Episode 52: Struggling With Sugar, Fasting While Sick, Losing More Weight After Previously Dieting, 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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To get the books, go to https://www.ginstephens.com/get-the-books.html If you’re new to IF, restarting after a break, or just ready for a refresh, you’re going to want to want to start with 28-Day Fast Start Day-By-Day:  The Ultimate Guide to Starting (or Restarting) your Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle so it Sticks. We encourage you to choose the paperback edition, as there is an important write-in component to the book.  This is a companion book for Fast Feast Repeat, so you are going to want to have that one as well. 

Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success: https://amzn.to/3KnYzYP 

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Welcome the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fastingfor Life. I'm Jen Stevens, author
of the New York Times bestseller FastFeast Repeat, and I'm Sherry Bullock,
longtime intermittent faster and health and wellnessadvocate. Please keep in mind that this
podcast is for educational and motivational purposesonly and is not intended to provide medical
or diagnostic advice. Jen and Iare not doctors, so make sure to

(00:26):
check with your trusted healthcare professionals beforemaking changes, especially when it comes to
any medical treatments or medications. Whetheryou're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced
intermittent faster, tune in each weekto get inspired, to learn, and
to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, we are so

(00:46):
glad you're here today. Welcome tothis week's episode of the Fast Feast Repeat
Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast. Howare you doing today's Sherry, I'm doing
exceptionally well. I'm so glad you'llknow. I why My husband's out there
cleaning the house right now. That'spretty awesome. Are here like vacuuming three

(01:06):
times before? And we hear vacuuming? Uh no, are you having people
over? No, he just wantsto clean all. His Birthday's Thursday.
We don't have the baby. She'sat the Vets' surgery. The dog.
Sorry as the baby. Funny story. I called the vet last week and

(01:30):
I said I was calling about mydaughter Lulu, and then I went,
I'm sorry my dog, and shesaid, your dogter just my docter.
That's funny. Ya. The baby'shaving her second knee surgery and it was
supposed to be today, but apparentlythere was a mess up, and so

(01:51):
they kept her and they're doing itfirst thing tomorrow and then we get her
back Thursday, and so we kindof have this like free day tomorrow that
we weren't expecting. And it's hisday off and he wants to go kayaking.
So oh well that sounds fun.He said, when you go in
there, re Court, I thinkI'll clean up the house so that you
don't feel like you have to dothat tomorrow on my day off. Love
it. He's motivated. There yougo, we'll have fun kayaking. Yeah,

(02:15):
I'm excited. All right. Well, this week we have a celebration
from Rachel in Miami. Have youever been to Miami? Jin? I
have been to Miami. We goton a cruise ship there one time,
and it was when we lived inAugusta and we had driven to Tampa before,
which is a ways away. We'dalso driven to Jacksonville. We'd driven

(02:37):
to Orlando, and I'm like,Florida, look down there. Miami's not
that much farther. It is along state. I was like, Florida,
why you so long. We justdrove and drove and drove and drove,
and I said, I am neverdriving to Miami again. I also
went when I was a little girland my stepfather at the time his parents
lived in Miami, and I remembergoing there as a little girl and there

(02:58):
were oranges on the tree. Wewent deep sea fishing and there were sharks.
I just remember that trip. Andthey were Polish. They were a
Polish family and they had beats andI was like, I'm not eating that,
but his dad was eating beats.So that's my Miami memory. I've
never been. It always looks likea rowdy time. I don't know,
like anytime I see videos of Miamior something, it always seems like a

(03:23):
fun kind of rowdy place. Yeah, I don't know, like it reminds
me of Vegas in a way likemaybe always something happening, and yeah,
like a fun atmosphere. I don'tknow. We just went to the cruise
termin all that time then when Iwas a kid, I have no memory
of any kind of any of that. Well, I think there's supposed to
be amazing food in Miami, soyeah, I bet there is. Yeah,

(03:44):
all right, all right, Racheland Miami, maybe we'll come visit
you. She said, Hi,Jennis Sherriot. I was going to just
post this as a response to thepodcast episode on your website regarding the lurkers
in the community and encouraging them topost, but it just that maybe this
is really more of a celebration.I started intermittent fasting May the second,

(04:06):
twenty twenty four, and I havenever looked back. And as we record
this today, it is June fourth, about a month in Yeah, I
have never felt such freedom from food. I know you both say that if
you're not going to weigh all thetime to make sure to measure, I
don't do either. Intermittent fasting hastruly given me the ability to just feel

(04:28):
good. I don't need weight ormeasurement to know I feel better. Last
time I weighed, which was Decemberthirty first of twenty twenty three. Nothing
like setting yourself up for the newyear. I was down eighteen pounds.
You know what I think. Ithink that she actually meant to say that
she started in twenty twenty three.You know now that I'm going to twenty
twenty three, so too, she'sa year in. She's a year year

(04:53):
and a month in, not onemonth in. That. That helps to
clarify far about that, Rachel.But I think she's a year in.
So yeah, So she weighed Decemberthirty first, she said I was down
with eighteen pounds. I am fivefoot five, one hundred and forty pounds,
not a fast weight loss by anymeans, but I'm a good weight
for my height, so I'm notlooking to lose a whole lot more.

