Melissa Bunch
My name is Melissa and I am a food addict... I lost over 100 pounds in 10 months with Intermittent Fasting.
Starting weight: 238 – June 2021
Current weight: 136 – March 2022
I want to eat when I’m bored. I want to eat when I am stressed. I want to eat when I’m in a hurry or when I’m anxious. I want to eat when I watch TV and when I’m socializing. I want to eat when I’m working and when I’m driving. I’m more than just an emotional eater - I just love to eat food all the time!! Therefore, I have also been on a diet most of my life!! I have also struggled with my health most of my life. I’m a fairly healthy eater, and yet I have been overweight or yo-yo'ing for 30 years. When I had babies, I gained weight. When I lost babies, I gained weight. When I experienced traumas, I gained weight. When I turned 40, I gained weight. I was sick of dieting and sick of being obese and even more sick of never seeing results or never finding a diet that I could maintain.
Last June, I got sick after a miscarriage and between a blood pressure of 200/159 and a suspected mini-stroke at just 41 years old... Something had to change FAST!! I prayed and asked God for help getting healthy so I could live a long life, so I could see my kids grow up, so I could care for my son with Down's Syndrome through his adulthood.... The answer to my prayer was swift - Intermittent Fasting.
I dove in immediately and within a few months my blood pressure was normal. I was dropping weight quickly and steadily every month. I was healthier than I had been in years! Even better - this has become WHO I am: this is not just a fad diet for me. There’s a beauty to knowing I have a choice every single day – I can choose to continue practicing self-control and taking care of myself or I can indulge and lose control. Each day is a new day and each day I have a choice.
With intermittent fasting I get to choose my results and I choose to take care of my body. I want to live a long healthy life. I love healthy food – foods that offer me strength, health, nutrition, and mental clarity. Foods that keep my agency intact. I love intermittent fasting because I gained self-control, self-discipline, a body of health, and a passion for life. I can eat without gaining weight because I am not overindulging all day. I feel like my body was never designed to eat all day long, my digestive system needs that break! Using fat for a fuel source is genius – I have never had this much energy! I love my body. I even love taking care of my body. I feel like I am communing with God when I exercise. Previously exercise was a “bad word”. Try exercising while holding 100 pounds of cement – it is miserable!!! But now, I love to take care of my body.
Intermittent fasting changed my life and changed who I am and how I take care of myself. This is more than a lifestyle, this is the new Melissa – I no longer want to eat all the time. Instead, I am enjoying my life! I am so excited that you are starting this journey with me. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Starting weight: 238 – June 2021
Current weight: 136 – March 2022
I want to eat when I’m bored. I want to eat when I am stressed. I want to eat when I’m in a hurry or when I’m anxious. I want to eat when I watch TV and when I’m socializing. I want to eat when I’m working and when I’m driving. I’m more than just an emotional eater - I just love to eat food all the time!! Therefore, I have also been on a diet most of my life!! I have also struggled with my health most of my life. I’m a fairly healthy eater, and yet I have been overweight or yo-yo'ing for 30 years. When I had babies, I gained weight. When I lost babies, I gained weight. When I experienced traumas, I gained weight. When I turned 40, I gained weight. I was sick of dieting and sick of being obese and even more sick of never seeing results or never finding a diet that I could maintain.
Last June, I got sick after a miscarriage and between a blood pressure of 200/159 and a suspected mini-stroke at just 41 years old... Something had to change FAST!! I prayed and asked God for help getting healthy so I could live a long life, so I could see my kids grow up, so I could care for my son with Down's Syndrome through his adulthood.... The answer to my prayer was swift - Intermittent Fasting.
I dove in immediately and within a few months my blood pressure was normal. I was dropping weight quickly and steadily every month. I was healthier than I had been in years! Even better - this has become WHO I am: this is not just a fad diet for me. There’s a beauty to knowing I have a choice every single day – I can choose to continue practicing self-control and taking care of myself or I can indulge and lose control. Each day is a new day and each day I have a choice.
With intermittent fasting I get to choose my results and I choose to take care of my body. I want to live a long healthy life. I love healthy food – foods that offer me strength, health, nutrition, and mental clarity. Foods that keep my agency intact. I love intermittent fasting because I gained self-control, self-discipline, a body of health, and a passion for life. I can eat without gaining weight because I am not overindulging all day. I feel like my body was never designed to eat all day long, my digestive system needs that break! Using fat for a fuel source is genius – I have never had this much energy! I love my body. I even love taking care of my body. I feel like I am communing with God when I exercise. Previously exercise was a “bad word”. Try exercising while holding 100 pounds of cement – it is miserable!!! But now, I love to take care of my body.
Intermittent fasting changed my life and changed who I am and how I take care of myself. This is more than a lifestyle, this is the new Melissa – I no longer want to eat all the time. Instead, I am enjoying my life! I am so excited that you are starting this journey with me. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Jen T. from Michigan
I am a 45 year old elementary school teacher who lives in the snowy Great Lakes mitten-shaped state of Michigan. I am 5'7" tall and was a very active and fit child and teenager. I was a three sport athlete throughout high school and then went to college on a track scholarship. I never gave my weight a second thought until my college track coach started requiring us to have our body fat measured and to weigh in weekly in front of all our teammates. The first time that I was told that I needed to lose three pounds by next week's meet, I was truly devastated. It honestly rocked me and went straight to my head. I ran for two years in college and battled to keep my weight between 130-135 pounds but I did it.
Then I met my college sweetheart and the love of my life. We got married in 2000, I found a job teaching 3rd grade, and we had our first baby in 2001. My body bounced back fairly quickly after having our beautiful daughter and I maintained my weight between 140-145 pounds, which was still in the "normal" range on all the charts. Life was good. Then, we knew we wanted another child. For the next three years, life was rough. I suffered a few miscarriages, a molar pregnancy and a serious bout with severe kidney stones. Somehow through it all, and against all odds, I got pregnant and gave birth to our handsome son in January of 2005. Unfortunately, I gained 65 pounds with that pregnancy and DID NOT bounce back too well after giving birth. I took a leave from teaching so that I could be home with my babies and for the next four years I seriously tried every diet under the sun. I tried low fat, juice cleanses, detox smoothie diets, calorie shifting and many more. I would always lose 10-15 pounds but always felt so restricted that the weight would always come back at some point. Fast forward to 2009 when my son started preschool. I weighed about 167 at that time and knew I needed to do something with my chunky, slightly overweight self. I have always been a runner so I decided that I was going to get in shape, lose weight, and run my first marathon. Well, that is just what I did. I started in January of 2009 and by June of that year I was down to 126 pounds. How did I do it? It was exhausting. I became a calorie counting fiend, exercised or ran 60-90 minutes EVERY SINGLE DAY and had a binge day about once every two weeks because I felt so deprived. I weighed less than I ever did even in high school and I became obsessed. Not exactly a good look when you have a daughter who looks up to you and all that you do.
I was able to maintain at that weight for almost two years and during that time I actually ran two full marathons which I am so proud of. I ran the Detroit Marathon in 2009 and the time I achieved at that marathon was fast enough (at age 34) to qualify for the Boston Marathon which I ran in 2011, two years before the bombing. After a few years, I felt so restricted and tied to counting calories that I threw my hands up in the air and shouted "I WANT TO EAT ICE CREAM WITH MY FAMILY IN THE SUMMER." It was seriously my breaking point. So, I gave up the intense calorie counting and just let things go a bit. My son started middle school in 2016 and that is when I decided to go back to work full-time after being a stay at home mom for 13 years. I taught kindergarten for the next four years and even though in my contract it says I work 40 hours a week, I was seriously working 70-75 hours a week. I loved many parts of my job but the stress of it all was getting to be too much as a wife and mom in her 40's.
In 2020, during the Coronavirus Pandemic, I, like so many others, became depressed and even more overweight. I was sitting at home all day trying to teach kindergarten students remotely. At the end of the 2020 school year I knew I needed to make some serious life changes. I applied and was granted a part-time position teaching elementary physical education. I also did some research and started teaching English to the children in China from the comfort of my basement wearing my comfy pajama bottoms. At the start of the 2020-2021 school year as the new Elementary P.E. teacher, I was loving my job but felt like a bit of a hypocrite. How could I be teaching young children about the importance of exercise and eating healthy foods and be overweight myself? I will never forget the date: January 5, 2021. I was afraid to step on the scale for many months prior because I just wasn't ready to face the truth of it all. When I did step on the scale that day I was blown away! 174.6 pounds!!! What??? I had never in my life been in the 170's. That day was absolutely eye-opening. I cried for about two hours straight, curled up in the fetal position eating a box of Milk Duds and then I decided it was time to end my pity party and get to work.
I had heard a little about intermittent fasting and that it could help with weight loss. For the first two weeks I easily started incorporating a 16:8 fasting regimen (skipping breakfast) into my routine. I also cut all sugar, chucked my Dr. Pepper addiction and started following a low carb diet. I lost about 8 pounds those first two weeks which kept me encouraged and in the game. Then it happened. I went to work on a Wednesday and passed a co-worker in the hall that I hadn't seen in several months. She looked AMAZING! Of course I asked her what she was doing and she told me about Gin's book Delay, Don't Deny. Well, instead of eating lunch at work that day, I raced back to my office, Googled "all things Gin" and ordered the book off Amazon Prime so I could get my hands on it as quickly as possible. I received the book on Friday and stayed up until 1 am reading it from cover to cover. It was like I had a total "OMG!" moment and everything Gin said in her book about insulin being released every time we eat and the science behind clean fasting made so much sense to me. I was so excited and completely related to her as an elementary teacher. I didn't sleep all night because my mind was racing. My husband I were having our coffee on Saturday morning and I was telling him everything that I learned about the book and how it just made so much sense. I talked his ear off for about two hours. I am a jump head first kind of girl and so two days later on that Monday I started clean fasting (took the creamer right out of my coffee) and slowly incorporated OMAD (22:2) .
In the next few weeks I read Gin's other books, as well as a few others including The Obesity Code by Jason Fung. I have always felt that knowledge is power and all of this information was so awesome. I could barely contain my excitement.
I have gone on to lose 46 pounds in four months and I feel healthier than I ever have in my entire life. My energy is through the roof, my sleep has improved immensely, and I am no longer getting 3-4 headaches per week. Actually, I haven't had a headache since I started all this back in January. So many co-workers have been curious about what I did to make such a dramatic change in such a short time that I have let them borrow my copies of Gin's books. There is actually a waiting list that I have in my office for who gets the books next. I LOVE IF and after trying so many different crazy weight loss diets over the years, I finally feel like I have found a lifestyle instead of a diet that finally works. I have reached my goal weight, I am effortlessly maintaining, I feel FREE and I am truly LIVING MY BEST LIFE NOW! Thank you, Gin!
Then I met my college sweetheart and the love of my life. We got married in 2000, I found a job teaching 3rd grade, and we had our first baby in 2001. My body bounced back fairly quickly after having our beautiful daughter and I maintained my weight between 140-145 pounds, which was still in the "normal" range on all the charts. Life was good. Then, we knew we wanted another child. For the next three years, life was rough. I suffered a few miscarriages, a molar pregnancy and a serious bout with severe kidney stones. Somehow through it all, and against all odds, I got pregnant and gave birth to our handsome son in January of 2005. Unfortunately, I gained 65 pounds with that pregnancy and DID NOT bounce back too well after giving birth. I took a leave from teaching so that I could be home with my babies and for the next four years I seriously tried every diet under the sun. I tried low fat, juice cleanses, detox smoothie diets, calorie shifting and many more. I would always lose 10-15 pounds but always felt so restricted that the weight would always come back at some point. Fast forward to 2009 when my son started preschool. I weighed about 167 at that time and knew I needed to do something with my chunky, slightly overweight self. I have always been a runner so I decided that I was going to get in shape, lose weight, and run my first marathon. Well, that is just what I did. I started in January of 2009 and by June of that year I was down to 126 pounds. How did I do it? It was exhausting. I became a calorie counting fiend, exercised or ran 60-90 minutes EVERY SINGLE DAY and had a binge day about once every two weeks because I felt so deprived. I weighed less than I ever did even in high school and I became obsessed. Not exactly a good look when you have a daughter who looks up to you and all that you do.
I was able to maintain at that weight for almost two years and during that time I actually ran two full marathons which I am so proud of. I ran the Detroit Marathon in 2009 and the time I achieved at that marathon was fast enough (at age 34) to qualify for the Boston Marathon which I ran in 2011, two years before the bombing. After a few years, I felt so restricted and tied to counting calories that I threw my hands up in the air and shouted "I WANT TO EAT ICE CREAM WITH MY FAMILY IN THE SUMMER." It was seriously my breaking point. So, I gave up the intense calorie counting and just let things go a bit. My son started middle school in 2016 and that is when I decided to go back to work full-time after being a stay at home mom for 13 years. I taught kindergarten for the next four years and even though in my contract it says I work 40 hours a week, I was seriously working 70-75 hours a week. I loved many parts of my job but the stress of it all was getting to be too much as a wife and mom in her 40's.
In 2020, during the Coronavirus Pandemic, I, like so many others, became depressed and even more overweight. I was sitting at home all day trying to teach kindergarten students remotely. At the end of the 2020 school year I knew I needed to make some serious life changes. I applied and was granted a part-time position teaching elementary physical education. I also did some research and started teaching English to the children in China from the comfort of my basement wearing my comfy pajama bottoms. At the start of the 2020-2021 school year as the new Elementary P.E. teacher, I was loving my job but felt like a bit of a hypocrite. How could I be teaching young children about the importance of exercise and eating healthy foods and be overweight myself? I will never forget the date: January 5, 2021. I was afraid to step on the scale for many months prior because I just wasn't ready to face the truth of it all. When I did step on the scale that day I was blown away! 174.6 pounds!!! What??? I had never in my life been in the 170's. That day was absolutely eye-opening. I cried for about two hours straight, curled up in the fetal position eating a box of Milk Duds and then I decided it was time to end my pity party and get to work.
I had heard a little about intermittent fasting and that it could help with weight loss. For the first two weeks I easily started incorporating a 16:8 fasting regimen (skipping breakfast) into my routine. I also cut all sugar, chucked my Dr. Pepper addiction and started following a low carb diet. I lost about 8 pounds those first two weeks which kept me encouraged and in the game. Then it happened. I went to work on a Wednesday and passed a co-worker in the hall that I hadn't seen in several months. She looked AMAZING! Of course I asked her what she was doing and she told me about Gin's book Delay, Don't Deny. Well, instead of eating lunch at work that day, I raced back to my office, Googled "all things Gin" and ordered the book off Amazon Prime so I could get my hands on it as quickly as possible. I received the book on Friday and stayed up until 1 am reading it from cover to cover. It was like I had a total "OMG!" moment and everything Gin said in her book about insulin being released every time we eat and the science behind clean fasting made so much sense to me. I was so excited and completely related to her as an elementary teacher. I didn't sleep all night because my mind was racing. My husband I were having our coffee on Saturday morning and I was telling him everything that I learned about the book and how it just made so much sense. I talked his ear off for about two hours. I am a jump head first kind of girl and so two days later on that Monday I started clean fasting (took the creamer right out of my coffee) and slowly incorporated OMAD (22:2) .
In the next few weeks I read Gin's other books, as well as a few others including The Obesity Code by Jason Fung. I have always felt that knowledge is power and all of this information was so awesome. I could barely contain my excitement.
I have gone on to lose 46 pounds in four months and I feel healthier than I ever have in my entire life. My energy is through the roof, my sleep has improved immensely, and I am no longer getting 3-4 headaches per week. Actually, I haven't had a headache since I started all this back in January. So many co-workers have been curious about what I did to make such a dramatic change in such a short time that I have let them borrow my copies of Gin's books. There is actually a waiting list that I have in my office for who gets the books next. I LOVE IF and after trying so many different crazy weight loss diets over the years, I finally feel like I have found a lifestyle instead of a diet that finally works. I have reached my goal weight, I am effortlessly maintaining, I feel FREE and I am truly LIVING MY BEST LIFE NOW! Thank you, Gin!
Stacy Michalec
I've been through all the diets. My most successful was Weight Watchers. Then I was a fitness coach for 5 years to lose my baby weight with both my kids.
Every 5 years I had to change up my fitness and diet because it was getting harder and harder to lose weight. My 20s were the age of working out and Ephedra pills. At 25 I gained 50 lbs. while in my first year of my career as a flight attendant. I struggled and did Weight Watchers to lose it for my wedding. My 30s were the age of running marathons to keep it off. 35 was the age of "coaching" for Beachbody with containers and calorie counting. I had 2 babies at age 36 and 38.
Then I hit my 40s. I was up to 158. That's 20 lbs. over my wedding weight. I'm 5'6. I tried counting macros. I was eating more and losing weight painfully slowly--5 lbs in 3 months. I was happy I wasn't gaining and it was summer time. By August I was tired of the slow process.
I had read Melanie Avalon's first version of What When Wine and found Gin's podcast with her. I have a 4 hour drive to work each week and started listening. I was hooked by the time I made it to work. I wanted to jump in with both feet.
I found all of Gin's Facebook groups and her Intermittent Fasting Stories podcast and I even started a group of my own called "life in the fasting lane" in 2017. Dr. Fung's 2020 book hijacked (lol) my group's name and my group has grown in popularity to the point that I had to put a disclaimer when people join that says "I know this group is not affiliated with the book or Dr. Fung" before they join.
In the first 8 weeks I did 20:4 and lost 15 lbs. eating cheeseburgers and drinking wine. I was hooked. So many taboo foods I was suddenly able to have as I lost weight and still had wine. I plateaued at 143 and started playing with longer fasts and up day down days. In the spring last year I cut back on alcohol and dropped an additional 15 lbs. I was at the lowest weight I had been when I was 20 taking all the Hydroxycut pills.
Over the summer I started drinking more again and my weight went back up. Then my sister suddenly passed and we were very close, so I gave up on just about everything. Because I run a fitness group and a fasting page I had to rally and pull myself together. But the damage was done. After 2 months of dealing with her loss, I gained and was back up to 145. My fasting and fitness has saved me from totally spiraling after Angie's passing. My groups help me stay focused and motivated to get back to where I was. My drinking is back down to weekends only and not every day.
I love fasting. This lifestyle is something I share with anyone who wants to listen. I carry a copy of DDD in my work bag and help other flight attendants if they want to learn the lifestyle. Our job sets us up for random eating, late hotels drinks with bar food and heavy airport meals. Its not uncommon for a flight attendant to gain weight and have a hard time losing it. I love getting others started on this way of life.
When I tell people about the podcast I think it's really important to hear them all, but I always tell them to listen to Intermittent Fasting Stories episode 50 first. It is a mother and son duo (Renee and Joel). She lost weight quickly and he didn't lose a single pound till month 7. I think it's important for people to understand that it may take longer and to stick with it. The members of my group ask me all the time to be on the podcast so here I am, homeschooling my kids and finally writing up my story. I hope I can inspire more people into this amazing lifestyle.
Every 5 years I had to change up my fitness and diet because it was getting harder and harder to lose weight. My 20s were the age of working out and Ephedra pills. At 25 I gained 50 lbs. while in my first year of my career as a flight attendant. I struggled and did Weight Watchers to lose it for my wedding. My 30s were the age of running marathons to keep it off. 35 was the age of "coaching" for Beachbody with containers and calorie counting. I had 2 babies at age 36 and 38.
Then I hit my 40s. I was up to 158. That's 20 lbs. over my wedding weight. I'm 5'6. I tried counting macros. I was eating more and losing weight painfully slowly--5 lbs in 3 months. I was happy I wasn't gaining and it was summer time. By August I was tired of the slow process.
I had read Melanie Avalon's first version of What When Wine and found Gin's podcast with her. I have a 4 hour drive to work each week and started listening. I was hooked by the time I made it to work. I wanted to jump in with both feet.
I found all of Gin's Facebook groups and her Intermittent Fasting Stories podcast and I even started a group of my own called "life in the fasting lane" in 2017. Dr. Fung's 2020 book hijacked (lol) my group's name and my group has grown in popularity to the point that I had to put a disclaimer when people join that says "I know this group is not affiliated with the book or Dr. Fung" before they join.
In the first 8 weeks I did 20:4 and lost 15 lbs. eating cheeseburgers and drinking wine. I was hooked. So many taboo foods I was suddenly able to have as I lost weight and still had wine. I plateaued at 143 and started playing with longer fasts and up day down days. In the spring last year I cut back on alcohol and dropped an additional 15 lbs. I was at the lowest weight I had been when I was 20 taking all the Hydroxycut pills.
Over the summer I started drinking more again and my weight went back up. Then my sister suddenly passed and we were very close, so I gave up on just about everything. Because I run a fitness group and a fasting page I had to rally and pull myself together. But the damage was done. After 2 months of dealing with her loss, I gained and was back up to 145. My fasting and fitness has saved me from totally spiraling after Angie's passing. My groups help me stay focused and motivated to get back to where I was. My drinking is back down to weekends only and not every day.
I love fasting. This lifestyle is something I share with anyone who wants to listen. I carry a copy of DDD in my work bag and help other flight attendants if they want to learn the lifestyle. Our job sets us up for random eating, late hotels drinks with bar food and heavy airport meals. Its not uncommon for a flight attendant to gain weight and have a hard time losing it. I love getting others started on this way of life.
When I tell people about the podcast I think it's really important to hear them all, but I always tell them to listen to Intermittent Fasting Stories episode 50 first. It is a mother and son duo (Renee and Joel). She lost weight quickly and he didn't lose a single pound till month 7. I think it's important for people to understand that it may take longer and to stick with it. The members of my group ask me all the time to be on the podcast so here I am, homeschooling my kids and finally writing up my story. I hope I can inspire more people into this amazing lifestyle.
Jaya Wilkin
"I was a closet faster all along and never knew it"
Since 11 years old I have been struggling with body image. We weren't exactly an active family. I grew up in Canada raised by Indian parents. I was always embarrassed by my culture, my skin color, my body. I preferred pre-packaged foods rather than the home cooked healthy fresh Indian food my mother cooked. Therefore, the weight gain slowly crept on year by year. Well meaning family friends would tell my parents I was "looking hefty" and by age 17, I was bigger than my petite Indian mother and unfortunately had no idea how to lose weight.
