Episode 113: More than Weight Loss, The Taste of Ketosis, Autophagy & Skin, and More

Welcome to this week’s episode of Fast. Feast. Repeat. Intermittent Fasting for Life, with Gin Stephens and Sheri Bullock.

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Resources used in today’s episode: 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm
Jen Stevens, author of the New York Times bestseller Fast
Feast Repeat.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I'm Sherry Bullock, longtime intermittent faster and health and
wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this podcast is
for educational and motivational purposes only and is not intended
to provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are
not doctors, so make sure to check with your trusted
healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes to

(00:30):
any medical treatments or medications.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced intermittent faster,
tune in each week to get inspired, to learn, and
to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, We
are so glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's
episode of the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
How are you doing today, Sherry? I'm doing great. How
are you? I am great as well. We're actually having
a very cloudy day here today and cool.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, we've had that for the past few days after
the craziest lightning in the world. We had, Yeah, four
days in a row of the craziest lightning anyone who
lives here has ever seen like. I've talked to all
my neighbors and they all say the same thing. My
house got struck by lightning. It's crazy, you know, right.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
When you were experiencing that.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
It was like maybe that night I saw like that
a new world record for lightning struck and it was
a five and fifteen miles long and it went from
like Texas to Iowa or something, oh, near kyn City, Missouri.
From eastern Texas to kans City, Missouri, Okay City five

(01:45):
hundred and fifteen miles.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
I don't know, that's crazy, but we were having the
crazy intense lightning storms. Literally for four days in a row,
there were the most intense lightning storms I've ever seen,
and one day we had two of them.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
The day that my house got strun by lightning.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
That morning was the one where my house got struck,
and then one at the night too, And Ellie was
like so freaked out she was hiding it wouldn't come out.
But everyone has just said they've never seen like and
it was literally like one continuous lightning strike NonStop. They
showed a graph of the state where like a graphic
of the state of South Carolina with how many lightning
strikes and here over the Grand Strand the Myrtle Beach area,

(02:22):
it looks like bombed the one all it's crazy looking,
that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
It must have been like I wonder if it was
like two stormfronts meetings.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
I don't know what it was, but it was literally
like the craziest ever. After my house got struck, then
I was like, really edgy, Well, have you had a
building that got struck? Yeah, I have, Actually I don't
think I have that I actually know of, but there's
some outdoor lights that have to be fixed.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
My internet got knocked out.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
We had a transformer across the street from our house
gets struck, and you would have thought a bomb went off.
It was sad, but yeah, yeah, the weather's been weird. Yeah,
so this is funny because your kids are my age.
You mean your kid's age, your Yeah, your kids are
my own age.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
All right.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I would like to be that age again. I would
do so much different with my life.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Anyway.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
A girl I work with she just had a little
baby and she's really jaundice.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
She's her billy Ruben's really high.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
And I remember back when my daughter was born, she
had that problem, and they tell me to sit her
in sunlight for like ten minutes in the morning and
ten minutes in the afternoon, like by a window. Right,
So she made a post about it the babies at
the doctor, and I said, well, of all the days
for us to not have sunshine, finally, you know, like
and she said, I know. She's like, I'm hoping the
sun comes out tomorrow. And so then, you know, the me,

(03:43):
I'm a curious person. I looked it up to see, like,
do they even recommend sunlight for babies still for jaundice?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Oh? No, they don't.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Apparently in thirty two years they have changed the recommendation.
They do not want the babies exposed to UV light.
Oh lord, erta sunlight UV b rais or whatever. I'm like,
I feel like ten minutes twice a day is not
going to be detrimental to the baby.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
You could go down a whole rabbit hole about that.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right, And so then I started thinking, you know, we
talk a lot about circadian rhythms. Yeah, So my next question,
which I haven't had time to research, is does exposure
to sunshine for babies help them with a sleep schedule?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Because I think it would have that, Yeah, I bet
it would.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
And I think about all these people who complan that
their babies are up all night and they're not sleeping,
and I wonder, like, how much exposure are they getting
to natural sunlight during the day, because we just are
not outside people like we used to be thirty forty fifty,
one hundred years ago.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, and we're not.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
We're not grounding and touching the earth and so many
things are different. We're surrounded by Wi fi. That's the
latest thing I'm trying to pretend like I don't know about,
but I think that also plays a role in the
way I feel. So Yeah, for sure, it's starting to
realize that don't know what we're gonna do about it.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, you know, it's interesting too, because ever since Eric
has discovered at the age of forty that he's very
likely highly autistic, he's trying to learn a lot about it,
and it's really been helpful for him because it helps
him explain his emotions and the way he feels inside
and stuff. But something I didn't realize is that autistic

(05:22):
people are very, very in tune to like the sound
of a light bulb, right and one of the things
that's really bothersome are all of these smart devices and
smart light bulbs, and they can walk in a room
and feel and hear that energy.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, like about to leave the room. Well see, I've
heard that with dogs.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
And their behavior changing and them being like irritable and edgy,
and then people remove these devices and their dogs go
back to acting the way they did before. So, I mean,
I think we're so busy and we're just inundated with
sensory stimuli all day that maybe we don't notice it,
but people who are highly intuned to things like that
are noticing it. And it does make you think about

(06:05):
all of the devices we're bringing into our lives that
are wireless and it's all energy.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, it's energy.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Energy, it's all energy, and so yeah, it makes sense
that all that energy could be disrupting our energy. Yeah,
but I just thought that was interesting.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, it really is.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
And also again head in the sand, trying not to
think too much about it because I don't write it, right.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
I mean, I know, I get it, yea the modern age. Yes,
all right, well, let's celebrate Mandy in Michigan. Mandy wrote,
thank you for all you have done. I'm so glad
I found you. It has now been one year since
I started intermittent fasting. I almost didn't write this because
the journey hasn't been the miraculous easy button i'd hoped for.
A year later, I am not the picture perfect poster

(06:52):
child of good health, but I am better. This is
a boring, simple story of an everyday person with an
everyday job, living an everyday life. I began fasting on
July ninth, twenty twenty four. I'm writing this on July fifteenth,
twenty twenty five. I began at one hundred and sixty
four point four pounds. I was forty two years old.
I am five foot six. The reason I started was

