January 7, 2025 • 31 mins
Episode #186
In this week's episode, Terri is joined by Coach Heather to talk about 7 common mistakes fasting beginners make when they are excited about the power of fasting.
- Neglecting to manage electrolytes. [02:25]
- Trying to string one-meal days over and over instead of alternating fasting and eating days. [07:20]
- Trying to increase fasting intensity too quickly instead of building up gradually. [10:00]
- Considering fasting a ‘magic eraser’ without making necessary dietary changes. [14:50]
- Telling everyone about fasting before establishing a consistent practice. [18:33]
- Trying to go it alone instead of joining a supportive community. [21:06]
- Failing to have a plan. [26:04]
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This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. You should always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before doing any fasting, changing your diet, taking or adjusting any medication or supplements, or adopting any treatment for a health problem. The use of any other products or services purchased by you as a result of this podcast does not create a healthcare provider-patient relationship between you and any of the experts affiliated with this podcast. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Before we get started with today's episode,
I would like to quickly read you our podcast
disclaimer.
This podcast is for educational purposes
only, and it is not a substitute
for professional care by a doctor
or other qualified medical professional.
You should always speak with your physician
(00:27):
or other healthcare professionals before doing
any fasting, changing your diet
in any way, taking or adjusting
any medications or supplements, or
adopting any treatment plan
for a health problem.
The use of any other products or
services purchased by you as a result
of this podcast does not create
(00:50):
a healthcare provider-patient relationship
between you and any of the experts
affiliated with this podcast.
Any information and statements
regarding dietary supplements have not
been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration and are not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure, or
(01:11):
prevent any disease.
All right. And now we'll get started with
today's episode.
Welcome back to another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance and I
am joined by coach Heather Shuker today.
Heather, how are you doing?
I am doing great as usual, Terri.
(01:31):
How are you?
I'm good. Good to see you.
Good. Feel your energy.
Well, here we are, Heather.
We're getting into that New
Year place and lots of new
people here with us, new listeners,
new people in the community.
And you've got some really great ideas
of how we can help these people who are a
(01:52):
little bit newer to this scene.
So I'm going to turn it over to you and
let you kind of introduce what we're doing
and get us started.
Thanks, Terri. So we are going to talk today
about the seven pitfalls
that new fasters experience
in the hopes that, if you are a
new faster, you can avoid these
(02:14):
just by knowing about them.
I'm going to go ahead and get started with
number one. And of course, they're in no
particular order.
Everybody comes at this from different
directions and so see what
applies to you.
So number one is neglecting
to manage your electrolytes.
Da da daa!
[laughter]
(02:36):
I think you would agree, Terri, that I
think people come into this and they learn all
of the things, but somehow-- I think because
they're learning so much all at once, somehow
that gets a back burner and
it doesn't seem important enough to pay
attention to, but it is,
a lot of times, the thing that trips people
up, makes them feel unwell, and
(02:57):
they think, "Gosh, fasting isn't for me
because I don't feel well," when, really,
fasting's for everyone (well, almost
everyone), and it is actually
this electrolyte problem that's getting in the
way. I know that you've found this too.
What do you think?
I think it is super important.
And it's one of those things that I think a
lot of us, as you said, because we're
(03:18):
focusing on the bigger things,
we forget those foundational things
like electrolytes.
I've done it before.
I've gotten dehydrated during a fast.
It was not a pretty scene.
And I think the other reason why some of us
kind of fail to pay enough attention to
it is we feel okay until
we don't.
(03:38):
We get going in the morning and are like,
"Hey, I just skipped a meal," "Woo!
Look at me, I just skipped another meal," and
then, "Wow, I feel like crap suddenly."
And they don't recognize that
paying attention to their electrolytes first
thing is what's going to help them avoid
getting to that time of day where things go
(03:58):
downhill really quickly.
Exactly. And I think another piece of that,
especially when it comes to salt, is
we have this fear of salt, even
though we're kind of walking bags of salt
water! [laughs] There's more to us, but,
certainly, it's an essential element,
yet, because it is so demonized,
people are afraid to use it as a supplement.
(04:20):
It's one of those things where it's necessary
for life, so, if you're not eating anything
and you're only drinking water, then, by
definition, if it's something that you need
and you're not having, you're not getting
enough.
Yeah, that's a great point, Heather.
I just was talking with a client about this
last night. She does have some
medical reasons why her doctors have cautioned
(04:40):
her about salt, and I encouraged her
to go back and ask them more
detailed questions because, if
you're taking in nothing, you're not getting
any sodium versus
if you're eating a standard American diet,
you're getting way too much of the worst kinds
of sodium. So I get their feedback,
but I encouraged her to dig into it a little
(05:02):
deeper.
The other thing that, again, I think, people--
I don't know, some people think they just need
to be warriors and tough
it out - "I don't need those things
everyone else needs," "I don't need a life
jacket," - and I think
people find that if they allow themselves
to keep up with their electrolytes, fasting
(05:22):
is so much easier.
Yes. And we want this to be doable
and comfortable because it
takes a while of fasting
in order to reach your goals.
So you don't want to just white-knuckle
through it all the time and expect to be able
to do that for months on end.
You want to use every tool that
(05:43):
is necessary for you to feel comfortable
so that this is something that you can
continue with until you cross that
proverbial finish line with your
goals.
And I would say the biggest tip I
have about electrolytes that I've learned over
the years with clients and Community members
is that there is such a thing of waiting
(06:04):
too long.
And the analogy I always use is
pain medication.
Now, I know a lot of people don't like to
take pain medication.
They have a procedure done
and they come home with a prescription
for pain medication, but they want to get past
the pain medication and so they say, "I'm not
going to take that first dose.
(06:25):
I just don't think I need it." And so they
skip, you know, four hours and they skip that
first dose.
And by eight hours in, they're in so
much pain.
And it's like you can't catch up.
Taking the dose then doesn't do what
it needed to do for hours ago go in the same
way. And I feel like that's true of
electrolytes.
(06:46):
If we wait until like
4:00 or 5:00, when we start to feel kind of
off a little bit, we are already
progressing into a degree of
dehydration that's really hard
to just catch up.
