I recently documented my experience with intermittant fasting for metabolic repair.

Full warning...in this video I am not polished looking. At many times, I have just woken up, and started talking to the camera. It is quite raw. 

The physical transformation that you can see is documented, but now 6 months later I am completely fat adapted.

Looking back at this documentary I feel like most of the results from the work happens after . For instance, I feel amazing, and now have decreased my insulin sensitivity.

I'm no longer hungry ALL THE TIME.

I've maintained my loss, and my body feels 10 years younger than it did before I started.

My focus..that's a whole other blog post!

The best part is, I don't ever feel deprived because I set my own rules and have had the best support from teachers, expert dieticians, and a community of like minded people.

Everyone has pretty much written their own rules, and I did not have much weight to lose , so my weight loss results dull in comparison to many.

I was in it for the metabolic repair. I could feel things were "off" And I received so much more than I had hoped for! So much that I need to scream from the rooftops the stuff I've learned, the stuff I knew (but now have scientific validation) and the stuff I'm going to learn in years to come :)  So let's begin.

Let's be honest here... I seldom finish what I start..so I only documented 1 month, and then I've been living "off the grid" for the last 4. Meaning no counting, or writing things down, but still following my personal plan I created :) AND I"VE MAINTAINED and feel sooooo goooood!!!

My Goals  (I reached all of them within the first 21 days) WITH NO SUPPLEMENTS OF ANY KIND :) 

• To restore my metabolic function and stop gaining weight
• Regain my energy and kick my pre-workout drink addiction (yes addiction)
• Cure mindless snacking, and insulin dependency
• Give my liver a break and restore gut health
• Shed my inflammatory response and lose stored fat
• Gain energy, clarity & focus
• Find out what foods and/or habits are causing weight gain
• Retrain my body on intuitive eating patterns
• Let go of dieters syndrome (counting, tracking,measuring, etc)

I experimented with bringing my body in a state of Ketosis to ease into an intermittent fasting protocol.

The Food

I experimented with this while eating less animals, and more plants. It worked for me because I personally don't think eating burgers , bacon, and butter for extended periods of time is for me. They are not things I love.

However I found out that I could easily live and thrive on avocados, hemp seeds, tempeh,  whole free range eggs, some nuts, pure coconut milk, pumpkin seeds, lentils  and copious amounts of squash and greens :)

My unknown healthy food suspects causing inflammation 

• Hot sauce
• Apples
• Quinoa
• Peanut butter :(
• Anything pork (even the best cuts)
• Most dairy 
• Sweet potatoes & Yams (Really????) Yup
• Bell peppers 
• Carton Almond milk

Most of these things were part of my DAILY consumption and I was super surprised to find out because most of these things are labelled as SUPER healthy!! And most of them are, but were causing me problems...not to say they ALWAYS will...

Exercise during ketosis/ intermittent fasting

I had nooooo way of knowing how my body would take it, so I did a few things to ease my body and my mind . I was teaching 3-5 group fitness classes a week during the protocol.

• Gave myself permission to take down my workouts a notch.
• Worked out later in the day about 2 hours after a meal
• Understood that I may feel different (like I had the flu) but that was only temporary.

I was surprised how I no longer needed food to command energy.

My appetite control ignited and is still performing well :) 

Social...

I didn't tell many people because it's not the norm, and I wasn't , nor am I only playing in one sandbox or committing 100% to a certain lifestyle, but rather learning how to apply metabolic cycling  in a way that truly works for me.

My primary reason was for gut health, and so many people think it's weight loss because I'm in the industry.

I didn't want anyone's opinion (people are so helpful, but sometimes we don't want to hear what worked for someone else...especially when we are studying ourselves)

I really only scratched the surface here and there is so much involved .

Things I didn't expect

• Horrible Breath
• Copious amounts of time to get extra stuff done!! :) 
• And a few more things I'll save for later :) 

Now you know me....whenever I show pictures (before &afters) I must claim...my size does not define me. I did not plan on sharing any of this (hence the messy hair, and unpolished video)

It's so important to get this message out!! We CAN heal our bodies with the right food choices, not dieting, we don't have to exercise more to get results AND we can FEEL good in our skin at any size!!

Please ask questions, share experiences. 

Have you tried metabolic cycling?

Do you want to know more about taking control of your diet and getting results on your terms? 

There is a full accountability, coaching, and everything you need to be successful in your journey inside the program , but I know sometimes change is hard, and it's nice to have a friend that "gets" it in your corner .