Episode 53: How Intermittent Fasting Worked For Her Where Other Approaches Failed

How Intermittent Fasting Worked For Her Where Other Approaches Failed

Can you lose weight with intermittent fasting? Studies show that intermittent fasting is yet another tool in our arsenal that is effective for weight loss. However, many people find it difficult to fast. So how do you go about doing it?

In this episode, Gin Stephens shares with us her weight loss journey. Listen in to know how intermittent fasting helped her drop from 210 pounds to 130 pounds, and how she discovered the right way to fast.

Gin Stephens is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller Fast, Feast, Repeat. This was published by St. Martin’s Griffin Press and she also wrote Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle, also an Amazon # 1 bestseller in the weight loss category. She has been living the intermittent fasting lifestyle since 2014. This lifestyle shift allowed her to lose over eighty pounds and launch her Intermittent Fasting website, four Facebook support groups, four self-published books, and 3 top-ranked podcasts – Intermittent Fasting Stories, the Intermittent Fasting Podcast with her co-host Melanie Avalon and the Life Lessons Podcast with co-host Sherri Bullock. Gin splits her time between Augusta, Georgia, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their four cats. She is also a mother to two adult sons (and she is thankful every day for the intermittent lifestyle that makes her life easier).

Key Takeaways:

Tune in to my conversation with Gin Stephens and learn:

• How Gin “dieted her way up” to her heaviest weight of 210 pounds
• Why despite trying a lot of different diets, she was not able to keep weight off
• The difference of intermittent fasting that made Gin stick to it
• Why intermittent fasting is not a quick fix but a lifestyle change
• What happens to your body during intermittent fasting
• How Gin discovered the clean fast
• The problem with a dirty fast and its relation to insulin
• Discovering Dr. Tim Spector’s studies and the personalized nutrition approach
• What you should be eating during your eating window
• Gin’s intermittent fasting regimen now and how it’s evolved over the years
• Gin’s advice for someone trying intermittent fasting for the first time
• Why it’s normal to have food cravings during the adjustment phase

Quotes:

Gin Stephens:

“We know that our bodies rebel when we try to over restrict long term and they send us ‘eat, eat, eat’ signals.”

“The beauty of intermittent fasting is you learn to listen to your body, you reconnect with your hunger and satiety signal, I can hear when I’m hungry and I can hear when I’ve had enough, I’m not fighting my body, fasting.”

“When you’re fasting clean, your body is finally able to tap into your fat storage for fuel, it’s like you’re unlocking your fat stores for the first time efficiently.” 

“I firmly believe our bodies don’t count calories, our bodies count nutrients.”

Dr. Avishkar Sabharwal:

“Clean fast works wonders.”

“It’s important to listen to your body and it’s important to understand that even if you’re fasting, that’s not gonna be the be-all, end-all unless you have a healthy diet. It does not necessarily have to be one specific diet plan, as long as you’re eating real whole foods, that’s healthy.”

Links:

• Gin Stephens’ website: https://www.ginstephens.com/
• Fast, Feast, Repeat: https://www.ginstephens.com/get-the-books.html
• Podcasts: Intermittent Fasting Stories, IF podcast

Thank you for listening to another episode of Decoding Obesity!