Right. Just like the pain-medicine analogy,
you want to treat your electrolytes and
your dehydration like a pack of wolves.
(07:08):
You stay ahead of it.
You don't wait until it gets you to try
and do something about it because then it's
too late.
And that got a little gruesome, so let's go
ahead [laughs] into the next thing.
All right. The second pitfall
is trying to string one-meal
days over and over and over
(07:28):
again. And we see this all the time,
don't we, Terri?
Absolutely.
Something I see a lot of people do when
they're newer to fasting is
they get in the mindset that my goal is
to just stretch how many hours I can go
without eating. And I think that's a brilliant
plan to get from 15 to
18 [hours] and 18 to 20,
(07:50):
but what they do is they just do this every
day. So one day it's 16
hours, and the next day it's 17,
and then 19, and 23,
and 23, and 26,
and they're not getting in enough
refueling time to
give their body what it needs.
So, of course, you know, Heather, we are
(08:12):
really committed to the alternate-day
way of fasting, even for
24 hours.
So if you eat two
or three meals on day one, then the next day
it would be one meal.
Then you go back to your two or three.
You alternate that stretch
(08:33):
rather than stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch
every single day.
Exactly.
And I think the reason people fall into that
trap is because it works for
a while until it doesn't anymore,
right? Our body acclimates to that
one meal a day, and then
our metabolism slows down.
It's like, "Okay, if this is all we're
(08:54):
getting, this is what we're running with."
And so people will see themselves
doing great and thinking they're fasting
really well, but then they find themselves
in this spot where they're only
eating one meal a day, and they're not quite
there where they're ready to do an overnight,
but they're starting to regain the weight that
they've lost because of that dip in the
(09:15):
metabolism.
That's right. And I think that's a big
misperception that some people have about
fasting in general - that it is just
deprivation, it's just not eating enough,
and that they're going to go into starvation
mode. That's really not what happens, but
constantly underfueling
our body does lead us to
(09:36):
a place where our body starts to struggle.
Like you said, it stops releasing excess
weight, it starts holding on, you know, out
of fear.
And so really learning to fuel appropriately
and fast appropriately, you
need both to make it work.
Exactly. And I think that's critical and it
is a very common mistake so I wanted to make
(09:58):
sure that we touched on that today.
In that same vein, another
thing that we see is people trying to crank
it up too fast, right?
They come to us and they're ready to, you
know, reach their goals as quickly as
possible.
And they're like, "All right, let's roll.
Let's let's do a five-day fast." [laughs]
And, no, let's take it back
(10:19):
a little bit. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, Heather, you know, I have
a huge, huge bias about
this and talk about it a lot in
our community.
And I refer to what I call
'the fasting dial of intensity' and
sometimes it's dialed really low
and sometimes it's dialed high.
(10:40):
The beauty of it is that we get to
adjust where that dial is, based on how
we're doing, what's going on, what are the
stressors in our lives, or whatever.
And what I see so many people do is they're
introduced to this dial and
they're like, "Well, if a little bit is good,
a lot must be great," and they turn
it up to full volume, full intensity.
(11:02):
It burns them out every
time. And I think one of
the other negative takeaways for so
many people when they do this is they
doubt themselves and they doubt
fasting. They say, "You know, I thought
this was going to be the thing for me, but,
clearly, I can't fast.
Clearly, fasting just doesn't work for
(11:23):
me," and they stop.
So learning that
entering the pool at the shallow end
until you have built up your
swimming abilities, enter
in at the lower end of the fasting
dial. Build up your fasting muscle
until you're ready to do those longer ones,
(11:45):
and then dial back when
your body needs to lighten
up a little bit.
Perfect, and so true.
I think that is why
we have this amazing new feature
in The Fasting Method Community, which is this
12-week program.
And so, basically, Dr. Fung and
(12:06):
Megan Ramos took The Fasting Method and broke
it into doable steps
so that people can understand where
to start and where to go next,
when it comes to The Fasting Method, so that
they don't feel like, "Okay, I want to fast, I
want to reach my goals, what should I do?"
Here's what you do. [laughs] We've got it
broken down for you.
And if you just take it as it comes
(12:28):
in that order, you're going
to, like you said, build up that muscle
and do the reps necessary at level
one so that you can gradually get
yourself into, say, level four or level
seven, wherever you need to go to meet
your goals.
Now, that said, just because it's broken into
a 12-week course, that doesn't mean
(12:49):
that a regular person can necessarily
advance from level one to level seven in
12 weeks.
It's a matter of giving you the opportunity
to understand what order Megan
and Dr. Fung recommend based
on their experience and fasting so many
people.
And once you have that information,
then you can apply it to yourself
(13:11):
in the pace that is appropriate for you.
We all have different kind
of speeds at which we will adjust up
our fasting dial and back down,
as need be, so there is no
perfect level of intensity at any given
time for everyone.
That's something that you self adjust.
Absolutely, Heather.
(13:32):
And I know that-- I'm so
wedded to this topic.
I feel like you and I could do five or six
episodes just on this, but we would just
keep saying the same thing over and over,
hoping that people really take it.
So, you know that I have recently been
learning to ski.
Some of our listeners know that.
Our community members often know that.
And one of my instructors last
(13:54):
year shared something.
I didn't know where it came from.
I guess it actually comes from like the Navy
SEALs.
But he said, "Slow
is smooth.
Smooth is fast."
That when you're first learning to come down
the hill, you've got to go slow.
You've got to learn how to balance,
and what to look at, and where are your poles,
(14:16):
and how are your feet working.
And that makes it smooth until
going smoothly makes it faster.
So when people want to jump ahead,
you know, that would be like me just
straight-lining it right down the mountain.
It's dangerous, and it's going to scare
the bejesus out of me, and it's going to make
(14:37):
me never want to ski again.
So slow is smooth.
Smooth is fast.
I love that analogy.
It's perfect. Mic dropped!
[laughter] Let's move on.
All right, number four, pitfall number four
(and this is a big one, we see this a lot) is
to consider fasting a magic
(14:57):
eraser and feel like
you don't need to make any dietary changes.
