Episode 106: Cortisol Fears, Shifting Your Window, Not Finding Weight Loss Success, 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 Feast.
<v Speaker 2>Repeat, and I'm Sherry Bullock, longtime intermittent faster and health
<v Speaker 2>and wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this podcast
<v Speaker 2>is for educational and motivational purposes only and is not
<v Speaker 2>intended to provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I
<v Speaker 2>are not doctors, so make sure to check with your
<v Speaker 2>trusted healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes
<v Speaker 2>to 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?
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing great.
<v Speaker 1>And guess what what the day that this comes out,
<v Speaker 1>you will be here.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I will be I just looked up and saw
<v Speaker 2>us the day after my birthday.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So the day that this comes out, we're recording this, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>month ahead of time. But the day it comes out,
<v Speaker 1>you will be here at the beach with me, and
<v Speaker 1>also Roxy will be here. So I'm excited for the
<v Speaker 1>future us me.
<v Speaker 2>Too, Me too, I am ready for that. I'm ready
<v Speaker 2>for some sunshine. Well, I have raining for what feels.
<v Speaker 1>Like we rain in here today. It's dreary.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, our local meteorologists actually just said expect rain every
<v Speaker 2>single day for the next month. We cannot tell you
<v Speaker 2>how much or when it's going to arrive until the
<v Speaker 2>day of, but basically, plan for rain is what he said.
<v Speaker 2>We're in a rainy season. We need the rain, right
<v Speaker 2>So anyway, I can't remember if I've shared on the
<v Speaker 2>podcast or not. Our son, who is twenty two, joined
<v Speaker 2>the Marines. He left May the twentieth, so by the
<v Speaker 2>time this comes out, we'll be getting closer to graduation.
<v Speaker 2>But wow, we just got our first letter from him
<v Speaker 2>the other day and actually came on my husband's birthday,
<v Speaker 2>and he was like, what a great birthday present. Of course,
<v Speaker 2>we're worried about him. We can't. You know, you're in
<v Speaker 2>no contact for thirteen weeks pretty much, I mean telephone contact.
<v Speaker 2>So we finally got our first letter. He's doing great.
<v Speaker 2>He's got a great attitude. He's looking at this whole
<v Speaker 2>thing as an adventure, which I love. Attitude makes or
<v Speaker 2>breaks you, and so he says it's really hard. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it made us feel better to know that he's really
<v Speaker 2>doing great and he's learning a lot. He says, learned
<v Speaker 2>a lot about history that he never really learned in school.
<v Speaker 2>And they actually have a little app where you can
<v Speaker 2>It sounds crazy, but you send them a letter through that.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, you can send them a snail mail letter,
<v Speaker 2>but you can send it through this app. You have
<v Speaker 2>to pay to do it. They actually print off the
<v Speaker 2>letter and you can send a picture every time you
<v Speaker 2>send a letter. Eric and I both decided rather than pictures,
<v Speaker 2>he doesn't care about seeing pictures of us, we're sending
<v Speaker 2>him little motivational messages that they can print off for him. So, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>we did that. We're tracking so by the end of
<v Speaker 2>today he should get our first two messages back to him.
<v Speaker 1>And oh, I know, you're so proud of him.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, he's in South Carolina with you.
<v Speaker 1>And oh yeah.
<v Speaker 2>It's funny because there's some Facebook groups and when people
<v Speaker 2>are on base, they just take pictures of different platoons
<v Speaker 2>out doing their thing, and then they'll post them and
<v Speaker 2>everybody's like, I hope you see your kid or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>It's so funny though, because I find myself every time
<v Speaker 2>I get a post, I'm like looking for him, looking him.
<v Speaker 2>But the funny thing is that they're usually so far away.
<v Speaker 2>By the time you zoom in.
<v Speaker 1>You can't see.
<v Speaker 2>Their faces are just a big blur. It could be
<v Speaker 2>anybody's kid. But every once in a while you'll see
<v Speaker 2>a mom that was like, oh I just saw my son,
<v Speaker 2>thank you. And so far, a lot of moms are
<v Speaker 2>super worried. But so far, all I'm worried about is
<v Speaker 2>he's very fair, and he's in South Carolina, and I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>do they get sunscreen? That's all I want to know.
<v Speaker 2>Is he getting They've got their shaved bear heads out
<v Speaker 2>there in the sudshine, and I'm like, is he getting
<v Speaker 2>his poor bear head sunburned out there? Likely we'll be
<v Speaker 2>going out there and off to see and graduates. Well,
<v Speaker 2>let's celebrate oh Amelia in North Carolina. She said, Hi,
<v Speaker 2>Jen and Cherry. I'm grateful to you both for your
<v Speaker 2>commitment to learning the science behind the IF lifestyle and
<v Speaker 2>sharing it with others. I found Jenn's Facebook group. In
<v Speaker 2>twenty nineteen, I started clean fasting and quickly saw the
<v Speaker 2>benefits and weight loss, reduced inflammation, and significant reduction in
<v Speaker 2>cramps during my period. Even my dentists commented that my
<v Speaker 2>teeth and gums look better than ever. Over the past
<v Speaker 2>few years, I went back and forth with IF taking breaks,
<v Speaker 2>primarily due to skepticism by doctors as to whether fasting
<v Speaker 2>is the right choice for a perimenopausal woman, especially as
<v Speaker 2>it relates to cortisol.
<v Speaker 1>Can I pop in and say something really quick about that,
<v Speaker 1>you may? You know, we hear that a lot and
<v Speaker 1>people are like, well, my doctor said I can't do
<v Speaker 1>it because it's going to give me high cortisol. Here's
<v Speaker 1>the thing. You don't have to guess this. Cortisol can
<v Speaker 1>be measured, just a simple test. So if you think
<v Speaker 1>you have high co cortisol, you can check it. It's
<v Speaker 1>just like somebody saying I think fasting is going to
<v Speaker 1>make my blood sugar crash. You can test your blood
<v Speaker 1>sugar and see, and then you'll like, oh, look my
<v Speaker 1>blood sugar is not crashing. Oh look my cortisol's fine.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't want you to listen to any kind
<v Speaker 1>of scary theories out there and assume that's going to
<v Speaker 1>be true for you. Now, could someone who does intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasting end up with high cortisol, Well, yeah, cortisol can
<v Speaker 1>be high for lots of things, stresses on the body
<v Speaker 1>that are like too stressful, if something is too stressful.
<v Speaker 1>But assuming that fasting is going to be a negative
<v Speaker 1>stress for you, no one can say that. I think
<v Speaker 1>fasting is a positive for my body. I am way
<v Speaker 1>less stressed than I was prior to intermittent fasting, and
<v Speaker 1>I've had my cortisol tested and it is on the
<v Speaker 1>low end of optimal. It's normal, it's fine, And we
<v Speaker 1>hear that.
<v Speaker 2>All the time. And you know, I don't know if
<v Speaker 2>they assume that because you are fasting, that you're going
<v Speaker 2>without energy and you're in this giant energy and that's
<v Speaker 2>what increases corsol. But I mean, like a low calorie diet,
<v Speaker 2>they know that increases total output of cortisol. And even
<v Speaker 2>monitoring calories, tracking calories is an increased perceived stress on
<v Speaker 2>the person, which can increase cortisol. So literally any method
<v Speaker 2>of weight loss has the potential to increase cortisol. But
<v Speaker 2>being significantly overweight and having high insulin levels that can
<v Speaker 2>increase cortisol. Right, So I mean it's funny to me
<v Speaker 2>that we just jump to, oh, you shouldn't fast because
<v Speaker 2>it can increase cortisol. I mean, coffee can increase cortisol.
