May 20, 2025 • 32 mins
Episode #205
In this week's episode, Terri is joined by Coach Heather to discuss the challenges they faced in their own fasting journeys. They too had to tackle the side effects and struggles that all of us encounter.
Transcripts of all episodes are available on the Podcast page at www.thefastingmethod.com
Please Submit Your Questions for the Q&A episodes here: https://bit.ly/TFMPodcastQs
Sign Up to the How to Fat Fast Masterclass with Dr. Nadia Pateguana here:
https://www.thefastingmethod.com/masterclasses-and-live-workshops-2025/#FFMC
Discount Code - PODCAST10
Explore the TFM Community with a 7-Day FREE TRIAL
https://www.thefastingmethod.com/community/
Book a complimentary 15-minute coaching intake assessment with one of the TFM coaches
https://www.thefastingmethod.com/coaching/
Connect With Us
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastingmethod/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheFastingMethod
Join our FREE Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/TFMNetwork
Summary Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:42 Hunger
08:03 Feeling Cold
11:14 Navigating Scheduling
13:07 Treating Fasts as Therapy
17:47 Plateaus
23:04 Loose Stools
26:34 Sleep Disruption
28:03 Embracing Discomfort
Disclaimer
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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
When you come to fasting, you think of one
thing; you think of hunger.
And, unfortunately, that's sometimes not
the only thing that we experience as
a side effect for fasting.
But I think most people will find that,
even though there are some other things
that are a little uncomfortable with fasting,
they're worth the trade.
They're worth what you get in trade for the
(00:22):
benefit from fasting. [music]
Welcome to another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance and I am
joined today with the amazing Coach Heather.
Heather, how are you doing today?
I am doing fantastic Terri, thanks for
(00:42):
asking.
Well, Heather, one of the things that
listeners might not know is that sometimes
we get together to record and we are
both still pondering what should
we talk about, what do people need
to know?
So I was thinking as we were leading into
this that sometimes people seem
to think that we, as coaches, find
(01:04):
all of this very easy.
We had a swimmingly
simple time doing our
fasting and going through our health goals
and our weight-loss journey, and that
now we just expect that it should be
simple for all of them.
And I think in our recent Coaches Corner
meeting, we've really tried to highlight that
(01:24):
it was not simple for any of us either.
And I thought, Heather, today maybe we could
talk a little bit about what were some of
our struggles along the way in our
journey so that people can hear that
we too are human just like them,
and struggled, and also
had to figure out some ways to get through
(01:45):
those challenges.
You know, it's funny, when you brought up thistopic,
Terri, because I was like, "No, I didn't have
any problems whatsoever," because my memory
is so short! And then, with just
a few moments of reflection, I was like,
"Oh wait, that's right.
I did have all of these things that we
talk about." So I think that's a fantastic
topic because, you know, when you come to
(02:06):
fasting you think of one thing; you think of
hunger. And, unfortunately, that's
sometimes not the only thing that we
experience as a side effect for fasting.
But I think most people will find that,
even though there are some other things
that are a little uncomfortable with fasting,
they're worth the trade.
They're worth what you get in trade for the
(02:28):
benefit from fasting.
Absolutely.
Which I think is part of why you had that
little bit of amnesia about what
were the challenges.
[laughter] You know, isn't that why most
women are able to have a second child
because they forget that actual
experience?
So, Heather, I was thinking-- you just
mentioned hunger, and, for me, that's
(02:49):
an interesting one because I
don't even think in the beginning actual
hunger was the issue for me
because I think,
for me, it was because I was pretty well
dialed-in already in a low-carb
approach to eating.
I think I was well fat adapted.
But, for me, it was I
(03:10):
missed eating.
I missed tasting something.
I missed the frequent
enjoyment of food that I was so
used to.
So, for me, that wasn't actual physical
hunger, but it was that, like, I'm missing
out on something because I'm not eating.
Not just, I'm not eating those meals, but I'm
not snacking, I'm not, you know,
(03:31):
just constantly kind of going for food
as my go-to focus.
So, for me, that was one of my biggest
challenges as I got started is
getting used to spending time
without having food.
And that's interesting because I would even
say that, for me, it wasn't the hunger
sensation either after I started
(03:53):
getting into fasting.
It was absolutely more the fear of
hunger. I was afraid of it.
So, before I started fasting, you know,
I was a recovery room nurse and, whenever
it was lunchtime and we were super busy,
my coworkers would coordinate and organize
to make sure at least I got to lunch because
I got so miserable when I was hungry.
(04:14):
It's a true story!
So, you know, the idea that I would
intentionally put that on myself
and choose to have that experience regularly,
it took me a long time to even
accept that that is something that I'd be
willing to do.
And even once I started fasting,
the evening before a 42-hour fast--
so I'm gonna-- you now, I know I'm not gonna
(04:35):
eat the next day at that dinner, I would
sometimes think, "Oh no,
I'm going to feel hungry tomorrow." And
sometimes-- and I did this, and I know some
of my clients do too, we're like, "Well, I
better reinforce my storage,"
right, "I better eat more in preparation so
I'll be ready," which is of course
counterproductive to our goals of weight
loss.
(04:56):
So getting over that fear was actually
more difficult than the actual
real-life experience of feeling
hunger.
I can so relate to that and,
as you mentioned, with clients and
Community members and listeners,
I know that some people *do* experience
the actual physical hunger.
A couple of thoughts I had as you were
(05:18):
just talking is, one, dialing
in your relationship with food I
think is a big helper
with avoiding some of the hunger,
but recognizing, too, that hunger waves are
natural.
Using electrolytes, I think, was a big
key for me at some points and others,
even though it wasn't, for me, physical
(05:39):
hunger, even just having some salt took
my mind off of it, satisfied something.
Several years ago, when I was hosting a
couple of fasting retreats for
The Fasting Method, one of the members
utilized this strategy so
naturally it kind of surprised me.
We were driving across the
(06:00):
island and we were going to a volcano.
We were all excited and it was our first long
day of a fast.
I was sitting in the way back with
everyone's bags and she had
her little salt container in her bag.
So I swear, it was like every 15 minutes, she
would say, "Terri, can you grab my
bag?" And I'd grab her bag and she would say,
(06:20):
"Could you get my salt container out of
there?" And I would get the salt container
and hand it to her.
Then she would hand it back.
Finally, one of the other members said, "Why
do you keep asking her for the salt?" And
she said, "Every time I think I'm
hungry, I just put some more salt on my
tongue and it stops." Now, at
first, for her, it was every 15 minutes,
(06:41):
but I noticed, as the week went on, she
wasn't having to do that quite as frequently.
