Introduction
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities — always see them, for they’re always there. -Norman Vincent Peale
What if you could eat whatever you wanted and still lose weight? It sounds too good to be true if you’re a chronic dieter like I was. I always wished I could eat the same foods everyone else was enjoying and stay at a healthy weight. But that was never my reality. In order to lose weight, I always had to stop eating the foods I loved. Whenever I went back to eating those foods, I inevitably packed the pounds back on. The idea that I could actually lose weight while still eating my favorite foods seemed like a pipedream. Then I discovered intermittent fasting, and my lifelong weight loss dream came true.
I’ve hit the trifecta: I successfully lost over 80 pounds and haven’t regained it, it felt easy and sustainable, and I have eaten whatever I wanted through the entire process. I went from being a chronic stress eater who had a horrible relationship with food, to a person who now trusts herself around all the foods, no matter how delicious. No foods are forbidden in my life. I feel free! I now eat to satiation, rather than misery on a regular basis. I am living proof that you don’t have to practice intermittent fasting perfectly in order to have fantastic, sustainable results. In fact, I believe that the more laid back you are in your approach, the more success you will have.
I have adopted intermittent fasting as a lifestyle, and I only practice it 6 days a week. I also frequently take days off for special events, holidays, and vacations. I have found that intermittent fasting is a simple and easy way of life, and it offers a tremendous amount of flexibility. Unfortunately, that flexibility invites overcomplication, which then increases the level of difficulty unnecessarily. I am writing this book because I know from experience that you don’t have to be super strict or make intermittent fasting difficult in order to reach a healthy weight. You can do it the easy way. It simply takes patience and persistence over time. I want you to know that if I can do it, anyone can. I am not special. In fact, I’m probably a lot like you.
A little backstory on me: I’ve ridden the weight loss roller coaster my entire life. From age 6 until 32, I always felt like I was either overweight and unhappy about it, on a diet and miserable, or in the process of gaining the weight back. And every time I gained the weight back, it got a little bit harder to get the motivation to try to lose the weight again. By the time I had my third baby, I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. I tried very hard to learn how to be happy about being overweight, but I just couldn’t do it.
The Photo That Started It All
One day in early 2014, I got a notification on Facebook that I’d been tagged in some photos from my brother-in-law’s 30th birthday party. I happily tapped on the notification, fully expecting to see cute photos of my kids. Although my youngest was almost two, I still hadn’t lost the baby weight, and routinely dodged the camera at all costs. As I scrolled through the pictures, I realized to my horror that my camera radar hadn’t been working at all that day. My face was red hot and I was blinking back tears. There were lots of photos of me, and from every unflattering angle. I hardly recognized myself. I was mortified when I realized how much in denial I had been about my weight. I locked myself in the bathroom. I sat down on the floor and let my tears flow for as long as they would come. And then I got angry. Angry at Facebook for having that stupid tagging feature. Angry at the person who’d taken the photos. Angry at the smartphone manufacturers for making cameras omnipresent in our lives. And then I finally got angry with the person truly responsible for my plight: me. I started to pray. I felt the anger start to dissipate. I decided to pick myself up, and dust myself off. From that point on, I was determined to find a way to get the weight off once and for all.
I wish I could tell you that the very next day, I heard about intermittent fasting, implemented it perfectly, and got down to my ideal weight quickly and with no effort at all. In reality, it was a messy journey, with tons of failure, self-doubt, and inconsistency. I lost some weight, almost drove myself crazy obsessing over calories and macros, plateaued for months, came close to giving up, and then finally found what worked for me. As it turns out, my main mistake in the beginning was making things more complicated than they needed to be.
My Hope
I vividly remember how frustrated I felt in 2014. Even though I was severely overweight, I could not bear the thought of going on yet another diet. I hate the word diet. It immediately brings to my mind the disgusting, chunky “chocolate” protein shakes I would gulp down in my teenage years when I was trying to get down to a healthy weight. No diet had ever worked for me over the long term. I wanted so badly to find a way to lose weight and maintain it easily for the rest of my life. I wanted to be able to eat regular food, with no complicated rules or calculations necessary. I knew that would be the only sustainable path for me. I found that path with intermittent fasting.
I know first-hand the dread you feel when you are losing weight, but deep down you know you’ll eventually go back to eating all the delicious foods you really love. I want you to know that you can continue to eat all the foods you love. My experience has taught me that you don’t have to say goodbye to cheesecake or chocolate. You do not have to count calories. You do not even have to limit carbs. Intermittent fasting is the only way of eating that I’ve been able to stick to consistently for years, with what feels like very little effort, all while feeling fantastic and eating whatever foods I’m craving. While successful weight loss and maintenance has been an amazing result, I’ve also found other major benefits. Intermittent fasting gives me loads of energy, helped me stop stress eating, improved my relationship with food in general, increased my productivity and focus, and has improved my quality of life overall.
My hope is that I can make the concept of intermittent fasting simple and easy for you, too. I hope you can learn from my mistakes. It took me two years of searching, researching and experimenting before I found and implemented intermittent fasting successfully. I’ll share my successes and failures, and give you tips on how to make it easier on yourself, based on what I’ve learned. I’ll show you exactly how I do intermittent fasting, including how I track my progress and the mindset shifts that have happened, which have been crucial to my long-term results.
Let’s also touch briefly on what this book is not. It’s not medical advice. I’m not a doctor, and you should discuss all diet and exercise decisions with your healthcare provider. I’m not a psychologist, and this is not mental health advice. If you have psychological issues, please seek out professional help immediately. There is no shame in reaching out for help. This book is also not nutrition advice. I’m still a major work in progress in this department. This is not even a book about the right way to do intermittent fasting. My personal belief is there is no one right way. Furthermore, I believe that intermittent fasting is not for everyone. What follows is simply the way that worked for me. I hope this book will serve as a launching off point for you. I hope you customize your own plan to your needs, your life, and your goals. I have found it quite empowering to chart my own course and make my own rules, and I hope you will, too.
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