July 8, 2025 • 44 mins
Episode #212
In this week's episode, Megan and Terri sync up for a special live recording to share their experiences and tips related to making their health and weight-loss journeys long term vs a short-term fix. Because they were recording live, they also invited some TFM Lifetime Members to share their transformations.
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Summary Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:23 How Megan made diet and fasting changes stick for the long haul
05:53 How Terri has had to adapt her strategies
12:21 Committing to showing up and being imperfect
18:07 Crowd it out
21:19 Sonia shares one of her strategies
23:41 Teresa shares one of her transformations
25:27 Marie asks Terri and Megan if they have a mantra to help get through difficult moments
33:30 Alicia shares her transformation
38:39 David shares why he is a Lifetime Member of the TFM Community
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):
You know, I kind of never had anybody to
partner with, nobody to just challenge
one another and work through things
with. They always saw it sort of as
superhuman, like, "How can you not eat this?"
or, "How can not eat at all on certain days?"
Like, I would be going crazy, I'd be feeling
terrible.
But now I have found a whole community of
people that are like-minded.
(00:28):
Welcome back to another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance and this
is a super exciting episode because,
one, I'm joined by
Megan Ramos.
It's been a long time since we've gotten to do
one together, Megan.
It has. I don't actually remember the last
podcast we've done, but you've had so many
(00:48):
great interviews that I've enjoyed listening
to. So I appreciate that.
Well, thank you.
So this one is a little unique in that we
are recording this as part of
a live event with TFM
Lifetime Members.
At some point during this episode, we're going
to bring some people in to share some things
with us.
(01:09):
So this is a little new for us
and we are excited that we have
people here as we're recording and
we're looking forward to getting to talk with
some of them.
Sounds good. I've always been a guest on
live-recording podcasts.
This is my first time hosting.
So thank you, everybody, for showing up today
and participating.
Alright. Well, as we always do when
(01:31):
we get started for an episode, we always have
to think about what topic do we talk about
today, what do people need to hear, what's
kind of pressing.
You and I discussed, Megan, the idea that
what's been coming up a lot, I've noticed
a lot with my clients and Community members
is the theme about
(01:51):
really making what we're working
on in this journey a lifelong
process, rather than,
you know, a six-month, fix-it kind of
program, that we're really here to
change our lifestyle and be in
it for the long haul.
And so I wondered, first, if you and I could
talk a little bit about how we have
(02:13):
kind of transitioned into and maintained
this as a long-haul lifestyle
versus something that we did for 6
months or 18 months.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, many of you know, I was diagnosed with
type two diabetes around my 27th
birthday.
And then I had pre-existing PCOS
(02:33):
and fatty liver disease from childhood.
And around that birthday, I'd also
just gained about 60 pounds.
And I think it's now become common
within our community members and people who
have followed me over the years to know that I
reversed the bulk of that metabolic disease
and lost that 60 pounds over a six-month
period.
(02:54):
But did my journey stop there?
And the answer is no.
Like so many of you, I had reached all
these incredible milestones with my
therapeutic fasting.
I showed up for my fasting days like they were
a medical treatment.
I pivoted if I needed to.
You don't need to suffer, so, if
a 42 felt too burdensome, I pivoted
to a 24.
(03:15):
I made it work.
I stuck with consistency and showed up, and
that's why I had such great results in
a short period of time.
But, again, like so many of you, you
get people commenting on your
miraculous external transformation,
you get healthcare practitioners commenting
on your great blood tests, and
(03:36):
it sort of gives you a bit of a sense of
you're invincible now.
You've now learned this secret tool that
is really capable of combating
all of the stuff that you never thought was
possible.
But then, if we haven't transformed our
mindset and our relationship with food,
it can be really easy to slip into some old
patterns. Around that six-month marker,
(03:59):
I didn't look at certain foods as poison or
look at certain foods as diseases.
And not that we necessarily need to.
It's always important to remember that dosage
makes the poison.
So even still today, I enjoy
some things from time to time.
I had a spoon of ice cream on Father's Day,
but the idea is a spoon, and it's not sort of
a regular thing that we have on an ongoing
(04:21):
basis.
And I hadn't quite worked any of that out.
I also hadn't worked out my emotional
relationship with food.
It was still how I coped with everything.
And it ended up coming back to sort
of haunt me in the moment.
So, you know, I had all these people telling
me how great I was looking.
And I thought, okay, you know, I can have this
(04:41):
almond here, or this piece of meat there,
or these veggies here because they're all
good foods, they're all not gonna spike my
insulin. And I started to chronically spike
my insulin a little bit throughout the day
with healthy foods.
But we know that chronic exposure to
even low levels of insulin re-contributes
to developing insulin resistance.
(05:01):
And so I noticed the scale creep.
And then I just didn't have these coping
mechanisms.
During one of my groups, last week,
I shared that I was that woman
hiding behind a curtain eating 12
cookies at a bridal shower because
I was gonna have just one, but then
there was a lot going on at that shower.
I was feeling overwhelmed as a host, there was
(05:23):
a lot of interesting personalities, and
I decided to cope with my stress and anxiety
by diving into that cookie plate.
And then of course, oh, people can't know that
that's me, so I'm hiding behind a curtain.
And that to me was a big wake up call that,
okay, I might have done some physical
transformation, but I haven't done the mental
transformation yet.
(05:44):
And that's really when the second part of my
journey began to unfold and I
had to really work on my relationship with
food moving forwards.
I love it.
You know I'm biased about that
[laughter] mental and emotional part of the
journey. Obviously, the physical is so
important, but then it doesn't really--
it doesn' really hold water if you don't also
(06:06):
work on the other parts.
I think similar to you, Megan, I started with
the physiological first (06:11):
wanting to
reverse diabetes, lose weight,
and change my body composition and
everything. I accomplished those
goals but it wasn't just like
I accomplished it and then everything became,
you know, free and easy.
I had to keep navigating,
making changes, adding this,
(06:33):
taking away this, doing a little more fasting,
easing up on the fasting.
And it's been many years now
of continually adjusting
how much fasting I do, when I
fast, changing meal
times.
But one of the things that, for me,
has really been kind of the phase two, as
(06:53):
you described it, is, when I first
started this, I lived alone.
Actually, I lived with a friend during part of
it but we didn't share food.
We had separate sides of the refrigerator, we
had separate cabinets, so it was really
easy. And then, in the next, I
don't know, six years or so, I lived alone
with my dogs.
They never cared whether I was eating or not
(07:16):
as long as I fed them.
They never brought tempting food into
the house [laughter] and so I never had to
navigate the rest of the
world and what I was doing.
And then we went through COVID, so
it was even more isolating and it was just
me.
And afterward, after
we kinda came out of the darkness
(07:38):
of COVID, I
started socializing more.
I had finally moved to a place and started
meeting people. I met my current partner
and now we live together.
And now there are foods in the house that
I don't eat.
We hang out with a lot of people who
do not eat at all the way I eat and do
(07:59):
not understand fasting at all.
And so now I've had to go through this
new phase of this journey for me of,
oh my gosh, how do I be
me and navigate fasting
and eating appropriately for my body
in the midst of all of this
social culture that doesn't really
(08:19):
support it?
So that's been the big shift for me in
these past three years or so.
It can be a bit challenging.
I don't envy that position.
I was going through a separation when
I was diagnosed with diabetes, and I
will say that that leant itself
pretty well to me figuring out
how to navigate my lifestyle.
(08:41):
I was living with family who ate very
differently than me, but I could be
politely offensive to them.
You know, if my mother had made a special
dinner or something that she thought would
emotionally soothe me at the time.
I could say, "I'm sorry, I told you I
was fasting.
You know, I gave you plenty of notice, and I
don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I'm not
going to eat it." So I had
(09:03):
that ability.
There wasn't any other sort of social
norms that I felt pressured to be under.
I had that comfort level with my immediate
family.
I did meet my now husband after
getting to a really great place in my journey,
even when I had conquered a lot of my mental
hurdles with it, but he was quite
young. I married this younger guy so he could
(09:25):
fix all my technology.
So he was 25 at the time and he
was a scientist. He was the youngest child
too, so a bit of a rebel by nature.
And he completely sort of devoured all
of the information.
I had a draft of The Obesity Code at
the time that he was able to read.
We had quite a lot of blog posts (we still
have) and he was able to dive into it.
(09:47):
And he just said, 'Okay, you know, this is
going to be my lifestyle too." And
that's just been kind of that for the last
decade, which I feel very
fortunate about. And I think as someone--
I'm 40, I'll be 41 this year and my
husband will be 36 this year.
Our social circle, a lot of people have
(10:07):
seen this now. They've seen this happen to
their grandparents, they've seen this now
happen to their parents.
And while they don't necessarily eat the way
that we eat, they acknowledge how
we eat is probably the smarter path
because they've seen it not serve generations
before them.