So having some tools that
help you navigate the waves of
hunger. For some people, suppressing
their hunger a little bit with tea, you know,
the catechins can help alleviate some
of that. For me, also, sparkling water
(07:02):
I think is a helpful tool because
it makes me have a little more of a sensation
of something is in my belly.
I, too, was a big fan of the sparkling water,
but, interestingly, yes,
it definitely gave me that sensation of
something in my belly, but, also-- I was
working in primary care when I was doing my
therapeutic fasting.
And I'm in this room, quiet room,
(07:23):
with one other person, and my stomach
would just be acrobatics.
There were all kinds of noise and gurgles,
and it was just-- [laughs] I could hear it,
they could hear it. They're looking at me.
And I found that using sparkling water
kind of calmed that down and made it less
noisy.
So I was notoriously sipping
on seltzer water all day long for that issue,
(07:43):
and the hydration, and the
feeling. So it covered a lot of things.
I love it.
What other things did you notice, especially
maybe as you got started with fasting
and as you really built up to that
therapeutic level?
Any other things that kind of
surprised you or made it more challenging?
You know it's funny, when you first talked
(08:04):
about the side effects that we
experienced in our own story, I
was like, "Huh, I can't remember." And then I
remember, at the very beginning, I was so
cold all the time, freezing
cold. And I started my fasting
journey at the end of April, so I was fasting
through summer. There was no reason
(08:24):
for me to be cold and I was freezing.
I actually have this little sauna in my
house and, in summer, I would sit in
that thing and crank up the heat in order to
feel warm.
And that was especially interesting for me
because, as someone who was overweight for
a really long time, I used to say that my
superpower was I always had hot hands, right?
(08:44):
You know, if my kids were cold, I would put
my hands on their face or over their hands to
warm them up.
And then I lost that superpower.
[laughs] I had ice-cold
hands.
Again, worth the trade.
I certainly wouldn't give up, you know, my
healthier body for my hot hands, but that
was definitely something, at least in those
first couple of months really,
(09:06):
I had that experience of extreme coldness
a lot.
I hadn't really thought about that one for
me, but I started fasting in October,
and I lived in Ohio at the time,
so I fasted late fall
and through winter.
And I remember almost being
a little excited because it justified
(09:27):
all of the turtlenecks and long
johns that I had been saving for years
and years and years, because I suddenly
had a really good use for them.
And during my longer fasts,
I would just layer up.
I would have a base layer on
of long johns, I would have a layer of
sweatpants, sometimes two sweatpants.
And then if I was going to be, let's say,
(09:49):
sitting down watching TV or something, I also
had a blanket on.
So it got all the old blankets out of the
linen closet.
So for me, it definitely--
it fit seasonally.
So at least I wasn't the only person walking
around in turtlenecks and multiple
layers. But it really gave me an
opportunity, like I said, to justify all
(10:09):
of those winter clothes that I had hung onto
when no one else was using them.
[music]
[promotion] Hi, this is Dr. Nadia, and I am
so excited to be hosting the Fat Fast
Masterclass once again.
This is a three-day masterclass.
On day one, we will be talking about what
is a fat fast and why is it so effective.
(10:31):
On day two, I will go
over how to fat fast with
you. I will be giving you a
omnivore fat fast list and a
vegan, plant-based fat fast
list. And on day three, we will
be finally talking about when to fat
fast. I will also be with you for three
live Q&A's where I will answer
(10:53):
all of your questions, as well
as join you in the exclusive
forum where we can chat daily.
I am so excited to go over
what to eat with you and why
fat fasting is the most appropriate
fast-mimicking diet.
See you there. [music]
(11:14):
Okay, so we've gone over hunger
and missing food, we've gone over
the gurgly stomach
and the coldness, the loss of
hot hands. [laughter] Another one for me,
at first, was just navigating
the scheduling of it.
I was pretty strict about doing three
days a week.
(11:34):
I was working with Megan as my coach and
that's what she had told me to do and so, you
know, come hell or high water, I was gonna
get three fasts in a week, And so,
at first, it did make it a little challenging
for me to figure out when will I spend time
with other people? When will I schedule a
happy hour? When will I schedule a dinner or
things? So it did require me to make
(11:54):
some adjustments until I
realized-- and this scares
some people to even imagine, but I
realized I could go out with people
and not eat.
And I remember I met up with a friend at a
bar. She was going to have a drink, we were
going to maybe have some appetizers or
something. But I knew I wasn't going to be,
so I had the sparkling water,
(12:17):
she had wine or whatever, and, at
some point, she said, you know, "Would you
mind if I ate?" I said, "No, no, go ahead."
So she's eating an appetizer, the guy
sitting next to me is eating his meal,
and I was fine because I was just
drinking my sparkling water and engaging,
talking to them, having a good time.
And that was so important for me, now
(12:38):
when I look back on it, that I did that early
on in my experience because
now that's more common for me.
I don't alter my fasting schedule
because my friends invite us to dinner.
I say, "I'd love to come over.
I won't be eating." And I have two friends
who will still set a place at their table
just in case I decide to eat,
(13:00):
but I just sit there with my coffee or
my sparkling water.
So that was something that I did experience
early on.
I love that, Terri.
And, interestingly, and I think that we
should probably highlight this fact that both
of us heard Megan say,
"Treat this like therapy, show up
hell or high water," because I felt the same
(13:20):
exact way. And I've noticed that
clients that are really successful tend to
have that same feeling.
Because we don't always want to do it.
[laughs] Let's talk about
that other elephant in the room.
We don't want to, we don't feel like it, but
we do it anyway because we're able to
conjure that discipline because of how
desperately we wanna reach our goals.
(13:40):
But to what you were talking about, about
being able to go out and not eat,
I honestly started to feel like that was a
superpower that I could go out into the
world where everyone else was eating and I
could choose to control my biology
in such a way that I would not eat.
One of my proudest moments was,
in the middle of my six months of therapeutic
(14:01):
fasting, I had a conference scheduled.
I was going to Florida, to Disney World,
one of my favorite places to go.
And I was thinking, "Well, you
know, it's a week long conference. How on
earth am I gonna keep up with my
therapy whilst on this conference?" And I'm
like, "Well I'm just going to." And
I did. The thing about these conferences,
there's all kinds of included food,
(14:23):
and you know it's like, well it's free, of
course you have to eat it. Do ya? No, it turns
out. You don't.
And so I would go to the conference meetings,
I would go back to my room for lunch and
not eat. I would go to the parks, and
not eat.
And it turns out, yeah, you can
choose not to eat even if everyone
around you is, even if the streets literally
(14:45):
smell like hot sugar.
So I think sometimes our
clients, and even us, can feel like, "Oh,
well, I had no choice. I gott a eat." No youdon't!
It's so funny as you got started with that, I
was thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to bring
up the fact that Heather might have
been my only client ever who
(15:05):
managed to do," I think it was,
at the time, 42 or 48-hour fasts, "while
in Disney World," and
I still put that one out there.
