Episode 127: Stubborn Plateaus, Eating Disorders, Hair Loss, 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, Sherry? I'm doing great.
<v Speaker 2>The sun is shining, so you know that always makes
<v Speaker 2>for a better day.
<v Speaker 1>It does. It's nice and sunny here too.
<v Speaker 2>I can tell, Yeah, I can tell. The whole country
<v Speaker 2>I think is in this weird early cold spell right now. Well,
<v Speaker 2>it is November eleventh today, and yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Photo of something like, like, we just left San Francisco.
<v Speaker 1>So if my voice is hoarse, it's because I've been
<v Speaker 1>talking and laughing for five days straight with the boys.
<v Speaker 1>We had a great trip to San Francisco. Me and
<v Speaker 1>Will went to see Cal and Kate. We went everywhere.
<v Speaker 1>We walked twenty three miles, by the way that I
<v Speaker 1>know of in three days. Yes, wow, and more than that,
<v Speaker 1>that's just what Every time I had count the end
<v Speaker 1>of the day, I'm like, all right, how much should
<v Speaker 1>we walk? On his watch? The total of twenty three
<v Speaker 1>recorded miles on Apple Watch. But Cal sent me a
<v Speaker 1>picture of this morning and like, San Francisco is one
<v Speaker 1>of the warmest places in the country right now. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and what was the temperature? Sixty? Okay, wow, I know, wow, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's cold. It all of a sudden hit like apparently
<v Speaker 1>we were not here. We flew home yesterday. I had
<v Speaker 1>to get up at two forty five am get to
<v Speaker 1>the airport. But I'm an early morning flight girl, much
<v Speaker 1>more than the red Eye. I will never red Eye again.
<v Speaker 1>But we had a long day of traveling, and when
<v Speaker 1>we left San Francisco it had been like seventy seven
<v Speaker 1>the day before, and then we get home and it's freezing.
<v Speaker 1>It is a long day. Yeah, so that would be
<v Speaker 1>weird to go from a couple of days of really
<v Speaker 1>warm weather time. Yeah. San Francisco had unseasonably warm, was
<v Speaker 1>like seventy seven degrees. One of the dates we were there.
<v Speaker 2>I messaged in last night because I'd seen something about
<v Speaker 2>snow flurries and Myrtle Beach. I'm like, as a snowy marriage.
<v Speaker 2>She said no, and I was like, Okay, maybe I'm confused,
<v Speaker 2>and then she messaged.
<v Speaker 1>Me this morning. Oh no, there were flurries. There were
<v Speaker 1>beach last night, earliest recorded flurries I think ever, the
<v Speaker 1>weather man said for Myrtle Beach. I hate that I
<v Speaker 1>missed it, but I did. I was sleeping.
<v Speaker 2>Oh well, all right, well let's celebrate. Vanessa from Indiana,
<v Speaker 2>she wrote, Hi, Jen and Sherry, I'm a huge fan
<v Speaker 2>of the podcast. I have been thinking about sharing my
<v Speaker 2>experience because so many of your listeners have helped me
<v Speaker 2>by sharing their stories. I had a hysterectomy at the
<v Speaker 2>end of twenty twenty two and struggled terribly with hormonal issues.
<v Speaker 2>I was afraid of HRT and none of the doctors
<v Speaker 2>I talked to about it had any good advice, which
<v Speaker 2>is a whole other topic on its own. After they
<v Speaker 2>has directed me, I suffered with severe anxiety and deep depression.
<v Speaker 2>I eventually realized that my issues were hormonal. I found
<v Speaker 2>a good functional medicine doctor who got me started on HRT,
<v Speaker 2>but even so I was still struggling. After a lot
<v Speaker 2>of research, I came across intermittent fasting at the end
<v Speaker 2>of twenty twenty three January of twenty twenty four, I
<v Speaker 2>decided to give it a try, and I was surprised
<v Speaker 2>to see I was losing weight and feeling a little better. Unfortunately,
<v Speaker 2>the book I read was not one of Jin's and
<v Speaker 2>the clean fast was not a thing. I was drinking
<v Speaker 2>coffee with heavy cream and sugar free flavors every morning
<v Speaker 2>all morning. I lost about fifteen pounds over the first
<v Speaker 2>half of the year, but the weight loss stopped and
<v Speaker 2>I was still struggling mentally. I gave up on fasting
<v Speaker 2>and just focused on exercise and eating clean, but nothing
<v Speaker 2>was working. I still had quite a bit of weight
<v Speaker 2>to lose, especially around my belly. At the very end
<v Speaker 2>of December of twenty twenty four, I came across fast
<v Speaker 2>fee Threep and it has changed my life. The clean
<v Speaker 2>fast is a game changer. I started clean fasting January first,
<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty five, and I have averaged a five hour
<v Speaker 2>eating window every day since. After my twenty eight day fastart,
<v Speaker 2>I was shocked to see that I was down ten pounds.
<v Speaker 2>I continued to lose about five pounds a month for
<v Speaker 2>the next two months. Then I had a plateau. I
<v Speaker 2>listened to everyone else's tweaks and I tried a lot
<v Speaker 2>of things, but the Way eight refused to budge. Although
<v Speaker 2>I had days where I was discouraged, I trusted the process.
<v Speaker 2>I knew if was a lifestyle that I would follow forever.
<v Speaker 2>I feel so good mentally and physically that if I
<v Speaker 2>never lose another pound, it's worth it. I stayed encouraged
<v Speaker 2>while the scale was stubbornly holding tight to the same
<v Speaker 2>weight range over and over, because I could feel my
<v Speaker 2>body changing. Even months into the process, I was still
<v Speaker 2>getting smaller. I am large chested, and even when I
<v Speaker 2>was thin, I would jokingly say that my boobs won't
<v Speaker 2>ever let me be less than a size large shirt.
<v Speaker 2>One day, I noticed that my bra was too big.
<v Speaker 2>I thought it was just stretched out, so I switched
<v Speaker 2>to a newer bra, which was also too big. A
<v Speaker 2>few weeks later, I noticed my large shirts seem too big.
<v Speaker 2>But that's strange because I've never worn anything smaller than
<v Speaker 2>a large shirt. All of a sudden, I was buying
<v Speaker 2>medium shirts that fit so well. And now, finally ten
<v Speaker 2>and a half months in, I am losing weight again.
<v Speaker 2>Over the last three weeks, I have lost a half
<v Speaker 2>to one pound per week. So the real message I'll
<v Speaker 2>want to communicate is trust the process. It works, even
<v Speaker 2>if it takes longer than you may like, it really
<v Speaker 2>does work. And the non scale benefits are too many
<v Speaker 2>to list. I couldn't imagine my life any other way.
<v Speaker 2>My mental health has improved tremendously without any of the
<v Speaker 2>medications that doctors kept trying to push on me. Thank
<v Speaker 2>you for all you do. Keep telling the world about if.
<v Speaker 1>And we will. We are never going to stop. Absolutely well.
