Intermittent Fasting Journal – Week 18

In this episode, Donna Reish, Intermittent Fasting blogger, teacher, and podcaster, gives her and her husband’s five and six months update, including a total weight loss of over sixty pounds for the two of them and multiple clothing sizes. She describes how, unlike other weight management plans they have tried, they continue to lose pounds, inches, sizes, etc., in a plan that they are able to easily implement and stick with—even during special times and vacations! During the “Listener Lessons” portion of this recording, Donna explains their vacation experiences of twelve days out of fourteen traveling for business and pleasure and how they continued with at least sixteen hours of fasting during this time. She teaches readers the importance of deciding ahead of time what your eating plans will always be rather than waiting until the heat of the moment and letting hunger or emotions make decisions for you. By deciding ahead of time what her fasting protocol was going to look like during these trips, she was able to plan for each day ahead of time and stick with her plan. Donna continue to teach about how we need to “plan our specials carefully.” One special can turn into two, which can turn into three…and the next thing you know, everything is special, and it is hard to meet our weight management goals. She gives benchmarks that she uses for choosing “specials.” She explains the difference between other weight loss times in which she “threw in the towel” before vacation because it felt futile—compared to Daily IF in which you just vary your eating window so minimize vacation weight gain. This mindset shift included starting vacation on a strong note of good fasts before the trip. Donna then examines her vacation days and why she chose to fast when she did and eat when she did. She encourages listeners to create new food associations and new pleasurable activities in place of eating (during fasting hours). She helps listeners learn to use self talk to motivate oneself and help achieve self discipline. Lastly, she describes a new product from the show’s sponsor, Plexus Slim Hunger Control and she teaches how this plant-based, healthy drink can help with fasting.

A. Our Experiences

Six months for me; five months for my husband
15 pounds and one size loss for me
45 pounds and three pants sizes for Ray
No real weight gain ever…easy to maintain any losses
Most consistent weight loss protocol we’ve ever done—-one that we truly never need to go off and on!
When weight loss is slow, inches still go and more clothes fit!

B. Listener Lessons—Navigating special occasions; my vacation experiences

Our May travels

a. Four days Niagara Falls trip (7 hour drive first day; 2 days there; 7 hour drive last day)
b. Two days at home
c. 6 days of business and leisure in Orlando (two days of flights, etc. and four days there)

2. Deciding ahead of time

a. Decide ahead of time what your plans will be; don’t wait until you’re faced with food and decisions to decide……
b. I decided I would average a certain number of fasting hours over the 14 total days….at least 16 hours of fasting (I averaged 17)
c. I had to choose my specials carefully…while these were fun and exciting trips, they weren’t “trips of a lifetime”—decided I wanted to keep my fasting going at least to 2MAD (2 meals a day)

3. Leave on a strong note

a. Unlike other diets, I don’t throw in the towel at the beginning of the trip (or before the trip even starts!) because “there’s no use trying”—-fasting can be done in any situation—even if it is just a 14 hour fast or 16 hour fast
b. So I fasted strongly before I left—-22 and 23 hour fasts on the days before I left
c. I examined the schedule and realized that since we weren’t leaving til 4:00 pm on the first day, that would be a regular fasting day for me!
d. Unlike past diets, I no longer look for ways to “go off”—instead I look for ways I can stay on. This is how I know this is a lifestyle! Drastic mindset change!