And as they've gone through things, like
navigating early parenthood and relying
(10:29):
more on Uber Eats and DoorDash to
deliver what's quick and easy, they've noticed
it with their own health and physical
appearance, so that hasn't been the best for
them. And they're usually quite mindful
with us.
You know, if they're throwing a party, they'll
let us know what it is that they're having and
we're welcome to bring whatever it is without
(10:49):
offering any insult.
So I sort of had the opposite experience of
you and so many people in our community.
I think almost everyone I hear is in your
boat of navigating some of these
lifestyles and socialization things.
The work I had to do for myself was
really, really kind of internal, and undoing
a lot of thought patterns that were
(11:10):
conditioned into me by my pediatrician,
by my mom, by my grandma about how it was
for coping with life through food.
So one of the things both you and
I have kind of touched on is that,
at various times, we may have gone through a
more intense, more fasting,
more changes that we're working on,
(11:31):
and kind of the idea of making it
a longer-term lifestyle,
navigating this over the long haul.
In the time that I've known you, Megan, I
think you've traveled many places in the
world. You've been in a lot
of family situations, a lot of stress
situations.
You've had a little guy added to your
(11:52):
world.
A lot of different things happen.
And so I wondered if you could talk a little
bit about just how
the foundation that you continue
to evolve has helped you
navigate all of those things.
So it wasn't like, well, I did
my health routine before, but now
that I'm in Italy or wherever,
(12:14):
I don't do that. Like, how have you kind
of made it so that it's
a part of how you navigate things?
Well, a couple of things that sort of got me
to be in this position was working on
the metabolic health.
It's really difficult to be
able to have the mental faculties to
guide you and create the skillsets that
(12:36):
you need or that I found that I needed for
my mindfulness transformation when
my hormones were just raging out of control,
constantly calling for food, constantly
calling for bad food.
A lot of us, we don't spend a lot of time
talking about gut dysbiosis too, which pretty
much everyone, including myself, walked into
my journey with.
And literally you have like a bazillion
(12:57):
microbes in your body asking for the
wrong things.
And I think at the beginning of my journey,
I had to commit to showing up and I had a
commit to imperfection with my eating.
I couldn't be perfect at it all.
And I know this is something that so many
people strive for, a perfect
diet because it will make fasting easier.
Well, no, not really.
(13:18):
And there's actually some contradictory things
about that where having a little bit of carbs
might make your fasting easier.
It was just to show up for my fats and
just to do them, even if the diet was just
totally haphazard, right?
Just show up, show up.
I ate like garbage yesterday, I'm showing up
today. I might not be able to do a 42,
but I can do a 24.
And just keep showing up, keep showing up,
(13:39):
keep showing up.
And the fasting was powerful enough
to undo a lot of the metabolic damage,
not undo it all, not give me like
health optimization, but to get myself
into a place of physical control where
I could start to recognize it and say, okay,
you know, I have had this really, really
bad day and I've got a couple of
(14:00):
choices. I can come home and I can walk into
the kitchen and grab something quick and easy,
or I can sit in my car when I park
and do five or six deep breaths, and
then walk in and grab the dog and go for
a walk and just kind of let my cortisol and
everything just totally drop in nature.
I had more physical control.
My gut was in better shape.
(14:20):
I was able to fight what
Coach Nadia always called 'the insulin beast'.
It was a rough fight, but I was able to
overcome it and I think for me
to change a lot of my thought patterns.
Our brains have this amazing plasticity.
We can change thought patterns.
It's beautiful, but it requires a lot of
work and a lot of effort to do that.
It's like, I am stressed, I'm going to take
(14:42):
five breaths, I'm went to take my dog, I'm
go to go for a walk.
I am not going to go in the kitchen.
I just totally removed that part.
And I would just say it over and over and over
again, just trying to rewire my own
patterns for having an automatic
stress response. So it would keep me away.
It would help reshape my habits when
I'm looking to drop that cortisol.
(15:04):
And for me, it was just constantly
just kind of having to see when this popped
up, not judge myself harshly
if things didn't go well.
We, last night in my group, we were talking--
a member was not feeling well and the diet,
you know, didn't necessarily go great during
that period of not feeling well.
I've been there and it's not getting mad
(15:26):
at myself and saying, "Okay, what can I
learn?" You know, what was I feeling?
What maybe could I do next time I'm not
feeling well that can make me feel better?
Because I'm not going to go to the gym.
I might not be well enough to go for a walk.
What can I do in my house that makes me feel
better? There are teas that I like, there's
those type of things. What can we lean into on
(15:46):
that particular day rather than leaning into
the food?
And I think rather than beating myself up
at these junctions when they came up, I
just observed them with curiosity.
And it was really hard to do that because
all I did was watch people that
I looked up to be really harsh and critical
and judgmental with themselves at every step
of the way, and I learned that that's how I
(16:07):
was supposed to be and I was supposed to this
perfect, high-functioning individual.
And I had to say, "No, I'm not going to be mad
at myself and just take every opportunity
as a learning lesson to give myself super
powers for the next time." So for the
next time I was sick.
And then I would even make notes in my iPhone,
so if I was in that situation again.
Sometimes you're in this heightened response,
(16:29):
right? You're not thinking clearly, you're
sick, or you're stressed.
And I would be able to go and see, okay, what
was my note to myself?
What were my reminders and tips for
being in this situation?
And just being able to back and read that
really helped ground my feet, helped provide
some mental clarity and direction, and
really begin to change my thought processes
(16:49):
long term.
So you know what, it's 2025 and I've
had one spoonful of ice cream this year, and
I'm okay with that and getting into this
particular place. So that was a lot of the
groundwork that I found that I was having to
do - really not pass judgment,
document my learning experiences, celebrating
learning something, and then being able to
(17:10):
reference that, and just doing it repeatedly
over and over again.
It was a tremendous amount of work, but it
worked out. It paid off in the long run.
I think another big part that you just
described is you have a
way of looking at the additive
nature of things. What can I do that
helps me feel-- oh, I love those teas, I'm
gonna go get that tea.
(17:31):
What can I do in the house since I can't go
outside right now since I'm sick or whatever?
Versus focusing on what can't I
have? What can't I do?
What thing do I miss?
You know? You really focus-- and
I'm guessing this evolved over time, but that
you really focus on what are
the strengths? What are the possibilities?
(17:53):
What are the comforts that are safe
when I need more comfort?
Rather than focusing on, oh,
it's so unfair that I can't do it this way
or can't have this.
You don't get bogged down in that mindset.
I think that's something that I picked up from
Jason early on in the journey.
I remember he always gave these patient
(18:14):
lectures. That's how, even working with
him, I learned about fasting was from
eavesdropping in one of these patient
lectures.
And someone said, "Well, if you take away the
starches at a meal, then what's left?"
And Jason was like, "A whole world of things
are left." And he was like, "When was the last
time you ate eggs because you've been trying
to stay away from them for cholesterol and all
(18:35):
this kind of reason?" And then the man
laughed. He was like, "Well, when I go on
vacation, I have eggs." And Jason was
like, "You can have them every eating day now.
Think of what you *can* add.
Think of the world of colors, the world of
different types of foods that you've either
never really explored or that as your
plate was filled up with beige starch or
that you just thought you couldn't have, and
(18:57):
started thinking about what's out there." And
I just remember feeling like that gentleman
patient and being like, "Well, if
you remove all the beige from my plate, what's
left?" And then just walking the
produce aisle in the grocery store and seeing
all the vibrant colors and you
just feel good. Like, it feels nourishing just
to pass through those foods at the market.
(19:18):
I'm just counting the number of ones I had
never even tried in my entire life
at 30 years old, kind of mind blowing because
it was most of everything I passed by, aside
from like carrots and celery sticks, in
the supermarket.
And then just thinking about what can I add,
what can I add?
And there's just a whole world out there.
But I think we're so ingrained to have sort of
(19:39):
the opposite mindset.
And so many of the materials out there about
nutrition, too, is you can't do this and you
can't add that and you need to remove this,
and they don't really think about what you can
add.
Coach Andrea, she used to have
the Instagram handle Crowd It Out.
And I never really understood what that meant
at first. I was like, oh, you know, we're all
quirky and funny in our own ways.
(20:00):
[laughs] I didn't know.
I didn't even know if it was a nod to low
carb or nutrition at all.
But she was like, "No, you need to crowd out
the bad on your plate with the good." And I
was, like, that's a really sort of brilliant
concept.
She said that mindset is something that really
helped propel her through the initial stages
of her journey as well.
Absolutely. I crowded out so
(20:21):
many options when I was in Barcelona
by eating more than a person should
eat of Iberian ham [laughter] but it
was really a great example of how I could
make travel work for
me because it's part of my identity
now - how I eat, what I value -
and, like you said, looking for
(20:41):
the variety of foods that I can have
and that they don't have to be
the beige starches on my plate.
So I can really relate to that as
well.
I was just thinking it might be a good time to
invite some audience participation.
As per our usual, Megan, I feel
like you and I could keep talking about this
(21:02):
for a long time, but I want to make sure we
get some other people in here.