<v Speaker 1>Congratulations Vanessa. That is awesome. And when I was writing
<v Speaker 1>Fast Feast Repeat, we did a survey about plateaus and
<v Speaker 1>I talked about this in the book, and the number
<v Speaker 1>one plateau buster the number one answer was time give
<v Speaker 1>us some time and see what happens, because our body
<v Speaker 1>is just kind of regrouped for a bit and have
<v Speaker 1>time happen a lot. If it keeps going on and
<v Speaker 1>on in months and months and now it's been a year,
<v Speaker 1>then it's time to try something different. Twe get try
<v Speaker 1>a different strategy, but time is a great one to
<v Speaker 1>stick with first. Yep, I agree. So now we have
<v Speaker 1>a question from a listener. This question is from Chris
<v Speaker 1>in Minnesota. Does an Americano break a fast? I do
<v Speaker 1>not add any sweetener or flavor to this at all.
<v Speaker 1>The answer is no, because an Americano is just espresso
<v Speaker 1>and water, So you are completely fine to have an Americano.
<v Speaker 1>So now I'm so curious, Sherry. So it's just basically
<v Speaker 1>they make strong coffee and then add water to it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's usually like a small Americano is usually like
<v Speaker 2>two shots of espresso and it's topped with hot water.
<v Speaker 1>But now I'm so curious as to why why don't
<v Speaker 1>you just drink brood coffee? Well, espresso has a complete
<v Speaker 1>different flavor profile. I think that doesn't brood coffee. I
<v Speaker 1>think it does. Is it the way that it's brood
<v Speaker 1>that gives it a different flavor. It's like created with pressure.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, the pressure does something with it. My sister used
<v Speaker 2>to own a hotty shops. I'm like thinking of her
<v Speaker 2>making shots of a.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, so the pressure it's a different it's different than
<v Speaker 1>just the drill.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, side just espresso uses high pressure hot water to
<v Speaker 2>force a small amount of hot water through finely ground
<v Speaker 2>coffee beans in a short time, while coffee is grewed
<v Speaker 2>with less pressure, usually using gravity and a long extraction
<v Speaker 2>time okay, using coarser grounds. So the high pressure results
<v Speaker 2>in a small, concentrated and intensely flavored shot topped with
<v Speaker 2>a layer of crema, whereas breed coffees are less concentrated
<v Speaker 2>with a milder flavor profile.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, it's a stronger flavor profile. I I've always wondered
<v Speaker 1>why do you need to make a small amount and
<v Speaker 1>add water when you could just make the large amount.
<v Speaker 1>But now I'm going to have to experiment and see
<v Speaker 1>what I need to do. See, I know that it
<v Speaker 1>would have a different flavor if it was different coffee.
<v Speaker 1>But like if I went somewhere and had like the
<v Speaker 1>same exact coffee beans made as an Americano and as
<v Speaker 1>a cup of coffee. That's the questioner in me. I
<v Speaker 1>can't help, but wonder would it be different?
<v Speaker 2>Probably because I think it's gonna taste different because too,
<v Speaker 2>like espresso is less acidic than brood coffee. Okay, because
<v Speaker 2>of the time that, like the water comes in contact
<v Speaker 2>with the coffee grounds. I still think it would taste different.
<v Speaker 1>Well, now I'm gonna try because I never order Americano.
<v Speaker 1>I always just get regular coffee. But I should start
<v Speaker 1>ordering Americanos and see what I think. I love a
<v Speaker 1>good Americano. Yeah, I've never ordered one because again, my
<v Speaker 1>brain's like, what's the difference. I don't know. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I knew that it was made from espresso, and I
<v Speaker 1>knew espresso is more concentrated, but I didn't think about
<v Speaker 1>the pressure so and the acidity.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Well, do you know how like cold brew
<v Speaker 2>tastes different than hot coffee. Like if you took hot
<v Speaker 2>coffee and you cooled it and then you put it
<v Speaker 2>over ice, that's gonna taste different than.
<v Speaker 1>Cold brew over it rice. Yeah, So it's.
<v Speaker 2>Kind of like the brewing style makes a huge difference
<v Speaker 2>the flavor and the depth of flavor and the acidity
<v Speaker 2>of the coffee. All right, Well, now I'll have something
<v Speaker 2>to try. There's your coffee lesson today with sir. All right,
<v Speaker 2>so we have a question from kg and Maryland. Hi,
<v Speaker 2>Jen and Sherry, thank you so much for your books,
<v Speaker 2>podcast and advice. Finding this podcast and your books have
<v Speaker 2>been life changing for me. I have a question about
<v Speaker 2>a very stubborn plateau. I have been fasting for over
<v Speaker 2>a year now, straying from sixteen to eight to slowly
<v Speaker 2>building up to ADF and lost close to fifteen pounds.
<v Speaker 2>Then I faced a plateau while on ADF for a
<v Speaker 2>couple of months. I cleaned fast and I found it
<v Speaker 2>very easy to complete the fasting, but the plateau my
<v Speaker 2>weight not changing, discouraged me a lot and derailed my efforts,
<v Speaker 2>causing me to gain back seven to ten pounds. I've
<v Speaker 2>tried shaking things up by doing a week or two
<v Speaker 2>of refeeding and switching to OMAD. I have been on
<v Speaker 2>one mail a day with an eating window of one
<v Speaker 2>to two hours for four weeks now and I've not
<v Speaker 2>seen the scale budge. It's more like a maintenance protocol
<v Speaker 2>to me. Currently, I would appreciate some guidance on how
<v Speaker 2>to break this plateau. Should I change the fasting method
<v Speaker 2>by increasing the eating window As I am well adjusted
<v Speaker 2>to ADF, I feel like any other method is just
<v Speaker 2>not effective for me. I am a forty one year
<v Speaker 2>old woman. I'm currently one hundred and sixty pounds at
<v Speaker 2>five foot three, and I would like to lose another
<v Speaker 2>fifteen plus pounds. Thank you in advance for any advice.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So this is a little bit tricky because
<v Speaker 1>I think that I wish I knew what your weight
<v Speaker 1>history was a little bit more, and what your set
<v Speaker 1>point has been like throughout your adult life. Like for example,
<v Speaker 1>based on set point theory, our bodies have a certain
<v Speaker 1>weight range where they really like to be. And I
<v Speaker 1>am very fortunate that apparently my after intermittent fasting weight
<v Speaker 1>set point is a weight that I love being. But
<v Speaker 1>if it hadn't been, Let's imagine my weight was twenty
<v Speaker 1>pounds higher than it is right now, and what I
<v Speaker 1>did led me to stay at that weight. I mean
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't be as happy with that obviously, So it
<v Speaker 1>could be related to your body's natural set point. And
<v Speaker 1>you know, if you think back to your size, and
<v Speaker 1>I always like to say, just as a rule of thumb,
<v Speaker 1>this is not any kind of hard science, right, But
<v Speaker 1>if you think about the size you were after you
<v Speaker 1>went through puberty and you matured, and I like to say,
<v Speaker 1>like you know, senior in high school or early in college,
<v Speaker 1>that sort of an age. But again this is not
<v Speaker 1>like a scientific thing. It's just based on that's what
<v Speaker 1>our adult body did at that time. So I think
<v Speaker 1>back to that young adult period for you, and if
<v Speaker 1>you were right around one sixty at that time as well,
<v Speaker 1>that might be where your body just likes to hang out.
