To say that my history with Fat Loss has been emotionally “shaky” is a gross understatement. I’ve been frustrated more times than I can count by the slowness, stubbornness, and mental strain that I have placed on my ability (or inability, rather) to lose fat when I tried to the hardest. Have you ever felt that way?! Sometimes I just research the liposuction cost and consider having all the access weight sucked out of me. It’s something I’ve really considered because losing weight can be a very stressful and frustrating process, especially when doing it with just exercise and diet regulations.

The problem is that Fat Loss is NOT the same thing as “weight loss” and even so, for both categories, the old adage that you simply lose weight or fat by the mathematical sequence of “Calories In < Calories Out" is flat out WRONG.

The achieve a change in our physique through muscle growth and/or fat loss, we have to focus on our METABOLISM.

Our metabolism is COMPLEX to say the least! Yes, the Big Man upstairs has done Himself some kind of wonder in creating this amazing system that is responsible for both the break-down (called CATABOLISM) of our food into calories (that are used for energy in the body) as well as the build-up (called ANABOLISM) of all cells, such as muscle cells. It is a TRUE WONDER!

Even with my degree in Biochemistry and Biology, I did not understand the wonder of our body’s biochemical pathways and metabolic processes until I really devoted myself to studying it….and of course, experimenting with it (read: FAILING A LOT).

Yes, I have achieved the FULL SPECTRUM of what a high speed and perfectly ineffecient Metabolism does (our metabolism actually needs to be inefficient to promote fat burn and keep our system “moving” and higher speeds) as well as what a low speed and completely manipulated metabolism does.

Ironically, the time that I was at my LEANEST weight, when I trained for a a Bikini Competition, I was suffering from the WORST METABOLIC OPERATION that by Body had ever seen! So we cannot always associate a “smaller body frame” with a HIGH Metabolism! The opposite could be true!

Because I had WILL POWERED my way to see significant fat loss (losing over 10% in just 5 months) by EATING FAR TOO FEW CALORIES (especially carbohydrates that are out #1 quick energy source) and doing FAR TOO MUCH EXERCISE I stunted my metabolism to incredibly slow and yes, even damaged, levels.

Metabolic Effect calls this the EMEL method (Exercise More, Eat Less) which is a highway to metabolic damage and gaining ALL the weight back. Which is exactly what I did!

My metabolic damage was made worse yet by the fact that I promptly proceeded to GAIN BACK almost ALL of the body fat I lost (gained back about 7%), which took my metabolic damage to a whole. notha.’ level!

Yes, studies show that is is WORSE for your body to lose weight and gain it all back than it is to never lose it at all. Yes, that’s right.

Why? Because when we lose and gain, lose and gain (a la’ Yo-Yo dieting) your metabolism is slowed down. You simply won’t be as fuel (in)efficient anymore and your body won’t burn as many calories as you used to.

In fact, if you take two identical twins that are the same height and the same weight but ONE of the women had gained weight last year and had to ‘diet down’ to lose the weight again, HER METABOLISM will be slower than the other sister’s. Any time we gain and lose weight, we slow down our system. Frustrating RIGHT?! (By the way this is one of those questions on my list to ask God in Heaven, “What’s up with THAT?!”)

This is what I call, “Biting you in the Booty!” It’s both figurative reference and for me, quite literal because let’s just say, my BIG BOOTY has come right back to where it started from, and appears to be here to stay (to my husband’s delight, of course ;-)).

So, needless to say, now that I am 2.5 years POST-SHOW, I have learned a TON about metabolism in an effort to keep my body revved up and roaring as much as possible! This has helped me a TON understand MY BODY more of course, but it really helps me be a better Health Coach!

It’s a hard discussion to have with clients, because I know so many of us women want to see “results right away” but the truth is, you CAN’T speed up the process of Fat Loss to the point of it causing detriment to your Metabolism. You need to WORK WITH YOUR METABOLISM, not against it.

This means TAKING THE TIME to test your body and seeing what works. It is a PROCESS and if you’re doing it right, it’s a slow process! It’s hard, but if you consider the alternative, you would much rather have SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS over quickly lost but quickly gained back fat loss? Yeah, me too.

My Top 3 Tips In Your Road to Fat Loss!

