July 1, 2025 • 40 mins
Episode #211
In this week's episode, Megan and Heather discuss what is at the heart of The Fasting Method - community. They both share their own experiences of thinking they could go it alone, only to discover that the crucial piece they were missing was the support they could get from (and give to) others.
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Summary Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:54 No ‘one size fits all’ protocol
02:40 Importance of human connection
03:33 Where the magic is
05:22 History of The Fasting Method
09:51 How Heather’s experience changed after she joined TFM
10:30 The kind of person who joins TFM
15:40 A look inside the TFM Community
16:57 What to expect from live meetings
20:28 The benefit of mixing experience levels
25:23 Take the shortcut!
27:12 No dogma here!
31:40 Marinate in it!
32:49 Motivation
34:26 Coaches struggle too
37:35 Heather’s Weight-Loss Workshop
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Not only do I get to see this
whole journey from the perspective as someone
who's been there as a client of
The Fasting Method, but also as a coach.
And, from both directions, I can
see clearly, just like Neo in the
Matrix.
I can clearly see what
it is and why it is that
(00:20):
The Fasting Method is so powerful.
[music]
Hi, everyone.
It's Megan Ramos here with another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
Today, I'm joined by one of our amazing team
members, Coach Heather.
We are here today to talk about some
of our secret sauce when it comes to
(00:42):
weight loss.
Heather, how are you doing today?
I am doing great, Megan.
And I am so excited to be here talking to you
about this topic.
It's my favorite.
And so I get to see the master at work
and her thoughts about it, and I think that's
super exciting for me and our listeners.
Well, I mean, Heather, you've had your own
incredible journey with weight loss.
I know you've shared on The Fasting Method
(01:03):
podcast.
It was recently really cool to see Jason Fung
get so excited about your transformation.
He and I were chatting the other day about
you. He's like, "You know, you hear it,
right? Like I've heard you talk about it."
He's familiar with that because usually I'm
sort of the path of conversation
flow between everybody, but he's like,
"Holy cow! Like, it was another thing to see
(01:25):
it. It was just so incredible." We
were talking about like how, even to this
day, we're still so inspired, ourselves,
you know, seeing people's total
transformations, and just how inspiring
your own journey with fat
loss, weight loss has been, and
just to see it blow his socks off,
out of the water, after doing this now for
(01:45):
13+ years with individuals.
So I'd say you're probably really the master
[laughter] at weight-loss
strategies.
But one of the things we were talking about
before this is that
a lot of people come to The Fasting Method
looking for a recipe, right, for
weight loss to this fasting protocol -
(02:07):
eat this way, follow this eating plan.
And so they sign up for Community membership,
and they come in...
And we have a lot information.
Again, we've been doing this, you know, for
13, 14 years, so we've created a
lot resources for people.
And they're looking for this method,
right? We're called The Fasting Method, but
there's so much to the
(02:28):
method that isn't just, "Follow this
protocol," and, "Do it this way," because, to
be honest, there's no 'one size fits all'
protocol, and that might change
for individuals down the road.
You and I were talking about the importance
of that human connection, and a
lot of what we do at The Fasting Method that
distinguishes us from other fasting
communities.
(02:49):
Because what we do really helps enable
people to be consistent.
We teach skills live.
We teach people how to navigate all of the
different tools because they might need to
use a whole bunch of these different
protocols to reach their journey in the end.
And that is really kind of
a big thing, you know, having that community,
(03:10):
having that engagement with the team,
learning how to be consistent is really what
helps get you to your end goal.
So I'm going to stop talking because you've
got... [laughter] You've got a lot to
say on the subject and I'd love to pick your
brain as to what it is--
like, what are the tools people really need
for this successful weight loss that
blows Jason's socks off, out of the
(03:31):
water 14 years into this.
Thanks, Megan.
And, to your point, not only do I
get to see this whole journey from the
perspective as someone who's been there, as
a client of The Fasting Method, but also
as a coach.
And, from both directions, I can
see clearly, just like Neo in the
Matrix. [laughs] I can clearly
(03:52):
see what it is and
why it is that The Fasting Method is
so powerful.
When I came to The Fasting Method, I
felt like I knew absolutely everything.
I read all the books.
I was one of those people that I hear
out in the world, in the Facebook
group, and all over the place that says,
"I know what I need to do, I'm just not doing
(04:13):
it." Well then, friend, you don't know
what you need to do.
And what I learned about myself,
after trying to do it by myself for a couple
years, was what I needed to do was get
support, get accountability.
And that's exactly the magic of
The Fasting Method. It's not only the
experience that you and Dr. Fung and all of
(04:34):
the coaches bring to people
that come to you with very specific
circumstances and need individualized
coaching, it is the Community itself.
It is the meetings where people come
together, and that energy
of everyone who understands what it's
like to fast, and to eat differently,
and to basically kind of live against the
(04:55):
grain. That's where the magic is.
And I'm pretty sure that's why it exists,
right? Isn't that why the Community exists?
Because you could teach, teach, TEACH,
but then people would go out on their own and
not do, do, DO.
They needed that place to come
and to get kind of the reminders
that, "Oh, that's right.
(05:16):
This is what's required.
This consistency piece is what is required in
order to get us to goal.".
That's exactly why it exists.
So we started out 13 years
ago and we could only
see patients in small groups because
that was just our bandwidth.
Our clinic was not thrilled we were doing
this. We had one room, we had
(05:37):
a couple of three-hour blocks,
and we had hundreds of patients of Jason's
at first who wanted to start doing this.
So we had to see people in groups.
And, as someone who was in the medical field
for a long time (like yourself) before any
of this, your medical history is always super
private. People don't talk about their
medical stuff amongst one another.
It was super weird we were doing this in
(05:59):
groups. Even Jason and I were like, "Oh,
hopefully we'll get to the point we can see
people one-on-one," and do all of this stuff.
So we started seeing people in small
groups out of sort of force.
And then because we were all new to
this-- like, sure, I had fasted, we had
a couple of patients that had sort
of fasted against the grain, but this was
our first time doing it with
(06:20):
insulin-dependent diabetics, like people who
had real health stuff, we were seeing them
all the time. So every week they're showing
up, they're connecting with the group.
And it was just so mind blowing to me what
people are willing to share, and then how
it really brought them together and how it
helped them succeed.
We did get to that place, though, where we
could have more time, we could see people
(06:41):
one-on-one, and, when we started shifting
towards that, people just
weren't doing as well.
People weren't absorbing all of the
different strategies and things because it
isn't, "Follow this," you know, "three
by 24, three by 36 strategy,"
that works.
And it just wasn't working.
And I remember talking to Jason, and I was
like, "No, we need to go back to groups."
(07:03):
And he was like, "Well, it's probably a good
idea," because, at this point, The Obesity
Code had come out.
We had so many people from across the world
interested in learning about fasting and
wanting to come to our clinic.
And we went back to groups.
But then people who we were initially seeing
weekly (as they didn't need to see us weekly)
and we started spacing them out to every four
weeks, every six weeks, them coming in for
(07:24):
group appointments, they were suddenly
falling apart in that four to six
weeks in between.
And they'd come back to the groups and they'd
get so reignited, like, their passion,
their flair, their motivation.
You know, now we've learned motivation comes
and goes in waves, and they were just losing
that out there in the community when
everybody else in their world eats
(07:46):
differently.
And society is just set up not for
this healthy lifestyle.
It's why we have so much illness.
And I just remember, I actually
went to a retreat and I was talking
about this. I was one of the speakers at the
retreat. And they said, "Are there ways for
you to bring people together in between
to help them get support?" And
(08:08):
I started thinking about it and flew home (I
was in California) flew home to Toronto.
And I talked to Jason and I was just like,
"We need like something online.
Like, I don't know if it's just like a
Facebook group for our patients or
what we do. I do feel like..." We were making
them come in person to watch these like
seven-hour classes that I would do on
Fridays, and it was like totally depleting me
(08:30):
to do that every Friday live.
SO I was like, "Maybe we record it, put the
materials up on some website and have
like a forum, you know, for them to talk
to." And then that's how it all kind
of spun. We started doing some live events
too, because people just did better
when they had people to lean on.
And I always joke with friends, like, people
(08:50):
who have known me my whole life thinks it's
hilarious that I have a community.
I'm like one of the most lone-wolf
individuals you'll ever meet.
My mom was like that.
She passed it down to me.
Like, I just don't need help for anything,
right? And now they asked me, "How have
you maintained all these great results 14
years later?" And it's from my patients.
I realized doing those group meetings--
(09:13):
like, I was doing three to four of them a
day, five days a week.
And then I started doing virtual ones around
that for people who couldn't come to Toronto.
I was like, "Oh my gosh. This is why
I am successful.
I need people!" And it's actually
really fun and enjoyable to connect
with people of a similar ideological
experience, and lifestyle in
(09:35):
particular, because so many people thought I
was crazy or had like an eating disorder.