<v Speaker 1>Now if not, if you are significantly smaller and you
<v Speaker 1>were able to maintain there, then it's more likely you
<v Speaker 1>could possibly get back there. One thing I would do
<v Speaker 1>if I were you is I would get your fasting
<v Speaker 1>insulin measured just to see so you know, I don't
<v Speaker 1>know anything about your diet history. You might have a
<v Speaker 1>really high fasting insulin and so you're going to need
<v Speaker 1>to work to get that down. Whereas ADF, even though
<v Speaker 1>it hasn't caused you to get off the plateau, it
<v Speaker 1>may be healing some insulin resistance in the background. Also,
<v Speaker 1>this is where food choices may be a big factor.
<v Speaker 1>You haven't mentioned you know how you're eating. You know,
<v Speaker 1>if you're already eating really healthy, high quality foods, then
<v Speaker 1>that isn't going to be the problem. But if you
<v Speaker 1>have room to improve on your food choices, then I
<v Speaker 1>would focus on that. But if you're on a plateau
<v Speaker 1>and you're not at a weight that is your body's
<v Speaker 1>natural set point, then I do think ADF plus thinking
<v Speaker 1>about your food choices and also get that fasting insulin
<v Speaker 1>you want it to be. You know, optimal is between
<v Speaker 1>two point five and five. So if you got your
<v Speaker 1>fasting insulin back and of like fifteen, for example, then
<v Speaker 1>you would know that there's still work you can do
<v Speaker 1>to bring that down, and AD is really the best
<v Speaker 1>way to do it, plus food choices.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and my other thought too is like she doesn't
<v Speaker 2>really discuss how she was structuring her updays when she
<v Speaker 2>was writing ADF right, and so that can make a
<v Speaker 2>big difference. For instance, if you were keeping your updays
<v Speaker 2>to short, not eating fully enough, not getting your three
<v Speaker 2>meals spread out in like a ten to twelve hour
<v Speaker 2>day of eating, and then you switched from like that
<v Speaker 2>to this very short one to two hour window, your
<v Speaker 2>body could just really be like, she's not really providing
<v Speaker 2>us enough nutrition, so we're gonna downregulate our metabolism to
<v Speaker 2>match what she's giving us. And you know, while the
<v Speaker 2>clean fast does protect you to a degree, if you
<v Speaker 2>continually under eat, at some point your body is going
<v Speaker 2>to say, WHOA, we're not going to release any weight
<v Speaker 2>right now because it feels like it's in a constant deficit. Really,
<v Speaker 2>if you're going to switch back to ADF, really make
<v Speaker 2>sure you're having those full up days and if you're
<v Speaker 2>having a daily eating window. I really wouldn't lock into
<v Speaker 2>those really short eating windows like that, because, as I said,
<v Speaker 2>you're going to be more prone to adapt that way.
<v Speaker 1>That was a very good point, and you're right if
<v Speaker 1>she had not been having full up days, then that
<v Speaker 1>would explain it completely.
<v Speaker 2>And the other thing I want to say too, is
<v Speaker 2>when you're switching your protocol to ADF, sometimes it takes
<v Speaker 2>a while to like work out how to do your
<v Speaker 2>updays and how to structure them and how much to
<v Speaker 2>eat and spa food spacing and all of that, and
<v Speaker 2>that can be a kind of a learning curve. So
<v Speaker 2>I don't it's not I think some people think I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna do ADF and the weight's gonna start falling off,
<v Speaker 2>and that happens for some people, but more often than not,
<v Speaker 2>we hear people are like, well, I did it for
<v Speaker 2>three weeks, I did it for five weeks, and I
<v Speaker 2>didn't see significant weight loss, So it's not working for me.
<v Speaker 2>And it could just be that you need more time
<v Speaker 2>for your body to adapt to that and for you
<v Speaker 2>to figure out the balance of fasting and feasting.
<v Speaker 1>And it can take a while to reverse any kind
<v Speaker 1>of metabolic damage that you've had. You'd had years of
<v Speaker 1>low calorie dieting and your metabolism had slowed to match
<v Speaker 1>the years of low calorie dieting, and your updates are
<v Speaker 1>not sufficiently up, then it's not going to give you
<v Speaker 1>that metabolic boost. But even if your updates were sufficiently up,
<v Speaker 1>it's going to take a while for that metabolic boost
<v Speaker 1>to really take hold right and for your body to
<v Speaker 1>be like, okay, there's plenty coming in. So you know,
<v Speaker 1>we've talked about this phrase before reverse dieting and we
<v Speaker 1>did not make it up, But it's really the very
<v Speaker 1>very similar idea to ADF except that with reverse dieting,
<v Speaker 1>someone who's been really restricting for a long period of
<v Speaker 1>time purposefully eats more every day, not every other day,
<v Speaker 1>but every day to boost metabolic rate and usually sees
<v Speaker 1>a good deal of weight gain as a part of
<v Speaker 1>that reverse dieting. As you're gaining the weight, your metabolism
<v Speaker 1>gets boosted, then your metabolism is healthy again, So that's
<v Speaker 1>the whole theory behind reversed dieting, and then you're able
<v Speaker 1>to lose weight again. But ADF is just basically that
<v Speaker 1>every other day. Did you want to add anything to that.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I can just say you guys might have heard
<v Speaker 2>me talking early in the year that I was trying
<v Speaker 2>to do some reverse dieting in my window because I
<v Speaker 2>realized that I had been probably significantly under eating for
<v Speaker 2>a while without realizing it, and so I made it
<v Speaker 2>a point to eat pretty significantly in my window, even
<v Speaker 2>having some longer days in there, knowing that I might
<v Speaker 2>see some weight gain. And the first couple of months
<v Speaker 2>I did not see any weight gain with that, but
<v Speaker 2>then probably the next three months I started to see
<v Speaker 2>my weight creep up. But I was just pretty like confident,
<v Speaker 2>like this is what I needed to do. And with
<v Speaker 2>my schedule, ADF is hard for me. I can throw
<v Speaker 2>some down days down in there, but I just can't
<v Speaker 2>get a good rhythm going in August is when I
<v Speaker 2>really just is like, okay, here we go. Now we're
<v Speaker 2>going to work on reducing. So that's when I tighten
<v Speaker 2>my windows back up, started throwing in a few down
<v Speaker 2>days when I could work it out, being very very
<v Speaker 2>mindful of what I eat in my window, really focusing
<v Speaker 2>on nutrient dense foods. And I have lost every single
<v Speaker 2>week since August fifteenth. Yeah, and so I do believe
<v Speaker 2>reverse dieting worked for me. Yeah, but you can't freak
<v Speaker 2>out when you see the scale go up. So you've
<v Speaker 2>got to just hold tie and know that you know
<v Speaker 2>what you're doing, has it has an end, you have
<v Speaker 2>an end goal in mind.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, so, and it just it lets us know that
<v Speaker 1>this is why it's so hard, right, bodies are complicated.