That same summer we happened to go on a family trip to India and my parents were taking university courses in an all-vegetarian university campus. Because I did not like the campus food, for a whole month, I was eating less junk and would often go to sleep after not eating a big dinner and having my usual sweet or salty late night snacks. I returned from India and all my friends and family noticed I had lost weight. Since I loved this newfound attention, I thought maybe if I stopped eating after 5 and still ate whatever I wanted in the day, I could maintain this new weight. (I had gone from a size 14 to size 5). However, I kept it a secret because I thought I was "starving" myself. (This was in the late 80's). It didn't last and by the time I got to college, the freshmen 15++ crept on. Late night pizzas, Denny's midnight shakes, sugary big gulp drinks packed on the pounds. I soon married my college sweetheart and maintained my size 10-12 but was never happy in my body. In 2001, right before 9/11, my husband joined the Navy. He went to boot camp for 6 weeks and during this time I planned to get back to my pre-college weight so I bought an exercise video weight loss program and every day I ate a big breakfast and lunch and secretly skipped dinner. I quickly fit in a size 4-6 when I finally saw him after a traumatizing 9/11 separation. However, It didn't last and the weight creeped back on.
In 2007, my husband left me and my two girls for a one year deployment to Afghanistan. Again, I thought, I will get back to my size 4-6 so I joined a popular weight loss program (WW) and ate a big breakfast and lunch and secretly skipped dinner and after a year I reunited with my husband looking beautiful and skinny. People would ask how I lost the weight and for fear of people thinking I was "starving" myself, I would just say I went on a "diet." But it didn't last and the weight creeped back on.
In 2016, the same thing - my husband was deployed to Cuba. This time I joined an expensive weight loss clinic where I had to drink sugary weight loss "freezy pop" looking drinks all day with meals. Since the weight wasn't coming off fast enough, I tweaked their program by again - my usual skipping dinner. I lost the weight, and the company wanted to use me as a poster model but I never agreed. Of course, it didn't last, and the weight creeped back on.
At this point I thought, "What is the answer?" What was the common theme to losing weight?" And then I realized it was my husband! He had to go!
"That's not going to happen, babe," said my husband not amused by my realization. :) So I thought harder and I realized I had simply been eating earlier, and I had been fasting all along!
I quickly researched books on kindle and came across Kim and Ryan Smith's "Unbelievable Freedom and that lead me to "Delay, Don't Deny" and "The Obesity code."
In January 2019, I started officially fasting...skipping one meal.. then two. Now I average 20:4. I am happily wearing size 4-6. More than that, my pre-menopausal symptoms gone, my eczema gone, my plantar fasciitis gone. I have thick hair, strong nails, smooth skin, I look and feel like my 20's and I'm 48! The best thing is I can finally say the weight DID NOT creep back on, and my husband does not have to leave on Navy orders for me to lose weight :) And I am no longer a "closet" faster. I am proud to shout it loudly -clean fasting is the answer!!
My Year of Clean Fasting
Background: I have been on a diet since age 11. I am 47...here is my journal:
Jan - Delay, “Donut” Deny girl 🍩! Excited, high, I can do this! OMG can I do this?? UGH when is lunch?
Feb - Hurray! Lost 4 pounds and no dieting! I ate what I wanted in a 2-4 hour window - birthday cake, Valentine’s, donuts 🍩 😋
March - Lost 12 pounds. Many symptoms disappeared! Psoriasis, hot flashes, dry skin, planters fasciitis, lower back pain, neck/shoulder pain, less grey hair, thick growing hair, less blurry vision, no allergies, high energy, glowing skin, minimalist (Kon Mari fan) 😂
April - Feeling thin. No weighing. April break - comfortable in a suit but not there yet.
May - No weighing. Cooking wonderful healthy meals and baking homemade bread - what??? Who am I!
June - Dentist impressed with my teeth. Hardly any scraping! Wow!
July - Summer! Relaxing my window. Feeling good. Celebrating 23 years with my Navy hubby.
Aug - Gained 5 pounds! Still relaxing my window. Enjoying last days of summer! Hurricane evacuation! 😧
Sept - Gained 10 pounds with 5 weeks of continuous period??!! Back pain returns, feeling prego, have BV, go to doc - blood pressure reads healthy.
Oct - Start again! Try alternate day fasting. One week lost 6 pounds. Keeping track, no processed sugar, no wine 🍷 okay less wine 😂
Nov - Delayed Thanksgiving meal! Did not deny.
Dec - Planned out Christmas vacation eating windows and stuck with it. No stress!
Jan - Went on scale - What??!! Lost 18 pounds in one year. Went from tight size 10-12 to a loose 6-8. All symptoms from March - still gone. Still energized! Still de-cluttering, Still sticking to IF!
Also I now lost 20 pounds and I am age 48. SW: 162 CW: 142 GW: 132 Range from a size 4-8.
Thank you to many of the IFers in the DDD community: Gin, Kim, Sheri, Jeethah - for sharing your stories ❤️
Since 11 years old I have been struggling with body image. We weren't exactly an active family. I grew up in Canada raised by Indian parents. I was always embarrassed by my culture, my skin color, my body. I preferred pre-packaged foods rather than the home cooked healthy fresh Indian food my mother cooked. Therefore, the weight gain slowly crept on year by year. Well meaning family friends would tell my parents I was "looking hefty" and by age 17, I was bigger than my petite Indian mother and unfortunately had no idea how to lose weight.
That same summer we happened to go on a family trip to India and my parents were taking university courses in an all-vegetarian university campus. Because I did not like the campus food, for a whole month, I was eating less junk and would often go to sleep after not eating a big dinner and having my usual sweet or salty late night snacks. I returned from India and all my friends and family noticed I had lost weight. Since I loved this newfound attention, I thought maybe if I stopped eating after 5 and still ate whatever I wanted in the day, I could maintain this new weight. (I had gone from a size 14 to size 5). However, I kept it a secret because I thought I was "starving" myself. (This was in the late 80's). It didn't last and by the time I got to college, the freshmen 15++ crept on. Late night pizzas, Denny's midnight shakes, sugary big gulp drinks packed on the pounds. I soon married my college sweetheart and maintained my size 10-12 but was never happy in my body. In 2001, right before 9/11, my husband joined the Navy. He went to boot camp for 6 weeks and during this time I planned to get back to my pre-college weight so I bought an exercise video weight loss program and every day I ate a big breakfast and lunch and secretly skipped dinner. I quickly fit in a size 4-6 when I finally saw him after a traumatizing 9/11 separation. However, It didn't last and the weight creeped back on.
In 2007, my husband left me and my two girls for a one year deployment to Afghanistan. Again, I thought, I will get back to my size 4-6 so I joined a popular weight loss program (WW) and ate a big breakfast and lunch and secretly skipped dinner and after a year I reunited with my husband looking beautiful and skinny. People would ask how I lost the weight and for fear of people thinking I was "starving" myself, I would just say I went on a "diet." But it didn't last and the weight creeped back on.
In 2016, the same thing - my husband was deployed to Cuba. This time I joined an expensive weight loss clinic where I had to drink sugary weight loss "freezy pop" looking drinks all day with meals. Since the weight wasn't coming off fast enough, I tweaked their program by again - my usual skipping dinner. I lost the weight, and the company wanted to use me as a poster model but I never agreed. Of course, it didn't last, and the weight creeped back on.
At this point I thought, "What is the answer?" What was the common theme to losing weight?" And then I realized it was my husband! He had to go!
"That's not going to happen, babe," said my husband not amused by my realization. :) So I thought harder and I realized I had simply been eating earlier, and I had been fasting all along!
I quickly researched books on kindle and came across Kim and Ryan Smith's "Unbelievable Freedom and that lead me to "Delay, Don't Deny" and "The Obesity code."
In January 2019, I started officially fasting...skipping one meal.. then two. Now I average 20:4. I am happily wearing size 4-6. More than that, my pre-menopausal symptoms gone, my eczema gone, my plantar fasciitis gone. I have thick hair, strong nails, smooth skin, I look and feel like my 20's and I'm 48! The best thing is I can finally say the weight DID NOT creep back on, and my husband does not have to leave on Navy orders for me to lose weight :) And I am no longer a "closet" faster. I am proud to shout it loudly -clean fasting is the answer!!
My Year of Clean Fasting
Background: I have been on a diet since age 11. I am 47...here is my journal:
Jan - Delay, “Donut” Deny girl 🍩! Excited, high, I can do this! OMG can I do this?? UGH when is lunch?
Feb - Hurray! Lost 4 pounds and no dieting! I ate what I wanted in a 2-4 hour window - birthday cake, Valentine’s, donuts 🍩 😋
March - Lost 12 pounds. Many symptoms disappeared! Psoriasis, hot flashes, dry skin, planters fasciitis, lower back pain, neck/shoulder pain, less grey hair, thick growing hair, less blurry vision, no allergies, high energy, glowing skin, minimalist (Kon Mari fan) 😂
April - Feeling thin. No weighing. April break - comfortable in a suit but not there yet.
May - No weighing. Cooking wonderful healthy meals and baking homemade bread - what??? Who am I!
June - Dentist impressed with my teeth. Hardly any scraping! Wow!
July - Summer! Relaxing my window. Feeling good. Celebrating 23 years with my Navy hubby.
Aug - Gained 5 pounds! Still relaxing my window. Enjoying last days of summer! Hurricane evacuation! 😧
Sept - Gained 10 pounds with 5 weeks of continuous period??!! Back pain returns, feeling prego, have BV, go to doc - blood pressure reads healthy.
Oct - Start again! Try alternate day fasting. One week lost 6 pounds. Keeping track, no processed sugar, no wine 🍷 okay less wine 😂
Nov - Delayed Thanksgiving meal! Did not deny.
Dec - Planned out Christmas vacation eating windows and stuck with it. No stress!
Jan - Went on scale - What??!! Lost 18 pounds in one year. Went from tight size 10-12 to a loose 6-8. All symptoms from March - still gone. Still energized! Still de-cluttering, Still sticking to IF!
Also I now lost 20 pounds and I am age 48. SW: 162 CW: 142 GW: 132 Range from a size 4-8.
Thank you to many of the IFers in the DDD community: Gin, Kim, Sheri, Jeethah - for sharing your stories ❤️
Pattie G.
My story begins like a lot of the other stories I have seen. I am 49, but most of my life I have dieted or at the very least obsessed over my diet. I was always the bigger kid growing up, probably not by huge difference but in my mind, I was always big! I had my first child at eighteen and probably put on over 70 pounds. I prayed each time at the end going to my OB that I wouldn’t top 200. I went on to have 2 more children and at 26 I was settled into motherhood and always had weight to lose,..I would say anywhere from 30 up to 80 pounds more than I needed. At 30 years old I began slowly running and at 33 I did my first Chicago marathon and 2 years later I did my second. I truly enjoyed running and did many races, including several half marathons, and completed 2 full marathons. I was very focused on accomplishing running goals and weight loss came as a result. I continued running until a few years ago after a long struggle with increasing right foot pain, which I learned was a stress fracture that left me in a boot for 3 months, I suffered from some plantar fasciitis after and it took its toll on me emotionally and physically.
I missed running, I put on weight and found that I was depressed and felt like I failing. At one point I reached 183 pounds. Needless to say, I was shocked and disappointed in myself, I knew how hard I had worked in the past to get to a healthy weight and my anxiety and over what to eat, including when and how much, depressed me even more. I grew up with a mom who taught us that we couldn’t just eat anything for lots of reasons: high in junk sugars or salts, empty calories, high in fats and all the other reasons to make good choices, but it only added to my mind's anxiety towards food choices.
Fast forward to November or December, 2018, I go to my annual gynecologist appointment and the nurse practitioner brought up the fact that I had put over 35 pounds on since the previous visit 2 years prior. I complained to her how I was really feeling about that and that I had to give up running and was having a hard time finding my way back to a good diet and exercise regimen. She suggested that look into Intermittent fasting. My mouth fell open and I asked her “isn’t that just a crazy fad thing?” She said," No, I believe it has merit. Look it up and read about it. I have heard a lot of success with it." It was all I needed to hear.
I went home and googled Intermittent Fasting that afternoon, and luckily, I came across your book first! I immediately I ordered it from Audible and listened to it, and began my journey that very day. I started very slowly. At first I just tried to stop my daily eating by 7:00 pm and tried to hold off eating until around 10 am. I would then eat lunch and supper but nothing in between at all. After a few months I decided I was going to give up lunch and very quickly-- like just a few days-- I didn’t even miss it. So pretty much from there I was doing OMAD. But I would break my fast at 4:00 pm because I would go to an exercise class and I was afraid I would pass out from not eating and I was afraid of people would say or think because some already knew that was fasting or what they thought, starving myself.
After listening and reading many more books and listing to your podcasts, I bravely tried exercising in the fasted state and I was fine, even fantastic! I continued by going to the gym in the mornings fasted to lift weights about 4-5 days a week for about 30 min and doing a class of cardio 2 times a week after work. I would spend my lunch hour doing errands, reading or listening to your book, Dr Fung's books, and Unbelievable Freedom by the Smiths.
I love this way of life! It is going on a year and I can’t weight to share your book with my Gynecologist NP and celebrate what I have done over this past year. At this point I have lost 32 pounds and many inches, I feel gorgeous in my own body, and I do not plan to ever give this up. I thank heaven for finding you and your books and all the others you have shared with me through your podcasts. I listen every week to the new ones and many times relisten just to catch something I may have missed, I now sharing this journey with others and my mom and my sister do their own version and my closest friend has lost over 10 pounds in the last 2 months doing her journey. This very week I have had 2 people at work look me up to tell me that after I shared they too read your book and are starting their own journey. i give you all the credit for your words reaching me, touching my head and my heart! Thank you so much!
I missed running, I put on weight and found that I was depressed and felt like I failing. At one point I reached 183 pounds. Needless to say, I was shocked and disappointed in myself, I knew how hard I had worked in the past to get to a healthy weight and my anxiety and over what to eat, including when and how much, depressed me even more. I grew up with a mom who taught us that we couldn’t just eat anything for lots of reasons: high in junk sugars or salts, empty calories, high in fats and all the other reasons to make good choices, but it only added to my mind's anxiety towards food choices.
Fast forward to November or December, 2018, I go to my annual gynecologist appointment and the nurse practitioner brought up the fact that I had put over 35 pounds on since the previous visit 2 years prior. I complained to her how I was really feeling about that and that I had to give up running and was having a hard time finding my way back to a good diet and exercise regimen. She suggested that look into Intermittent fasting. My mouth fell open and I asked her “isn’t that just a crazy fad thing?” She said," No, I believe it has merit. Look it up and read about it. I have heard a lot of success with it." It was all I needed to hear.
I went home and googled Intermittent Fasting that afternoon, and luckily, I came across your book first! I immediately I ordered it from Audible and listened to it, and began my journey that very day. I started very slowly. At first I just tried to stop my daily eating by 7:00 pm and tried to hold off eating until around 10 am. I would then eat lunch and supper but nothing in between at all. After a few months I decided I was going to give up lunch and very quickly-- like just a few days-- I didn’t even miss it. So pretty much from there I was doing OMAD. But I would break my fast at 4:00 pm because I would go to an exercise class and I was afraid I would pass out from not eating and I was afraid of people would say or think because some already knew that was fasting or what they thought, starving myself.
After listening and reading many more books and listing to your podcasts, I bravely tried exercising in the fasted state and I was fine, even fantastic! I continued by going to the gym in the mornings fasted to lift weights about 4-5 days a week for about 30 min and doing a class of cardio 2 times a week after work. I would spend my lunch hour doing errands, reading or listening to your book, Dr Fung's books, and Unbelievable Freedom by the Smiths.
I love this way of life! It is going on a year and I can’t weight to share your book with my Gynecologist NP and celebrate what I have done over this past year. At this point I have lost 32 pounds and many inches, I feel gorgeous in my own body, and I do not plan to ever give this up. I thank heaven for finding you and your books and all the others you have shared with me through your podcasts. I listen every week to the new ones and many times relisten just to catch something I may have missed, I now sharing this journey with others and my mom and my sister do their own version and my closest friend has lost over 10 pounds in the last 2 months doing her journey. This very week I have had 2 people at work look me up to tell me that after I shared they too read your book and are starting their own journey. i give you all the credit for your words reaching me, touching my head and my heart! Thank you so much!
Donna Arcara
A year ago I had hit rock bottom; though hidden behind a pleasant demeanor, I was sick, obese, depressed, depleted, and hopeless that anything would ever change. For one thing, I had given up totally on ever losing weight and I felt like an utter failure because for almost five decades, something described by so many smart people as a common sense, simple solution (something along the lines of eat less and move more) had proven time and time again to be virtually worthless advice for me, words that just served to pile on guilt. I had scars from the great diet wars; I was past the point of cynicism about any trendy diet and no longer even listened to the latest approaches. I tuned out the chorus of a gazillion voices offering advice; the noise was just too much. Too confusing! The mindset I had was sad resignation that I would never find a way to recover my alternate vibrant, healthy self or ever feel like “me” again.
But one evening in September 2018, I tripped across something unexpected that I believe saved my life. I had been sitting for several hours with Greg’s Aunt Rose, who’d had a particularly bad day with her Dementia; when I got home, extreme fear of getting Alzheimer’s Disease launched me into an all-night, feverish internet search for anything preventative. If I couldn’t rescue my general health, at least I wanted to try to keep that specific horrible future at bay. In my late night googling, a term caught my attention that I had never heard of: intermittent fasting, mentioned within the context of improving longevity and reducing cognitive decline. A few clicks later I found myself reading about how intermittent fasting was being used in many clinics to not just treat Type II Diabetes—but to actually CURE it with success rates off the chart. Then I found articles crediting intermittent fasting for enhancing longevity, reducing inflammation, improving skin, balancing hormones; the list of possibilities seemed to go on.
Fasting, really? A practice that has been around since the dawn of mankind? How could this be “new”? How could all these health benefits possibly be within easy reach with something so old, so safe, so proven… and how could I JUST be hearing about them, in my mid-50’s? Lastly, it dawned on me-- shouldn’t you also lose weight if you were fasting intermittently? Once I failed to turn up anything detrimental about IF, I decided that night to give it a shot for at least a few months; that is when my journey with intermittent fasting began.
Fast forward to today. Now at 57 years old, I have absolutely never felt more alive, healthier, more energetic, or sharper, after one year of incorporating intermittent fasting into my lifestyle. I have eliminated the need for blood pressure medicine. Gone! I am stronger than I have been in decades. All my general aches and pains have disappeared. Haven’t had a headache in a year; I don’t think I have even taken an Advil during that time. I wake up with a sense of well-being that is indescribable; in fact, over the past year I don’t believe I have had a single truly bad day. I feel so liberated from the toxic soup of negative thoughts and guilt I was marinating in about my health and my weight, starting upon waking every morning and rarely ever quieting down from their constant suffocating presence. My skin tags have vanished. I am so much more focused. I now have boundless energy! I have even developed a strong desire to exercise, returning to things I have loved since childhood, like biking and dancing and swimming and jumping on a mini-trampoline. I enjoy food more than at any time in my life, and I eat a robust and unrestricted diet.
And yes, I have lost weight. I never weigh myself, but at my last doctor’s appointment the nurse told me I had lost 60 pounds since last June; the raw truth is that before intermittent fasting I was wearing a skin-tight 18W, and the jeans I am wearing as I type this, although sized generously for vanity’s sake, are shockingly a size 4. No perfection here-- I have plenty more fat on my body that I expect will gradually reduce further, but I spend ZERO time worrying about it. I just feel vital and radiant and healthy. I feel nourished. This eating pattern feels naturally sustainable and very permanent. I am headed in the right direction.
Intermittent fasting can be a powerful, healing tool; and one of the most appealing things about it to me is that it costs absolutely zero. Forget about expensive weight loss programs, designer food only available from high end stores, supplements that cost a paycheck, gym memberships… who among us can’t afford to simply and safely fast?
The most influential person for me along this journey has been a teacher from Augusta, Georgia, named Gin Stephens; she wrote an incredible book called Delay, Don’t Deny that lays out the principles I have followed almost since day #1. Her book has my highest recommendation for anyone interested in learning more about intermittent fasting. In fact, I was recently honored to be interviewed on Gin’s podcast, Intermittent Fasting Stories; it was gratifying to be able to tell her firsthand what an amazing influence she has had on my life. Here is the link for anyone who wants to hear more.
http://intermittentfastingstories.com/episode-43-donna-arcara/
It seems weird and feels vulnerable to share this highly personal message, but I feel a strong conviction that there may be someone out there who could benefit from being pointed toward this powerful information to check out for themselves along with their trusted medical practitioner. The photos show some changes in me evident on the outside; even more treasured are the changes you can’t see in a photo.
But one evening in September 2018, I tripped across something unexpected that I believe saved my life. I had been sitting for several hours with Greg’s Aunt Rose, who’d had a particularly bad day with her Dementia; when I got home, extreme fear of getting Alzheimer’s Disease launched me into an all-night, feverish internet search for anything preventative. If I couldn’t rescue my general health, at least I wanted to try to keep that specific horrible future at bay. In my late night googling, a term caught my attention that I had never heard of: intermittent fasting, mentioned within the context of improving longevity and reducing cognitive decline. A few clicks later I found myself reading about how intermittent fasting was being used in many clinics to not just treat Type II Diabetes—but to actually CURE it with success rates off the chart. Then I found articles crediting intermittent fasting for enhancing longevity, reducing inflammation, improving skin, balancing hormones; the list of possibilities seemed to go on.
Fasting, really? A practice that has been around since the dawn of mankind? How could this be “new”? How could all these health benefits possibly be within easy reach with something so old, so safe, so proven… and how could I JUST be hearing about them, in my mid-50’s? Lastly, it dawned on me-- shouldn’t you also lose weight if you were fasting intermittently? Once I failed to turn up anything detrimental about IF, I decided that night to give it a shot for at least a few months; that is when my journey with intermittent fasting began.