You can just fast it all off
and eat whatever you want and expect to reach
your goals.
What do you think about that, Terri?
How many hours do you have, Heather?
[laughter]
I believe that value of what
you just said so much that I
(15:19):
actually encourage people to focus on the food
first. And sometimes people are frustrated
with me. They're like, "No, no, come on,
coach. I wanna do a 48-hour
fast." But I just find that
if we don't figure out
our relationship with food and how we're
going to navigate that, get that moving,
building the fasting muscle is so much harder.
(15:41):
And even if we muscle our
way through it, somehow, we have some
backlash that happens.
And even though we're doing the fasting, we're
not seeing the results.
And I can't think of-- you know, that
definition of insanity thing?
To me, in the fasting world, the definition
of insanity is fasting really
hard and not seeing the results.
(16:02):
Something's not working and, often, it's
because people are only relying
on fasting and they're not paying
attention to the fuel
that they're putting into their bodies.
I agree. And you know that my focus is
weight loss. That is what I'm mildly obsessed
with, with the understanding that I
believe with weight loss comes a whole lot of
(16:23):
other health benefits. So it's not just about
the visual for me, it is just a passion
project and it's what I really like to talk
about and work with people on.
And I think it's important to remember that,
for most of us who have spent our life
struggling with our weight, it wasn't
because we were under fasting.
It was because of our relationship with
(16:44):
food, as mentioned.
And so I like to think of fasting
as, you know, a tool for weight loss.
And so if we think about any
of the tools for weight loss, they
don't work if we
don't permanently change how
we've been eating.
So if we are eating in such a way
(17:04):
that our body is not healthy, we're carrying
too much weight, and we use one
of these tools like our favorite
-fasting - and lose the weight.
If we don't then permanently change
what we were eating to begin with,
of course it all comes back.
And so, if we neglect that key
piece, we don't ever really
(17:27):
get to reach what we're all looking for,
which is some level of maintaining
a new, healthier body
and not have to spend all of our time with
this unfortunate relationship with food
that many of us struggled with for decades.
So that needs to be part of the process.
As you learn to fast and make
(17:48):
those lifestyle changes, the
food choices and your way of eating that works
for you needs to be worked
on right along with it.
You know, the other important thing that you
highlighted in there, Heather, is
when people think, "Oh, I don't want to have
to change my food," we think of old diet
mentality - "I have to watch my calories,"
(18:09):
and, "I have to go super low-fat,"
or something, "I have to do what is so
uncomfortable," - versus, "What
works for my body?" "What decreases
my inflammation?" That's going to help
us big time with weight loss and
health.
So there's more to making dietary
changes than the old diet
(18:30):
kind of learning that we did in the past.
I couldn't agree more.
All right, let's move on to pitfall number
five.
And this is this is a nuanced
one, okay, everyone.
So it is to tell everyone you
know [laughs] that you've decided
to start fasting for weight loss.
How does that tend to work out in your
(18:51):
experience, Terri?
Heather, you and I have talked about this
before as we've been preparing for
episodes and we say there's this little
thing that kind of happens in our community
where the message is, "Don't talk about
fasting," and I think people
misunderstand that.
So, today, the nuance here is
(19:12):
let's maybe not tell everyone before
we know how we're going to do with it,
but once we really
experience it and we're thriving
with it, that's when we should wear the
sandwich board and tell every person we
see that there's this tool that
is so helpful.
But I think people get so excited that they
(19:34):
want to tell everyone first.
I think so, too.
And when that happens, those of us who
were very excited about fasting in the
beginning, we would go out and say,
"Oh, I'm not eating," "Oh, what do you mean?"
And then people that don't understand fasting
would be concerned.
Naturally, right?
And so here you're trying to do something
(19:55):
that's a little difficult, and, especially
if you're not part of the Community and you
don't have the support of others that are
doing it, it might feel like
you're doing something that you shouldn't be
doing. And so when you tell everyone,
"This is what I'm going to do," and you hear
back from them, "Oh, that's a terrible idea,"
then, maybe when it gets a little hard,
(20:15):
you're more likely to quit.
Whereas if, like you indicated,
you don't tell everyone
that you're embarking on this new way of
lifestyle change (except maybe
people within the Community who understand
what fasting is and why it's so beneficial)
and wait until you actually have
(20:37):
the results that so many of our
members have, right (so you have the weight
loss, you've improved a lot of health
markers), at that point,
you're probably going to be asked what you're
doing. This is a 'show don't tell'
situation.
So when people come to you and are like, "Oh
my gosh, you look great, what are you doing?"
(20:57):
please tell them. [laughs] Please
let them know that we are here
and we can help them in the same way that
you were helped.
On that note, fasting pitfall
number six for new fasters
is to try to go it alone.
Heather, I think this is one-- you know,
we could do this as all seven of
(21:17):
the pitfalls right here on this one because
so much evidence that we
have in our personal experience,
in our Community experience, our experience
with clients, but also in research,
is that we do better with things
when we have a supportive network,
when our environmental influences are
(21:39):
kind of lined up to help us make
these difficult changes and
make them stick.
And so doing it on our own,
like, doing it in complete privacy,
gets us in our head, it doesn't get us
support, and it is so, so
much harder.
Exactly. And I think most
(21:59):
people listening have experienced
the honeymoon period when you start something
new. You're gung-ho, you're really into
it, you're reading and learning all the
things, and then you actually start.
[laughs] You and I have talked
before about motivation kind of abandoning
us. And so when it gets
hard and you no longer feel motivated,
(22:22):
if you're alone, you just quit, you
just bale.
And there's a difference when
you get to that point alone versus
when you get to that point in a supportive
community because you start to realize
everybody got to that point.
And yet when you're surrounded by
experienced people that have reached
amazing goals, you see,
(22:44):
yeah, they felt that too, they
kept going, and they got to
places they couldn't even believe.
And so when you're surrounded by people like
that, instead of just being like, "This
is too hard, I quit," you're like, "Gosh, this
*is* hard, but look
at what they got when they kept going.
I sure want to get
(23:06):
to where they got.
