The Fasting and Eating Protocol That Have Led to My Husband and I Losing Over 200 Pounds Together (Fast Shot)
Today I take you “behind the scenes” to hear how Ray Baby and I began Intermittent Fasting two years ago–and the impact that this decision has had on us, including…
+balancing blood sugar and insulin to reduce cravings
+becoming fat adapted so hunger is almost non existent at least 18 hours a day
+hearing leptin signals telling us that we are full and should stop eating (and encouraging us to move!)
+changing our appetite for healthier foods
+much more!
Hear our two year journey in a quick 25 minute video!
I hope this inspires you that you can make changes at any age (we are nearing 60!)…and that your body can be on your side–rather than against you!
A. How We Began Intermittent Fasting
1. Donna
a. Two years ago this month; heard you could eat whatever you wanted and still lose weight
b. Had been doing plant-based supplements for two years and had turned around many health issues and went off several medications (med-free!)
c. Had been doing food changes and movement changes gradually over previous ten years and had lost 50 pounds with 65 pounds to go
d. Was tired of limiting carbs and trying to do keto with little success
2. Ray
a. Had been doing plant-based supplement for one year and had turned around many health issues and went off all medications and had lost 15 pounds with 120 to go
b. Two years ago December 5th
c. Couldn’t dance
d. Next day began fasting to dance with me!
B. First Year of IF
a. Enjoyed eating carbs again!
b. Began OMAD (one meal a day)
c. Two-three weeks in, could fast for 18 hours a day with little hunger
d. Discovered benefit of lowering insulin and making it easier to not eat as much junk food
e. Discovered that when insulin is lowered each day, your leptin (satiety hormone) goes up—and you can hear it better when you don’t eat six to twelve times a day
f. Discovered that when fasting, you can control the hormone grehlin and hear when you are full much sooner
g. The combination of lowering insulin, raising leptin, and lowering/hearing grehlin made many changes happen naturally
i. Less hunger
ii. Less willpower needed
iii. Fewer cravings
iv. Able to control total intake
v. Able to reduce processed foods (circular results—fasting made me eat fewer processed foods; eating fewer processed foods made me able to balance my hormones and fast better and eat more healthfully)
C. Second Year of IF
1. Changed our eating dramatically
a. Naturally happened
b. Few processed foods in the house
c. Sugar dramatically decreased (no sugar protocol except for planned occasions)
d. REAL, REAL, REAL
i. Stopped focusing on this macro being bad or this one being good and instead focused on real foods with all macro combinations
ii. 4 to 10 fruits and vegetables a day—starchy, non-starchy, low cal, higher cal….just real
2. Was able to implement a “decide ahead of time” eating approach
a. Deciding the day before what I would eat tomorrow
b. Simple since I only eat twice a day
c. Takes 1-3 minutes
d. Not numbers—just foods I will eat and when
3. Discovered “Hungry Brain” by Dr. Stephan Guyenet
a. My Trifecta
b. His teaching on dopamine spikes
c. Tested the “stretching out of treats” and it worked!
d. Now I know that if I reduce my treats, I will want fewer treats
D. Future Plans and Protocols
1. Keep tweaking until we reach our weight goals
a. Goals—15 pounds for Ray; 17 pounds for me
b. What does fasting look like for someone who weighs what I weigh and has the set point/genetic factors that I have?
c. What does eating look like for someone who weights what I weigh and has the set point/genetic factors that I have?
d. How will I think? What thoughts lead to weight management success at our ages and our history
2. Keep moving!
a. Muscle the number one factor in senior health
b. Muscle allows you to eat more food—which is a big factor for people in their 50’s and 60’s—they simply can’t eat much to weight their ideal weight
3. Continue helping others
a. https://intermittentfastingcourse.com
b. Two new books
i. Worth the Wait to Lose the Weight
ii. Weight Loss Lifestyle: How We Became the Minus 230 Pound Pair
c. Weight loss coaching donnareish.com
d. Free materials
i. IF start up charts https://donnareish.com
ii. Free sugar-free book, Sugar-Free Solutions at https://donnareish.com
iii. Free webinar https://intermittentfastingwebinar.com
iv. Free video training each week in FB group
How Intermittent Fasting Helps Me Keep My Goals for the New Year! (Fast Shot)
1) Training hunger hormone, grehlin!
2) Helping us hear the satiation hormone of leptin.
3) Keeping insulin low (helping us hear leptin and reducing cravings).
4) Saving our willpower for when we need it most!
I can help you get started on this amazing way of life right away! Join an upcoming session of my “Start Intermittent Fasting Tonight” Webinar! https://intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Love and hope,
Donna
P.S. FREE—sign up today: https://intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Intermittent Fasting Journal #56: How Much Do the Eating Window and Fasting Window Lengths Affect Weight Loss
Should you focus on the length of the fasting period or the food in the eating window for weight loss? Does longer always mean better weight loss? Should you eat differently if you have a short fast or a long fast?