<v Speaker 1>They'd be like, oh, this is what we're doing now,
<v Speaker 1>and yeah, the body will, you know, try to find
<v Speaker 1>homeostasis or it wants to stay the same. So we
<v Speaker 1>just have to think, Okay, what could be happening and
<v Speaker 1>why and what could I do If this is what's happening,
<v Speaker 1>then what would fix that? And really being honest with yourself,
<v Speaker 1>have I been accidentally overrestricting or am I actually eating
<v Speaker 1>too much, and when we really think about it, we
<v Speaker 1>probably can figure it out, all right, So now it's
<v Speaker 1>time for our segment called What's Your Why. Most of
<v Speaker 1>us begin intermittent fasting with weight loss in mind, and
<v Speaker 1>that's why I started, and that's why Cherry started. And
<v Speaker 1>when I wrote twenty eight day Fast Start day by day,
<v Speaker 1>I decided the most important thing would be for readers
<v Speaker 1>to craft their why statement before beginning, because I genuinely
<v Speaker 1>believe when 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>So this week we have a why from Jessica in
<v Speaker 2>Junction City, Oregon. She said, Hi, Jen and Cherry. I've
<v Speaker 2>listened to this podcast since the beginning, and I want
<v Speaker 2>to thank you both for the great gift you have
<v Speaker 2>given us through your work. You have truly changed my
<v Speaker 2>life and helped me more than you'll ever no. I
<v Speaker 2>found Jane's book in twenty nineteen and became an intermittent
<v Speaker 2>faster in January of twenty twenty. I quickly understood that
<v Speaker 2>this was it. I committed to fast daily and everything clicked.
<v Speaker 2>The weight started coming off and I felt fantastic. For reference,
<v Speaker 2>I'm five three, I'm currently forty eight, and I had
<v Speaker 2>a starting weight of one hundred and eighty five pounds.
<v Speaker 2>By summer of twenty twenty one, I had reached my
<v Speaker 2>goal weight of one thirty five and could proudly report
<v Speaker 2>that I'd lost fifty pounds. At that time, My why
<v Speaker 2>was weight loss, and I'd done it. After reaching this goal,
<v Speaker 2>I continued to fast, but also started getting more invested
<v Speaker 2>in my health. I sought out books and podcasts aimed
<v Speaker 2>at women in midlife Hello Perimenopause. I bought all the supplements,
<v Speaker 2>I increased my protein intake, I started tracking my macros,
<v Speaker 2>and I started worrying about getting it all in. Eventually,
<v Speaker 2>I realized I was consumed by food noise, and I
<v Speaker 2>gave it all up. My windows got long, food became
<v Speaker 2>entertainment and comfort again, paired with a couple glasses of
<v Speaker 2>nightly wine of course, haha. My weight responded accordingly and
<v Speaker 2>kept crept back up while I buried my head in
<v Speaker 2>the sand. I'm here today after seeing one hundred and
<v Speaker 2>sixty nine on the scale last week, with a new why.
<v Speaker 2>Looking back over the past few years, I can see
<v Speaker 2>that I let much more than my windows creep out
<v Speaker 2>of control, and it is time to take charge of
<v Speaker 2>my life again. So I'm back with my new and
<v Speaker 2>improved Why fasting is my superpower? Living an eye of
<v Speaker 2>lifestyle gives me a sense of self control and ownership
<v Speaker 2>over every aspect of my life. I have seen the
<v Speaker 2>far reaching consequences that come with a traditional eating pattern.
<v Speaker 2>For me, that's inflammation, fatigue, anxiety, sleep disturbances, weight gain,
<v Speaker 2>and an overwhelming apathy towards it all. Fasting gives me
<v Speaker 2>the energy, mental clarity, and self confidence to truly be
<v Speaker 2>my best self. I fast for my physical and my
<v Speaker 2>mental health. I fast for my future health and to
<v Speaker 2>provide space to allow myself to heal from my past.
<v Speaker 2>I fast to feel good today and to feel even
<v Speaker 2>better tomorrow. Side note, Since recommitting to a shorter eating
<v Speaker 2>window of five to six hours, my body is already
<v Speaker 2>showing signs of regaining balance. I feel empowered to regain
<v Speaker 2>control over my life, and I'm excited for the journey ahead.
<v Speaker 2>I love that part of that.
<v Speaker 1>I get she was. This is what we see happen
<v Speaker 1>A lot. People get excited about, you know, their health journey,
<v Speaker 1>and then they want to learn more, and then they
<v Speaker 1>start going down rabbit holes and then suddenly they're in
<v Speaker 1>the I need to eat a million grams of protein
<v Speaker 1>and I need to do this, and then they lose
<v Speaker 1>their way. And then we've seen that happen time and
<v Speaker 1>time again, and so then you find your way back
<v Speaker 1>to you're like, wait a minute, I felt better when
<v Speaker 1>I was doing it this other way, and stop listening
<v Speaker 1>to all those other people out there. They got me confused, right,
<v Speaker 1>You know, it.
<v Speaker 2>Really comes down to we are always as humans incline
<v Speaker 2>to like be pushing ourselves, and we're not content to
<v Speaker 2>just like hang out and just be like. We feel
<v Speaker 2>like we constantly need to be working for something or
<v Speaker 2>or working towards some goal or whatever, and so we
<v Speaker 2>can get really wrapped up and excited about new things,
<v Speaker 2>and we start pushing ourselves and pushing ourselves until we
<v Speaker 2>just become we start having you know, like decision fatigue,
<v Speaker 2>and then pretty soon you're just like, oh my gosh,
<v Speaker 2>this is too much. We get overwhelmed, and then we
<v Speaker 2>just throw up our hands and then we just we
<v Speaker 2>like stray away from the basics, right where if we
<v Speaker 2>can just stick with the basics and not constantly feel
<v Speaker 2>like we have to push and push and do better
<v Speaker 2>and do more.
<v Speaker 1>We maintain a good balance in our life. Yep. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, even as much as we love the
<v Speaker 2>work that they're doing with Zoe and what people are
<v Speaker 2>learning about their health and how their bodies, you know,
<v Speaker 2>pross those foods and stuff, we've seen people get off
<v Speaker 2>course doing Zoe. It's just becomes overwhelming. One of the
<v Speaker 2>great things about fasting is you don't have to think
<v Speaker 2>about food all day, right, And you start doing something
<v Speaker 2>like that, and pretty soon you're thinking about food and
<v Speaker 2>what can you eat and what's okay to eat, what's
<v Speaker 2>going to give you the best score. You know that
<v Speaker 2>food starts to lose its kind of joy and appeal,
<v Speaker 2>and then eventually you.
<v Speaker 1>Rebel Yeah, and then you've got to diet.
<v Speaker 2>Brain anymore, right, and then you know, pretty soon your
<v Speaker 2>windows are getting longer. And then next thing you know,
<v Speaker 2>we find out people are like, oh, I drifted away
<v Speaker 2>from community because I got off course, but now I'm back.
<v Speaker 1>And anytime people get.
<v Speaker 2>Off course, it's because they think they need to adopt
<v Speaker 2>a new way of eating or that they need to
<v Speaker 2>be whole food plant based. But they don't love it,
<v Speaker 2>and so I think a lot of it comes down
<v Speaker 2>to knowing yourself and knowing your personality. In the end,
<v Speaker 2>I think any change you make to eating should be
<v Speaker 2>slow because you just start to adapt to like one
<v Speaker 2>new habit, like add more fiber, and then from there
<v Speaker 2>other changes start to happen. So let those habits build
<v Speaker 2>on each other rather than just like throwing a whole
<v Speaker 2>bunch at it at once and getting overwhelmed.