Fast forward to today. Now at 57 years old, I have absolutely never felt more alive, healthier, more energetic, or sharper, after one year of incorporating intermittent fasting into my lifestyle. I have eliminated the need for blood pressure medicine. Gone! I am stronger than I have been in decades. All my general aches and pains have disappeared. Haven’t had a headache in a year; I don’t think I have even taken an Advil during that time. I wake up with a sense of well-being that is indescribable; in fact, over the past year I don’t believe I have had a single truly bad day. I feel so liberated from the toxic soup of negative thoughts and guilt I was marinating in about my health and my weight, starting upon waking every morning and rarely ever quieting down from their constant suffocating presence. My skin tags have vanished. I am so much more focused. I now have boundless energy! I have even developed a strong desire to exercise, returning to things I have loved since childhood, like biking and dancing and swimming and jumping on a mini-trampoline. I enjoy food more than at any time in my life, and I eat a robust and unrestricted diet.
And yes, I have lost weight. I never weigh myself, but at my last doctor’s appointment the nurse told me I had lost 60 pounds since last June; the raw truth is that before intermittent fasting I was wearing a skin-tight 18W, and the jeans I am wearing as I type this, although sized generously for vanity’s sake, are shockingly a size 4. No perfection here-- I have plenty more fat on my body that I expect will gradually reduce further, but I spend ZERO time worrying about it. I just feel vital and radiant and healthy. I feel nourished. This eating pattern feels naturally sustainable and very permanent. I am headed in the right direction.
Intermittent fasting can be a powerful, healing tool; and one of the most appealing things about it to me is that it costs absolutely zero. Forget about expensive weight loss programs, designer food only available from high end stores, supplements that cost a paycheck, gym memberships… who among us can’t afford to simply and safely fast?
The most influential person for me along this journey has been a teacher from Augusta, Georgia, named Gin Stephens; she wrote an incredible book called Delay, Don’t Deny that lays out the principles I have followed almost since day #1. Her book has my highest recommendation for anyone interested in learning more about intermittent fasting. In fact, I was recently honored to be interviewed on Gin’s podcast, Intermittent Fasting Stories; it was gratifying to be able to tell her firsthand what an amazing influence she has had on my life. Here is the link for anyone who wants to hear more.
http://intermittentfastingstories.com/episode-43-donna-arcara/
It seems weird and feels vulnerable to share this highly personal message, but I feel a strong conviction that there may be someone out there who could benefit from being pointed toward this powerful information to check out for themselves along with their trusted medical practitioner. The photos show some changes in me evident on the outside; even more treasured are the changes you can’t see in a photo.
Mich Faith
Intermittent Fasting Is Life Changing!
I have been yo-yo dieting for most of my adult life. I have tried many diets, joined weightloss groups and gyms, and spent a great deal of money on supplements and shakes. You name, it I have tried it. I gained and lost weight many times but never kept the weight off. Eventually, my health started to decline in my early 50's. I suffered from extreme lower back and leg pain. I could barely walk without assistance. I was put on a powerful painkiller. It was about the same time I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and Non-Alcohol Fatty Liver (NAFL). I was devastated! It was a low point in my life. I weighed approximately 260 lbs and wore a tight size 26. I was exhausted, in pain and morbidly obese.
In September 2017, I happen upon the book Delay, Don't Deny by Gin Stephens. It took me about one day to read from cover to cover. It was the first time in years I had a glimmer of hope that my life could change. I joined Gin's Facebook Group and never looked back.
In September, 2017, my first fast was 16 hrs. It was easier than I thought and kept on for a couple of days. I then started to clean fast 19 hours a day. That's when the magic started. After a couple of months, I could walk without pain, and was taken off all pain medication. I was told my blood sugars were now normal along with my liver enzymes. When I started to clean fast, I got rid of my scale. It was the best decision I had ever made. Instead I took progress pictures weekly. Each week showed changes. I've been clean fasting for approximately 2 years. I have not had any lower back pain, I have bounds of energy and glowing skin. At 56 I feel and look better than I did in my late 30's. The benefits of fasting have changed my life! I am incredibly grateful!
Mich Faith
Starting Weight: approx 260 lbs, wearing a tight Size 26
Current Weight: Have no idea. Stopped weighing myself. Wearing a size 12
Goal: To wear a loose Size 10
I have been yo-yo dieting for most of my adult life. I have tried many diets, joined weightloss groups and gyms, and spent a great deal of money on supplements and shakes. You name, it I have tried it. I gained and lost weight many times but never kept the weight off. Eventually, my health started to decline in my early 50's. I suffered from extreme lower back and leg pain. I could barely walk without assistance. I was put on a powerful painkiller. It was about the same time I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and Non-Alcohol Fatty Liver (NAFL). I was devastated! It was a low point in my life. I weighed approximately 260 lbs and wore a tight size 26. I was exhausted, in pain and morbidly obese.
In September 2017, I happen upon the book Delay, Don't Deny by Gin Stephens. It took me about one day to read from cover to cover. It was the first time in years I had a glimmer of hope that my life could change. I joined Gin's Facebook Group and never looked back.
In September, 2017, my first fast was 16 hrs. It was easier than I thought and kept on for a couple of days. I then started to clean fast 19 hours a day. That's when the magic started. After a couple of months, I could walk without pain, and was taken off all pain medication. I was told my blood sugars were now normal along with my liver enzymes. When I started to clean fast, I got rid of my scale. It was the best decision I had ever made. Instead I took progress pictures weekly. Each week showed changes. I've been clean fasting for approximately 2 years. I have not had any lower back pain, I have bounds of energy and glowing skin. At 56 I feel and look better than I did in my late 30's. The benefits of fasting have changed my life! I am incredibly grateful!
Mich Faith
Starting Weight: approx 260 lbs, wearing a tight Size 26
Current Weight: Have no idea. Stopped weighing myself. Wearing a size 12
Goal: To wear a loose Size 10
Sara Walton Steele from Texas
Like Gin, I have tried many diets during my adult years after putting on weight after the birth of my two daughters. I am 5’3”, 64 years old, and was at my highest: 242 pounds. I began OMAD (one meal a day) on October 19, 2018, and have since lost 50 pounds. I have been amazed at how easy this has been, and I believe that is because I have been able to deny myself nothing. I love my carbs and eat dessert every day! I have hit a plateau the last couple of months, so this week have begun ADF (alternate daily fasting), which has been a bit challenging, but is working to move the number on my scale. I love my new WOL (way of life) with OMAD, which will be my sweet spot for life. Thanks, Gin, for such an easy-to-understand book. I am proud to share my success with anyone who asks how I’ve lost the weight. We are changing the world!
Michelle
I have almost always been overweight. In fact, as early as the age of 8 I can remember my mom putting me on a diet and taking me to T.O.P.S. meetings.
In high school I dropped a ton of weight via dieting, but the summer after I graduated and into the next year I gained it all back.
In 2000, my then assistant principal got me into running. I dropped some weight but learned that no matter how much I ran I was not going to outrun my fork.
Then in 2006, I did the South Beach Diet and got as low as 128 pounds (I am 5'8'). But I was being super restrictive about the amounts and types of food I ate and then gained all my weight back plus.
In 2011, I did the Whole30 for 3 months. The Whole30 was the key to me quitting my 5 can a day Diet Coke addiction, but the constant meal prep was more than I could handle.
In July 2017, I started working out in a gym doing pretty intense boot camps. It was at this gym that I was introduced to intermittent fasting. I thought it sounded crazy-- I mean, going at least 16 consecutive hours without eating?! Wouldn't I starve to death? How would it impact my running and boot camps? It took me NINE MONTHS to take the plunge into IF, and I joined a facebook group of intermittent fasting women. That group lead me to Gin Stephens and Delay, Don't Deny.
The first two weeks my runs and workouts were a struggle. But then... it was as if a switch went off. Suddenly my performance was BETTER in the gym and on my runs!!
It took 8 weeks for me to notice a difference in my body. I never weighed, so I had no known starting weight. But my clothes suddenly became less tight. And then in more time they became loose.
To date I have gone down 5 pants sizes and from an XL shirt to a medium.
All because of clean fasting.
I still eat carbs. I still have dessert (though I try to not do it as often). There is no forbidden food. The only limitation of this lifestyle is the time-- limit the number of hours in which I consume food.
Can it really be that simple?!
I'm here to tell you it is!
In high school I dropped a ton of weight via dieting, but the summer after I graduated and into the next year I gained it all back.
In 2000, my then assistant principal got me into running. I dropped some weight but learned that no matter how much I ran I was not going to outrun my fork.
Then in 2006, I did the South Beach Diet and got as low as 128 pounds (I am 5'8'). But I was being super restrictive about the amounts and types of food I ate and then gained all my weight back plus.
In 2011, I did the Whole30 for 3 months. The Whole30 was the key to me quitting my 5 can a day Diet Coke addiction, but the constant meal prep was more than I could handle.
In July 2017, I started working out in a gym doing pretty intense boot camps. It was at this gym that I was introduced to intermittent fasting. I thought it sounded crazy-- I mean, going at least 16 consecutive hours without eating?! Wouldn't I starve to death? How would it impact my running and boot camps? It took me NINE MONTHS to take the plunge into IF, and I joined a facebook group of intermittent fasting women. That group lead me to Gin Stephens and Delay, Don't Deny.
The first two weeks my runs and workouts were a struggle. But then... it was as if a switch went off. Suddenly my performance was BETTER in the gym and on my runs!!
It took 8 weeks for me to notice a difference in my body. I never weighed, so I had no known starting weight. But my clothes suddenly became less tight. And then in more time they became loose.
To date I have gone down 5 pants sizes and from an XL shirt to a medium.
All because of clean fasting.
I still eat carbs. I still have dessert (though I try to not do it as often). There is no forbidden food. The only limitation of this lifestyle is the time-- limit the number of hours in which I consume food.
Can it really be that simple?!
I'm here to tell you it is!
No more "Fat but Fit"!
I started IF almost seven months ago. I was approaching 60 yrs. old and had resigned myself to be “fat but fit”. I couldn’t seem to lose any weight and keep it off. After my doctor told me I was prediabetic, I knew I needed to try a different approach. I searched YouTube and podcasts and found Gin and Dr. Fung. I also learned there is evidence that IF may help with Alzheimer’s which runs in my family. This was the final push I needed to start. During this time, I was laid off from work. Normally, I would have gone straight for the cookies and brownies, but this time I had control and didn’t give them much thought. I started with a 16:8 and now do about a five- to six-hour window. After about 10 weeks out of work, I got a new, better job, but had a major problem. Absolutely none of my work clothes fit – no pants, suits, or shirts worked. They looked like sacks hanging on me. Everything I wear now is slim fit. Slim – a term never associated with my name since I was in my 20’s. So, a warning, if you start this lifestyle, it could cost you a bit in clothing costs. I went from a relaxed fit, tight-to-button, 40-inch waist blue jean to a slim fit 34 inch and am ready to move into 32-inch jeans. More importantly, my blood sugar is back down to the low 90’s from 105. Also, my blood work shows my triglycerides dropped from 236 to 112, cholesterol went from 148 to 129 and my risk ratio decreased from a high risk 5.3 to a normal 4.3. I don't think I am exaggerating when I say IF saved my life. My wife, who has Type 2 diabetes, has told me throughout the last seven months that IF may work for me, but, as a diabetic, it wasn’t for her. Her blood sugars would get too low. Last week, she asked her doctor about intermittent fasting and Type 2 diabetes. Her doctor said she didn’t see a reason for her not to try it, so I am proudly waiting for the paperback of DDD to arrive today for her.
My wife asked me if intermittent fasting is something I could continue. I told her absolutely. I am not deprived, just delayed! I turn 60 this month. I weigh less than when I was 40. My blood chemistry is as good as when I was 35. Thanks to autophagy, I don’t have any hanging skin and look pretty trim. My wife says when I turn sideways, I disappear! I’ve lost almost 50 pounds. There were weeks when my weight didn’t change but I knew from DDD to stay the course and trust the science.
My wife asked me if intermittent fasting is something I could continue. I told her absolutely. I am not deprived, just delayed! I turn 60 this month. I weigh less than when I was 40. My blood chemistry is as good as when I was 35. Thanks to autophagy, I don’t have any hanging skin and look pretty trim. My wife says when I turn sideways, I disappear! I’ve lost almost 50 pounds. There were weeks when my weight didn’t change but I knew from DDD to stay the course and trust the science.
Abby Ballard
I grew up overweight. It took a toll on my self-confidence and self-worth. Every day was a struggle for me. I remember going to church every Sunday with my family and praying for God to help me get thin. That was the one thing I wanted most in the world. When my daughter was born 7 years ago, I remember staring at this perfect little girl, and realized that I wanted the world for her. I did not want her to grow up overweight like I was. I decided that the best way to accomplish this was to do it myself. I began to take long walks in the evenings with a neighbor and signed up for a produce club where I picked up fresh fruits and veggies every week from a truck in town. I lost 50 pounds the first year. The second year I began to go out running and was amazed that I could do it. At the advice of a friend, I would go out for a walk, then make a goal to run to a tree in the distance. I would get to that tree and realize I could go further, so I would run to a sign I saw up ahead. I was able to lose another 10 pounds. My daughter and I had some hard times that year. Our lifestyle completely changed. The way I coped with the stress was through running. I ran every evening while listening to uplifting music on country hills. I was not going to allow myself to get depressed. I had to be a good mom and role model for my daughter and I was determined to show her how strong I was, and that we were going to get through this. She was only 2 at the time, but I knew I was making an impact on her. When I would go out for runs, she would want to come with me, running to get her shoes, she would watch out the window as I would run down the driveway waving, looking back I could see her face pressed up against the window. When I would return, she would run outside to greet me down the driveway and we would finish together.
It was around this time that I naturally began to intermittent fast. Not realizing it was a “thing,” I just naturally took the rhythm of eating a big breakfast, then lots of healthy foods for lunch. The evenings were when I was able to get my long run in, so I skipped supper as I did not like to go out with a full stomach. The pounds came off. I was able to lose another 30 within months. I have maintained my weight for about 4 ½ years. I have a healthy BMI and am not considered “overweight” anymore!!!
Last April I kept hearing about veganism and decided to do some research on the benefits of a whole food plant-based lifestyle. I thought to myself “There is no way I could go without eating meat and cheese!” So, I gave veganism one month. I was just going to try it since I read about all the health benefits. Well, that month has now turned into a year and I have no desire to return to a carnivorous diet. I feel amazing, and my blood work is perfect. This whole food/plant based/IF lifestyle is something I am willing to continue and am hoping that my story will help influence those that are struggling to give it a go themselves.
It was around this time that I naturally began to intermittent fast. Not realizing it was a “thing,” I just naturally took the rhythm of eating a big breakfast, then lots of healthy foods for lunch. The evenings were when I was able to get my long run in, so I skipped supper as I did not like to go out with a full stomach. The pounds came off. I was able to lose another 30 within months. I have maintained my weight for about 4 ½ years. I have a healthy BMI and am not considered “overweight” anymore!!!
Last April I kept hearing about veganism and decided to do some research on the benefits of a whole food plant-based lifestyle. I thought to myself “There is no way I could go without eating meat and cheese!” So, I gave veganism one month. I was just going to try it since I read about all the health benefits. Well, that month has now turned into a year and I have no desire to return to a carnivorous diet. I feel amazing, and my blood work is perfect. This whole food/plant based/IF lifestyle is something I am willing to continue and am hoping that my story will help influence those that are struggling to give it a go themselves.
Leah
I was a fat child...not obese, but in the 1950s, an extra 20 pounds still made me the fattest kid in school. At nine years old, I didn’t understand why my lunch bag had a container of canned tuna and canned fruit while my friends got peanut butter sandwiches and cookies. I didn’t understand why my evening snack was an apple while my brother and parents each had three scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Well, I did understand that I’d been put on a diet...I just didn’t get why it was necessary. And it sure didn’t seem fair. So, of course, I did what any good animal would do: I snuck food and ate in hiding at every opportunity. A dark movie theater was my favorite place to “get my fair share” without being judged, and to this day (I’m now 70), my most pleasurable eating happens when I’m alone, watching Netflix or reading a book.
When I was old enough to be interested in boys and care what I looked like, I assumed the responsibility for my own dieting. Through high school, I’d yo-yo between 120 and 135 (115 would have been ideal for my frame); in college, it was between 120 and 160. By the time I married at age 25, I was up to 200. It was the usual story. Get hooked on a particular diet, lose 30 pounds, get to the unsustainable point and gain 45. By age 34, I was up to 225 and feeling pretty desperate...didn’t seem like there was anything new to try. And then I learned about self-hypnosis.
Over the next three years, I used self-hypnosis to keep me motivated in a variety of diet and exercise plans. With aversion “commands” I totally gave up chocolate, Coke, and ice cream for three years. With continued hard work (I knew next to nothing about nutrition back then), I lost 90 pounds and kept the weight off for another three years and thought I had it made in the shade. Then my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and I stopped juggling. Over the next four years I gained 140 pounds.
A quick note about the self-hypnosis: I asked Dr. Doug Lisle what really happened during the s-h years since I wasn’t sure about its validity. He replied it got me started and invested into a self-reinforcing, self-esteem earning cycle. That kind of cycle can start anytime for any reason. “Once started, you can get into a positive cycle. The hypnosis isn’t the cause. The motivation to GO to the hypnosis was the cause. It went from there.“ Sounds remarkably similar to the positive cycles begun by intermittent fasting!
So. Four years into widowhood, I was 45 years old, still grieving, mentally squirrelly, and weighed 275 pounds. It was another three years before I woke up to the world again. I’d developed sleep apnea, lost my driver’s license for six months, and lost 20 pounds from all the extra walking to bus stops. That motivated me to start dieting again, and I was down to 240 pounds by the time I married my current Prince Charming at age 49. The next twelve years were about more and more diets. No more yo-yo, but I couldn’t get lower than 220 pounds. Everyone said it was much harder to lose weight as we get older, and I just bought into that.
Then, at age 61, I stopped eating animals. I’m an artist and was doing illustrations of adorable creatures...and something snapped inside. Practically overnight, I became a vegan. I immediately lost 20 pounds while I figured out what I could eat. Within a few months, I realized there were some astounding health benefits to my new lifestyle. My blood pressure and cholesterol plummeted enough that I no longer needed medication. Acid reflux disappeared as well. That encouraged me to start researching plant-based diets. At age 63, I discovered Dr. John McDougall (and several other plant-based physicians) and started eating high carb low fat. That’s also when I started following Dr. Douglas Lisle, psychologist, and learned the why’s and wherefore’s of so-called emotional eating. I credit these two doctors with saving my life and sanity. By age 68, I was down to 147 pounds...but couldn’t seem to get any lower. I wondered if that was going to be my body’s final resting weight. Oh, I could have sacrificed and severely dieted my way lower, but I was trying to get out of my diet mentality, not sink further in.
That’s when I FINALLY found out about IF. A diabetic friend had started fasting, so I looked into it. I read “The Obesity Code” and ran across “Delay, Don’t Deny” shortly after. Gin’s book advice sounded rational and doable...no need to alter what I felt was the healthiest diet for me. It took a couple months of trial and error before my body accepted what was going on. In the early days, I’d feel lightheaded and unable to continue. Several days later, I’d try again. I believe my third attempt was the charm, and my official start date was June, 2017.
Right from the start, I’ve only consumed distilled water during my 17-21 fasting hours. My average fast is 19-20 hours. My eating window is 4-6 hours. My food choices are still HCLF; that’s what my system seems to need. But with the DDD philosophy, I no longer agonize when I’m in a restaurant with friends, and low-fat food is not going to cut it. I LOVE the low-fat meals I make at home but haven’t found any low-fat choices remotely as wonderful in a restaurant. So, I merrily eat whatever I want when I’m out. And if I’m lucky enough to come across vegan cake on a menu, so much the better!
IF has brought me to 126 pounds at age 70.
Gin Stephens is one of my heroes, right up there with McDougall and Lisle. And Gin’s Facebook groups continue to be inspirational. This lifestyle might be the shortest span of my journey to date, but I’m reasonably certain it will be with me for the rest of my life.
When I was old enough to be interested in boys and care what I looked like, I assumed the responsibility for my own dieting. Through high school, I’d yo-yo between 120 and 135 (115 would have been ideal for my frame); in college, it was between 120 and 160. By the time I married at age 25, I was up to 200. It was the usual story. Get hooked on a particular diet, lose 30 pounds, get to the unsustainable point and gain 45. By age 34, I was up to 225 and feeling pretty desperate...didn’t seem like there was anything new to try. And then I learned about self-hypnosis.
Over the next three years, I used self-hypnosis to keep me motivated in a variety of diet and exercise plans. With aversion “commands” I totally gave up chocolate, Coke, and ice cream for three years. With continued hard work (I knew next to nothing about nutrition back then), I lost 90 pounds and kept the weight off for another three years and thought I had it made in the shade. Then my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and I stopped juggling. Over the next four years I gained 140 pounds.
A quick note about the self-hypnosis: I asked Dr. Doug Lisle what really happened during the s-h years since I wasn’t sure about its validity. He replied it got me started and invested into a self-reinforcing, self-esteem earning cycle. That kind of cycle can start anytime for any reason. “Once started, you can get into a positive cycle. The hypnosis isn’t the cause. The motivation to GO to the hypnosis was the cause. It went from there.“ Sounds remarkably similar to the positive cycles begun by intermittent fasting!
So. Four years into widowhood, I was 45 years old, still grieving, mentally squirrelly, and weighed 275 pounds. It was another three years before I woke up to the world again. I’d developed sleep apnea, lost my driver’s license for six months, and lost 20 pounds from all the extra walking to bus stops. That motivated me to start dieting again, and I was down to 240 pounds by the time I married my current Prince Charming at age 49. The next twelve years were about more and more diets. No more yo-yo, but I couldn’t get lower than 220 pounds. Everyone said it was much harder to lose weight as we get older, and I just bought into that.
Then, at age 61, I stopped eating animals. I’m an artist and was doing illustrations of adorable creatures...and something snapped inside. Practically overnight, I became a vegan. I immediately lost 20 pounds while I figured out what I could eat. Within a few months, I realized there were some astounding health benefits to my new lifestyle. My blood pressure and cholesterol plummeted enough that I no longer needed medication. Acid reflux disappeared as well. That encouraged me to start researching plant-based diets. At age 63, I discovered Dr. John McDougall (and several other plant-based physicians) and started eating high carb low fat. That’s also when I started following Dr. Douglas Lisle, psychologist, and learned the why’s and wherefore’s of so-called emotional eating. I credit these two doctors with saving my life and sanity. By age 68, I was down to 147 pounds...but couldn’t seem to get any lower. I wondered if that was going to be my body’s final resting weight. Oh, I could have sacrificed and severely dieted my way lower, but I was trying to get out of my diet mentality, not sink further in.
