Delay, Don't Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle

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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.

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The fix : Gradually stretch out the number of hours you go between meals until you reach a 12-hour eating window, suggests Varady. Then move to a 10-hour eating window and reduce by small increments until you reach your goal. Appetite Correction is the Holy Grail of intermittent fasting, and it is the state you reach when your satiety signals are in tune with an appropriate amount of food for your body.” 3. You Will Be Inspired: 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. Teresa is the founder and director of The Willow School. She struggled with her weight as a child and remembers comments made by her family about her body. She began to diet in high school and was self-conscious throughout her teen years. This led to many years of emotional eating, shame, countless diets, and weight gain.

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. By August of 2020, Teresa had reached her highest weight of 302 pounds. She learned of IF from a parent at her school. She read Delay, Don’t Deny and immediately began her IF journey. IF is free. You don’t need to join our community to fast. But if you’re looking for support from a community of like-minded IFers, we are here for you at ginstephens.com/community.

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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. Monica struggled with her weight beginning in elementary school. She began to diet and use diet pills in high school. By the end of 2018, Monica found herself at her highest weight of 248 pounds. Desperate, she found yet another diet program and stumbled upon IF through the program. Leah is currently five months pregnant and has paused IF. She will resume her IF lifestyle after she has her baby and once she is past breastfeeding. 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.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. It’s also important to “avoid any protein-filled liquids such as bone broth, because that can halt autophagy [the cellular process that breaks down and recycles damaged molecules], which you want to promote while fasting,” explains Stephens. Aug - Gained 5 pounds! Still relaxing my window. Enjoying last days of summer! Hurricane evacuation! 😧

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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. Proponents of intermittent fasting claim it helps with weight loss and can boost energy and mood levels. But if you’ve decided to try limiting your eating to a certain timeframe and are having trouble adjusting to the plan, it may be because this eating style is vastly different from your previous eating habits. You may also inadvertently be making mistakes which can make your transition more difficult. In July of 2022, Elena found IF through an internet search and began her IF journey. She had been raised with fasting as a part of her religion, but did not know it was also a way of healthy living. 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'm the same as you - I can maintain on around 1500 cals a day but need to go below 1200 consistently and over a long period to actually lose anything noticeably. I keep seeing these threads and honestly, it really works. It's a long slow process. You probably won't see any weight difference for about 10 weeks, but you will start to see a difference in yourself after a lot less than that. Keep going. It's really worth it. X