<v Speaker 1>You know, this is exactly that you like a grown
<v Speaker 1>up program that I'm going to talk about in a
<v Speaker 1>few minutes. Well, i'll talk about later. It's exactly what
<v Speaker 1>you just said, One new habit, one week at a time. Anyway,
<v Speaker 1>I love it. But the big thing is we want
<v Speaker 1>to feel good, like Jessica said, and I think about myself.
<v Speaker 1>Over this past long weekend in San Francisco, I kept
<v Speaker 1>up with three fit, healthy twenty somethings right as a
<v Speaker 1>fifty six year old woman. I never said I need
<v Speaker 1>to sit down. If that Will was the one who's
<v Speaker 1>like I need to sit down. Yeah, he's twenty six.
<v Speaker 1>He's like, I've done enough walking and we're not doing it.
<v Speaker 1>But I was able to keep up with them. Up
<v Speaker 1>and down those hills and it felt amazing. Yep.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So all right, well we have a question from
<v Speaker 2>Alex in Montreal. Alex hijen Iss Sherry. I have been
<v Speaker 2>absolutely obsessed with your podcast because it's non judgmental. Thank
<v Speaker 2>you for saying that and research oriented. I'm catching up
<v Speaker 2>on the episode, so I hope my question hasn't been
<v Speaker 2>overly covered. You've opened my mind to this way of
<v Speaker 2>life as something that's possible for me when I had
<v Speaker 2>completely given up on myself, well not completely but almost.
<v Speaker 2>I am so grateful for the information and support. You
<v Speaker 2>are a very complimentary team, and you do such a
<v Speaker 2>beautiful job. Thank you, Alex. I am a thirty nine
<v Speaker 2>year old female with kids, nearly five foot seven and
<v Speaker 2>currently one hundred and forty five pounds. Smart Memi tells
<v Speaker 2>me I'm in the healthy BMI range. I'll be it
<v Speaker 2>in the higher ish range. And I'm actually just gonna
<v Speaker 2>say we looked this up and I actually ran her
<v Speaker 2>results through SMARTBMI. When you're running your results through smartbi,
<v Speaker 2>people often do this. It gives you a regular BMI calculation.
<v Speaker 2>That's the old standard BMI. Don't look at that. We
<v Speaker 2>don't care about that. You want to look at the SBMI,
<v Speaker 2>which is the smart BMI, and it's reflected as a fraction,
<v Speaker 2>and so her fraction is thirty five over seventy and
<v Speaker 2>thirty over seventy to thirty nine over seventy. That is
<v Speaker 2>a healthy weight range. So she's right smack in the
<v Speaker 2>middle of that healthy weight range. So anyway, she goes
<v Speaker 2>on to say, I found delay don't deny when it
<v Speaker 2>first came out, and I had good results before my
<v Speaker 2>first pregnancy, and I've come back to it many times
<v Speaker 2>over the years, stopping during two pregnancies and years of breastfeeding,
<v Speaker 2>but never committing for long periods because making babies was
<v Speaker 2>my priority. I have a very long history of weight fluctuation.
<v Speaker 2>I remember starting my first diet with my mother at
<v Speaker 2>the age of thirteen. This is not something I want
<v Speaker 2>to repeat with my own kids, because when I look
<v Speaker 2>at pictures of myself as a young teen, I now
<v Speaker 2>realize I was perfect just the way I was doing diet.
<v Speaker 2>After diet became my way of life, and you can
<v Speaker 2>imagine the predictable scenario of weight gain, weight loss, more
<v Speaker 2>weight gain. This dress ordered eating led me to develop
<v Speaker 2>an eating disorder later on that followed me all through
<v Speaker 2>my twenties. I suffered from bulimia for fifteen years. During
<v Speaker 2>my early thirties, I said no more to this way
<v Speaker 2>of life and went to therapy a couple of times
<v Speaker 2>and tried living an active life. Not based on appearance
<v Speaker 2>and scale numbers, but invariably I could fluctuate between one
<v Speaker 2>hundred and twenty and one hundred and seventy five a
<v Speaker 2>couple times during the year. Every year, I'd gained during
<v Speaker 2>summer with drinks and snacking, food and holiday festivities that
<v Speaker 2>seemed to never end. In between during autumn and spring,
<v Speaker 2>I'd get myself back on track skipping breakfasts, not realizing
<v Speaker 2>I was starting my eye of journey. My chiropractor had
<v Speaker 2>told me skipping breakfast was the best way to lose
<v Speaker 2>weight in a sustainable and durable manner, So I tried,
<v Speaker 2>and I got results fast. This was in twenty sixteen
<v Speaker 2>to twenty seventeen, but as I said, I never committed
<v Speaker 2>and I hid it from my then boyfriend now husband
<v Speaker 2>and family. I had much shame since not having mastered
<v Speaker 2>your book, Jen, I still thought fasting was an eating
<v Speaker 2>disorder behavior and severely judged myself for wanting to do it,
<v Speaker 2>hence never really committing. Having kids has changed my life,
<v Speaker 2>changed my body, but also and mostly how I feel
<v Speaker 2>about it. I'm much more gentle with myself and my imperfections.
<v Speaker 2>I want to take care of this body that has
<v Speaker 2>given me so much strength, life and love. I want
<v Speaker 2>to cherish and honor it. I would never go back
<v Speaker 2>to the years and years of self hatred. I've just
<v Speaker 2>recently stopped breastfeeding my last child, and I am ready
<v Speaker 2>to take care of myself. I've been doing IF for
<v Speaker 2>a month now. I have into mind to get down
<v Speaker 2>to pre baby weight of around one hundred and thirty
<v Speaker 2>five pounds. I know it's in the lower range of BMI,
<v Speaker 2>but I really feel best in my body at that weight,
<v Speaker 2>or at least that's how I felt.
<v Speaker 1>In the past.
<v Speaker 2>But honestly, the number is not as important as how
<v Speaker 2>I feel. So I'm also looking for mind clarity, freedom
<v Speaker 2>for thoughts about food all day and moodlifting. So far,
<v Speaker 2>I'm blown away by how easy this is and how
<v Speaker 2>many non scale victories I notice. No more brain fog,
<v Speaker 2>no sugar crash after lunch, no urges to munch on
<v Speaker 2>snacks or sugary things and best of all, no lunches.
<v Speaker 2>What a freeing way of life. My weight hasn't changed much,
<v Speaker 2>but I expected that and I'm not in a hurry.
<v Speaker 2>But oddly or not, I feel much better in my genes.
<v Speaker 2>I find a three discs hour window is best, giving
<v Speaker 2>myself also pleasure to enjoy the weekend with kids. So
<v Speaker 2>my question is this, I think the research as fasting
<v Speaker 2>can be a slippery slope for people who have a
<v Speaker 2>lifelong struggle with eating disorders. I would be curious to
<v Speaker 2>hear your thoughts since I feel so good doing the
<v Speaker 2>IF's lifestyle and I feel it's for the right reasons.