So I'm so glad you shared that, that reality,
like you said, is it's not only we
get used to forgoing
meals for us, but we have to do it
sometimes in situations where food
(15:27):
is the focus.
I think what you're talking about and what I
experienced is I had to learn to make
other parts of the experience the focus.
You didn't go to that conference to get free
food.
You didn' t go to Disney World to eat hot
sugar.
[laughs] There were so many other things of
(15:48):
value in those experiences, and
that mindset shift I think is
golden.
Oh, Terri, say it again!
[laughter]
Getting people to separate
community, fun,
entertainment, learning from
food. Right?
Those are separate things.
(16:09):
Yes, food can give pleasure.
There's no arguing that.
We know that to be true.
But it isn't the only thing when you're with
other people, and when you're on vacation,
and traveling that provides
all of the things that you look forward to.
And if it is, that's a little sad.
Right?
You know, I would encourage everyone to
be a little bit more creative about what
(16:31):
they can enjoy when they're traveling,
right? It actually opens your mind a little
about-- it's like, well, if eating's off the
table, how am I gonna have fun?
And then you can start to come up with much
more interesting things, unique things
that maybe you didn't even consider before
when that easy one is off
the table.
Absolutely.
A few weeks before we recorded this,
(16:54):
I had the experience of two
events in one week.
I was not technically fasting,
but it was about events that
include dessert.
And, for me, I'm not eating sugar,
so dessert was off the table.
And I have reflected on it so
many times since then, not
(17:14):
having dessert did not
break those experiences for me.
It did not make them unenjoyable.
I did not go home from my birthday meal
thinking, "Oh, that would have been so
good if I had just had dessert."
And having the dessert is not
why I was celebrating.
I was with people I enjoy.
(17:35):
We were laughing until we were crying,
telling stories, and things.
Dessert wasn't the issue.
Dessert was not going to make it, and
it certainly didn't break it by skipping it.
You know, another thing, Terri, that a lot of
times people bring up in the Community, that
I kind of forgot about happening to myself,
is the idea of having a plateau.
(17:57):
And when you're in it, when
you are fasting three therapeutic days
a week, and you're on point
with your eating, you just expect
that scale to move, right?
You know you feel like, "Look, I'm doing
the necessary inputs," and you look
down at that scale and it's like, Your job is
to give feed back, the information that I'm
(18:18):
looking for. I deserve it.
I have earned it.
Tell me what I wanna see."
And sometimes it doesn't.
It doesn't. And while I was in the
middle of those six months where, like I
said, I showed up like clockwork,
there was a two-week period where the scale
did nothing.
Now, it didn't do nothing because,
as anyone who has some experience fasting
(18:40):
knows, the day after you fast, it
goes down, and then the day after you eat,
it goes up. It has this zigzag,
sawtooth pattern which is a little
uncomfortable to experience
as it is, but you expect the general
trend line to come down.
So to have two weeks in a row where,
day after day, you're not seeing any kind
(19:01):
of a trend line go down, it can
be very unnerving.
And the thing is, is that our bodies are
not input-output machines where
we can just dial up what we
expect out of it and we're supposed to get it
out like a computer printout.
We don't work that way.
Our body has a say.
Our biology has a say.
(19:21):
So what we can do is show
up for our fasts, and our eating, and our
movement, and our sleep, and manage our
stress, but, ultimately,
our body is going to twist and turn.
The hormones are going to adjust, the body
composition, the hunger, all of those things
are going work together, and sometimes
it just needs a little pause from
(19:41):
letting go of the fat so it can
reorganize, and then it will start
back up again in its own time.
And patience is a little necessary, and
recognizing that that is just a natural part
of the process is necessary.
And I think that's why having a coach
was so helpful to me.
So when I came to you, panicky--
(20:02):
"Okay, Heather, it's all right.
Just keep doing what you're doing.
This isn't a true plateau, right?
Two weeks isn't even a plateau.
We don't need to make any adjustments.
We need to ride it out and see what happens
before we start to tweak." And sure
enough, you get that whoosh, things start
moving again, and all systems go.
So I encourage everyone that is
(20:23):
experiencing that kind of-- I don't wanna
say flat line [laughs], we won't go there,
right? It's more of a jaggedy line anyway.
But to take a deep breath, be
real with yourself. Are you doing what it
takes? And if you are, give it a little
time, give your body time to catch up and
see.
I love that, Heather, and I think we see
this-- obviously just because it's being
(20:44):
measured with people who do weigh themselves
every day, and sometimes multiple
times a day-- is that they are watching
every bite of food.
How did that affect my weight?
Every hour I didn't eat, how did that affect
my weight?
And some people hear us or
Dr. Fung say, you know, "You could lose
a pound during a 42-hour
(21:06):
fast." And so they take that as gospel and
they say, "OK, well, if I'm doing three of
those a week, that's three pounds this week,
it's three pounds next week.
Oh, that's 12 pounds a month." And
at the end of the month, when they've lost
four pounds, they're knocking on our
door, "Hey, you told me one
pound each fast." [laughter] And as you
said, it is that jagged line,
(21:28):
it's that sawtooth pattern - up and
down, up and down, up and down - with an
overall decline
over time.
But if you make or break your decisions based
on what the scale says today,
you're generally going to get in trouble.
I often share this in the Community.
I wish I had kept a journal,
(21:50):
but I remember when Megan first told me
to do three fasts a week, I did it.
I was like, "Okay, Sarge, I'm doing it,"
and nothing seemed to happen.
I don't think the weight was moving at all,
nothing was changing.
I just felt like I was doing a lot of
hoop jumping for not a
lot. And it wasn't until,
(22:11):
I think, maybe around week four
or so that I started to
notice some changes.
If I had based my decision
about should I keep fasting, is
this working for me, on those
first three to four weeks,
I would have high-tailed it out of there and
we would not be having this podcast,
(22:31):
or at least I would not beyond this podcast
with you. So it's really
that matter of not expecting that
our bodies are just going to perform the
way we want them to perform.
We're gonna keep giving it the right inputs,
doing the things that support it and let
it do its job.
Absolutely. One of the things that I like to
(22:51):
say is that your choices are:
it's gonna go at the pace that it's going to
go, which is probably slower than you want it
to, or you're gonna quit and
you're not gonna reach your goals at all.
There's no third choice.
I feel like the mic was just dropped,
I might've thought there was a glitch in the
internet here, but, yes, those are the
two choices. So, as you always say,
(23:14):
make good choices.
All right, Heather, I want to take
it down a notch here, get into the
parts that aren't so fun to talk about,
maybe, or maybe for some of us are really fun
to talk about [laughter], I don't know.