<v Speaker 2>Too much exercise can increase cortisol. Not enough sleep can
<v Speaker 2>increase cortisol. Being sick increases cortisol. So it's like, it's
<v Speaker 2>funny to me that we focus on fasting. And then
<v Speaker 2>I don't think most people understand clean fasting and the
<v Speaker 2>body's ability to tap into energy stores. Yeah, when your
<v Speaker 2>body has endless energy sources and you are metabolically flexible,
<v Speaker 2>where is the stress exactly?
<v Speaker 1>That's why I think also dirty fasting might cause all
<v Speaker 1>sorts of issues that then people think are related to
<v Speaker 1>fasting because you're not able to tap into your fat
<v Speaker 1>stores well, because you're dirty fasting, and so that's going
<v Speaker 1>to cause all sorts of problems. I think the clean
<v Speaker 1>fast is completely different. So I think a lot of
<v Speaker 1>people who say, I've known people who have fasted and
<v Speaker 1>they've had these problems. XYZ were they fast and clean? Doubtful?
<v Speaker 1>So yep, something to keep in mind. All right, back
<v Speaker 1>to it all right.
<v Speaker 2>So back to the celebration. This spring, out of frustration
<v Speaker 2>and feeling inflamed and tired in my late forties, I
<v Speaker 2>jumped back into IF, and I felt better within days.
<v Speaker 2>I've learned a couple of things that may be helpful
<v Speaker 2>to your listeners. First, after returning to IF this spring,
<v Speaker 2>I started ADF. I know that this isn't right for everyone,
<v Speaker 2>especially in the beginning, but I am an experienced faster.
<v Speaker 2>I had tried ADF and the past and found it
<v Speaker 2>pretty intense, probably because I was an overachiever and I
<v Speaker 2>incorrectly thought that skipping the five hundred calorie meals on
<v Speaker 2>down days made me a better intermittent faster. This time around,
<v Speaker 2>after two months, I am loving ADF. The five hundred
<v Speaker 2>calorie meal makes a huge difference for me. It allows
<v Speaker 2>me to have dinner every night with my family while
<v Speaker 2>also having breakfast or lunch with a friend or colleague
<v Speaker 2>on my up days. In addition, even though I feel
<v Speaker 2>hungry sometimes on down days, I know I can hold
<v Speaker 2>off until my five hundred calorie meal, and I am
<v Speaker 2>encouraged by the thought that I can delay anything I'm
<v Speaker 2>craving until the next morning when I'm free to have
<v Speaker 2>whatever sounds good, and by then it's almost always something healthy.
<v Speaker 2>I think ADF sounds more intimiding than it actually is.
<v Speaker 2>My body is loving the digestive rest time. Second, I
<v Speaker 2>am embracing my feelings of hunger. For years and years
<v Speaker 2>I ignored my body's signals and dieting, and I'm relearning
<v Speaker 2>how to listen to my body's wisdom. So when those
<v Speaker 2>hunger feels come up, and they do, I thank my
<v Speaker 2>body for letting me know I'm hungry. And if I'm midfast,
<v Speaker 2>As silly as it sounds, I literally tell my body
<v Speaker 2>that it's time to use the energy I have in
<v Speaker 2>storage instead of taking new energy in right now. It
<v Speaker 2>usually doesn't take long after that for my metabolic switch
<v Speaker 2>to flip. A brisk walk helps if that switch needs
<v Speaker 2>a boost, and then I'm good to go. Thank you
<v Speaker 2>so much for sharing your insights. Your podcast helped me
<v Speaker 2>with discipline and remembering my why on the days that
<v Speaker 2>I need a mental boost.
<v Speaker 1>I love that, and I don't think it's silly at all. No,
<v Speaker 1>I think that is like the best strategy anybody could use, honestly,
<v Speaker 1>when you're feeling a wave of hunger, and you're in
<v Speaker 1>your fast say, hey, body, use some stored fuel. That's
<v Speaker 1>why it's there.
<v Speaker 2>That made me think. I recently read and my husband
<v Speaker 2>sent me this article. Some researcher did research on basically
<v Speaker 2>the power of words on the water molecules. Have you
<v Speaker 2>seen this?
<v Speaker 1>I have seen that. Yes, energy, it's energy, it's all
<v Speaker 1>energy and vibration.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he took water, and I may not remember the
<v Speaker 2>exact details of this little experiment he did, but like words,
<v Speaker 2>kind words, loving words were spoke to the water, and
<v Speaker 2>then there.
<v Speaker 1>Was other water frozen that was negative.
<v Speaker 2>Words for spoke to the water, and when they looked
<v Speaker 2>at it under the microscope, the actual water molecules were
<v Speaker 2>completely different. In the one where they spoke angry words,
<v Speaker 2>mean words, the molecules were like very disordered, and so
<v Speaker 2>it was basically then the whole thing went on to say, like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, we're seventy percent water, So the words that
<v Speaker 2>we speak to our body can actually change our body
<v Speaker 2>was the concept of this article, and it was just
<v Speaker 2>mind blowing to me that they could put water under
<v Speaker 2>a microscope and see a difference.
<v Speaker 1>The one I was talking about might be different, but
<v Speaker 1>I was when I said freight they froze it.
<v Speaker 2>Uh huh.
<v Speaker 1>There was an experimenter I can't say his name, masaru Imoto.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if I said that right, but he
<v Speaker 1>did experiments where he studied the impact of spoken words
<v Speaker 1>and intentions on the structure of ice crystals formed from
<v Speaker 1>the water. Okay, similar kind of a thing. It was
<v Speaker 1>so powerful. I actually was in an audience at a
<v Speaker 1>conference one time, and it was very very similar to that.
<v Speaker 1>They had somebody from random from the audience come up
<v Speaker 1>on stage and then they took them out of the
<v Speaker 1>room so they couldn't hear, and then they told us
<v Speaker 1>either to think negative thoughts about that person when they
<v Speaker 1>came in, like like send them negative thoughts or send
<v Speaker 1>them positive thoughts. And the person didn't know which we
<v Speaker 1>were going to be doing. And then they did like
<v Speaker 1>muscle testing, like strength testing on the person when they
<v Speaker 1>came back in. And so they did the strength testing
<v Speaker 1>and the muscle testing on the person, and then they said,
<v Speaker 1>all right, think the thoughts we told you to think,
<v Speaker 1>and then we thought the thoughts. And when the person
<v Speaker 1>when we sent them negative thoughts, they were weak, and
<v Speaker 1>the people sent them the positive thoughts they were strong.
<v Speaker 1>I mean it was fascinating. I mean, is there a
<v Speaker 1>way that could have been faking it out? I mean,
<v Speaker 1>maybe it may have been impacked on me. I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>But the whole point of that was energy. I really
<v Speaker 1>really think it's true. Something's going on at a level
<v Speaker 1>that we don't always know. But your body, like you said,
<v Speaker 1>is seventy percent water. So if you're sending your body negative,
<v Speaker 1>hateful thoughts, how much of that is your body picking up.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, definitely tell your body, send it the messages
<v Speaker 2>you want to believe, and you want your body to believe.
<v Speaker 2>You know, if you want your body to be a lean, mean,
<v Speaker 2>glycogen fat burning machine.
<v Speaker 1>Believe that you can be right. Body, You've got some fat,
<v Speaker 1>hey burn some right here, all right Now, we have
<v Speaker 1>a question from a listener. This question is from Melissa
<v Speaker 1>in is Itmo? Missouri?
<v Speaker 2>Yes? Okay, Missouri, the show me state.
<v Speaker 1>Okay. I've always been a very overweight, and like you, ladies,
<v Speaker 1>I rode the diet roller coaster for many years. In
<v Speaker 1>twenty seventeen, I started keto Ish low carb eating and
<v Speaker 1>I lost eighty five pounds over the next year, but
<v Speaker 1>then I plateaued around two hundred pounds I maintained until
<v Speaker 1>the pandemic kicked my butt and I went back to
<v Speaker 1>my old eating and I gained the weight back. In
<v Speaker 1>January of twenty twenty four, I got back on track
<v Speaker 1>with low carb eating. I lost eighteen pounds between January
<v Speaker 1>second and June fourth. I was frustrated because I wanted
<v Speaker 1>to lose weight faster since I have so much to lose,
<v Speaker 1>and someone recommended intermittent fasting. I started with sixteen eight
<v Speaker 1>and I quickly moved to eighteen six and nineteen five.