<v Speaker 2>But like I said before, I never want to go
<v Speaker 2>back to so much suffering and self hatred. What does
<v Speaker 2>the research say and what are your personal suggestions for
<v Speaker 2>a recovered for five years now woman with a fifteen
<v Speaker 2>year struggle with bolimia wanting to live and I have lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you again so much for your inspiring, insightful thoughts.
<v Speaker 1>Well, thank you for sharing all of that, and I
<v Speaker 1>really appreciate Alex all of the backstory, especially because that's
<v Speaker 1>really important. Officially, I think every person who's ever written
<v Speaker 1>a book or had a fasting podcast says the same thing.
<v Speaker 1>Fasting not recommended if you have a history of an
<v Speaker 1>eating disorder. That's the official word. That being said, I
<v Speaker 1>have talked to people on the Intermittent Fasting Stories podcast
<v Speaker 1>who had eating disorders and then became intermittent fasters and
<v Speaker 1>felt like it's cured. I'll use that word cured, but
<v Speaker 1>solved maybe the better word solved their disordered thinking, in
<v Speaker 1>which case, obviously, if you're no longer having the disordered thinking,
<v Speaker 1>then that is a good thing. My standard advice would
<v Speaker 1>be if you want to do intermittent fasting, especially if
<v Speaker 1>you've ever been diagnosed with an eating disorder, is have
<v Speaker 1>a therapist who understands eating disorders and work with that
<v Speaker 1>therapist along the way so that you do not find
<v Speaker 1>yourself drawn into disordered behaviors. And the part that gives
<v Speaker 1>me a little bit of nervousness is that your goal
<v Speaker 1>is one twenty five, which is very low because what
<v Speaker 1>I understand, and again I am not an expert on
<v Speaker 1>eating disorders, right, so understand this. That's why I suggest
<v Speaker 1>a therapist who is an expert, not me, but from
<v Speaker 1>what I understand personally about eating disorders, the disordered part
<v Speaker 1>is your body image. When you start thinking your body
<v Speaker 1>isn't right and you start trying to get it smaller,
<v Speaker 1>small or smaller. And so if you could put the
<v Speaker 1>scale away completely, not have a one twenty five in mind,
<v Speaker 1>because that's the very low end of your smart BMI,
<v Speaker 1>I would not try to get the one twenty five.
<v Speaker 1>I would not try to get to a scale number
<v Speaker 1>that is lower than you are right now. I think
<v Speaker 1>your goal needs to be healthy relationship with your body
<v Speaker 1>and feel good in your body. Not I remember when
<v Speaker 1>I weighed one twenty EMBOI did I feel good in
<v Speaker 1>my body? I would like to get back to that.
<v Speaker 1>That was false feeling good in your body. That was
<v Speaker 1>perhaps the eating disorder. The skinner you got, the better
<v Speaker 1>you felt, so you might think you need to get
<v Speaker 1>there again. A woman's body, especially after children, we are
<v Speaker 1>meant to be squishy, we are meant to have fat
<v Speaker 1>on our bodies. We're not meant to be tiny as
<v Speaker 1>small as we can get. So I us been nice
<v Speaker 1>to use the word supple. There we go. I would
<v Speaker 1>really just encourage you. And again, like I said, a
<v Speaker 1>therapist is a great idea who can help you work
<v Speaker 1>through this. And I really think the idea of disconnecting
<v Speaker 1>from a weight, putting the scale away, paying attention to
<v Speaker 1>your clothes, because I know myself that's why I put
<v Speaker 1>my scale away, and I had a disordered relationship with
<v Speaker 1>scale number, and so I don't weigh, and that has
<v Speaker 1>cured me of that disordered relationship with the scale. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not trying to get to a number or diet somewhere.
<v Speaker 1>So just imagine as a mom, how fabulous it's going
<v Speaker 1>to be to model healthy eating behaviors and not focused
<v Speaker 1>on scale numbers for your kids.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and then I wanted to say too, Yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>agree one hundred percent with the not weighing. You're likely
<v Speaker 2>not going to find a therapist who specializes in eating
<v Speaker 2>disorders who is going to be educated and know about
<v Speaker 2>intermittent fasting and how it works in your body physiologically.
<v Speaker 2>They're going to you know, one of the first things
<v Speaker 2>they tell you when you're recovering from any kind of
<v Speaker 2>eating disorder is to always honor your hunger. And of course,
<v Speaker 2>you know with em fasting, especially during that adaptation period,
<v Speaker 2>you kind of have to ignore your hunger for a while.
<v Speaker 2>What we see time and time again is people actually
<v Speaker 2>find that fasting is the best thing for them people
<v Speaker 2>who have had eating disorders in the past, because they
<v Speaker 2>are protecting their body, they're protecting their metabolism and their
<v Speaker 2>hormones by fasting clean and they're not They're just enjoying
<v Speaker 2>food more in their eating window. The other thing I
<v Speaker 2>was going to say, too, was when you were having
<v Speaker 2>disordered eating, you were clearly lacking nutrients. Your body wasn't
<v Speaker 2>getting the nutrients that it needed, and so we know
<v Speaker 2>that you were losing muscle mass. You can even lose
<v Speaker 2>bone mass with eating disorders, so you are very very
<v Speaker 2>likely not going to get to a weight that you
<v Speaker 2>were in the past during your disordered eating, because you're
<v Speaker 2>not losing all that muscle mass, right. You know, if
<v Speaker 2>you had been away from your disordered eating for years
<v Speaker 2>before you had your children, and you know you had
<v Speaker 2>a good you felt good in your body, then I
<v Speaker 2>would say that would be a good way to strive for.
<v Speaker 2>But it doesn't sound like you were free from your
<v Speaker 2>eating disorder for a long time before you had kids.
<v Speaker 2>So you're working with a whole different body now, right,
<v Speaker 2>And so I think having a number in mind is
<v Speaker 2>not going to be beneficial to you. Rather start to
<v Speaker 2>notice just how you feel, start to focus on being
<v Speaker 2>strong and healthy, and maybe you want a leaner body,
<v Speaker 2>but you know, the goal shouldn't be skinny, and it
<v Speaker 2>shouldn't be fit in genes that you had ten years ago.
<v Speaker 2>Work with the body you have now and having a
<v Speaker 2>healthy relationship with your body food now.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you're right about a therapist who understands both
<v Speaker 1>intermittent fasting and disorders would be a tall order. That
<v Speaker 1>would be amazing. I hope there's one out there. I
<v Speaker 1>really do. Yeah. And by the way, I just realized
<v Speaker 1>I said that I was going to talk about eat
<v Speaker 1>like a grown up later. That's actually next week, so everybody,
<v Speaker 1>you'll just have to hear it next week. All right.
<v Speaker 1>So we have a question from Gina from Wisconsin. Hi, Jen,
<v Speaker 1>and Sherry. I am forty four years old, five foot seven,
<v Speaker 1>and I began intermittent fasting six months ago. In February
<v Speaker 1>of twenty twenty five, I was two hundred and two
<v Speaker 1>pounds and I have gotten to about one hundred and
<v Speaker 1>seventy five in those six months. I started out by
<v Speaker 1>doing a twenty hour fast with a four hour window,
<v Speaker 1>and I followed that for the first three months. I
<v Speaker 1>lost fourteen of those pounds in the first thirty days,
<v Speaker 1>but since then weight loss has really slowed to only
<v Speaker 1>maybe one or two pounds a month. I began throwing
<v Speaker 1>in one to two down slash up days each week
<v Speaker 1>week in May, and I even tried a whole month
<v Speaker 1>of that recently, and that seems to help stimulate weight
<v Speaker 1>loss slightly. But my concern is hair loss. I started
<v Speaker 1>losing a lot of hair about four months in and
<v Speaker 1>it has continued to worsen to the point that I'm
<v Speaker 1>starting to look like I have bangs, but I don't.