But I wanted to share that, one of the
things I certainly experienced (and
not just in the beginning of my fasting
journey, but for quite a of
(23:36):
time while I was doing a
therapeutic level of fasting)
is experiencing loose stools when
I would start to re-feed.
When I would break my fast, right
after that meal, I needed to have
a bathroom nearby.
Sorry, TMI folks, I should have given a
warning ahead of time, but I think this
(23:56):
is a really valuable thing for people to
kind of accept.
There are some troubleshooting things that we
can do, but, again, when I look
back, I wouldn't trade that for
anything based on the progress I
was able to make.
For me, what I realized helped
me is to break my fast a
(24:17):
little more slowly.
Again, this was a little more challenging for
me in the beginning because it was like, "Oh,
my god I get to eat again," and it was,
"Quick, quick, eat, eat.
What can I get in here?" And as
I learned that that seemed to make
my loose stools more of an issue,
what I would do is try to break the fast a
little more gradually.
(24:38):
So, again, going back to when
I was hosting the fasting retreats,
we broke a four-day fast,
first, with just bone broth.
And you know, four days in, you think, "I
could eat a whole side of a cow.
What do you mean you're going to give me a
cup of bone broth?" But it was
that real gentle way of reintroducing
(25:01):
to the body, getting those digestive
juices flowing again.
So we started with that, and then we
had like a really simple little
leafy green salad, and then
eventually we had the meal.
So it was kind of like a, maybe a
40-minute process or more
from a beginning of bone broth until we
(25:21):
actually started the meal, just slowing it
down a little bit.
Now, after a four-day fast, I
think we all still looked at each other
across the table to see who was going to run
to the bathroom first [laughter] but, for
me, reintroducing food a little
more gradually really helped.
So, I don't need to belabor the point, but,
yes, I also had that experience [laughter]
(25:42):
when breaking fasts.
I certainly had the loose-stool issue and I
know clients talk about it a lot.
I just tried to organize my day so
that I was in a place where I could take
care of business, if you will.
I just accepted it as part of the
price that I was paying, and,
eventually, it did resolve for me.
I did not have that experience three
(26:04):
fasts a week for six months.
Probably a few months in, I was able to
break normally and not have any issues.
And I know some people run into-- like some
of the foods that they break with (like eggs
and fatty meats) can be problematic,
and I found that not to be true after
a while either. But in the beginning, you
know, I tried to follow all those rules.
I know some people use chia seeds.
(26:26):
The texture [laughs] kind of weirds
me out, so I don't do it but I've had lots of
clients swear by it, so that is certainly
something to try.
One more thing that we didn't talk about,
that I think is an important one that I
definitely experienced, is the disruption
in sleep that can come when you
first start overnight fasting.
So we have these kind of-- these hormones,
(26:48):
this like noradrenaline that can pump up a
little bit when we're fasting because our
body is like, "Hey, we haven't eaten.
We should probably go hunt, or look for food,
or do something to deal with this situation.
What's going on?" Right?
And so you feel that [laughs], sometimes at
two in the morning! Like, "Hey, maybe
I should go do laundry or clean my house or
write a book, I don't know," right?
(27:08):
So that high-energy state can
come at you at night when you're trying to
sleep, which is not great because, of course,
we know sleep is a really necessary
component for health and to keep our cortisol
levels down. And interference
in sleep can certainly lead to hunger,
so that can be very frustrating.
That is another side effect that did
(27:29):
go away after the first
few weeks, for me.
That didn't perpetuate.
As my body got used to fasting, got more
fat adapted, I was able to
rest comfortably.
But I know when people first start out, that
can be very disruptive.
And so sometimes we have to reorganize
our lives, right?
So maybe plan those overnight fasts
(27:52):
for days before we don't have as
many big obligations on the next day.
It's hard to fast over the weekend, but
sometimes, when we're first starting out,
that might be a good time.
And I wanted to circle back on what
you were saying before about whether it's
worth it, right?
You know, we're talking about all of these
things that are a little uncomfortable, but
(28:13):
the trade is that what we're getting--
that, you know, we're paying these prices, we
are paying the price of discomfort for all
these side effects, for the discomfort of
being at our favorite restaurant and not
ordering our favorite thing, being around
people and they're all eating what they want
and we're making different choices.
All of those things are uncomfortable.
You know, I'm not discounting that at all.
(28:34):
It's a choice we're make.
And so, if we want these
big goals, these big health goals,
these weight goals, these clothing goals, how
we feel about ourselves, how we see
ourselves, there's a cost to it.
And so I know some of my clients are
worried about loose skin and some other
things that happen as a result of weight
loss. And it's like, "Girl, would you
(28:56):
really trade losing 80
pounds so that you didn't have to have
loose skin?" Like, I really think that people
sometimes need to take a step back and
say, "Hey, is a little bit of hunger, a few
sleepless nights, some diarrhea,
is that worth your goals?" I think so.
I'll pay that every time.
I was gonna say it's almost, now, looking
(29:18):
back, it's easier to see it, but I
wouldn't trade it.
I would pay that again, gladly.
And I, at some level, now, when I
look back on it, think I'm grateful that they
weren't harder consequences that I had
to do. And I think back
to the discomfort and
the consequences if I
(29:38):
hadn't done it, you know,
being uncomfortable in my skin.
Even at that meal with people, now,
I did it without eating and had to
experience that discomfort, but, before,
I experienced the discomfort of, are they
all watching me?
Are they all thinking, "No wonder she
can't lose weight.
Look at how she's eating." Like, all of
(30:00):
this stuff.
There wasn't comfort in so many
aspects of where I
was before I learned this
process.
And so, definitely, you know, you're going to
choose your hard, choose the thing.
Where are you going to invest doing those
things that are challenging for you?
100 pounds heavier or 100 pounds
(30:21):
lighter? And the steps it took to get there.
So I definitely love your focus on
really reflecting on it's worth it,
to allow yourself to experience
the discomfort.
None of what we're telling anyone to
move into is threatening
or intolerable.
It's not like we're inviting you to a
(30:43):
prisoner of war camp or something.
It is really manageable things,
but our brains think we should
be able to avoid all discomfort
and it works pretty hard to try
to achieve that.
I don't even know what to say. That's a
perfect Terri!
That whole thing just like touched my heart
(31:03):
and soul because that's so true.
You know, we can accept the discomfort of
change or the discomfort of staying the
same. Either way,
right, life is a journey and there
are always choices that we're making,
and some benefit us and some don't in
the long run. And I always like to think of
my future self.
(31:24):
Is she looking back on what I am
doing right now and feeling proud or
feeling bad about herself and wishing she had
made other choices?
I don't think there's anything more I could
add to that, Heather. That is, again, a
priceless mic drop.