(05:15):
But the fact is, I don'teven care if I lose more weight.
My body is smaller, my clothesfit better, my stomach is no longer
bloated, my legs are skinnier andfirmer. I do walk every day,
and I do some body weights,but nothing crazy. But the fact is
I can see the changes, andif has given me the ability to not
care about the numbers at all.I had no troubles starting my fast at

(05:41):
sixteen eight, and I've since movedto twenty four. But often I shifted
around depending on what is going onthat week. If we have an event
to go to or are going outwith friends, I shift the window to
where I need it to be.I never stress about it. On what
diet were we ever able to notworry about it? I don't do honesty
pants or anything. I just knowhow I feel. If I'm bloated,

(06:05):
I can feel it, and Iknow I need to tighten my window up.
I think the freedom that comes withIF is just unmatchable. It has
changed my life for sure. Ithink the book should be called Fast Feast
Freedom Repeat. If weighing and measuringmakes people feel good, great, But
for me, the mental wellbeing ofjust knowing I'm doing the right thing and

(06:28):
the freedom from worrying about anything regardingfood is amazing and makes the weighing and
measuring unnecessary. I know I feelgreat doing IF, and I want to
thank you so much for bringing somuch knowledge and education to us in your
podcast. I love that, Rachel, I love that, And congratulations for
the freedom. I'm just thinking aboutthat. I don't. I have just

(06:48):
weighed like every day of my lifefor so long as what I do,
I can't even imagine not weighing.Yeah, I really think I have a
really I mean I have gone periodsof time without weighing, and the scale
always is up when I get backon it. So I'm the kind of
person that I push the boundaries onthings. I'm not exactly a rule follower.

(07:11):
Research as I can well research thepeople weigh on to maintain. Yeah,
that is, that is what research. Honest, people who weigh are
more likely to maintain. That is, but for kids that side out of
mind. That doesn't mean that thatis true for one hundred percent of people,
because you know, I haven't weighedsince twenty seventeen. So in general,

(07:34):
if we were going to make ablanket statement for most people, having
that accountability tool tends to be helpful, But that doesn't mean everybody needs to
weigh. You know, think aboutbefore scales, where people didn't have scales,
they just lived well. And I'llsay too, like, I don't
think I had I don't think I'veever had a bad relationship with the scale,

(07:56):
no matter what it says to me. It's just data. Like I'm
not a person that gets tied upin like feeling bad about myself because of
my weight. Like, right,I'm either happy with my body or I'm
unhappy with my body at that point, and the scale doesn't really affect that
feeling for me. But I knowfor a lot of people, the scale

(08:18):
really affects how they feel. Andso you know, if you're one of
those people that that scale is beatingyou up every time you step on it,
then I don't step on it.Well, that's exactly right. And
that was the thing for me becauseit made me start to feel like die
your brain. Yeah. And theother thing I was gonna say too in

(08:39):
maintenance, and I see this happentoo, like especially with women. I
don't think. I don't know thatmen do this like women do. If
one hundred and thirty five is good, then one hundred and thirty must be
better, right, and like wherewhen do you stop? Right? And
so then that can become really unhealthy, chasing that elusive you know, perfect

(09:00):
weight that doesn't exist. So anyways, congratulations, Rachel. I'm so glad
that you are feeling the freedom.All right. So now we have a
question from a listener. This questionis from Struggling after one year. Hi,
I have been fausting for one year. Initially I lost seven kilograms within

(09:20):
the first five to six months,then my weight loss stopped. I am
one hundred and sixty three centimeters andcurrently eighty kilograms. I would need to
lose ten more kilograms ideally, buthonestly, I would even be happy with
five. I am thirty four yearsold and when I was twenty I used
to weigh around sixty kilograms. Myweight gain after having two kids when I

(09:43):
was around twenty six to twenty sevenyears old, so I also have pulled
this in. Sherry put some notesin here about that was she currently weighs
around one hundred and seventy five poundsand she's about five foot four. Her
goal weight is around one fifty five. Before kids. Oh yeah, before

(10:03):
kids, she weighed around one hundredand thirty two. And I also put
her into the smart Bmi because youlike to do that. And according to
this, I didn't have her age, but I just saw it on there,
so I put it back in withher age, and according to the
smart Bmi, yes, she isin the Moderately Moderately everyweight she's not in
the healthy weight range quite yet,so I wanted to check that out because

(10:26):
sometimes people could be right in themiddle of the healthy weight range and want
to lose you know, what wemight call vanity pounds. But in this
case, she's slightly above the healthyweight range, so she said. I
do clean fasting for eighteen to nineteenhours a day, drinking only water.
Recently, I've been suffering even withmy fasting periods. In the past,

(10:46):
it was fine, I could easilygo eighteen hours, but in recent weeks,
I'm struggling and praying for the fastto be over. I do not
use chewing gum or medicine, butfasting stopped being a pleasure for me.
I can survive the fasting time Ican force myself, but the problem is
that I am not losing anymore,and I am over eating in my window,

(11:09):
and I don't know how to stopit. I think I developed overeating
from fasting. I try to eatto satiety, but I always go much
beyond satiety. I've tried several techniqueseating slowly pauses between meals, but have
not had any successes. In myeating window, I mostly eat home cooked
meals and a variety of vegetables,meat, and potatoes. But I don't

(11:31):
know how to stop eating sweets.I have tried several times and nothing worked
for a whole year. I thoughtthat fasting would be my answer to keeping
weight off for a lifetime. ButI started to feel that maybe I am
that one percent of unlucky people fromwhom fasting may not work. Any ideas
how to start losing again? ThanksGosh, I wish I knew what protocol

(11:54):
she was using. Well, ohwait, we got fashing eighteen to nineteen
hours a day there. It isokay, eighteen to nineteen hours a day.
So I have a few thoughts forsome people. You say eighteen nineteen
hours a day, I don't knowhow diligent are you about keeping your windows
tight. If I was to eatan indulgent six hour window every single day

(12:20):
where I ignored satiety, I wouldno longer be flipping the switch every day
and getting into katosis, which wouldmake fasting hard every single day, because
you're getting to that hard part ofthe fast where your body wants to flip
the switch, but then you're openingthe window, and then you're you're not

(12:41):
ever really depleting your glecogen stores,and you're kind of writing that edge of
fat adaptation, and so it makesfasting feel hard, kind of like in
the beginning before you started shifting intofat burning. And I have a feeling
that that is what's happening for you. I think you are no longer getting

(13:03):
a dictosis, So thoughts of foodare prevalent, you're not getting the appetite
correction, You're not getting the benefitsof it. So you got like like
I think maybe your windows were justa little too long, which kind of
sets you up for this sort ofcycle of hard fasts, not having appetite