And I was like, "This is amazing." And now I
gave up my career in nephrology
and research to build a community because
it's what people need. And I don't think
people often realize that they need
it.
I would 1000% agree.
I was in the same place.
(09:55):
I of course didn't think that I needed it.
I tried to do it on my own.
I knew everything!
And then, finally, I accepted the
fact that obviously I needed something
because I wasn't getting the work-- you know,
I wasn't getting the results.
And so then I joined the Community and, like
you, I-- it felt like a group project.
[laughter] Nobody
wants to do a group project! Who wants to dothat?
And, you know, I had flashbacks of commercial
(10:17):
dietary programs where you went and you got
weighed in, and you had to listen to,
you know, Jell-O recipes and low-fat
cheese ideas. [laughter] And it just felt
like, "Oh, I do not want more of that
in my life. That sounds like such a drag."
But then you come into this community--
and interestingly, and I've thought about
this quite a bit, I think because
(10:38):
most people's starting point to
come to The Fasting Method is either
Dr. Fung's books or your books,
which are very science-y, right?
And it requires a certain level of
sophistication to read those books, you know,
let's be clear.
So the people that are attracted into this
community tend to be a little educated,
right? I'm gonna just lay that out there
(10:58):
because so many of my clients are professors,
physicians, lawyers, right?
[laughs] All these smart cookies are
attracted to this community because it's so
science-based.
And so I think sometimes when people think
about a community, they think of like, "Oh
gosh, what am I going to have to deal with?"[laughs]
And then you come in here, and it's all
of these really bright, smart people
(11:19):
who, like you, dear listener,
is really smart and is really good at
managing a whole lot of the other things in
your life, but this thing seems to be getting
away from you.
And so it's all these achievers [laughs] that
are trying to figure this thing out.
And, like you said, when describing people
at the clinic, where, if you spread it apart,
(11:39):
how frequently you come in and
kind of get a dose of inspiration from
the community, I've seen that with clients
where they'll kind of fall off the
cliff for a month and then they come crawling
back struggling and they're like, "Aargh, it
all fell apart." And then I always ask,
"What were you doing when things were going
well?" And notoriously what I
(12:00):
hear is, "I was getting the meetings.
I was coming into meetings regularly.
I was getting kind of my dose of inspiration
and that's what was keeping me going." And
I think that's why lifetime membership is so
popular because people realize, "Oh wait,
this is a long game.
This is gonna take a long time," i.e.
permanently [laughs], "and I'm gonna need to
(12:21):
have that reinforcement.".
Like you've experienced as someone who runs
meetings, we coaches also benefit
from being in that community because
we all came from, you know, having our
own issues. And so now we get to be there
not only as guides, but also as
recipients of being part of a really magical
community.
So it is the thing.
(12:42):
And so sometimes when I hear people say,
"Well, you know I went to that meeting and I
didn't learn anything." It's like, "It's not
always about learning something." Part of
what you're going to a meeting for is
support. So what you are actually getting
is kind of what is down deep
and what is a core need
for human beings, which is connection,
especially connection around something that
(13:04):
is new and different and feels weird.
When you can have a community around that,
you're just so much more likely to stick with
it for as long as it takes.
When we started talking about
talking about [laughs] this topic
in today's podcast,
it dawned on me that there's a lot of people
who probably sign up for a community that
(13:25):
really just don't know what to expect out
of the community other than information,
right?
I'm someone who, as I mentioned,
never really was a community signer upper.
I learned the power of communities and
then had a son and signed up for every
community on the planet that costs
whatever [laughs] to help my
(13:46):
son learn how to eat, learn how to move,
learn how to talk.
And a lot of it is a lot information.
And I was able to see sort of the contrast
between what we do and
what a lot of other people label as
communities. So I log into
this speech language development
community that I'm part of, and it's just
full of great information, which is
(14:07):
cool, but there's no connection there.
So I have to-- you know, I'm fortunate,
as a mom of a 20-month-old,
there's lots of moms of 20-month-olds that
are trying to help their kid's vocabulary
explode.
So I can learn the information, and I can go
to whatever class, or whatever mom group,
you know parent group, with my kid and I can
(14:28):
have those conversations, but it's
not necessarily like that.
And I think that's something we've realized
so early on. It's not like that with this.
It's not like that with diet and lifestyle.
Literally, like, society is against people
who want to be healthy, like in the biggest
way possible.
I'm new to living in America, to the United
States (newish, I guess), and it
(14:48):
still blows my mind anytime I have to go into
a CVS and see like the unbelievable
amount of junk food and even liquor.
Like, come on, this is insane.
And the liquor is right next to the pharmacy.
I'm like, this is just like mind-blowingly
dumb. [laughter] Like, this country is set up
to just make you super sick.
So we've got all kinds of things working
(15:09):
against us, just like the information.
Like everybody in our orbit eats differently,
has different ideas around food, and
celebration, and connection, and all this
kind of stuff.
It's just crazy. And that doesn't exist.
Like you just can't log in, learn
about fasting, and apply it in
the wild. There's nobody out there
or they're far and few in between.
(15:30):
And hopefully, you know, we'll change that
with the information and stuff that we're
doing, but you need those places to
come and connect with the
information and community.
You hear about these things - live meetings,
webinars, this and that - but what is it that
we do at these things?
Like, what can someone expect, showing
up for a live event at The Fasting Method?
(15:51):
Because someone like me, who would avoid
these things like the plague 15 years
ago, I would be just so intimidated
at this idea of a live meeting,
what it is to expect.
Like, "I'm live, there's people, I'm
introverted, let me sit in the closet!" So
it's a big thing.
And we do provide live information.
Every month, I do a webinar on a topic that
(16:12):
I really think people need to learn about.
So like last month, for example, I talked
about fasting around cortisol dysregulation,
because it's a wild and wacky world
and our bodies have taken a toll as a result.
And how do we sort of navigate fasting for
health benefits when our bodies are
all not wired right, our nervous systems.
So we do that. And then I do sort of that
(16:33):
expert Q&A, you know, when someone comes
in. But, to your point, you know, we have
these live meetings every single
day on a whole bunch of topics related
to fasting, nutrition, and mindset (sort of
our three bigger pillars), and
they are 15 minutes long and,
Heather, what can someone who shows up to one
of your groups every week expect to
(16:55):
learn, and the connection that they form?
I think the fun part-- well, first of all, I
do think that the live meetings are just
magical.
I'm not even sure people appreciate it as
much as they need to. [laughter]
But I think one of the one good things that
came out of COVID is that it got people used
to doing meetings in Zoom.
(17:15):
And so at least people are used to the idea
that you can come to a group meeting,
you can turn your camera off, you can mute
yourself, and you can hide in the background.
So that's still an option.
But coming to these meetings is really
about, okay, there are all kinds of
topics. You pick one, based on what
time of day and what interests you the most,
(17:35):
and then you go in there and you hear a
coach, who has been working with people and
gone through this herself, who gives
you her thoughts on this topic.
That's how I start my meetings.
It's about 10 minutes of my thoughts on the
topic. I try to get everybody's juices
flowing, and then you've got a
wide range of people in there who have
their own experiences on that topic.
(17:57):
And so you start to hear people kind of pile
in and tell you their experience in their
neck of the woods, right, from Australia to
England to Canada, all over the place,
and how they not only are dealing with
the same exact thing as you, but also their
flavor of it.
And so, you start to feel like, "Oh my gosh,
all over the world people are having this
experience. I'm not alone," and, "Gosh,
(18:19):
that was a good idea.
I'm gonna use that too," right, "That
was really insightful.".
And so it's a matter of making time in your
week, right? You've got that 50 minutes where
you hear from a coach, you hear from all
these others, and if you have a burning
question, you ask it and get an answer.
And then you're able to kind of roll-in
this information into your life -
(18:40):
a) I'm not alone, and b) I don't
feel lost and scared and afraid of this thing
that is fasting and low-carb eating.
And you just kind of day by day, week by
week are able to use the information,
take action, and move forward and get
to your weight-loss goals.
In my case, that's what I'm always talking
about. But in the case of other groups,
(19:00):
talking about women's health issues,
handling weight loss with perimenopause and
menopause, handling weight loss amidst
having the type 2 diabetes diagnosis,
or not needing to lose weight and having to
manage your blood sugar, right?
There are all kinds of
nuances and corners
around this thing that we
(19:22):
talk about every day.
And so, especially I see people on
kind of our gigantic Facebook group with
all these questions and I'm like, gosh, if
you were just in the Community, within a
week, all those questions would be answered
and you would realize what's
getting in your way is not knowing the
perfect protocol, or the perfect diet, or the
number of carbs, or whatever.
(19:43):
What's getting your way is not understanding
how to be consistent.
It's not understanding some of those
habit changes, and those kind of emotional
eating issues, and all the mental
health pieces that Coach
Terri likes to talk about.
