Fasting Space

Have you ever had the thought, if I go
exercise, I'm just going to get hungrier?

And maybe you are fasting or maybe or not,
but maybe you're in a fasting state

you're trying make it through a space
without some food, and you're like,

I better not exercise
because it might ramp up my hunger,

and then I might break my fasting
and it might derail my progress.

A thought like
this is very common in our society.

We are really taught that human beings,
we need constant consumption

in order to be able to function,
and that when we're doing

things always got to be eating,
doing something, eating.

And so much of this, I believe, is
because people are trying to sell us

products to serve this problem
that has been created,

which is that
we can't function without immediate fuel.

But have you ever leaned into it

can sound totally opposite
from what we're told.

We've been told
exercise will always make us hungry,

but under most circumstances it will not.

And today
we are going to dive into science

that has studied
this and showed it exercise.

Especially as we turn up
and lean in on the intensity of it.

This is the season that we are in leaning
into our summer weight loss series.

As we lean into exercise,
it is triggering

a process of exercised
induced appetite reduction.

It is a natural biological
suppression of hunger.

Have you experienced it?

I have experienced it, which is what led
me to start talking about it yesterday.

Yesterday, kind of the warm up
session to this and then this.

Here, a deep dive into the science
to look at it.

Many athletes that I've worked with,
many people

who exercising do experience this.

People on the stream yesterday
saying yeah, we get this effect.

So I think we are stumbling
into an area here

that is really under appreciated
as an effect.

Stacking exercise
on top of fasting does not make things

harder under most circumstances,
and we can actually use it as a tool.

Many places in the literature
that we're going to see show,

okay, we can have these global reductions

in appetite
and then for a specific period of time.

But have you ever heard of just using it
as a tool to help you practice fasting?

Because it is such a synergistic process,
and as we layer these things together

and lean into them, this is how
we can create a flow for ourselves.

We're trying to lose weight.

We're on a weight loss path.

We're trying to get energy

flowing out of the body,
more flowing out than flowing in.

And so many of the practices that we
look at that eating the healthiest food,

a fasting space, exercise,
our mental health, they all flow together.

And here today in this session,
we're going to really upgrade the thinking

about how exercise flows in and supports
a fasting process.

We're going to dive deep on some hormones,

including leptin resistance,
which I'm going to help you understand.

Have a couple papers
that I'm going to go through on

a very simple, superficial level
so that it's not overwhelming in any way.

And you let me know
if I'm helping you to understand

a hormone
that most people never heard of leptin.

And I think it's very fascinating.

I think you're really going to like it.

It's definitely been my experience.

If I am hungry in a space
and I am trying to practice fasting,

if I go workout, it's
going to absolutely vaporize that.

And so let's dive into the reasons

why many people experience this.

Here we go. First paper.

So we're going to look at some short
term effects.

And I'm not going to dive into this paper
in detail.

I put a link to all of these papers
in the description.

So if you want to dive into it
like I did, read through them,

rip them apart,
and then throw your questions.

Comments. We have a big discussion.

I just highlight

one sentence that summarizes the point
that I wanted to make out of this.

This study was looking at
young men in their 20s

who are already in good shape,
appetite, food intake,

and gut hormone response to intense

aerobic exercise of different durations.

The main thing

I want to point out to you,
they are getting suppression of grayling.

Okay. And remember
ghrelin is the hunger hormone.

It makes us feel that that experience
of hunger, which is amazing.

We've talked about ghrelin
a lot on the channel and how it can be

working to create hunger experiences
at times when we normally would be eating.

And so here we're seeing
an exercise effect suppressing that.

And then the thing that is most
amazing to me we see spike in GLP one.

And so we are in the GLP one era.

And of course
people paying a lot of money for GLP ones.

And bless you if you are doing that
and it's helping you, it's just fine.

But how amazing is it to think,

okay,
GLP one is a natural part of the body

and it has physiologic effects and
there are many things that can affect GOP.

One, we have talked about that like
eating the healthiest foods and improving

the microbiome, and a fasting space
in and of itself as we practice.

It can support this.

But here is another avenue that exercise
showing direct impact on GOP one.

How amazing is that?

Okay, so there's two short term effects.

And then this paper.

Exercise presses appetite in obesity.

And I want to just take a look

at these two sections for us
because I thought it was so fascinating.

This paper.

Yeah worth a read.

This overview may contribute
I say does definitely to developing

evidence
based strategies for managing obesity.

Sports scientists and fitness instructors,
in collaboration

with other health professionals
like internal medicine physicians.

Y'all may use the information
provided in this study to

design personalized exercise programs
to suppress appetite.

This is the thing
because we're getting into it.

The effect is so widely acknowledged
by people

on a on a much broader level
than I was even appreciating.