<v Speaker 1>From June fourth to July fifteenth, I lost twelve point
<v Speaker 1>four pounds, and then I decided to do ADF. From
<v Speaker 1>July fifteenth to October fifth, I lost another twenty five
<v Speaker 1>point eight pounds. At that point, I had lost fifty
<v Speaker 1>six point four since January and I weighed two hundred
<v Speaker 1>and twenty seven point six. I loved ADF and I
<v Speaker 1>felt absolutely amazing while doing it. I even began getting
<v Speaker 1>more exercise and being more active than before because I
<v Speaker 1>felt so great while doing it. In late September, I
<v Speaker 1>began to have a lot of pain in my right side.
<v Speaker 1>I went to my doctor and had a CT scan done,
<v Speaker 1>and they found that I had a fibroid on the
<v Speaker 1>outside of my uterus that was the size of my uterus,
<v Speaker 1>and the fibroid was pushing against my other organs. The
<v Speaker 1>fibroid must have grown rather quickly, as I had had
<v Speaker 1>a CT scan for something two years prior and there
<v Speaker 1>was no fibroid. Then I'm forty two and done having children,
<v Speaker 1>so I opted for a partial hysterectomy, and I still
<v Speaker 1>have my ovaries. I had the surgery in December of
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty four, but because of the pain I was in,
<v Speaker 1>I stopped doing intermittent fasting in November, and I struggled
<v Speaker 1>to get back even after I was recovered from the surgery.
<v Speaker 1>I have heard Jim say that it's not recommended for
<v Speaker 1>breastfeeding women to do intermittent fasting because as we lose fat,
<v Speaker 1>we can release toxins that were stored in our fat
<v Speaker 1>into our bodies. As I was doing ADF, I dropped
<v Speaker 1>a lot of weight quickly, and I'm wondering if I
<v Speaker 1>accidentally flooded my system with excess toxins estrogen, she said,
<v Speaker 1>I've read studies that fat cells store estrogen, and who
<v Speaker 1>knows what and if that is what caused a quick
<v Speaker 1>fibroid growth, as well as some possible liver inflammation. Let's
<v Speaker 1>pause there and answer just that part.
<v Speaker 2>Well, first of all, let's just address the liver inflammation.
<v Speaker 2>We actually see the opposite with fasting. People who come
<v Speaker 2>in with some liver inflammation, either non alcoholic fatty liver disease,
<v Speaker 2>which I know they're changing the name of that. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>they've already changed the name of it. I don't recall
<v Speaker 2>it off the top of my head, so we're just
<v Speaker 2>going to call it non acoholic fatty liver disease. We
<v Speaker 2>see people clean up their livers and you're basically burning
<v Speaker 2>through that stored glycogen and fat that's in your liver,
<v Speaker 2>clogging up your liver. I've also seen people say that
<v Speaker 2>they had some transient elevation of liver enzymes when they
<v Speaker 2>first start fasting. Could it be because you're mobilizing all
<v Speaker 2>of that out of there, maybe, But when they invariably
<v Speaker 2>come to community and they're like, oh, my gosh, I
<v Speaker 2>went to the doctor. My liver enzymes are suddenly high
<v Speaker 2>and they weren't six months ago. We don't really know.
<v Speaker 2>It's one of those things that you could have something
<v Speaker 2>as small as a small virus that can increase your
<v Speaker 2>liver enzymes and then invariably, you know, they go in
<v Speaker 2>and have it rechecked in eight weeks, twelve weeks and
<v Speaker 2>they're back down to normal. So it's hard to say.
<v Speaker 2>Was it because they were moving toxins through their body? No,
<v Speaker 2>But what we do know is long term, your liver
<v Speaker 2>is going to be much healthier.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, a lot of it's just we're guessing right right.
<v Speaker 2>No. And then as far as estrogen, I mean, sure,
<v Speaker 2>our fat cells do hold on to estrogen. There's different
<v Speaker 2>kinds of estrogen, and you know there is what's classified
<v Speaker 2>as like your good estrogen and your bad estrogen. Could
<v Speaker 2>you have been mobilizing some of that bad estrogen? Well yes,
<v Speaker 2>But you're also forty two and this is the time
<v Speaker 2>women start having problems with fibroids, and it's more to
<v Speaker 2>do with estrogen dominance and the fact that your body
<v Speaker 2>is not producing as much progesterone to balance that out.
<v Speaker 2>Coupled with being overweight, Estrogen dominance is pretty common. This
<v Speaker 2>is also the time that people start having gallbladder issues
<v Speaker 2>is in their forties, and it also it all comes
<v Speaker 2>down to female hormones. Do I think that fasting and
<v Speaker 2>losing weight caused your fibroid. I don't think so. I
<v Speaker 2>think it's just life. Life caused it. Being a woman
<v Speaker 2>caused it. Being overweight, and then your forties caused it.
<v Speaker 2>And evil and resistance insulin resistance. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Here's an anecdotal story from my life and fibroids. I
<v Speaker 1>had fibroid surgery in twenty thirteen and I was forty
<v Speaker 1>five at the time that I had it, and I
<v Speaker 1>had been you. I'm certain these fibroids had been growing
<v Speaker 1>for several years, and that was the time I was
<v Speaker 1>not doing intermittent fasting. At that time, I was overweight
<v Speaker 1>and I was not doing intermittent fasting, and I was
<v Speaker 1>having really really heavy, bleeding, heavy periods, and so I
<v Speaker 1>went to my doctor to see what they could do,
<v Speaker 1>and they're like, oh my gosh, we got all these
<v Speaker 1>fibroids in there. So I had to have fibroid surgery.
<v Speaker 1>But that happened when I was not an intermittent faster,
<v Speaker 1>so I can say that was just being like I said,
<v Speaker 1>in my early to mid forties is when the fibroids
<v Speaker 1>came on and I had to have surgery to have
<v Speaker 1>them removed. So we like to make cause and effect relationships, right,
<v Speaker 1>We like to say, well, I didn't have it two
<v Speaker 1>years ago, and I have it, so it must be
<v Speaker 1>because I lost the weight. And really it might not
<v Speaker 1>be because of that. It could have been again, it might
<v Speaker 1>have been, but we can't tell you for sure, Like
<v Speaker 1>I said, we would just be guessing, so we don't know.
<v Speaker 1>But it seems to me like you might have a
<v Speaker 1>fear of losing weight quickly, like that's somehow bad for you,
<v Speaker 1>and I want you to let that fear go, okay,
<v Speaker 1>because having the toxin stored in your body is also
<v Speaker 1>not great, you know, releasing them maybe you'll have a
<v Speaker 1>little bit of uncomfortable symptoms as they go. I talked
<v Speaker 1>about this in Cleanish a little bit. But if you
<v Speaker 1>are releasing toxins from fat stores, we want to release them.