There are a whole lot of things in your way
that probably are invisible to you because
you're so focused on the nuts
(20:05):
and bolts.
And I think that that's what people miss when
they don't understand the importance of
community.
It's that fuzzy edge that's actually
where the magic happens and where actually
the progress is made.
And so you can have the perfect protocol and
that perfect diet, but if you only can do it
for a week because you're not managing your
stress well or a million other things,
(20:26):
you don't get to where you wanna go.
Absolutely.
One of the things people initially
thought we would do is to really segregate
people between being beginner,
intermediate, and advanced when we did
these groups.
And, while we do offer some beginner groups
(because we understand that being a beginner
in this can be pretty overwhelming,
(20:47):
and sometimes showing up to a group where
people have some more technical questions can
feel a little bit scary),
that's the magic of these
groups, to me, is having a variety of
different experience levels there.
Now, every beginner has to get over that
initial period of overwhelm where it
feels like the whole system is going to
explode because the brain is just overloaded.
(21:10):
We all have that. Again, that's why we do
tailor some stuff to people who are brand new
to this particular journey.
But once the smoke stops coming out of
your ears [laughter] from the information
and you realize that, okay, this doesn't
have to be rocket science in a lot of ways.
Sometimes I eat, sometimes I don't.
When I don't eat, I can drink these things
instead, and learn how to crowd out the bad
(21:32):
on your plate and fill it up with good.
Because, in its essence, there are some
basic concepts that can really just help make
huge improvements in everybody's lives.
But coming to these groups and having this
full range, you learn the skills
of pivoting, you learn the skill of
adapting.
What you do on day one is not going to serve
you on day 100, is not going to save you on
(21:53):
day 300, it's not going serve you two years
down the road, you know, when you're looking
to maintain. You change.
I always joke at presentations I give that
I'm pretty much Megan.
I am Megan at a board meeting with
like Fortune 500 companies, I'm
Megan with my coaching team.
So I always joke about how I've had one
personality but my body has changed so
(22:14):
much over the years.
I was this sick, obese person.
Then I was this sick,
skinny person who was still kind of obese.
And then I was this sort of fit, healthy
person. And then, oh, as a fit,
healthy person, your lifestyle changes.
So things change, your activities change.
So then I've had to have different diets
and different strategies for each one
(22:36):
of these different individuals of Megan.
So it's not the same thing.
There's no magic-bullet protocol.
I mean, when people ask us, "Oh, what works
best for postmenopausal women looking to
lose 60 pounds?" Okay, there's sort of
bell-curve stuff that, you know, if you focus
on this protocol a lot, it's probably where
you need to go, but that never gets anyone
from point A to point B.
(22:57):
You've got to learn around through the
journey. And coming and hearing people at
all different places of the journey,
how they're pivoting, how they're changing,
and what signals are they getting to
their bodies that makes them realize, "Oh,
maybe I need more protein," "Maybe I need to
fast less," "Maybe I need to fast more,"
"Maybe I need to embrace certain fasting
wheels." You get this incredible
(23:19):
amount of information and you can
learn that throughout your own journey and
apply it through your own journey, especially
if you're a beginner.
And it really helps shortcut getting from
point A to point B by taking in this
knowledge. I'm not trying to force one
protocol. People who show up who've been
fasting for three years have been trying to
force one protocol into their lifestyle for
(23:39):
three years. And we meet with them
in intakes, you know, and we ask, "Well, why
haven't you tried this?" or, "Have you tried
that?" "Oh, I never thought of it because I
was trying to do this one, rigid thing." And
in these Community meetings, you get to learn
this vast treasure trove of strategies.
And what I love about pairing advanced,
quote-unquote, 'advanced' fasters with
(24:00):
beginners is because often advanced
fasters get in their own way because
they've forgotten the key principles, the
simple things, and they make
it overly complex, and they end up hitting
walls or not reaching their goals.
Actually, like, no, let's go back to the
basics, these basic principles.
I had someone in one of my meetings last week
(24:20):
say, "I actually think I might need to fast
a little bit less after hearing you talk
to someone who was just starting their
fasting journey." And sure enough, she
switched her protocols from trying to do all
these 72s all of the time to
a 30/16 protocol, and she's
lost weight for the first time in months
after being stagnant.
So you learn so much from everybody
(24:43):
in the group. And I think that's just
so incredibly powerful to have.
This is things you can't-- you can't learn
these things in videos.
You can't learn these things in blog posts.
We can't even learn these things in books.
I was just telling you earlier, you know,
I've been approached to write
The Fasting Method Method, like the ultimate
guide, a bazillion times.
(25:03):
And like, I've been so overwhelmed that even
how to do that, because it is nuanced
and there isn't a one size fits all.
It's really coming together and learning from
people and applying that into your own
lifestyle and coming back and getting the
feedback. That rotation of doing
that is really what gets you there and
maintains you there in the long run.
(25:23):
Megan, oh, this is why you're the master!
You know, the point that you made about how
we can learn from all these other people,
like, as a human, we have one timeline,
right? We can move forward
in our timeline and try what we
think is the right thing, and then go
down that path for months or years and
(25:44):
see if it works or not, or, conversely,
we can see a whole lot of people just
like us going down their little
timelines and saying, "Oops, this didn't
work. Turn back, turn back." And we
get to glean from all of their
different mistakes and stumbles how
we can best make our choices.
(26:04):
So, to your point, it's a shortcut.
It is condensing the timeline of
learning.
You know, that's the whole idea.
That's the whole reason you go to an expert
is because you don't have to be a
beginner flailing around with no idea.
You can get that advice to be like,
"Oh, I see where you are.
I've seen 20 other people right there and
(26:25):
they did this and that didn't work.
So how about you do this because that
eventually did." That dynamic
feedback in real time (like, you've
hit a wall, you're not making progress),
rather than spin your wheels on your own
indefinitely and get nowhere, boom,
here you are with the experts.
Here you are with a whole room of people that
are like, "Yeah, I got you.
(26:46):
This is what you gotta do next." Like you
just said, Megan, people that are like, "If
a little fasting's good, more's better.
Let's crank it up." Mm, not so fast
friend. Sometimes that is not the
answer. Sometimes we need to go back before
we can go forward again.
Our body isn't a machine that
doesn't have a say, it is something that we
work with, and that's part of what
(27:08):
we navigate with people in The
Fasting Method.
I think something else that really sets our
community apart from other communities is
that we're not dogmatic either.
Sometimes you need to fast more and sometimes
you need to fast less.
Sometimes you need to eat more and sometimes
we need to sort of say, "Okay,
is my hunger hormone signaling a little
(27:28):
bit crazy or can I just embrace and trust the
process that I've got enough fat fuel?"
Sometimes one diet might work for you and
another might not.
I know I say I've seen every diet, like,
every real-food diet, I've see it radically
give somebody their lives back.
We're all different and we all have
sort of personalized nutritional needs.
I'm someone who would love to be a carnivore.
(27:49):
Mentally, like, for my taste buds,
my body chemistry says something different.
So I've had to learn how to make
an omnivore lifestyle really work for me,
but, like, hey, I love you carnivores.
I wanna be ya!
And I've seen it work for plant-based people
too; there's a phenomenal way to do that for
the right individual.
So there's no right or wrong at
(28:10):
The Fasting Method. And I feel like so many
other communities, you've got to eat this way
or you're expelled.
Or if you fast, you're expelled.
Or if don't fast long enough, you are
expelled. Like, that's not it.
Everybody is welcome because there is no 'one
size fits all' thing.
If there was a 'one size fits all' thing, we
would just have the cookie-cutter
information, we'd have one meeting a month,
and everybody would just figure it out
(28:31):
in between. And that's just not the way it
is. Our bodies are all different,
our backgrounds are all difference, our
metabolic health all has different needs.
This engagement really helps you kind of
navigate all of that, learn.
It's like, "Oh wait, I'm experiencing what
they're experiencing trying to do carnivore.
Maybe it's not for me.
Maybe this is how I pull the reins back,"
(28:53):
or, "Oh wait, this person with Ehlers-Danlos
has their lives back doing carnivore.
Maybe I need to try that because I also have
Ehlers-Danlos."
And there's all kinds of different things we
can learn from one another that you just
can't pick up in a protocol.
So we're a welcoming community.
We're agnostic about everything when it comes
to this stuff.
(29:13):
There's a time and a place for everything:
fasting more, fasting less, eating one way,
not eating one way.
When I work with someone with autoimmunity,
certain diseases, I'll often put them on
something like carnivore short-term and then
work them back to eating an omnivore diet,
or even one woman worked her way to eating
like a very pescatarian, more plant-based
approach and not working for her long-term.
(29:35):
But she got tremendous benefit at the start
from having a different approach than that.
So there's-- it's not a 'one size fits all'.
Everybody is welcome.