(13:28):
correction, over eating in your window, and that has now become your pattern.
So if I had a few suggestionsfor you, I one hundred percent
believe that this is going to workfor you. You're going to have to
dial in your eating windows. Sowe've said this before. Don't like I
wouldn't pay attention to your fasts.You say you fast eighteen nineteen hours a

(13:48):
day. Ignore that part. Startfocusing on your windows. Sounds like you're
cooking most of your foods from home, you know, vegetables, meat,
and potatoes, So just really focuson food quality in your window, really
focus on getting in touch with satietyin your window, and that that may

(14:09):
mean how you structure your windows.Are you opening with a hearty snack and
then you're closing with your meal?Are you opening with a meal and closing
with a snack if you need one? Are you doing two light meals,
one at the beginning of your window, one at the end of your window,
So you know, you can playwith that a little bit. And
as for stopping eating sweets, don'tbuy them, don't put them in your

(14:33):
house, get them out of there. If you can get them out of
there, you can get those windowsdown to four to five hours every single
day. And really, really,you know, dialing in satiety you're gonna
get your body to flip the switchagain. You're gonna shift back into fat
burning. You're faster, not gonnabe hard anymore, and you're gonna start
to see the scale move again.Yeah. I was gonna zero in on

(14:56):
that sweet's part, because that's thepart. Listen. Look, everybody who's
listening is one or two types ofpeople. Want one of two. You're
either someone who can easily avoid sweets, and when you have them, you
can have a little bit and stopeating them Like me, I like ice
cream. If I have it inthe house, I will eat too much

(15:18):
of it, so I don't haveit. But overall I'm fine. But
there are other people who cannot moderatewith sweets. And I have been around
the intermittent fasting world long enough toknow that if you feel like you're someone
who cannot moderate with sugar, thenyou probably cannot. And there are people

(15:39):
who have to give up sugar,like like someone who is an alcoholic and
has to give up alcohol. AndI didn't used to think that, you
know how we run everything through ourown personal lens of like, well,
just you know you can have alittle bit just like me, But I
really do now I've changed my thinkingafter being around people who genuinely cannot moderate

(16:00):
with sugar, and you know,hearing it the way it lights up your
brain light heroin for you know,I know, we don't. Our brains
don't all light up from the samesubstances. For me, it's cheese.
No, I'm not really addicted tocheese, but my brain really is happy
from cheese. But sugar is notmy particular struggle. But if you let's

(16:21):
just flip it and talk. Ifit were alcohol, I don't know how
to stop drinking alcohol. I've triedseveral times and nothing worked. That would
be the way an alcoholic would describetheir struggle with battling too much alcohol.
And the only thing that works forsomeone who is an alcoholic is to stop
consuming alcohol. If every time youhave a little alcohol, you cannot stop

(16:45):
and you are out of control withit, that's how you say, oh,
I'm an alcoholic, and I wantyou to consider I don't know for
sure. I'm just going from whatyou said. I don't know how to
stop eating sweets. That sounds likesimilar are kind of a thing. If
you literally cannot stop eating sweets,you may be somebody who needs to have

(17:06):
zero sugar. That doesn't mean youcan ever have fruit. That doesn't mean
you can't have things like that.But when we're talking about sweets, refined
sugar, ice cream, cookies,cake, chocolate bars, candy, if
you cannot stop eating those things,you've got to figure out a way to

(17:29):
stop stop having it, because ifyou can't moderate it with it, just
like an alcoholic can't moderate with alcohol, you may not be able to moderate
with sweets. And I know it'snot easy to give something up that you
love and it's making your brain lightup in a certain way. But you
know, we've had people in ourcommunity who have needed to give up sugar
for their own personal journey, andit's all about knowing yourself. I think,

(17:55):
oh, go ahead. Sorry,Well, I'm just gonna say,
and that could also if you're havinga lot of sugar, that is another
reason why you're faster hard. Youare putting that processed sugar, refined sugar.
It's very easy for your body tostore away, refill those glycogen stores,
so it can keep you from everburning fat. You're putting in a

(18:15):
lot of sugar, storing it away. You're never going to flip that metabolic
switch. Your window is just longenough. And you're craving that sugar,
and I know that you don't wantto give it up, but you know
stopping fasting isn't going to help righteither. It's to me, it really
sounds like sounds like a sugar issue. And I'm sorry to tell you that,

(18:37):
but I really think that that that'syour answer. Yeah, And I
was just going to add to you, like, there are different reasons why
people crave sugar, and it couldbe your gut Yep. If you have
gut bugs that love sugar, you'regonna crave sugar. Your gut bugs want
that sugar fix. But if youknow can abstain from sugar and you know,

(19:03):
work on your gut health, thena lot of those cravings could go
away. In addition, you know, some people crave sugar because they like
that dopamine hit. They need thatdopamine hit, So figure out other ways
to get that dopamine hit. Exercise, meditation, time spent outdoors in the

(19:26):
sun, time spent in nature takingyour shoes off and walking in the grass.
Like, there are so many otherways you can get dopamine hits that
make you feel good that aren't sugar. But we know sugar, you know,
our entire life. If you're havinga bad day, if you're sad,
if you're if you're sick, somebodywants to give you a cookie,

(19:48):
a cake, a sucker, youknow. So we're trained that when we're
not feeling our best and we needto feel good, that sugar will make
us feel good, right, andit does for a minute, right.
So if you can figure out otherways to feel good that are not sugar,
then you kind of start to createnew habits and new responses, so

(20:11):
it doesn't always just come down tolike, you know, I can't do
this, I'm weak. I youknow ei, there's something wrong with me.
That's not it. A lot ofit is just conditioning and what you're
conditioned to do over time. It'sjust the response that you are used to
having when you've had a hard day, that you reach for something sweet to
feel good. It could be yourgut bugs. So a lot of it.