That’s when I FINALLY found out about IF. A diabetic friend had started fasting, so I looked into it. I read “The Obesity Code” and ran across “Delay, Don’t Deny” shortly after. Gin’s book advice sounded rational and doable...no need to alter what I felt was the healthiest diet for me. It took a couple months of trial and error before my body accepted what was going on. In the early days, I’d feel lightheaded and unable to continue. Several days later, I’d try again. I believe my third attempt was the charm, and my official start date was June, 2017.
Right from the start, I’ve only consumed distilled water during my 17-21 fasting hours. My average fast is 19-20 hours. My eating window is 4-6 hours. My food choices are still HCLF; that’s what my system seems to need. But with the DDD philosophy, I no longer agonize when I’m in a restaurant with friends, and low-fat food is not going to cut it. I LOVE the low-fat meals I make at home but haven’t found any low-fat choices remotely as wonderful in a restaurant. So, I merrily eat whatever I want when I’m out. And if I’m lucky enough to come across vegan cake on a menu, so much the better!
IF has brought me to 126 pounds at age 70.
Gin Stephens is one of my heroes, right up there with McDougall and Lisle. And Gin’s Facebook groups continue to be inspirational. This lifestyle might be the shortest span of my journey to date, but I’m reasonably certain it will be with me for the rest of my life.
Rajee Vissa
“Eat ghee, it will give you strength and make your skin and hair shine!” advised my Ammamma (maternal grandmother), a spry little bird of a woman. She walked long distances, read scriptures and meditated everyday. She ground her own chutneys in a stone mortar, suspicious of electric blenders. She was healthy almost her whole life and beat cancer in her 80s. Ammamma knew a thing or two. But did I listen to her sage advice?
Spoiler alert: No, and I don’t even have a dramatic weight loss story to tell.
But here’s how IF proved my Granny right:
I was a slightly chubby kid, though not overly so, and became conscious of my weight by my teens. It didn’t help that I stopped growing at 5’3” and felt dumpy. The savoury dishes of Indian home cooking are usually drizzled over with ghee but I began to cut fat from my diet early on. That’s about when my granny gently berated me at the table.
You see, by then I was well into my undergraduate Science degree, studying Food & Nutrition, Physiology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, that taught me how food is metabolized. But my textbooks were written back in the 60s, and little did I know that those nutrition guidelines would soon be outdated. I ignored my Ammamma – after all what would she know, with only basic education and age-old knowledge handed down for generations, unproven by Science?
Fast forward to my 30s living in London, then Singapore. Married with two kids and happy in life and work, my weight slowly crept up. I firmly believed the CI/CO (calories in/calories out) method was the only scientifically proven way to lose weight. I exercised, ate no butter and no cheese, and used skimmed milk and low fat foods, believing these to be the best choices. I looked at others my age struggling with their weight and thought, “It’s so simple; they just refuse to accept it!”
The traditional postpartum diet of my culture dictates a new mother is fed iron-rich whole foods, healing herbs, a LOT of ghee – and nothing after sunset (time restricted eating with circadian rhythms and fat for satiety anyone?). I disregarded Ammamma’s traditions and shuddered at the calories – there would be no liters of ghee in my house. I didn’t need all that nasty fat! I shed some of the weight from both pregnancies but gained stubborn belly fat that endless sets of stomach crunches couldn’t shift.
Meanwhile, I found running in 2003 and truly enjoyed it, training almost daily, completing 5 half marathons over the years and successfully managing my weight with it. I’d brag to friends that I never diet, and run so I can eat and drink whatever I want, whenever I want. And I did. The metabolism of my 30s made it possible.
But by age 44, my brag wasn’t true anymore. Changing hormones brought new truths that I was loath to accept. Every trip back to India, I would enjoy the delicious food knowing I’d pay my dues on the weighing scale on my return. More running used to work, but now my weight refused to budge. My belly circumference went beyond the healthy range and I crept into an overweight BMI for my height. How could this be? I was eating 3 healthy meals, 2 low fat snacks and running frantically like a hamster in a wheel!
And so I tried to eat even less and move even more.
I had really never dieted before, but began to track calories and macros for the first time. I rejected Indian cuisine as the cause of my weight gain and ate “Western” food – smoothies, salads, grilled meats, egg white omelettes – healthy but unexciting to my Asian palate. Meanwhile my family enjoyed our customary rice and chapattis, dal (lentil stew), vegetables cooked in many ways, home made yoghurt, beneficial home blended herbs & spices – and ghee, all that glorious ghee.
I hired a fitness trainer, lost some weight, lost steam, gained the weight back and struggled solo. Then mid 2016 I hired another trainer who gave me a punishing exercise regimen and a strict “Reset” diet, stripping me first of coffee (oh how hard that was!) then dropping one food group per week – meat, sugar, fruit, grains, dairy and so on. By the end of it I wanted to unhire her, change my name and go into hiding. What little weight and inches I lost came right back after – with interest.
So this was the dieting everybody feared and hated all along! How awful!!
This trainer had included fasting in my regimen – two 24-hour water fasts a week. With little idea of protocols and no proper understanding of the science, unsurprisingly I failed miserably. I was starving, dizzy, cranky and weak. I lasted 22 hours the first time, 20 hours the second time and after that I just lied to her that I was doing it, but gave up completely. My first experience of fasting was a total disaster.
On New Years Eve 2017/18 I met a friend at a party in India. He used to be fit, toned and sporty and we’d exchange exercise notes. But after some sporting injuries, he’d let go of his fitness. I was still at it, but gaining steadily. He and I drowned our mutual weight woes over several drinks that night.
I met this same friend again in late February 2018 back in Singapore and was shocked at his 2-month transformation. He had leaned out, his belly was flatter and muscles visible again. He looked great; I was still struggling. Of course I demanded to know his exercise regimen! Turns out he had been practicing Intermittent Fasting combined with a Keto diet, and no, he hadn’t been exercising apart from walking his dogs a bit. I was stunned and began to do some research. I read up and finally updated my outdated knowledge of how the body metabolises food. I learnt from Dr. Sachin Panda that when I was eating was far more important than what I was eating.
So in March 2018, I began my IF journey. I learnt to build the hours gradually and it was so much easier this time. But I sipped a “fasting drink” with lemon, ACV and salt as per some videos I’d seen, believing I needed it to rehydrate and “turbo boost” my loss. I shed some weight, but my belly remained. I was battling the most frustrating 6-month plateau, still eating low carb, low fat and tracking my food when I finally found Gin’s blog. Everything she wrote about fasting made so much sense and I immediately read Dr. Jason Fung as per her recommendations. Once I joined the DDD Facebook group in October 2018 and read Delay, Don’t Deny cover to cover in two days, I cleaned up my fast, let fat back into my life and the magic began…
I followed advice from Gin and her team of moderators on the FB groups and the outpouring of moral support from others, to venture into OMAD and break my plateau. I lost all the weight that I hoped to, and a bit more that I never dreamed I could. I never thought I’d live to see my belly shrink before my eyes, but it has.
As I hit my one-year Fastiversary, I now dare to declare myself in maintenance. My body continues to change and recompose as my fat-to-weight percentage shifts downward. I am no longer shackled by exercise. I will always workout regularly because it makes me strong, energetic and flexible, but not as a weight loss tool and nowhere as frantically as before. The many NSVs continue to surprise and delight me. I feel like with IF, I can finally relax into myself.
The best part? I have returned to my home cuisine, which I enjoy eating with my family every night. My food has no restrictions – wholemeal grains and millet, lots of dal, nuts & seeds, fermented food, all kinds of fruit & vegetables, full fat yoghurt and cheese.
And I think of my dear Ammamma every time I drizzle a large spoon of delicious ghee over my food at the table, after so many years of denying it. My skin and hair is shining, just as she said it would.
Thank you Guru Gin and wonderful fasting family. You are all so far away from me but you finally led me back home.
Spoiler alert: No, and I don’t even have a dramatic weight loss story to tell.
But here’s how IF proved my Granny right:
I was a slightly chubby kid, though not overly so, and became conscious of my weight by my teens. It didn’t help that I stopped growing at 5’3” and felt dumpy. The savoury dishes of Indian home cooking are usually drizzled over with ghee but I began to cut fat from my diet early on. That’s about when my granny gently berated me at the table.
You see, by then I was well into my undergraduate Science degree, studying Food & Nutrition, Physiology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, that taught me how food is metabolized. But my textbooks were written back in the 60s, and little did I know that those nutrition guidelines would soon be outdated. I ignored my Ammamma – after all what would she know, with only basic education and age-old knowledge handed down for generations, unproven by Science?
Fast forward to my 30s living in London, then Singapore. Married with two kids and happy in life and work, my weight slowly crept up. I firmly believed the CI/CO (calories in/calories out) method was the only scientifically proven way to lose weight. I exercised, ate no butter and no cheese, and used skimmed milk and low fat foods, believing these to be the best choices. I looked at others my age struggling with their weight and thought, “It’s so simple; they just refuse to accept it!”
The traditional postpartum diet of my culture dictates a new mother is fed iron-rich whole foods, healing herbs, a LOT of ghee – and nothing after sunset (time restricted eating with circadian rhythms and fat for satiety anyone?). I disregarded Ammamma’s traditions and shuddered at the calories – there would be no liters of ghee in my house. I didn’t need all that nasty fat! I shed some of the weight from both pregnancies but gained stubborn belly fat that endless sets of stomach crunches couldn’t shift.
Meanwhile, I found running in 2003 and truly enjoyed it, training almost daily, completing 5 half marathons over the years and successfully managing my weight with it. I’d brag to friends that I never diet, and run so I can eat and drink whatever I want, whenever I want. And I did. The metabolism of my 30s made it possible.
But by age 44, my brag wasn’t true anymore. Changing hormones brought new truths that I was loath to accept. Every trip back to India, I would enjoy the delicious food knowing I’d pay my dues on the weighing scale on my return. More running used to work, but now my weight refused to budge. My belly circumference went beyond the healthy range and I crept into an overweight BMI for my height. How could this be? I was eating 3 healthy meals, 2 low fat snacks and running frantically like a hamster in a wheel!
And so I tried to eat even less and move even more.
I had really never dieted before, but began to track calories and macros for the first time. I rejected Indian cuisine as the cause of my weight gain and ate “Western” food – smoothies, salads, grilled meats, egg white omelettes – healthy but unexciting to my Asian palate. Meanwhile my family enjoyed our customary rice and chapattis, dal (lentil stew), vegetables cooked in many ways, home made yoghurt, beneficial home blended herbs & spices – and ghee, all that glorious ghee.
I hired a fitness trainer, lost some weight, lost steam, gained the weight back and struggled solo. Then mid 2016 I hired another trainer who gave me a punishing exercise regimen and a strict “Reset” diet, stripping me first of coffee (oh how hard that was!) then dropping one food group per week – meat, sugar, fruit, grains, dairy and so on. By the end of it I wanted to unhire her, change my name and go into hiding. What little weight and inches I lost came right back after – with interest.
So this was the dieting everybody feared and hated all along! How awful!!
This trainer had included fasting in my regimen – two 24-hour water fasts a week. With little idea of protocols and no proper understanding of the science, unsurprisingly I failed miserably. I was starving, dizzy, cranky and weak. I lasted 22 hours the first time, 20 hours the second time and after that I just lied to her that I was doing it, but gave up completely. My first experience of fasting was a total disaster.
On New Years Eve 2017/18 I met a friend at a party in India. He used to be fit, toned and sporty and we’d exchange exercise notes. But after some sporting injuries, he’d let go of his fitness. I was still at it, but gaining steadily. He and I drowned our mutual weight woes over several drinks that night.
I met this same friend again in late February 2018 back in Singapore and was shocked at his 2-month transformation. He had leaned out, his belly was flatter and muscles visible again. He looked great; I was still struggling. Of course I demanded to know his exercise regimen! Turns out he had been practicing Intermittent Fasting combined with a Keto diet, and no, he hadn’t been exercising apart from walking his dogs a bit. I was stunned and began to do some research. I read up and finally updated my outdated knowledge of how the body metabolises food. I learnt from Dr. Sachin Panda that when I was eating was far more important than what I was eating.
So in March 2018, I began my IF journey. I learnt to build the hours gradually and it was so much easier this time. But I sipped a “fasting drink” with lemon, ACV and salt as per some videos I’d seen, believing I needed it to rehydrate and “turbo boost” my loss. I shed some weight, but my belly remained. I was battling the most frustrating 6-month plateau, still eating low carb, low fat and tracking my food when I finally found Gin’s blog. Everything she wrote about fasting made so much sense and I immediately read Dr. Jason Fung as per her recommendations. Once I joined the DDD Facebook group in October 2018 and read Delay, Don’t Deny cover to cover in two days, I cleaned up my fast, let fat back into my life and the magic began…
I followed advice from Gin and her team of moderators on the FB groups and the outpouring of moral support from others, to venture into OMAD and break my plateau. I lost all the weight that I hoped to, and a bit more that I never dreamed I could. I never thought I’d live to see my belly shrink before my eyes, but it has.
As I hit my one-year Fastiversary, I now dare to declare myself in maintenance. My body continues to change and recompose as my fat-to-weight percentage shifts downward. I am no longer shackled by exercise. I will always workout regularly because it makes me strong, energetic and flexible, but not as a weight loss tool and nowhere as frantically as before. The many NSVs continue to surprise and delight me. I feel like with IF, I can finally relax into myself.
The best part? I have returned to my home cuisine, which I enjoy eating with my family every night. My food has no restrictions – wholemeal grains and millet, lots of dal, nuts & seeds, fermented food, all kinds of fruit & vegetables, full fat yoghurt and cheese.
And I think of my dear Ammamma every time I drizzle a large spoon of delicious ghee over my food at the table, after so many years of denying it. My skin and hair is shining, just as she said it would.
Thank you Guru Gin and wonderful fasting family. You are all so far away from me but you finally led me back home.
Two Fasting Sisters!
I have to say I was so happy when my sister said she had sent in her story! I couldn't be more proud of her and her success with IF since November, but even more proud of her strength and tenacity over the last couple of years dealing with a rare lymphoma.
We were both so busy last year trying to get her through chemo (she went into the hospital for five days, every 3 weeks, for a total of 6 treatments) that our eating habits got out of hand. As she mentioned (below), they told her to eat whatever and whenever and that is exactly what we did. And because I adore her and she is my hero, I was there with her for every bite! LOL.
I went to Aruba last April (my "before" pic) and when I got back and saw my doctor on May 5th, I weighed 197. I was determined (yet again) to lose some weight. But I am post menopausal and I knew it could be tough so I asked my doctor if I could try Contrave to help. I started it and it did help a little but I knew I didn't want to take it long term and I didn't like the side effects. By early August I had lost maybe 8 pounds. Since there's a facebook support group for everything (LOL) I joined one for people who were taking Contrave. Someone mentioned IF and Dr. Fung's book. I read his book August 16th and 17th, started 16:8 on the 18th. Someone in THAT facebook group made mention of Gin and DDD and I read it the beginning of September. Gin's approach made so much sense to me and I began "delaying, not denying" and started to wean myself off the Contrave (doctor approved).
My sister noticed my success and asked me about it and I told her what I was doing and she seemed a bit skeptical. No way was I going to try to push her towards it with all she was going through but I knew she was miserable. :( Then around the end of October, I went to see her and she said, "Ok, you need to tell me more about what you're doing". And there you go. She started November 1, and I am so thrilled for her!! I don't really weigh anymore but I think I am down around 40 pounds and down from a size 14/16 and XL to 8/10 and sm/med.
We both feel so good going into this next phase of her treatment! You won't find two sisters who support and feel about each other the way she and I do. I "retired" last year so that I can be there for her every step of the way through this cancer. I live in Cleveland now (moved from Richmond, VA 3 years ago) and she is in Columbus. I am so grateful for the 2 hours drive since it used to be 7 hours from Richmond. I think my car could actually drive itself there.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read our IF story. I am eternally grateful to Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Herring and so many IF pioneers, but my heart belongs to Gin and the DDD Facebook folks for the sense of community, love and support for this IF lifestyle. My dream is to take my sister on the next DDD Cruise to Cuba and make it a surprise trip for her. Until then, we will "fast on", stay healthy and, God willing get her back in remission!
We were both so busy last year trying to get her through chemo (she went into the hospital for five days, every 3 weeks, for a total of 6 treatments) that our eating habits got out of hand. As she mentioned (below), they told her to eat whatever and whenever and that is exactly what we did. And because I adore her and she is my hero, I was there with her for every bite! LOL.
I went to Aruba last April (my "before" pic) and when I got back and saw my doctor on May 5th, I weighed 197. I was determined (yet again) to lose some weight. But I am post menopausal and I knew it could be tough so I asked my doctor if I could try Contrave to help. I started it and it did help a little but I knew I didn't want to take it long term and I didn't like the side effects. By early August I had lost maybe 8 pounds. Since there's a facebook support group for everything (LOL) I joined one for people who were taking Contrave. Someone mentioned IF and Dr. Fung's book. I read his book August 16th and 17th, started 16:8 on the 18th. Someone in THAT facebook group made mention of Gin and DDD and I read it the beginning of September. Gin's approach made so much sense to me and I began "delaying, not denying" and started to wean myself off the Contrave (doctor approved).
My sister noticed my success and asked me about it and I told her what I was doing and she seemed a bit skeptical. No way was I going to try to push her towards it with all she was going through but I knew she was miserable. :( Then around the end of October, I went to see her and she said, "Ok, you need to tell me more about what you're doing". And there you go. She started November 1, and I am so thrilled for her!! I don't really weigh anymore but I think I am down around 40 pounds and down from a size 14/16 and XL to 8/10 and sm/med.
We both feel so good going into this next phase of her treatment! You won't find two sisters who support and feel about each other the way she and I do. I "retired" last year so that I can be there for her every step of the way through this cancer. I live in Cleveland now (moved from Richmond, VA 3 years ago) and she is in Columbus. I am so grateful for the 2 hours drive since it used to be 7 hours from Richmond. I think my car could actually drive itself there.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read our IF story. I am eternally grateful to Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Herring and so many IF pioneers, but my heart belongs to Gin and the DDD Facebook folks for the sense of community, love and support for this IF lifestyle. My dream is to take my sister on the next DDD Cruise to Cuba and make it a surprise trip for her. Until then, we will "fast on", stay healthy and, God willing get her back in remission!
Might be a bit of a long story, but I felt the need to share. After a diagnosis of lymphoma in 2015 and a roller coaster ride of minimal treatments for stage 2, I progressed to stage 4 very quickly in February 2018. Needless to say, devastated was an understatement. So, after a very aggressive chemo therapy, remission came for 4 months along with a weight gain. Figures, most people lose weight with chemo. Not me. They said I needed to get calories in to keep my strength up so I did. Anything I wanted they said. So, naturally I felt very uncomfortable in my clothes. My darling sister who stayed with me throughout all of this, ate right along with me and gained too. She found IF, and after losing weight, and more importantly, feeling better, I was turned on to this concept BIG TIME. So I read Gin's book and Dr Fung’s book and dove in. From November 1 to February 1, 22 pounds are gone and I feel so much better and my clothes fit great. My remission didn’t last though, unfortunately. I suffered a recurrence and had to enter a clinical trial which lasted only a month before another recurrence around Valentine’s Day of all days. So, now to the present day. I have maintained my weight loss, IF lifestyle, and still feel as good as I can even with these challenges. Next week I begin a new course of aggressive chemo and after some research I have found some information about fasting and the effects it has on chemotherapy’s success. Turns out, without getting too technical, receiving chemo in a fasted state helps the cells react favorably to the treatment. Pretty cool, huh? As my title implies, my journey is far from over because I plan to use IF, my strong faith in Our Lord, loving support from my family and the courage to be around for a very long time! Thank you for letting me share my never ending story.
Bruce from Memphis
I have experienced and suffered from lower GI issues since I was in my mid twenties. At 25 I was told "you have the colon of a 60 year old." I am now 59. I have always lived a healthy lifestyle and eaten a good diet low in processed foods. However, the colon issues persisted to a degree of requiring surgery. A week before surgery a good friend of my wife's insisted I go see a different doc prior to surgery.
He suggested we delay surgery and put me on a low residue diet. I lived that way for approximately 1-1/2 years, still experiencing attacks of diverticulitis. In April of 2018 my wife, who's in the fitness industry, came across intermittent fasting. She and I researched it exhaustively. I can't begin to tell you how may hours of Jason Fung we have listened to. Well, the results of IF have been life changing. Mind you, weight loss was not my driving force. It was overall health. However I lost approximately 15 lbs. I'm 6'2, 185 lbs.
Most importantly, I have not had one single attack of lower GI issues.
I currently use the 16-8 method. I eat my first meal at noon and close the window at 8:00 pm. I routinely stretch it to 18-6 several times a week. I had a routine physical a few months prior to starting IF. My numbers were all very good. I had to get a physical for insurance recently. ALL of my numbers had improved. Mind you, they were already good. I was at a sales meeting recently and someone I hadn't seen in approximately 3 years came up to me and said, "I didn't speak to your earlier because I wasn't sure that was you. You look so YOU. I remember you being older!"
I won't even get into how I am free of any joint pain as well. IF is the fricking real deal. This old dog learned a new trick and it has been a game changer!
He suggested we delay surgery and put me on a low residue diet. I lived that way for approximately 1-1/2 years, still experiencing attacks of diverticulitis. In April of 2018 my wife, who's in the fitness industry, came across intermittent fasting. She and I researched it exhaustively. I can't begin to tell you how may hours of Jason Fung we have listened to. Well, the results of IF have been life changing. Mind you, weight loss was not my driving force. It was overall health. However I lost approximately 15 lbs. I'm 6'2, 185 lbs.
Most importantly, I have not had one single attack of lower GI issues.
I currently use the 16-8 method. I eat my first meal at noon and close the window at 8:00 pm. I routinely stretch it to 18-6 several times a week. I had a routine physical a few months prior to starting IF. My numbers were all very good. I had to get a physical for insurance recently. ALL of my numbers had improved. Mind you, they were already good. I was at a sales meeting recently and someone I hadn't seen in approximately 3 years came up to me and said, "I didn't speak to your earlier because I wasn't sure that was you. You look so YOU. I remember you being older!"