I was just thinking like, oh,
I kind of noticed this.

Turns out many people,
including researchers, really diving in.

Can suppress
appetite and augment weight loss.

Even this next sentence,

the mechanisms proposed in this paper
might be brought into other approaches,

such dietary supplements
and behavioral therapies.

That's what I'm saying.

That's what we're doing

is, is fasting a behavioral therapy,
I'd say, is a lifestyle.

All right.

So take this knowledge and the mechanisms
in this paper and then bring it

into these other processes
to comprehensively optimize management.

And this is of course what we want to do
when to optimize everything.

We want to make it as easy as possible.

We have said, okay, fasting
I try to say not necessarily easy,

but we are trying to make it
as easy as possible.

And here is something that already
we're seeing in short term

effects in the other paper
is like helping to change the hormone.

So many times it's been my long
standing belief

that wait problems at its root
are hormonal.

And especially I've dialed in on insulin
and we'll talk a little more about that.

But there's so many other hormones
and things going on.

So as we are looking at this.

Exercise suppresses
appetite in individuals with obesity,

irrespective to the type, duration
or intensity of the exercise.

Now that sentence, I will tell you,
I've read a lot of studies

yesterday and different studies
disagree on that sentence,

although this is,
I think, the newest article.

But the general perspective
is that the lowest level activity

have the lowest effect
and the more intense activity

that you drive it, the stronger
the appetite suppression effect.

So I think that it's true.

Have you experienced it?

Going for a walk even is a way to help,
to get through a hunger experience.

So just walking absolutely can do it.

In some studies,
walking was pretty neutral,

and in other studies it was better.

But you know, I this is the most
optimistic way to phrase it.

Doing anything is starting the process.

I think we can say it that way.

It's starting the process
and then our process.

Leaning in
is the type of thing that we want.

Dial it in

till we get the effect that we want,
and we can talk more about how to do that.

I just wanted to highlight

the rest of this, because it just shows
how many different things are going on.

The effect is mediated through various

physiological and biochemical mechanisms.

Exercise influences
appetite, regulatory hormones.

Yet we got the ghrelin
and then we bring in leptin,

which I'm going to explain to you
in detail.

It's reducing hunger signals.

Also look at all these other things.

You know that

it's like we just kind of blow over them,
the myoclonus, the hepatic scenes.

Okay.

We could probably do
whole sessions on that.

And then BDNF brain derived neurotrophic
factor felt to have a lot of influence

on appetite. Isn't that fascinating?
I've had requests.

I know we got to do it
when we were talking about BDNF

in its relationship
to neurodegenerative diseases

and other things, we'd
got to do a whole session.

Here it is positive effects
with exercise on appetite.

Is also affecting our
our core temperature, gastric emptying.

All these other effects are mental
stress.

Yeah.

Temperature regulation during exercise
all impacting hunger levels.

So all this stuff is on the short
term effects

that we're getting this effect right away.

Like in the moment while we are doing it.

So we got the short term effects.

And then we also have longer term effects.

And so this paper
I thought was really interesting.

The vast majority of the papers
that I was reading yesterday

were all done in young people,
like people in their early 20s

who are fit, many of them who are not
struggling with any kind of weight issue.

And so this study was very thoughtful.

This is also a meta analysis

looking at 13 studies where
where all the participants are over 60,

just to try to broaden
our perspective of this

and recognize that these are effects
are visible across the lifespan.

It's not just in young, healthy people.

There is evidence
that all people have this effect.

And so specifically getting into
as we get into the longer term

effects,
this study is looking in the longer term

about effects on leptin,
which I wanted to really dive into.

This systematic review.

Physical activity may reduce, hunger.

And in older adults.

Decreases in fasting leptin.

We're going to talk about that.

Think of that decrease in fasting left
and put a pin in that decrease in glucose.

These hormonal changes
suggest that exercise programs.

Promote satiety sensitivity.

This is the key that I really want
to dial into satiety sensitivity.

Why is that such a key?

We're going to get into it.

Engaging in exercise activity programs

may provide a meaningful.

Avenue, meaningful avenue for implementing
chronic disease,

reducing the chronic disease burden later
in life, promoting appetite control.

Helping us control energy intake.

So this is fascinating.

We think of tell me if this has been
your experience or perspective.

We think of exercise primarily
as just burning the calories.

It's like we've got to exercise
and burn the calories,

and then it's a battle so that we have to
keep them coming in again.

But what we can see in this literature,
I'm showing you three papers.

Just very briefly try to give you
the highlights are showing.

Okay.

This is not what a lot of literature
says. Exercise.

As much as it is helpful in burning
calories off, it's got just as much

to do with keeping them coming in
and helping us to actually find

a peaceful, comfortable
state with our eating.