I'm inspired and I want to keep going."
Another piece of that is,
you know, we're talking about these pitfalls
and things that people run into.
Of course, it's not an all inclusive list.
There are a lot of things that come up with
fasting that are very personalized and unique
that you might not know how to troubleshoot.
(23:26):
When you're in a community with experienced
people, with coaches, then, as
one of those things comes up for you, you
get that answer.
So instead of floundering around not knowing
what to do to fix it, you get an answer,
you dodge that obstacle, and you're able to
keep going.
Many of us have struggled with our weight
for a long time.
(23:47):
It didn't start a couple weeks ago.
It's been 20 years, 30 years, 60
years.
And we start to feel like there must
be something wrong with us - "I've been
successful in my career," "I've been
successful raising kids," "I've been
successful doing whatever
but why can't I do this thing?"
And I see so much power
(24:10):
in getting to be reminded -
"I'm struggling with this thing because it's
something that people struggle with
and, when I'm in a community, I get reminded
of that. I see other people who also
experience some of the things I do
that some other people in my life don't
have to deal with." I have people
(24:30):
in my life that eat however they want and
they don't really seem to have a negative
consequence from it.
It's not like me.
I need to see people who are like
me and, although our struggles aren't
always exactly the same, it
really changes it to know I am not
alone in these challenges.
(24:51):
Terri, I love that so much that I don't know
what to say after that.
I could not agree more.
I can't tell you how many times clients have
come to me on the struggle bus
in a small group session, and
the other three people in the session are
also on the struggle bus.
And so you can look around and see,
(25:12):
oh my gosh, it is not just me that
didn't come here trying to make these
really big lifestyle changes, like
you said, after decades of old habit patterns,
and stumble and find it difficult,
and question why you can't just do
it. Why can't I just do it already?
It's hard for everyone because it's incredibly
(25:34):
difficult to change the lifestyle habits
that we've had for decades.
And when you see that everybody else is having
the same problem, and that we all need
to do it messy, and just
keep showing up and give ourselves credit for
the progress that we did make,
and just keep trying, it becomes
less of a, "I'm a failure," and more,
(25:57):
"I'm trying to do something hard with all
these other people," and for doing
it.
All right, lastly, but of course, in
no particular order, a very common
pitfall of new fasters
is failing to have a plan.
And that can look like a whole lot of
different things.
One of the ones that comes up the-- well,
(26:17):
there are two that come up the most.
One is not looking ahead
at your calendar and your schedule and seeing
what day's work best for you for fasting.
And another one is thinking about
when you break your fast, are you
ready for it? Right?
Do you have, you know, appropriate
foods ready to go when you come home from work
(26:37):
ravenous or are you
walking in like a wild animal
trying to find something to kind
of relieve the discomfort of hunger
and finish the fast properly or
not?
I think this also happens when people don't
have a food plan, even for
eating days, not just a food plan of breaking
(26:59):
a fast (which I think is super important)
and a plan for how they're going to fast, but
a plan of how will I eat when it's
mealtime for me?
How will I make sure I have the appropriate
food? I don't know about you, Heather, but
I think most of us, when we
are short on time, ready
to eat, this is when
(27:20):
we can make some really problematic decisions
because we make them out of convenience.
So I've been talking a lot lately about
having convenient things ready.
Like, you wouldn't believe how many times I've
just opened a can of tuna fish
and, you know, spruced it up a little bit and
it's a meal. That is a four-minute
(27:40):
meal prepped for me, not a, "I
need to go to the grocery store," "I need to
plan," "I need to cook," "I need to prep."
Four minutes!
So having safety foods (that's how
I refer to them) - safe things in your home -
that you can have prepared very quickly
so that your brain doesn't take
you down that, "Oh, let's go
(28:01):
with this nice, convenient
thing," that, of course, causes us all
kinds of problems.
And on that note, unfortunately,
our brain plays tricks with us, as
you talk about all the time, and, sometimes
when we're fasted, we're like, "Well,
I haven't eaten for 24 or 42
hours, so it's okay
(28:23):
for me to make this problematic choice."
Whereas, as we discussed earlier,
if we don't work on our relationship
with food, we're going to end up stuck,
right? If we keep thinking of fasting
as something that gives us, you know,
free rein to eat whatever,
then we're not going to make
the progress that we're looking for, even
(28:45):
though we're working really hard and doing
things that, you know, are uncomfortable.
So we don't want to expend that effort
and then have it not really get us anywhere
because we erase our effort with problematic
foods.
Absolutely.
Lather, rinse, and repeat.
When we let one area of this slip,
it all starts to slip.
(29:06):
So if we don't have a plan, we don't have a
good fasting plan, a good way to break
our fast, a good way to eat when it's
time to eat, everything gets
more complicated.
We're making ourselves work harder.
And, you know, one piece of advice that so
many entrepreneurs and
self-help people talk about is work smarter,
not harder.
(29:27):
Exactly.
So if you are, in fact, a new faster
and you've heard these seven pitfalls
and you're actually feeling a little more
overwhelmed [laughs] as opposed to
better because you've gotten some guidance on
how to avoid pitfalls, that's
normal.
Learning everything there is to know
along this journey takes a lot.
(29:48):
We say that it's like drinking from a water
hose. And so please
don't expect to know and understand
everything there is to know from out of the
gate.
It takes time to gradually
build all the knowledge
and everything that you need to know, but
the best way to learn is
(30:08):
to actually start, right?
We learn best from experience,
from doing things.
So I'm not saying, "Here
are all the pitfalls.
Go avoid them," more, "Here they are.
Experience them and, as you do
recognize them, and, with that
experience, you will learn
(30:28):
what you need to know to be successful in this
journey.".
First and foremost, though (and I think both
Terri and I have tried to reinforce
this), one of the best ways you can
keep yourself from staying in these pitfalls
for too long is to get support.
So I want to invite you
to come on in to our community.
(30:49):
If you feel like you might need more intensive
support and you want a coach, of course
I invite you to do that as well.
But it is normal and natural to
need more support because
this is new and this is not something you're
familiar with, and so it will take time.