We have got some transformative
people in here, that's for sure.
We have Sonia.
Hi, Sonia
Hi, how are you guys?
We're good.
Good.
Okay.
Good to get to see you here.
Yeah, I was like, "How do I do a webinar?
It looks a little weird!" [laughter] So
(21:24):
a transformative journey.
So much I know we feel so alone
sometimes doing low carb and
especially fasting.
I started with low carb and then I came
into fasting as part of it because you guys
are all kind of lumped in a
certain area of health and wellness, and
obviously through Dr. Fung's Obesity
(21:44):
Code. So what I have to
do, because I'm
[unitelligible] everybody wants to celebrate
with food.
Food, food, food, food, food.
I always have to remind myself (I think,
Terri, you say this), this is not my food.
And I have to remind myself, this is not
my celebration.
It's a tough thing, right?
(22:05):
So there are birthdays all the time, there are
celebrations all the time. So when is *your*
celebration? And so if it's my birthday,
I'm going to have my favorite, you know,
whatever treat, but I'll probably do it low
carb, and I'll probably love it.
But it's *my* celebration.
And that's my time to do it.
And if it somebody else's, it's somebody
else's. And I'll be like, "No thank you." It's
(22:26):
hard to do, but the more you say, "This is
not my food," in your head, the
easier it gets to say, "No thank you."
And people stopped asking me
after time and they don't push.
Every now and then I get a food pusher but
most of the people don't and and
I think, once you practice your mantra
over and over again, it becomes easier.
(22:48):
I love it. That is exactly what I talk about,
Sonia, as far as it becomes part of
just how you navigate this part
of your life.
But at first you had to use those phrases,
you had to remind yourself frequently.
And over time, it's becoming more and more
just part of how you navigate, it's part of
how you do that part of your life.
(23:11):
It's great.
Eventually it just becomes a habit and you
don't have to think about it.
It just becomes your way of living, that
you celebrate at a time that you've
decided to celebrate for you, whether that's
your birthday or whatever holiday
or milestone, and you
just don't think about doing it at other
people's and it becomes effortless.
(23:32):
So you put in the work, but the reward does
come.
Yeah, thanks for sharing that with us, Sonia.
Thank you, Sonia.
Teresa is here. Teresa.
Hi. I had an interesting transformation.
My husband and I belong to a bridge club and
they have a refreshment room with all
kinds of sweets in it all the time.
(23:53):
When I first started on my journey,
I couldn't even walk into the room because it
was too tempting.
And one day I walked in to get a cup of
coffee, and I looked at the stuff and thought,
you know, that's really not good for me.
And I started thinking of the food (well,
the stuff they had there, I'm not sure 'food'
is the right word) as poison to
me because I'm, you know, diabetic
(24:14):
and etc, etc.
I can walk in that room now and, you know, I
just look at it and go, "Oh, that's not good
for me," as opposed to, "Oh, that looks so
good, I feel deprived." Changing how I
thought about the food made all the difference
because now I could just go in there, no
problem whatsoever.
It's great. Every now and then they have
something that's tempting but that's
(24:35):
rare. And when it's tempting, it's things like
deviled eggs or something like that,
which I still don't want to eat during my
non-eating times, but at least,
you know... [laughs] Anyhow, it really
made a difference to think of that stuff as
not good for me.
What a big shift to think that, now,
the tempting thing is, "Oh, I really would
(24:56):
like a deviled egg." [laughter] That's great
that you've been able to really focus
on kind of what that food means
for you. This nourishes me, this helps me
feel well.
Although this might taste good, it doesn't
nourish me or it doesn't make me feel well.
So it's great that you've been able to
really work into that different
(25:17):
decision-making part for you.
That's fantastic, Teresa.
Thank you, Teresa.
All right, we have Marie.
Marie, welcome.
Hello, I'm just wondering, before
you make all these lists, before you decide
to do something, is there something that you
say to yourself to give yourself a
(25:37):
sort of a peace of mind before
you do it, so you can let go of whatever is
bothering you and just be free to--
like do you have a something to focus on?
A belief, a new thought system,
like saying something like, "This is who I am
now," in order to change your
mindset so you can go ahead and do whatever
you want to do and let go of what's
(25:59):
bothering you. Because you can carry it
through in whatever task you're going to do
next. You know what I'm saying?
I think so.
Let me take a stab at it here, and then, if
not, you can redirect me.
So one part I think is just kind of
what thought is in each of
us, like maybe what is in our mind.
For me, I really try to focus
(26:19):
on (going back to what Sonia said), you know,
that's not my food.
I do still say that to myself.
And I really focus on, for
example, if it's a temptation, like in a
food or wanting to break my
fast, part of it is
reminding myself of, how do I want
to feel?
Does this help me feel that way?
(26:40):
So it's not a shame and blame.
It's not a rigid kind of way of responding
to that temptation.
It's really about, does
this fit for me?
One of the things I still have to be very
mindful about is my glucose control.
And so when I'm sitting there while other
people are eating things, I do still think
about what effect does this have on my
(27:02):
glucose, and is that worth
it for me right now?
Because sometimes it might be, and I might
choose to engage that food, but
oftentimes I really weigh those two things
out.
And then I think part of your question
is what helps you feel
better in the moment or maybe
work through the emotional part of it.
(27:23):
And for me, in those instances, I
try to focus on what am I really
getting out of this moment or this situation?
Even though I'm here with people who are
eating this dessert and I'm not, I'm
getting to connect with people that I care
about. I'm going to tell funny stories.
I'm laughing until tears are streaming down my
face. So I try to focus on
(27:45):
the value of what I'm getting
from the experience versus
what I would be experiencing with
engaging that food or breaking my fast
or whatever.
Did that address any of what you
were alluding to, Marie?
I think it's more like a-- I don't want to say
mindset, it seems like it's an overused term
now. It's having a new focus,
(28:07):
you know?
Because you can decide to exercise but
still be very angry and
conflicted, and thinking
that, you know, I could be eating that
dessert or something, but here I am doing
this.
How do you let go of your past
self and say, "That is not who I am.
This is who I am now." That kind
(28:28):
of thing.
I think I actually experienced something like
this yesterday.
Yesterday was my fasting day, and many
of you know that I'm just getting back into
fasting, trying to lose the last little
bit of postpartum weight.
I've got about 12 pounds I wanna lose before I
get pregnant again this summer and regain it.
And so we had a terrible night
(28:49):
with our son. We had a very early morning.
It was stressful.
My husband was stressed, I was stressed,
my kid was a feral little creature.
I remember getting his lunch ready, and
it was exactly the type of meal that I
would eat (he eats exactly what we eat),
and I just thought, oh,
you know, like, I'm just feeling it.
(29:11):
And I just tried to reason with
myself why I should eat too.
This meal, it will help blunt my cortisol,
and this and that, and blah, blah, blah, and
I'm looking at my CGM trying to justify
it. Like I would try to justify a new pair of
shoes with nowhere to go, I was trying to
justify eating this tri-tip, even though it
was my fasting day.
And then I just kind of like stopped at the
(29:32):
counter (he was being crazy,
emptying a drawer) and I just took a couple of
breaths and I just thought, you know, so
much through my journey, I've just
used the idea of wanting to like be a mom.
But something that's happened to me since
becoming a mom is like wanting to be a healthy
grandparent.
And on Father's Day, my dad didn't know who I
(29:52):
was.
So like wanting to be healthy for
him. And it's just like, I don't want
to go into this pregnancy 12 pounds
heavier. I want to be able to lose it.
And using that as motivation.
This time I'm thinking about, you know, being
a healthy grandparent so my kid wants
me around. I kind of dread, you know, like
(30:13):
when my dad wants to be around.
Now, he lives far.
I don't have to see him that often but he's so
much more work for me, when I could use a
lot of relief right now.
I don't have that. I don't want to be like
that for my son when the time comes for
him.
So really focusing, Megan, on-- and
this is hard because immediate temptation
is right here and would provide some relief
(30:35):
right now. And you're having, in those
moments, to really focus on what do I want
in the long term?
What do I want in the future?
And will this decision get me
immediate relief or will it help me have
what I want long term?
Yeah, I think visualizations in these
particular moments have been really,
really powerful in helping me get through
(30:57):
the difficult moments and sort of be able
to reshape.
Like, this was around 11.30 yesterday and
I was able to make it into dinner time with my
family at 6.30 yesterday.
And it wasn't an easy day, but I leaned
in. I had some broth, I had an extra cup of
tea instead because that was the better option
yesterday.
(31:18):
So visualizations have just been really
powerful tools for me to help
address some of these stickier moments in
time.
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for that question, Marie.
I also think about the emotional
response to food.
And some of you have heard
me tell this story a hundred times so I'll
make it really brief, but it was a time when I
(31:39):
was in an extreme amount of stress
and tension.
My natural go-to was (I
was at a Starbucks) I am going to get
in line and I'm going to go grab that dessert.
That was the first thing I thought.