<v Speaker 1>I know this can be a stress response from the body,
<v Speaker 1>but it seems to be getting worse rather than better
<v Speaker 1>over the past two months. I wonder that if I
<v Speaker 1>do more ADF that it will continue getting worse, as
<v Speaker 1>it seems that is when things went from bad to
<v Speaker 1>worse after doing a month of it. I love fasting.
<v Speaker 1>I have so much energy now. My husband cannot even
<v Speaker 1>believe I'm the same person. I do not want to
<v Speaker 1>give it up, but hair loss is scary and frustrating,
<v Speaker 1>and really I still have twenty to twenty five more
<v Speaker 1>pounds to lose to get to my goal weight. Any
<v Speaker 1>advice for this dilemma. I am not a high volume eater,
<v Speaker 1>so I may struggle to get in enough calories during
<v Speaker 1>my four hour window. So I then wonder maybe ADF
<v Speaker 1>is better with a full up day, But again, I'm
<v Speaker 1>just hesitant to do more of that due to the
<v Speaker 1>hair situation. I appreciate any advice you can share. I
<v Speaker 1>love the podcasts and look forward to listening every week.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge with us.
<v Speaker 2>All right, well, so first of all, noticing that you
<v Speaker 2>had hair loss about four months in is not surprising
<v Speaker 2>to me at all. There is a condition called te
<v Speaker 2>logen affluvium or intelligen affluvium. Maybe I'll get a link
<v Speaker 2>in show notes for you so you can read about it.
<v Speaker 2>Anytime the body goes through anything that it perceives as stress.
<v Speaker 2>This can be sudden rapid weight loss. This could be pregnancy.
<v Speaker 2>This could be a surgery. This could be grief. It
<v Speaker 2>could just be an illness. This happened a lot during COVID.
<v Speaker 2>To people, your body has a hair shedding cycle, and
<v Speaker 2>so what happens is the stress can basically affect the
<v Speaker 2>hair shedding cycle so that it just disrupts it and
<v Speaker 2>so you're constantly losing hair. Everybody does every day. But
<v Speaker 2>what happens is there's like an interruption in the like
<v Speaker 2>regrowth cycle at one point, and so then you start
<v Speaker 2>to notice the hair loss. But what most people, what
<v Speaker 2>happens to most people is like by the time that
<v Speaker 2>you've noticed that your hair is thinning and you've lost
<v Speaker 2>some hair, it's already past that point. It's already fixed itself,
<v Speaker 2>and so there's nothing you can do about it to
<v Speaker 2>that point because it's already the situation's already corrected and
<v Speaker 2>you're already regrowing hair where you lost it and it
<v Speaker 2>didn't regrow for a cycle or whatever. And most people
<v Speaker 2>will say that Usually we hear this about maybe six
<v Speaker 2>seven months in. They're like, all of a sudden, I
<v Speaker 2>have all these hair sprouting up. I went through this,
<v Speaker 2>my hairdresser noticed it. That's how you know that your
<v Speaker 2>hair growth cycle like restarted, because you start to get
<v Speaker 2>new hair growth. So and most people, really, after you
<v Speaker 2>know they've been doing fasting for a while, they'll say
<v Speaker 2>their hair is thicker and healthier than ever. We hear
<v Speaker 2>that a lot. I would not be concerned unless it
<v Speaker 2>gets worse and it doesn't correct itself. So if it
<v Speaker 2>does get worse, that could be a sign that you're
<v Speaker 2>over restricting, that you're not getting all your nutrients in
<v Speaker 2>that you're suddenly having some sort of thyroid or hormonal issue.
<v Speaker 2>And considering you're forty four, that's right in the throes
<v Speaker 2>of perimenopause, so it could be something that you have
<v Speaker 2>hormonal going on. So, like I said, it usually reverses
<v Speaker 2>and corrects itself. If it doesn't, I would see a
<v Speaker 2>doctor or a dermatologist so that they can rule out
<v Speaker 2>any causes that could be hormonal, thyroid, nutritional like that.
<v Speaker 2>But anyway I would, I would not be concerned. Us
<v Speaker 2>my point, it happens.
<v Speaker 1>And it might not even be fasting that caused it
<v Speaker 1>for you. So if you think about when it started,
<v Speaker 1>go to when you when you noticed it, count back
<v Speaker 1>two to three months, and if you went through something stressful,
<v Speaker 1>then it was probably that, not the fast.
<v Speaker 2>Oh you know what, and I just noticed too, she said,
<v Speaker 2>she's starting to look like she is bangs, but she doesn't.
<v Speaker 1>That's her hair. Is a sign that your hair is
<v Speaker 1>actually growing back in. So when you notice it, count
<v Speaker 1>back two to three months from when you noticed it,
<v Speaker 1>first starting to happen for me. Keto did it for me.
<v Speaker 1>Like I started doing Keto. I did it for the
<v Speaker 1>whole summer and then I noticed, oh my hair, so
<v Speaker 1>I counted it was Keto was doing it. I also
<v Speaker 1>when I had COVID in twenty twenty one, I had
<v Speaker 1>really you know, it hit me hard. I had a
<v Speaker 1>high fever for a week. Three months later I noticed
<v Speaker 1>it with my hair. But the thing is is that
<v Speaker 1>it grows back. It does, it comes back. It did
<v Speaker 1>for me both times. So I know it's scary because
<v Speaker 1>it's happening. But as soon as I understood that it's
<v Speaker 1>the process. But once you notice that the process is
<v Speaker 1>already in the works, you can't stop it. Once it
<v Speaker 1>has started, right, it has to complete the cycle. So again,
<v Speaker 1>for anybody listening, if you count back two to three
<v Speaker 1>months and that is when you started idea, then perhaps
<v Speaker 1>your body thought that was a stressor. But often people
<v Speaker 1>are like, oh, that's when my dog died, or though
<v Speaker 1>that's when I lost my job, or oh that's when
<v Speaker 1>I had COVID, or oh that's when we moved. So
<v Speaker 1>sometimes it's not the fasting.
<v Speaker 2>I just want to address this too, You said, you're
<v Speaker 2>not a high volume eater, so that you may struggle
<v Speaker 2>to get in enough calories during your four hour eating window.
<v Speaker 2>Open it up to five hours. Yeah, make sure that
<v Speaker 2>you are opening with a nice, full, balanced, you know,
<v Speaker 2>nutrient dense window opener, and then you know, make sure
<v Speaker 2>that you're having a nice, full balanced meal at the
<v Speaker 2>end of your window, or however you structure your window.
<v Speaker 2>If four hours isn't enough, open it up to five.