Every now and then I have to make sure that
we haven't lost our internet connection
between us when you say these things.
(31:45):
I'm like, "Oh, my gosh.
I don't know what to say and she's
not moving!"
So I hope that
this has been helpful for everyone to get to
hear our own experiences in kind
of navigating the challenges of fasting,
and, obviously, you can hear
in this final part that we just shared
(32:05):
the total commitment that we both have
that it was worth it.
It was worth every one of those uncomfortable
moments.
So thank you, Heather, for diving
into these things with me and I look
forward to our next time that we record
again.
Thanks, Terri. Make good choices, everybody.
Take good care, everyone.
We'll be back with another episode next week.
When you come to fasting, you think of one
thing; you think of hunger.
And, unfortunately, that's sometimes not
the only thing that we experience as
a side effect for fasting.
But I think most people will find that,
even though there are some other things
that are a little uncomfortable with fasting,
they're worth the trade.
They're worth what you get in trade for the
(00:22):
benefit from fasting. [music]
Welcome to another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance and I am
joined today with the amazing Coach Heather.
Heather, how are you doing today?
I am doing fantastic Terri, thanks for
(00:42):
asking.
Well, Heather, one of the things that
listeners might not know is that sometimes
we get together to record and we are
both still pondering what should
we talk about, what do people need
to know?
So I was thinking as we were leading into
this that sometimes people seem
to think that we, as coaches, find
(01:04):
all of this very easy.
We had a swimmingly
simple time doing our
fasting and going through our health goals
and our weight-loss journey, and that
now we just expect that it should be
simple for all of them.
And I think in our recent Coaches Corner
meeting, we've really tried to highlight that
(01:24):
it was not simple for any of us either.
And I thought, Heather, today maybe we could
talk a little bit about what were some of
our struggles along the way in our
journey so that people can hear that
we too are human just like them,
and struggled, and also
had to figure out some ways to get through
(01:45):
those challenges.
You know, it's funny, when you brought up thistopic,
Terri, because I was like, "No, I didn't have
any problems whatsoever," because my memory
is so short! And then, with just
a few moments of reflection, I was like,
"Oh wait, that's right.
I did have all of these things that we
talk about." So I think that's a fantastic
topic because, you know, when you come to
(02:06):
fasting you think of one thing; you think of
hunger. And, unfortunately, that's
sometimes not the only thing that we
experience as a side effect for fasting.
But I think most people will find that,
even though there are some other things
that are a little uncomfortable with fasting,
they're worth the trade.
They're worth what you get in trade for the
(02:28):
benefit from fasting.
Absolutely.
Which I think is part of why you had that
little bit of amnesia about what
were the challenges.
[laughter] You know, isn't that why most
women are able to have a second child
because they forget that actual
experience?
So, Heather, I was thinking-- you just
mentioned hunger, and, for me, that's
(02:49):
an interesting one because I
don't even think in the beginning actual
hunger was the issue for me
because I think,
for me, it was because I was pretty well
dialed-in already in a low-carb
approach to eating.
I think I was well fat adapted.
But, for me, it was I
(03:10):
missed eating.
I missed tasting something.
I missed the frequent
enjoyment of food that I was so
used to.
So, for me, that wasn't actual physical
hunger, but it was that, like, I'm missing
out on something because I'm not eating.
Not just, I'm not eating those meals, but I'm
not snacking, I'm not, you know,
(03:31):
just constantly kind of going for food
as my go-to focus.
So, for me, that was one of my biggest
challenges as I got started is
getting used to spending time
without having food.
And that's interesting because I would even
say that, for me, it wasn't the hunger
sensation either after I started
(03:53):
getting into fasting.
It was absolutely more the fear of
hunger. I was afraid of it.
So, before I started fasting, you know,
I was a recovery room nurse and, whenever
it was lunchtime and we were super busy,
my coworkers would coordinate and organize
to make sure at least I got to lunch because
I got so miserable when I was hungry.
(04:14):
It's a true story!
So, you know, the idea that I would
intentionally put that on myself
and choose to have that experience regularly,
it took me a long time to even
accept that that is something that I'd be
willing to do.
And even once I started fasting,
the evening before a 42-hour fast--
so I'm gonna-- you now, I know I'm not gonna
(04:35):
eat the next day at that dinner, I would
sometimes think, "Oh no,
I'm going to feel hungry tomorrow." And
sometimes-- and I did this, and I know some
of my clients do too, we're like, "Well, I
better reinforce my storage,"
right, "I better eat more in preparation so
I'll be ready," which is of course
counterproductive to our goals of weight
loss.
(04:56):
So getting over that fear was actually
more difficult than the actual
real-life experience of feeling
hunger.
I can so relate to that and,
as you mentioned, with clients and
Community members and listeners,
I know that some people *do* experience
the actual physical hunger.
A couple of thoughts I had as you were
(05:18):
just talking is, one, dialing
in your relationship with food I
think is a big helper
with avoiding some of the hunger,
but recognizing, too, that hunger waves are
natural.
Using electrolytes, I think, was a big
key for me at some points and others,
even though it wasn't, for me, physical
(05:39):
hunger, even just having some salt took
my mind off of it, satisfied something.
Several years ago, when I was hosting a
couple of fasting retreats for
The Fasting Method, one of the members
utilized this strategy so
naturally it kind of surprised me.
We were driving across the
(06:00):
island and we were going to a volcano.
We were all excited and it was our first long
day of a fast.
I was sitting in the way back with
everyone's bags and she had
her little salt container in her bag.
So I swear, it was like every 15 minutes, she
would say, "Terri, can you grab my
bag?" And I'd grab her bag and she would say,
(06:20):
"Could you get my salt container out of
there?" And I would get the salt container
and hand it to her.
Then she would hand it back.
Finally, one of the other members said, "Why
do you keep asking her for the salt?" And
she said, "Every time I think I'm
hungry, I just put some more salt on my
tongue and it stops." Now, at
first, for her, it was every 15 minutes,
(06:41):
but I noticed, as the week went on, she
wasn't having to do that quite as frequently.
So having some tools that
help you navigate the waves of
hunger. For some people, suppressing
their hunger a little bit with tea, you know,
the catechins can help alleviate some
of that. For me, also, sparkling water
(07:02):
I think is a helpful tool because
it makes me have a little more of a sensation
of something is in my belly.
I, too, was a big fan of the sparkling water,
but, interestingly, yes,
it definitely gave me that sensation of
something in my belly, but, also-- I was
working in primary care when I was doing my
therapeutic fasting.
And I'm in this room, quiet room,
(07:23):
with one other person, and my stomach
would just be acrobatics.
There were all kinds of noise and gurgles,
and it was just-- [laughs] I could hear it,
they could hear it. They're looking at me.
And I found that using sparkling water
kind of calmed that down and made it less
noisy.