Even though I was in the middle of coaching
sessions during the day, that was still
my go-to thought in my mind.
And I had to ask myself, "If I
(32:00):
eat this thing I'm in line for,
what am I feeling right now?" And I listed
off, you know, I'm stressed.
I'm scared, I'm angry, I'm confused,
I'm worried. And then I had to think, "Okay,
if I eat this thing, which of
these feelings are going to feel better?" And
I realized none.
They were all still going to be there because
(32:21):
the reality of what was happening was still
there, plus I was going to add
a couple more uncomfortable
feelings. I was
gonna feel like I had betrayed my body, or Imight feel guilty, or whatever. So
I sometimes still think about that when
I'm having to make these complicated
decisions.
And the other question I've been asking myself
(32:41):
more lately is-- and sometimes
it's not even until after the fact, but I
look at would this event have
been more fun or better had
I eaten that problematic food?
And, so far, my answer has always been no.
Or would eating that whatever
food for me or would breaking my fast
(33:02):
at this moment, would that have made
this event better?
No.
Did it take away from it?
Would it have made it better?
No.
Then I feel really good about that decision.
So sometimes just doing that perspective
of will this enhance
this situation for me versus,
(33:23):
like Megan said, will making
this decision enhance my
longer-term vision.
We have Alicia.
Hi, Megan. Hi, Terri.
I just wanted to share just a little
bit about my transformation journey,
and I think we're always continually being
transformed. I don't think I'll ever get to a
(33:43):
point where, ah, that's it, but I'm
in the midst of transformation.
What led me to The Fasting Method began
during the pandemic.
2020, I read The Obesity Code.
But at the time, I was healthy, fit,
working with a trainer.
So I shelved it, moved on
with my life and didn't really apply any
(34:04):
of the principles.
Now, fast forward five years later,
four and a half years later, gained
a lot of weight over a
short time after a stressful
move to a new state, doing
what I thought was healthy - three meals,
three snacks. I thought it was all
very healthy. I had no real idea
(34:27):
like what the damage that was happening
to my body, like with the
insulin, even though I'd read The Obesity
Code. I think it had all gone out of my mind
and I'd forgotten it.
Then, in November 2024, I
came across the podcast on Spotify,
and I probably
ran through every episode in
(34:48):
probably like a week.
I just did not stop listening,
and then it just all started making sense.
I was like, ah, even though I was
following this diet that I'd gotten from
the trainer, with the changes in
my body and my hormones and now dealing
with perimenopausal symptoms, I'm like,
(35:08):
this is probably what's happening.
So I started practicing TRE,
three meals a day, and then
the weight started dropping.
And then I joined you guys, joined
The Fasting Method in January, and
then started, you know, applying fasting.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get into longer
fasts very well, but I
(35:30):
practiced TRE and did some 24-hour
fasts, and then started seeing results.
But not just the results.
I think going to the meetings,
especially your mindset meetings.
Terri has been super helpful
in shifting how I think about
weight loss (or fat loss as
Megan says), and how I think
(35:53):
about eating and fueling my body,
and healing, and just this
amazing sense of control,
that I have total control.
For me, I'm an information junkie.
So, yes, I can read a million books, but,
until I start putting things in action,
it really doesn't matter how much information
I get in.
(36:14):
And so I told myself, let's not focus
on getting more and more information, but,
instead, just put it in the daily actions.
So yes, you can't do long fasts right now.
Focus on just eating your two or
three meals, absolutely no snacking.
Since November, I do not snack.
And maybe that's my new identity - I am not a
(36:34):
person who snacks. Even on a recent
road trip with friends, everybody
had snacks in the car and I said, "No
thank you, no thank you." My friends were
understanding. At first they teased me.
They were like, "Oh, she's now skinny, so she
doesn't want to eat," but it was
really just a relief because I
never could say no to snacks.
(36:55):
And to find that I am a person who can now
say no to snacking,
it's just been super, super encouraging.
It's motivating because seeing that change
in myself, I'm like, ah, we can go on
to do bigger and better things.
And even now working in
the nutritional group with Megan
to be able to complete my first 60-hour
(37:18):
fast, I'm like, "Whoa, okay, I
can do this." So just going
through this whole program-- I'm still in the
midst of transforming and I think this
again is a lifelong thing, but going
through this has been really empowering.
And so I did want to say thank you
for the work you guys are doing.
It's really amazing.
(37:38):
Thank you Alicia, and congratulations.
You've had a really cool journey, and
I love your idea of just simplifying the
information and just doing what you know that
that is right.
So you've put together some tools from
the toolbox of information.
You said, "Okay, I'm going to pause there and
avoid information overload and I'm going to
focus on these few tools to help
(38:00):
get me started." And you've have some really
stellar results since beginning, so
congratulations.
A lot of people get analysis paralysis from
over-information and just trying to
do everything right off the bat.
And this is something that, Terri and I, we
preach about.
Like, take the training wheels if you need
them, use it. Like, just-- let's just get
(38:21):
going. Let's get some good habits going.
Let's get the metabolic health stuff going,
because then it will get easier.
And it will just continue to get easier down
the journey, and then we can get more
nuanced with stuff as the time is appropriate.
Let's bring on David.
David, welcome.
Hi, thank you.
Yeah, as I was sitting here listening to
(38:41):
others and thinking about my own story, I
thought it would be nice to share, and I think
it fits in with what you guys are talking
about too.
I first got introduced to low carb
as early as 2003/2004-ish,
where there was really (seems like) nothing
back in those days.
And then in mid 2007/2008,
(39:02):
I started seeing some books about it.
I tried it. It worked amazing
for me. I lost all kinds of weight.
But at that point, and for many years
to follow, it just was a
magic diet, basically.
You know, I started intermittent fasting and
things too. And if I wanted to lose some
weight, I knew I could do it.
(39:23):
I knew how to do it. I knew what my body liked
and I would go to that when
needed. But then I would slip back into my
old patterns, and guess what would
happen? It'd come back.
That went on for a long, long time.
I never kind of let myself go too far because
I knew what worked for me and I could kind of
go back to it as needed.
(39:44):
But I think the part that really
was transformative for me was
finding the Community,
finding TFM.
And that's why I'm a lifetime member
because this isn't a diet, this
is a lifetime, lifestyle change.
Through here, I have found my accountability
(40:05):
buddies and I've found
my people.
It just makes such a big difference.
I mean, in the past, I would talk to people
and they'd see the changes in me and be like,
"Wow, that's amazing, but I
could never do that." You know, I kind of
never had anybody to partner with, nobody to
just challenge one another and work
through things with.
(40:26):
They always saw it sort of as superhuman.
Like, "How can you not eat this?" Or, "How can
you not eat at all on certain days?
Like, I would be going crazy, I'd be feeling
terrible." But now I have found a
whole community of people that are
like-minded.
And I continue to learn through all
the different sessions that Terri talks about,
with the emotional aspects of my challenges
(40:47):
and the mental and just sort of the habits
that I have.
So yeah, for me, like Alicia just said, it's
an ongoing process, but I feel like
so much has been gained through community
and through that accountability and just
finding that like-minded community.
It has helped me to
not treat this like a diet.
It's what I do.
(41:08):
It is who I am.
Thank you for sharing that, David, all of
that. I think you really emphasize the
importance of community, being
here, attending meetings when you can.
For some of us, it's doing coaching, working
with one of the coaches at TFM.
Getting people in your life that you can reach
out to, whether they're people who are already
(41:29):
close to you - friends, family - or people you
had never met before but you developed this
tight bond with. So I really appreciate
that, and, of course, I love that you focused
on it's really part of your identity now,
it's not this thing that you do sometimes.
Megan talked about being a mom.
You don't get the choice to sometimes be a
mom. [laughter] Like you don't wake up today
(41:49):
and say, "Will I be a Mom today or will
I not?" It's part of who you are now.
And I think that's true about us in this
journey. Am I someone that's going to take
care of my body today, whatever that looks
like? O does it mean I'm gonna be fasting
today? Does it mean I'm going to be fat
fasting? Does it me I'm to be eating two,
full meals today?
And what food?
(42:10):
Once it's part your identity, it's really
not-- it's not a painful choice,
it's not a difficult decision anymore.
So I love that you highlighted that, David,
that this is really part of how
you navigate your life now.
So thank you for being here and for sharing.
Thank you to everybody who shared during our
first live podcast recording.
(42:32):
I think we should probably do it again.
I think it's been a lot of fun.
I love including our amazing community,
and I think David's point just really
summarized everything so well,
that we're stronger together.
Food is such a foundational part of
our lives and society, that coming together
(42:52):
with like-minded individuals with
similar-oriented goals can be so
powerful. So thank you, everyone, for making
this such a powerful episode.
And hopefully it will inspire others who are
listening today who might be binge
listening, like Alicia, knowing that
they need to make change, inspire them and
make them feel that it's hopeful and they're
(43:13):
able to achieve it.
And I'm just gonna tack onto that this whole
term about transformation.
Transformation is a process.