Nobody is judged because everybody in
our community recognizes that there's
a time and a place for everything.
There's no right or wrong way of doing
anything.
There are strategies that can be very helpful
(29:56):
and, you know, that's one of the big reasons
why our coaches are there to help
lead and help make these suggestions and
these strategies, and help filter the
information so you're getting accurate
information.
But it is a safe place.
It is a place where you can come up and share
what you're doing and just get cheered on
rather than excluded from.
(30:16):
And that's always been a really important
thing to me.
I think Jason and I realized very early on,
uh-uh, we can't put everyone on the same
diet, no way.
We can't have everyone doing the same
fasting, no way.
It all varies for everyone.
I was telling Jason yesterday how much
success I've had lately having people doing
breakfast-to-breakfast 24s, when,
you know, 48s (traditionally from
(30:37):
dinner to dinner) just stopped working for
them, and explaining, you know, why that's
the case. So there's no right or wrong
way. It just depends on you, the individual,
where you are now and then adjusting
that as you heal.
That's another thing that I really like.
My final thing I'll give our community a
shout out for is that they're your meetings.
So just show up however you need to show up
(30:59):
that day. And sometimes it might be four
o'clock. I can't tell you the number of times
where I didn't have support where, at four
o'clock, I was totally burnt out and
flaked out and ended up in a drive-thru on
my way home.
And if I could have just like listened to it
and gathered everybody's information
that was in my patient meetings while I
was on that drive, I could've skipped that
(31:20):
drive-thru, right?
My motivation would have been reignited, I
would have learned new tools, and I would've
been able to get home.
So you don't always have to show up.
You don't always have to share.
You can utilize this as a tool for when you
need it for various reasons throughout the
day.
Heather, what are your thoughts on how people
show up for the Community meetings?
(31:40):
Oh, to your point, Megan, that is exactly how
I used Community meetings while I was doing
my therapeutic fasting.
I would pop that earbud in my ear
and I would do-- I would be grocery shopping
listening to meetings, I would be walking in
the woods, laundry, dishes, almost
like a live podcast. It was almost like
I just had friends with me kind of keeping me
company while I was doing my housework,
(32:03):
etc.
My lunch breaks at work, I would sit in my
car and listen to meetings.
And it was just a way to just marinate
in it. And to your point, on my fasting
days, it happened to coincide-- dinner
coincided with Coach Terri's meetings on
Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
And so during that dinner hour when my family
was eating, I was in the woods listening
(32:23):
to Terri talk about healthy habits
and healthy mindset.
And it just was exactly
what I needed.
And so sometimes we think we
gotta sit down, get our notebook out
and stare at a screen, and give up an hour,
and I don't have an hour.
Yeah you do! [laughs] You've got all kinds
of stuff going on in your life that you can
just fit this little dose of,
(32:46):
"Oh that's right, this is what I'm working on
right now."
And you talked earlier about the motivation
piece, about how motivation kind of waxes
and wanes. I don't think motivation
gets lost in the way that I used to think.
I think it just gets buried.
It's almost like gets buried under the pile
of bills on the kitchen counter, right?
Where is that? Where'd I put that?
(33:07):
And sometimes it's not like we lose it, we
just forget it. And we just need to be
reminded of it.
And so sometimes the magic of the Community
is really, you know, you're hearing some
inspirational thing, you know, here or there,
where somebody is like, "Oh my gosh, I just
lost 45 pounds in the last six months." And
you're like, "Holy crap!
That's right, I'm in the midst of something
that actually works, that I can actually
(33:29):
do, and, if I stick to it, does really
amazing things." And that piece
is just-- you don't find that in too
many places.
And so that's kind of how I used community
and that's how I hear my successful clients
using it.
I run these meetings three days a week
and I will often see my own clients,
(33:49):
you know, who've invested in coaching (they
get me one-on-one, some of them), and
they're still coming to these meetings.
Why? Because they need to hear me say the
same thing again? Probably not.
[laughs] But they just need to get that
little dose. That little dose of inspiration,
that little does of motivation, that little
voice that says, "Keep going.
You don't need that drive through right now.
(34:10):
You got this." It made all the difference
for me. And for many of my clients, they feel
the same exact way.
So when I hear about people joining the
Community and not going to the live groups,
I'm like, oh my gosh, you're leaving so much
on the table.
That's where the magic is.
It's where all the magic is.
And I have to tell you how live groups helped
me. So as a leader, I was having
(34:32):
a day. My son was a feral beast of
a child. [laughter] He wouldn't nap.
It was awful.
He's got two-year molars coming in quite
early.
And I just remember getting his lunch ready,
and he-- like, I've used all my
wisdom to prepare his taste
buds to be exactly as I hopde.
So I'm making him a good meal, one that
(34:54):
I would eat. He eats what we eat.
There's nothing around that.
He doesn't eat anything we don't eat.
And I was like, maybe I just need lunch, I
need to lower my cortisol.
It might be creeping up.
This will be good. I'd justify it, right,
just like I can justify buying a new pair of
shoes! [laughter] And then I stopped and I
took a big breath and I said, "No.
I've got a group today at 4.30, and
(35:16):
I want to be able to show up and tell them
that, you know, I've had a hard day too."
I just took a breath, and I thought about
them, and I thought about how I wanted to
show out for them, and how
cool it will be to have that support and have
people be excited that I was able
to do this. And then that excited me and
I was able to sort of move through.
(35:37):
And then the group was chatting and someone
asked, "How's your sleep going?" "I'm not
sleeping and today I wanted to eat and I
didn't, and I was excited to show up here
to share that," because I had just resumed my
fasting journey postpartum.
And they were so excited.
And it's just such a great feeling to come
off of. And then, at the end of the day, I
had made it and my glucose hit a certain
(35:59):
target on my CGM at the end of the
day. And it was just like knowing that I
had this group to connect with, even as a
coach, even as someone in my shoes.
You want to know why I'm successful 14
years out? This is why.
It's because of our members.
So we all help.
We all support one another.
We're all in this together.
And I think what is also really powerful
(36:20):
is when the members see us as humans
and recognize that, as coaches, we've
been in this struggle too, and we still-- you
know, we're in the same food environment as
everybody else. We also have to deal with
those temptations, and the cravings, and the
addictions, and all of the things.
And so, you now, speaking of the CGM, I
was just in a client meeting, a group
meeting, and I was talking about how I
(36:41):
had something that felt benign (it was a
potato soup), and my CGM popped
and stayed up for 24 hours.
Wow!
Right? And it's
like, "Oh, yep, looks like insulin resistance
is still alive and well," right?
It's still something that I'm working through
and still trying to recover from and heal
from. And I think, on the one
hand, people are like, "Oh God.
(37:04):
[laughs] How long is this gonna take again?"
But on the other hand, it's also like, yeah,
you're in it too. We are not observers
outside of the arena, you and me,
Megan. We're in there with it.
You know, we're covered in dirt and blood
too, and we're also fighting the good fight.
Yeah, we're lifetime members, that's for
sure. [laughter]
So, Heather, who's had the most
(37:26):
amazing transformation, who blew Jason's
socks off this week, yet again, Heather has
a really cool workshop coming up.
Heather, do you want to share?
Yes, I'm super excited about this.
I have actually been working toward it,
coming up with exercises, and thinking about
it, and how to best curate a fun experience
since you asked me to do it, Megan.
(37:47):
[laughs] And so I have a wall of Post-It
notes in my basement to
just kind of guide this process because
what I really wanted to do was create
an experience that could really be
a catalyst to get people excited
and ready to just kind
of dive into the whole topic of weight
loss, with the understanding that, what
(38:09):
you and I have been talking about this whole
time, it's not going to be enough to go to
a three-day workshop and that's it, okay, I'm
done, right? You still need the
accountability. You need still need this
support. But I think sometimes there
are people that really like self-study and to
read the books and to kind of figure it out
on their own. And then there are other people
that are like, "I don't got time for that.
Can you just tell me what I need to know?
(38:30):
Can you give me the answers at the
get-go and tell me how to get started, and
what I should do next?" Yes!
Yes, I can.
You know, based on my experience from
losing weight, based on my experience as a
coach and realizing, oh my goodness,
I'm saying the same thing over and
over and over again for people because there
(38:50):
is a huge through-line when it
comes to weight loss.
What if I condense that down
into a three-day workshop and
let people know what they need to know so
that, if they had that base of knowledge,
they can then get going and keep going.
And you get community involvement too.
(39:10):
You have the exclusive forum thread for
people who are in that workshop to connect
with like-minded individuals and connect a
little bit more with you.
You've got some live interactions with
them with exclusive groups for that workshop
so people can see some faces,
hear some voices, and really realize
that they're in this together.
And you also get some bonus access to the
(39:32):
Community so, if you're already not part of
the Community, you can test it out.