<v Speaker 1>We want to get them out of there, and that's
<v Speaker 1>just part of the process. So I wouldn't let that
<v Speaker 1>be a deterrent for you, all right. So she goes
<v Speaker 1>on to say, I began doing intermittent fasting again on
<v Speaker 1>March fourteenth of twenty twenty five, and I started off
<v Speaker 1>with a sixteen eight. I found it to be much
<v Speaker 1>harder this time than last time, But that's likely because
<v Speaker 1>of the food I was eating. I also want to
<v Speaker 1>pop in there, Sherry. She was low carb before when
<v Speaker 1>she started, So when you're low carb, you already have
<v Speaker 1>depleted your glycogen stores to the point that like when
<v Speaker 1>I started intermittent fasting in twenty fourteen, I had been
<v Speaker 1>failing at keto, but I was fat adapted from the
<v Speaker 1>keto right, So it was really that was the time
<v Speaker 1>it was easy for me to do intermittent fasting because
<v Speaker 1>I had been keto in so my body was already
<v Speaker 1>producing keytones. I wasn't losing any person fat. I was
<v Speaker 1>just burning the fat I was eating. But it makes
<v Speaker 1>sense that if you started coming off the standard American
<v Speaker 1>diet that it would be harder than if you started
<v Speaker 1>after coming off low carb, just because of that metabolic
<v Speaker 1>flexibility and the flipping that metabolic switch and the being
<v Speaker 1>fat adapted part. Okay, so she said it's likely because
<v Speaker 1>of the food I was eating. We agree. She said,
<v Speaker 1>I've been gradually making better food choices and trying to
<v Speaker 1>shorten my windows. I've often been much more active as
<v Speaker 1>the weather has finally allowed me to be outside doing landscaping,
<v Speaker 1>gardening and all of that fun stuff. However, I have
<v Speaker 1>not lost even one pound. On March fourteenth, I was
<v Speaker 1>to sixty two point eight, and today May seventh, I
<v Speaker 1>am to sixty two point four. I wasn't expecting the
<v Speaker 1>weight to just fall off, but I am very worried
<v Speaker 1>that in almost two months I haven't lost even a pound.
<v Speaker 1>I'm trying not to panic. Definitely don't panic, no panicking needed,
<v Speaker 1>but the thought of being two hundred and sixty pounds
<v Speaker 1>for the rest of my life is terrifying. For reference,
<v Speaker 1>I am five foot five inches. So what are my questions?
<v Speaker 1>Number One? Should I have been doing something different when
<v Speaker 1>I was losing weight so fast? And is the quick
<v Speaker 1>weight loss what could have caused my issues my fibroid
<v Speaker 1>and my inflamed liver. If I decide to do ADF again,
<v Speaker 1>is there something I can do to help flush the
<v Speaker 1>release toxins out of my body? Say they don't harm
<v Speaker 1>my system? Again, Let's just answer that real quick. I
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't worry about that.
<v Speaker 2>I would not worry about that at all.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, No, I don't think that that charmed your system.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I don't think and it's a good thing to
<v Speaker 2>get these toxins out of your body. And I will
<v Speaker 2>just say while Jen was talking, I did just do
<v Speaker 2>a little quick search. They do know that like high
<v Speaker 2>fat dairy and even eating a lot of high fat
<v Speaker 2>red meat like saturated fat, has been linked to an
<v Speaker 2>increased risk of fibroids. Yeah, so I think it's probably
<v Speaker 2>more likely that.
<v Speaker 1>It's was good choice.
<v Speaker 2>If it truly grew that quickly, it could have potentially
<v Speaker 2>been the keto diets leading to that. But again that's
<v Speaker 2>just a guess. We don't know what happens.
<v Speaker 1>We don't know that you were eating a lot of dairy.
<v Speaker 1>But I will say dairy is growth promoting, and I'm
<v Speaker 1>not anti dairy. I love dairy, I eat diary.
<v Speaker 2>Jena is the cheese queen I loved, I love cream,
<v Speaker 2>I love butter, I love dairy.
<v Speaker 1>Dairy is delicious. But dairy is nature's perfect food for
<v Speaker 1>mammal babies at the period of their life or they're
<v Speaker 1>growing the fastest. It's got like is the correct word
<v Speaker 1>in growth factors. I don't know, but it's growth promoting.
<v Speaker 1>It's literally designed for growth. So it makes sense that
<v Speaker 1>something funky that might be growing if you're having a
<v Speaker 1>lot of something that promotes growth. Anyway, I don't want
<v Speaker 1>you to worry about that you've harmed your system. I
<v Speaker 1>do want to say you can support your body. When
<v Speaker 1>I was writing Cleanish, guess what helps our body detox beautifully?
<v Speaker 1>Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fiber, eating real food, carbohydrates
<v Speaker 1>help our bodies deal with toxins. It helps our liver
<v Speaker 1>clear things out because they're the vitamins, the minerals, and
<v Speaker 1>the fiber helps in our gut, all sorts of different things.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So number two, why am I having so
<v Speaker 1>much trouble losing any weight at all this time? Is
<v Speaker 1>it possible that I've permanently damaged something somehow? No, well,
<v Speaker 1>we'll talk about that in a minute. Three. Is there
<v Speaker 1>anything specifically I should or can do to lose weight
<v Speaker 1>post ysterectomy? The doctor said it would not send me
<v Speaker 1>in a menopause since I still have my ovaries. But
<v Speaker 1>I'm just not sure what's going on. Thank you so
<v Speaker 1>much for all you do and all the information you give.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, well, you said that you started again with sixteen eight.
<v Speaker 2>You don't really say that you've progressed from that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, she said it's hard.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So if you're still doing sixteen eight, you're find
<v Speaker 2>it hard. You're not losing weight. That's not going to
<v Speaker 2>be a weight loss protocol for you, and it is
<v Speaker 2>not a weight loss protocol for very many people.
<v Speaker 1>What'sn't for me?
<v Speaker 2>So you definitely want to shift to a shorter eating window.
<v Speaker 2>You know, if you found yourself in enjoining ADF, you
<v Speaker 2>might pivot back to that and see, you know if
<v Speaker 2>that's for you, or just shorten that eating window up.
<v Speaker 2>Get that eating window down to five hours every single day.
<v Speaker 2>It's going to feel better. You're going to naturally make
<v Speaker 2>better food choices in your window, we've found. So yeah,
<v Speaker 2>get that window shorten. You just have havet to power
<v Speaker 2>through and do it. You can do it, and that
<v Speaker 2>is going to really get your body to shift into
<v Speaker 2>fat burning. As for you said, you know, why are
<v Speaker 2>you having trouble losing weight this time around? I think
<v Speaker 2>that's probably it. Now. If you've already shortened your window
<v Speaker 2>and you're not losing weight, then you could just be
<v Speaker 2>somebody who just really really does need to be low
<v Speaker 2>carb right now. Your body may still have a lot
<v Speaker 2>of healing to do. If you've been significantly overweight for
<v Speaker 2>a long period of time. Something you could do is
<v Speaker 2>get a fasting insulin drawn. See where that stands. Calculate
<v Speaker 2>your homa IR score, which is your insulin resistance score.
<v Speaker 2>There's homer IR, it's homa dash IR calculators online. You
<v Speaker 2>need a fasting glucose and a fasting insulin level. You
<v Speaker 2>put those in and it gives you a score that
<v Speaker 2>can give you something to work towards even if weight
<v Speaker 2>loss is slow for you. And then you know you
<v Speaker 2>asked about weight loss post hysterectomy, and I don't want
<v Speaker 2>to contradict your doctor, but I have to. There's research
<v Speaker 2>out there that I'm just going to read it to you.
<v Speaker 2>Women undergoing hysterectomy, we're at a nearly a twofold increased
<v Speaker 2>risk for ovarian failure as compared to women with an
<v Speaker 2>intact uterus after hysterectomy. Twenty five percent of ovaries fail
<v Speaker 2>within six months and forty percent fail within three years.
<v Speaker 2>You could be having some hormonal issues, so that is
<v Speaker 2>something that you know. You can get your labs tested,
<v Speaker 2>you can start journaling symptoms, and you know it's very
<v Speaker 2>possible that that surgery can or did send you into menopause,
<v Speaker 2>which can make way loss more stubborn. But the first
<v Speaker 2>thing I would really do is just shorten that eating window,
<v Speaker 2>get a fasting insulin and fasting glucose, then create a
<v Speaker 2>fasting protocol that is going to support healing your body,
<v Speaker 2>healing your insulin resistance, and shedding the fat that you're
<v Speaker 2>trying to shed.
