Taking Back Control to a Healthy Life | Intermittent Fasting Success

Stalling the scale seemed impossible.

I come from stout Irish stock. People who show love through cooking and feeding friends and family – so it’s in my genes! I was raised in a loving home with good healthy food. Plenty of organic produce and always from scratch meals. Growing up in New Zealand we only ate out as a treat and we grew our own vegetables and fruit in the garden. Back in the day fast foods were not as common as they are today, so I feel like I had pretty healthy eating habits despite the fact I was a little overweight.

When you are young and active you burn off all that good food, but the older I got, the more weight I gained. By the time I was in my early 30’s and a mum, it became almost impossible to stall the scale. I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 40 which contributed to huge hormonal changes in my body. The medications caused terrible inflammation and stiffening of my joints. I became less and less active, struggling to get through the day. Having a young son and working full time seemed to take all my energy. I was living a very sedentary lifestyle.

Stats

Highest weight: 282lbs/128kgs
Starting weight: 252lbs/114kgs
Goal weight: 150lbs/68kgs
Current weight: 200lbs/91kgs
Height: 5’6/171cm

‘Fork management’ wasn’t the answer.

Over the years I have lost and regained weight a couple of times but I wouldn’t call myself a yo-yo dieter. I got to the stage where I just felt that I couldn’t shift the weight and I would just have to live with it. But in 2020 a few things happened! Of course, Covid-19 changed everyone’s lives. I started to work from home full time, social activities were curtailed and, like the rest of the world, I found myself moving even less.

I was chatting to my boss one day and he was telling me about his brother, who was not in good health. He was overweight, not eating well, and generally not putting enough importance on his physical wellbeing. My boss told me how much he worried about him. Sadly, not long after our conversation, his brother passed away. This really planted the seed in my mind that I needed to take a good look at my own health.

About this time I suffered with 3 or 4 kidney stone occurrences. Anyone who has experienced that pain can attest that it is about the most miserable thing, ever. So, I decided to be more conscious about my diet and try to drink only water and a lot of it! Between October 2020 and Christmas 2020 I cut out alcohol (didn’t we all start weekday drinking a bit more during Covid!?!) and tried to eat a reduced calorie diet. As my friend calls it, ‘fork management’. During those 3 months I had success losing about 30lbs (14kgs), but frankly, it was miserable. Tracking calories and restricting foods took away so much of the enjoyment I had from cooking and entertaining, and I knew it just wouldn’t be sustainable. I also knew that as soon as I ate carbs or sugar, the weight would come back. I stuck with the diet, but life wasn’t much fun.

Intermittent Fasting gave me the controls.

In the Spring of 2021, I was on Facebook and joined a group run by a fellow kiwi (Susan Metz). Susan posted about the success she had with Intermittent Fasting and how she had lost weight and maintained that a loss for a year. After chatting a bit with Susan, I ordered 2 books, The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung, and Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens. I read both books and the science behind IF was compelling. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had an understanding about why I was obese but that there was absolutely something I could do about it. My IF journey began in April 2021 and to say it has changed my life is an understatement. Not only am I 82lbs (37 kgs) down in weight, but I have reversed my high blood pressure (to my doctor’s delight) and no longer take medication. My osteo arthritis is significantly improved and my skin is fantastic. At a recent dental cleaning my hygienist said I had no tarter build up and that a couple of areas of gum recession were no longer evident from my exam 6 months ago. I also have had no more kidney stones, which I am more than thrilled about!

Clean fast!

Trust the process. If the scale stalls, your body is prioritizing other healing

Ripping off the band-aid.

I started IF reasonably aggressively with a 20:4 (20 hours fasting, 4 hour eating window) protocol, but I think I have settled more into a 22:2 or One Meal a Day (OMAD) Monday to Friday, and 20:4 on weekends, which gives me some flexibility. I enjoy a couple of glasses of red wine at the weekends but drink plenty of water every day. The only other thing I drink in my fasting window is plain black tea. In fact, the hardest thing was giving up a splash of milk in my early morning cup of tea. I resisted the ‘clean fast’ for the first month, but after reading so many comments on the Facebook support groups, I finally cut out the milk and now drink my tea black. I really do believe in making every fast a clean fast and agree that it makes it easier to get through the day. Sometimes I do still add a little milk to my tea but only when my window is open.

This is now my life.

I can’t imagine ever changing the routine I have settled into. I feel so much better these days. I accomplish so much during the day without the post lunch slump and constant snacking. During the week my eating window is generally 4pm-6pm, which gives me plenty of time to digest my food before bed. One of the tricks I use is that as soon as I have finished my meal, I floss and brush my teeth, which is the signal that my window is closed! I have also become much more aware of my own satiety signals. Once I’m full, I stop eating. I don’t feel compelled to clean my plate or have a second helping. I love being able to hear what my body is telling me.

There are so many great books, podcasts, and apps available for those who are living the IF lifestyle. In addition to the books I read at the start of my journey, I have read several others that have taught me so much. Also, the support and advice on the Facebook support groups is wonderful. It is really good to hear of other people’s experiences and have a forum to ask questions and share victories, both scale and non-scale!

When I close my window, I floss and brush my teeth. Somehow that helps me solidify in my mind that my window is closed.

Slow and steady future goals.

I have also been lucky to have the support of my family during the last 6 months and I have even convinced a couple of friends to try IF too. I am happy to report they are also having great results. Some people really DO give you an odd look when you tell them what you are doing. They think you are starving yourself or forming unhealthy eating habits. The idea that you have to eat 3 times a day plus snacks is so engrained into us as a society, that the thought of eating once a day or within a specific time frame is completely foreign to many people. I actually prefer to refer to it as ‘time restricted eating’, which seems less polarizing than using the word ‘fasting’.

My goal for the next 6 months is to steadily increase my exercise and start to incorporate some strength training. I’d like to lose another 50lbs (23 kgs), but I am fine with that taking time. So many people expect that IF is a quick weight loss program, but it is very much a case of slow and steady. Currently I weigh daily and take the weekly average (thanks Gin Stevens, for that tip), so I am vigilant but not too obsessive on the scale number. Having said that, I am considering changing that routine to a weekly weigh in 2022. I’m in a good routine and I’d like to make the scale less of a focus moving forward because there are so many other important changes happening with my body that I am excited about.

I am forever grateful to Susan Metz in helping me get started and providing support and encouragement along the way. I am also incredibly thankful to the countless people who share their stories and experiences online – the IF community is amazing.