But you'll find that, over time,
(31:10):
you'll learn everything you need to know.
Absolutely.
Get that support, whatever that looks like for
you. Remember that we're here
not only here at the podcast, but we do have
a large, thriving community, and we'd love
to see you there.
All right, Heather, thank you so much for the
seven pitfalls.
I think these are all going to stick with me
as I reach in with some of our Community
(31:32):
members and my clients.
And I look forward to coming back
with you in another episode.
Thanks, Terri.
Take good care, everyone.
Before we get started with today's episode,
I would like to quickly read you our podcast
disclaimer.
This podcast is for educational purposes
only, and it is not a substitute
for professional care by a doctor
or other qualified medical professional.
You should always speak with your physician
(00:27):
or other healthcare professionals before doing
any fasting, changing your diet
in any way, taking or adjusting
any medications or supplements, or
adopting any treatment plan
for a health problem.
The use of any other products or
services purchased by you as a result
of this podcast does not create
(00:50):
a healthcare provider-patient relationship
between you and any of the experts
affiliated with this podcast.
Any information and statements
regarding dietary supplements have not
been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration and are not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure, or
(01:11):
prevent any disease.
All right. And now we'll get started with
today's episode.
Welcome back to another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance and I
am joined by coach Heather Shuker today.
Heather, how are you doing?
I am doing great as usual, Terri.
(01:31):
How are you?
I'm good. Good to see you.
Good. Feel your energy.
Well, here we are, Heather.
We're getting into that New
Year place and lots of new
people here with us, new listeners,
new people in the community.
And you've got some really great ideas
of how we can help these people who are a
(01:52):
little bit newer to this scene.
So I'm going to turn it over to you and
let you kind of introduce what we're doing
and get us started.
Thanks, Terri. So we are going to talk today
about the seven pitfalls
that new fasters experience
in the hopes that, if you are a
new faster, you can avoid these
(02:14):
just by knowing about them.
I'm going to go ahead and get started with
number one. And of course, they're in no
particular order.
Everybody comes at this from different
directions and so see what
applies to you.
So number one is neglecting
to manage your electrolytes.
Da da daa!
[laughter]
(02:36):
I think you would agree, Terri, that I
think people come into this and they learn all
of the things, but somehow-- I think because
they're learning so much all at once, somehow
that gets a back burner and
it doesn't seem important enough to pay
attention to, but it is,
a lot of times, the thing that trips people
up, makes them feel unwell, and
(02:57):
they think, "Gosh, fasting isn't for me
because I don't feel well," when, really,
fasting's for everyone (well, almost
everyone), and it is actually
this electrolyte problem that's getting in the
way. I know that you've found this too.
What do you think?
I think it is super important.
And it's one of those things that I think a
lot of us, as you said, because we're
(03:18):
focusing on the bigger things,
we forget those foundational things
like electrolytes.
I've done it before.
I've gotten dehydrated during a fast.
It was not a pretty scene.
And I think the other reason why some of us
kind of fail to pay enough attention to
it is we feel okay until
we don't.
(03:38):
We get going in the morning and are like,
"Hey, I just skipped a meal," "Woo!
Look at me, I just skipped another meal," and
then, "Wow, I feel like crap suddenly."
And they don't recognize that
paying attention to their electrolytes first
thing is what's going to help them avoid
getting to that time of day where things go
(03:58):
downhill really quickly.
Exactly. And I think another piece of that,
especially when it comes to salt, is
we have this fear of salt, even
though we're kind of walking bags of salt
water! [laughs] There's more to us, but,
certainly, it's an essential element,
yet, because it is so demonized,
people are afraid to use it as a supplement.
(04:20):
It's one of those things where it's necessary
for life, so, if you're not eating anything
and you're only drinking water, then, by
definition, if it's something that you need
and you're not having, you're not getting
enough.
Yeah, that's a great point, Heather.
I just was talking with a client about this
last night. She does have some
medical reasons why her doctors have cautioned
(04:40):
her about salt, and I encouraged her
to go back and ask them more
detailed questions because, if
you're taking in nothing, you're not getting
any sodium versus
if you're eating a standard American diet,
you're getting way too much of the worst kinds
of sodium. So I get their feedback,
but I encouraged her to dig into it a little
(05:02):
deeper.
The other thing that, again, I think, people--
I don't know, some people think they just need
to be warriors and tough
it out - "I don't need those things
everyone else needs," "I don't need a life
jacket," - and I think
people find that if they allow themselves
to keep up with their electrolytes, fasting
(05:22):
is so much easier.
Yes. And we want this to be doable
and comfortable because it
takes a while of fasting
in order to reach your goals.
So you don't want to just white-knuckle
through it all the time and expect to be able
to do that for months on end.
You want to use every tool that
(05:43):
is necessary for you to feel comfortable
so that this is something that you can
continue with until you cross that
proverbial finish line with your
goals.
And I would say the biggest tip I
have about electrolytes that I've learned over
the years with clients and Community members
is that there is such a thing of waiting
(06:04):
too long.
And the analogy I always use is
pain medication.
Now, I know a lot of people don't like to
take pain medication.
They have a procedure done
and they come home with a prescription
for pain medication, but they want to get past
the pain medication and so they say, "I'm not
going to take that first dose.
(06:25):
I just don't think I need it." And so they
skip, you know, four hours and they skip that
first dose.
And by eight hours in, they're in so
much pain.
And it's like you can't catch up.
Taking the dose then doesn't do what
it needed to do for hours ago go in the same
way. And I feel like that's true of
electrolytes.
(06:46):
If we wait until like
4:00 or 5:00, when we start to feel kind of
off a little bit, we are already
progressing into a degree of
dehydration that's really hard
to just catch up.
Right. Just like the pain-medicine analogy,
you want to treat your electrolytes and
your dehydration like a pack of wolves.
(07:08):
You stay ahead of it.
You don't wait until it gets you to try
and do something about it because then it's
too late.
And that got a little gruesome, so let's go
ahead [laughs] into the next thing.
All right. The second pitfall
is trying to string one-meal
days over and over and over
(07:28):
again. And we see this all the time,
don't we, Terri?