Try the TOGGLE programs that Metabolic Effect Prescribes for a roaring metabolism– either Eat Less and Exercise Less OR Eat More and Exercise More. Toggle back and forth between the two phases depending on your scheduling and life!
My 10% Method! Choose the “Minimum Effective Dose Method:” The goal is the eat as much as you possibly can while still seeing Fat Loss! You never want to take drastic cuts to your diet or make drastic leaps with your exercise. Just kick things up or down a notch, by about 10% of so. This is just enough to see if you see any results! When you cut too much, you probably can’t maintain that too well.
Don’t STRESS! Adding more stress to yourself to do everything “perfectly” just increases the stress hormones which ultimately WORKS AGAINST you in Fat Loss. So take this Fat Loss effort slow and just keep SURREND’hering your will to God’s will. Your God power will get you through these challenges far greater than your will power! Have Faith and Endure!

Hey, are you signed up for the Finding A. Wright Fit Newsletter? Join now and get a FREE Checklist of my Top 7 Rituals to Add to Your Health Today! In addition, you’ll get all of my insider goods, specialty posts on all things Body, Mind and Soul, exclusive offers AND the first dibs and discounts on all of my programs! Don’t hesitate and sign up HERE!

The first time I heard of someone doing this, I thought they were crazy and were going to send themselves into starvation. I mentally judged them, immediately, and came up with a ton snippets of “health tips” that would disprove their practice as fallacy! Ha!

Cut to about 3 months later, when I decided to take a quiz from one of my favorite teaching blogs on all things Metabolism (Read: Fat Loss) related, Metabolic Effect, and guess what this quiz advised me to do? The VERY act that I so ruefully mentally judged others in the fitness industry for doing! Typical, right? (God was listening ;-))

So now, every day, I don’t eat my first meal until about 11am. I eat my last meal by 7 or 8pm. Basically, I eat in a 8-9 hour window.

WHAT IT IS:

So, I’m talking about Intermittent Fasting. Let me start by saying that I hate the term “Fasting” because anytime you say that, it makes people think of either a spiritual prayer practice (which is good, but not related), or a detox or cleanse. Which again, those two things can be good for you (if done right), but all these words seem to spark up a lot of “judgey judgertons” just like I admitted to being.

Intermittent Fasting is just a term used to describe going an extended period of time, every day, without eating. We ALL fast every day. This is called sleeping. So, intermittent fasting is a way to just extend the “non-eating” phase of your day because it essentially extends the Fat Burning period of your day.

Studies (and HERE) have actually shown that the TIMING of when we eat can have a bigger impact on our weight that the actual amount of calories we eat! In fact, I talked about this rat study on my blog on NUTRIENT BASED TIMING, HERE. The most recent study published in Cell Metabolism Journal, essentially tested two groups of rats who both ate the exact same amount of calories but one group ate all day long while the other group only at in a 10-12 hour window. The results showed that the group that ate at all hours of the day got obese while the intermittent fasted group of rats stayed at a normal weight. With the exact same amount of food!

The way our fast paced world has been operating lately, we can easily fall into the trap of GRAZING all day, every day. We need a snack at all occasions! I truly believe this contributes heavily (no pun intended) to the deathly serious overweight and obesity epidemic we have on our hands.

WHY I DECIDED TO TRY IT:

So, back to my decision to bite my own judgement and take the advice from the Metabolic Effect quiz I took. First, I have already done a lot of research on the Metabolic Effect website, read their books and know they are Doctors with credentials I trust. This is the most important part about taking advice from any health hack out there (myself included!).

Second, I had already been eating in a 12-hour window for 8+ months at this point. This was something I knew I needed to do not only because I had heard about that rat studies but also just by pure math. I have a large appetite and so if I don’t pay attention to the times and quantities I eat, I can (and have) eaten several hundred more calories than I need to in a day.

Third, the reason why this quiz advised me to push this fasting period back even further is because I had already taken several steps in the (w)right direction for my health and this was just the next best step in the (W)right direction for ME. Meaning, I was already eating a Nutrient-Based diet of clean, holistic foods CONSISTENTLY. While also regularly looking into different meal reviews so I have the option to change my meal plans up a little while still eating the healthy sustenance I need. I has also already practiced short periods of intermittent fasting first before by eating within a 12 and 10-hour window. I was also already active and healthy. I just had stopped seeing results, so it was time to try something new.

HOW IT’S BEEN WORKING SO FAR:

So, I decided this step would be something worth trying to see if it worked for me!

The way to TEST any new dietary change is to monitor 4 areas *H.E.C.D.* (a modified tool from Metabolic Effect as well): 1. Hunger 2. Energy 3. Cravings 4. Digestion. So as I made the change to move my first meal back to 11am and as I ate my meals, I monitored those 4 categories. I told myself I would try it for a full week to let my body adapt and get a real feel for how it was working (or not working).

PROS:
SHOCKING!