Donna Reish, Intermittent Fasting teacher, blogger, weight loss coach, and curriuculum author, answers these and many other questions in this broadcast. She begins with the “Is IF magic” question.
Then she uses graphics to show four main ways we lose weight, inches, and cravings through IF.
Then she turns her attention to various fasting hours–and their effect on the foods and weight loss. These include 16:8; 18:6; 19:5; 20:4; 21:3; and more.
Follow along with the outline below! 🙂
A. Is IF Magic?
1. The magic of IF is in its ability to
a. Reduce insulin so reduce hunger and cravings
b. Control hunger by controlling hunger and satiety hormones
c. Helping us to lose inches as the body goes into fat burning mode during the fast
d. Keeping all of our food intake in a shortened period of time, which controls total food intake and non-fuel eating (and lets us eat more at one time, which most find more satisfying)
2. Four ways we lose weight, inches, and cravings through IF (see charts below)
B. 16:8
1. Might barely be into fat burning mode depending on food eaten day before
2. Super healthy way to live
3. Eight hours is usually too long to eat and cause a caloric deficit unless there are other parameters in place like two meals only or certain eating protocols
C. 18:6, 19:5
1. Usually enough time to be into fat burning mode, again, depending on what you ate the day before
2. Easily sustainable after the first three weeks or so (body adapts, clock hunger, etc.)
3. Can still overeat! Especially if grazing or not eating real foods
4. Leptin (satiety hormone) often doesn’t recognize drinks, processed foods, etc (this is why people who lost to goal on IF usually eat real foods or a real food protocol)
5. Can be two meals; one snack and one meal, etc. for weight loss
D. 20:4, 21:3
1. Longer fasting gives body a chance to be in fat burning better, but not mandatory
2. Harder to sustain
3. Many people call this OMAD—though most do not just eat one meal but often eat throughout the eating window or a snack, then dinner, then dessert
4. Many OMAD people do OMAD so they can eat whatever they want -but might still have trouble getting to goal (last 10-20 pounds) if eating processed foods/calorie dense foods during your OMAD, especially if not truly only doing one meal
E. Many factors to consider—
F. Join my Intermittent Fasting Course for November to get fasting strong before the holidays!
Halloween Candy, Dopamine Spikes, and Allowing Urges (Fast Shot)
How many Halloween candies do you have left? Which ones are your favorites? Have you ever thought about why those particular candies are your faves? Come to find out, our favorites are often our favorites because of the combination of ingredients that cause dopamine spikes that make us want more and more and more of that candy.
It’s not our faults!
But we can do something about it!
Yay us!
In today’s Fast Shot video, I explain why the top three Halloween candies hold those spots in our tummies!
I also explain The Hungry Brain’s “Seductive Six” or hyper-palatable combinations that lead to overeating–and give you five work-able suggestions to reduce those cravings with Halloween candy–and all holiday goodies. These five tips are ways we can “hack” our bodies and brains and thinking and habits! I love hacks!
Let me know if these tips help you–and let me know how I can help you in the future! I want us all to succeed!!
A. Favorite Halloween Candy According to Monmouth University Study
1. Reese’s Cups (36%)
2. Snickers (18%)
3. M and M (11%)
B. Why Those Three?
1. They have what Dr. Stephen Guyenet (The Hungry Brain) calls “Seductive Factors”
2. They are hyper-palatable
3. These are the “Seductive Six” that, when combined, cause huge dopamine spikes (combined, they all lead to a food that is “calorie dense”)
a. Fat
b. Carbohydrate
c. Protein
d. Sweet flavors
e. Salty
f. Unami (meaty, savory flavor)
4. All of the top three candies have three to five of the Seductive Six elements
5. The more calorie dense/unreal/seductive the foods are, the more dopamine we release—the motivation/habit chemical in the brain
6. This is why we don’t get “fat” from Starburst or licorice! (And they those types of candies are not in the top three Halloween candies!)
C. How Can We Ward Off the After-Halloween Urges
1. Believe that urges are not urgent
a. We think they are
b. We think they overtake us or creep up on us, etc.
c. We don’t think we are an active participant in them!
2. Practice fasting!
a. Your insulin will go lower during the fast, and cravings will be reduced
b. Your satiety and hunger hormones will balance more—and you will hear them better (though remember that we don’t hear them as well with processed foods)
c. Your eating window will be less—which has to help at least in part simply by time constraints
3. Create barriers
a. Get rid of leftovers
b. Don’t be afraid to throw them away
c. Tell your kids not to let you have any of their stash
4. Plan for them
a. How many are you keeping?
b. When will you eat them?
c. Don’t eat them any time other than when you have planned for them!
d. Planning ahead uses your adult brain rather than your toddler brain!