It's not an event and it's not a
short-term process.
It's an ever-evolving process.
So thank you all for sharing your
transformations with us.
Thank you all for being here, being invested
in this, and, remember,
(43:36):
your transformation doesn't end at
some designated goal point.
Your transformation is ongoing.
Thank you, everybody, and we'll be back next
week with another episode of The Fasting
Method podcast.
Take good care, everyone.
You know, I kind of never had anybody to
partner with, nobody to just challenge
one another and work through things
with. They always saw it sort of as
superhuman, like, "How can you not eat this?"
or, "How can not eat at all on certain days?"
Like, I would be going crazy, I'd be feeling
terrible.
But now I have found a whole community of
people that are like-minded.
(00:28):
Welcome back to another episode of
The Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance and this
is a super exciting episode because,
one, I'm joined by
Megan Ramos.
It's been a long time since we've gotten to do
one together, Megan.
It has. I don't actually remember the last
podcast we've done, but you've had so many
(00:48):
great interviews that I've enjoyed listening
to. So I appreciate that.
Well, thank you.
So this one is a little unique in that we
are recording this as part of
a live event with TFM
Lifetime Members.
At some point during this episode, we're going
to bring some people in to share some things
with us.
(01:09):
So this is a little new for us
and we are excited that we have
people here as we're recording and
we're looking forward to getting to talk with
some of them.
Sounds good. I've always been a guest on
live-recording podcasts.
This is my first time hosting.
So thank you, everybody, for showing up today
and participating.
Alright. Well, as we always do when
(01:31):
we get started for an episode, we always have
to think about what topic do we talk about
today, what do people need to hear, what's
kind of pressing.
You and I discussed, Megan, the idea that
what's been coming up a lot, I've noticed
a lot with my clients and Community members
is the theme about
(01:51):
really making what we're working
on in this journey a lifelong
process, rather than,
you know, a six-month, fix-it kind of
program, that we're really here to
change our lifestyle and be in
it for the long haul.
And so I wondered, first, if you and I could
talk a little bit about how we have
(02:13):
kind of transitioned into and maintained
this as a long-haul lifestyle
versus something that we did for 6
months or 18 months.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, many of you know, I was diagnosed with
type two diabetes around my 27th
birthday.
And then I had pre-existing PCOS
(02:33):
and fatty liver disease from childhood.
And around that birthday, I'd also
just gained about 60 pounds.
And I think it's now become common
within our community members and people who
have followed me over the years to know that I
reversed the bulk of that metabolic disease
and lost that 60 pounds over a six-month
period.
(02:54):
But did my journey stop there?
And the answer is no.
Like so many of you, I had reached all
these incredible milestones with my
therapeutic fasting.
I showed up for my fasting days like they were
a medical treatment.
I pivoted if I needed to.
You don't need to suffer, so, if
a 42 felt too burdensome, I pivoted
to a 24.
(03:15):
I made it work.
I stuck with consistency and showed up, and
that's why I had such great results in
a short period of time.
But, again, like so many of you, you
get people commenting on your
miraculous external transformation,
you get healthcare practitioners commenting
on your great blood tests, and
(03:36):
it sort of gives you a bit of a sense of
you're invincible now.
You've now learned this secret tool that
is really capable of combating
all of the stuff that you never thought was
possible.
But then, if we haven't transformed our
mindset and our relationship with food,
it can be really easy to slip into some old
patterns. Around that six-month marker,
(03:59):
I didn't look at certain foods as poison or
look at certain foods as diseases.
And not that we necessarily need to.
It's always important to remember that dosage
makes the poison.
So even still today, I enjoy
some things from time to time.
I had a spoon of ice cream on Father's Day,
but the idea is a spoon, and it's not sort of
a regular thing that we have on an ongoing
(04:21):
basis.
And I hadn't quite worked any of that out.
I also hadn't worked out my emotional
relationship with food.
It was still how I coped with everything.
And it ended up coming back to sort
of haunt me in the moment.
So, you know, I had all these people telling
me how great I was looking.
And I thought, okay, you know, I can have this
(04:41):
almond here, or this piece of meat there,
or these veggies here because they're all
good foods, they're all not gonna spike my
insulin. And I started to chronically spike
my insulin a little bit throughout the day
with healthy foods.
But we know that chronic exposure to
even low levels of insulin re-contributes
to developing insulin resistance.
(05:01):
And so I noticed the scale creep.
And then I just didn't have these coping
mechanisms.
During one of my groups, last week,
I shared that I was that woman
hiding behind a curtain eating 12
cookies at a bridal shower because
I was gonna have just one, but then
there was a lot going on at that shower.
I was feeling overwhelmed as a host, there was
(05:23):
a lot of interesting personalities, and
I decided to cope with my stress and anxiety
by diving into that cookie plate.
And then of course, oh, people can't know that
that's me, so I'm hiding behind a curtain.
And that to me was a big wake up call that,
okay, I might have done some physical
transformation, but I haven't done the mental
transformation yet.
(05:44):
And that's really when the second part of my
journey began to unfold and I
had to really work on my relationship with
food moving forwards.
I love it.
You know I'm biased about that
[laughter] mental and emotional part of the
journey. Obviously, the physical is so
important, but then it doesn't really--
it doesn' really hold water if you don't also
(06:06):
work on the other parts.
I think similar to you, Megan, I started with
the physiological first (06:11):
wanting to
reverse diabetes, lose weight,
and change my body composition and
everything. I accomplished those
goals but it wasn't just like
I accomplished it and then everything became,
you know, free and easy.
I had to keep navigating,
making changes, adding this,
(06:33):
taking away this, doing a little more fasting,
easing up on the fasting.
And it's been many years now
of continually adjusting
how much fasting I do, when I
fast, changing meal
times.
But one of the things that, for me,
has really been kind of the phase two, as
(06:53):
you described it, is, when I first
started this, I lived alone.
Actually, I lived with a friend during part of
it but we didn't share food.
We had separate sides of the refrigerator, we
had separate cabinets, so it was really
easy. And then, in the next, I
don't know, six years or so, I lived alone
with my dogs.
They never cared whether I was eating or not
(07:16):
as long as I fed them.
They never brought tempting food into
the house [laughter] and so I never had to
navigate the rest of the
world and what I was doing.
And then we went through COVID, so
it was even more isolating and it was just
me.
And afterward, after
we kinda came out of the darkness
(07:38):
of COVID, I
started socializing more.
I had finally moved to a place and started
meeting people. I met my current partner
and now we live together.
And now there are foods in the house that
I don't eat.
We hang out with a lot of people who
do not eat at all the way I eat and do
(07:59):
not understand fasting at all.
And so now I've had to go through this
new phase of this journey for me of,
oh my gosh, how do I be
me and navigate fasting
and eating appropriately for my body
in the midst of all of this
social culture that doesn't really
(08:19):
support it?
So that's been the big shift for me in
these past three years or so.
It can be a bit challenging.
I don't envy that position.
I was going through a separation when
I was diagnosed with diabetes, and I
will say that that leant itself
pretty well to me figuring out
how to navigate my lifestyle.
(08:41):
I was living with family who ate very
differently than me, but I could be
politely offensive to them.
You know, if my mother had made a special
dinner or something that she thought would
emotionally soothe me at the time.
I could say, "I'm sorry, I told you I
was fasting.
You know, I gave you plenty of notice, and I
don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I'm not
going to eat it." So I had
(09:03):
that ability.
There wasn't any other sort of social
norms that I felt pressured to be under.
I had that comfort level with my immediate
family.
I did meet my now husband after
getting to a really great place in my journey,
even when I had conquered a lot of my mental
hurdles with it, but he was quite
young. I married this younger guy so he could
(09:25):
fix all my technology.
So he was 25 at the time and he
was a scientist. He was the youngest child
too, so a bit of a rebel by nature.
And he completely sort of devoured all
of the information.
I had a draft of The Obesity Code at
the time that he was able to read.
We had quite a lot of blog posts (we still
have) and he was able to dive into it.
(09:47):
And he just said, 'Okay, you know, this is
going to be my lifestyle too." And
that's just been kind of that for the last
decade, which I feel very
fortunate about. And I think as someone--
I'm 40, I'll be 41 this year and my
husband will be 36 this year.
Our social circle, a lot of people have
(10:07):
seen this now. They've seen this happen to
their grandparents, they've seen this now
happen to their parents.
And while they don't necessarily eat the way
that we eat, they acknowledge how
we eat is probably the smarter path
because they've seen it not serve generations
before them.
And as they've gone through things, like
navigating early parenthood and relying
(10:29):
more on Uber Eats and DoorDash to
deliver what's quick and easy, they've noticed
it with their own health and physical
appearance, so that hasn't been the best for
them. And they're usually quite mindful
with us.
You know, if they're throwing a party, they'll
let us know what it is that they're having and
we're welcome to bring whatever it is without
(10:49):
offering any insult.
So I sort of had the opposite experience of
you and so many people in our community.