Absolutely.
Something I see a lot of people do when
they're newer to fasting is
they get in the mindset that my goal is
to just stretch how many hours I can go
without eating. And I think that's a brilliant
plan to get from 15 to
18 [hours] and 18 to 20,
(07:50):
but what they do is they just do this every
day. So one day it's 16
hours, and the next day it's 17,
and then 19, and 23,
and 23, and 26,
and they're not getting in enough
refueling time to
give their body what it needs.
So, of course, you know, Heather, we are
(08:12):
really committed to the alternate-day
way of fasting, even for
24 hours.
So if you eat two
or three meals on day one, then the next day
it would be one meal.
Then you go back to your two or three.
You alternate that stretch
(08:33):
rather than stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch
every single day.
Exactly.
And I think the reason people fall into that
trap is because it works for
a while until it doesn't anymore,
right? Our body acclimates to that
one meal a day, and then
our metabolism slows down.
It's like, "Okay, if this is all we're
(08:54):
getting, this is what we're running with."
And so people will see themselves
doing great and thinking they're fasting
really well, but then they find themselves
in this spot where they're only
eating one meal a day, and they're not quite
there where they're ready to do an overnight,
but they're starting to regain the weight that
they've lost because of that dip in the
(09:15):
metabolism.
That's right. And I think that's a big
misperception that some people have about
fasting in general - that it is just
deprivation, it's just not eating enough,
and that they're going to go into starvation
mode. That's really not what happens, but
constantly underfueling
our body does lead us to
(09:36):
a place where our body starts to struggle.
Like you said, it stops releasing excess
weight, it starts holding on, you know, out
of fear.
And so really learning to fuel appropriately
and fast appropriately, you
need both to make it work.
Exactly. And I think that's critical and it
is a very common mistake so I wanted to make
(09:58):
sure that we touched on that today.
In that same vein, another
thing that we see is people trying to crank
it up too fast, right?
They come to us and they're ready to, you
know, reach their goals as quickly as
possible.
And they're like, "All right, let's roll.
Let's let's do a five-day fast." [laughs]
And, no, let's take it back
(10:19):
a little bit. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, Heather, you know, I have
a huge, huge bias about
this and talk about it a lot in
our community.
And I refer to what I call
'the fasting dial of intensity' and
sometimes it's dialed really low
and sometimes it's dialed high.
(10:40):
The beauty of it is that we get to
adjust where that dial is, based on how
we're doing, what's going on, what are the
stressors in our lives, or whatever.
And what I see so many people do is they're
introduced to this dial and
they're like, "Well, if a little bit is good,
a lot must be great," and they turn
it up to full volume, full intensity.
(11:02):
It burns them out every
time. And I think one of
the other negative takeaways for so
many people when they do this is they
doubt themselves and they doubt
fasting. They say, "You know, I thought
this was going to be the thing for me, but,
clearly, I can't fast.
Clearly, fasting just doesn't work for
(11:23):
me," and they stop.
So learning that
entering the pool at the shallow end
until you have built up your
swimming abilities, enter
in at the lower end of the fasting
dial. Build up your fasting muscle
until you're ready to do those longer ones,
(11:45):
and then dial back when
your body needs to lighten
up a little bit.
Perfect, and so true.
I think that is why
we have this amazing new feature
in The Fasting Method Community, which is this
12-week program.
And so, basically, Dr. Fung and
(12:06):
Megan Ramos took The Fasting Method and broke
it into doable steps
so that people can understand where
to start and where to go next,
when it comes to The Fasting Method, so that
they don't feel like, "Okay, I want to fast, I
want to reach my goals, what should I do?"
Here's what you do. [laughs] We've got it
broken down for you.
And if you just take it as it comes
(12:28):
in that order, you're going
to, like you said, build up that muscle
and do the reps necessary at level
one so that you can gradually get
yourself into, say, level four or level
seven, wherever you need to go to meet
your goals.
Now, that said, just because it's broken into
a 12-week course, that doesn't mean
(12:49):
that a regular person can necessarily
advance from level one to level seven in
12 weeks.
It's a matter of giving you the opportunity
to understand what order Megan
and Dr. Fung recommend based
on their experience and fasting so many
people.
And once you have that information,
then you can apply it to yourself
(13:11):
in the pace that is appropriate for you.
We all have different kind
of speeds at which we will adjust up
our fasting dial and back down,
as need be, so there is no
perfect level of intensity at any given
time for everyone.
That's something that you self adjust.
Absolutely, Heather.
(13:32):
And I know that-- I'm so
wedded to this topic.
I feel like you and I could do five or six
episodes just on this, but we would just
keep saying the same thing over and over,
hoping that people really take it.
So, you know that I have recently been
learning to ski.
Some of our listeners know that.
Our community members often know that.
And one of my instructors last
(13:54):
year shared something.
I didn't know where it came from.
I guess it actually comes from like the Navy
SEALs.
But he said, "Slow
is smooth.
Smooth is fast."
That when you're first learning to come down
the hill, you've got to go slow.
You've got to learn how to balance,
and what to look at, and where are your poles,
(14:16):
and how are your feet working.
And that makes it smooth until
going smoothly makes it faster.
So when people want to jump ahead,
you know, that would be like me just
straight-lining it right down the mountain.
It's dangerous, and it's going to scare
the bejesus out of me, and it's going to make
(14:37):
me never want to ski again.
So slow is smooth.
Smooth is fast.
I love that analogy.
It's perfect. Mic dropped!
[laughter] Let's move on.
All right, number four, pitfall number four
(and this is a big one, we see this a lot) is
to consider fasting a magic
(14:57):
eraser and feel like
you don't need to make any dietary changes.
You can just fast it all off
and eat whatever you want and expect to reach
your goals.
What do you think about that, Terri?
How many hours do you have, Heather?
[laughter]
I believe that value of what
you just said so much that I
(15:19):
actually encourage people to focus on the food
first. And sometimes people are frustrated
with me. They're like, "No, no, come on,
coach. I wanna do a 48-hour
fast." But I just find that
if we don't figure out
our relationship with food and how we're
going to navigate that, get that moving,
building the fasting muscle is so much harder.