5. Space out time between treats (especially highly seductive or hyper-palatable)
a. The longer you wait between treats, the less dopamine is released
b. New neuro-pathways are created in the brain
c. Unanswered urges become fewer urges or even no urges
d. I want to teach you not to resist (or fight!) urges…I want to teach you to feel the feelings and sit with urges without giving in until you have very few urges
e. So much better to not have urges than it is to fight them over and over! (Check out Broadcast #57 and #58 for a two-part video on Willpower!)
D. I’d Love to Teach You More
1. Free IF Webinar: https://intermittentfastingwebinar.com
2. Month-long Intermittent Fasting Course: https://intermittentfastingcourse.com
3. Private weight loss coaching: email characterinklady(AT)gmail.com
Fast Shot: How My Husband and I Lost Weight During the Last Two Holiday Seasons (and Why Beginning IF Is Amazing During This Time)
Welcome to another Fast Shot video. This is a timely one–and one that I hope will convince you that the holiday season is the ideal time to begin Intermittent Fasting! I know..I know…most people STOP their eating protocols during the holidays, not add new ones. But IF is the PERFECT protocol to begin during the holidays as it will truly help you get a handle on those holiday goodies and heavy foods WITHOUT so much white knuckling and super human willpower! (Honest!)
So join me fasting….and join me in the course too if you want daily help for a month! I’d love to help you! intermittentfastingcourse.com
And…as always…my detailed outline! (Aren’t you so glad I’m an English teacher and curriculum author of over 100 kids’ curriculum books? lol)
A. Began IF October and December 2017
1. Might have heard my story—began IF to “eat whatever I wanted” during October of 2017
2. Might have heard my husband’s story—began IF so he could dance with me (sigh….all the feels!) the first week of December of 2017
3. Both of us have lost weight during the holiday season 2017 and 2018
Sign up for November course–use code SAVE20 to get $20 off! https://intermittentfastingcourse.com
B. Five Reasons the Holiday Season Is the BEST Time to Begin Intermittent Fasting!
1. You can eat whatever you want—diet food or your regular food (depending on your health goals)
a. People don’t want to “start diets” because they think they can’t keep them during the “food months”—
b. But you don’t have to “stay on a diet” to practice IF (unless you want to!)
2. You don’t use up all of your willpower during the day when you practice IF
a. Four hours of temptations per day
b. 119 food thoughts per day
c. Probably more during holidays!
d. You get fat adapted after the first couple of weeks and no longer need willpower for fasting—and all of your willpower is saved up to use during your eating window!
3. You will likely lose weight during November and December if you begin IF
a. Most people go into the new year gaining weight
b. Even with eating a relatively SAD (standard American diet), you will likely lose weight if you practice IF during November and December
4. You will likely eat fewer treats and less heavy foods after several weeks of IF
a. You will probably eat way less than you usually do during November and December
b. Obviously, you have less time to eat, which can (or might not) affect your total intake
c. But the longer you fast, the higher your leptin (satiety hormone) is and/or the better you hear it
i. This leads to eating less over all
ii. It also affects the types of foods you choose
iii. AND…it even makes you want to move your body—all things we need during food-heavy months
5. You will be ahead on January first when you are usually just starting to try to “lose the holiday weight”!
a. Research shows that 55% of resolutions are health related
b. And only 8% of people keep them
c. Most fall off by January 12th
d. You can make IF a way of life—not something you fall off of or start/stop!
e. Even if you eat a SAD, your health will be positively impacted by the fast itself (brain health, immunity, disease prevention, blood sugar reduction, and more) and you will likely drop weight as well!
C. No Downside to Starting IF During the Holidays!
1. Only health benefits
2. Potential weight loss
3. More control during the holidays
4. Feeling great in two to three weeks (lose that afternoon sluggishness—oh, I LOVE this about IF!).
5. Balancing of hormones insulin, leptin, and grehlin that is usually only seen in extremely low carb keto diets (75% fat, 20 grams of carbs) or extremely low fat (20-30 grams a day!)
D. Learn How to Fast Incrementally and With Support!
1. Daily 20-30 minute teaching videos that you need to know for each day on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc.
2. Private FB group and access to me to answer all of your questions as you learn
3. Amazing video teaching, outlines, and graphics to help cement all of the concepts
4. Incremental—what you need when you need it so that you are not overwhelmed
5. Help during the first two to three weeks as you balance your hormones and get over the “hangries”
6. Tools, tips, and tricks not taught in any other IF program!
7. “A month to learn it—a lifetime to live it!”
8. https://intermittentfastingcourse.com
Finding Your Fasting Hours Sweet Spot (Fast Shot)
How can you find your fasting sweet spot?
That is, find the time of day and eating window time that works best for YOU!
Remember, there are four main elements that affect our weight loss, inch loss, and craving loss with Intermittent Fasting. These four components can influence your eating window.