I think almost everyone I hear is in your
boat of navigating some of these
lifestyles and socialization things.
The work I had to do for myself was
really, really kind of internal, and undoing
a lot of thought patterns that were
(11:10):
conditioned into me by my pediatrician,
by my mom, by my grandma about how it was
for coping with life through food.
So one of the things both you and
I have kind of touched on is that,
at various times, we may have gone through a
more intense, more fasting,
more changes that we're working on,
(11:31):
and kind of the idea of making it
a longer-term lifestyle,
navigating this over the long haul.
In the time that I've known you, Megan, I
think you've traveled many places in the
world. You've been in a lot
of family situations, a lot of stress
situations.
You've had a little guy added to your
(11:52):
world.
A lot of different things happen.
And so I wondered if you could talk a little
bit about just how
the foundation that you continue
to evolve has helped you
navigate all of those things.
So it wasn't like, well, I did
my health routine before, but now
that I'm in Italy or wherever,
(12:14):
I don't do that. Like, how have you kind
of made it so that it's
a part of how you navigate things?
Well, a couple of things that sort of got me
to be in this position was working on
the metabolic health.
It's really difficult to be
able to have the mental faculties to
guide you and create the skillsets that
(12:36):
you need or that I found that I needed for
my mindfulness transformation when
my hormones were just raging out of control,
constantly calling for food, constantly
calling for bad food.
A lot of us, we don't spend a lot of time
talking about gut dysbiosis too, which pretty
much everyone, including myself, walked into
my journey with.
And literally you have like a bazillion
(12:57):
microbes in your body asking for the
wrong things.
And I think at the beginning of my journey,
I had to commit to showing up and I had a
commit to imperfection with my eating.
I couldn't be perfect at it all.
And I know this is something that so many
people strive for, a perfect
diet because it will make fasting easier.
Well, no, not really.
(13:18):
And there's actually some contradictory things
about that where having a little bit of carbs
might make your fasting easier.
It was just to show up for my fats and
just to do them, even if the diet was just
totally haphazard, right?
Just show up, show up.
I ate like garbage yesterday, I'm showing up
today. I might not be able to do a 42,
but I can do a 24.
And just keep showing up, keep showing up,
(13:39):
keep showing up.
And the fasting was powerful enough
to undo a lot of the metabolic damage,
not undo it all, not give me like
health optimization, but to get myself
into a place of physical control where
I could start to recognize it and say, okay,
you know, I have had this really, really
bad day and I've got a couple of
(14:00):
choices. I can come home and I can walk into
the kitchen and grab something quick and easy,
or I can sit in my car when I park
and do five or six deep breaths, and
then walk in and grab the dog and go for
a walk and just kind of let my cortisol and
everything just totally drop in nature.
I had more physical control.
My gut was in better shape.
(14:20):
I was able to fight what
Coach Nadia always called 'the insulin beast'.
It was a rough fight, but I was able to
overcome it and I think for me
to change a lot of my thought patterns.
Our brains have this amazing plasticity.
We can change thought patterns.
It's beautiful, but it requires a lot of
work and a lot of effort to do that.
It's like, I am stressed, I'm going to take
(14:42):
five breaths, I'm went to take my dog, I'm
go to go for a walk.
I am not going to go in the kitchen.
I just totally removed that part.
And I would just say it over and over and over
again, just trying to rewire my own
patterns for having an automatic
stress response. So it would keep me away.
It would help reshape my habits when
I'm looking to drop that cortisol.
(15:04):
And for me, it was just constantly
just kind of having to see when this popped
up, not judge myself harshly
if things didn't go well.
We, last night in my group, we were talking--
a member was not feeling well and the diet,
you know, didn't necessarily go great during
that period of not feeling well.
I've been there and it's not getting mad
(15:26):
at myself and saying, "Okay, what can I
learn?" You know, what was I feeling?
What maybe could I do next time I'm not
feeling well that can make me feel better?
Because I'm not going to go to the gym.
I might not be well enough to go for a walk.
What can I do in my house that makes me feel
better? There are teas that I like, there's
those type of things. What can we lean into on
(15:46):
that particular day rather than leaning into
the food?
And I think rather than beating myself up
at these junctions when they came up, I
just observed them with curiosity.
And it was really hard to do that because
all I did was watch people that
I looked up to be really harsh and critical
and judgmental with themselves at every step
of the way, and I learned that that's how I
(16:07):
was supposed to be and I was supposed to this
perfect, high-functioning individual.
And I had to say, "No, I'm not going to be mad
at myself and just take every opportunity
as a learning lesson to give myself super
powers for the next time." So for the
next time I was sick.
And then I would even make notes in my iPhone,
so if I was in that situation again.
Sometimes you're in this heightened response,
(16:29):
right? You're not thinking clearly, you're
sick, or you're stressed.
And I would be able to go and see, okay, what
was my note to myself?
What were my reminders and tips for
being in this situation?
And just being able to back and read that
really helped ground my feet, helped provide
some mental clarity and direction, and
really begin to change my thought processes
(16:49):
long term.
So you know what, it's 2025 and I've
had one spoonful of ice cream this year, and
I'm okay with that and getting into this
particular place. So that was a lot of the
groundwork that I found that I was having to
do - really not pass judgment,
document my learning experiences, celebrating
learning something, and then being able to
(17:10):
reference that, and just doing it repeatedly
over and over again.
It was a tremendous amount of work, but it
worked out. It paid off in the long run.
I think another big part that you just
described is you have a
way of looking at the additive
nature of things. What can I do that
helps me feel-- oh, I love those teas, I'm
gonna go get that tea.
(17:31):
What can I do in the house since I can't go
outside right now since I'm sick or whatever?
Versus focusing on what can't I
have? What can't I do?
What thing do I miss?
You know? You really focus-- and
I'm guessing this evolved over time, but that
you really focus on what are
the strengths? What are the possibilities?
(17:53):
What are the comforts that are safe
when I need more comfort?
Rather than focusing on, oh,
it's so unfair that I can't do it this way
or can't have this.
You don't get bogged down in that mindset.
I think that's something that I picked up from
Jason early on in the journey.
I remember he always gave these patient
(18:14):
lectures. That's how, even working with
him, I learned about fasting was from
eavesdropping in one of these patient
lectures.
And someone said, "Well, if you take away the
starches at a meal, then what's left?"
And Jason was like, "A whole world of things
are left." And he was like, "When was the last
time you ate eggs because you've been trying
to stay away from them for cholesterol and all
(18:35):
this kind of reason?" And then the man
laughed. He was like, "Well, when I go on
vacation, I have eggs." And Jason was
like, "You can have them every eating day now.
Think of what you *can* add.
Think of the world of colors, the world of
different types of foods that you've either
never really explored or that as your
plate was filled up with beige starch or
that you just thought you couldn't have, and
(18:57):
started thinking about what's out there." And
I just remember feeling like that gentleman
patient and being like, "Well, if
you remove all the beige from my plate, what's
left?" And then just walking the
produce aisle in the grocery store and seeing
all the vibrant colors and you
just feel good. Like, it feels nourishing just
to pass through those foods at the market.
(19:18):
I'm just counting the number of ones I had
never even tried in my entire life
at 30 years old, kind of mind blowing because
it was most of everything I passed by, aside
from like carrots and celery sticks, in
the supermarket.
And then just thinking about what can I add,
what can I add?
And there's just a whole world out there.
But I think we're so ingrained to have sort of
(19:39):
the opposite mindset.
And so many of the materials out there about
nutrition, too, is you can't do this and you
can't add that and you need to remove this,
and they don't really think about what you can
add.
Coach Andrea, she used to have
the Instagram handle Crowd It Out.
And I never really understood what that meant
at first. I was like, oh, you know, we're all
quirky and funny in our own ways.
(20:00):
[laughs] I didn't know.
I didn't even know if it was a nod to low
carb or nutrition at all.
But she was like, "No, you need to crowd out
the bad on your plate with the good." And I
was, like, that's a really sort of brilliant
concept.
She said that mindset is something that really
helped propel her through the initial stages
of her journey as well.
Absolutely. I crowded out so
(20:21):
many options when I was in Barcelona
by eating more than a person should
eat of Iberian ham [laughter] but it
was really a great example of how I could
make travel work for
me because it's part of my identity
now - how I eat, what I value -
and, like you said, looking for
(20:41):
the variety of foods that I can have
and that they don't have to be
the beige starches on my plate.
So I can really relate to that as
well.
I was just thinking it might be a good time to
invite some audience participation.
As per our usual, Megan, I feel
like you and I could keep talking about this
(21:02):
for a long time, but I want to make sure we
get some other people in here.
We have got some transformative
people in here, that's for sure.
We have Sonia.
Hi, Sonia
Hi, how are you guys?
We're good.
Good.
Okay.
Good to get to see you here.
Yeah, I was like, "How do I do a webinar?
It looks a little weird!" [laughter] So
(21:24):
a transformative journey.
So much I know we feel so alone
sometimes doing low carb and
especially fasting.