(07:13):
I wanted to lose weight, look good, age gracefully, and
be in less pain. I wanted to look like those
well put together middle aged women you just assume have
money and a personal trainer, not the kind of middle
aged woman that most of us actually become, especially after menopause,
on the couch every night, extra fluffy and completely void
of energy. I have chronic hit pain, chronic muscle pain, arthritis,

(07:35):
and migraines. I've hated myself in pictures for years and
I wasn't feeling comfortable in my own skin. I thought
this was just what happened in your mid forties, but
I decided no. I'd like to say the way I
did lose was easy, but it took an incredible amount
of faith, discipline, and will power. There were many successes
in learning adjustments along the way. At first, I dropped
weight pretty quickly, like many with inflammation, I imagine, but it

(07:58):
quickly sawed down and stayed steady, only half a pound
to a pound a month. But I felt better. I
was in less pain. My binge eating was pretty much gone,
and that was a huge problem for me. Food was
no longer the main thing on my mind.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
All wins.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Then there was January to March of twenty twenty four.
I was pretty much doing the same thing, but the
scale stopped. My happy scale was depressed. I needed counseling
almost I think I actually gained a few pounds, but
I kept doing the things. There were enough benefits without
weight loss that made not want to ever stop. I
kept telling myself things like, imagine how much weight I'd

(08:33):
be gaining if I wasn't doing the things and staying
in it, or I'm sure my body is doing other
miraculous things.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
What I have gained.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Weight was my body really healing. I have no idea,
but I stayed with it. At the end of April,
all of a sudden things started going down again. I'm
so glad I kept going. Today I weighed in at
one hundred and forty four point eight pounds. The first
goal I set was one hundred and forty five. I'm
not going to lie during my initial success. I had
hoped to get there in six months. It's taken me

(09:00):
a little over a year. I'm glad I did it.
I'm glad I didn't give up. Almost twenty pounds lost
in a year is something I'm very proud of. You See,
you have to think in fast forward mode. Even if
it takes me a year to lose only five more pounds,
I imagine myself a year from now five pounds lighter,
and I thank myself for not quitting. It's still worth
it and I will hit my goal. And even if

(09:20):
I don't, I'm going to still do the things because
I am healthier for it, both mentally and physically. This
journey had to be constantly tweaked. There were countless trials
and course corrections, times of complete discouragement. Through it all,
I added prayer, reduced processed foods, learned what foods made
me feel good and bad. Today, I set a new goal.
I barely believed I would meet the first one of

(09:42):
one hundred and forty five. I never believed that there
was hope for the final one one hundred and thirty
three pounds. But now I'm excited to start over and
do it again. I'm not dreading it. I am truly
embracing this lifestyle. Everything I try that works, I only
keep doing if it is something I know I'm willing
to do for the rest of my life. For example,
I am obsessed with theater popcorn. I refuse to give

(10:04):
it up, and I don't think I ever will. Also,
I started working out every single day mostly before I
was an all or nothing person, so I never did it.
I felt like I had to run a five k
every morning plus weight training for it to even be
worth it. Now I just do a minimum of fifteen
minutes a day, sometimes a jog, sometimes yoga. If I'm
really ambitious and I have time, I do more. But

(10:24):
I'm willing to do this for the rest of my
life and adjust it as the seasons change. I have
bought so many clothes lately because for once, when I
try things on, I feel comfortable and things fit better.
Sometimes I even smile in the fitting rooms. I never
had an old pair of Honesty pants to try on
because my old me had given up. But I was
at the thrift store a few months ago and I
found a wonderful pair of pants I loved. I couldn't

(10:46):
get them to even come close to zipping up. I
bought them anyways. My goal was to fit into them
by the end of the summer. I can zip them
up now, and by August, I'm sure they will be
even more comfortable. I am more confident people I'm very close.
Two have gotten the surgery or taken the shots, and
they seem unhappy, still wishing that they could eat more,
or worry they will gain weight back after they can't

(11:07):
afford the medicine anymore. Everything I've learned and I'm doing
literally brings me comfort and joy. It makes my life easier.
I'm not afraid of regaining the weight. Even if I
gain five pounds back and never lose another I will
still be doing the things. I have no regrets. This
is a slow journey, but I am able to live
and love my life during this journey. Regardless of when
I make the destination. None of it will be a waste.

(11:29):
I've learned and I am a better version of myself
because of it. I significantly feel better physically and mentally.
I only wanted to write this hoping it will get
even one person through a time when they think it
isn't worth it or working the scale means nothing. It
can be inspiring and helpful at times, but can also
be deceitful and cut you down. You have to be patient.
I know that it's hard. Fast forward your mind and

(11:51):
stick with it. What really matters at the end of
each day is every single decision you made to honor
and take care of yourself for whatever reason. You need
to keep doing the things, whatever they are for you,
and have grace for yourself. If you mess up, you
will mess up. But you still have tomorrow and.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
You've got this. Oh I love that, Mandy, And yeah,
you will mess up. Guess what. I still mess up, Sherry?
Do you ever mess up? Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (12:16):
I get to the end of my window. I'm like, man,
I really ate too much today. I didn't eat that
last or.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Whatever it was. But even me, even now, it still happens.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
And you know, I love what Mandy said, get through
the time when you think it isn't working. The thing
about intermittent fasting is it's always working. If the only
way you define working is what your scale is doing,
then you're going to be disappointed, right because intermittent fasting
works so much behind the scenes, doing things we can't

(12:45):
even imagine.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
I like to think of it like dental work. You know,
if you get a cavity, do you decide that brushing
your teeth is not working and you're gonna quit. Oh,
you can brushing your teeth and you're gonna be better
off in thirty years if you brush your teeth every day,
then if you gave up when you got that first cavity.
And I like to think of intermittent fasting as just
one of those things. Like we do we exercise to