Once you apply those, you also need to personalize it–how to see which end of your waking hours work best for you to not eat vs. when you have the most difficulty with fasting.
Here’s the short (!) Fast Shot Video and mini outline for you!
Fast Shot: Finding Your Fasting Sweet Spot! (No Pun Intended)
A. Four Things That Affect Weight, Inch, and Craving Reductions
B. Total Fasting Hours
When would you like to be awake without food?
Sleep and fasting
C. Counting Fasting Hours vs. Eating Hours
Averaging
Adjusting
Take my FREE hour long webinar where you will get your fasting questions answered—“10 Intermittent Fasting Questions”! https://intermittentfastingworkshop.com
Emotional Eating and the Model Part I of V (Fast Shot)
Emotional eating. How can we overcome it? Or why does it often feel like it is overcoming us?
I always thought our cravings, appetites, urges, binges, and eating were out of our control. That they just happened to us.
Until….
I learned I could control hunger, insulin responses, and even cravings to a certain extent with supplementation.
I could control hunger, insulin responses, much emotional eating, and cravings with Intermittent Fasting.
I could control cravings, urges, and binges through real foods.
And now….
I have learned that I can control urges, binges, and emotional eating through controlling my thoughts and feelings. It is absolutely incredible—and I am excited that my weight loss coaching school gives us permission to use Brooke Castillo’s materials in our teaching (with proper accreditation, of course!).
So…let’s dig into how we can control our responses to urges and binges and emotional eating through the use of Brooke’s Model for life coaching.
I’ll see you soon in Part II of V—- I can’t tell you how much I want to teach you this life changing information! And how much goodness I want for you in your life!
A. Introduction
1. Believe that life is 50/50—50% good and 50% bad
2. Circumstances, thoughts, feelings, actions, and results can all go into Brooke Castillo’s Self-Coaching Model in order to feel our feelings as they are, change our feelings, change our actions, change our results, etc.
3. MODEL—
C—Circumstances
T—Thought
F—Feeling
A—Action
R—Result
B. Five Model Choices for Emotional Eating
1. Part I: Keep the original model—and feel the feelings if the actions do not have a net negative consequence (grief—crying, watching Netflix for a couple of hours, but no real negative net consequence, and I want and need to feel these feelings.
C—Aunt’s funeral
T—I’m so sad my dad died
F—Grief
A—Lie in bed crying, text my sister, watch Netflix for a couple of hours
R—Red eyes, feel better, no harm
2. Part II: Keep the emotion (grief), but change the action and the thought (see below)
3. Part III: Change the thought in order to change the emotion and the action
4. Part IV: Keep all the same and learn to sit with the urge/feelings as they are
5. Part V: Keep all the same and give in to urge (resulting in a net negative in your life)
C. Choice One:
Keep the original model—and feel the feelings if the actions do not have a net negative consequence (grief—crying, watching Netflix for a couple of hours, but no real negative net consequence, and I want and need to feel these feelings.
C—Aunt’s funeral
T—I’m so sad my dad died
F—Grief
A—Lie in bed crying, text my sister, watch Netflix for a couple of hours
R—Red eyes, feel better, no harm, no emotional eating since my thought did not Link my sadness to giving in to urges (see Part II of V)
D. Summary
This is a clean model—that means that I don’t feel the need to change anything. When we have thoughts and feelings that lead to emotional eating, we have to dig in to our brains and change our thoughts and feelings so we can choose healthier options rather than over eating or bingeing or giving into cravings.
It might feel overwhelming right now—but stay with me! It’s worth it—and it works!
Three Intermittent Fasting Surprises (Fast Shot)
When I began Intermittent Fasting, I quickly found three amazing, actually-life-changing, surprises.
I had already learned that I could burn body fat, control hunger, and reduce cravings.
(Learn more about those IF body/hormone changes at my Intermittent Fasting Course! https://intermittentfastingcourse.com)
But then there were three surprises….
Three things that have helped my husband and I to lose 160+ pounds together in the past two years with IF!
Check out this short video as I explain them….
1) Less emotional eating
2) No nighttime snacking (without pain because my meal was so amazing!)
3) No nibbles—real meals!
I think you would love the IF surprises awaiting you!
Love and hope,
Donna
P.S. Use the code SAVE20 to save 20% off my course!
My Three Favorite Things About Intermittent Fasting (Fast Shot Video!)
Of course, I have a detailed outline for you! 🙂
I want the whole world to know that they can have appetite control. That they can control their food intake….that their body can help them for once!
I hope it helps you!
(more…)
Six Reasons You Might Benefit From the Intermittent Fasting Course (Fast Shot)
Have you seen my video about why the Intermittent Fasting course could be a life-changer for you? I have six reasons I would love to share with you….check out the video (and outline!) below….