I started with low carb and then I came
into fasting as part of it because you guys
are all kind of lumped in a
certain area of health and wellness, and
obviously through Dr. Fung's Obesity
(21:44):
Code. So what I have to
do, because I'm
[unitelligible] everybody wants to celebrate
with food.
Food, food, food, food, food.
I always have to remind myself (I think,
Terri, you say this), this is not my food.
And I have to remind myself, this is not
my celebration.
It's a tough thing, right?
(22:05):
So there are birthdays all the time, there are
celebrations all the time. So when is *your*
celebration? And so if it's my birthday,
I'm going to have my favorite, you know,
whatever treat, but I'll probably do it low
carb, and I'll probably love it.
But it's *my* celebration.
And that's my time to do it.
And if it somebody else's, it's somebody
else's. And I'll be like, "No thank you." It's
(22:26):
hard to do, but the more you say, "This is
not my food," in your head, the
easier it gets to say, "No thank you."
And people stopped asking me
after time and they don't push.
Every now and then I get a food pusher but
most of the people don't and and
I think, once you practice your mantra
over and over again, it becomes easier.
(22:48):
I love it. That is exactly what I talk about,
Sonia, as far as it becomes part of
just how you navigate this part
of your life.
But at first you had to use those phrases,
you had to remind yourself frequently.
And over time, it's becoming more and more
just part of how you navigate, it's part of
how you do that part of your life.
(23:11):
It's great.
Eventually it just becomes a habit and you
don't have to think about it.
It just becomes your way of living, that
you celebrate at a time that you've
decided to celebrate for you, whether that's
your birthday or whatever holiday
or milestone, and you
just don't think about doing it at other
people's and it becomes effortless.
(23:32):
So you put in the work, but the reward does
come.
Yeah, thanks for sharing that with us, Sonia.
Thank you, Sonia.
Teresa is here. Teresa.
Hi. I had an interesting transformation.
My husband and I belong to a bridge club and
they have a refreshment room with all
kinds of sweets in it all the time.
(23:53):
When I first started on my journey,
I couldn't even walk into the room because it
was too tempting.
And one day I walked in to get a cup of
coffee, and I looked at the stuff and thought,
you know, that's really not good for me.
And I started thinking of the food (well,
the stuff they had there, I'm not sure 'food'
is the right word) as poison to
me because I'm, you know, diabetic
(24:14):
and etc, etc.
I can walk in that room now and, you know, I
just look at it and go, "Oh, that's not good
for me," as opposed to, "Oh, that looks so
good, I feel deprived." Changing how I
thought about the food made all the difference
because now I could just go in there, no
problem whatsoever.
It's great. Every now and then they have
something that's tempting but that's
(24:35):
rare. And when it's tempting, it's things like
deviled eggs or something like that,
which I still don't want to eat during my
non-eating times, but at least,
you know... [laughs] Anyhow, it really
made a difference to think of that stuff as
not good for me.
What a big shift to think that, now,
the tempting thing is, "Oh, I really would
(24:56):
like a deviled egg." [laughter] That's great
that you've been able to really focus
on kind of what that food means
for you. This nourishes me, this helps me
feel well.
Although this might taste good, it doesn't
nourish me or it doesn't make me feel well.
So it's great that you've been able to
really work into that different
(25:17):
decision-making part for you.
That's fantastic, Teresa.
Thank you, Teresa.
All right, we have Marie.
Marie, welcome.
Hello, I'm just wondering, before
you make all these lists, before you decide
to do something, is there something that you
say to yourself to give yourself a
(25:37):
sort of a peace of mind before
you do it, so you can let go of whatever is
bothering you and just be free to--
like do you have a something to focus on?
A belief, a new thought system,
like saying something like, "This is who I am
now," in order to change your
mindset so you can go ahead and do whatever
you want to do and let go of what's
(25:59):
bothering you. Because you can carry it
through in whatever task you're going to do
next. You know what I'm saying?
I think so.
Let me take a stab at it here, and then, if
not, you can redirect me.
So one part I think is just kind of
what thought is in each of
us, like maybe what is in our mind.
For me, I really try to focus
(26:19):
on (going back to what Sonia said), you know,
that's not my food.
I do still say that to myself.
And I really focus on, for
example, if it's a temptation, like in a
food or wanting to break my
fast, part of it is
reminding myself of, how do I want
to feel?
Does this help me feel that way?
(26:40):
So it's not a shame and blame.
It's not a rigid kind of way of responding
to that temptation.
It's really about, does
this fit for me?
One of the things I still have to be very
mindful about is my glucose control.
And so when I'm sitting there while other
people are eating things, I do still think
about what effect does this have on my
(27:02):
glucose, and is that worth
it for me right now?
Because sometimes it might be, and I might
choose to engage that food, but
oftentimes I really weigh those two things
out.
And then I think part of your question
is what helps you feel
better in the moment or maybe
work through the emotional part of it.
(27:23):
And for me, in those instances, I
try to focus on what am I really
getting out of this moment or this situation?
Even though I'm here with people who are
eating this dessert and I'm not, I'm
getting to connect with people that I care
about. I'm going to tell funny stories.
I'm laughing until tears are streaming down my
face. So I try to focus on
(27:45):
the value of what I'm getting
from the experience versus
what I would be experiencing with
engaging that food or breaking my fast
or whatever.
Did that address any of what you
were alluding to, Marie?
I think it's more like a-- I don't want to say
mindset, it seems like it's an overused term
now. It's having a new focus,
(28:07):
you know?
Because you can decide to exercise but
still be very angry and
conflicted, and thinking
that, you know, I could be eating that
dessert or something, but here I am doing
this.
How do you let go of your past
self and say, "That is not who I am.
This is who I am now." That kind
(28:28):
of thing.
I think I actually experienced something like
this yesterday.
Yesterday was my fasting day, and many
of you know that I'm just getting back into
fasting, trying to lose the last little
bit of postpartum weight.
I've got about 12 pounds I wanna lose before I
get pregnant again this summer and regain it.
And so we had a terrible night
(28:49):
with our son. We had a very early morning.
It was stressful.
My husband was stressed, I was stressed,
my kid was a feral little creature.
I remember getting his lunch ready, and
it was exactly the type of meal that I
would eat (he eats exactly what we eat),
and I just thought, oh,
you know, like, I'm just feeling it.
(29:11):
And I just tried to reason with
myself why I should eat too.
This meal, it will help blunt my cortisol,
and this and that, and blah, blah, blah, and
I'm looking at my CGM trying to justify
it. Like I would try to justify a new pair of
shoes with nowhere to go, I was trying to
justify eating this tri-tip, even though it
was my fasting day.
And then I just kind of like stopped at the
(29:32):
counter (he was being crazy,
emptying a drawer) and I just took a couple of
breaths and I just thought, you know, so
much through my journey, I've just
used the idea of wanting to like be a mom.
But something that's happened to me since
becoming a mom is like wanting to be a healthy
grandparent.
And on Father's Day, my dad didn't know who I
(29:52):
was.
So like wanting to be healthy for
him. And it's just like, I don't want
to go into this pregnancy 12 pounds
heavier. I want to be able to lose it.
And using that as motivation.
This time I'm thinking about, you know, being
a healthy grandparent so my kid wants
me around. I kind of dread, you know, like
(30:13):
when my dad wants to be around.
Now, he lives far.
I don't have to see him that often but he's so
much more work for me, when I could use a
lot of relief right now.
I don't have that. I don't want to be like
that for my son when the time comes for
him.
So really focusing, Megan, on-- and
this is hard because immediate temptation
is right here and would provide some relief
(30:35):
right now. And you're having, in those
moments, to really focus on what do I want
in the long term?
What do I want in the future?
And will this decision get me
immediate relief or will it help me have
what I want long term?
Yeah, I think visualizations in these
particular moments have been really,
really powerful in helping me get through
(30:57):
the difficult moments and sort of be able
to reshape.
Like, this was around 11.30 yesterday and
I was able to make it into dinner time with my
family at 6.30 yesterday.
And it wasn't an easy day, but I leaned
in. I had some broth, I had an extra cup of
tea instead because that was the better option
yesterday.
(31:18):
So visualizations have just been really
powerful tools for me to help
address some of these stickier moments in
time.
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for that question, Marie.
I also think about the emotional
response to food.
And some of you have heard
me tell this story a hundred times so I'll
make it really brief, but it was a time when I
(31:39):
was in an extreme amount of stress
and tension.
My natural go-to was (I
was at a Starbucks) I am going to get
in line and I'm going to go grab that dessert.
That was the first thing I thought.
Even though I was in the middle of coaching
sessions during the day, that was still
my go-to thought in my mind.
And I had to ask myself, "If I
(32:00):
eat this thing I'm in line for,
what am I feeling right now?" And I listed
off, you know, I'm stressed.
I'm scared, I'm angry, I'm confused,
I'm worried. And then I had to think, "Okay,
if I eat this thing, which of
these feelings are going to feel better?" And
I realized none.