(13:07):
strengthen our muscles, we get a good night's sleep when
we can, we do intermittent fasting. Last night, I didn't
sleep well, Sherry, But one night. You know, that's not
gonna stop me from trying again tonight. So I'm really
glad that me and he's doing well, and we just
never know what's going to happen with intermittent fasting in
our pocket.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Right.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, I had a coaching call with a client last
week and she hasn't lost any weight since October. She
started in October. She hasn't lost new weight since I
think March. But she said, I don't want to quit, right,
This is the most freedom I have ever found from
diet brain and questioning every single thing I eat and
thinking about what I'm gonna eat all day long. And

(13:45):
I don't have to wake up in the morning and
plan out every fight that goes in my mouth. So
that's what she asked me. You know, if I'm not
losing weight, is it doing anything for me physically? And
I'm like, it's always doing something.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
It's so many things in our bodies, right, so many
things are going on behind the scenes. And what really
always makes me remember that is researchers like doctor Mark
Mattson worked at Don's Hopkins studied the brain and he
started doing it remitting fasting in the eighties. He did
not do it for weight loss. He did it because
of the benefits, and he continues to do it because

(14:19):
the way it makes him feel he never needed to
lose weight as far as I know, right, he's so.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
There's doctor Bert Herring, And you know that's what when
I shifted to a five hour eating windows after I
read his book, it was right before I found you.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
He didn't do it for weight loss. I think he
could at first, did he at first?

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah? I think he would needed to lose like twenty
pounds or something like. He did it for a while,
if I'm trying, if I'm remembering correctly, I spent a
long time since I read it, But.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
I think he did it because it was easier and
he now I think he life schedule.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Did it for a little while, lost some weight, stopped
doing it, regained someone I think his was like, and
then went down. Yes, and then he just got doing it. It
was not a lot of weight, ten to twenty pounds,
that's the way I remembered.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
I could be wrong.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Well, you're probably right, because you were actually part in
his community for a.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
While and I met him face to thanks one time.
Oh that's right. Yeah, we didn't talk about that.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
But your memory must be better than mine.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
I don't know. I read that book.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, just remember him talking about just how easy.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
It was.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
It worked in with his busy schedule and he didn't
have to think about eating and what to eat and whatever.
So and it's really true, like, if nothing else, if
it takes away we have so much decision fatigue in
our lives. Oh yeah, so if nothing else, if all
it does is simplify your life and takes away that
decision fatigue of what diet am I going to do?

(15:40):
What method of eating am I going to undertake? What
am I going to have that's healthy for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. I mean, if that is all the benefit
you got from it, think of all the other things
your brain can be thinking about besides this.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
True.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, I don't even think about it. My windows closed, right,
I'm not worried about it. I'll open it later. So
now we have a question from listener. This question is
from Catherine. She's been doing Erbin fastening for eight weeks.
She's seventy five, she's five foot three, one hundred and
sixty and then she al says at one hundred and forty.
So I wonder if that means that Charta at one

(16:13):
sixty and her goal is one forty because she wrote
one sixty Comma one. So my guess is she's one
sixty and her goal is one forty. So she said
she did keto and twenty twenty lost weight but gained
weight back after adding carbs. Her question is does getting
steroid shots for arthritis and taking antidepressants affect your weight loss?

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Okay, when you get a steroid shot, these are done
very intermittently, so you know, the day you get your shot,
maybe the day after, you may notice that you're hungrier
than you normally are, and that's just a result of
the stereoidhots raise your blood sugar. Your blood sugar is
not going to be as well controlled, not to mention,

(16:58):
when your blood sugar is higher, your body's gonna pump
out more insulin. So taking a steroid shot or taking
a medrol dose pack because you have an allergy flare
or sinusiitis or whatever reason they give you like a
steroid dose pack, you're not gonna see weight gain from that.
The people who see weight gain with steroids are people

(17:18):
who have to take steroids every single day for some
sort of medical condition, and that's really the weight gain
becomes about because they become extremely insolent resistant. So I
wouldn't think twice about those steroid shots. If I was
to do anything the day I got the steroid shot,
I would probably shift to more of a lower carb

(17:41):
eating window, just to keep your blood sugar more tightly
controlled from the food you eat, because your body's already
challenged from it, so you know, focus on some lean
proteins and lots of veggies on those days. And then
as far as antidepressants, if I'm remembering right, I've researched
this several different times for several differ people. Well, there
is one antidepressant on the market that they do know

(18:04):
can cause weight gain directly, and they don't know why.
They think it could potentially slow your metabolic rate. But
as a whole, antidepressants, the reason that they can cause
weight gain is because it has to do with your
serotonin and in your brain, and they make you crave carbohydrates.

(18:25):
I think intermint fasting if you're taking antidepressants is a
perfect combo because you're either eating or you're not eating right.
So it's not like Ooh, I'm craving something sweet. I
want to feel better. I want a little hit as
some feel good chemicals in my brain, so I'm going
to eat this cookie at ten am. You're not gonna
do that because you're fasting, and so could it negatively

(18:48):
affect your weight, yes, But when you're eating in a
controlled manner and fasting all day, I don't think that
you're going to see that effect. That's just my personal opinion,
that's my experience from people in the community. Not to
mention lots and lots of people in the community who've
been on antidepressants, especially who went on in middle aged

(19:08):
as their bodies became more insulin resistant and their moods
became more unstable and menopause kind of threw them for
a loop. A lot of them come to the community
and tell us that they were able to wean off
their antidepressants because their moods are so much more stable
because their blood sugars are controlled yep, and they just
feel better and they have more energy, they're not so fatigued.
So just some effects that we've seen from the community.