An extra bonus is that Heather is
so active and involved in the Community so
you can get all these extra meanings
with her throughout your time in
the workshop and in the Community to optimize
things. We have a special discount for
podcast listeners to check out Heather's
(39:53):
workshop. It is PODCAST10.
So if you use that at checkout over
at thefastingmethod.com you'll save 10%
on her course.
All right, well, thank you, Heather, so much
for joining me for this conversation today.
Thank you all for listening.
Happy fasting.
Thanks, Megan. Make good choices, everybody.
Not only do I get to see this
whole journey from the perspective as someone
who's been there as a client of
The Fasting Method, but also as a coach.
And, from both directions, I can
see clearly, just like Neo in the
Matrix.
I can clearly see what
it is and why it is that
(00:20):
The Fasting Method is so powerful.
[music]
Hi, everyone.
It's Megan Ramos here with another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
Today, I'm joined by one of our amazing team
members, Coach Heather.
We are here today to talk about some
of our secret sauce when it comes to
(00:42):
weight loss.
Heather, how are you doing today?
I am doing great, Megan.
And I am so excited to be here talking to you
about this topic.
It's my favorite.
And so I get to see the master at work
and her thoughts about it, and I think that's
super exciting for me and our listeners.
Well, I mean, Heather, you've had your own
incredible journey with weight loss.
I know you've shared on The Fasting Method
(01:03):
podcast.
It was recently really cool to see Jason Fung
get so excited about your transformation.
He and I were chatting the other day about
you. He's like, "You know, you hear it,
right? Like I've heard you talk about it."
He's familiar with that because usually I'm
sort of the path of conversation
flow between everybody, but he's like,
"Holy cow! Like, it was another thing to see
(01:25):
it. It was just so incredible." We
were talking about like how, even to this
day, we're still so inspired, ourselves,
you know, seeing people's total
transformations, and just how inspiring
your own journey with fat
loss, weight loss has been, and
just to see it blow his socks off,
out of the water, after doing this now for
(01:45):
13+ years with individuals.
So I'd say you're probably really the master
[laughter] at weight-loss
strategies.
But one of the things we were talking about
before this is that
a lot of people come to The Fasting Method
looking for a recipe, right, for
weight loss to this fasting protocol -
(02:07):
eat this way, follow this eating plan.
And so they sign up for Community membership,
and they come in...
And we have a lot information.
Again, we've been doing this, you know, for
13, 14 years, so we've created a
lot resources for people.
And they're looking for this method,
right? We're called The Fasting Method, but
there's so much to the
(02:28):
method that isn't just, "Follow this
protocol," and, "Do it this way," because, to
be honest, there's no 'one size fits all'
protocol, and that might change
for individuals down the road.
You and I were talking about the importance
of that human connection, and a
lot of what we do at The Fasting Method that
distinguishes us from other fasting
communities.
(02:49):
Because what we do really helps enable
people to be consistent.
We teach skills live.
We teach people how to navigate all of the
different tools because they might need to
use a whole bunch of these different
protocols to reach their journey in the end.
And that is really kind of
a big thing, you know, having that community,
(03:10):
having that engagement with the team,
learning how to be consistent is really what
helps get you to your end goal.
So I'm going to stop talking because you've
got... [laughter] You've got a lot to
say on the subject and I'd love to pick your
brain as to what it is--
like, what are the tools people really need
for this successful weight loss that
blows Jason's socks off, out of the
(03:31):
water 14 years into this.
Thanks, Megan.
And, to your point, not only do I
get to see this whole journey from the
perspective as someone who's been there, as
a client of The Fasting Method, but also
as a coach.
And, from both directions, I can
see clearly, just like Neo in the
Matrix. [laughs] I can clearly
(03:52):
see what it is and
why it is that The Fasting Method is
so powerful.
When I came to The Fasting Method, I
felt like I knew absolutely everything.
I read all the books.
I was one of those people that I hear
out in the world, in the Facebook
group, and all over the place that says,
"I know what I need to do, I'm just not doing
(04:13):
it." Well then, friend, you don't know
what you need to do.
And what I learned about myself,
after trying to do it by myself for a couple
years, was what I needed to do was get
support, get accountability.
And that's exactly the magic of
The Fasting Method. It's not only the
experience that you and Dr. Fung and all of
(04:34):
the coaches bring to people
that come to you with very specific
circumstances and need individualized
coaching, it is the Community itself.
It is the meetings where people come
together, and that energy
of everyone who understands what it's
like to fast, and to eat differently,
and to basically kind of live against the
(04:55):
grain. That's where the magic is.
And I'm pretty sure that's why it exists,
right? Isn't that why the Community exists?
Because you could teach, teach, TEACH,
but then people would go out on their own and
not do, do, DO.
They needed that place to come
and to get kind of the reminders
that, "Oh, that's right.
(05:16):
This is what's required.
This consistency piece is what is required in
order to get us to goal.".
That's exactly why it exists.
So we started out 13 years
ago and we could only
see patients in small groups because
that was just our bandwidth.
Our clinic was not thrilled we were doing
this. We had one room, we had
(05:37):
a couple of three-hour blocks,
and we had hundreds of patients of Jason's
at first who wanted to start doing this.
So we had to see people in groups.
And, as someone who was in the medical field
for a long time (like yourself) before any
of this, your medical history is always super
private. People don't talk about their
medical stuff amongst one another.
It was super weird we were doing this in
(05:59):
groups. Even Jason and I were like, "Oh,
hopefully we'll get to the point we can see
people one-on-one," and do all of this stuff.
So we started seeing people in small
groups out of sort of force.
And then because we were all new to
this-- like, sure, I had fasted, we had
a couple of patients that had sort
of fasted against the grain, but this was
our first time doing it with
(06:20):
insulin-dependent diabetics, like people who
had real health stuff, we were seeing them
all the time. So every week they're showing
up, they're connecting with the group.
And it was just so mind blowing to me what
people are willing to share, and then how
it really brought them together and how it
helped them succeed.
We did get to that place, though, where we
could have more time, we could see people
(06:41):
one-on-one, and, when we started shifting
towards that, people just
weren't doing as well.
People weren't absorbing all of the
different strategies and things because it
isn't, "Follow this," you know, "three
by 24, three by 36 strategy,"
that works.
And it just wasn't working.
And I remember talking to Jason, and I was
like, "No, we need to go back to groups."
(07:03):
And he was like, "Well, it's probably a good
idea," because, at this point, The Obesity
Code had come out.
We had so many people from across the world
interested in learning about fasting and
wanting to come to our clinic.
And we went back to groups.
But then people who we were initially seeing
weekly (as they didn't need to see us weekly)
and we started spacing them out to every four
weeks, every six weeks, them coming in for
(07:24):
group appointments, they were suddenly
falling apart in that four to six
weeks in between.
And they'd come back to the groups and they'd
get so reignited, like, their passion,
their flair, their motivation.
You know, now we've learned motivation comes
and goes in waves, and they were just losing
that out there in the community when
everybody else in their world eats
(07:46):
differently.
And society is just set up not for
this healthy lifestyle.
It's why we have so much illness.
And I just remember, I actually
went to a retreat and I was talking
about this. I was one of the speakers at the
retreat. And they said, "Are there ways for
you to bring people together in between
to help them get support?" And
(08:08):
I started thinking about it and flew home (I
was in California) flew home to Toronto.
And I talked to Jason and I was just like,
"We need like something online.
Like, I don't know if it's just like a
Facebook group for our patients or
what we do. I do feel like..." We were making
them come in person to watch these like
seven-hour classes that I would do on
Fridays, and it was like totally depleting me
(08:30):
to do that every Friday live.
SO I was like, "Maybe we record it, put the
materials up on some website and have
like a forum, you know, for them to talk
to." And then that's how it all kind
of spun. We started doing some live events
too, because people just did better
when they had people to lean on.
And I always joke with friends, like, people
(08:50):
who have known me my whole life thinks it's
hilarious that I have a community.
I'm like one of the most lone-wolf
individuals you'll ever meet.
My mom was like that.
She passed it down to me.
Like, I just don't need help for anything,
right? And now they asked me, "How have
you maintained all these great results 14
years later?" And it's from my patients.
I realized doing those group meetings--
(09:13):
like, I was doing three to four of them a
day, five days a week.
And then I started doing virtual ones around
that for people who couldn't come to Toronto.
I was like, "Oh my gosh. This is why
I am successful.
I need people!" And it's actually
really fun and enjoyable to connect
with people of a similar ideological
experience, and lifestyle in
(09:35):
particular, because so many people thought I
was crazy or had like an eating disorder.
And I was like, "This is amazing." And now I
gave up my career in nephrology
and research to build a community because
it's what people need. And I don't think
people often realize that they need
it.
I would 1000% agree.
I was in the same place.
(09:55):
I of course didn't think that I needed it.
I tried to do it on my own.
I knew everything!
And then, finally, I accepted the
fact that obviously I needed something
because I wasn't getting the work-- you know,
I wasn't getting the results.