4. How I “Kept” the Fast

a. Made a decision to skip the expensive FREE breakfast that came with our room at the inn. It wasn’t special enough—-we had other meals all together with the kids later in the day; I’m not hungry in the mornings; this would automatically give me at least a 16 hour fast every day
b. Again, personal decision—-sometime on a European trip or cruise (once in a lifetime types of trips), I might choose breakfast…but not now
c. This made me down to two meals a day…keeping one of them smaller allowed me to not get overly full
d. Decided that travel days would be long fasting days—driving to Canada and then later flying to Florida…..I decided the “specials” were nice restaurants and family meals—not snacks in the car or overpriced airport food. #chooseyourspecialscarefully

5. Substitution Is the Answer

a. I substituted pleasurable activities for the three breakfasts
b. Making new associations that are not centered around food is crucial
c. While food, socializing, fellowship, celebrations, etc. all bring joy, food should not be as big of a joy as it is to us….we need to decrease its hold on our joy and allow other pleasurable activities to replace the role that food holds in many of our associations
d. I substituted a bubble bath, a Hulu show at 8 in the morning (gasp!), and listening to a mindset audio for breakfast…I told myself aloud: “This bubble bath is so relaxing. I don’t need food to enjoy things and relax!” Self talk works!

6. Talking to Myself

a. “How will I feel later?”—-huge self talk for me…how will I feel if I break my fast early, don’t keep my OMAD/3; etc. I even answer it aloud: “If I keep my fast til 22 hours today, I will feel thinner; I will feel successful; I will be happy when I eat.”
b. Tell yourself (aloud if possible) how this walk, knitting, movie, book, bubble bath, bike ride, concert, love making….anything is pleasurable and makes you happy instead of food.
c. Tell yourself often that you do not need food for happiness all the time. That you do enjoy food and it makes you happy in your window, in a celebration, in your dessert or dinner time….but that it doesn’t make you happy all the time and that you don’t need it to be happy.

C. New Plexus Slim Hunger Control

1. Second Plexus Slim

a. First one—watermelon….Slim Gut Health—contains prebiotics for gut health, as well as plant-based ingredients for energy, sleep, pain relief, lowering cholesterol and lipids, carb craving control
b. Second one—-citrusy—Slim Hunger Control—brand new—contains same as Gut Health one with the subtraction of the prebiotics but the addition of polydextrose

2. Ingredients in Plexus Slim Hunger Control

a. Polydextrose

i. Double the amount of the old, old Slim from a few years ago
ii. Plant-based fiber from Non-GMO corn starch
iii. Resistant starch that only yields 2 net carbs and 20 (mostly non-counting) calories
iv. Blinded, randomized placebo controlled study, researchers found that this amount of polydextrose reduces subject’s desire to eat prior to the next meal and desire to eat remains lower later in the day
v. It mixes with water in the stomach and expands (I call it the natural, healthy “gastric bypass”!)

b. Other ingredients

i. Green coffee bean—helps maintain blood sugar levels; uses the non-caffeinated parts
ii. Garcinia Cambogia fruit extract
iii. Chromium polynicotinate—combination of chromium and niacin—essential trace mineral that we do not get enough of from food; supports healthy insulin levels
iv. Alpha Lipoic Acid—fatty acid found naturally in the body; a potent end antioixdant that helps support other antioxidants in the body (also found in our Nerve product)
v. Citric Acid—found naturally in citrus fruits; non-GMO; natural flavor for Slim
vi. White mulberry—long history of medicinal use; considered a super food and potent antioxidant; Non-GMO version
vii. Stevia—100% pure, Non-GMO; sweetens Slim
viii. Beet root extract—Non-GMO provides the natural color
ix. Cellulose gum—non-GMO version of cellulose gum that gives the drink its substance/mouth feel
x. Silicon dioxide—ultra pure and free of contaminants; helps powder mix more easily

3. Using Plexus Slim Hunger Control With Daily IF

a. During fast

i. 20 calories but only 2 net carbs
ii. Designed to balance blood sugar levels, so will not cause an insulin spike
iii. Immediately takes away hunger
iv. Hunger reduction will continue for hours after consuming

b. Thirty to sixty minutes before opening window or before OMAD

i. Water mixes with the polydextrose to expand and fill up stomach
ii. Hunger is reduced
iii. Stomach capacity is shrunk
iv. You will feel full more quickly and not get hungry after you close your eating window

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