(19:33):
So I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Catherine, and Catherine, I'm kind of reading between the lunes,
since you didn't share a whole lot of information that
perhaps you're stuck. Your weight isn't going isn't doing what
you think it should be doing, and I would like
to encourage you to make sure that you are weighing
daily and then once a week take the time to
add up all seven weights and divide by seven to
get your weekly average. You've only been doing intermittent fasting

(19:57):
for eight weeks, so we don't expect to lose weight
for the.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
First month and for after that. Especially.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
You know your age, the age of seventy five, you
can expect you're probably going to lose more slowly than
you did when you were younger. I think that's just
the way bodies are. So a half a pound to
one pound per week is a great rate of loss,
but as we get older, it might be slower than that.
So I would recommend just sticking to a daily five
hour window, relax into the process, and let your body

(20:27):
do what it's going to do. And you know, you
can track your weekly average and see what happens from
one weekly average to the next. You know, you mentioned
that you did well on keto. You know there's a
lot of distance between eating everything that there is to
eat and keto.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
There might be a happy medium in the middle for.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
You where you're choosing to have carbs, but they're really
high quality, real food carbs. You might not need to
just eliminate carbs, but just focus on high quality foods
of all macro types. High quality carbs, HIH quality proteins,
HIH quality fat. Focus on real food that's delicious makes
you satisfied in your five hour window. So I just
wanted to add that in there too. Don't expect the

(21:05):
weight loss to be quick. What is that saying, Shery.
I'm trying to remember it. As you get older, it's
harder to lose weight because the pounds have been there
a while and now the pounds in your body are
good friends.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
I don't know something like that. I have never I've
never heard that.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
It's something I've seen, like some kind of a graphic
or whatever, like a joke, you know. But it just
can be a little harder to lose the weight, and
so just be prepared for it to be slow and steady.
This is not a fast you know, lose that twenty
pounds in a month kind of a weight loss plan.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
So slow and steady, and you know, like we've heard from.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Mandy, just think about where you're going to be in
one year, if you you know, there's so much more
than weight loss. You know, if you're dealing with arthritis pain,
guess what's great for that intermittent fasting. What if you
lose zero pounds but your arthritis pain goes away.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
That would be amazing, That would be a huge success.
What if you.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Lose zero pounds but you no longer need ant the
depressants because your mood is better.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Huge And I just wanted to share with Catherine too.
My mom is seventy five, she'll be seventy six in
the fall. And I shared before several weeks ago that
my parents started entered and fasting. And I just scrolled
back to see when they started, and they started May seventeenth,
and today is August the fifth, so it was eleven
weeks on Saturday when I asked them how they were doing,

(22:22):
my dad is down fourteen point eight pounds and my
mom found thirteen point four pounds. Wow, and yes, but
what's even better than that is when I was there
in April, we went for a walk and my mom
made it about a block and a half.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
She's got arthritis, she's.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Got bad feet, bad knees. She turned around, went back
home and I told my dad, then you've got to
get her moving and more active. She shared with me
that only is her weight down, that she has been
able to walk a lot more distance. And she said,
I don't know why, but I feel stronger and I
feel like I have more energy.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
I love that and her that we hear that so often.
That really increases people's stamina. And so I'm so glad
to know that she's feeling better, that she's able to
get out there and get some good walks in with
my dad. My dad walks like two miles every morning.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
So hopefully maybe a year from now, I'll be able
to report that she's walking two miles a day with him.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
That's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
I was expecting the punch on to be that she'd
only lost like three pounds. There's all that she's doing it,
and I was.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Very slow to start. Right, they whittled their window down,
and they're eating pretty much. She says, she's eating a
pretty much in a five hour window. My dad still
thinks he needs a snack at noon, so he's eating
more in like a six hour window. I asked her,
I said, is it hunger or habit? And she said,
it's habits, right, and he's just not open to like
kind of overcoming that habit right now. So but he

(23:47):
may at some point realize he doesn't need that noon snack.
But you know he's also very, very active, so he
might need that noon snack. So I want you to
give batter some hope that I know a lot of
people think is this going to work? Because I'm in
my seventies, and I want you to know it absolutely
can work. We see it time as coming again in community,
and just give it time. Your body's been doing its
own thing for a while, so let it really shift

(24:09):
into weight loss mode and hang in there.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Be patient.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
It's you know, I know that I wouldn't lose weight
now as quickly as I did when I was twenty two, right,
So absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
All right, So we have a question from Anne in
Bluffed in South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
You know where that is? That is the home of Spartana.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh see, I knew I knew the name for some reason. Okay,
all right, absolutely, I know that I love Bartina.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Everybody who's listening is like, what in the heck is
that Bartina is a Southern clothing.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
And jewelry and bags and you know that sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
It's a southern brand from the low country of South Carolina.
And I actually learned cheery I was on a tour
of some wetlands. It's actually pronounced spartana when you're saying
the name of the grass. It's a type of grass
that grow Marshieririe's called Spartana, but everyone calls the store Spartana.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
So okay, teachers are going to teach. Sorry.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well, I'm not really a purse carrier, but I've always
wanted a nice purse for when I'm out and about
and traveling and chopping with the girls. And I was
out there with Jin. We went to an outlet mall
and I think I looked at every store in that
mall looking for a purse. And I went back to
the Spartana store, which was the first one we went to,
and I bought one there. And it's so cute, and
it's hanging on this hook in my entryway and I

(25:24):
just look at it. It brings me joy to look
at it. I don't even carry it at home. You
just stop just everybody anyway. So and from Bluffton, South Carolina,
She says, Hello, Jen and Sherry, I have been on
and off IF for since twenty twenty. I don't know
why I fall off the IF wagon, but I always
eventually get right back on the IF way of life.

(25:46):
I am forty four years old, five foot four, and
I would say around one hundred and ninety pounds. I
won't get on the scale, so I am basing weight
loss off of pictures and how my clothes fit. I
have been back to fasting for about two months, and
my eating window is to five PM to ten pm.
I do feel like I am slowly losing weight. My
question is should I have a super salty taste in

(26:08):
my mouth? It normally starts mid afternoon and lasts until
I start eating. It is like there's a salt lake
in my mouth. Is that normal? Or am I just
too salty?

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (26:18):
That's so funny and fun fact about Anne's window. That's
the eating window that Bert Herring used five to ten.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
That's the one I used for years.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
You remember that he suggested that that was the one
that worked for him fast five. He started at five
and eight from five to ten. So you know, first
I was like, you gotta start at five. Of course,
now I'm in bed at nine o'clock, So that would
not be a very good window for me, right minus
shit usually two to seven something around there. But okay,
so Ann, I actually can answer this question now because

(26:49):
I think Sherry, do you experience katosis as a salty taste?