(20:33):
You can make tweaks and you canmake changes and then you won't feel
that that need, like you can'tgo without sugar. Yeah, and it
all becomes so emergent. Feeling.One other hurdle that we often hear from
people. We hear it in thecommunity. They'll say I'm having a hard
time with sugar. Will say doyou get it out of the house,
and they'll say, well, itcan't because dot dot dot. There's a

(20:56):
reason they can't get it out ofthe house. Their children have to have
it, their grandkids have to haveit, they're has to have it.
And if sugar is a real problemfor you and you're struggling with it,
then your kids are not. Theydon't need it either. Honestly, I
remember Will said to me when hewas in high school. I was like,
why why is our food so weirdat home? Why do we not
have because we didn't have those kindslike we didn't have little Debby cakes,

(21:18):
we didn't have sodas in the fridge. My children just didn't have those kinds
of snacks. That's how our householdwas set up. So you know,
they might mutiny at first, butyou're you're the boss, you're the parent,
you're the one who buys the food, and just say, you know,
I've decided that I need to nothave this in the house for me
right now, and it's not goodfor my body, and here's why.

(21:40):
And you're not like saying this isa bad food or never. No,
you're just saying this is we're notgoing to have this in the house right
now, because if it's not goodfor you, it is not good for
your children, your grandchildren, forthe people that you love either. So
that's just something I wanted to popin there. And I definitely don't think
it's because you're weak. It's justsomething you're lights up your brain, just
like I don't think alcoholics are weak. I think it's just their body responds

(22:03):
in a different kind of way,and so you can do it. Though,
And I did have a suggestion whileyou were talking. You know,
I'm not going to tell someone thatthey should be low carb or they should
be keto, but I have afeeling if she just two weeks of low
carb. Yeah, like for twoweeks, go low carb plus you're fasting,

(22:25):
and then add back in high qualityreal food carbs. Like you said
the cooked meals, your vegetables,your meat, and your potatoes. Fruit.
That fruit is a great But twoweeks of low carb, it's like
kind of a reset. You're probablygonna have keto flu and feel terrible and
like literally feel like you have theflu, but you're like, you know,

(22:48):
killing out the gut bugs that lovethe sugar. And then you're not
going to add back into sugar andit'll be like like a refresh. So
and then add back in those goodquality carbs. I saw this just that
made me think too, oh,and you adding in good quality carbs,
Michael. I saw something that MichaelMoseley was on and he had said that

(23:11):
he cited I want to say itwas like research that showed that the more
fiber you add to your diet theless sugar that you'll crave. And I
thought it had something to do withthe gut bugs. Yeah, and I
guess it still could. But hesaid it actually has to do with your
brain. It has to do withyour brain and the craving that something about

(23:34):
the fiber and the fullness factor turnsoff the brain's craving for sugars. Well,
that makes sense. You have toyou know, society is linked to
those stretch receptors and fasting and eatingand fiber and all of those things go
together to help your body have theyou be more in tune with your satiety.

(23:57):
But also the fiber is important.I think I just said words salad,
but hopefully everybody can take it wrong. What I died, You know
what I meant. I'm tired.It's been a long week. I knew
what you meant. Good all right. We have another question. It's when
we get a lot in the DDDcommunity, and this is from HK in

(24:18):
Pennsylvania. Good day, ladies.I just had a quick question. When
you feel an illness coming, shouldyou fast. I woke up in the
middle of the night with a sorethroat and just feeling overall crappy. I
chose to break my fast in orderto take vitamins and probiotics, since I,
of course didn't take them for thelast few weeks. I always tend
to forget to take them during myeating window. I didn't want to have

(24:40):
to wait twelve more hours until mywindow was open at its natural time.
I'm not very far into my intermentand fasting journey, and I'm still working
through my twenty eight day fast start. Thank you for any info. I'm
a big fan of listening to yourbody when you're sick, and if you
feel like you absolutely need to eat, eat, then you should eat.
Like if you feel shaky, ifyou feel nauseous, really really weak,

(25:04):
and you feel like for me,whenever I'm sick, I feel like I
need to eat oranges. Like I'mlike, check out of the store getting
oranges. Yeah. Like literally,I only crave orange juice when I'm sick.
I never drink it, but I'mlike, go get me some orangejees.
I want the kind of pulp Ihave to say that every time.
I like the pulp for whatever reason. But I listen to my body.
But I also feel like fasting ishealing, right, if we're you know,

(25:29):
you've seen animals who are sick andthey fast. Like we had a
cat. It was Will's cat,and something was wrong with him and he
just laid around for like two daysand he didn't eat. You just later
around, literally did not eat.I tried to give him food, he
would not eat it. His littlecat body said, do not eat right
now. I don't know what wasgoing on in there, but he recovered.
He was fine. So our bodiesneed to direct resources to healing.

(25:49):
So this is where if it feelsgood to fast fast, if you feel
like you need something, have it. Sometimes you do need to set fasting
aside to take a medication. Weget a lot of people asking about lozenges
and cough drops, and I havenot taken a lozenger cough drop since before
I was an intermittent faster. Evenwhen I've been sick, I just gargle

(26:11):
with hot salty water. Maybe sipa little hot salty water if I'm sick.
It soothes the throat, use alittle vix Vapo rub, and I'm
not having to break my fast.You know, I don't want to take
a cough drop, and I've neverreally sound that to help me very much.
I don't know does that help youif you're coughing? It really doesn't.
If what I have found, usuallyif you have a tickle in your

(26:33):
throat, it's because you have postnasal drip and you may not even know
you do, but she drinks.That's what's giving you that tickle in your
throat. So drinking some hot wateropens up your airways, steaming your face,
you know, all that evening youcan get to open up your airways.
Hot water helps with that. Drinkinghot water. Actually, you know,

(26:53):
I was an asthmatic child, andyou know, my asthma doctor told
my mom when I was little togive me hot tea to drink, because
just having something hot, if you'vegot like bronchitis or something, it opens
your airways up and it can help, you know, can help alleviate that
sort of irritating cough from having tightairways. And then I was going to

(27:15):
suggest to anything you can get inliquid form, you can pretty much get
in pill form. So if youcan take you know, a cough rather
than taking a cough syrup, ifyou can get like I take a delsum
for my coughs and it comes ina pill form, and I'll take it
rather than the cough syrup, justso that I'm not bothering my my fasts

(27:38):
by taking it. Yeah, Ihaven't taken anything before fasting. I guess
I don't tend to have coughs.Uh yeah, when you have lungs like
mine. That's thee I was notas but just don't cough. No,
sorry, I don't understand people whocough. I will say I used to

(27:59):
get bronchitis every single fall without fail. Since I started fasting, other than
a couple of bouts with COVID,I have not had prunkitis knock would one
time. Now that being said,I remember I used to always get croup.
When I was a kid. Iwould have a creepy kind of cough.
Oh yeah, but as an adult, I haven't had anything like that.