So I was notoriously sipping
on seltzer water all day long for that issue,
(07:43):
and the hydration, and the
feeling. So it covered a lot of things.
I love it.
What other things did you notice, especially
maybe as you got started with fasting
and as you really built up to that
therapeutic level?
Any other things that kind of
surprised you or made it more challenging?
You know it's funny, when you first talked
(08:04):
about the side effects that we
experienced in our own story, I
was like, "Huh, I can't remember." And then I
remember, at the very beginning, I was so
cold all the time, freezing
cold. And I started my fasting
journey at the end of April, so I was fasting
through summer. There was no reason
(08:24):
for me to be cold and I was freezing.
I actually have this little sauna in my
house and, in summer, I would sit in
that thing and crank up the heat in order to
feel warm.
And that was especially interesting for me
because, as someone who was overweight for
a really long time, I used to say that my
superpower was I always had hot hands, right?
(08:44):
You know, if my kids were cold, I would put
my hands on their face or over their hands to
warm them up.
And then I lost that superpower.
[laughs] I had ice-cold
hands.
Again, worth the trade.
I certainly wouldn't give up, you know, my
healthier body for my hot hands, but that
was definitely something, at least in those
first couple of months really,
(09:06):
I had that experience of extreme coldness
a lot.
I hadn't really thought about that one for
me, but I started fasting in October,
and I lived in Ohio at the time,
so I fasted late fall
and through winter.
And I remember almost being
a little excited because it justified
(09:27):
all of the turtlenecks and long
johns that I had been saving for years
and years and years, because I suddenly
had a really good use for them.
And during my longer fasts,
I would just layer up.
I would have a base layer on
of long johns, I would have a layer of
sweatpants, sometimes two sweatpants.
And then if I was going to be, let's say,
(09:49):
sitting down watching TV or something, I also
had a blanket on.
So it got all the old blankets out of the
linen closet.
So for me, it definitely--
it fit seasonally.
So at least I wasn't the only person walking
around in turtlenecks and multiple
layers. But it really gave me an
opportunity, like I said, to justify all
(10:09):
of those winter clothes that I had hung onto
when no one else was using them.
[music]
[promotion] Hi, this is Dr. Nadia, and I am
so excited to be hosting the Fat Fast
Masterclass once again.
This is a three-day masterclass.
On day one, we will be talking about what
is a fat fast and why is it so effective.
(10:31):
On day two, I will go
over how to fat fast with
you. I will be giving you a
omnivore fat fast list and a
vegan, plant-based fat fast
list. And on day three, we will
be finally talking about when to fat
fast. I will also be with you for three
live Q&A's where I will answer
(10:53):
all of your questions, as well
as join you in the exclusive
forum where we can chat daily.
I am so excited to go over
what to eat with you and why
fat fasting is the most appropriate
fast-mimicking diet.
See you there. [music]
(11:14):
Okay, so we've gone over hunger
and missing food, we've gone over
the gurgly stomach
and the coldness, the loss of
hot hands. [laughter] Another one for me,
at first, was just navigating
the scheduling of it.
I was pretty strict about doing three
days a week.
(11:34):
I was working with Megan as my coach and
that's what she had told me to do and so, you
know, come hell or high water, I was gonna
get three fasts in a week, And so,
at first, it did make it a little challenging
for me to figure out when will I spend time
with other people? When will I schedule a
happy hour? When will I schedule a dinner or
things? So it did require me to make
(11:54):
some adjustments until I
realized-- and this scares
some people to even imagine, but I
realized I could go out with people
and not eat.
And I remember I met up with a friend at a
bar. She was going to have a drink, we were
going to maybe have some appetizers or
something. But I knew I wasn't going to be,
so I had the sparkling water,
(12:17):
she had wine or whatever, and, at
some point, she said, you know, "Would you
mind if I ate?" I said, "No, no, go ahead."
So she's eating an appetizer, the guy
sitting next to me is eating his meal,
and I was fine because I was just
drinking my sparkling water and engaging,
talking to them, having a good time.
And that was so important for me, now
(12:38):
when I look back on it, that I did that early
on in my experience because
now that's more common for me.
I don't alter my fasting schedule
because my friends invite us to dinner.
I say, "I'd love to come over.
I won't be eating." And I have two friends
who will still set a place at their table
just in case I decide to eat,
(13:00):
but I just sit there with my coffee or
my sparkling water.
So that was something that I did experience
early on.
I love that, Terri.
And, interestingly, and I think that we
should probably highlight this fact that both
of us heard Megan say,
"Treat this like therapy, show up
hell or high water," because I felt the same
(13:20):
exact way. And I've noticed that
clients that are really successful tend to
have that same feeling.
Because we don't always want to do it.
[laughs] Let's talk about
that other elephant in the room.
We don't want to, we don't feel like it, but
we do it anyway because we're able to
conjure that discipline because of how
desperately we wanna reach our goals.
(13:40):
But to what you were talking about, about
being able to go out and not eat,
I honestly started to feel like that was a
superpower that I could go out into the
world where everyone else was eating and I
could choose to control my biology
in such a way that I would not eat.
One of my proudest moments was,
in the middle of my six months of therapeutic
(14:01):
fasting, I had a conference scheduled.
I was going to Florida, to Disney World,
one of my favorite places to go.
And I was thinking, "Well, you
know, it's a week long conference. How on
earth am I gonna keep up with my
therapy whilst on this conference?" And I'm
like, "Well I'm just going to." And
I did. The thing about these conferences,
there's all kinds of included food,
(14:23):
and you know it's like, well it's free, of
course you have to eat it. Do ya? No, it turns
out. You don't.
And so I would go to the conference meetings,
I would go back to my room for lunch and
not eat. I would go to the parks, and
not eat.
And it turns out, yeah, you can
choose not to eat even if everyone
around you is, even if the streets literally
(14:45):
smell like hot sugar.
So I think sometimes our
clients, and even us, can feel like, "Oh,
well, I had no choice. I gott a eat." No youdon't!
It's so funny as you got started with that, I
was thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to bring
up the fact that Heather might have
been my only client ever who
(15:05):
managed to do," I think it was,
at the time, 42 or 48-hour fasts, "while
in Disney World," and
I still put that one out there.
So I'm so glad you shared that, that reality,
like you said, is it's not only we
get used to forgoing
meals for us, but we have to do it
sometimes in situations where food
(15:27):
is the focus.
I think what you're talking about and what I
experienced is I had to learn to make
other parts of the experience the focus.
You didn't go to that conference to get free
food.
You didn' t go to Disney World to eat hot
sugar.
[laughs] There were so many other things of
(15:48):
value in those experiences, and
that mindset shift I think is
golden.
Oh, Terri, say it again!