Speaker 3 (26:53):
I don't. I have a dirty mouth feel, but I
hear mouth that's dirty mouth.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
I knew that. That's not why I can describe it
as dirty mouth. I knew that he did it in
some kind of a different way, dirty mouth kind of
a like a I don't know, a bitter like. I
definitely get a taste. Yeah, it's more a feel. Okay, Well,
some people describe kotosis as metallic, that's the most common
that people say, or like aspeking kind of what it is.

(27:17):
Nail polish remover is acetone and it's like an acetone
kind of a thing. But I have heard people say
they experience katosis as a salty taste in their mouth.
I don't, but I would really guess that's what you're experiencing.
We do not all experience it the same way. And
I know whenever, like I remember from the Facebook groups,

(27:38):
when someone would talk about katosis and how they taste it,
we would talk about it. Then someone would come along
with it's like, oh my god, I don't taste anything.
Am I doing it wrong? No, some people don't taste anything,
and so I don't want you to say, well, I
don't taste anything, so I must be doing it wrong.
If you're tasting something different in your mouth at some
point in the fast, as it get later, that's probably katosis.

(27:59):
If you're not, that doesn't mean you're not getting into katosis.
And some people might wonder, you know, am I getting
into katosis? How do I even know? Here's how you know.
Your body is flipping the metabolic switch, which I think
is more important than what ketones are doing. Flipping the
metabolic switch means that you're fasting. Your body is running

(28:19):
on you know, let's say, glicogen from your liver, your
blood sugar that's circulating in your blood stream. Then at
some point you know you're running a little low on
that glycogen fuel source. And usually around that time, I'll
get a little hunger signal from my body and I'll
be like, oh, I could eat a little something, but
I keep fasting because I don't open.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
My window at eleven or twelve or whenever.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
That is keep going, and then my body's like okay,
and then it switches over to burning more sword fuel
and that's that metabolic switch, flipping going into the fat
burning state. And so that's when you would you begin
to ramp up very, very slight amounts of keytnes. If
you kept fasting on and on and on, the amount

(29:02):
would go greater and greater. But we're not trying to
measure key tones or do anything like that. Just if
you're able to keep fasting. For me, it happens maybe
our sixteen, maybe our eighteen. It depends on what I
had the day before. It could happen. It happened at
hour twelve if you ate really lightly the day before.
But if you get a little wave of hunger, keep fasting,
and then feel better, then you can be certain your

(29:24):
body slipping the switch. Do you want to add anything
to that, Sherry, No.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
I mean, like I'll just say too about we talked
about keytones, and there are people who think they need
to be seeing key tones. I had some lab work
done for function health last week, and I didn't even
know they were going to do your analysis, and so
by the time I got there, it was like ten
o'clock in the morning, I would have been about sixteen
hours fasted. I had not had coffee, and I had

(29:51):
a very strong taste of katosis at that point, so
much so that I could not wait to get my
blood done and go get a coffee. When I was
looking at my analysis results said negative for keytnes. Well,
I know that I was in katosis, right, but my
body was using them and I was not excreting them
in my urine. Right.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
That's something that also confuses people that we should be
able to measure them. Like when someone is brand new
to a keto diet or fasting that causes you know, ketosis,
our body will get rid of those key tones and
our urine, but eventually our body becomes more efficient at
using them and doesn't want to waste them. So yeah,
so you might be thinking that, Like I read an

(30:32):
article written by someone who was in the keto world
and it talked about that how people who are doing
the keto diet will see their number of key tones
that go down and they start freaking out because they
think they're, you know, not making key tones anymore, or
they've been kicked out of katosis, and it's really just
that their body is more efficient, and so they're not
being wasted, They're not hanging around in the blood, they're
not being released through urine or through your breath as much.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Now I will just add too though. I was thinking
while you're talking, if you're somebody who always tastes katosis
or you sense the signs of katosa as you feel
the flips, switch flip or whatever, and all of a
sudden you don't notice those things, I would have you
go back and kind of look at what your windows
have been. Have you been having window creep? Because you
start having window creep, or having extra indulgent windows, or

(31:16):
having too much fun in your summer, you may suddenly
notice that those things are not happening anymore. And that's
your kind of wake up call that it's time to
tighten up your windows and take a look at what
you're eating in your windows that might be preventing you
from shifting into fat burning during your fast.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, window creep is real, it really is. And now
it's time for our segment called what's Your Why. Most
of us have weight loss in mind, and that is
a great reason to begin intermittent fasting. But as I've
already said, there is so much more to what intermittent
fasting can do for us beyond weight loss. And I
believe that when you have a powerful why statement as

(31:54):
for why you're doing intermittent fasting, and when it's deeper
than weight loss alone, you're more likely to find long
term success and view intermittent fasting as a lifestyle. Again,
I'm not going to stop brushing my teeth.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
If I went to.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Bed one night and was too tired and didn't brush
my tea, I wouldn't wake up the next day and say, well,
I blew it done with that, not going to brush today.
Now you get up and you do it the next day.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
All right?

Speaker 2 (32:19):
This week, we have a wife from Leanne in Florida.
She wrote, I choose IF because I want to live
to be ninety. I want to be that ninety year
old woman who is still kicking butt and living her
best life.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Me too, yep.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
I choose IF because my two daughters need me to
model that food is for energy and nutrients. IF has
taught me about caring for my female body, and my
girls see me choosing whole foods, choosing healthy drinks without
sugar and such. I choose IF to break the family
cycle of emotional eating. If is therapeutic on so many levels.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
I love that those are very good reasons, and you
know we both want those same things. And emotional eating
that is really sad, such a thing that people get
into the cycle of We've talked about that before, but
I really really get it. And if you're an emotional eater,
having that eating window boundary and sticking to it can
really help. You're feeling some sadness, your windows closed. You