(28:22):
So all right, Well, listento your body, do what you
need to do. Okay, nowit's time for our segment called what's your
Why? Most of us begin intermittentfasting with weight loss in mind, Sherry
did I did nothing wrong with that, But there is so much more to
what intermittent fasting can do for usbeyond weight loss. You've probably heard me

(28:44):
say before one of the first thingsI want you to do is to craft
your why statement. And if you'reusing twenty eight day fast art day by
day, that's right in there.There's like a lot of suggestions for you
before you get started. When yourwhy is deeper than weight loss alone,
we're likely to find long term successand view intermittent fasting as a lifestyle.
So this week we have a wifefrom Anne. She said, I've been

(29:07):
thinking about my why so much latelythrough the intermittent fasting stories and the fast
FEUs Repeat Wednesday podcast, I haverealized that weight maintenance and appearance are not
the primary reason I do intermittent fasting. Self acceptance and good health are so
much more important. Recognizing satiety andeating real foods that serve me is so

(29:30):
much more important than anything else.It sounds easy, but recognizing when I
don't need to eat anymore is sucha difficult task for me. I seem
to think that I should be eatingmore, or that the amount of food
I eat isn't going to be enough, and then I overeat. I know
I will live a long time,and I want that time to be enjoyed
in good health. Yeah, thatcan really be a challenge, right because

(29:52):
we don't know, you know,we're taught from a young age finish your
plate, no matter what, finishthe late pyramid, and yeah, you
should have this many servings of this, this, this, this, and
then we lose our diets we've beenand you know that. Yeah, you
do do get to a point whereyou're like, am I eating too much?
Am I eating not enough? Andthat's where the confusion comes in.

(30:15):
How do I know if I've hadenough protein or vitamins or nutrients. Then
we look at animals and nature.Every single animal that is not fed by
humans is precisely how much to eatand when to stop. They're just eating
the natural foods for their bodies.And I always think about that. Yeah,
and your body will let you know, just like you know mine lets

(30:37):
me know when I don't eat enoughprotein. And that was my focus this
weekend. The last two weekends,I did not take enough protein to work
with me. And by Monday andTuesday, I was just I wasn't hung
like, I wasn't satisfied all weekendof work. I think I talked about
this on the last podcast. Justwasn't so satisfied. I went to bed

(31:00):
hungry. I woke up hungry,and so I did not learn my lesson.
I still didn't take enough the nextweekend, and this past weekend I
took plenty of protein. I hadprotein in my opening snack, I had
protein in my meal, and Ifelt all the difference. And that's my
body. I know my body's needs. So you still don't have to count

(31:22):
it. No, I don't counta thing. Yeah, how many protein
grams you have eaten and add themup and say that wasn't enough? No,
you know, because you're not satisfied, right, And I don't need
as much protein as you do,right, Yeah, yeah, No,
I eat my protein and then gin'sleftover on her plate, it's true.

(31:42):
And then I give her my bread. Yeah, that's true too. We're
perfect dining partners, that's right.My call droom mate was like that with
me. With eggs. We'd goto the dining hall. This is you
know, way back in the eighties. We'd go to breakfast and we'd get
fried eggs and we'd out at themiddle part and I would eat the yellow
and she would eat the white.Oh that's funny. I know, I

(32:05):
like the yolk better. She didn'tlike the Yolk, so we literally would
share the Fridays anyway. That justbrought me back to that, all right.
So now we have a question fromLynn in New Brunswick, Canada.
She said, I'm fifty eight yearsyoung and I'm five foot four. I've
been on a weight loss journey sincetwo thousand and twenty one, when I

(32:27):
started weight Watchers, and I losteighty pounds in less than a year.
I've been trying to lose about anothertwenty pounds since twenty twenty two, but
I have been stuck at one hundredand seventy five pounds. Last October,
I bought fast Fee's Repeat and Ihave been if since then. I've been
consistently fasting, and yet I've onlylost about five pounds. I've lost a
few inches, but not much.During my fast, I only drink black

(32:50):
coffee and water. I try toeat the best I can, but I
do indulge in a few treats hereand there. I'm trying to figure out
what to tweak to bump up myweight loss, but I don't know what
to do. My fasts vary fromeighteen to twenty four hours. I mostly
eat just a light lunch. WhenI break fast at around twelve thirty or
one. Sometimes it could be laterthan that, and then I always close

(33:12):
my window between five and six.Is it better to stick to a protocol
of always the same consistent eighteen six, nineteen five or twenty four. I'm
trying to figure this out here asI'm six months in and I've not lost
much. I understand it can takea while and everybody is different, but
I feel like I should be losingmore as I've been following a very clean
fasting method. I've started listening toyour podcast since October and I love all

(33:36):
the information I get from you andthe fasting community. Any help would be
greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. All right, well, first,
I would like to congratulate e Lynnon your great results so far from when
you started with weight Watchers. You'redown eighty pounds from weight Watchers plus another
five so you were down eighty fivepounds and name I'm bringing that so just

(34:00):
to know, very few people areable to lose a significant amount of their
starting weight and keep it off justin general. So if the only thing
that happens is you maintain at eightyfive pounds down for the rest of your
life. That is one of thebiggest victories that you should just celebrate every
day because that is huge. NowHere we are and you would like to