<v Speaker 1>And I really want to just zero in on that
<v Speaker 1>one question that you said, is it possible that I
<v Speaker 1>have permanently damaged something? Somehow? Bodies are resilient, Thank goodness, right,
<v Speaker 1>Our bodies want to heal. Your body doesn't want to
<v Speaker 1>be two hundred and sixty pounds, and when you give
<v Speaker 1>it the right circumstances to release the weight, it will happen.
<v Speaker 1>And you loved adf before you mentioned that you have
<v Speaker 1>battled with being obese for most of your life. I
<v Speaker 1>would bet that you do have high levels of insulin,
<v Speaker 1>and like Sherry said, getting that you got to have
<v Speaker 1>the fasting insulin in the fasting glucose at the same time,
<v Speaker 1>like you have to have them at the same time,
<v Speaker 1>Like a new fasting insulin and an old fasting glucose
<v Speaker 1>aren't going to help you right to make sure you
<v Speaker 1>get I'm drawn at the same time to find your
<v Speaker 1>insulin resistance score. But it makes sense why you did
<v Speaker 1>so great with ADF before, because that's great for lowering insulin,
<v Speaker 1>and I have a hunch that that's an issue. And again,
<v Speaker 1>high insulin is often linked to fibroid growth as well.
<v Speaker 1>And I don't want you to feel like you hurt
<v Speaker 1>yourself or you've damaged your body permanently. Because bodies heal.
<v Speaker 1>We see it on the surface of our skin. We
<v Speaker 1>cut our skin, it heals. So things heal on the
<v Speaker 1>inside too, where we can't see them. So I want
<v Speaker 1>you to have confidence that your body can do this.
<v Speaker 1>You have the tools, between your fasting strategies, your food choices,
<v Speaker 1>you can figure out what works. But we would both
<v Speaker 1>say that what you're doing right now the eight hour
<v Speaker 1>window is not going to be your fat loss protocol.
<v Speaker 1>And I don't want you to be afraid of losing fat.
<v Speaker 2>There's one caveat I just wanted to add is the
<v Speaker 2>only way you could have done any damage to your
<v Speaker 2>metabolism with doing ADF is if you were not doing
<v Speaker 2>sufficient updates. And if you were doing ADF and not
<v Speaker 2>doing sufficient up days. Then yes, you could downregulate your
<v Speaker 2>metabolism to where you are now struggling to lose weight.
<v Speaker 1>That's true.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but normally, if that's what's happening, then you have
<v Speaker 2>pretty quick and significant weight regain. And it would be
<v Speaker 2>hard to do that for several months like you did.
<v Speaker 2>I think you did ADF for three months. It'd be
<v Speaker 2>really hard to significantly under eat for three months at
<v Speaker 2>a time like that. Your body would have been giving you
<v Speaker 2>signs and you didn't reference that, but I did just
<v Speaker 2>want to kind of throw that out there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's a good point. And the good news about
<v Speaker 1>that is metabolisms are also resilient, so even if your
<v Speaker 1>metabolism slowed, you can boost it.
<v Speaker 2>And if you think that was you, then I would
<v Speaker 2>just jump back into ADF. So we have a question
<v Speaker 2>from Jody from South Dakota. She says, Hello, I've been
<v Speaker 2>fasting since around February this year, but the end of April,
<v Speaker 2>about a month ago, I was recommended Jin's book by
<v Speaker 2>our family doctor. Hooray, and for the first time heard
<v Speaker 2>of clean fasting. I'm five foot one and I was
<v Speaker 2>at one hundred and ninety one pounds. The heaviest I've
<v Speaker 2>ever been. I'm thirty four and I've had four kids
<v Speaker 2>in six years. I'm happy to say that now at
<v Speaker 2>the end of May, I have lost around ten pounds
<v Speaker 2>and I'm wearing leggings I haven't worn for a year
<v Speaker 2>because they were too tight. I'm so happy about this
<v Speaker 2>and how easy the lifestyle change was. My question is
<v Speaker 2>how to find the best eating window for you. I
<v Speaker 2>could wait until one pm, but sometimes I find myself
<v Speaker 2>eating earlier because if we go out for the day,
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to pack food for myself. Yet waiting
<v Speaker 2>until five or six pm seems like too much for me.
<v Speaker 2>Do I need to have a consistent eating window or
<v Speaker 2>can it be flexible based on the day. For example,
<v Speaker 2>if we are taking a day trip to the zoo,
<v Speaker 2>can I eat before we leave and close my eating
<v Speaker 2>window early, and then when we are home all day
<v Speaker 2>wait until after to eat or is it better to
<v Speaker 2>have the same window time every single day. Any thoughts
<v Speaker 2>are appreciated. Noe. Sometimes I get shaky if I'm truly
<v Speaker 2>hungry and don't feel well, so I'm nervous to be
<v Speaker 2>out and about with kids on an empty stomach.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Jody, great questions and I see that you're
<v Speaker 1>just one month into the clean fast. That really explains
<v Speaker 1>why you're still getting a little hungry. Maybe when you're
<v Speaker 1>out and about, your body may not have flipped the
<v Speaker 1>metabolic switch yet. That is possible once you are fat
<v Speaker 1>adapted and your body is able to feel a little
<v Speaker 1>hunger for a minute, and then you know, like we
<v Speaker 1>talked about earlier, say all right, body, get some stored fuel.
<v Speaker 1>Your body can do it. If you are fast and clean,
<v Speaker 1>you should not get shaky. If your body can flip
<v Speaker 1>that switch and tap into your fat stores. So I
<v Speaker 1>don't want you to think, you know, back in the past,
<v Speaker 1>when you were eating all all, you know, starting the
<v Speaker 1>day with breakfast, having snacks, all of that, you could
<v Speaker 1>get shaky. You have that blood sugar drop because your
<v Speaker 1>body's wanting more food to come in. It's not flipping
<v Speaker 1>the switch. But now that you're fast and clean, your
<v Speaker 1>body should be able to flip the switch, and you
<v Speaker 1>should not have that bloodhor crashed to make you shaky.
<v Speaker 1>So be confident that your body knows what to do.
<v Speaker 1>If you do find you know, once you've been fasting
<v Speaker 1>sufficiently long enough that you should be flipping the switch.
<v Speaker 1>If you find that you're getting shaky during your fast,
<v Speaker 1>then I would really examine your fast and see if
<v Speaker 1>you're accidentally somehow breaking your fast. It could be something
<v Speaker 1>like a bottled coffee or tea product, or something you're
<v Speaker 1>grabbing while you're out. And about one time, I got
<v Speaker 1>really shaky after a McDonald's black coffee. And I don't
<v Speaker 1>think McDonald's black coffee as a rule, should break the fast,
<v Speaker 1>but it was just a random day. I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe they'd clean the machine in a weird way, or
<v Speaker 1>maybe they'd accidentally who knows what it was contaminated with,
<v Speaker 1>but I was fasting, I had some of that coffee.
<v Speaker 1>I got really shaky. So there was something about that
<v Speaker 1>particular coffee that broke my fast that day, And I
<v Speaker 1>don't know what it.
<v Speaker 2>Could have been. Something as silly as they love to
<v Speaker 2>add their sugar syrup to their coffee.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe they accidentally, maybe they did.
<v Speaker 2>It, they dumped your coffee cup and they re used
<v Speaker 2>the same cup. I mean, you just never know.
<v Speaker 1>Who knows what it was. But I got shaky that time,
<v Speaker 1>and it was just a very strange situation because I
<v Speaker 1>don't get shaky after black coffee, but something in that
<v Speaker 1>coffee made me shaky. I don't know what it was.
<v Speaker 1>It could be if you're taking vitamins on an empty stomach,
<v Speaker 1>supplements on an empty stomach, any of that, or just
<v Speaker 1>like I said, just that you're not fat adapted yet.