(33:13):
could open your window, but that's not gonna help. You're
gonna then be still sad and disappointed in yourself that
you opened your window. Portly, I've got two problems instead
of the one that made you emotional before.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
And then you're probably not gonna sleep well right then
you're gonna wake up the next day in a sleep deficit,
which is gonna make your next day fast hard, and
your emotions not as stable. So I mean that's where,
like I always say, I have heels in so many ways,
and I really believe that because you know, when you
break some of these negative patterns that you have, the
winds just keep coming.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah, And we learn ways of dealing with our emotions
that are not eating and again she said family cycle.
They get these things get programmed into as a childhood.
If every time you cried, your mom gave you ice cream,
you start associating that and you have to work to
break that cycle.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
So I mean it's not easy work. No, it's worth it.
It is absolutely worth it, all right.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
So we have a question from Sonia in Colorado. She said, Hi,
Jen and Sherry. July one was my first fastniversary. I
have been wanting to submit a question and ask for
some tweaks. I've been fasting pretty consistently over twenty twenty
four to twenty five, using a nineteen to five protocol
with some longer windows on vacation or special events. I
did not clean fast until September of twenty twenty four

(34:30):
because of my coffee in the morning. But now I
drink black coffee and water. I was being a bit stubborn,
but I finally made the jump in August and I
fasted easier in September. I lost about five pounds by October,
and I was super happy about that. I didn't diet
in my teenage years. I was pretty active and I
ate when I was hungry. Growing up, I gained thirty

(34:50):
pounds with my first child at age twenty four, and
it took nine months for the weight to come off
without me thinking too much about it. Then I had
my second child and I gained thirty pounds again, and
this time it took effort.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
So I did low car because that.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Was the craze in the late nineties, and I actually
felt better, but I couldn't stick to it long term.
I was able to get to about one hundred and
thirty pounds, and I was okay with that over the years.
In my thirties and early forties, I gained weight about
fifteen pounds as stress in my life was significant. I'm
an emotional eater and drinker. When i get stressed, I've
been to therapy. I've gone back to church, which has

(35:25):
helped me so much. I'm an avid reader, and I
found your books. I loved the idea of not counting
calories or eliminating a food group, so that is why
I tried intermint fasting since twenty twenty two. In my fifties,
I went through menopause and then a divorce. I gained
weight again because of emotional eating and drinking. On something
we were just talking about while I can fit into

(35:46):
a size eight. I am still hovering around one hundred
and forty five pounds. I would be happy to be
around one hundred and thirty to one hundred and thirty five.
I have cut down on alcohol a lot, and I
use an app to track it as it helps me
keep my goals in mind. I have to say that
has cut down on emotional eating because when my window
is closed, I don't eat, and that is huge for me.

(36:06):
I am working on eating a whole foods diet and
some sweets once or twice a week in my window.
When I dieted in the past, I would restrict calories
and carbs. I can't stay on the wagon that way
and would find myself in a well I might as
well everything frame of mind when I tried losing weight
that way in the past. Since fasting, I am able
to stay on the wagon since there isn't one. I

(36:27):
just close my window and do better the next day.
That has given me freedom in my mind. While I
see less inflammation in my face and I experience other
non scale victories. What else could I tweak to lose
the weight? Is it lack of consistency? My win is
that I have more energy than I've ever had on
any diet. I like how I feel, so I will
keep doing if. Thank you for your podcast and information.

(36:48):
I love to research and learn about nutrition and health
and mental health well being. I am a school counselor
in an elementary school. Thank you, ladies, you rock all right.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
So, Solnia, I wish I had one bit of information
that you didn't share, and that is your height, because
if I knew your height, that would make such a
difference in the advice. For example, if you're five eight,
I would have very different advice for you versus if
you're five foot zero. So, not knowing that information, I'm

(37:18):
not sure if one hundred and forty five is in
the healthy weight range for you are not, so I
would like you to figure that out. I want you
to google Smart BMI, type that in the words smart
and then BMI, and then I want you to put
in your weight of one forty five, your age, and
your height, and then I want you to click on
that and see what it gives you. If you are

(37:39):
in the green range for Smart Bmi, then you're at
a healthy weight for your height and my advice.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
If you're in the green my advice.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Is to settle into the lifestyle, let your body do
what it does. Relax into the lifestyle, live your goal lifestyle,
and wherever your weight settles is where it settles. Now,
if you're above the green and you're in the red,
then you're going to want to lose some weight, absolutely,
And I understand. Look, I understand if you felt really

(38:08):
good between one thirty and one thirty five in the past,
I understand wanting to see that again, because you know,
we remember feeling really good in our bodies at a
certain weight. We want to feel that again. But do
you want to work as hard as it might take
for you to get there? Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
That's where you get to decide. There's one question you
asked where you said, is it a lack of consistency?

(38:30):
If you think that you're not losing weight because of
a lack of consistency, then I'm going to tell you
it probably is. You know, as a school counselor, you
know how kids have pretty good insight if you're really
dig down and they really know what's wrong. If you
have to ask, am I not losing weight because I'm
not being consistent? Then that's probably true. That being said,

(38:51):
if you're in the healthy weight range and your special
occasion eating brings you joy, you can decide to do
that and be a size eight in a size that
I remember like wanting to be a size eight so badly.
When I got to a size eight, I just thought
that I had just died in that's right?

Speaker 3 (39:09):
What right?

Speaker 1 (39:09):
A single digit like single digit eight felt like so
amazing for me. So this is where you just really
get to decide and you have to just figure out
what are you willing to do long term? Are you
a healthy weight or not? Can you come to terms
with that and be okay as a size eight one
forty five? Or do you really need to get down
a little bit to be a healthy weight range, in

(39:30):
which case you're going to have to change them things up.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
And my hunch is it's going to be consistency. What
do you think?

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Sherry M Yeah, And I just wanted to say too,
like I just ran some numbers based off of what
I could kind of glean from her post. She said,
since twenty twenty two in her fifties. So I just
plugged in five foot five and fifty five.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Years, okay, making it up.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
We don't have an estimate, right, and with those numbers,
you would be right solid in the middle of a
healthy weight range for that age and weight. Okay, So
that's why this smart being my calculator is really helpful
because you can just really see where you fall and
then it talks about the health aspects of maintaining that
weight anyway, So I just kind of wanted to run

(40:15):
just kind of get an idea. Here's the thing with if.
A lot of times people are able to get into
the same size clothes that they were in at an
earlier time in their life, but way more. Right.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
So I have a progress photo that I show.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
In the community where I weigh the exact same amount
way more. Oh yeah, counts maybe, and my body is
significantly different toned. I'm flabby looking in the first one,
but I weigh more And I wasn't, you know, doing
crazy workouts or anything. I was rebounding and doing yoga.

