker 1>the success stories that are in there, all from the
<v Speaker 1>inspirational members of the Delay Don't Deny community. Maybe you're
<v Speaker 1>somebody who needs community support. You might not even realize
<v Speaker 1>that you need it. Join us for a month. Go
<v Speaker 1>to Jen Stevens dot com slash community. That link is
<v Speaker 1>in the show notes. Join us for one month. You
<v Speaker 1>can cancel if you don't like it, but I bet
<v Speaker 1>you'll like it. Start interacting with us, make some posts
<v Speaker 1>comment on the posts of others. There really is nothing
<v Speaker 1>like having that support. And Sherry, I know you saw
<v Speaker 1>Kim that came on my very first YouTube video where
<v Speaker 1>I was kind of coaching her on YouTube, and she
<v Speaker 1>was struggling with consistency, and we learned that she was
<v Speaker 1>an obliger and she has been checking into the community
<v Speaker 1>every day morning, setting up her intention for the day,
<v Speaker 1>and at the end of the day, she's telling us
<v Speaker 1>how her day went, and she has been consistent, and
<v Speaker 1>she's alsot like, I don't know, twelve to fifteen pounds.
<v Speaker 2>The second around fourteen something, you know, right before she
<v Speaker 2>met with you, is when she came back into community
<v Speaker 2>and said she was really struggling struggling. And I started
<v Speaker 2>talking to her and found out that the reason she
<v Speaker 2>was not participating in communities because she didn't feel like
<v Speaker 2>she was being successful. She only wanted to come in
<v Speaker 2>and share her wins, right, and so when things weren't
<v Speaker 2>going well for her or she wasn't finding consistency, she
<v Speaker 2>was also not checking community, which was not helping her
<v Speaker 2>find the consistency that she needed. And I'm the one
<v Speaker 2>that said, look, you know, if you're a person who
<v Speaker 2>is really good at committing to others then, so it
<v Speaker 2>didn't surprise me when it came when your video came
<v Speaker 2>out and turned out she's an abliger. After that, I said,
<v Speaker 2>check in every single morning, check in, make that commitment
<v Speaker 2>that you're going to do this day, and then I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>at the end of the day, come and check back in.
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, we're not just here for success stories. We're
<v Speaker 2>not right here to celebrate people's wins. Like we are
<v Speaker 2>here to support people, to help them build better habits
<v Speaker 2>and to give them a place to really problem solve.
<v Speaker 2>And really, since she made that commitment to do that,
<v Speaker 2>she has found so much more success and consistency.
<v Speaker 1>She has And that's why we're there. And that's just
<v Speaker 1>one more piece of the puzzle for people who need it.
<v Speaker 1>So join us in the community Jen Stevens dot com
<v Speaker 1>slash community, and we are there to support you on
<v Speaker 1>your good days and your bad days and all the
<v Speaker 1>days in between, your successes and also your challenges. And
<v Speaker 1>Sharon and I are literally there every day, yep yeap.
<v Speaker 1>So now it's time for our tweak of the week.
<v Speaker 1>And you know I always say, tweak it till it's
<v Speaker 1>easy and tweak it till it works. But the tweak
<v Speaker 1>that works for me might not be the one that
<v Speaker 1>works for you. And that's why it is super helpful
<v Speaker 1>to hear how other intermittent fasters are making intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>work for them. This is from Emma in New Hampshire.
<v Speaker 1>She says, I religiously weighed daily and did my weekly
<v Speaker 1>average for almost a year, but recently, in the last
<v Speaker 1>two months, I realized how upset I would get if
<v Speaker 1>I had a day where I was three to four
<v Speaker 1>pounds up, usually from eating at a restaurant the day before.
<v Speaker 1>Now I allow myself to skip two days a week.
<v Speaker 1>If I'm feeling extra heavy, or I just got my period,
<v Speaker 1>or I had as salty restaurant meal the day before,
<v Speaker 1>I just skip. As long as I have five days
<v Speaker 1>to average. That still feels good. Plus I don't have
<v Speaker 1>to have that bad psychological feeling of seeing it go
<v Speaker 1>up four pounds since the day before. I plan to
<v Speaker 1>skip the scale altogether once I've been in maintenance for
<v Speaker 1>six months.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Well, we love to leave you with inspiration
<v Speaker 2>or motivational quotes, and this week we have a quote
<v Speaker 2>from Pamela in Texas.
<v Speaker 1>The quote is.
<v Speaker 2>Remember to focus on the life that you desire to create.
<v Speaker 2>This is your journey. Pamela shared, I find this incredibly helpful.
<v Speaker 2>Envisioning my future self in certain clothing or sitch situations
<v Speaker 2>helps me remain focused and determined today.
<v Speaker 1>I love that. Yeah, envision your future self. You're making
<v Speaker 1>the choices today for your future self. And if you're like, eh,
<v Speaker 1>I don't feel like it today, I'm going to stop fasting.
<v Speaker 1>And then that happens to snowball and you're not fasting,
<v Speaker 1>You're choosing a future that isn't going to be as
<v Speaker 1>great as if you choose the fast every day. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>well I will.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes people think like life's busy. I get it, and
<v Speaker 2>there's a lot of stuff that happens outside of our control.
<v Speaker 2>But the quote is remember to focus on the life
<v Speaker 2>that you desire to create.
<v Speaker 1>Yep.
<v Speaker 2>We all have the ability to create the life we want,
<v Speaker 2>and if we don't like the life we're in, then
<v Speaker 2>it's up to us to create the change to get
<v Speaker 2>where we want to be. And we all have that power.
<v Speaker 1>We do. We do, and every day you're choosing your
<v Speaker 1>future self. Thanks so much for listening today. We would
<v Speaker 1>love to have you join us in the Delayed on
<v Speaker 1>Tonight community, where you can interact with both me and Sherry,
<v Speaker 1>plus the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll find anywhere.
<v Speaker 1>Go to Jenstevens dot com slash community to join us.
<v Speaker 3>Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to your favorite
<v Speaker 3>podcast app, and if you haven't already, please leave us
<v Speaker 3>a five star review that helps new listeners find the show,
<v Speaker 3>and we really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>We're a community driven podcast, so to submit your success stories,
<v Speaker 1>your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's Easy, moments,
<v Speaker 1>or anything else you want us to share on the podcast,
<v Speaker 1>go to Fast Feast Repeat dot com slash submit and
<v Speaker 1>then listen each week to see if we share your
<v Speaker 1>submission or answer your question.
<v Speaker 2>Until next week. Thanks for listening.