(34:22):
lose about twenty more pounds, andyou are feeling very stuck at eighty five
pounds down, and I get that. So you were dieting with weight Watchers,
and I imagine you're counting the pointsand eating less because weight Watchers is
basically a low calorie kind of wayof eating over time, and your body

(34:46):
is likely adapted to that. Thenyou started fasting after being stuck on weight
Watchers, and you did lose fivemore pounds, but now you're stuck again.
And so I would bet that youare adapted to exactly where you are
right now, and if you keepdoing what you're doing, you're going to
stay exactly where you are, whichis great because eighty five pounds down is

(35:07):
wonderful, but you would like tolose more. So, Sherry, any
guess what I'm going to suggest.I'm I'm going to guess that you're going
to suggest like a four to threeye A protocol. Yeah, I'm going
to suggest ADF because you know,when we're troubleshooting with people in the community,
on my list of troubleshooting questions,one of them is what has your

(35:29):
weight been doing for the past fewyears? Have you lost weight through any
other method? And if you havelost a substantial amount of weight through another
plan, a diet kind of plan, then it is very likely your metabolism
is slower, because that's what dietsdo. We know that from all the
research on dieting. We know thebiggest loser study, the Minnesota starvation experiment.

(35:52):
When we diet, when we restrictfor a long period of time,
our body slows our metabolic rate toprotect us. It's this this why weight
maintenance is so elusive yep on mostdiet plants. Yep. So in order
to boost your metabolic rate, you'regoing to have to do something about that.
And that is where ADF comes in. And that is where the up

(36:14):
day is so important. The downday where you either choose to have one
five hundred calorie meal or you chooseto fast and you're like for thirty six
hours straight, clean fast for thirtysix hours. That is where your body
can tap into fat. You're notbringing any new fuel in. Your body
has no choice but to tap intostored fuel. That's what that day does.

(36:36):
But the upday is for the metabolicboost, which is why you want
to start eating early on the upday, like with breakfast and have three
meals. We're not trying to loseweight on the up day. You're actually
trying to slightly overeat. So likeif you think of the rhythm of it,
lose a little fat on your downday. Maybe you gain a tiny
bit of fat on your update,but it's not going to be as much

(36:58):
as you lost on the down day. And you just keep repeating that over
and over again. Lose the faton your down day, have the metabolic
boost day. Yeah, you're gonnaput some back into storage, but that
not as much as you took outon the down day. And so that
rhythm will boost your metabolic rate andwill very slowly you'll start to see that
up and down, up and down. Your weight will start to go down.

(37:22):
Now you might some people who've beendieting for a long time might actually
see a little weight gain at firstbecause the update, your body's not boosted
yet. It takes some time.Just like our metalloism doesn't slow down overnight,
it doesn't get boosted overnight as well. But when you've been overly restricting
for a while, you can restassured your body has slowed that metabolic rate.
Yep, I agree, that's reallyall I could add to that.

(37:45):
Yeah, if you you just absolutelydon't want to do ADF, some people
don't. The only thing you cando really is to have a more of
illumine this window for a while,knowing one hundred percent that you're going to
gain some weight, just because basicallythat's kind of like a reverse diet,

(38:10):
and so you want to, youknow, increase what you're eating in your
window over just having one up daya week even though you aren't having any
down days, right, and thengot a boost that over time you can
get that little metabolic boost so thatthen you can you know, go back
to a window like you're doing nowand start to see like some weight loss

(38:32):
because you've you've boosted your metabolism thatway. But it's going to be a
much slower process and it probably isnot going to work as well as an
ADF schedule. And I also wantto throw in here because I think this
is important to always mention. Youknow, she's she's lost eighty five pounds
since twenty twenty one, and she'sfifty eight years old, and I need

(38:54):
people to think way back their wholelife diet history. If you have had
decades of battling with your weight,if you were overweight in middle school,
high school, and you've always beenlike, let's say that you graduated high
school at one seventy five, youknow, forty years ago. That might

(39:15):
be your body's natural place where itwants to settle. And so you might
be fighting a battle that your bodyis not going to let you win with
getting below your body's set point.And I know that is really hard to
hear because we all are like,well, we can all get to our
goal weight if we try hard enough, because that's what the diet industry tells
you. But you can only fightyour body to get to a point where

(39:36):
your body is comfortable letting you be. Your body has all sorts of mechanisms
in place. You know. Youcan look at, you know, the
size you were growing up. Youcan look at your grandmother that you look
like, you know, and lookto your relatives and just see what genetics
are you working with. And that'sjust one of those things that we have
to come to terms with. Thisis the body that I I have,

(40:00):
Yes, and I was not bornwith the body that I wish that I
had been born with, But youwere given the body that you have got,
and so you've got to work withthat body. So I just wanted
to put that out there because youcould make yourself miserable trying to fight a
body in a submission that is notgoing to submit to a lower weight,
just because that's your genetics. AndI have one more thing I want to

(40:22):
add to this is why using morethan the scale as a measurement tool is
so important. Because when you weredoing White Watchers, I guarantee you you
lost muscle mass along with fat.You didn't lose eighty pounds of fat.
So when you started fasting in October, I would bet you have increased your

(40:45):
muscle mass since then. So maybethe scale says you're only down five pounds,
but I bet you're down more thanfive pounds of fat. That's a
good point because now you're getting that. You know that we talked about the
increased human growth hormone, and weare sparing muscle while we're losing fat with

(41:05):
this. And I would guess thatyour body today is not the same body
from October. And you know Iwould bet you're still I bet you have
lost more size than five pounds,would reflect. Does that make sense A
good point? Yep? Yeah,all right. We have a book recommendation

(41:27):
from Phil in Alabama. He said, I've been practicing intermittent fasting five to
six days a week for a fewmonths until I read your book. I
hadn't heard the term clean fast before. My main goal for intermittent fasting is
to prevent progression of non insulin dependentdiabetes. I'm also working my way through
the podcasts and I'm up to episodenine. So now I am fast and