(40:55):
Everybody's like, yeah, but you were clearly strength training or whatever,
and I'm like, I wasn't. I was doing yoga and rebounding.
Sometimes we have to let go of that number and
rather just settle into a size that we feel comfortable in.
You know, and when you get to that size and
you're wearing those clothes comfortably, don't worry about what the.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
Scale says exactly.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
That's why I threw my scale away right Our next
question is from Tiring in Upstate New York. I have
been doing intermittent fasting since March of twenty twenty five,
and I started clean fasting in late April twenty twenty five.
So Tiring, we're going to use that as your starting
date April twenty twenty five when you started clean fasting.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
My stats.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
I recently turned sixty three, I'm five foot one, and
I currently way around one to eighty. See that is
super helpful information right there. I am looking to get
somewhere around one hundred and thirty five to one hundred
and fifty. Will know much better when I get closer
to what feels comfortable. I am diabetic, although my A
one seed just came in at five point six with
no medications for the last four months, so hoping that

(41:56):
label will go away soon. I have chronic pain from
a nerve issue, and thankfully I'm seeing some improvement with
that since starting. If I do struggle with PTSD depression
and I am a chronic insomniac. I have averaged three
hours a night of sleep for decades, and I've been
unable to adjust that in spites of lots of attempts

(42:16):
at both natural and prescription options. My energy and focus
do not seem to suffer from so little sleep. Everyone complains.
I run circles around them. I do cryotherapy six days
a week. I walk an average of twelve thousand steps
a day, mostly to help manage stress. I have a
vibration plate, whimspa, and infrared sauna, and I use each
of them regularly. I eat fairly healthy. I could certainly

(42:40):
increase my veggie intake. I do minimal on ultra processed foods,
avoid refined sugar, minimize carbs. I'm allergic to coffee, so
my fast time consists of water rotating through plane and
unflavored sparkling and mineral I have lost fifteen pounds since January,
and while that's painfully slow, I know there are a
lot of issues that were work in my body, and

(43:01):
I feel like I have to become comfortable with slowness,
and I love that it is in the right direction
of weight loss rather than weight regaining. As for Internet
in fasting. I'm appreciating the changes that I'm seeing while
still trying to achieve consistency. Looking to do nineteen five
or eighteen six, I seem to end up doing sixteen
eight at least one or two days a week because

(43:23):
of trying to manage around a chaotic, unpredictable work schedule.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
That leads me to my first question.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
I generally prefer opening my window somewhere between noon and two,
depending on client appointments and hunger. There are times when
I cannot get anything else to eat until six to
eight hours later. I've tried to open my window later
and find that I get angry, which is not good
for client relationships. I've tried to close after whatever I
had somewhere between twelve and to do, but often end

(43:51):
up late night snacking because I'm hungry.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
She says she's.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Tried to do a down day but struggles with the upday.
So she says, how much am I slowly my weight
loss if I do maybe five days of nineteen five
and two days of sixteen eight? Any suggestions how to
manage this different like? Let's answer that first?

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Sheary, Okay, you know, are you still on your weight
last it's hard to know. If I was you, if
that's like the best you can do because of your work,
then I would just try to make sure that those
two days of sixteen eight are not back to back,
that they're spread out, and if you can close your
windows sooner than five hours on the other days, maybe

(44:29):
make them four that would help offset the longer windows.
But the thing that concerns me is that you say
you feel angry and you not extend your fast.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
I was going to say the same thing.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
That really leads me to believe that you're not flipping
the metabolic switch for some reason, because once our bodies
are able to shift into fat burning, we don't have
those hangry feelings. The hunger really goes away, it does
not intensify. And so I'm concerned that you know you've
been clean intermittent fasting since April, but that you know

(45:03):
you're just not getting the flips switched. And I'm not
sure when you sent this in.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
I'm sorry, but I feel like scenario she's only been
fast and clean max.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Three months, right, and likely much shorter than that. Right.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
My best suggestion to you is it's gonna feel hard
for a week, maybe two, but look at your day
and look and see when you can realistically close your
window that day. Okay, And if you know, based off
of your work schedule that you're not gonna be able
to sit down and eat a meal and complete it
until eight o'clock at night, don't open your window prior

(45:41):
to three pm. And like I said, it's gonna feel
hard for a little bit, but then your body's gonna adapt.
You're gonna force your body to start flipping the metal
bollox switch. You're gonna be easily able to delay the
opening of your window. So rather than just opening because
you're hungry and you're afraid you're gonna get angry, try
to really push it in delay. Something that you can

(46:04):
do that can help your body too, is is if
you're feeling that way, If you're feeling, you know, a
little hungry, do a quick burst exercise, you know, and
I know you have some nerve pain or whatever, So
it can be anything. It can literally be toe raises,
jog in place, march in place, take a quick lap
around your office or something, get up and move to

(46:27):
push some glicogen out and then you should feel better.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yep, I was gonna say the exact same thing. I
was like, please talk about the fact that she's hengry
one again. We are on the same page, Okay. The
second question is related to autophagy. She says, about ten
years ago, I went from two seventy five to one
eighty five. Then I went back up to two twenty
during the next eight and a half years, and I
spent the last eighteen months getting down to the one

(46:51):
hundred and eighty pounds of today. Today, I have lots
of loose skin. I have heard you say that autopogy
prevents a lot of loose skin with intermittent fasting. But
because I lost the almost one hundred pounds not through
intermittent fasting, I'm trying to decide if I need to
have skin removal surgery because autoplogy cannot resolve this issue
created from dieting, or if I can expect this to

(47:13):
improve on its own over time. And if I did
get skin removal surgery now, can autophogy with intermittent fasting
prevent me from needing more in the future, or would
it be better to weight until I'm done with weight loss?
A big part of me would like to do the
skin removal surgery now, I really dislike what I look
like in the mirror right now, and.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
I think it would help me mentally. All right, Sherry,
what do you say about that?