<v Speaker 1>So when it comes to when do you have to
<v Speaker 1>have your window, does it have to be the same
<v Speaker 1>exact time every day? No, you can slide it around
<v Speaker 1>as works for you. Shift it earlier, shift it later.
<v Speaker 1>I would just think of it as like a little
<v Speaker 1>sliding scale.
<v Speaker 2>You know.
<v Speaker 1>Let's say you're having a five hour window. Just slide
<v Speaker 1>that five hours down, slide it up, make it work,
<v Speaker 1>and make it fit your schedule for the day. Now
<v Speaker 1>that being set, if I open too early, I have
<v Speaker 1>a hard time keeping my window closed because I legitimately
<v Speaker 1>get hungry again before bedtime. I have learned that about myself.
<v Speaker 1>Like if I'm like, well, I'll just have a really big,
<v Speaker 1>you know, brunch at ten o'clock and I'll close by
<v Speaker 1>after that big brunch, you know, I'm stuffed, it's new
<v Speaker 1>and I'm closing. I'm done by the time eight o'clock
<v Speaker 1>rolls around, I'm like starving, can't sleep. Legitimately hungry. Those
<v Speaker 1>early windows don't work well for me. So this is
<v Speaker 1>where experimenting comes in. And again, you're just a month
<v Speaker 1>into the clean fast and so you will be able
<v Speaker 1>to figure out what window shifting works well for you
<v Speaker 1>and if you can wait until five on certain days,
<v Speaker 1>and then you can if you're fat adapted, right, not
<v Speaker 1>every day. I'm not saying every day you should wait
<v Speaker 1>until five, but I absolutely I could go till five, six, seven, eight.
<v Speaker 1>I could just go on and on if I had to,
<v Speaker 1>because I'm busy.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And I have to wonder too as far as
<v Speaker 2>window length, because she doesn't say her window length. If
<v Speaker 2>you are absolutely sure that you're clean fasting, you get
<v Speaker 2>to six or seven weeks of clean fasting and you're
<v Speaker 2>still feeling this way before opening your window, it could
<v Speaker 2>be that you need to tweak your window length.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, it could be too long for you to be
<v Speaker 1>shifting into fab beting. Yeah. All right, now it's time
<v Speaker 1>for our segment called What's your Why. Most of us
<v Speaker 1>begin intermittent fasting with weight loss in mind, and that
<v Speaker 1>is a great reason to begin. But I genuinely believe
<v Speaker 1>when your why is deeper than weight loss alone, you're
<v Speaker 1>more likely to find long term success and view intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasting as a lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>All right, So this week we have a why from Katie.
<v Speaker 2>She said, what's my why? I've been reflecting deeply on
<v Speaker 2>this question. While my initial journey into endermint fasting began
<v Speaker 2>with the goal of losing weight, what I've discovered along
<v Speaker 2>the way has been so much more profound. Over the
<v Speaker 2>past few months, as I've immersed myself in your podcast,
<v Speaker 2>your words have nudged me to look inward and truly
<v Speaker 2>explore what's behind my desire for change. This journey has
<v Speaker 2>become about far more than just numbers on a scale.
<v Speaker 2>I've struggled with my weight since I was a little
<v Speaker 2>girl around eight years old. Food in my home was
<v Speaker 2>tied to emotion. It was comfort during sadness, of reward
<v Speaker 2>during stress, and a way to feel safe when life
<v Speaker 2>was anything. But my childhood was marked by loss and
<v Speaker 2>respect wot's ability far too early. My mom became seriously
<v Speaker 2>ill when I was just ten, with something very similar
<v Speaker 2>to motor neuron disease, and by twelve, my dad had
<v Speaker 2>to stop working to care for her. Sadly, he turned
<v Speaker 2>to alcohol as a way to cope and life at
<v Speaker 2>home quickly became chaotic. By the time I was fourteen,
<v Speaker 2>my mom had gone into full time care and I
<v Speaker 2>was left to keep the house running, managing bills, cooking,
<v Speaker 2>and simply trying to survive. School fell by the wayside.
<v Speaker 2>I lost my mom just after I turned nineteen. A
<v Speaker 2>few months later I lost my dad too. My teenage
<v Speaker 2>years were shaped by grief and survival skills I developed
<v Speaker 2>to endure it. Food became my escape, my comfort, and
<v Speaker 2>eventually my prison. Over the years, my weight has fluctuated drastically,
<v Speaker 2>from one hundred and sixty pounds on my wedding day
<v Speaker 2>to two hundred and fifty pounds after lockdown. But no
<v Speaker 2>matter than number, I always felt like I wasn't in control.
<v Speaker 2>That is until I found intermittent fasting and more importantly,
<v Speaker 2>your community. It has been a year since I began,
<v Speaker 2>and for the first time in my life, I feel empowered.
<v Speaker 2>I finally feel like I am not at war with food.
<v Speaker 2>So what is my why? I am now forty three.
<v Speaker 2>I have two beautiful children with my wonderful husband, a
<v Speaker 2>twenty year old son and a fifteen year old daughter.
<v Speaker 2>They are my heart. I refuse to leave them without
<v Speaker 2>a mother. I want to be there as they grow
<v Speaker 2>into the incredible adults I know that they're becoming. I
<v Speaker 2>want to dance at their weddings, meet my grandchildren, and
<v Speaker 2>be the kind of grandparent that my children never had
<v Speaker 2>the chance to know. I will meet my grandkids, and
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing this for me too. I want to live
<v Speaker 2>a life where I am in control, where food doesn't
<v Speaker 2>dictate my emotions, my energy, or my worth. I've found
<v Speaker 2>that freedom through interment, fasting, and i know in my
<v Speaker 2>heart this is for life. Thank you Jin and Sherry
<v Speaker 2>for the love, wisdom, and support you pour into every
<v Speaker 2>podcast and every corner of the delay. Don't deny community.
<v Speaker 2>I'm so deeply grateful with love. Katie in the Isle
<v Speaker 2>of Man, Wow, huh, I'm so sorry for all that
<v Speaker 2>you went through. While I was reading that, I went
<v Speaker 2>I started thinking, you know, I know that people who
<v Speaker 2>are over weight are so unfairly judged by.
<v Speaker 1>Society, anxiety, ourselves.
<v Speaker 2>And it just really just goes to show you have
<v Speaker 2>no idea what a person has battled in their life
<v Speaker 2>right and how they have coped. Yep, And it's true.
<v Speaker 2>Food is a really powerful comfort coping mechanism, and that
<v Speaker 2>becomes a habit. It becomes a habit to use food
<v Speaker 2>as a shield, as a comfort, to make yourself feel
<v Speaker 2>better on a bad day. It's not just about shedding
<v Speaker 2>the weight. It's about learning new coping habits right, and
<v Speaker 2>coping mechanisms. That's where I think intermittent fasting, you take
<v Speaker 2>that pause from eating, and you are really forced to
<v Speaker 2>identify what are you really feeling? What do you really need?
<v Speaker 2>That's why it causes so much just I feel like personal.
<v Speaker 1>Growth, right, and especially if we have been used to
<v Speaker 1>numbing our feelings with food. We developed that habit for
<v Speaker 1>whatever reason. And you know, good Lord Katie went through
<v Speaker 1>terrible situations with her mom passing away and then her
<v Speaker 1>dad turning to alcohol. And you know, I've had alcoholic
<v Speaker 1>family members. I totally get how hard that is, and
<v Speaker 1>especially it's chaotic when you're young and you're running the
<v Speaker 1>household yourself. I mean, that is more than any fourteen
<v Speaker 1>year old should be bearing. Right, You've developed the habit
<v Speaker 1>of food is there. Food is comforting, and so then
<v Speaker 1>you start intermittent fasting and you no longer are turning
<v Speaker 1>to food for comfort because you have that boundary, the
<v Speaker 1>boundary of intermittent fasting requires you to sit more with
<v Speaker 1>your feelings, to feel them you're not numbing them, or
<v Speaker 1>how to care for yourself and feel those feelings. And
<v Speaker 1>then as you know that you can do it, it feels empowering.