(41:51):
clean seventeen to eighteen hours per day, depending on my schedule. I have
a book recommendation for your consideration.I've read it several times and shared with
friends. The title is Change Anything, The New Science of Personal Success by
Patterson Grinny, Maxfield, Macmillan andSwitzer, published in twenty eleven. It's
a practical guide to using multiple interventionsto literally change anything. Fitness, career,

(42:16):
spending, whatever, is a sourceof discomfort in your life. And
my answer to the comment that fastingis hard, diabetes is hard. Being
out of shape as hard, agingpoorly as hard. Yes, correct fasting
is not always easier easy, butit is easier than the alternatives of poorly
managed diabetes and other chronic health conditions. Wow, and I love that,

(42:40):
Phil. You are exactly right.You know everything is going to be hard.
Eating all day was really hard?Yep yep. Here's the book description
from Amazon. For example, whyis it that ninety five percent of all
diet attempts fail? Why do NewYear's resolutions last no more more than a

(43:00):
few days. Why can't people withgood intentions seem to make consistent and positive
strides? Based on the latest researchin a number of psychological and medical fields,
the authors of Change Anything will showthat traditional willpower is not necessarily the
answer to these strivings, that peopleare affected in their behaviors by far more

(43:21):
subtle influences. Change Anything shows howindividuals can come to understand these powerful and
influential forces, and how to putthese forces to work in a positive manner
that brings real and meaningful results.That sounds really good. I've never heard
it does sounded good? No,I hadn't, but it actually kind of
reminds me what I said in thelast episode when I was talking about somebody

(43:45):
who was fighting their sugar cravings islike, that was this episode? Was
it this episode? Yeah? Ohokay, but then we are recorded to
today everybody, in case you're like, what's happening, we're recording too in
a row. So we've been recordingnow for like two hours through that's to
end this episode. So that wasmy whole point as they talk about how

(44:06):
they said, you know, individualscan come to understand these powerful and influential
forces or that were affected by behaviors, you know, by subtle influences.
And that's the thing is every singlething in our life has influenced like our
thoughts and our feelings and our behaviorsand our habits, and like you don't
even realize that they're happening. Theycan just be little little things here and

(44:30):
there. And sometimes it's like understandingall those little pieces to the puzzle so
that you can put the puzzle togetherin a different way. And that's kind
of way when I was reading throughthe description of this book that it made
me kind of think of that kindof get to the source of the problem
that you want to change. Yeah, So we have one more question this

(44:52):
week, and this is from Strugglingin Scotland. Hi, I'm five foot
four inch forty three year old female. My current weight is fifty two kilograms,
so that's in my head roughly onehundred and eight pounds maybe, and
I have lost approximately fifteen kilograms sinceJuly of twenty twenty two. I started

(45:14):
IF as I'm always interested in healthand longevity, but I'm finding really hard
to get out of the diet mindset. Less is more mindset, and I'd
really like some help with regards tofood intake and possible advice on what foods
help you to not feel sluggish whiletrying to eat healthy and in a longer
window. I've been doing a laterone to one and a half hour window

(45:36):
approximately four pm, three to fourdays a week, and then eating earlier
in the days I don't work.However, this week I have been taking
some Greek yogurt to have at mybreak at work in order to try to
open earlier with a smaller window.But I'm unsure what to start with.
I feel like I'm stuck in arut, and I've been speaking to my
doctor as I have calcium deficiency andrain syndrome. My hormones are okay,

(46:01):
but I do have low blood pressure. They are aware of the IE of
lifestyle, and they haven't commented eitherway. I understand we are all different
in what works for someone doesn't necessarilywork for another. I would like to
mention I'm a very healthy eater.I usually open my window with suakraut and
then some homemade soup with oat cakes. I enjoy a bowl of brussels zucchini,

(46:22):
chopped carrots, mushroom, and redpepperst or fried in some oil with
garlic seasoning daily. So the calciumdeficiency is tricky as I eat lots of
foods which should benefit my calcium results. I enjoyed chicken, fish, vegetables,
stews, all grains, especially lentils, split peas, dark chocolate,
and some fruits. But I've sufferedfrom ibs previously, so I tend to

(46:43):
stick to the same ones in rotation. Sorry for the long message, but
I hope I've given you enough info. I enjoy the I of lifestyle as
I like the freedom from thinking aboutfood constantly. However, at the moment
I don't have that freedom, asI feel I need to get out of
this current mindset. Okay, Ijust did some calculations and she weighs about

(47:04):
one hundred and fifteen pounds at fivefour and I ran that through the smart
BMI is she's on the very lowend of the healthy weight range, so
it sounded pretty low to me.Yeah, and it seems to me like
you might be accidentally over restricting.You do not need a one hour to
one and a half hour window.You need a longer window. And the

(47:29):
thing is is that I know itsounds to me like you're stuck in diet
brain maybe. And you know you'veyou've done great with your weight laws.
You're at a healthy weight, butalmost to the point that you don't want
to lose anymore. Would you saythat that you agree without sherry? Yeah?
So, and the problem is she'ssluggish, is that what That's what

(47:51):
I'm getting. That's what I'm getting, Like that she's not eating in a
longer window because she gets sluggish aftereating. So it sounds like she's waiting
until after work to eat, whichis leaving her with a very short window.
Right. And here's the thing,you're you're right that you're probably always
not going to feel the same amountof energy after you eat that you felt
well fasting, because digestion takes alot of energy. But you may find

(48:16):
that what you eat makes a bigdifference. Like here's an example. When
I have periods where I am morewhole food plant based, I don't get
the ups and downs and crashes andlulls whole food plant based. When I
eat I feel great energy. Irealized after being whole food plant based for
whatever that period of time was thefirst time I trod it, and then

(48:37):
I reintroduced everything. I realized eggsmake me sluggish, meat makes me sluggish,
dairy makes me sluggish. But ifI eat whole food plant based,
I do not feel sluggish. Soyou may figure out you know, it's
what you're eating. But I wouldhighly encourage you to widen that window because
you don't want to lose any moreweight, and I think that you might