They were all still going to be there because
(32:21):
the reality of what was happening was still
there, plus I was going to add
a couple more uncomfortable
feelings. I was
gonna feel like I had betrayed my body, or Imight feel guilty, or whatever. So
I sometimes still think about that when
I'm having to make these complicated
decisions.
And the other question I've been asking myself
(32:41):
more lately is-- and sometimes
it's not even until after the fact, but I
look at would this event have
been more fun or better had
I eaten that problematic food?
And, so far, my answer has always been no.
Or would eating that whatever
food for me or would breaking my fast
(33:02):
at this moment, would that have made
this event better?
No.
Did it take away from it?
Would it have made it better?
No.
Then I feel really good about that decision.
So sometimes just doing that perspective
of will this enhance
this situation for me versus,
(33:23):
like Megan said, will making
this decision enhance my
longer-term vision.
We have Alicia.
Hi, Megan. Hi, Terri.
I just wanted to share just a little
bit about my transformation journey,
and I think we're always continually being
transformed. I don't think I'll ever get to a
(33:43):
point where, ah, that's it, but I'm
in the midst of transformation.
What led me to The Fasting Method began
during the pandemic.
2020, I read The Obesity Code.
But at the time, I was healthy, fit,
working with a trainer.
So I shelved it, moved on
with my life and didn't really apply any
(34:04):
of the principles.
Now, fast forward five years later,
four and a half years later, gained
a lot of weight over a
short time after a stressful
move to a new state, doing
what I thought was healthy - three meals,
three snacks. I thought it was all
very healthy. I had no real idea
(34:27):
like what the damage that was happening
to my body, like with the
insulin, even though I'd read The Obesity
Code. I think it had all gone out of my mind
and I'd forgotten it.
Then, in November 2024, I
came across the podcast on Spotify,
and I probably
ran through every episode in
(34:48):
probably like a week.
I just did not stop listening,
and then it just all started making sense.
I was like, ah, even though I was
following this diet that I'd gotten from
the trainer, with the changes in
my body and my hormones and now dealing
with perimenopausal symptoms, I'm like,
(35:08):
this is probably what's happening.
So I started practicing TRE,
three meals a day, and then
the weight started dropping.
And then I joined you guys, joined
The Fasting Method in January, and
then started, you know, applying fasting.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get into longer
fasts very well, but I
(35:30):
practiced TRE and did some 24-hour
fasts, and then started seeing results.
But not just the results.
I think going to the meetings,
especially your mindset meetings.
Terri has been super helpful
in shifting how I think about
weight loss (or fat loss as
Megan says), and how I think
(35:53):
about eating and fueling my body,
and healing, and just this
amazing sense of control,
that I have total control.
For me, I'm an information junkie.
So, yes, I can read a million books, but,
until I start putting things in action,
it really doesn't matter how much information
I get in.
(36:14):
And so I told myself, let's not focus
on getting more and more information, but,
instead, just put it in the daily actions.
So yes, you can't do long fasts right now.
Focus on just eating your two or
three meals, absolutely no snacking.
Since November, I do not snack.
And maybe that's my new identity - I am not a
(36:34):
person who snacks. Even on a recent
road trip with friends, everybody
had snacks in the car and I said, "No
thank you, no thank you." My friends were
understanding. At first they teased me.
They were like, "Oh, she's now skinny, so she
doesn't want to eat," but it was
really just a relief because I
never could say no to snacks.
(36:55):
And to find that I am a person who can now
say no to snacking,
it's just been super, super encouraging.
It's motivating because seeing that change
in myself, I'm like, ah, we can go on
to do bigger and better things.
And even now working in
the nutritional group with Megan
to be able to complete my first 60-hour
(37:18):
fast, I'm like, "Whoa, okay, I
can do this." So just going
through this whole program-- I'm still in the
midst of transforming and I think this
again is a lifelong thing, but going
through this has been really empowering.
And so I did want to say thank you
for the work you guys are doing.
It's really amazing.
(37:38):
Thank you Alicia, and congratulations.
You've had a really cool journey, and
I love your idea of just simplifying the
information and just doing what you know that
that is right.
So you've put together some tools from
the toolbox of information.
You said, "Okay, I'm going to pause there and
avoid information overload and I'm going to
focus on these few tools to help
(38:00):
get me started." And you've have some really
stellar results since beginning, so
congratulations.
A lot of people get analysis paralysis from
over-information and just trying to
do everything right off the bat.
And this is something that, Terri and I, we
preach about.
Like, take the training wheels if you need
them, use it. Like, just-- let's just get
(38:21):
going. Let's get some good habits going.
Let's get the metabolic health stuff going,
because then it will get easier.
And it will just continue to get easier down
the journey, and then we can get more
nuanced with stuff as the time is appropriate.
Let's bring on David.
David, welcome.
Hi, thank you.
Yeah, as I was sitting here listening to
(38:41):
others and thinking about my own story, I
thought it would be nice to share, and I think
it fits in with what you guys are talking
about too.
I first got introduced to low carb
as early as 2003/2004-ish,
where there was really (seems like) nothing
back in those days.
And then in mid 2007/2008,
(39:02):
I started seeing some books about it.
I tried it. It worked amazing
for me. I lost all kinds of weight.
But at that point, and for many years
to follow, it just was a
magic diet, basically.
You know, I started intermittent fasting and
things too. And if I wanted to lose some
weight, I knew I could do it.
(39:23):
I knew how to do it. I knew what my body liked
and I would go to that when
needed. But then I would slip back into my
old patterns, and guess what would
happen? It'd come back.
That went on for a long, long time.
I never kind of let myself go too far because
I knew what worked for me and I could kind of
go back to it as needed.
(39:44):
But I think the part that really
was transformative for me was
finding the Community,
finding TFM.
And that's why I'm a lifetime member
because this isn't a diet, this
is a lifetime, lifestyle change.
Through here, I have found my accountability
(40:05):
buddies and I've found
my people.
It just makes such a big difference.
I mean, in the past, I would talk to people
and they'd see the changes in me and be like,
"Wow, that's amazing, but I
could never do that." You know, I kind of
never had anybody to partner with, nobody to
just challenge one another and work
through things with.
(40:26):
They always saw it sort of as superhuman.
Like, "How can you not eat this?" Or, "How can
you not eat at all on certain days?
Like, I would be going crazy, I'd be feeling
terrible." But now I have found a
whole community of people that are
like-minded.
And I continue to learn through all
the different sessions that Terri talks about,
with the emotional aspects of my challenges
(40:47):
and the mental and just sort of the habits
that I have.
So yeah, for me, like Alicia just said, it's
an ongoing process, but I feel like
so much has been gained through community
and through that accountability and just
finding that like-minded community.
It has helped me to
not treat this like a diet.
It's what I do.
(41:08):
It is who I am.
Thank you for sharing that, David, all of
that. I think you really emphasize the
importance of community, being
here, attending meetings when you can.
For some of us, it's doing coaching, working
with one of the coaches at TFM.
Getting people in your life that you can reach
out to, whether they're people who are already
(41:29):
close to you - friends, family - or people you
had never met before but you developed this
tight bond with. So I really appreciate
that, and, of course, I love that you focused
on it's really part of your identity now,
it's not this thing that you do sometimes.
Megan talked about being a mom.
You don't get the choice to sometimes be a
mom. [laughter] Like you don't wake up today
(41:49):
and say, "Will I be a Mom today or will
I not?" It's part of who you are now.
And I think that's true about us in this
journey. Am I someone that's going to take
care of my body today, whatever that looks
like? O does it mean I'm gonna be fasting
today? Does it mean I'm going to be fat
fasting? Does it me I'm to be eating two,
full meals today?
And what food?
(42:10):
Once it's part your identity, it's really
not-- it's not a painful choice,
it's not a difficult decision anymore.
So I love that you highlighted that, David,
that this is really part of how
you navigate your life now.
So thank you for being here and for sharing.
Thank you to everybody who shared during our
first live podcast recording.
(42:32):
I think we should probably do it again.
I think it's been a lot of fun.
I love including our amazing community,
and I think David's point just really
summarized everything so well,
that we're stronger together.
Food is such a foundational part of
our lives and society, that coming together
(42:52):
with like-minded individuals with
similar-oriented goals can be so
powerful. So thank you, everyone, for making
this such a powerful episode.
And hopefully it will inspire others who are
listening today who might be binge
listening, like Alicia, knowing that
they need to make change, inspire them and
make them feel that it's hopeful and they're
(43:13):
able to achieve it.
And I'm just gonna tack onto that this whole
term about transformation.
Transformation is a process.
It's not an event and it's not a
short-term process.
It's an ever-evolving process.
So thank you all for sharing your
transformations with us.
Thank you all for being here, being invested
in this, and, remember,
(43:36):
your transformation doesn't end at
some designated goal point.
Your transformation is ongoing.
Thank you, everybody, and we'll be back next
week with another episode of The Fasting
Method podcast.
Take good care, everyone.
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