-My HUNGER actually went WAY down over the course of the day. I had been used to eating 5-6 meals per day and my body had been conditioned to get hungry when I had been used to eating. So where I thought that I would be building up several more hours of HUNGER from not eating at those times, I was SHOCKED to feel substantially less hungry. I believe this tactic helped to mellow out my hormones (ghrelin and leptin are your hunger and satiety hormones) . I don’t have the exact science as to why, but this is how it turned out for ME.

-Moreover, I actually had less CRAVINGS for sugar and other food items I normally crave as well! My hardest part is still at night more than in the morning, so I do still have a sweet tooth but I manage that with other tools anyway.

-My ENERGY felt about the same! I often found that by overeating so often before, I would put myself into a food-coma and feel lethargic. Now my mornings are my most productive time!

-My DIGESTION is on par. This one relies most on the quality of foods I eat, but going longer between meals helps move things along much better for my body!

On top of all of these factors, the other benefit of doing this is in those months where I was not really being careful about WHAT I ate (I had a ton more sugar, frozen yogurt, and BBQs during the month of July) but I still stuck to this 8-9 hour window, I DID NOT GAIN WEIGHT. At all. So this proves to me that the rat test they conducted is in fact on par with my this human body works too!

Overall, I AM eating enough food (almost the same amount of calories) just in the tighter time-frame. This is VERY IMPORTANT that I’m not starving my body as a crash diet. I am only changing the timing of my eating, not the quantity of food. Since I love big meals, this works great for me too.

CONS:

There are a few things I had to adjust and some ways to trouble shoot this that are not the easiest.

I rely more on coffee and caffeine in the AM. I have been getting up by 5-6am to start writing and working, so I’m tired of course, but also that is a pretty long window of being awake without eating. So, coffee (without cream or sugar) and tea are my solutions to keep my stomach calm. If I do experience stomach growls, I’ll drink more water first.
I had to move back my workout time: I was a morning workout girl for a long time but decided that working out fasted is not the smarted idea for me. This worked out though because I needed my mornings for productivity and writing anyway. It will always take an adjustment period to get hyped up enough for an afternoon workout. It also is harder to avoid the excuses of getting “too busy” to go to the gym. Good thing I only do 30-45 min workouts now!
Breakfast is my favorite meal: The absolute hardest thing for me is going out for breakfast with friends and family and not eating. Maybe this is the O.C.D, way TOO self-controlled part of my life, but I am just a person that once I commit to something, I commit to it and stay as consistent as possible. So, when in a situation where we are out to eat or my husband and I are traveling and he is eating breakfast, I will have coffee and enjoy the company and order a meal to go if I have to. I admit this is challenging but only because of the social pressure and because I love breakfast food. Not because I’m hungry, surprisingly.

The (W)Right Way Of Intermittent Fasting:

So, if you are interesting in exploring what this might look like for you, I encourage you to take the following steps:

START 12-HOURS: Start with a 12-hour window of Intermittent Fasting FIRST. This is my Nutrient Based Timing strategy that will work wonders for you if you have not already been eating in this window of time. Stick with this FIRST for about 6-12 weeks. See if you get desired results and good H.E.C.D. results.
SMALL STEPS: If you have already been eating in a 12-hour window, push back your eating window by 2 or 4 hours at the most. You can decide if you want to push back your first meal of the day, or stop eating earlier in the evening. Pay attention to the clock and adjust it if necessary according to your plans that day (dinner out, etc).
STAY CONSISTENT: I don’t advise doing just one day here or there of intermittent fasting. I think this is how you start to confuse your hormones and metabolism into thinking you are indeed ‘starving’ on certain days. If your body thinks your starving, it will go into shut-down mode and slow your metabolism. No bueno.
SATISFY YOUR BELLY: Eat well and eat enough! For the above reason, you should make sure you are eating enough food! You reasonably can have 3 solid meals and maybe one snack all within that 8-9 hour window. Eating causes a BOOST in your metabolism because you have to burn calories to digest. So a large BOOST followed by an EXTENDED FAST (Fat-Burning) period is why this science works.
STAY TRUE TO YOU: If your H.E.C.D. is all off after trying this, then I don’t think intermittent fasting is for you and your body type. Some people with higher metabolisms will just have a harder time with this because their bodies need more energy more often. This is GREAT to learn and important for you to listen to! I think intermittent fasting works for me because I have a endomorphic/mesomorphic body type. (More on this another time!).

I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or experiences you have encountered with intermittent fasting! Every body is different and I’d like to hear what you like, didn’t like or if you are going to give it try and why!