[laughter]
Getting people to separate
community, fun,
entertainment, learning from
food. Right?
Those are separate things.
(16:09):
Yes, food can give pleasure.
There's no arguing that.
We know that to be true.
But it isn't the only thing when you're with
other people, and when you're on vacation,
and traveling that provides
all of the things that you look forward to.
And if it is, that's a little sad.
Right?
You know, I would encourage everyone to
be a little bit more creative about what
(16:31):
they can enjoy when they're traveling,
right? It actually opens your mind a little
about-- it's like, well, if eating's off the
table, how am I gonna have fun?
And then you can start to come up with much
more interesting things, unique things
that maybe you didn't even consider before
when that easy one is off
the table.
Absolutely.
A few weeks before we recorded this,
(16:54):
I had the experience of two
events in one week.
I was not technically fasting,
but it was about events that
include dessert.
And, for me, I'm not eating sugar,
so dessert was off the table.
And I have reflected on it so
many times since then, not
(17:14):
having dessert did not
break those experiences for me.
It did not make them unenjoyable.
I did not go home from my birthday meal
thinking, "Oh, that would have been so
good if I had just had dessert."
And having the dessert is not
why I was celebrating.
I was with people I enjoy.
(17:35):
We were laughing until we were crying,
telling stories, and things.
Dessert wasn't the issue.
Dessert was not going to make it, and
it certainly didn't break it by skipping it.
You know, another thing, Terri, that a lot of
times people bring up in the Community, that
I kind of forgot about happening to myself,
is the idea of having a plateau.
(17:57):
And when you're in it, when
you are fasting three therapeutic days
a week, and you're on point
with your eating, you just expect
that scale to move, right?
You know you feel like, "Look, I'm doing
the necessary inputs," and you look
down at that scale and it's like, Your job is
to give feed back, the information that I'm
(18:18):
looking for. I deserve it.
I have earned it.
Tell me what I wanna see."
And sometimes it doesn't.
It doesn't. And while I was in the
middle of those six months where, like I
said, I showed up like clockwork,
there was a two-week period where the scale
did nothing.
Now, it didn't do nothing because,
as anyone who has some experience fasting
(18:40):
knows, the day after you fast, it
goes down, and then the day after you eat,
it goes up. It has this zigzag,
sawtooth pattern which is a little
uncomfortable to experience
as it is, but you expect the general
trend line to come down.
So to have two weeks in a row where,
day after day, you're not seeing any kind
(19:01):
of a trend line go down, it can
be very unnerving.
And the thing is, is that our bodies are
not input-output machines where
we can just dial up what we
expect out of it and we're supposed to get it
out like a computer printout.
We don't work that way.
Our body has a say.
Our biology has a say.
(19:21):
So what we can do is show
up for our fasts, and our eating, and our
movement, and our sleep, and manage our
stress, but, ultimately,
our body is going to twist and turn.
The hormones are going to adjust, the body
composition, the hunger, all of those things
are going work together, and sometimes
it just needs a little pause from
(19:41):
letting go of the fat so it can
reorganize, and then it will start
back up again in its own time.
And patience is a little necessary, and
recognizing that that is just a natural part
of the process is necessary.
And I think that's why having a coach
was so helpful to me.
So when I came to you, panicky--
(20:02):
"Okay, Heather, it's all right.
Just keep doing what you're doing.
This isn't a true plateau, right?
Two weeks isn't even a plateau.
We don't need to make any adjustments.
We need to ride it out and see what happens
before we start to tweak." And sure
enough, you get that whoosh, things start
moving again, and all systems go.
So I encourage everyone that is
(20:23):
experiencing that kind of-- I don't wanna
say flat line [laughs], we won't go there,
right? It's more of a jaggedy line anyway.
But to take a deep breath, be
real with yourself. Are you doing what it
takes? And if you are, give it a little
time, give your body time to catch up and
see.
I love that, Heather, and I think we see
this-- obviously just because it's being
(20:44):
measured with people who do weigh themselves
every day, and sometimes multiple
times a day-- is that they are watching
every bite of food.
How did that affect my weight?
Every hour I didn't eat, how did that affect
my weight?
And some people hear us or
Dr. Fung say, you know, "You could lose
a pound during a 42-hour
(21:06):
fast." And so they take that as gospel and
they say, "OK, well, if I'm doing three of
those a week, that's three pounds this week,
it's three pounds next week.
Oh, that's 12 pounds a month." And
at the end of the month, when they've lost
four pounds, they're knocking on our
door, "Hey, you told me one
pound each fast." [laughter] And as you
said, it is that jagged line,
(21:28):
it's that sawtooth pattern - up and
down, up and down, up and down - with an
overall decline
over time.
But if you make or break your decisions based
on what the scale says today,
you're generally going to get in trouble.
I often share this in the Community.
I wish I had kept a journal,
(21:50):
but I remember when Megan first told me
to do three fasts a week, I did it.
I was like, "Okay, Sarge, I'm doing it,"
and nothing seemed to happen.
I don't think the weight was moving at all,
nothing was changing.
I just felt like I was doing a lot of
hoop jumping for not a
lot. And it wasn't until,
(22:11):
I think, maybe around week four
or so that I started to
notice some changes.
If I had based my decision
about should I keep fasting, is
this working for me, on those
first three to four weeks,
I would have high-tailed it out of there and
we would not be having this podcast,
(22:31):
or at least I would not beyond this podcast
with you. So it's really
that matter of not expecting that
our bodies are just going to perform the
way we want them to perform.
We're gonna keep giving it the right inputs,
doing the things that support it and let
it do its job.
Absolutely. One of the things that I like to
(22:51):
say is that your choices are:
it's gonna go at the pace that it's going to
go, which is probably slower than you want it
to, or you're gonna quit and
you're not gonna reach your goals at all.
There's no third choice.
I feel like the mic was just dropped,
I might've thought there was a glitch in the
internet here, but, yes, those are the
two choices. So, as you always say,
(23:14):
make good choices.
All right, Heather, I want to take
it down a notch here, get into the
parts that aren't so fun to talk about,
maybe, or maybe for some of us are really fun
to talk about [laughter], I don't know.
But I wanted to share that, one of the
things I certainly experienced (and
not just in the beginning of my fasting
journey, but for quite a of
(23:36):
time while I was doing a
therapeutic level of fasting)
is experiencing loose stools when
I would start to re-feed.
When I would break my fast, right
after that meal, I needed to have
a bathroom nearby.
Sorry, TMI folks, I should have given a
warning ahead of time, but I think this
(23:56):
is a really valuable thing for people to
kind of accept.
There are some troubleshooting things that we
can do, but, again, when I look
back, I wouldn't trade that for
anything based on the progress I
was able to make.
For me, what I realized helped
me is to break my fast a
(24:17):
little more slowly.