(15:41):
And even if we muscle our
way through it, somehow, we have some
backlash that happens.
And even though we're doing the fasting, we're
not seeing the results.
And I can't think of-- you know, that
definition of insanity thing?
To me, in the fasting world, the definition
of insanity is fasting really
hard and not seeing the results.
(16:02):
Something's not working and, often, it's
because people are only relying
on fasting and they're not paying
attention to the fuel
that they're putting into their bodies.
I agree. And you know that my focus is
weight loss. That is what I'm mildly obsessed
with, with the understanding that I
believe with weight loss comes a whole lot of
(16:23):
other health benefits. So it's not just about
the visual for me, it is just a passion
project and it's what I really like to talk
about and work with people on.
And I think it's important to remember that,
for most of us who have spent our life
struggling with our weight, it wasn't
because we were under fasting.
It was because of our relationship with
(16:44):
food, as mentioned.
And so I like to think of fasting
as, you know, a tool for weight loss.
And so if we think about any
of the tools for weight loss, they
don't work if we
don't permanently change how
we've been eating.
So if we are eating in such a way
(17:04):
that our body is not healthy, we're carrying
too much weight, and we use one
of these tools like our favorite
-fasting - and lose the weight.
If we don't then permanently change
what we were eating to begin with,
of course it all comes back.
And so, if we neglect that key
piece, we don't ever really
(17:27):
get to reach what we're all looking for,
which is some level of maintaining
a new, healthier body
and not have to spend all of our time with
this unfortunate relationship with food
that many of us struggled with for decades.
So that needs to be part of the process.
As you learn to fast and make
(17:48):
those lifestyle changes, the
food choices and your way of eating that works
for you needs to be worked
on right along with it.
You know, the other important thing that you
highlighted in there, Heather, is
when people think, "Oh, I don't want to have
to change my food," we think of old diet
mentality - "I have to watch my calories,"
(18:09):
and, "I have to go super low-fat,"
or something, "I have to do what is so
uncomfortable," - versus, "What
works for my body?" "What decreases
my inflammation?" That's going to help
us big time with weight loss and
health.
So there's more to making dietary
changes than the old diet
(18:30):
kind of learning that we did in the past.
I couldn't agree more.
All right, let's move on to pitfall number
five.
And this is this is a nuanced
one, okay, everyone.
So it is to tell everyone you
know [laughs] that you've decided
to start fasting for weight loss.
How does that tend to work out in your
(18:51):
experience, Terri?
Heather, you and I have talked about this
before as we've been preparing for
episodes and we say there's this little
thing that kind of happens in our community
where the message is, "Don't talk about
fasting," and I think people
misunderstand that.
So, today, the nuance here is
(19:12):
let's maybe not tell everyone before
we know how we're going to do with it,
but once we really
experience it and we're thriving
with it, that's when we should wear the
sandwich board and tell every person we
see that there's this tool that
is so helpful.
But I think people get so excited that they
(19:34):
want to tell everyone first.
I think so, too.
And when that happens, those of us who
were very excited about fasting in the
beginning, we would go out and say,
"Oh, I'm not eating," "Oh, what do you mean?"
And then people that don't understand fasting
would be concerned.
Naturally, right?
And so here you're trying to do something
(19:55):
that's a little difficult, and, especially
if you're not part of the Community and you
don't have the support of others that are
doing it, it might feel like
you're doing something that you shouldn't be
doing. And so when you tell everyone,
"This is what I'm going to do," and you hear
back from them, "Oh, that's a terrible idea,"
then, maybe when it gets a little hard,
(20:15):
you're more likely to quit.
Whereas if, like you indicated,
you don't tell everyone
that you're embarking on this new way of
lifestyle change (except maybe
people within the Community who understand
what fasting is and why it's so beneficial)
and wait until you actually have
(20:37):
the results that so many of our
members have, right (so you have the weight
loss, you've improved a lot of health
markers), at that point,
you're probably going to be asked what you're
doing. This is a 'show don't tell'
situation.
So when people come to you and are like, "Oh
my gosh, you look great, what are you doing?"
(20:57):
please tell them. [laughs] Please
let them know that we are here
and we can help them in the same way that
you were helped.
On that note, fasting pitfall
number six for new fasters
is to try to go it alone.
Heather, I think this is one-- you know,
we could do this as all seven of
(21:17):
the pitfalls right here on this one because
so much evidence that we
have in our personal experience,
in our Community experience, our experience
with clients, but also in research,
is that we do better with things
when we have a supportive network,
when our environmental influences are
(21:39):
kind of lined up to help us make
these difficult changes and
make them stick.
And so doing it on our own,
like, doing it in complete privacy,
gets us in our head, it doesn't get us
support, and it is so, so
much harder.
Exactly. And I think most
(21:59):
people listening have experienced
the honeymoon period when you start something
new. You're gung-ho, you're really into
it, you're reading and learning all the
things, and then you actually start.
[laughs] You and I have talked
before about motivation kind of abandoning
us. And so when it gets
hard and you no longer feel motivated,
(22:22):
if you're alone, you just quit, you
just bale.
And there's a difference when
you get to that point alone versus
when you get to that point in a supportive
community because you start to realize
everybody got to that point.
And yet when you're surrounded by
experienced people that have reached
amazing goals, you see,
(22:44):
yeah, they felt that too, they
kept going, and they got to
places they couldn't even believe.
And so when you're surrounded by people like
that, instead of just being like, "This
is too hard, I quit," you're like, "Gosh, this
*is* hard, but look
at what they got when they kept going.
I sure want to get
(23:06):
to where they got.
I'm inspired and I want to keep going."
Another piece of that is,
you know, we're talking about these pitfalls
and things that people run into.
Of course, it's not an all inclusive list.
There are a lot of things that come up with
fasting that are very personalized and unique
that you might not know how to troubleshoot.
(23:26):
When you're in a community with experienced
people, with coaches, then, as
one of those things comes up for you, you
get that answer.
So instead of floundering around not knowing
what to do to fix it, you get an answer,
you dodge that obstacle, and you're able to
keep going.