I won't even get into how I am free of any joint pain as well. IF is the fricking real deal. This old dog learned a new trick and it has been a game changer!
Sarah Kull
I found Gin Stephens at the start of 2018 and was so inspired by the success stories on her Facebook group I ordered and read her book on my Kindle that week.
At 35 and a mother to two young ones, I was the heaviest I had ever been. I was what I would call a lifetime dieter. In fact, I used to be tiny....back before I started eating breakfast! Yep, my body knew what the experts didn't way back then!
I had tried Weight Watchers and keto as well as various exercise plans (all of which made me notably hungrier!) with no more than 10 kg (22 lbs) success before putting the weight back on again.
All of the success stories and research couldn't be wrong about fasting. I eased into 16:8 over a couple of days and by the 10th day on 16:8 I had lost 4 lbs. But more than that, I felt good. More energy, less bloating, and the heart burn I'd started getting most days had gone.
Over the following 3 weeks I lost 8 lbs and several inches, and I felt amazing. I increased to 18:6 as wasn't feeling hungry at 16 hrs.
It has been 10 months now. I'm down 37 lbs, my blood pressure is back to normal, heartburn gone, resting pulse dropped by 10 points, and I'm in my goal size!
I'm not at goal weight yet, but it doesnt matter for 2 reasons. 1st, the scales lie. They really do. The last time I wore this size I was 12 lbs lighter than I am now! The 2nd reason: I won't stop IF. This is for life. It works, I feel great, it's flexible, and it fits with whatever is going on.
I mostly do 20:4 now and prefer to have my window around 10 am-1 pm. I often open with some good cheese on crackers and some fruit, then eat whatever I feel like for lunch. My window is often closed with something sweet too...maybe a hot chocolate, maybe a yogurt or some chocolate!
I 100% clean fast, with water only (I don't drink tea/coffee).
I am such an avid supporter of IF as a solution to the worldwide health issues related to obesity that I now have a support group I set up in New Zealand and I teach all my patients about this way of life. I bought a hard copy of Gin's book to share with people and promote it as life changing because it really is!!! Thanks Gin!!!!!
At 35 and a mother to two young ones, I was the heaviest I had ever been. I was what I would call a lifetime dieter. In fact, I used to be tiny....back before I started eating breakfast! Yep, my body knew what the experts didn't way back then!
I had tried Weight Watchers and keto as well as various exercise plans (all of which made me notably hungrier!) with no more than 10 kg (22 lbs) success before putting the weight back on again.
All of the success stories and research couldn't be wrong about fasting. I eased into 16:8 over a couple of days and by the 10th day on 16:8 I had lost 4 lbs. But more than that, I felt good. More energy, less bloating, and the heart burn I'd started getting most days had gone.
Over the following 3 weeks I lost 8 lbs and several inches, and I felt amazing. I increased to 18:6 as wasn't feeling hungry at 16 hrs.
It has been 10 months now. I'm down 37 lbs, my blood pressure is back to normal, heartburn gone, resting pulse dropped by 10 points, and I'm in my goal size!
I'm not at goal weight yet, but it doesnt matter for 2 reasons. 1st, the scales lie. They really do. The last time I wore this size I was 12 lbs lighter than I am now! The 2nd reason: I won't stop IF. This is for life. It works, I feel great, it's flexible, and it fits with whatever is going on.
I mostly do 20:4 now and prefer to have my window around 10 am-1 pm. I often open with some good cheese on crackers and some fruit, then eat whatever I feel like for lunch. My window is often closed with something sweet too...maybe a hot chocolate, maybe a yogurt or some chocolate!
I 100% clean fast, with water only (I don't drink tea/coffee).
I am such an avid supporter of IF as a solution to the worldwide health issues related to obesity that I now have a support group I set up in New Zealand and I teach all my patients about this way of life. I bought a hard copy of Gin's book to share with people and promote it as life changing because it really is!!! Thanks Gin!!!!!
Jeethah Atwal
Several years ago, I walked happily into my doctor's office seeking treatment for my cold/flu that I had for several weeks. Not a big deal. As my eyes met the doctor's, my heart sank. Right away, I knew that the words that would soon flow out of his mouth would be words of despair. As I felt the heart-breaking energy in the room, it happened. He announced in the same tone that he would a death that I was a diabetic. He went on to inform me that it was due to my weight.
I walked out of the office with tears in my eyes, yet not fully understanding what this truly meant. My lack of understanding was short-lived. Unfortunately, in the upcoming weeks, I was about to soon find out.
Almost instantly, my life changed for the worse. First I fell down the stairs and scraped both of my knees. Thought I had just tripped. Then I fell into a pond and my nail popped off. Thought I had just tripped. Then I fell randomly on the grass field. I was too dizzy to get back up. Again, thought I had just tripped. My daily bike riding came to an end because I just couldn't balance. At the mall, I couldn’t step on the escalator because I knew I'd fall. Sleeping didn't help, because I'd wake up gasping for air, unable to breathe. Regardless of my many falls and injures, I remained the happy-go-lucky person that I often am. Yet, it was different. I randomly broke into tears. By tears, I mean that I would fall to my knees and cry uncontrollably. For no known reason. This would happen almost every day.
It took me several months to realize that my diabetes was showing its TRUE colors. Yet, I was clueless to what my next step would be. My list of struggles was endless. Not only did I cry each day, but I made everyone around me cry as well.
Fearing I'd fall and get hurt or I'd randomly break into tears. I spent the next months wasting my time by watching TV and googling random things on the internet. I'm so thankful I did, because that was how I came across Gin's Facebook group. I joined the group to pass my time, thinking it would be a good waste of time. At that time, I didn't know that it would change my life.
I was welcomed by hundreds of people with open arms. My first post received over 500 reactions and over 200 comments with useful advice and encouraging comments. I was hooked. Not only to the group, but to fasting as well.
Within the first week of fasting, all of my medical issues disappeared. No lie. It really happened that fast. I had unbelievable sleep, I stopped falling all over the place and most importantly I stopped crying. I couldn't believe it. Oh, right. I almost forgot... seven months in, I lost 40 pounds doing 20/4.
I truly love Gin's book because the information saved my life. I truly love Gin's Facebook groups because when I was crying they welcomed me and cried with me. Soon when I started to laugh, they laughed with me. Gin and this group became my world. To them I will be forever thankful.
Thank you guys for having me.
I walked out of the office with tears in my eyes, yet not fully understanding what this truly meant. My lack of understanding was short-lived. Unfortunately, in the upcoming weeks, I was about to soon find out.
Almost instantly, my life changed for the worse. First I fell down the stairs and scraped both of my knees. Thought I had just tripped. Then I fell into a pond and my nail popped off. Thought I had just tripped. Then I fell randomly on the grass field. I was too dizzy to get back up. Again, thought I had just tripped. My daily bike riding came to an end because I just couldn't balance. At the mall, I couldn’t step on the escalator because I knew I'd fall. Sleeping didn't help, because I'd wake up gasping for air, unable to breathe. Regardless of my many falls and injures, I remained the happy-go-lucky person that I often am. Yet, it was different. I randomly broke into tears. By tears, I mean that I would fall to my knees and cry uncontrollably. For no known reason. This would happen almost every day.
It took me several months to realize that my diabetes was showing its TRUE colors. Yet, I was clueless to what my next step would be. My list of struggles was endless. Not only did I cry each day, but I made everyone around me cry as well.
Fearing I'd fall and get hurt or I'd randomly break into tears. I spent the next months wasting my time by watching TV and googling random things on the internet. I'm so thankful I did, because that was how I came across Gin's Facebook group. I joined the group to pass my time, thinking it would be a good waste of time. At that time, I didn't know that it would change my life.
I was welcomed by hundreds of people with open arms. My first post received over 500 reactions and over 200 comments with useful advice and encouraging comments. I was hooked. Not only to the group, but to fasting as well.
Within the first week of fasting, all of my medical issues disappeared. No lie. It really happened that fast. I had unbelievable sleep, I stopped falling all over the place and most importantly I stopped crying. I couldn't believe it. Oh, right. I almost forgot... seven months in, I lost 40 pounds doing 20/4.
I truly love Gin's book because the information saved my life. I truly love Gin's Facebook groups because when I was crying they welcomed me and cried with me. Soon when I started to laugh, they laughed with me. Gin and this group became my world. To them I will be forever thankful.
Thank you guys for having me.
Lyn Huston
In August 2016, I was starting my 29th year of teaching. The beginning of every school year is always very busy and I usually lose 15-20 pounds without really trying very hard, just from being very busy and not having time to eat. Having (probably) topped 250 pounds during the summer, and fighting with a host of medical issues such as chronic knee pain, Type II diabetes, and high blood pressure, I decided to really try to put that time of “easy” weight loss to work and see if I could make something of it.
I did a typical calories-in-calories-out and carb limiting diet up through the middle of October and did lose about 15 pounds. Sensing the end of the busiest time of my school year, I ordered an indoor trainer for my ElliptiGO bike and promised myself I’d use it every day to make the purchase worthwhile.
My trainer arrived at the beginning of November, and at the same time, a friend of mine told me about intermittent fasting, and specifically, a book called “Delay, Don’t Deny.” I was pretty skeptical but told my friend I’d do it with her. I ordered the book, and we actually started before we had even read the book using the tips from Gin’s Facebook groups.
Long story short: after 777 days, a first year of 20:4 IF and a second year of mostly <2 hour eating windows, I attained my goal of losing 100 pounds.
The stats: while I’m sure I exceeded 250 pounds during the summer of 2016, my highest recorded weight was 247 pounds in the previous May. I wore a size 22-24, or a 3X. I now weigh 147 pounds, and I wear size 3/5/7 jeans depending on the brand, a size small or medium shirt, and a size 6 or 8 dress.
If you had tried to tell me two years ago that I’d be able to ride my ElliptiGO up a 5,000 foot mountain, wearing size small biking shorts, I’d have just laughed and never believed it. Seriously, this has been the simplest way I’ve ever had success with weight loss in my life. Other than a couple of years in high school of “white-knuckling” I’d been obese my entire 50 years of life.
This feels completely sustainable to me. I have freedom from counting calories, points, and carbs. I have a healthy relationship with food—I’m not constantly thinking about it! I’m almost never hungry. I eat whatever I want during my window, and have a real dessert most days. I really did learn to like black coffee, and it only took about a week to transition.
Biggest lesson learned: if Gin tells you something, like don’t buy too many new clothes in size large because soon you will be in mediums or smalls, or maybe try delaying your desserts for a couple of weeks, you can fight against it if you want to, but in the end she will be right and you will wish you’d listened sooner!
I did a typical calories-in-calories-out and carb limiting diet up through the middle of October and did lose about 15 pounds. Sensing the end of the busiest time of my school year, I ordered an indoor trainer for my ElliptiGO bike and promised myself I’d use it every day to make the purchase worthwhile.
My trainer arrived at the beginning of November, and at the same time, a friend of mine told me about intermittent fasting, and specifically, a book called “Delay, Don’t Deny.” I was pretty skeptical but told my friend I’d do it with her. I ordered the book, and we actually started before we had even read the book using the tips from Gin’s Facebook groups.
Long story short: after 777 days, a first year of 20:4 IF and a second year of mostly <2 hour eating windows, I attained my goal of losing 100 pounds.
The stats: while I’m sure I exceeded 250 pounds during the summer of 2016, my highest recorded weight was 247 pounds in the previous May. I wore a size 22-24, or a 3X. I now weigh 147 pounds, and I wear size 3/5/7 jeans depending on the brand, a size small or medium shirt, and a size 6 or 8 dress.
If you had tried to tell me two years ago that I’d be able to ride my ElliptiGO up a 5,000 foot mountain, wearing size small biking shorts, I’d have just laughed and never believed it. Seriously, this has been the simplest way I’ve ever had success with weight loss in my life. Other than a couple of years in high school of “white-knuckling” I’d been obese my entire 50 years of life.
This feels completely sustainable to me. I have freedom from counting calories, points, and carbs. I have a healthy relationship with food—I’m not constantly thinking about it! I’m almost never hungry. I eat whatever I want during my window, and have a real dessert most days. I really did learn to like black coffee, and it only took about a week to transition.
Biggest lesson learned: if Gin tells you something, like don’t buy too many new clothes in size large because soon you will be in mediums or smalls, or maybe try delaying your desserts for a couple of weeks, you can fight against it if you want to, but in the end she will be right and you will wish you’d listened sooner!
A.R. and B.R. of Oregon
The photo on the left should've been a happy milestone. It was our twentieth wedding anniversary, and we were celebrating with a photo shoot complete with a stunning custom-made scarlet dress. But underneath those smiles, my husband and I were suffering from escalating health problems: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, crushing fatigue, chronic depression, pre-diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and more.
And then we found fasting. One year later, we decided to re-create our photo shoot to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of our wedding and the first anniversary of our lifesaving health transformation. That’s the same scarlet dress, which my seamstress took in by twelve inches to fit my current body. Following the advice of Dr. Jason Fung and the supportive community led by Gin Stephens, we've lost a combined 232 pounds so far and watched all those health problems disappear.
Once we learned to speak the natural "fast and feast" language of our bodies, appetite correction sorted out our eating habits effortlessly. Fasting taught me that I was never a glutton weak in willpower, nor was I ever "eating my feelings." My inability to stop eating--and to stop eating toxic garbage--before finding the fasting lifestyle was directly caused by the effect of insulin on my cells. As soon as fasting balanced my hormones, I appeared to have herculean control over food. But I've learned it's not about control, nor even food at all, it's about fasting's power to heal our bodies, change our relationship to eating, and prolong our lives.
For decades, doctors following outdated, misguided nutritional guidelines sent my husband and me into the battle for our health armed with nothing but a wet noodle. Then finally, Jason Fung and Gin Stephens put the sword of fasting in our hands. Thanks be to God.
And then we found fasting. One year later, we decided to re-create our photo shoot to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of our wedding and the first anniversary of our lifesaving health transformation. That’s the same scarlet dress, which my seamstress took in by twelve inches to fit my current body. Following the advice of Dr. Jason Fung and the supportive community led by Gin Stephens, we've lost a combined 232 pounds so far and watched all those health problems disappear.
Once we learned to speak the natural "fast and feast" language of our bodies, appetite correction sorted out our eating habits effortlessly. Fasting taught me that I was never a glutton weak in willpower, nor was I ever "eating my feelings." My inability to stop eating--and to stop eating toxic garbage--before finding the fasting lifestyle was directly caused by the effect of insulin on my cells. As soon as fasting balanced my hormones, I appeared to have herculean control over food. But I've learned it's not about control, nor even food at all, it's about fasting's power to heal our bodies, change our relationship to eating, and prolong our lives.
For decades, doctors following outdated, misguided nutritional guidelines sent my husband and me into the battle for our health armed with nothing but a wet noodle. Then finally, Jason Fung and Gin Stephens put the sword of fasting in our hands. Thanks be to God.
Kim & Ryan Smith
Unbelievable.
The most common feedback we get from others is that they can't believe our transformation, that we are unrecognizable, that we don't look like the same people.
We don't feel like the same people, either. It's more than the 200 pounds we have lost. After struggling with food for decades (him since childhood, me since my mid 20s), we are finally FREE. We have gained and lost weight. We have tried numerous diets, separately and together. We struggled. We felt deprived. We gave up hope that there was a better way. During our 15 year marriage, we dealt with a lot of change in our extended family, our finances and our careers. Dysfunctional eating became the one stable constant in the center of our lives.
I found Gin's book, Delay, Don't Deny, in May of 2017 at a time when Ryan and I were following two separate diets, ones through which we'd both lost a fair amount of weight. I call it "semi-successful struggling," because although these plans had taken weight off our bodies, we were still grappling with cravings, "cheating," and ultimately, we were once-again starting to regain weight. We read the book, began clean fasting daily, and suddenly everything clicked. The fasting felt amazing, our food tasted delicious, and we could eat what we wanted. Eating in the same pattern helped us get aligned in many ways. The remaining weight melted away within months and maintenance feels so natural. We only delay, we do not deny.
We now live a life where the struggle is gone. The changes in us greatly transcend the physical. Peace and joy have replaced fear and angst - we truly feel FREE. Everything about our lifestyle now - the saved time and money, the freedom from cravings, the ability to eat intuitively and enjoy every bite of food - it all seems to too good to be true. But it isn't - it is true, it's real, and it is available for everyone who embraces the IF lifestyle. I am grateful to Gin and consider her a true mentor - not just with the weight loss, but in our new venture to write a book that tells this transformation story in full. You can follow our progress at www.fastingfeastingfreedom.com. Wishing you all a happy, healthy journey!
The most common feedback we get from others is that they can't believe our transformation, that we are unrecognizable, that we don't look like the same people.
We don't feel like the same people, either. It's more than the 200 pounds we have lost. After struggling with food for decades (him since childhood, me since my mid 20s), we are finally FREE. We have gained and lost weight. We have tried numerous diets, separately and together. We struggled. We felt deprived. We gave up hope that there was a better way. During our 15 year marriage, we dealt with a lot of change in our extended family, our finances and our careers. Dysfunctional eating became the one stable constant in the center of our lives.
I found Gin's book, Delay, Don't Deny, in May of 2017 at a time when Ryan and I were following two separate diets, ones through which we'd both lost a fair amount of weight. I call it "semi-successful struggling," because although these plans had taken weight off our bodies, we were still grappling with cravings, "cheating," and ultimately, we were once-again starting to regain weight. We read the book, began clean fasting daily, and suddenly everything clicked. The fasting felt amazing, our food tasted delicious, and we could eat what we wanted. Eating in the same pattern helped us get aligned in many ways. The remaining weight melted away within months and maintenance feels so natural. We only delay, we do not deny.
We now live a life where the struggle is gone. The changes in us greatly transcend the physical. Peace and joy have replaced fear and angst - we truly feel FREE. Everything about our lifestyle now - the saved time and money, the freedom from cravings, the ability to eat intuitively and enjoy every bite of food - it all seems to too good to be true. But it isn't - it is true, it's real, and it is available for everyone who embraces the IF lifestyle. I am grateful to Gin and consider her a true mentor - not just with the weight loss, but in our new venture to write a book that tells this transformation story in full. You can follow our progress at www.fastingfeastingfreedom.com. Wishing you all a happy, healthy journey!
Amber from Indiana
I began slowly gaining weight around 10 years ago. I attribute this to a time of extreme stress which caused me to quit caring for myself physically. Prior to this I had always been what most would consider thin. It took a few years for the weight gain to become visible to others, and even then, most would not have considered it extreme. It wasn’t until about 2015 that it really became noticeable.
I rationalized my weight gain, however, and consoled myself with comparison to others. On occasion, I would encounter a picture that I was not able to throw out, and I would be confronted with the truth. I had gone from wearing sizes 4-6 to wearing 12-14’s at the height of my weight gain. I had no idea how much I weighed, as my scale had broken years before and I had never replaced it.
In the Summer of 2017 I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond and on a whim, I decided to step on one of their operating scales. Before I did, I guessed that at 5’ 7.5” that my weight would be in the 160-pound range. I knew that wasn’t great, but in my mind, I could justify it. So, I stepped on the scale and it said 188.8 pounds. I stood in the store in front of two other women and wept.
In a moment of clarity, I decided to get it together and buy the scale. I went home and had a total pity party. “How could this happen? When did this happen?” I knew the answer to both questions. I had done all of it.
The next day I got up and resolved to fix the problem that I had created. I was the only one capable of digging myself out of the hole. I began by just watching what I ate, walking every day, and focusing on healthy fats and portion control. It wasn’t long after that I began a HIIT workout three times a week. I lost weight with this approach, but an odd thing happened... I found that when I got up in the morning that I no longer wanted to eat breakfast. In fact, I resented being told that I must.
At some point on my Facebook feed I started getting information about Intermittent Fasting from various sources. One that I remember suggested that women should fast 12-14 hours, then have their first meal. I dabbled with that for some time and felt great doing it.
It wasn’t until November of 2017 that Delay, Don’t Deny: Intermittent Fasting Support showed up on my Facebook feed. I was intrigued and joined the group. Within a day or two I had purchased the book and read it in an evening. I’ve never looked back since.
Starting in November I began fasting 16 hours a day. I quickly within a couple of weeks went to 19:5 and then shortly thereafter went to One Meal a Day, or OMAD. It felt so natural and freeing. In the middle of December of 2017, my husband joined me in OMAD and we are still OMAD to date.
Prior to IF I had lost 19 pounds. Since I began IF in the beginning of November 2017, I’ve lost an additional 31 pounds for a total of 50. My husband has lost 30. In addition to the weight loss, both of us have a renewed lease on life and an appreciation for each other. I no longer have to pick my clothes based on what I need to cover up, but rather what I should showcase. At 48, that is a definite WIN. :) My husband has found increased endurance for his physically demanding job as a builder at 57.
Neither one of us plan on ever going back to eating as we did before.
Intermittent Fasting is now our lifestyle.
Thank you, Gin for making this accessible and easy to understand! ❤️
I rationalized my weight gain, however, and consoled myself with comparison to others. On occasion, I would encounter a picture that I was not able to throw out, and I would be confronted with the truth. I had gone from wearing sizes 4-6 to wearing 12-14’s at the height of my weight gain. I had no idea how much I weighed, as my scale had broken years before and I had never replaced it.
In the Summer of 2017 I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond and on a whim, I decided to step on one of their operating scales. Before I did, I guessed that at 5’ 7.5” that my weight would be in the 160-pound range. I knew that wasn’t great, but in my mind, I could justify it. So, I stepped on the scale and it said 188.8 pounds. I stood in the store in front of two other women and wept.
In a moment of clarity, I decided to get it together and buy the scale. I went home and had a total pity party. “How could this happen? When did this happen?” I knew the answer to both questions. I had done all of it.
The next day I got up and resolved to fix the problem that I had created. I was the only one capable of digging myself out of the hole. I began by just watching what I ate, walking every day, and focusing on healthy fats and portion control. It wasn’t long after that I began a HIIT workout three times a week. I lost weight with this approach, but an odd thing happened... I found that when I got up in the morning that I no longer wanted to eat breakfast. In fact, I resented being told that I must.
At some point on my Facebook feed I started getting information about Intermittent Fasting from various sources. One that I remember suggested that women should fast 12-14 hours, then have their first meal. I dabbled with that for some time and felt great doing it.