(49:00):
need just maybe like a five hourwindow, I don't know, and really
pay attention to what foods make youfeel feel more sluggish after you eat them?
Yeah, do you have anything toadd? I really don't. I
mean, definitely, for me,I know which foods make me feel sluggish
after I eat them, and aslong as I stick with like high fiber

(49:22):
veggies like a salad, I'm notgonna get sluggish. If I have some
high fiber veggies, and I feelyou know, I have a salad that's
got different greens and cabbage and redbell pepper and you know, cucumber and
some protein in it. I'm notgonna be sluggish after that. I'm not
going to notice a change in myenergy at all. But the minute I
eat like a heavy meal that's higherin fat and has you know, like

(49:47):
less high fiber carbs like pasta orrice, I am going to get that
after I've eaten kind of slow,sluggish, snooze feeling. So that's why
I tend to save those for youknow, the end of my eating window,
when I'm ready to wind down forthe night, and I tend to

(50:08):
open my eating window with with morevegetables and some lean proteins. For me,
white cottage cheese and fruit is agreat opening. For Gin, that's
not a great opening. Fruit makesher not feel great to open her window
with. Yeah, I can haveit stuff I've eaten something else, but

(50:29):
not to open with. So yeah, I think it's really going to just
depend on volume two. Like Ican't eat a big volume meal to open
my window because then all of asudden, I've got this really full stomach
and all my energy is going todigest that food. So I do much
better with either like a light mealor several little small, snacky type things.

(50:53):
Yeah. Like I would really encourageher to maybe just like lengthen and
spread out what she's eating. Mmhmm yep, because that's the other problem
too. If you're trying to keepa short window, you're getting a large
volume of food at once, andyou're gonna have a greater blood glucose response.
True. Yeah, then if youyou know, kind of spread that
out, that you're not going tohave that sharp spike in blood glue coast

(51:15):
and then it'll fall. It's goingto kind of kind of go up,
and it's going to kind of staya little bit elevated, and then it's
going to gradually come back down.And that's that's gonna be better. It's
gonna make you feel better. You'll, Like I think about American Thanksgiving,
everybody needs to take a nap afterthat big meal. You know, it's
not usually a very long meal,but we're stuffed and we need to rest
after that. All Right, Beforewe get to our tweak of the week,

(51:37):
I want to take a minute totalk about my books in which ones
you need. If you are newto intermittent fasting, or you're restarting after
a break, or you're just inneed of a refresh, you're gonna want
twenty eight day Fast Art Day byDay. You also are gonna need fast
Feast Repeat, because twenty eight dayFast Art Day by Day is a companion
book to fast feat Repeat, Andas you go along your intermittent fasting lifestyle,

(52:00):
going to want to have that asyour resource. And if you're a
settled intermittent faster and you know youwant to clean up what you're eating,
your personal care products, and thecleaning products you use in your home,
then I think you will enjoy cleanish. I wrote it so that the process
of cleaning up would seem less daunting. You can take a step by step
approach, and you control it everystep of the way, and you don't

(52:22):
have to make any changes you're notready for yet. Although I'm still over
here wearing my clean deadorant super exciting, are you? Yeah, I'm on
my second summer. Did you useit all through last summer? Yeah?
I never have stopped using it?Really? Yeah? Okay, all right,
well I might have to give ita try you should. All right,

(52:44):
Now it's time for our tweak ofthe week. You know, I
always say tweak it till it's easy. But the tweak that works for me
might not be the one that worksfor you. And that is why it's
super helpful to hear how other intermittentfasters are making intermittent fasting work for them.
This tweet was submitted by Kate inSeattle. She says, I'm still
new at this. I've been cleanfasting since February, but I found an

(53:07):
important tweak for opening my window.I'll start with something liquid, maybe coffee
with cream in it, but morelikely a cup of hot broth or iced
herbal tea. Then an avocado,followed by a more hearty thing like an
open faced sandwich with chicken vegetable soupor split piece soup or a cob salad.

(53:29):
The idea is to ease into theheavier food first, wake up my
insulin response with the creamy coffee orthe flavored tea, and my digestive system
knows something is on the way,all right. That can also help if
someone sends to have bathroom urgency immediatelyafter opening. Waking up slowly with something
like that like the bral you sayno to that. I mean, it

(53:51):
depends on why they're having bathroom emergency. That's true. Yeah, I don't
have that problem. So sometimes youdon't want to add more liquid to the
equation. I've seen some people thatthis really works well for them, opening
with yeah I can. And it'sthat whole bio individual to figure out what
works for you exactly. See nowI wouldn't do well, I know,
Kate suggests ice herbal tea would makeme sick, and so would coffee with

(54:13):
cream. Want an empty stomach likeI would have a crash. Yes I
would too, so get nauseous.Probably me too. And again this is
why the tweak that works for memight not be the one that works for
you. If I just had coffeewith cream, I would get shaky and
starving because my blood sugar would crash. And also the herbal tea would do
the same thing. So it's allabout figuring out what works for you and

(54:35):
what your body needs. Yep,all right, Well, we love to
leave you with inspiration or motivational quotes, and this week we have a message
from Kathy in Colorado. She wrote, maybe I heard this on the internet,
fasting Stories podcast, but I can'ttruly remember where I heard it,
but it really makes me think aboutmaking healthy choices for ourselves in order to
be there for our family. Thequote is, of course you would for

(55:00):
your child, but would you lovehealthy for them? Ooh that's powerful.
That is very powerful. Thanks somuch for listening today. We would love
to have you join us in theDelayed on Tonight community, where you can
interact with both me and Sherry plusthe most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll
find anywhere. Go to Jenstevens dotcom slash community to join us. Don't

(55:23):
forget to subscribe to this podcast toyour favorite podcast app, and if you
haven't already, please leave us afive star review that helps new listeners find
the show and we really appreciate it. 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 elseyou want us to share on the podcast,

(55:45):
go to Fast Feast Repeat dot comslash submit and then listen each week
to see if we share your submissionor answer your question until next week.
Thanks for listening.