<v Speaker 2>If you're kind of a light eater and you said
<v Speaker 2>you wonder if ADF would be better with a full
<v Speaker 2>up day, then the question is are you able to
<v Speaker 2>eat three full meals on an up day? And were
<v Speaker 2>you doing so when you were doing ADF, because you
<v Speaker 2>want to make sure that you're doing that as well. Yep,
<v Speaker 2>all right. Well, have you been experiencing window creep or
<v Speaker 2>lost your way and been thinking that you'll wait until
<v Speaker 2>the first of the year to get back on track
<v Speaker 2>or to solidify your fasting lifestyle. Have you been feeling
<v Speaker 2>stuck or uninspired? Is your mindset not where it needs
<v Speaker 2>to be, holding you back from your true potential? Or
<v Speaker 2>maybe you have been secretly quote dirty fasting end quote.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't realize this was such a problem I did before,
<v Speaker 2>I don't believe it when it happens, or maybe you
<v Speaker 2>need help tweaking the feast. So no matter where you
<v Speaker 2>are or how long you've been fasting, I feel confident
<v Speaker 2>that if you book a session with me, we can
<v Speaker 2>get where you need to be. We can do just
<v Speaker 2>some one on one sessions. We can do a monthly program.
<v Speaker 2>But I am booking up already through the beginning of January,
<v Speaker 2>so don't wait to reach out if you want to
<v Speaker 2>get some troubleshooting help during just you can do a
<v Speaker 2>one on one session for one hour. We can sit,
<v Speaker 2>we can troubleshoot, we can come up with some tweaks
<v Speaker 2>for you or a lot of people like the book
<v Speaker 2>a monthly program. I meet with me weekly for a month,
<v Speaker 2>and we can get you where you want to be.
<v Speaker 2>We can have you feeling great in no time. So
<v Speaker 2>email me today, Sherry at fast Feast repeat dot com,
<v Speaker 2>and I will say occasionally some people's emails are slipping
<v Speaker 2>through the cracks. I don't know how, so please don't hesitate.
<v Speaker 2>Email me a second time if you don't hear from
<v Speaker 2>back for me in a couple of days. So now
<v Speaker 2>it's time for our tweak of the week. And you
<v Speaker 2>know I always say tweak it till it's easy. But
<v Speaker 2>the time that works for me might not be the
<v Speaker 2>one that works for you.
<v Speaker 1>And that's why it's super helpful to hear how other
<v Speaker 1>intermittent fasters are making intermittent fasting work for them. So
<v Speaker 1>we have JP from Southern Illinois thank you for the
<v Speaker 1>warning about feeling like you're walking through jello when first
<v Speaker 1>starting IF because when I could barely walk one mile
<v Speaker 1>when I usually walk three miles, I thought, Aha, this
<v Speaker 1>is what Jen was talking about. Thankfully it only lasted
<v Speaker 1>a few days. I have found that eating dessert to
<v Speaker 1>close my window doesn't work for me because I go
<v Speaker 1>to bed and wake up a few hours later wanting
<v Speaker 1>something else sweet to eat. The sugar monster is hungry.
<v Speaker 1>But if I want something as a treat to close
<v Speaker 1>my window, fresh fruit or even a dark chocolate frozen
<v Speaker 1>half of a banana satisfies me and doesn't wake the
<v Speaker 1>sugar monster. Recipe cut a fern, just write banana in half,
<v Speaker 1>sticking a popsicle in each half. Put bananas in the
<v Speaker 1>freezer for an hour. Melt a cup of dark chocolate
<v Speaker 1>or semi sweet chocolate chips with one tablespoon of coconut
<v Speaker 1>oil till it turns to a liquid. Add more coconut
<v Speaker 1>oil if it needs thinning. Dip the frozen banana pops
<v Speaker 1>completely in the chocolate, twirling the excess chocolate off. You
<v Speaker 1>can also dip the bananas in chopped nuts if desire.
<v Speaker 1>Set the coated bananas on parchment paper and return to
<v Speaker 1>the freezer for chocolate to set up. I put banana
<v Speaker 1>pops in a baggy to store in the freezer. My
<v Speaker 1>grandkids love these too. Oh and this just made me
<v Speaker 1>think of something funny, Sherry from San Francisco. Like the
<v Speaker 1>one day that we walked nine miles, I could actually
<v Speaker 1>feel my legs felt a little shaky, and I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>I think it was like, oh no, it was the
<v Speaker 1>second day. First day was like anyway, whatever, it was
<v Speaker 1>two days of a lot of walking. The second day,
<v Speaker 1>my legs felt a little shaky, and I'm like, I
<v Speaker 1>feel like I might have used all of the glycogen
<v Speaker 1>stored in those muscles, in my calf muscles, you know,
<v Speaker 1>because walking up the hills. And then that night I
<v Speaker 1>was like really craving dessert and that funny you know,
<v Speaker 1>I don't have dessert all the time that I was
<v Speaker 1>feeling like I need a dessert, and I'm like, I
<v Speaker 1>hope this doesn't give me restless legs. It didn't, so
<v Speaker 1>I had the dessert. I think it refilled the glycogen
<v Speaker 1>where it needed. I don't know. That's my theory.
<v Speaker 2>It's a good theory as any. And you know, I
<v Speaker 2>also just learned too because I got intrigued by that
<v Speaker 2>suggestion about bananas. I'm not into frozen bananas. You can
<v Speaker 2>take fresh raspberries and strawberries and do the same thing,
<v Speaker 2>dip them in chocolate and freeze them. We love to
<v Speaker 2>leave you with inspiration our motivational quotes, and this week
<v Speaker 2>we have a message from Allison in New Jersey. She wrote,
<v Speaker 2>the thoughts and messages that go through our mind aren't
<v Speaker 2>always the most productive, or even very nice.
<v Speaker 1>For that matter.
<v Speaker 2>True making causes to feel deprived or unmotivated, especially after
<v Speaker 2>a lifetime of dieting and self loathing. Although we can't
<v Speaker 2>always control the thoughts that drift into our mind, we
<v Speaker 2>can certainly stop them and replace them. I have found
<v Speaker 2>it very helpful to replace the word fasting hours with
<v Speaker 2>healing hours, and the words eating window with nutritional opportunities.
<v Speaker 2>The word fasting is very triggering for me still after
<v Speaker 2>five years of practicing, if focusing on my healing hours
<v Speaker 2>sounds so gentle, positive and reassuring, The words invoke a
<v Speaker 2>sense of peace and control instead of panic. The words
<v Speaker 2>nutritional opportunities remind me daily to eat the healthiest whole
<v Speaker 2>foods first, then add in a small treat if I
<v Speaker 2>really want it. When in doubt, ask yourself, is this
<v Speaker 2>a nutritional opportunity for my body? Or is this mouth entertainment?
<v Speaker 2>I know I will fill my best if I fill
<v Speaker 2>my eating window with delicious, real food. Stopping the unproductive
<v Speaker 2>thoughts and replacing them with more positive versions have led
<v Speaker 2>me down a path to success with this wonderful lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>Mindset shifts are so powerful.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much for listening today. We would love to
<v Speaker 1>have you join us in the Delayed on Tonight community,
<v Speaker 1>where you can interact with both me and Sherry, plus
<v Speaker 1>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 are a community driven podcast, so to submit your
<v Speaker 1>success stories, 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