Again, this was a little more challenging for
me in the beginning because it was like, "Oh,
my god I get to eat again," and it was,
"Quick, quick, eat, eat.
What can I get in here?" And as
I learned that that seemed to make
my loose stools more of an issue,
what I would do is try to break the fast a
little more gradually.
(24:38):
So, again, going back to when
I was hosting the fasting retreats,
we broke a four-day fast,
first, with just bone broth.
And you know, four days in, you think, "I
could eat a whole side of a cow.
What do you mean you're going to give me a
cup of bone broth?" But it was
that real gentle way of reintroducing
(25:01):
to the body, getting those digestive
juices flowing again.
So we started with that, and then we
had like a really simple little
leafy green salad, and then
eventually we had the meal.
So it was kind of like a, maybe a
40-minute process or more
from a beginning of bone broth until we
(25:21):
actually started the meal, just slowing it
down a little bit.
Now, after a four-day fast, I
think we all still looked at each other
across the table to see who was going to run
to the bathroom first [laughter] but, for
me, reintroducing food a little
more gradually really helped.
So, I don't need to belabor the point, but,
yes, I also had that experience [laughter]
(25:42):
when breaking fasts.
I certainly had the loose-stool issue and I
know clients talk about it a lot.
I just tried to organize my day so
that I was in a place where I could take
care of business, if you will.
I just accepted it as part of the
price that I was paying, and,
eventually, it did resolve for me.
I did not have that experience three
(26:04):
fasts a week for six months.
Probably a few months in, I was able to
break normally and not have any issues.
And I know some people run into-- like some
of the foods that they break with (like eggs
and fatty meats) can be problematic,
and I found that not to be true after
a while either. But in the beginning, you
know, I tried to follow all those rules.
I know some people use chia seeds.
(26:26):
The texture [laughs] kind of weirds
me out, so I don't do it but I've had lots of
clients swear by it, so that is certainly
something to try.
One more thing that we didn't talk about,
that I think is an important one that I
definitely experienced, is the disruption
in sleep that can come when you
first start overnight fasting.
So we have these kind of-- these hormones,
(26:48):
this like noradrenaline that can pump up a
little bit when we're fasting because our
body is like, "Hey, we haven't eaten.
We should probably go hunt, or look for food,
or do something to deal with this situation.
What's going on?" Right?
And so you feel that [laughs], sometimes at
two in the morning! Like, "Hey, maybe
I should go do laundry or clean my house or
write a book, I don't know," right?
(27:08):
So that high-energy state can
come at you at night when you're trying to
sleep, which is not great because, of course,
we know sleep is a really necessary
component for health and to keep our cortisol
levels down. And interference
in sleep can certainly lead to hunger,
so that can be very frustrating.
That is another side effect that did
(27:29):
go away after the first
few weeks, for me.
That didn't perpetuate.
As my body got used to fasting, got more
fat adapted, I was able to
rest comfortably.
But I know when people first start out, that
can be very disruptive.
And so sometimes we have to reorganize
our lives, right?
So maybe plan those overnight fasts
(27:52):
for days before we don't have as
many big obligations on the next day.
It's hard to fast over the weekend, but
sometimes, when we're first starting out,
that might be a good time.
And I wanted to circle back on what
you were saying before about whether it's
worth it, right?
You know, we're talking about all of these
things that are a little uncomfortable, but
(28:13):
the trade is that what we're getting--
that, you know, we're paying these prices, we
are paying the price of discomfort for all
these side effects, for the discomfort of
being at our favorite restaurant and not
ordering our favorite thing, being around
people and they're all eating what they want
and we're making different choices.
All of those things are uncomfortable.
You know, I'm not discounting that at all.
(28:34):
It's a choice we're make.
And so, if we want these
big goals, these big health goals,
these weight goals, these clothing goals, how
we feel about ourselves, how we see
ourselves, there's a cost to it.
And so I know some of my clients are
worried about loose skin and some other
things that happen as a result of weight
loss. And it's like, "Girl, would you
(28:56):
really trade losing 80
pounds so that you didn't have to have
loose skin?" Like, I really think that people
sometimes need to take a step back and
say, "Hey, is a little bit of hunger, a few
sleepless nights, some diarrhea,
is that worth your goals?" I think so.
I'll pay that every time.
I was gonna say it's almost, now, looking
(29:18):
back, it's easier to see it, but I
wouldn't trade it.
I would pay that again, gladly.
And I, at some level, now, when I
look back on it, think I'm grateful that they
weren't harder consequences that I had
to do. And I think back
to the discomfort and
the consequences if I
(29:38):
hadn't done it, you know,
being uncomfortable in my skin.
Even at that meal with people, now,
I did it without eating and had to
experience that discomfort, but, before,
I experienced the discomfort of, are they
all watching me?
Are they all thinking, "No wonder she
can't lose weight.
Look at how she's eating." Like, all of
(30:00):
this stuff.
There wasn't comfort in so many
aspects of where I
was before I learned this
process.
And so, definitely, you know, you're going to
choose your hard, choose the thing.
Where are you going to invest doing those
things that are challenging for you?
100 pounds heavier or 100 pounds
(30:21):
lighter? And the steps it took to get there.
So I definitely love your focus on
really reflecting on it's worth it,
to allow yourself to experience
the discomfort.
None of what we're telling anyone to
move into is threatening
or intolerable.
It's not like we're inviting you to a
(30:43):
prisoner of war camp or something.
It is really manageable things,
but our brains think we should
be able to avoid all discomfort
and it works pretty hard to try
to achieve that.
I don't even know what to say. That's a
perfect Terri!
That whole thing just like touched my heart
(31:03):
and soul because that's so true.
You know, we can accept the discomfort of
change or the discomfort of staying the
same. Either way,
right, life is a journey and there
are always choices that we're making,
and some benefit us and some don't in
the long run. And I always like to think of
my future self.
(31:24):
Is she looking back on what I am
doing right now and feeling proud or
feeling bad about herself and wishing she had
made other choices?
I don't think there's anything more I could
add to that, Heather. That is, again, a
priceless mic drop.
Every now and then I have to make sure that
we haven't lost our internet connection
between us when you say these things.
(31:45):
I'm like, "Oh, my gosh.
I don't know what to say and she's
not moving!"
So I hope that
this has been helpful for everyone to get to
hear our own experiences in kind
of navigating the challenges of fasting,
and, obviously, you can hear
in this final part that we just shared
(32:05):
the total commitment that we both have
that it was worth it.
It was worth every one of those uncomfortable
moments.
So thank you, Heather, for diving
into these things with me and I look
forward to our next time that we record
again.
Thanks, Terri. Make good choices, everybody.
Take good care, everyone.
We'll be back with another episode next week.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.