It wasn’t until November of 2017 that Delay, Don’t Deny: Intermittent Fasting Support showed up on my Facebook feed. I was intrigued and joined the group. Within a day or two I had purchased the book and read it in an evening. I’ve never looked back since.
Starting in November I began fasting 16 hours a day. I quickly within a couple of weeks went to 19:5 and then shortly thereafter went to One Meal a Day, or OMAD. It felt so natural and freeing. In the middle of December of 2017, my husband joined me in OMAD and we are still OMAD to date.
Prior to IF I had lost 19 pounds. Since I began IF in the beginning of November 2017, I’ve lost an additional 31 pounds for a total of 50. My husband has lost 30. In addition to the weight loss, both of us have a renewed lease on life and an appreciation for each other. I no longer have to pick my clothes based on what I need to cover up, but rather what I should showcase. At 48, that is a definite WIN. :) My husband has found increased endurance for his physically demanding job as a builder at 57.
Neither one of us plan on ever going back to eating as we did before.
Intermittent Fasting is now our lifestyle.
Thank you, Gin for making this accessible and easy to understand! ❤️
Alex Boss
I was one of those kids who could eat anything they like and still be skinny (I just grew taller instead, finally reaching 6’ 4”). I was also into many sports (swimming, tennis, football). In my 20s, I cycled to work every day (over 100 miles a week), which meant putting on weight was still never an issue for me. I was used to eating what I liked and as much as I liked and still being slim, but in my 30s when my son was born, I found I was too tired to cycle in to work, I would eat sugary snacks just to pep me up for the afternoon (which of course just meant I crashed an hour later and turned to more high sugar snacks...). I slowly put on weight but then took action (no unhealthy snacking at work) and slowly lost some of it again; until, that is, my daughter was born. Again, the sleepless nights with a baby caused a bad diet, eating to stay awake at work, too tired and zero energy, and no free time to exercise. I gained several kgs. I had always been between 85kg and 88kg (187-195 lbs) but I had gone up to 93kg (205 lbs). Not massive, but I felt I had no control. My thighs started rubbing together as I walked :o( . I thought there was no way ‘back.’ I had never been on a diet in my life and everything I had heard told me that “diets don’t work!” You end up weighing more. People told me that weight gain is what happens as you get older, as your metabolism slows you get the middle age spread, that’s life...but that’s not how I see myself, and that’s not how I want to be. But what could I do?
I have a biology degree so I began to read about the biomechanics of weight loss. I read about how hard it is and why people can’t stick to diets - I read lots about metabolism and sugar, ketogenic diets, and then about insulin resistance and fasting.... I watched documentaries and YouTube videos, which then led me to videos about fasting and the benefits. That’s when I came across intermittent fasting, I could still eat for 8 hours a day and lose weight, build muscle, heal my body, stop the all day sugar rollercoaster. It seemed too good to be true! I started slowly, just missing breakfast and having black coffee (yuk!!), then having lunch at 12 and eating normally, with dinner to finish at 8pm. In the first couple of months I had hard days and easy days but the more I did the clean fast the easier it got (and the more I learned to love black coffee) and the more I enjoyed it. I found Gin and Melanie’s podcast (www.ifpodcast.com) and then Gin’s book and her support groups.
I eat two meals a day (TMAD), usually in an 8 hour window, and sometimes as low as 5 hours. Getting the feeling of being in Ketosis and knowing I am burning fat, knowing I am in control of my weight, and knowing that I am going to be eating a large satisfying meal later all felt great. I eat so well: bread, beer, pizza, chocolate, ice-cream, hamburgers, steaks, cheese, pasta, bacon! But the longer I did IF, the smaller quantity of food I wanted, and the healthier foods seemed so much more appealing. I am now 1.5 years in, doing IF every day (well most days). I am leaner now than I have ever been in my adult life (82kg) I am in control and I love this way of eating. It’s so simple and easy to apply and I even love my black coffee! (Cold brew in the summer.) I have signed up for a triathlon this August, and I am learning about being a fat adapted athlete. I am looking forward to getting older, feasting on what I want and staying in great shape with ease. It’s all so simple: Delay, don’t deny!
I have a biology degree so I began to read about the biomechanics of weight loss. I read about how hard it is and why people can’t stick to diets - I read lots about metabolism and sugar, ketogenic diets, and then about insulin resistance and fasting.... I watched documentaries and YouTube videos, which then led me to videos about fasting and the benefits. That’s when I came across intermittent fasting, I could still eat for 8 hours a day and lose weight, build muscle, heal my body, stop the all day sugar rollercoaster. It seemed too good to be true! I started slowly, just missing breakfast and having black coffee (yuk!!), then having lunch at 12 and eating normally, with dinner to finish at 8pm. In the first couple of months I had hard days and easy days but the more I did the clean fast the easier it got (and the more I learned to love black coffee) and the more I enjoyed it. I found Gin and Melanie’s podcast (www.ifpodcast.com) and then Gin’s book and her support groups.
I eat two meals a day (TMAD), usually in an 8 hour window, and sometimes as low as 5 hours. Getting the feeling of being in Ketosis and knowing I am burning fat, knowing I am in control of my weight, and knowing that I am going to be eating a large satisfying meal later all felt great. I eat so well: bread, beer, pizza, chocolate, ice-cream, hamburgers, steaks, cheese, pasta, bacon! But the longer I did IF, the smaller quantity of food I wanted, and the healthier foods seemed so much more appealing. I am now 1.5 years in, doing IF every day (well most days). I am leaner now than I have ever been in my adult life (82kg) I am in control and I love this way of eating. It’s so simple and easy to apply and I even love my black coffee! (Cold brew in the summer.) I have signed up for a triathlon this August, and I am learning about being a fat adapted athlete. I am looking forward to getting older, feasting on what I want and staying in great shape with ease. It’s all so simple: Delay, don’t deny!
Kela from SC
I did it!!!! Today marks my 365th day of IF and the first time in my life I've had the willpower to focus on my own health and happiness.
I'm 5'9" and always been "big boned" with an obese/overweight BMI. My highest weight was 192lbs in October 2016 and I've lost less than 20lbs since starting IF a year ago. I've always weighed "a lot," but that doesn't make it any easier to still have a BMI in the overweight range despite my commitment to clean fasting since day 1. For many, that small amount of loss would be a reason to quit.
I've spent most of my adult life in a size 12/14 weighing a little more than I do now give or take. I started IF wearing size 10 jeans. This past summer I bought all new clothes in a size 8. Now they are all too big. I had to buy smaller underwear for the first time in my adult life. Large t-shirts are too big on me for the first time in my adult life. That string bikini I bought as a joke...well, it's too big. I've run several races over the past few years and all my running shorts/shirts are too big. I'm just about ready to commit to size 6 jeans...but not yet. I'm no longer the girl who is "large" everything. I weigh less than what is on my driver's license...and we all know that was a lie from the start. I am no longer the "biggest" person when in a group of people. If you have been this person without fail, you know how painful that is. IF has healed some of the autoimmune aspects of my hypothyroidism. I really do look younger! THIS is why we don't quit. THIS is why we trust the process.
I truly eat whatever I want during my window. I am REALLY good at delaying, knowing I don't have to deny. During the work week, I pretty much stick to OMAD. During the weekends, I have more of a window. We went on vacation this summer where I stuck to my window and had no weight gain. We went to Disney for a week where I stuck to an extended window and had no weight gain. This holiday season was the most relaxed I've been this whole year and the couple of pounds I gained (and will lose by the end of the week) were totally worth it. This flexibility and not restricting what I eat has been what helped me be successful. I'm sure I could lose more weight with more restrictions, but I can promise you I would have quit a long time ago. Besides, people don't see my scale but they certainly see my figure. If only my face would get with the program and slim on up....
My food preferences have definitely been the biggest change since starting IF. I'm not opposed to cake and sweets but I'm not as dependent on sugar as I once was. I used to NEED something sweet after eating or I would get shaky. I struggled with hypoglycemia on a regular basis...but not once in the last 365 days, even when donating blood. I crave veggies and quality proteins. I started eating/craving real, quality cheeses for the first time in my life. The thought of wasting my one meal on fast food, boxed meals, or cheap sandwiches hurts my soul. When I do want sweets, I gravitate toward a specific taste rather than anything and everything in the pantry. Poor Little Debbie is lost without me. Despite trying everything, I haven't been able to adapt to black coffee so I open my window every day with a cup of sweet, creamy coffee as my own little "high five" for sticking with it.
I know this is long, but I hope this helps someone else stay the course. I've watching my mom diet since the day I was born. I grew up never knowing what full-fat salad dressings and non-diet sodas tasted like. I never understood why she couldn't love herself and see own beauty in the same way I loved her and thought so was beautiful. Then I became a mom and those little punks did to my body what I did to hers. It became very hard to feel worthy or lovable. I dabbled in Weight Watchers, counted calories once, and took ONE diet pill (no thanks) but could never commit because I knew they didn't work. I'd watched my mom lose and gain and lose and gain my whole childhood. She has willpower of steel and I knew I wouldn't be able measure up. But this....THIS WORKS. Maybe I haven't lost a lot of weight, but I have healed a very broken body and have patched up a very damaged soul. This was for me. I can say, without a doubt, IF has become and will remain my lifestyle.
I'm 5'9" and always been "big boned" with an obese/overweight BMI. My highest weight was 192lbs in October 2016 and I've lost less than 20lbs since starting IF a year ago. I've always weighed "a lot," but that doesn't make it any easier to still have a BMI in the overweight range despite my commitment to clean fasting since day 1. For many, that small amount of loss would be a reason to quit.
I've spent most of my adult life in a size 12/14 weighing a little more than I do now give or take. I started IF wearing size 10 jeans. This past summer I bought all new clothes in a size 8. Now they are all too big. I had to buy smaller underwear for the first time in my adult life. Large t-shirts are too big on me for the first time in my adult life. That string bikini I bought as a joke...well, it's too big. I've run several races over the past few years and all my running shorts/shirts are too big. I'm just about ready to commit to size 6 jeans...but not yet. I'm no longer the girl who is "large" everything. I weigh less than what is on my driver's license...and we all know that was a lie from the start. I am no longer the "biggest" person when in a group of people. If you have been this person without fail, you know how painful that is. IF has healed some of the autoimmune aspects of my hypothyroidism. I really do look younger! THIS is why we don't quit. THIS is why we trust the process.
I truly eat whatever I want during my window. I am REALLY good at delaying, knowing I don't have to deny. During the work week, I pretty much stick to OMAD. During the weekends, I have more of a window. We went on vacation this summer where I stuck to my window and had no weight gain. We went to Disney for a week where I stuck to an extended window and had no weight gain. This holiday season was the most relaxed I've been this whole year and the couple of pounds I gained (and will lose by the end of the week) were totally worth it. This flexibility and not restricting what I eat has been what helped me be successful. I'm sure I could lose more weight with more restrictions, but I can promise you I would have quit a long time ago. Besides, people don't see my scale but they certainly see my figure. If only my face would get with the program and slim on up....
My food preferences have definitely been the biggest change since starting IF. I'm not opposed to cake and sweets but I'm not as dependent on sugar as I once was. I used to NEED something sweet after eating or I would get shaky. I struggled with hypoglycemia on a regular basis...but not once in the last 365 days, even when donating blood. I crave veggies and quality proteins. I started eating/craving real, quality cheeses for the first time in my life. The thought of wasting my one meal on fast food, boxed meals, or cheap sandwiches hurts my soul. When I do want sweets, I gravitate toward a specific taste rather than anything and everything in the pantry. Poor Little Debbie is lost without me. Despite trying everything, I haven't been able to adapt to black coffee so I open my window every day with a cup of sweet, creamy coffee as my own little "high five" for sticking with it.
I know this is long, but I hope this helps someone else stay the course. I've watching my mom diet since the day I was born. I grew up never knowing what full-fat salad dressings and non-diet sodas tasted like. I never understood why she couldn't love herself and see own beauty in the same way I loved her and thought so was beautiful. Then I became a mom and those little punks did to my body what I did to hers. It became very hard to feel worthy or lovable. I dabbled in Weight Watchers, counted calories once, and took ONE diet pill (no thanks) but could never commit because I knew they didn't work. I'd watched my mom lose and gain and lose and gain my whole childhood. She has willpower of steel and I knew I wouldn't be able measure up. But this....THIS WORKS. Maybe I haven't lost a lot of weight, but I have healed a very broken body and have patched up a very damaged soul. This was for me. I can say, without a doubt, IF has become and will remain my lifestyle.
Sarah Morley
I came across the Delay, Don’t Deny Facebook page when I started looking into Intermittent Fasting back in July 2017. I was finding it increasingly more difficult to keep the weight off, even though I was eating fairly healthily and was running twice a week. I went on to buy Gin’s book and it just made so much sense. I started doing 16:8 at the end of July just before I went on holiday for two weeks. The week before my holiday I dropped about 4lbs. I did a bit of IF on holiday and when I returned I started doing 20:4 every day. During September, I was trying to keep to a LCHF (low carb high fat) diet and then started to add more carbs in to my diet. I have been steadily losing weight and my measurements are down each week. When I started looking into IF I was a UK size 14 and now in December I am a size 10. I have lost 16 lbs. to date and feel great. The support from the Facebook group has been immense and to see so many others having success with DDD just keeps me motivated. I’ve started upper body weight training over the last four months, just twice a week and I love it. I often work out in a fasted state and I can see that my arms are shaping up and getting muscle definition. I can’t believe how easy this way of life is and thanks to Gin for all her support, knowledge and encouragement. I introduced both my husband and my sister to IF and they are having great success. I love the freedom it gives me and I no longer feel guilty about the foods I love to eat. I’m 47 and I’m back to being in better shape than I was in my 20’s. The DDD lifestyle is for keeps!
Terry DeGraw
Morbid obesity plagued me for 15 plus years. I used every excuse I could to justify eating: celebrate, happy, sad, holidays, even the death of my mom. I even told myself I’m fat and happy. That was one of the many lies I told myself about my weight.
I complained frequently about my weight and a true friend suggested low carb. I made the decision to start after vacation in April, 2017. When I came home from vacation, I started immediately, and within a couple of weeks I started feeling less bloated. That, in and of itself, was very motivating. By June I was down 25 pounds eating 2 boiled eggs for breakfast, 2 for lunch, and a small portion of meat and green vegetables for dinner. I never cheated and I never snacked. I was and still am strict. In July I reduced my 2 breakfast eggs to 1 and replaced my 2 lunch eggs with a premier protein drink. By August I wasn’t hungry for breakfast so I started skipping it. I started doing some research and discovered intermittent fasting. I quickly realized I was fasting from dinner each evening until my protein drink at lunch.
Further research revealed OMAD (one meal a day). I stumbled upon Gin’s books and her Facebook group. In September I started OMAD. To begin OMAD, I simply cut out the lunch protein drink and suddenly I was living one meal a day, feeling so good and full of energy. I was instantly hooked. I lost 55 pounds eating low carb in 5 months and I’ve lost an additional 37 pounds doing OMAD for 2 months.
My goal was to just be normal, so I set a goal of 150 when I started my journey at 237 pounds. I reached that goal with low carb and OMAD. Once I reached 150 I reset my goal for 145. Once I reached 145 I reset my goal for 137. I’m 5’, and 137 pounds puts me in the normal category on the charts for my height. I have gone from women’s plus size 20 stretch pants and a 3xl top to size 5 jeans and small tops from the juniors department. I’m still reeling and sometimes I’m afraid it’s a dream and I may wake up fat. My husband has not joined me in OMAD, however, he eats low carb with me and has lost 46 pounds. We are happier as smaller people. It’s been a great journey for us together. My new found revelation of eating to live verses living to eat has changed my life. I’m healthy and full of energy. I’ll be 49 in Jan. of 2018 and I feel 30. If I had to say in a few words what I’ve learned from this journey it would be to listen to my body and trust the process of clean fasting. It’s given me my life back. #OMADNESS
I complained frequently about my weight and a true friend suggested low carb. I made the decision to start after vacation in April, 2017. When I came home from vacation, I started immediately, and within a couple of weeks I started feeling less bloated. That, in and of itself, was very motivating. By June I was down 25 pounds eating 2 boiled eggs for breakfast, 2 for lunch, and a small portion of meat and green vegetables for dinner. I never cheated and I never snacked. I was and still am strict. In July I reduced my 2 breakfast eggs to 1 and replaced my 2 lunch eggs with a premier protein drink. By August I wasn’t hungry for breakfast so I started skipping it. I started doing some research and discovered intermittent fasting. I quickly realized I was fasting from dinner each evening until my protein drink at lunch.
Further research revealed OMAD (one meal a day). I stumbled upon Gin’s books and her Facebook group. In September I started OMAD. To begin OMAD, I simply cut out the lunch protein drink and suddenly I was living one meal a day, feeling so good and full of energy. I was instantly hooked. I lost 55 pounds eating low carb in 5 months and I’ve lost an additional 37 pounds doing OMAD for 2 months.
My goal was to just be normal, so I set a goal of 150 when I started my journey at 237 pounds. I reached that goal with low carb and OMAD. Once I reached 150 I reset my goal for 145. Once I reached 145 I reset my goal for 137. I’m 5’, and 137 pounds puts me in the normal category on the charts for my height. I have gone from women’s plus size 20 stretch pants and a 3xl top to size 5 jeans and small tops from the juniors department. I’m still reeling and sometimes I’m afraid it’s a dream and I may wake up fat. My husband has not joined me in OMAD, however, he eats low carb with me and has lost 46 pounds. We are happier as smaller people. It’s been a great journey for us together. My new found revelation of eating to live verses living to eat has changed my life. I’m healthy and full of energy. I’ll be 49 in Jan. of 2018 and I feel 30. If I had to say in a few words what I’ve learned from this journey it would be to listen to my body and trust the process of clean fasting. It’s given me my life back. #OMADNESS
Natasha of Trinidad and Tobago
Throughout my 30s I've had struggles with weight loss. I have tried lots of strategies, including the 1000 cal and HCG diets, diet pills, brutal exercise regimens....you name it, I tried it in my quest to lose and keep off-the-shelf weight. In the end I would regain all and more. Why? Because I love food, would eat whatever...whenever, and have the stuff that I restricted in abundance once I reach my goal after dieting.
In February, 2017, I decided on a spiritual fast in order to adopt good eating habits. Yes, I sought God to deal with my problem. I decided that if my body is a temple of God, then I should treat it as such. I embarked on a stringent 21-day prayer and fast which started on the 1st day of the said month. During this time, I'd have no rice, flour, meat or sugar, and whatever I consumed I'd have before 6 am and after 6 pm each day. Nothing but water during the 12 hours. Most days I consumed just the evening meal due to work or being too lazy to get out of bed at 5 to prepare breakfast.
At the end of the 21 days, I had gone from 192 to 182 lbs. I was ecstatic, and that prompted me to look up the benefits of fasting. It was then I discovered what I know now as Intermittent Fasting. Yes, God answers earnest prayers. I watched videos on YouTube and read posts on different sites. One day I searched Facebook for Intermittent Fasting, and it was a pleasant surprise to find so many groups on IF there. I eventually decided on Gin's OMAD (One Meal a Day) group, and again, that had to have come from God, because I've seen posts by "professionals," and frankly, they leave a lot to be desired. Finding Gin's OMAD group was the beginning of the end of yo-yo dieting for me. I had finally discovered a way to eat without denying myself the foods that I love and would binge on after denying myself for the sake of dieting for long periods of time.
It turned out that OMAD didn't suit my lifestyle, but 16:8 does. I eventually learned of the sister group Delay, Don't Deny, and that's my "sweet spot". Almost supernaturally, I came into possession of Gin's Delay, Don't Deny book, and it was definitely a great help. I still refer to it sometimes.
I love that I'm no longer a slave to food nor the scale. Now losing is fun because it's effortless. My window opens at 8 am and closes at 4 pm because I love breakfast. By the way that's another advantage of IFing; it's adjustable to suit your schedule and RIGIDITY ISN'T NECESSARY!!! Hey, I swear by this "way of eating".
In February, 2017, I decided on a spiritual fast in order to adopt good eating habits. Yes, I sought God to deal with my problem. I decided that if my body is a temple of God, then I should treat it as such. I embarked on a stringent 21-day prayer and fast which started on the 1st day of the said month. During this time, I'd have no rice, flour, meat or sugar, and whatever I consumed I'd have before 6 am and after 6 pm each day. Nothing but water during the 12 hours. Most days I consumed just the evening meal due to work or being too lazy to get out of bed at 5 to prepare breakfast.
At the end of the 21 days, I had gone from 192 to 182 lbs. I was ecstatic, and that prompted me to look up the benefits of fasting. It was then I discovered what I know now as Intermittent Fasting. Yes, God answers earnest prayers. I watched videos on YouTube and read posts on different sites. One day I searched Facebook for Intermittent Fasting, and it was a pleasant surprise to find so many groups on IF there. I eventually decided on Gin's OMAD (One Meal a Day) group, and again, that had to have come from God, because I've seen posts by "professionals," and frankly, they leave a lot to be desired. Finding Gin's OMAD group was the beginning of the end of yo-yo dieting for me. I had finally discovered a way to eat without denying myself the foods that I love and would binge on after denying myself for the sake of dieting for long periods of time.
It turned out that OMAD didn't suit my lifestyle, but 16:8 does. I eventually learned of the sister group Delay, Don't Deny, and that's my "sweet spot". Almost supernaturally, I came into possession of Gin's Delay, Don't Deny book, and it was definitely a great help. I still refer to it sometimes.
I love that I'm no longer a slave to food nor the scale. Now losing is fun because it's effortless. My window opens at 8 am and closes at 4 pm because I love breakfast. By the way that's another advantage of IFing; it's adjustable to suit your schedule and RIGIDITY ISN'T NECESSARY!!! Hey, I swear by this "way of eating".
lisa Simpson
I've never been able to do the normal diets - eating disorder since I was a teen (binge/purge), thinking that was a great way to lose weight. Didn't happen. For me, there were good foods and bad foods. If I ate the good ones, I was ok. If I ate anything I considered bad, I felt this overwhelming urge to get rid of it. The weight kept going up - every 5 pounds I gained, I wished I was where I'd been 5 pounds ago. I had short periods of lower weight while doing community theater, nightly walking my dog and jazzercise.