<v Speaker 1>Just like Katie said, you're no longer at war with
<v Speaker 1>the food because you've got that boundary that is helping you, right,
<v Speaker 1>and so you're like, well, it's not even a possibility
<v Speaker 1>that I'm going to soothe myself with the bag of
<v Speaker 1>Doritos because my window is closed. So Katie, that was
<v Speaker 1>absolutely beautiful and thank you so much for sharing it.
<v Speaker 2>All right, So we have a question from Amanda in
<v Speaker 2>South Wales, UK. Hi both love the podcast, but I'm
<v Speaker 2>getting despondent on my journey to nowhere. I am a
<v Speaker 2>ninety four kilogram fifty eight year old female with arthritis
<v Speaker 2>and hypothyroidism, and I have dieted since I was sixteen.
<v Speaker 2>I found keto in twenty nineteen and I thought it
<v Speaker 2>was the answer. I lost twenty pounds but no more
<v Speaker 2>and I have found it restrictive, so gradually phased to
<v Speaker 2>low carb top tip. The keto helped massively with my
<v Speaker 2>joint pain and I came off of my painkillers thanks
<v Speaker 2>to it. Then I found doctor Fung and I tried fasting,
<v Speaker 2>but I didn't get anywhere. And this year, thanks to
<v Speaker 2>the encouragement of my friend Lucy, I have dedicated twenty
<v Speaker 2>twenty five to intermittent. I started the twenty eight day
<v Speaker 2>fastart on January first, and I have continued to fast
<v Speaker 2>with the aim of a daily eating window of five
<v Speaker 2>hours or less. It is now April twenty third, but
<v Speaker 2>I'm not losing weight. I know you say give it
<v Speaker 2>time and trust the process, but it's a pound a
<v Speaker 2>month too much to ask for. I just don't understand.
<v Speaker 2>I clean fast, I eat whole foods, I have cut
<v Speaker 2>back the alcohol. What to tweak During my window, I
<v Speaker 2>either eat one large meal of two courses, or one
<v Speaker 2>snack and one meal, depending on the day. I know
<v Speaker 2>that thyroid problems can hinder weight loss, but I also
<v Speaker 2>see success stories, and I want to have a success story. Currently,
<v Speaker 2>my success is that a five hour eating window means
<v Speaker 2>I don't gain weight, and that is a success. I
<v Speaker 2>acknowledge that, but I really want to lose twenty pounds,
<v Speaker 2>if only to help my poor arthritic needs. It's hard
<v Speaker 2>work to keep doing this with no results. My friends
<v Speaker 2>are all on the jabs and looking great, and I
<v Speaker 2>am sitting here, fasting and fat. Any help would be
<v Speaker 2>greatly appreciated. I really want this to work and be
<v Speaker 2>my lifestyle, but I am hanging on by a thread.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for all you do. I love the success stories,
<v Speaker 2>but a few struggle stories would help to I feel
<v Speaker 2>like I'm not the only one losing weight in the
<v Speaker 2>whole f FI world. What do you have for her? Jin?
<v Speaker 1>All right, well, I've got a lot. First of all,
<v Speaker 1>I had to do a little math calculation because ninety
<v Speaker 1>four kilograms is two hundred and seven pounds. I'm not
<v Speaker 1>really sure how tall you are, but regardless of your height,
<v Speaker 1>two hundred and seven you're going to want to lose
<v Speaker 1>some weight from that. So you're fifty eight, and you
<v Speaker 1>have arthritis, and you have hypothyroidism, and you have now
<v Speaker 1>been doing intermittent fasting for Shane, it looks like just
<v Speaker 1>over four months as of this, like four months, and
<v Speaker 1>you're not losing weight.
<v Speaker 2>So and also she's dieted since she was sixteen.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's really really an important factor. So here's
<v Speaker 1>the thing I don't want you to feel despondent. And
<v Speaker 1>I also don't want you to think that the JAB
<v Speaker 1>is going to be your answer. And here's why. It
<v Speaker 1>doesn't sound like you're overeating. You're eating in a window
<v Speaker 1>one large meal of two courses or one snack and
<v Speaker 1>one meal. So I bet if you counted your calories,
<v Speaker 1>you are not over eating. So let's see what the
<v Speaker 1>weight loss job does. Is it lowers your hunger levels, right,
<v Speaker 1>it makes you feel full so you can't eat. It
<v Speaker 1>does lots of other things too, But what it would
<v Speaker 1>do is it would restrict your calories more, so you'd
<v Speaker 1>be on even a more of a low calorie diet.
<v Speaker 1>The research is finding that it really is causing a
<v Speaker 1>loss of a lot of muscle mass. So you're fifty
<v Speaker 1>eight years old, you do not want to lose a
<v Speaker 1>lot of muscle mass. I saw a video on YouTube
<v Speaker 1>where someone was going through all that. It is going
<v Speaker 1>to cause you so much more trouble if you're not
<v Speaker 1>feeling strong now. If you go on a weight loss injection,
<v Speaker 1>even lower calorie than you're doing now, you could expect
<v Speaker 1>to lose a lot of muscle. And yes, you might
<v Speaker 1>be smaller in size in your body, but you're not
<v Speaker 1>going to be strong, you're not going to be healthier.
<v Speaker 1>It's not going to help set you up for a
<v Speaker 1>better success. So here's what we know so far. The
<v Speaker 1>eating window approach that you're using right now is not
<v Speaker 1>causing your body to lose weight. That's what we know.
<v Speaker 1>But does that mean that there is no weight loss
<v Speaker 1>approach that is going to work for you except for
<v Speaker 1>weight loss shots. I don't believe that's true. And you know,
<v Speaker 1>I know you said at the end that you would
<v Speaker 1>like some struggle stories. I'm pretty sure that every one
<v Speaker 1>of these episodes of Fast Feast Repeat has people who
<v Speaker 1>are struggling in it. So I want you to recognize
<v Speaker 1>that so many of our questions are with people who
<v Speaker 1>are struggling. You're not alone. Now, if you're only listening
<v Speaker 1>to intermittent fasting stories, then well, those people it's like
<v Speaker 1>a different self selection process, right. People who have had
<v Speaker 1>incredible success self select for intermittent fasting stories and they
<v Speaker 1>come on that podcast and tell about their success. Versus
<v Speaker 1>here on Fast Feast Repeat. We have people with questions
<v Speaker 1>and more so, yes, we have some celebrations, but if
<v Speaker 1>you listen to the questions every week, there are people
<v Speaker 1>who are struggling every single day. You are not alone
<v Speaker 1>in your struggle. So everybody get that out of your head.
<v Speaker 1>Not everybody starts intermitting fasting has a five hour window,
<v Speaker 1>all the weight falls off, Boom done. It's not like
<v Speaker 1>that for a whole lot of people. And the longer
<v Speaker 1>you've been overweight, the longer you've struggled with this, the
<v Speaker 1>more dieting you've done in your life, that signifies it's
<v Speaker 1>going to be harder for you. And it's not your fault.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't want you to take on a lot
<v Speaker 1>of self blame when it comes to this, but I
<v Speaker 1>want you to know that you're working with what you're
<v Speaker 1>working with. Your past history made you who you are today.