And so then I joined the Community and, like
you, I-- it felt like a group project.
[laughter] Nobody
wants to do a group project! Who wants to dothat?
And, you know, I had flashbacks of commercial
(10:17):
dietary programs where you went and you got
weighed in, and you had to listen to,
you know, Jell-O recipes and low-fat
cheese ideas. [laughter] And it just felt
like, "Oh, I do not want more of that
in my life. That sounds like such a drag."
But then you come into this community--
and interestingly, and I've thought about
this quite a bit, I think because
(10:38):
most people's starting point to
come to The Fasting Method is either
Dr. Fung's books or your books,
which are very science-y, right?
And it requires a certain level of
sophistication to read those books, you know,
let's be clear.
So the people that are attracted into this
community tend to be a little educated,
right? I'm gonna just lay that out there
(10:58):
because so many of my clients are professors,
physicians, lawyers, right?
[laughs] All these smart cookies are
attracted to this community because it's so
science-based.
And so I think sometimes when people think
about a community, they think of like, "Oh
gosh, what am I going to have to deal with?"[laughs]
And then you come in here, and it's all
of these really bright, smart people
(11:19):
who, like you, dear listener,
is really smart and is really good at
managing a whole lot of the other things in
your life, but this thing seems to be getting
away from you.
And so it's all these achievers [laughs] that
are trying to figure this thing out.
And, like you said, when describing people
at the clinic, where, if you spread it apart,
(11:39):
how frequently you come in and
kind of get a dose of inspiration from
the community, I've seen that with clients
where they'll kind of fall off the
cliff for a month and then they come crawling
back struggling and they're like, "Aargh, it
all fell apart." And then I always ask,
"What were you doing when things were going
well?" And notoriously what I
(12:00):
hear is, "I was getting the meetings.
I was coming into meetings regularly.
I was getting kind of my dose of inspiration
and that's what was keeping me going." And
I think that's why lifetime membership is so
popular because people realize, "Oh wait,
this is a long game.
This is gonna take a long time," i.e.
permanently [laughs], "and I'm gonna need to
(12:21):
have that reinforcement.".
Like you've experienced as someone who runs
meetings, we coaches also benefit
from being in that community because
we all came from, you know, having our
own issues. And so now we get to be there
not only as guides, but also as
recipients of being part of a really magical
community.
So it is the thing.
(12:42):
And so sometimes when I hear people say,
"Well, you know I went to that meeting and I
didn't learn anything." It's like, "It's not
always about learning something." Part of
what you're going to a meeting for is
support. So what you are actually getting
is kind of what is down deep
and what is a core need
for human beings, which is connection,
especially connection around something that
(13:04):
is new and different and feels weird.
When you can have a community around that,
you're just so much more likely to stick with
it for as long as it takes.
When we started talking about
talking about [laughs] this topic
in today's podcast,
it dawned on me that there's a lot of people
who probably sign up for a community that
(13:25):
really just don't know what to expect out
of the community other than information,
right?
I'm someone who, as I mentioned,
never really was a community signer upper.
I learned the power of communities and
then had a son and signed up for every
community on the planet that costs
whatever [laughs] to help my
(13:46):
son learn how to eat, learn how to move,
learn how to talk.
And a lot of it is a lot information.
And I was able to see sort of the contrast
between what we do and
what a lot of other people label as
communities. So I log into
this speech language development
community that I'm part of, and it's just
full of great information, which is
(14:07):
cool, but there's no connection there.
So I have to-- you know, I'm fortunate,
as a mom of a 20-month-old,
there's lots of moms of 20-month-olds that
are trying to help their kid's vocabulary
explode.
So I can learn the information, and I can go
to whatever class, or whatever mom group,
you know parent group, with my kid and I can
(14:28):
have those conversations, but it's
not necessarily like that.
And I think that's something we've realized
so early on. It's not like that with this.
It's not like that with diet and lifestyle.
Literally, like, society is against people
who want to be healthy, like in the biggest
way possible.
I'm new to living in America, to the United
States (newish, I guess), and it
(14:48):
still blows my mind anytime I have to go into
a CVS and see like the unbelievable
amount of junk food and even liquor.
Like, come on, this is insane.
And the liquor is right next to the pharmacy.
I'm like, this is just like mind-blowingly
dumb. [laughter] Like, this country is set up
to just make you super sick.
So we've got all kinds of things working
(15:09):
against us, just like the information.
Like everybody in our orbit eats differently,
has different ideas around food, and
celebration, and connection, and all this
kind of stuff.
It's just crazy. And that doesn't exist.
Like you just can't log in, learn
about fasting, and apply it in
the wild. There's nobody out there
or they're far and few in between.
(15:30):
And hopefully, you know, we'll change that
with the information and stuff that we're
doing, but you need those places to
come and connect with the
information and community.
You hear about these things - live meetings,
webinars, this and that - but what is it that
we do at these things?
Like, what can someone expect, showing
up for a live event at The Fasting Method?
(15:51):
Because someone like me, who would avoid
these things like the plague 15 years
ago, I would be just so intimidated
at this idea of a live meeting,
what it is to expect.
Like, "I'm live, there's people, I'm
introverted, let me sit in the closet!" So
it's a big thing.
And we do provide live information.
Every month, I do a webinar on a topic that
(16:12):
I really think people need to learn about.
So like last month, for example, I talked
about fasting around cortisol dysregulation,
because it's a wild and wacky world
and our bodies have taken a toll as a result.
And how do we sort of navigate fasting for
health benefits when our bodies are
all not wired right, our nervous systems.
So we do that. And then I do sort of that
(16:33):
expert Q&A, you know, when someone comes
in. But, to your point, you know, we have
these live meetings every single
day on a whole bunch of topics related
to fasting, nutrition, and mindset (sort of
our three bigger pillars), and
they are 15 minutes long and,
Heather, what can someone who shows up to one
of your groups every week expect to
(16:55):
learn, and the connection that they form?
I think the fun part-- well, first of all, I
do think that the live meetings are just
magical.
I'm not even sure people appreciate it as
much as they need to. [laughter]
But I think one of the one good things that
came out of COVID is that it got people used
to doing meetings in Zoom.
(17:15):
And so at least people are used to the idea
that you can come to a group meeting,
you can turn your camera off, you can mute
yourself, and you can hide in the background.
So that's still an option.
But coming to these meetings is really
about, okay, there are all kinds of
topics. You pick one, based on what
time of day and what interests you the most,
(17:35):
and then you go in there and you hear a
coach, who has been working with people and
gone through this herself, who gives
you her thoughts on this topic.
That's how I start my meetings.
It's about 10 minutes of my thoughts on the
topic. I try to get everybody's juices
flowing, and then you've got a
wide range of people in there who have
their own experiences on that topic.
(17:57):
And so you start to hear people kind of pile
in and tell you their experience in their
neck of the woods, right, from Australia to
England to Canada, all over the place,
and how they not only are dealing with
the same exact thing as you, but also their
flavor of it.
And so, you start to feel like, "Oh my gosh,
all over the world people are having this
experience. I'm not alone," and, "Gosh,
(18:19):
that was a good idea.
I'm gonna use that too," right, "That
was really insightful.".
And so it's a matter of making time in your
week, right? You've got that 50 minutes where
you hear from a coach, you hear from all
these others, and if you have a burning
question, you ask it and get an answer.
And then you're able to kind of roll-in
this information into your life -
(18:40):
a) I'm not alone, and b) I don't
feel lost and scared and afraid of this thing
that is fasting and low-carb eating.
And you just kind of day by day, week by
week are able to use the information,
take action, and move forward and get
to your weight-loss goals.
In my case, that's what I'm always talking
about. But in the case of other groups,
(19:00):
talking about women's health issues,
handling weight loss with perimenopause and
menopause, handling weight loss amidst
having the type 2 diabetes diagnosis,
or not needing to lose weight and having to
manage your blood sugar, right?
There are all kinds of
nuances and corners
around this thing that we
(19:22):
talk about every day.
And so, especially I see people on
kind of our gigantic Facebook group with
all these questions and I'm like, gosh, if
you were just in the Community, within a
week, all those questions would be answered
and you would realize what's
getting in your way is not knowing the
perfect protocol, or the perfect diet, or the
number of carbs, or whatever.
(19:43):
What's getting your way is not understanding
how to be consistent.
It's not understanding some of those
habit changes, and those kind of emotional
eating issues, and all the mental
health pieces that Coach
Terri likes to talk about.
There are a whole lot of things in your way
that probably are invisible to you because
you're so focused on the nuts
(20:05):
and bolts.
And I think that that's what people miss when
they don't understand the importance of
community.
It's that fuzzy edge that's actually
where the magic happens and where actually
the progress is made.
And so you can have the perfect protocol and
that perfect diet, but if you only can do it
for a week because you're not managing your
stress well or a million other things,
(20:26):
you don't get to where you wanna go.