I actually visited a friend years ago and saw she'd lost weight - she said she ate dinner only, whatever she wanted. At the time, that just sounded crazy to me and I dismissed it - wish I'd paid better attention.
I cleaned up my diet while doing some research on living on a food-stamp budget. Less eating out, more eating at home. Joined a co-op and started getting lots of fruit and vegetables to play with.
In the spring of 2015, I ran my first ever 5k and at the pre-race pasta party, Team World Vision was there and said they could take me from 5k to marathon in time for the Chicago marathon in October. For whatever reason, I believed them and signed up. I spent that summer training, along with some weight training to strengthen my legs. I thought all that running would HAVE to help me lose weight. I finished that marathon, very slowly. I only lost 10 pounds, which went right back on when I quit running.
In late 2016, I found IF (intermittent fasting) and OMAD (one meal a day). I remembered that friend I'd visited. I started in January 2017 at a weight of 172, wearing mostly size 14s.
I saw absolutely no loss per the scale for at least 3 weeks, but my belly was going away and clothes were fitting looser. I did a 72 hour fast and dropped 5 pounds, sat there for a while; another long fast with a drop, and sat there - but then my body seemed to start to learn what to do.
I generally use a 4 hour eating window but have had some longer ones when something comes up. I don't restrict because that would make me obsess. No journaling, because that would also make me crazy.
It's now September 2017. I wobble between 146-148, but my body looks completely different. I'm wearing anywhere from 4s to 8s in clothes. I'm sleeping well, my skin looks better, and I have tons of energy. I had a physical recently and the doctor said all my lab tests look great - my HDL was so high it offset my high LDL.
IF and OMAD gave me back my life, a life with confidence and food freedom.
I actually visited a friend years ago and saw she'd lost weight - she said she ate dinner only, whatever she wanted. At the time, that just sounded crazy to me and I dismissed it - wish I'd paid better attention.
I cleaned up my diet while doing some research on living on a food-stamp budget. Less eating out, more eating at home. Joined a co-op and started getting lots of fruit and vegetables to play with.
In the spring of 2015, I ran my first ever 5k and at the pre-race pasta party, Team World Vision was there and said they could take me from 5k to marathon in time for the Chicago marathon in October. For whatever reason, I believed them and signed up. I spent that summer training, along with some weight training to strengthen my legs. I thought all that running would HAVE to help me lose weight. I finished that marathon, very slowly. I only lost 10 pounds, which went right back on when I quit running.
In late 2016, I found IF (intermittent fasting) and OMAD (one meal a day). I remembered that friend I'd visited. I started in January 2017 at a weight of 172, wearing mostly size 14s.
I saw absolutely no loss per the scale for at least 3 weeks, but my belly was going away and clothes were fitting looser. I did a 72 hour fast and dropped 5 pounds, sat there for a while; another long fast with a drop, and sat there - but then my body seemed to start to learn what to do.
I generally use a 4 hour eating window but have had some longer ones when something comes up. I don't restrict because that would make me obsess. No journaling, because that would also make me crazy.
It's now September 2017. I wobble between 146-148, but my body looks completely different. I'm wearing anywhere from 4s to 8s in clothes. I'm sleeping well, my skin looks better, and I have tons of energy. I had a physical recently and the doctor said all my lab tests look great - my HDL was so high it offset my high LDL.
IF and OMAD gave me back my life, a life with confidence and food freedom.
Brian from California
I discovered this way of life almost by accident. A friend of mine started a keto diet, and I thought it might be dangerous for him so I started doing some research. Through the research, I discovered Dr. Fung's videos on YouTube, and discovered OMAD (one meal a day) soon after.
I was already doing the old calorie in calorie out diet (had just started) and thought "I can do this and it is much easier".
I was at 265 lbs at the time (April 2017). I had what I thought was bad knees and hips due to old age and, though a pretty avid bike rider, would tire easily. I had quit wearing jeans after being unable to button my 42 waist and had switched to full time overalls.
Just a month in to OMAD, I went to an outdoor concert wearing the jeans I couldn't wear before, and was able to stand and dance like nobody was watching for 5 straight hours! Absolutely no pain at all in the knees or hips!
I quit weighing myself about a month ago (July 2017) and was down about 40 lbs. at that point. I currently am wearing a 38 waist jean and they are getting looser! I haven't felt this good since my 20s, seriously. I am no longer easily winded when I ride and have cut 5 minutes off of my bike commute to work! OMAD has been a miracle to me, allowing me to enjoy food (which I do) without guilt. No calorie, fat grams, or carb grams to count. If there was, I wouldn't do it. Period. I tend to be the kid who would be up the tree he was told to stay away from 5 minutes ago, and that inner rebel has persisted into middle age. Tell me I can't eat it and I will shove it into my pie hole while looking you right in the face, lol.
So, what do I do, you ask? I eat once a day. Period. I sit down to a meal, and when I am done, I am done until the next day with very few exceptions. What do I eat, you ask? Honestly, whatever I want. I have pasta, pizza, burgers, cheesesteaks, dim sum, Mexican food, Indian food, brats, salads, subs, steak and potatoes, etc. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is off the menu. The only rule is a clean fast. I drink a lot of coffee, water and mineral water during my fast times. Do I "cheat" ever you ask? Yup, once every couple weeks or so. Usually it is because of a social event (party, etc), but occasionally just because my body screams FEED ME! Now, I do not call that cheating. I call it living life. No guilt, because it is what you do most of the time that counts, not what you do only once in a while. My body is proof it's working!
I was already doing the old calorie in calorie out diet (had just started) and thought "I can do this and it is much easier".
I was at 265 lbs at the time (April 2017). I had what I thought was bad knees and hips due to old age and, though a pretty avid bike rider, would tire easily. I had quit wearing jeans after being unable to button my 42 waist and had switched to full time overalls.
Just a month in to OMAD, I went to an outdoor concert wearing the jeans I couldn't wear before, and was able to stand and dance like nobody was watching for 5 straight hours! Absolutely no pain at all in the knees or hips!
I quit weighing myself about a month ago (July 2017) and was down about 40 lbs. at that point. I currently am wearing a 38 waist jean and they are getting looser! I haven't felt this good since my 20s, seriously. I am no longer easily winded when I ride and have cut 5 minutes off of my bike commute to work! OMAD has been a miracle to me, allowing me to enjoy food (which I do) without guilt. No calorie, fat grams, or carb grams to count. If there was, I wouldn't do it. Period. I tend to be the kid who would be up the tree he was told to stay away from 5 minutes ago, and that inner rebel has persisted into middle age. Tell me I can't eat it and I will shove it into my pie hole while looking you right in the face, lol.
So, what do I do, you ask? I eat once a day. Period. I sit down to a meal, and when I am done, I am done until the next day with very few exceptions. What do I eat, you ask? Honestly, whatever I want. I have pasta, pizza, burgers, cheesesteaks, dim sum, Mexican food, Indian food, brats, salads, subs, steak and potatoes, etc. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is off the menu. The only rule is a clean fast. I drink a lot of coffee, water and mineral water during my fast times. Do I "cheat" ever you ask? Yup, once every couple weeks or so. Usually it is because of a social event (party, etc), but occasionally just because my body screams FEED ME! Now, I do not call that cheating. I call it living life. No guilt, because it is what you do most of the time that counts, not what you do only once in a while. My body is proof it's working!
Donna from Rhode Island
Note: "WOE" means "Way of Eating"
Delay, Don't Deny changed my life. I have been a lifer when it comes to diets. Calorie restriction and the latest diet craze became my way of life. I always lost weight rapidly but quickly lost my mojo. My husband and I have 2 beautiful grandsons (3 and 7). Looking into their eyes made me realize that FAT SUCKS and I want to be healthy for me and for them. Huge revelation right?
A friend told me about Gin Stephens and her DDD book. Bingo--a plan was made. I started with 16:8 but quickly switched to OMAD (One Meal a Day) with a 1 hour eating window. Amazing discovery--the weight fell off. I do IF every day, coupled with vigorous exercise 7 days a week. I keep my carbs to 20 grams and my protein to 20% of my intake. I follow a LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) plan and have dropped 75 pounds in 18 weeks. Bye, double chin and puffy cheeks. Hello, cheekbones. Love this way of eating. Thank you Gin for motivating me. The boys thank you too.
A friend told me about Gin Stephens and her DDD book. Bingo--a plan was made. I started with 16:8 but quickly switched to OMAD (One Meal a Day) with a 1 hour eating window. Amazing discovery--the weight fell off. I do IF every day, coupled with vigorous exercise 7 days a week. I keep my carbs to 20 grams and my protein to 20% of my intake. I follow a LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) plan and have dropped 75 pounds in 18 weeks. Bye, double chin and puffy cheeks. Hello, cheekbones. Love this way of eating. Thank you Gin for motivating me. The boys thank you too.
Helen Steinke
Hello, everyone! A little about myself. I am 54 years of age, and a stay at home mom and wife. I am married to an awesome man who is very supportive with this WOE (way of eating). I have a son and a daughter who are both married, and two grandchildren. Before my complete hysterectomy in 2006, I was 150 pounds. After the surgery, my weight went up. I tried many things, including spending my winters in the gym and eating low-carb meals, and denying myself all the foods I really love to eat, with very little success. As long as I kept on that plan I could keep a few pounds off, but as soon as I would stop going to the gym, the pounds would come back on. My thought was that I will never be that skinny again, so I need to learn to accept that .
Well, thank goodness my sister Katie introduced me to IF on December 27, 2016. When she explained this way of eating, my response was: no, that can't be. How can you eat everything you love and eat all those carbs and lose a lot of weight? Knowing my sister, she LOVES her salads and vegetables, and can pretty much live off of that stuff alone. I was very hesitant, BECAUSE I LOVE MY CARBS .... and I thought her weight loss was because of her love for salads and vegetables. My thought was, what can it hurt? The worst that can happen is I wouldn't lose weight .
I made myself a promise that I would give it an honest try for three months, and if I didn't see results I would give it up, so I dove right in and started with 23 /1. My starting weight ..... 180 lbs. At exactly 7 months later, my weight is 149 lbs. I wish I had taken measurements, but I did not. I can tell you that I am down in sizes: Dress - from a large to small or medium. Pants - from 12 to 8 or 6. Tops - from a large to a small.
Now, for all you people that have to sit and watch your loved ones eat lunch, I understand how hard that is, especially in the beginning. I would make an awesome breakfast and lunch for my husband and had to smell the food I was cooking, and then to sit there and watch him eat while I was sitting there with my cup of coffee ... IT WAS TOUGH! There were times I wanted to eat, but kept going back to that promise I had made to myself. For the first month, when my eating window opened, so did the fridge and pantry door, and I would stuff as much food as I could get in my mouth, and as fast as I could while I was cooking supper ... LOL ... and it was all carbs and junk food. For me, after my first week of IF, I realized I had lost weight. I couldn't believe it! Yes, it was a lot of water weight I'm sure, but I continued to lose weight after that. That was all the motivation I needed to keep going, and I knew I would never give up this way of eating.
What has made this so easy for me is that we are 5 sisters all doing IF, so there is a lot of support, and we all encourage one another when times get tough. Our biggest supporter is Katie. Before we would give up or get discouraged because we didn't see a fast weight loss, we would call on her, and her response would be: trust the process. She would talk us through whatever difficulty we were having.
Before I started IF, I had no energy, and right after lunch I had to have a nap every day. when I started this way of eating I had so much energy (and still do) that I never nap anymore. My fasting is very clean: I only have water, black coffee, and green tea during my fasting hours. My eating window is usually an hour, though some days it ends up at 2-3 hours due to interruptions. When we have weekends away, I do lunch and supper with drinks, and go back to my one hour eating as soon as we get home; and yes, I will always put on weight during times away, but after a week I will be back to were I was. What do I eat? I eat all the food I love. All of my favorites, and that means a lot of carbs because ... DID I SAY I LOVE MY CARBS? I do not care for a lot of sweets, so I do not have a lot of desserts. I have limited my alcohol during this time, but have had and still do have a few drinks now and again AND I DO NOT WORK OUT!!!!
My plan is to be 140 lbs. before I begin maintenance. I know I will get there, because I'm not giving up this way of eating ... I AM A FASTER FOR LIFE! For me, the weight came off fairly fast for the first four months, but the last two months have been very slow. For all of you that think it will not happen or is not happening anymore, it will! Keep at it: it's a lifestyle change. All I can tell you is ... DON'T GIVE UP! Nobody can take the weight off of you but yourself. Make a promise to yourself, and keep it. Something I heard a lot during this process from my sister is ... TRUST THE PROCESS! So I am telling all of you to do the same. When times get tough, find someone you can talk to for support and help you through the hard times. For me, it was Katie and all my sisters. So, thank you, girls, for being there and helping me through this. I couldn't have done it without you!!! GIN said it best... I DESERVE TO BE SKINNY ... that, my friends, has stuck with me. And for all of you that are struggling, tell yourself you want to be the next success story ... I can't wait to hear it!!! Thank you, Gin, for sharing your success story, and thank you for all the research and hard work you are doing for all of us and for sharing this awesome way of life with all of us.
Well, thank goodness my sister Katie introduced me to IF on December 27, 2016. When she explained this way of eating, my response was: no, that can't be. How can you eat everything you love and eat all those carbs and lose a lot of weight? Knowing my sister, she LOVES her salads and vegetables, and can pretty much live off of that stuff alone. I was very hesitant, BECAUSE I LOVE MY CARBS .... and I thought her weight loss was because of her love for salads and vegetables. My thought was, what can it hurt? The worst that can happen is I wouldn't lose weight .
I made myself a promise that I would give it an honest try for three months, and if I didn't see results I would give it up, so I dove right in and started with 23 /1. My starting weight ..... 180 lbs. At exactly 7 months later, my weight is 149 lbs. I wish I had taken measurements, but I did not. I can tell you that I am down in sizes: Dress - from a large to small or medium. Pants - from 12 to 8 or 6. Tops - from a large to a small.
Now, for all you people that have to sit and watch your loved ones eat lunch, I understand how hard that is, especially in the beginning. I would make an awesome breakfast and lunch for my husband and had to smell the food I was cooking, and then to sit there and watch him eat while I was sitting there with my cup of coffee ... IT WAS TOUGH! There were times I wanted to eat, but kept going back to that promise I had made to myself. For the first month, when my eating window opened, so did the fridge and pantry door, and I would stuff as much food as I could get in my mouth, and as fast as I could while I was cooking supper ... LOL ... and it was all carbs and junk food. For me, after my first week of IF, I realized I had lost weight. I couldn't believe it! Yes, it was a lot of water weight I'm sure, but I continued to lose weight after that. That was all the motivation I needed to keep going, and I knew I would never give up this way of eating.
What has made this so easy for me is that we are 5 sisters all doing IF, so there is a lot of support, and we all encourage one another when times get tough. Our biggest supporter is Katie. Before we would give up or get discouraged because we didn't see a fast weight loss, we would call on her, and her response would be: trust the process. She would talk us through whatever difficulty we were having.
Before I started IF, I had no energy, and right after lunch I had to have a nap every day. when I started this way of eating I had so much energy (and still do) that I never nap anymore. My fasting is very clean: I only have water, black coffee, and green tea during my fasting hours. My eating window is usually an hour, though some days it ends up at 2-3 hours due to interruptions. When we have weekends away, I do lunch and supper with drinks, and go back to my one hour eating as soon as we get home; and yes, I will always put on weight during times away, but after a week I will be back to were I was. What do I eat? I eat all the food I love. All of my favorites, and that means a lot of carbs because ... DID I SAY I LOVE MY CARBS? I do not care for a lot of sweets, so I do not have a lot of desserts. I have limited my alcohol during this time, but have had and still do have a few drinks now and again AND I DO NOT WORK OUT!!!!
My plan is to be 140 lbs. before I begin maintenance. I know I will get there, because I'm not giving up this way of eating ... I AM A FASTER FOR LIFE! For me, the weight came off fairly fast for the first four months, but the last two months have been very slow. For all of you that think it will not happen or is not happening anymore, it will! Keep at it: it's a lifestyle change. All I can tell you is ... DON'T GIVE UP! Nobody can take the weight off of you but yourself. Make a promise to yourself, and keep it. Something I heard a lot during this process from my sister is ... TRUST THE PROCESS! So I am telling all of you to do the same. When times get tough, find someone you can talk to for support and help you through the hard times. For me, it was Katie and all my sisters. So, thank you, girls, for being there and helping me through this. I couldn't have done it without you!!! GIN said it best... I DESERVE TO BE SKINNY ... that, my friends, has stuck with me. And for all of you that are struggling, tell yourself you want to be the next success story ... I can't wait to hear it!!! Thank you, Gin, for sharing your success story, and thank you for all the research and hard work you are doing for all of us and for sharing this awesome way of life with all of us.
Terri
Before and During!
I've been trying to lose weight for the past 20 years. I've tried pretty much every diet out there. Spent about 10 years trying and failing at Carb Addicts Diet and Atkins. I just thought I was an utter failure because I couldn't stay away from the carbs. I felt horrible when I was sticking to low carb as I should be. I was pre-diabetic, had high blood pressure, and was starting to have trouble just getting around. My highest weight was 299. I lost and regained the same 50 lbs over and over and over again. I had pretty much given up hope and resigned myself to just being sick and fat forever when for some reason the OMAD (One Meal a Day) Facebook page was advertised on my feed. I checked it out and then purchased The Obesity Code and read it in one sitting. I didn't think I could do the long fasts like Dr. Fung talked about in the book so I pretty much put it away. The next day out of curiosity I went back to the OMAD page, read Gin's book, and decided what do I have to lose, and I tried it. 7 months later I'm down 55 lbs in total. My blood pressure is normal, my A1c is normal, and I feel great! First time I've ever in my life felt in control around food. And I eat anything I like even CARBS! :D I've never ever stuck to anything this long. I intend to do it for the rest of my life. <3
100% faith in Delaying, not Denying, & I am proof of its success!
Today marks one month of intermittent fasting for me!! I have lost 16 pounds and a couple inches!
I was very fortunate to have always been a healthy weight most of my life. I just turned 34, and after having baby #3, I also got diagnosed with Hashimoto's about a year ago on top of having a baby. This really packed on the pounds for me.
I have never had to worry about food. I've always been able to eat what I wanted, as much as I wanted and when I wanted and never gained an ounce. If anything, I would lose weight. It was awesome. This gave me an excuse to love food even more. I loved me some Big Mac meals and lots and lots of soft drinks and high calorie sugary Starbucks drinks. I had no self control and would eat like a pig to my hearts content and still manage to wear a teeny bikini.
Fast forward to present day --if I do so much as even look at a Snicker's bar, I gain ten pounds. So, imagine how hard it is for someone who has become addicted to fast food/junk food/sugar and never had a limit....then now, where it's almost as though I'm coming off of a drug, like I'm legit rehabbing! It's really freaking hard!
I have tried hundreds of diets and have failed every single one of them!! Dieting is hard! It's not practical and it's boring! Not to mention, pure punishment!
I found the Facebook group, and thanks to Gin Stephens and her amazing book, I have fallen in love with DDD (Delay, Don't Deny) and OMAD (One Meal a Day)!!! It's the BEST thing that has ever happened to me!!
In 30 days, I have lost 16 pounds and 2 + inches. My skin is clear and glowing. The only cravings I get now are to exercise and I legit LOVE my coffee black now!! (If you would have told me a month ago that in 30 days I'd be drinking my coffee black, I would have laughed in your face!) I have complete control over my appetite by enjoying large scrumptious meals, sometimes a plate of nachos or pizza, sometimes a spinach salad. My body tells me what I need and how much of it I need, when I need it, and the best part of all, my body now tells me exactly when to stop eating. I no longer stress about food all day, I don't worry about calories and I've saved a bunch of time and money by switching to OMAD.
The family members and friends who were stoning me for doing IF are now asking me for my guidance to start this way of eating.
I have never felt more in control of my life and I have never felt more healthy than I do right now! If you aren't DDD'ing, then you really don't know what you're missing out on!! This is my new life. I will never go back!!!
I was very fortunate to have always been a healthy weight most of my life. I just turned 34, and after having baby #3, I also got diagnosed with Hashimoto's about a year ago on top of having a baby. This really packed on the pounds for me.
I have never had to worry about food. I've always been able to eat what I wanted, as much as I wanted and when I wanted and never gained an ounce. If anything, I would lose weight. It was awesome. This gave me an excuse to love food even more. I loved me some Big Mac meals and lots and lots of soft drinks and high calorie sugary Starbucks drinks. I had no self control and would eat like a pig to my hearts content and still manage to wear a teeny bikini.
Fast forward to present day --if I do so much as even look at a Snicker's bar, I gain ten pounds. So, imagine how hard it is for someone who has become addicted to fast food/junk food/sugar and never had a limit....then now, where it's almost as though I'm coming off of a drug, like I'm legit rehabbing! It's really freaking hard!
I have tried hundreds of diets and have failed every single one of them!! Dieting is hard! It's not practical and it's boring! Not to mention, pure punishment!
I found the Facebook group, and thanks to Gin Stephens and her amazing book, I have fallen in love with DDD (Delay, Don't Deny) and OMAD (One Meal a Day)!!! It's the BEST thing that has ever happened to me!!
In 30 days, I have lost 16 pounds and 2 + inches. My skin is clear and glowing. The only cravings I get now are to exercise and I legit LOVE my coffee black now!! (If you would have told me a month ago that in 30 days I'd be drinking my coffee black, I would have laughed in your face!) I have complete control over my appetite by enjoying large scrumptious meals, sometimes a plate of nachos or pizza, sometimes a spinach salad. My body tells me what I need and how much of it I need, when I need it, and the best part of all, my body now tells me exactly when to stop eating. I no longer stress about food all day, I don't worry about calories and I've saved a bunch of time and money by switching to OMAD.
The family members and friends who were stoning me for doing IF are now asking me for my guidance to start this way of eating.
I have never felt more in control of my life and I have never felt more healthy than I do right now! If you aren't DDD'ing, then you really don't know what you're missing out on!! This is my new life. I will never go back!!!
The Awakening!