<v Speaker 1>And if you've got a body that was obese for
<v Speaker 1>decades and you've been dieting for decades, you've got some
<v Speaker 1>consequences that come along with that, And again, it's not
<v Speaker 1>your fault. It's just the fact of the state of
<v Speaker 1>your body. When I was two hundred and ten pounds,
<v Speaker 1>I got there through what I had been doing with
<v Speaker 1>my body. My hunch is that your successful approach is
<v Speaker 1>going to be adf alternate daily fasting. I want you
<v Speaker 1>to get a copy of the second edition of Delayed
<v Speaker 1>on Tonight. Make sure it's Delayed on Tony. Make sure
<v Speaker 1>it's the second edition. The paperback is available on Amazon,
<v Speaker 1>the ebook is available the audiobook anywhere you get your ebooks,
<v Speaker 1>your audiobooks. And I want you to read about ADF.
<v Speaker 1>You're going to have down days and you're going to
<v Speaker 1>have updays. Make sure your updays I would say, have
<v Speaker 1>a twelve hour upday with three meals early breakfast first
<v Speaker 1>thing in the morning, lunch in the middle of the day,
<v Speaker 1>dinner at night. And then on your down day, you
<v Speaker 1>can either choose the full fast option or you can
<v Speaker 1>choose the five hundred calorie down day, and you'll structure
<v Speaker 1>that in a short window. All of that is in
<v Speaker 1>Delayed on Tonight, the second edition. But I really genuinely
<v Speaker 1>think you probably need the metabolic boost of the upday.
<v Speaker 1>It sounds to me like that's super important for you.
<v Speaker 1>And then the down days is where you're going to
<v Speaker 1>tap into fat and you've got to be patient. You
<v Speaker 1>might actually see a little bit of weight gain at first,
<v Speaker 1>because it's going to take time to upregulate your metabolism.
<v Speaker 1>But as I said earlier, bodies are not broken forever.
<v Speaker 1>Bodies are resilient, and if your metabolism is slow, you
<v Speaker 1>can boost it. Food quality is also going to make
<v Speaker 1>a big difference. If you've found great success with a
<v Speaker 1>lower carb approach, then maybe you can combine the two.
<v Speaker 1>We got to work with the bodies that we have.
<v Speaker 1>That is the main thing that I want everyone to
<v Speaker 1>always understand. You have to work with the body that
<v Speaker 1>you have. And I know that it's so tempting when
<v Speaker 1>you see your friends that seem to be losing weight
<v Speaker 1>so fast. But ten years from now, what shape is
<v Speaker 1>their body going to be in. Are they going to
<v Speaker 1>have muscle mass, are they going to be strong and healthy?
<v Speaker 1>Or are they going to have stopped taking the shots?
<v Speaker 1>Now they've regained it all, but it's now, it's all fat.
<v Speaker 1>Comparison is the thief of joy. And don't compare yourself
<v Speaker 1>to them. Compare yourself today to how you're going to
<v Speaker 1>be in the future when you really find the intermitt
<v Speaker 1>and fasting lifestyle that works for you. So before we
<v Speaker 1>get to our week of the week, I want to
<v Speaker 1>take a minute to tell you my books and I
<v Speaker 1>just mentioned Delayed on tonight, the second edition and that
<v Speaker 1>is really the one that I recommend everybody start with.
<v Speaker 1>It is to me, the best quick introduction to intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasting out there, not just because I wrote it. I
<v Speaker 1>think that it is my school teacher voice comes through
<v Speaker 1>and it tells you everything you know to get started,
<v Speaker 1>and it might be all that you need to know,
<v Speaker 1>and so I would start with that. You can find
<v Speaker 1>it on Amazon if you want the paperback or the
<v Speaker 1>ebook and the audiobook wherever you get your ebooks and
<v Speaker 1>your audio books. If you're somebody who quit intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>for a while and you're struggling to get back started,
<v Speaker 1>that's where twenty eight day fast Start day by day
<v Speaker 1>can come in. That is a very useful tool for
<v Speaker 1>either starting or restarting, but it's especially seems to be
<v Speaker 1>helpful for people who quit for a long period of
<v Speaker 1>time and they want to get back started, but they
<v Speaker 1>want to jump right in where they had been before,
<v Speaker 1>and they're having a hard time. Twenty eight day fast
<v Speaker 1>Start day by day can help you. And that you
<v Speaker 1>can find that wherever you buy your books. So now
<v Speaker 1>it's time for our tweak of the week. You know
<v Speaker 1>I always say tweak it till it's easy. But the
<v Speaker 1>tweak that works for me might not be the one
<v Speaker 1>that works for you. And that is why it's super
<v Speaker 1>helpful to hear how other intermittent fasters are making intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasting work for them. And again, like I said, comparison
<v Speaker 1>can be the thief of joy. We've got to find
<v Speaker 1>the tweak that works for us. You can't just say, well,
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to do exactly what Jen didn't get the
<v Speaker 1>same results. You're different than me. I'm different than you.
<v Speaker 1>Scherry is different than me. We all have different tweaks
<v Speaker 1>that work for us and different things that we enjoy.
<v Speaker 1>So this is what has worked for Cindy in Minnesota.
<v Speaker 1>She says her focus is on living well with balanced
<v Speaker 1>days with a focus on more than just the fast
<v Speaker 1>and the feast. Hello Jin and Sherry, thank you for
<v Speaker 1>letting me submit this new tweek.
<v Speaker 2>I'm trying.
<v Speaker 1>Hopefully by the time this is shared, it will have
<v Speaker 1>become a new habit. Here is my tweak. Every day
<v Speaker 1>I try to move my body, I do something kind
<v Speaker 1>for myself or others. I reach my daily intermittent fasting goals.
<v Speaker 1>I eat healthy and wholesome foods, and at the end
<v Speaker 1>of the day, if I have hit three of these
<v Speaker 1>four goals, I can rest my head on the pillow
<v Speaker 1>and give myself a pat on the back. I love
<v Speaker 1>that I do too. Move your body, do something kind
<v Speaker 1>for yourself for others. Reach your daily if goal, eat
<v Speaker 1>healthy and wholesome foods. Yeah, relax into the process.
<v Speaker 2>And I love that she's not aiming for perfection. Exactly
<v Speaker 2>three of those four goals and she's satisfied.
<v Speaker 1>Yep.
<v Speaker 2>All right. So this week we have an inspirational quote.
<v Speaker 2>Or actually it's not even inspirational quote. It is an affirmation,
<v Speaker 2>and I love affirmations. This is from Triple J in Alabama.
<v Speaker 2>The affirmation is I am ready to start a new
<v Speaker 2>chapter in my life. And that sounds so simple, but
<v Speaker 2>it can be so profound. He went on to write,
<v Speaker 2>Hello DDD community, your happy ending is still within your grasp.
<v Speaker 2>Let's keep going even if we stumble or fall, get up,
<v Speaker 2>shake the dust off your feet. Remember that every setback
<v Speaker 2>is a learning experience and an opportunity for growth. And
<v Speaker 2>he is so right.
<v Speaker 1>I love Trouble Jay. I actually just interviewed him last
<v Speaker 1>week for Intermittent Fasting Stories. His episode comes out September
<v Speaker 1>twenty fifth, so you're going to have to wait everybody
<v Speaker 1>till September twenty fifth. But he is just such an
<v Speaker 1>inspiration and I loved talking to him.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm really enjoying having him in the community. And
<v Speaker 2>he comes in and just brings joy every time he
<v Speaker 2>comes into Kennedy. And he's had a hard life and
<v Speaker 2>he's had a lot of health issues and struggles loss.
<v Speaker 2>One day he just said enough's enough and he took
<v Speaker 2>his life back.
<v Speaker 1>We talked about energy at the beginning of the episode today,
<v Speaker 1>about the energy. He just puts out so much positive
<v Speaker 1>energy in the world. Love it, and you know there
<v Speaker 1>are people that just do that and he's one of them.
<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 Jen Stevens dot com slash community to join us.
<v Speaker 2>Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to your favorite podcast,
<v Speaker 2>and if you haven't already, please leave us a five
<v Speaker 2>star review that helps new listeners find the show, and
<v Speaker 2>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,