Speaker 2 (47:35):
I understand that having a lot of loose skin can
be frustrating and it can actually cause some medical issues
even and so, you know, I get your desire to
improve that. You know you lost this weight a long
time ago. Can aatophagy help possibly? I don't think you're
going to see significant change now the weight you lose now,

(47:56):
you're losing it in conjunction with IF. So I don't
think that your skin, your loose skin, is going to
worsen significantly right now. This is just my best guess,
but I would wait until you are at your goal
weight to do any skin reomobile surgery because you just
don't know what's going to happen this time around. You're older.

(48:16):
You know, once we're over forty, our bodies just are
not producing collagen. Our skin structure is not the same.
So I would definitely wait until you get to your
weight loss goal. You said that the saggy skin, you
thought it might help you to get rid of it.
But I think being motivated knowing that when you get
to your goal weight. You're going to have the skin
removal surgery. Let that be your motivator.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
There you go. That's a great advice.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
I do think that where you are related to menopause
makes a big difference in how your skin looks. My
skin is sagyear at the age of fifty six than
it was at the age of forty six.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Even know I had already been doing any.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Written fasting and lost my weight, I got sagyear because
we lose skin structure with age, and so that's just
something thing that darn it had happened.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
So I wanted to pop that in there.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Yeah, definitely, before we get the tweak of the week,
I want to take them in to share with you
that I am doing personal I of coaching. It's something
I did before and I've resumed it recently. And I
had a great coaching call last week with a wonderful
woman and we spent forty five minutes just really digging
into what was holding her back from seeing the weight
loss results she seeks with a little bit of problem solving,
some mindset tweaks. We concluded the video chat with her

(49:26):
just feeling really reinvigorated and motivated to create change, and
she just had a way more positive mindset. She was
a little beat down when we started talking, and she
was really excited for the changes that we came up with.
And so we have a plan to meet next month
to follow up and see what a month of changes
has brought her and if we need to make any
more tweaks. And I was so I mean, like, I

(49:47):
love doing this. I was so excited after I talked
to her. So, if this is something that you're interested in,
whether it's a once a month check in or a
weekly check in, or even a one time trouble shooting
video chat, please don't hesitate to email me. You can
reach me at Sherry. It's s H E R I
one R at Fast Feastrepeat dot com. And then you know,
whatever support does you seek, we can create a program

(50:09):
just for you. So don't hesitate to reach out.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
I love that you're doing that and that you're enjoying it.
I love it.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
So now it's time for our tweak of the week.
This tweak is from Beth in the UK. She said,
this tweak is for those of us who find it
is too scary to let go of calorie counting. When
I first started if I tracked my calories. I had to.
It's something I've done forever. The only time in the
past I haven't tracked calories is when I am quote
off the wagon and not counting calories was being bad.

(50:38):
It also gave me a way to see if I
was eating the right amount is There's no way I
could trust my actual appetite right, I'm sure others can relate.
As I progressed through intermittent fasting, I realized how pointless
calorie counting is. As I knew I wanted my body
to learn when it is satisfied, and not to rely
on an external source a calorie counter to tell me

(50:59):
when I'd had enough. Naturally, there are days when I
need fewer and days when I need more. This was
another important realization I've had since starting IF. But still
I feel like I need to track somehow so I
don't lose all control.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Introducing a food diary.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Photo app, I take a photo of each meal or snack,
and at the end of my window, I can see
exactly what I've eaten. It was actually really encouraging for
me as I saw how much fruit, vegetables, and colors
were in my everyday food choices. Naturally, when I feel
unusually hungry, I can look back to the previous day
and notice I perhaps didn't have enough protein or food volume.

(51:37):
It gives me a chance to reflect and correct. There
are a few really simple apps out there I use
food View. Be careful to choose a simple one, as
some are detailed and want you to add the calories
or macros, which defeats the whole point. Eventually, my dream
is to wean myself off any kind of tracking forever,
but for now, this feels like a much safer and
less emotionally damaging way to track what I eat. Having

(52:00):
to take a photo before I eat also gives me
time to pause and assess whether I really need that
extra food. I hope this can help someone else who
has also struggled to let go of calorie counting.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
And I love that last bit Sherry that.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Having to take that photo of it gives her that
extra layer of accountability.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
I can see how that would really be important.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
They're like, well, I'd like to eat this handful of
cash shoes, but I like, do I want to.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Eat it enough to take a photo of it? Uh? Huh?
Maybe the answer is no? Right? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (52:30):
And you know, I'm a fan. I would not say
that I would ever suggest calorie counting unless you think
you may really be significantly overeating or under eating, And
then I think would be the idea to calorie count
for just a few days just to see what do
your windows really look like, because it could be eye opening.
The other reason I think journaling food, which is basically

(52:52):
what she's doing, is helpful, is because if you wake
up the next morning and you feel like crap and
you can't figure out why, you can look back at
your day's before window, and a lot of times it's
the composition of your window that's making you feel bad
the next day, or it affected your sleep negatively. And
so sometimes we can learn a lot about what foods

(53:13):
worked for us by journaling our food. So I actually
really like this idea.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Yeah, I do too. Well.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
We have an inspirational quote from Michelle. She wrote my
August calendar. Quote made me smile. The quote is faith
is to believe what you do not see. The reward
of this faith is to see what you believe. As
someone who's lost ninety nine pounds at one point and
is now working my way back there after a little

(53:41):
regain gotta love that Mennow fluff. This quote really hit home.
When I look in the mirror, I don't just see
where I am. My faith sees where I'm going, and
sometimes it also sees me negotiating with my reflection. Like listen,
we're in this together. Don't sass meres to staying consistent
in celebrating the small wins.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Thanks so much for listening today. We would love to
have you join us in the Delayed on Tonight community,
where you can interact with both me and Sherry plus
the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll find anywhere.
Go to Jenstevens dot com slash community to join us.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to your favorite
podcast app, and if you haven't already, please leave us
a five star review that helps new listeners find the
show and we really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
We are a community driven podcast, so to submit your
success stories, your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's
Easy moments, or anything else you want us to share
on the podcast, go to Fast Feast Repeat dot com
slash submit and then listen each week to see if
we share your submission or answer your question.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Until next week. Thanks for listening, S