I started dieting in 1968 when I was 14 years old. I have counted calories on various diets. I've counted carbs on the Marine's Diet when I was 18, then later on the Atkin's diet and recently on the New Atkins diet. I have counted points on the Weight Watcher's Diet a couple of times. Plus there have been many fad diets I have tried. I have always lost some weight only to gain it all back and then some. I discovered intermittent fasting last summer and started doing it every day on August 1st, 2016. I fast 19 -22 hours every day and have a 2 to 5 hour daily eating window. I've lost 41 lbs so far and 8 1/2 inches in my waist. There are no words to express how happy and thankful I am now. I no longer count anything. I'm 62 yrs. old but feel like I'm 30. I take no medication, sleep like a baby and have so much energy that sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. I will live this lifestyle always!
Brian
Here is a little story of why I'm so thankful for this way of life. In January, I began the task of seeking weight loss through bariatric surgery. I had tried everything. Diets failed, didn't have time to work out, and my body ached all the time. I had diabetes and hypertension.
A friend at work started telling me about fasting and how wonderful it was. I started researching to prove him wrong, and I couldn't. Bought the books, decided to give this a try and see what happens. My surgery was scheduled for July 20th. I had to attend 6 meetings with the dietitian, meetings with the physical therapist, meetings with the doctors. Insurance wants to see if you are serious about weight loss, so you have to lose some kind of pounds for them to approve covering the cost. I did everything expected of me.
I started at the end of January - beginning of February with IF. Moved to OMAD (one meal a day) at the end of Feb. I have visited Paris, Chicago, Chattanooga and eaten a lot of food for my one meal a day. I have gotten so much energy that I have stopped our lawn service as I cut the grass now. I have stopped paying for car washes since I wash my car and the wife's. I stopped paying for a gym membership as I have an exercise bike, free weights, and a bunch of work to do at home. So, if getting healthy is about a lifestyle change - this has definitely changed the way I live and my mentality when it comes to food. I tend to look at food more as fuel and not a task I have to complete ("eat everything in sight - you are hungry Brian!").
Today was my final visit with my dietitian. Being down 38 lbs since I started, I have decided to cancel my surgery. I have until the end of the year to change my mind, but .... if I think about it, the lifestyle I live now is working and well worth it. I have improved my life for the better. My house looks good, cars look good, I look good, bank account looks good (not spending a lot of money on food). My blood sugar is now in the range of pre-diabetes. My body feels cleaner, not getting pains and aches I use to get. I am not at my goal weight, but I am at at my goal mindset - it's okay to love food, but don't let it control you; become an active member in your life and stop being lazy; and enjoy the life you live.
Many thanks to Gin and everyone in the OMAD FB group. It feels as if I've been reborn. I know I may not lose as fast as some, but all things considered, the future looks amazing. I wanted to reach my goal weight this year, but it may take another year and that's perfectly fine with me. Life is about the journey and not the destination, so I'm letting the window down and enjoying the breeze, knowing I'm on the right path to success!
A friend at work started telling me about fasting and how wonderful it was. I started researching to prove him wrong, and I couldn't. Bought the books, decided to give this a try and see what happens. My surgery was scheduled for July 20th. I had to attend 6 meetings with the dietitian, meetings with the physical therapist, meetings with the doctors. Insurance wants to see if you are serious about weight loss, so you have to lose some kind of pounds for them to approve covering the cost. I did everything expected of me.
I started at the end of January - beginning of February with IF. Moved to OMAD (one meal a day) at the end of Feb. I have visited Paris, Chicago, Chattanooga and eaten a lot of food for my one meal a day. I have gotten so much energy that I have stopped our lawn service as I cut the grass now. I have stopped paying for car washes since I wash my car and the wife's. I stopped paying for a gym membership as I have an exercise bike, free weights, and a bunch of work to do at home. So, if getting healthy is about a lifestyle change - this has definitely changed the way I live and my mentality when it comes to food. I tend to look at food more as fuel and not a task I have to complete ("eat everything in sight - you are hungry Brian!").
Today was my final visit with my dietitian. Being down 38 lbs since I started, I have decided to cancel my surgery. I have until the end of the year to change my mind, but .... if I think about it, the lifestyle I live now is working and well worth it. I have improved my life for the better. My house looks good, cars look good, I look good, bank account looks good (not spending a lot of money on food). My blood sugar is now in the range of pre-diabetes. My body feels cleaner, not getting pains and aches I use to get. I am not at my goal weight, but I am at at my goal mindset - it's okay to love food, but don't let it control you; become an active member in your life and stop being lazy; and enjoy the life you live.
Many thanks to Gin and everyone in the OMAD FB group. It feels as if I've been reborn. I know I may not lose as fast as some, but all things considered, the future looks amazing. I wanted to reach my goal weight this year, but it may take another year and that's perfectly fine with me. Life is about the journey and not the destination, so I'm letting the window down and enjoying the breeze, knowing I'm on the right path to success!
Kate
I've struggled with my weight for my whole life. I just kind of dealt with it until I was in 8th grade, at which point I decided to jump on the low-fat trend that was so popular in the early 90s. And it worked! I lost 80 pounds, rejoiced at the fact that I was finally thin and "normal," and then promptly put it all back on when I went back to eating "normally" again.
The weight slowly crept up and up over the years. I went up and down here and there. I tried exercise and various fad diet plans, with minimal success, and ultimately I found myself at my highest weight of 273 pounds in 2015. In fact, I don't even remember being that heavy (I think I blocked it out), but I know it's true, because it was logged into my fitness tracker at that point.
I started out my current weightloss journey doing a low carb/ketogenic diet in the spring of 2016. I had heard about keto from a friend who touted it's effectiveness. I read up on it, and started eating that way, and it was indeed effective, but I couldn't shrug off this feeling that I was still a slave to my weight. Sure, I could eat all the bacon I wanted, but I couldn't feel free to celebrate with a piece of birthday cake with my family, or a glass of wine with friends. I had this constant anxiety that one molecule of dreaded carbs would erase all my hard work. I could never feel totally "normal" eating low carb. It wasn't a feasible lifestyle change for me, because it didn't fully allow me to live.
Luckily a friend of mine (the same friend who introduced me to keto, actually) told me to look up Intermittent Fasting. I did a little research online, which lead me to Gin's site and Facebook group. Before interacting at all in the group, I purchased her book, read up, and then got started. It's been an absolute game changer. Not only am I slimming down with ease, but I have incredible energy and confidence, my cravings for unhealthy foods has greatly diminished, I drink tons of water, and I no longer have anxiety about eating with other people. I no longer have to worry that I won't be able to find something I can eat at restaurants or parties. I no longer have to limit the types of meals I can make with my fiancé (bless his heart, he gave up a lot of yummy carbs at one point in time). Intermittent fasting has truly given me something I never thought I'd have: Freedom!
I am currently at my first goal weight, having lost almost 100 pounds! The next step is to keep on being an awesome IF'er, hit the gym to get svelte, and keep spreading the word to others who are struggling with their weight! This is a lifestyle everyone should be aware of. Thanks, Gin!
The weight slowly crept up and up over the years. I went up and down here and there. I tried exercise and various fad diet plans, with minimal success, and ultimately I found myself at my highest weight of 273 pounds in 2015. In fact, I don't even remember being that heavy (I think I blocked it out), but I know it's true, because it was logged into my fitness tracker at that point.
I started out my current weightloss journey doing a low carb/ketogenic diet in the spring of 2016. I had heard about keto from a friend who touted it's effectiveness. I read up on it, and started eating that way, and it was indeed effective, but I couldn't shrug off this feeling that I was still a slave to my weight. Sure, I could eat all the bacon I wanted, but I couldn't feel free to celebrate with a piece of birthday cake with my family, or a glass of wine with friends. I had this constant anxiety that one molecule of dreaded carbs would erase all my hard work. I could never feel totally "normal" eating low carb. It wasn't a feasible lifestyle change for me, because it didn't fully allow me to live.
Luckily a friend of mine (the same friend who introduced me to keto, actually) told me to look up Intermittent Fasting. I did a little research online, which lead me to Gin's site and Facebook group. Before interacting at all in the group, I purchased her book, read up, and then got started. It's been an absolute game changer. Not only am I slimming down with ease, but I have incredible energy and confidence, my cravings for unhealthy foods has greatly diminished, I drink tons of water, and I no longer have anxiety about eating with other people. I no longer have to worry that I won't be able to find something I can eat at restaurants or parties. I no longer have to limit the types of meals I can make with my fiancé (bless his heart, he gave up a lot of yummy carbs at one point in time). Intermittent fasting has truly given me something I never thought I'd have: Freedom!
I am currently at my first goal weight, having lost almost 100 pounds! The next step is to keep on being an awesome IF'er, hit the gym to get svelte, and keep spreading the word to others who are struggling with their weight! This is a lifestyle everyone should be aware of. Thanks, Gin!
Sharon H. From North Carolina
My journey for me started last summer. I was at our pool when I started talking to a friend about losing weight. She told me about intermittent fasting...I listened....being very skeptical. She said I will add you to this group on Facebook. I started reading up on it and thought to myself what do I have to lose!! So on July 13th I woke up and weighed myself...235 pounds!!! That was my starting day. I wrote my weight on the calendar and grabbed me a bottle of water. I jumped straight in with my five hour window being from 4 to 9. The only major thing I did was quit drinking sodas. I still drink my sweet tea but only in my window. I drink strictly water until my window opens. I still eat whatever I want!! Cheeseburgers, pizza, pasta and chocolate!! Now I don't eat as much as I used to, but I still get too enjoy my favorite foods.....which is absolutely wonderful!!! This way of life has been the best thing to ever happen to me!! Now my weight didn't drop right off in a couple of weeks, but since July 13th until now I have managed to lose 95 pounds!! Which still shocks me.....it has seemed way too easy! I haven't deprived myself of anything I enjoy eating!! I am 42 years old and feel better than I did when I was 30!! My body doesn't ache anymore, I am not tired all the time and I feel great about myself!!
Dave
My One Meal a Day Intermittent Fasting Journey started on January 3, 2017. On New Year's Eve I was at 283 pounds, had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and elevated enzymes on my liver. I felt bad and was tired of being me.
I always noticed how I was never hungry naturally until around 2pm everyday, so I decided I would try eating just dinner and also starting looking to see if anyone else did something crazy like this to lose weight and get healthier.
I found Gin's book through a search on Facebook and joined her page (which I love) and the bought the book Delay, Don't Deny. After reading it and following all tips and directions I began to change, and change for me came fast. Now only 3 month later all of my blood work came back normal last week! I am down 37 pounds and plan on dropping 35 more. I have a new way of life; it happens once a day.
I always noticed how I was never hungry naturally until around 2pm everyday, so I decided I would try eating just dinner and also starting looking to see if anyone else did something crazy like this to lose weight and get healthier.
I found Gin's book through a search on Facebook and joined her page (which I love) and the bought the book Delay, Don't Deny. After reading it and following all tips and directions I began to change, and change for me came fast. Now only 3 month later all of my blood work came back normal last week! I am down 37 pounds and plan on dropping 35 more. I have a new way of life; it happens once a day.
Nick
My testimonial is lengthy so if you prefer the cliff notes version: I was 235 lbs. in 2008 and 180 lbs. today in 2017; 25 lbs. of the loss is 100% attributed to intermittent fasting and one meal a day, which occurred over a two month period. I have never known such an effortless way of eating which adds countless health benefits and a new relationship with food.
Now for those who wish to know more, here we go. In 2004, I ended a 20 year relationship with the love of my life: Crystal Methamphetamine. As is the case with many recovering addicts, I replaced one addiction with another, food. Between 2004 and 2008 I went from 185 lbs. to 235 lbs., for a total of 50 lbs., all of which was fat. Not only was I looking horrible, but I began to have G.I. issues; it was time for change. After some soul searching, the first thing I did was become vegetarian in 2008. This was as much for animal welfare as it was for my health. I still wasn’t eating properly and it would take some time before I stopped consuming processed fake meat products, which are filled with soy and a ton of multisyllabic chemicals, as my primary source of food.
In 2010 I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and incorporated juicing into my diet. Juicing helped me not only to lose about 10-15 lbs., but I also learned to enjoy the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables. After about 6 months of juicing, I decided to stop wasting so much food and just eat the whole thing; I was throwing away all the nutrient rich fiber and pretty much just drinking sugar water. Now I was preparing my own meals made from fresh produce, but I was eating 3-4 times a day. At this point I was introduced to a program that eliminated all flour and sugar from my diet. This was by far the most painful and restrictive program I had ever encountered. I had great success with this but as time would prove, it was unsustainable. I found a post from Facebook 2012: “Target weight of 180 reached today! Highest weight was 235. Bounced between 218 and 235 for several years. Last year cut out flour and processed foods and sugar; the past five months I've been on a mostly vegan diet; cutting out the dairy really helped as well as a s### load of exercise.” So reaching 180 lbs. I had become vegetarian on a mainly vegan diet and had also eliminated all flour, sugar and processed foods. I remember 2012 and 180 lbs. as being jubilant, but also that it was such an arduous process and I certainly was never satisfied with the food I was eating and always seemed to be hungry. I was exercising for 90 minutes a day at the gym; to reach this point was a huge effort and in hind sight, destined to fail. As with all calorie restricting diets, this was completely unsustainable and within a year I had binged on flour and sugar to the point of reaching 200 lbs.
This is when I learned about Intermittent Fasting from Dr. Joseph Mercola’s Facebook page. I loved the science behind this concept and in 2014 implemented a 16:8 schedule which I eventually dropped down to a 19:5. By June 2014, I reached an unprecedented 177 lbs. by keeping a five hour window, but I was also denying myself any processed sugar and I was eating a lot of raw vegetables; again not very satisfying or sustainable. July 2014 my husband underwent brain surgery and I took off time from work to care for him. At this point IF flew right out the window and I returned to the dreaded 3 meals a day. Slowly, at first, 5 lbs., 10 lbs., 15 lbs.; the same pattern emerged so that by spring of 2016, I had reached 205 lbs.
By December 2016 something finally began to shift in me. I don’t remember where I first ran across the idea of one meal a day, but I started watching some YouTube videos on the idea. Then on December 24th I told my husband what I was considering doing and asked for his support; he gave it without question. Christmas Day 2016 was my first attempt at one meal a day. I chose a one hour window between 10:30am and 11:30am. At work, there was a Christmas dinner for all employees which was difficult, but I passed; day one was a success! After finding that I didn’t wither away from starvation I decided that if I were going to attempt this as a lifestyle, I would need to establish this as a habit: I committed to OMAD for 30 days. This proved to be a wonderful tool and I recommend to all beginners to commit to a time frame to establish this as your new normal. This is also when I searched Facebook for a community of likeminded people and fortunately the first group I found was Gin Stephens' group, One Meal A Day IF Lifestyle. For a former twelve stepper who is not very fond of groups, this group has made all the difference in the world and is a huge part of my success. I have never known such a supportive and inspirational group of people. After being part of this community for only a few days, I decided to purchase Gin’s book: Delay, Don’t Deny, which I found to be an excellent book especially for someone just beginning this lifestyle. Today I am 5 pounds away from an arbitrary number of 175 lbs. I’m not sure what my actual weight will eventually be; I’m waiting to see what this body decides. Every day I am learning to listen to this body because it knows exactly what it needs and how much it should weigh. There truly is no reason I can find, not to continue this lifestyle and way of eating; there is so much freedom and empowerment with this way of life. February 14, 2017
Now for those who wish to know more, here we go. In 2004, I ended a 20 year relationship with the love of my life: Crystal Methamphetamine. As is the case with many recovering addicts, I replaced one addiction with another, food. Between 2004 and 2008 I went from 185 lbs. to 235 lbs., for a total of 50 lbs., all of which was fat. Not only was I looking horrible, but I began to have G.I. issues; it was time for change. After some soul searching, the first thing I did was become vegetarian in 2008. This was as much for animal welfare as it was for my health. I still wasn’t eating properly and it would take some time before I stopped consuming processed fake meat products, which are filled with soy and a ton of multisyllabic chemicals, as my primary source of food.
In 2010 I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and incorporated juicing into my diet. Juicing helped me not only to lose about 10-15 lbs., but I also learned to enjoy the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables. After about 6 months of juicing, I decided to stop wasting so much food and just eat the whole thing; I was throwing away all the nutrient rich fiber and pretty much just drinking sugar water. Now I was preparing my own meals made from fresh produce, but I was eating 3-4 times a day. At this point I was introduced to a program that eliminated all flour and sugar from my diet. This was by far the most painful and restrictive program I had ever encountered. I had great success with this but as time would prove, it was unsustainable. I found a post from Facebook 2012: “Target weight of 180 reached today! Highest weight was 235. Bounced between 218 and 235 for several years. Last year cut out flour and processed foods and sugar; the past five months I've been on a mostly vegan diet; cutting out the dairy really helped as well as a s### load of exercise.” So reaching 180 lbs. I had become vegetarian on a mainly vegan diet and had also eliminated all flour, sugar and processed foods. I remember 2012 and 180 lbs. as being jubilant, but also that it was such an arduous process and I certainly was never satisfied with the food I was eating and always seemed to be hungry. I was exercising for 90 minutes a day at the gym; to reach this point was a huge effort and in hind sight, destined to fail. As with all calorie restricting diets, this was completely unsustainable and within a year I had binged on flour and sugar to the point of reaching 200 lbs.
This is when I learned about Intermittent Fasting from Dr. Joseph Mercola’s Facebook page. I loved the science behind this concept and in 2014 implemented a 16:8 schedule which I eventually dropped down to a 19:5. By June 2014, I reached an unprecedented 177 lbs. by keeping a five hour window, but I was also denying myself any processed sugar and I was eating a lot of raw vegetables; again not very satisfying or sustainable. July 2014 my husband underwent brain surgery and I took off time from work to care for him. At this point IF flew right out the window and I returned to the dreaded 3 meals a day. Slowly, at first, 5 lbs., 10 lbs., 15 lbs.; the same pattern emerged so that by spring of 2016, I had reached 205 lbs.
By December 2016 something finally began to shift in me. I don’t remember where I first ran across the idea of one meal a day, but I started watching some YouTube videos on the idea. Then on December 24th I told my husband what I was considering doing and asked for his support; he gave it without question. Christmas Day 2016 was my first attempt at one meal a day. I chose a one hour window between 10:30am and 11:30am. At work, there was a Christmas dinner for all employees which was difficult, but I passed; day one was a success! After finding that I didn’t wither away from starvation I decided that if I were going to attempt this as a lifestyle, I would need to establish this as a habit: I committed to OMAD for 30 days. This proved to be a wonderful tool and I recommend to all beginners to commit to a time frame to establish this as your new normal. This is also when I searched Facebook for a community of likeminded people and fortunately the first group I found was Gin Stephens' group, One Meal A Day IF Lifestyle. For a former twelve stepper who is not very fond of groups, this group has made all the difference in the world and is a huge part of my success. I have never known such a supportive and inspirational group of people. After being part of this community for only a few days, I decided to purchase Gin’s book: Delay, Don’t Deny, which I found to be an excellent book especially for someone just beginning this lifestyle. Today I am 5 pounds away from an arbitrary number of 175 lbs. I’m not sure what my actual weight will eventually be; I’m waiting to see what this body decides. Every day I am learning to listen to this body because it knows exactly what it needs and how much it should weigh. There truly is no reason I can find, not to continue this lifestyle and way of eating; there is so much freedom and empowerment with this way of life. February 14, 2017
Laura--Bristol, UK
I am a mother to 3 young boys. Before I had children I had always struggled with my weight and I was what people call a yo-yo dieter, putting on weight and losing alternatively within months. I had 2 children 15 months apart and my weight rocketed. I was introduced to fasting through the 5:2 diet and lost about 30 lbs. Then, I came across intermittent fasting: One Meal a Day and Fast-5. It was a concept I thought I could follow after researching about it all.
Just before starting this new way of life I found out I was expecting my third bundle of mayhem and mischief. During my final pregnancy I put on over 4 stone (56 lbs.) and that weight wasn't going anywhere after having little man. 3 months after my son's birth I decided enough was enough, and I found Gin's page. I thought, "Let's go for it!" Although I am a very quiet member of the Facebook group, I am on it daily. The support has been amazing.
I started doing IF, and now just over 2 years later I am over 68 lbs. down and only 5 lbs. away from a target that I haven't hit for many many years. I truly believe IF is what has got me there. Friends and family have always been skeptical, and of course I hear the usual remarks of "starving yourself" and "it's not healthy". I now just let them have their opinions, but no one can deny after seeing my before and after that it doesn't work.
I feel so blessed to have found this new way of life. Some days are harder than others, and when life throws you a curve ball you have to resist falling back to old habits. I know I feel healthier, sleep better, and have more energy. I am actually starting to enjoy seeing my reflection again in the mirror, and not avoiding them at all costs, which is what it has been for the last 5 years
Just before starting this new way of life I found out I was expecting my third bundle of mayhem and mischief. During my final pregnancy I put on over 4 stone (56 lbs.) and that weight wasn't going anywhere after having little man. 3 months after my son's birth I decided enough was enough, and I found Gin's page. I thought, "Let's go for it!" Although I am a very quiet member of the Facebook group, I am on it daily. The support has been amazing.
I started doing IF, and now just over 2 years later I am over 68 lbs. down and only 5 lbs. away from a target that I haven't hit for many many years. I truly believe IF is what has got me there. Friends and family have always been skeptical, and of course I hear the usual remarks of "starving yourself" and "it's not healthy". I now just let them have their opinions, but no one can deny after seeing my before and after that it doesn't work.
I feel so blessed to have found this new way of life. Some days are harder than others, and when life throws you a curve ball you have to resist falling back to old habits. I know I feel healthier, sleep better, and have more energy. I am actually starting to enjoy seeing my reflection again in the mirror, and not avoiding them at all costs, which is what it has been for the last 5 years
ANYONE can do this!
Never thought I would ever write a success story. I never succeed on any diet before (and I've tried sooo many.) After giving birth to my three kids I was about 80 kg (176 pounds) and I started one meal a day (OMAD) after I was proposed to in October of 2016. I thought it would be hard... but it's the easiest thing I've ever done! Only giving up on my diet soda and drinking my coffee black was a hard thing to do ;-) I've lost 32 pounds (16 kg) so far without working out and I eat whatever I like with my family within my window (mostly 3 or 4 hours). Since OMAD I feel like I've escaped out of diet prison :) I can do this for the rest of my life. So happy I've found OMAD, and the book really made sense, I learned so much from it!