Many of us have struggled with our weight
for a long time.
(23:47):
It didn't start a couple weeks ago.
It's been 20 years, 30 years, 60
years.
And we start to feel like there must
be something wrong with us - "I've been
successful in my career," "I've been
successful raising kids," "I've been
successful doing whatever
but why can't I do this thing?"
And I see so much power
(24:10):
in getting to be reminded -
"I'm struggling with this thing because it's
something that people struggle with
and, when I'm in a community, I get reminded
of that. I see other people who also
experience some of the things I do
that some other people in my life don't
have to deal with." I have people
(24:30):
in my life that eat however they want and
they don't really seem to have a negative
consequence from it.
It's not like me.
I need to see people who are like
me and, although our struggles aren't
always exactly the same, it
really changes it to know I am not
alone in these challenges.
(24:51):
Terri, I love that so much that I don't know
what to say after that.
I could not agree more.
I can't tell you how many times clients have
come to me on the struggle bus
in a small group session, and
the other three people in the session are
also on the struggle bus.
And so you can look around and see,
(25:12):
oh my gosh, it is not just me that
didn't come here trying to make these
really big lifestyle changes, like
you said, after decades of old habit patterns,
and stumble and find it difficult,
and question why you can't just do
it. Why can't I just do it already?
It's hard for everyone because it's incredibly
(25:34):
difficult to change the lifestyle habits
that we've had for decades.
And when you see that everybody else is having
the same problem, and that we all need
to do it messy, and just
keep showing up and give ourselves credit for
the progress that we did make,
and just keep trying, it becomes
less of a, "I'm a failure," and more,
(25:57):
"I'm trying to do something hard with all
these other people," and for doing
it.
All right, lastly, but of course, in
no particular order, a very common
pitfall of new fasters
is failing to have a plan.
And that can look like a whole lot of
different things.
One of the ones that comes up the-- well,
(26:17):
there are two that come up the most.
One is not looking ahead
at your calendar and your schedule and seeing
what day's work best for you for fasting.
And another one is thinking about
when you break your fast, are you
ready for it? Right?
Do you have, you know, appropriate
foods ready to go when you come home from work
(26:37):
ravenous or are you
walking in like a wild animal
trying to find something to kind
of relieve the discomfort of hunger
and finish the fast properly or
not?
I think this also happens when people don't
have a food plan, even for
eating days, not just a food plan of breaking
(26:59):
a fast (which I think is super important)
and a plan for how they're going to fast, but
a plan of how will I eat when it's
mealtime for me?
How will I make sure I have the appropriate
food? I don't know about you, Heather, but
I think most of us, when we
are short on time, ready
to eat, this is when
(27:20):
we can make some really problematic decisions
because we make them out of convenience.
So I've been talking a lot lately about
having convenient things ready.
Like, you wouldn't believe how many times I've
just opened a can of tuna fish
and, you know, spruced it up a little bit and
it's a meal. That is a four-minute
(27:40):
meal prepped for me, not a, "I
need to go to the grocery store," "I need to
plan," "I need to cook," "I need to prep."
Four minutes!
So having safety foods (that's how
I refer to them) - safe things in your home -
that you can have prepared very quickly
so that your brain doesn't take
you down that, "Oh, let's go
(28:01):
with this nice, convenient
thing," that, of course, causes us all
kinds of problems.
And on that note, unfortunately,
our brain plays tricks with us, as
you talk about all the time, and, sometimes
when we're fasted, we're like, "Well,
I haven't eaten for 24 or 42
hours, so it's okay
(28:23):
for me to make this problematic choice."
Whereas, as we discussed earlier,
if we don't work on our relationship
with food, we're going to end up stuck,
right? If we keep thinking of fasting
as something that gives us, you know,
free rein to eat whatever,
then we're not going to make
the progress that we're looking for, even
(28:45):
though we're working really hard and doing
things that, you know, are uncomfortable.
So we don't want to expend that effort
and then have it not really get us anywhere
because we erase our effort with problematic
foods.
Absolutely.
Lather, rinse, and repeat.
When we let one area of this slip,
it all starts to slip.
(29:06):
So if we don't have a plan, we don't have a
good fasting plan, a good way to break
our fast, a good way to eat when it's
time to eat, everything gets
more complicated.
We're making ourselves work harder.
And, you know, one piece of advice that so
many entrepreneurs and
self-help people talk about is work smarter,
not harder.
(29:27):
Exactly.
So if you are, in fact, a new faster
and you've heard these seven pitfalls
and you're actually feeling a little more
overwhelmed [laughs] as opposed to
better because you've gotten some guidance on
how to avoid pitfalls, that's
normal.
Learning everything there is to know
along this journey takes a lot.
(29:48):
We say that it's like drinking from a water
hose. And so please
don't expect to know and understand
everything there is to know from out of the
gate.
It takes time to gradually
build all the knowledge
and everything that you need to know, but
the best way to learn is
(30:08):
to actually start, right?
We learn best from experience,
from doing things.
So I'm not saying, "Here
are all the pitfalls.
Go avoid them," more, "Here they are.
Experience them and, as you do
recognize them, and, with that
experience, you will learn
(30:28):
what you need to know to be successful in this
journey.".
First and foremost, though (and I think both
Terri and I have tried to reinforce
this), one of the best ways you can
keep yourself from staying in these pitfalls
for too long is to get support.
So I want to invite you
to come on in to our community.
(30:49):
If you feel like you might need more intensive
support and you want a coach, of course
I invite you to do that as well.
But it is normal and natural to
need more support because
this is new and this is not something you're
familiar with, and so it will take time.
But you'll find that, over time,
(31:10):
you'll learn everything you need to know.
Absolutely.
Get that support, whatever that looks like for
you. Remember that we're here
not only here at the podcast, but we do have
a large, thriving community, and we'd love
to see you there.
All right, Heather, thank you so much for the
seven pitfalls.
I think these are all going to stick with me
as I reach in with some of our Community
(31:32):
members and my clients.
And I look forward to coming back
with you in another episode.
Thanks, Terri.
Take good care, everyone.
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