Absolutely.
One of the things people initially
thought we would do is to really segregate
people between being beginner,
intermediate, and advanced when we did
these groups.
And, while we do offer some beginner groups
(because we understand that being a beginner
in this can be pretty overwhelming,
(20:47):
and sometimes showing up to a group where
people have some more technical questions can
feel a little bit scary),
that's the magic of these
groups, to me, is having a variety of
different experience levels there.
Now, every beginner has to get over that
initial period of overwhelm where it
feels like the whole system is going to
explode because the brain is just overloaded.
(21:10):
We all have that. Again, that's why we do
tailor some stuff to people who are brand new
to this particular journey.
But once the smoke stops coming out of
your ears [laughter] from the information
and you realize that, okay, this doesn't
have to be rocket science in a lot of ways.
Sometimes I eat, sometimes I don't.
When I don't eat, I can drink these things
instead, and learn how to crowd out the bad
(21:32):
on your plate and fill it up with good.
Because, in its essence, there are some
basic concepts that can really just help make
huge improvements in everybody's lives.
But coming to these groups and having this
full range, you learn the skills
of pivoting, you learn the skill of
adapting.
What you do on day one is not going to serve
you on day 100, is not going to save you on
(21:53):
day 300, it's not going serve you two years
down the road, you know, when you're looking
to maintain. You change.
I always joke at presentations I give that
I'm pretty much Megan.
I am Megan at a board meeting with
like Fortune 500 companies, I'm
Megan with my coaching team.
So I always joke about how I've had one
personality but my body has changed so
(22:14):
much over the years.
I was this sick, obese person.
Then I was this sick,
skinny person who was still kind of obese.
And then I was this sort of fit, healthy
person. And then, oh, as a fit,
healthy person, your lifestyle changes.
So things change, your activities change.
So then I've had to have different diets
and different strategies for each one
(22:36):
of these different individuals of Megan.
So it's not the same thing.
There's no magic-bullet protocol.
I mean, when people ask us, "Oh, what works
best for postmenopausal women looking to
lose 60 pounds?" Okay, there's sort of
bell-curve stuff that, you know, if you focus
on this protocol a lot, it's probably where
you need to go, but that never gets anyone
from point A to point B.
(22:57):
You've got to learn around through the
journey. And coming and hearing people at
all different places of the journey,
how they're pivoting, how they're changing,
and what signals are they getting to
their bodies that makes them realize, "Oh,
maybe I need more protein," "Maybe I need to
fast less," "Maybe I need to fast more,"
"Maybe I need to embrace certain fasting
wheels." You get this incredible
(23:19):
amount of information and you can
learn that throughout your own journey and
apply it through your own journey, especially
if you're a beginner.
And it really helps shortcut getting from
point A to point B by taking in this
knowledge. I'm not trying to force one
protocol. People who show up who've been
fasting for three years have been trying to
force one protocol into their lifestyle for
(23:39):
three years. And we meet with them
in intakes, you know, and we ask, "Well, why
haven't you tried this?" or, "Have you tried
that?" "Oh, I never thought of it because I
was trying to do this one, rigid thing." And
in these Community meetings, you get to learn
this vast treasure trove of strategies.
And what I love about pairing advanced,
quote-unquote, 'advanced' fasters with
(24:00):
beginners is because often advanced
fasters get in their own way because
they've forgotten the key principles, the
simple things, and they make
it overly complex, and they end up hitting
walls or not reaching their goals.
Actually, like, no, let's go back to the
basics, these basic principles.
I had someone in one of my meetings last week
(24:20):
say, "I actually think I might need to fast
a little bit less after hearing you talk
to someone who was just starting their
fasting journey." And sure enough, she
switched her protocols from trying to do all
these 72s all of the time to
a 30/16 protocol, and she's
lost weight for the first time in months
after being stagnant.
So you learn so much from everybody
(24:43):
in the group. And I think that's just
so incredibly powerful to have.
This is things you can't-- you can't learn
these things in videos.
You can't learn these things in blog posts.
We can't even learn these things in books.
I was just telling you earlier, you know,
I've been approached to write
The Fasting Method Method, like the ultimate
guide, a bazillion times.
(25:03):
And like, I've been so overwhelmed that even
how to do that, because it is nuanced
and there isn't a one size fits all.
It's really coming together and learning from
people and applying that into your own
lifestyle and coming back and getting the
feedback. That rotation of doing
that is really what gets you there and
maintains you there in the long run.
(25:23):
Megan, oh, this is why you're the master!
You know, the point that you made about how
we can learn from all these other people,
like, as a human, we have one timeline,
right? We can move forward
in our timeline and try what we
think is the right thing, and then go
down that path for months or years and
(25:44):
see if it works or not, or, conversely,
we can see a whole lot of people just
like us going down their little
timelines and saying, "Oops, this didn't
work. Turn back, turn back." And we
get to glean from all of their
different mistakes and stumbles how
we can best make our choices.
(26:04):
So, to your point, it's a shortcut.
It is condensing the timeline of
learning.
You know, that's the whole idea.
That's the whole reason you go to an expert
is because you don't have to be a
beginner flailing around with no idea.
You can get that advice to be like,
"Oh, I see where you are.
I've seen 20 other people right there and
(26:25):
they did this and that didn't work.
So how about you do this because that
eventually did." That dynamic
feedback in real time (like, you've
hit a wall, you're not making progress),
rather than spin your wheels on your own
indefinitely and get nowhere, boom,
here you are with the experts.
Here you are with a whole room of people that
are like, "Yeah, I got you.
(26:46):
This is what you gotta do next." Like you
just said, Megan, people that are like, "If
a little fasting's good, more's better.
Let's crank it up." Mm, not so fast
friend. Sometimes that is not the
answer. Sometimes we need to go back before
we can go forward again.
Our body isn't a machine that
doesn't have a say, it is something that we
work with, and that's part of what
(27:08):
we navigate with people in The
Fasting Method.
I think something else that really sets our
community apart from other communities is
that we're not dogmatic either.
Sometimes you need to fast more and sometimes
you need to fast less.
Sometimes you need to eat more and sometimes
we need to sort of say, "Okay,
is my hunger hormone signaling a little
(27:28):
bit crazy or can I just embrace and trust the
process that I've got enough fat fuel?"
Sometimes one diet might work for you and
another might not.
I know I say I've seen every diet, like,
every real-food diet, I've see it radically
give somebody their lives back.
We're all different and we all have
sort of personalized nutritional needs.
I'm someone who would love to be a carnivore.
(27:49):
Mentally, like, for my taste buds,
my body chemistry says something different.
So I've had to learn how to make
an omnivore lifestyle really work for me,
but, like, hey, I love you carnivores.
I wanna be ya!
And I've seen it work for plant-based people
too; there's a phenomenal way to do that for
the right individual.
So there's no right or wrong at
(28:10):
The Fasting Method. And I feel like so many
other communities, you've got to eat this way
or you're expelled.
Or if you fast, you're expelled.
Or if don't fast long enough, you are
expelled. Like, that's not it.
Everybody is welcome because there is no 'one
size fits all' thing.
If there was a 'one size fits all' thing, we
would just have the cookie-cutter
information, we'd have one meeting a month,
and everybody would just figure it out
(28:31):
in between. And that's just not the way it
is. Our bodies are all different,
our backgrounds are all difference, our
metabolic health all has different needs.
This engagement really helps you kind of
navigate all of that, learn.
It's like, "Oh wait, I'm experiencing what
they're experiencing trying to do carnivore.
Maybe it's not for me.
Maybe this is how I pull the reins back,"
(28:53):
or, "Oh wait, this person with Ehlers-Danlos
has their lives back doing carnivore.
Maybe I need to try that because I also have
Ehlers-Danlos."
And there's all kinds of different things we
can learn from one another that you just
can't pick up in a protocol.
So we're a welcoming community.
We're agnostic about everything when it comes
to this stuff.
(29:13):
There's a time and a place for everything:
fasting more, fasting less, eating one way,
not eating one way.
When I work with someone with autoimmunity,
certain diseases, I'll often put them on
something like carnivore short-term and then
work them back to eating an omnivore diet,
or even one woman worked her way to eating
like a very pescatarian, more plant-based
approach and not working for her long-term.
(29:35):
But she got tremendous benefit at the start
from having a different approach than that.
So there's-- it's not a 'one size fits all'.
Everybody is welcome.
Nobody is judged because everybody in
our community recognizes that there's
a time and a place for everything.
There's no right or wrong way of doing
anything.
There are strategies that can be very helpful
(29:56):
and, you know, that's one of the big reasons
why our coaches are there to help
lead and help make these suggestions and
these strategies, and help filter the
information so you're getting accurate
information.
But it is a safe place.
It is a place where you can come up and share
what you're doing and just get cheered on
rather than excluded from.
(30:16):
And that's always been a really important
thing to me.
I think Jason and I realized very early on,
uh-uh, we can't put everyone on the same
diet, no way.
We can't have everyone doing the same
fasting, no way.
It all varies for everyone.
I was telling Jason yesterday how much
success I've had lately having people doing
breakfast-to-breakfast 24s, when,
you know, 48s (traditionally from
(30:37):
dinner to dinner) just stopped working for
them, and explaining, you know, why that's
the case. So there's no right or wrong
way. It just depends on you, the individual,
where you are now and then adjusting
that as you heal.
That's another thing that I really like.
My final thing I'll give our community a
shout out for is that they're your meetings.
So just show up however you need to show up
(30:59):
that day. And sometimes it might be four
o'clock. I can't tell you the number of times
where I didn't have support where, at four
o'clock, I was totally burnt out and
flaked out and ended up in a drive-thru on
my way home.
And if I could have just like listened to it
and gathered everybody's information
that was in my patient meetings while I
was on that drive, I could've skipped that
(31:20):
drive-thru, right?
My motivation would have been reignited, I
would have learned new tools, and I would've
been able to get home.
So you don't always have to show up.
You don't always have to share.
You can utilize this as a tool for when you
need it for various reasons throughout the
day.
Heather, what are your thoughts on how people
show up for the Community meetings?
(31:40):
Oh, to your point, Megan, that is exactly how
I used Community meetings while I was doing
my therapeutic fasting.
I would pop that earbud in my ear
and I would do-- I would be grocery shopping
listening to meetings, I would be walking in
the woods, laundry, dishes, almost
like a live podcast. It was almost like
I just had friends with me kind of keeping me
company while I was doing my housework,
(32:03):
etc.
My lunch breaks at work, I would sit in my
car and listen to meetings.
And it was just a way to just marinate
in it. And to your point, on my fasting
days, it happened to coincide-- dinner
coincided with Coach Terri's meetings on
Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
And so during that dinner hour when my family
was eating, I was in the woods listening
(32:23):
to Terri talk about healthy habits
and healthy mindset.
And it just was exactly
what I needed.
And so sometimes we think we
gotta sit down, get our notebook out
and stare at a screen, and give up an hour,
and I don't have an hour.
Yeah you do! [laughs] You've got all kinds
of stuff going on in your life that you can
just fit this little dose of,
(32:46):
"Oh that's right, this is what I'm working on
right now."
And you talked earlier about the motivation
piece, about how motivation kind of waxes
and wanes. I don't think motivation
gets lost in the way that I used to think.
I think it just gets buried.
It's almost like gets buried under the pile
of bills on the kitchen counter, right?
Where is that? Where'd I put that?
(33:07):
And sometimes it's not like we lose it, we
just forget it. And we just need to be
reminded of it.
And so sometimes the magic of the Community
is really, you know, you're hearing some
inspirational thing, you know, here or there,
where somebody is like, "Oh my gosh, I just
lost 45 pounds in the last six months." And
you're like, "Holy crap!
That's right, I'm in the midst of something
that actually works, that I can actually
(33:29):
do, and, if I stick to it, does really
amazing things." And that piece
is just-- you don't find that in too
many places.
And so that's kind of how I used community
and that's how I hear my successful clients
using it.
I run these meetings three days a week
and I will often see my own clients,
(33:49):
you know, who've invested in coaching (they
get me one-on-one, some of them), and
they're still coming to these meetings.
Why? Because they need to hear me say the
same thing again? Probably not.
[laughs] But they just need to get that
little dose. That little dose of inspiration,
that little does of motivation, that little
voice that says, "Keep going.
You don't need that drive through right now.
(34:10):
You got this." It made all the difference
for me. And for many of my clients, they feel
the same exact way.
So when I hear about people joining the
Community and not going to the live groups,
I'm like, oh my gosh, you're leaving so much
on the table.
That's where the magic is.
It's where all the magic is.
And I have to tell you how live groups helped
me. So as a leader, I was having
(34:32):
a day. My son was a feral beast of
a child. [laughter] He wouldn't nap.
It was awful.
He's got two-year molars coming in quite
early.
And I just remember getting his lunch ready,
and he-- like, I've used all my
wisdom to prepare his taste
buds to be exactly as I hopde.
So I'm making him a good meal, one that
(34:54):
I would eat. He eats what we eat.
There's nothing around that.
He doesn't eat anything we don't eat.
And I was like, maybe I just need lunch, I
need to lower my cortisol.
It might be creeping up.
This will be good. I'd justify it, right,
just like I can justify buying a new pair of
shoes! [laughter] And then I stopped and I
took a big breath and I said, "No.
I've got a group today at 4.30, and
(35:16):
I want to be able to show up and tell them
that, you know, I've had a hard day too."
I just took a breath, and I thought about
them, and I thought about how I wanted to
show out for them, and how
cool it will be to have that support and have
people be excited that I was able
to do this. And then that excited me and
I was able to sort of move through.
(35:37):
And then the group was chatting and someone
asked, "How's your sleep going?" "I'm not
sleeping and today I wanted to eat and I
didn't, and I was excited to show up here
to share that," because I had just resumed my
fasting journey postpartum.
And they were so excited.
And it's just such a great feeling to come
off of. And then, at the end of the day, I
had made it and my glucose hit a certain
(35:59):
target on my CGM at the end of the
day. And it was just like knowing that I
had this group to connect with, even as a
coach, even as someone in my shoes.
You want to know why I'm successful 14
years out? This is why.
It's because of our members.
So we all help.
We all support one another.
We're all in this together.
And I think what is also really powerful
(36:20):
is when the members see us as humans
and recognize that, as coaches, we've
been in this struggle too, and we still-- you
know, we're in the same food environment as
everybody else. We also have to deal with
those temptations, and the cravings, and the
addictions, and all of the things.
And so, you now, speaking of the CGM, I
was just in a client meeting, a group
meeting, and I was talking about how I
(36:41):
had something that felt benign (it was a
potato soup), and my CGM popped
and stayed up for 24 hours.
Wow!
Right? And it's
like, "Oh, yep, looks like insulin resistance
is still alive and well," right?
It's still something that I'm working through
and still trying to recover from and heal
from. And I think, on the one
hand, people are like, "Oh God.
(37:04):
[laughs] How long is this gonna take again?"
But on the other hand, it's also like, yeah,
you're in it too. We are not observers
outside of the arena, you and me,
Megan. We're in there with it.
You know, we're covered in dirt and blood
too, and we're also fighting the good fight.
Yeah, we're lifetime members, that's for
sure. [laughter]
So, Heather, who's had the most
(37:26):
amazing transformation, who blew Jason's
socks off this week, yet again, Heather has
a really cool workshop coming up.
Heather, do you want to share?
Yes, I'm super excited about this.
I have actually been working toward it,
coming up with exercises, and thinking about
it, and how to best curate a fun experience
since you asked me to do it, Megan.
(37:47):
[laughs] And so I have a wall of Post-It
notes in my basement to
just kind of guide this process because
what I really wanted to do was create
an experience that could really be
a catalyst to get people excited
and ready to just kind
of dive into the whole topic of weight
loss, with the understanding that, what
(38:09):
you and I have been talking about this whole
time, it's not going to be enough to go to
a three-day workshop and that's it, okay, I'm
done, right? You still need the
accountability. You need still need this
support. But I think sometimes there
are people that really like self-study and to
read the books and to kind of figure it out
on their own. And then there are other people
that are like, "I don't got time for that.
Can you just tell me what I need to know?
(38:30):
Can you give me the answers at the
get-go and tell me how to get started, and
what I should do next?" Yes!
Yes, I can.
You know, based on my experience from
losing weight, based on my experience as a
coach and realizing, oh my goodness,
I'm saying the same thing over and
over and over again for people because there
(38:50):
is a huge through-line when it
comes to weight loss.
What if I condense that down
into a three-day workshop and
let people know what they need to know so
that, if they had that base of knowledge,
they can then get going and keep going.
And you get community involvement too.
(39:10):
You have the exclusive forum thread for
people who are in that workshop to connect
with like-minded individuals and connect a
little bit more with you.
You've got some live interactions with
them with exclusive groups for that workshop
so people can see some faces,
hear some voices, and really realize
that they're in this together.
And you also get some bonus access to the
(39:32):
Community so, if you're already not part of
the Community, you can test it out.
An extra bonus is that Heather is
so active and involved in the Community so
you can get all these extra meanings
with her throughout your time in
the workshop and in the Community to optimize
things. We have a special discount for
podcast listeners to check out Heather's
(39:53):
workshop. It is PODCAST10.
So if you use that at checkout over
at thefastingmethod.com you'll save 10%
on her course.
All right, well, thank you, Heather, so much
for joining me for this conversation today.
Thank you all for listening.
Happy fasting.
Thanks, Megan. Make good choices, everybody.
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