And this is what is fascinating
as you dive into it.

And so as I am coming together,
both with my experience, my experience

working with many people
who have the effect, very happy to hear

what your experience is with it is like
here is actually a very powerful tool

that is getting into our physiology
in a really deep way,

not just to burn off energy that is there,
but actually to help us control

the hormonal structure that is determining
whether we're hungry or not.

Because isn't this such a huge thing?

So to summarize these effects,

you know, we've got many short term
benefits documented in the literature.

More GOP one which
like is such a good thing and getting it

naturally without side effects,
and then suppressing ghrelin,

altering our BDNF, which has got to be
another topic because I, I just read it

and I don't even know, you know,
how is that affecting our appetite?

But I want to know.

We're going to know.

Leaning into the 30 day challenge.

Today is day one for me.
Hey that's awesome.

Had some cravings over the past two days.

That is just fine.

Really great to have you here.

Dive in with some of this thinking and see

if this sort of perspective
can be helpful as you lean into it.

Summertime.

To me, this is the time to lean
into all of this sort of thinking.

I was saying the other day,
make hay while the sun shines like

we have the wind at our backs.

Here in the weight loss space.

It's warmer days, the sun is shining

and so many things
that we went through yesterday.

So and here we are seeing,
you know, yesterday in the session

I said,
I haven't really dove into the literature.

I wasn't even that aware of it, honestly.

Just didn't spend the time,
didn't have the time

to say what does the science
actually say about this effect?

Turns out there's tons of science on it
showing that we can get these hormonal

effects in the body.
And this is what is fascinating to me.

And so we've got the longer
term effects than on leptin.

And this is where I really want
to dive into because like

nobody really talking much about leptin.

So what what is it?

Oh, I wanted to give an analogy
just to help us

build it out
and understand it from insulin resistance.

So we understand that
insulin is a hormone.

We understand that we can get
insulin resistant and that this is

what is leading to weight
gain and type two diabetes in many.

Well, in pretty much most cases.

So I just took this off
the Cleveland Clinic website.

What is insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance happens when cells
and I really love how they split this out

muscle, fat and liver
because we are differentially insulin

resistant in different tissues.

And these lead to different effects.

When they okay, cells are not responding
to insulin as they should now.

I mean that's basically true okay.

But if we go another layer deeper,
you know, I have a real increasing

belief that the body isn't really broken
in these conditions.

It's the environment that is broken
and the cells actually are responding

as they should.

Because if you look

at fatty liver disease, for example,
the cells were not insulin resistant

and they're getting jammed full of energy
because the environment had too much

sugar, too much energy,
the cells are being damaged.

And insulin resistance is actually

a defense mechanism that is protecting
cells from energy overload.

And so, you know, we just have to like
take the pressure off the system.

And then we can see that
the insulin resistance can come down.

But this is basically
as a way to understand it okay.

The insulin isn't working.

It isn't bringing the sugar
into the cells.

And many
natural systems are like this in the body.

We have some sort of hormone.

We have a receptor.

When the balance is shifted in,
the hormone is higher than the receptors

down regulate.
And then it goes the opposite.

As the hormone comes down,
then the receptors can upregulate again.

And so we see this overall.

So we can use our understanding
of insulin resistance.

Let me know if that is making sense

to you to understand leptin
and then left in resistance.

So what is leptin okay.

Leptin is like the opposite of grain
as a way to think about it.

First.

if ghrelin is the hunger hormone, remember
we said that's the thing

that gets the stomach going.

It's what's making us feel hungry.

Then leptin is like the satiety

hormone is the hormone
that is helping us to feel content.

Isn't this what we want? Right?

So we want to feel content.

We're trying to go
through a fasting space.

We don't want to be feeling hungry
the whole time.

And leptin is something that is sending
that signal, okay.

Leptin is made in body

fat cells and it is communicating
a message from body fat cells.

The saying, hey,
we don't need any more energy in here.

It's like fat cells are full, right?

Because we can send energy into them,
they can release energy out of them.

And leptin, as part of
what is bringing this into balance

in the normal state of the body.

Here is where we get into a tricky cycle
with it.

Weight gain drives higher leptin levels,
so as more body

fat cells are producing leptin
and you know

those cells do not need any more energy,
they're sending the signal.

So we can get into this space
where as weight goes up, leptin

levels are going up.

So I'm trying to give you a window into

how the hormones
are communicating in the body.

I think it's so fascinating.

And so now we can see
just like with insulin resistance,

chronically high
electron is driving leptin resistance.

And so what does it look like
when we are insulin resistant.

Right.

We're supposed to have insulin
and is driving down sugar.

But now we're in insulin resistant
and we got tons of insulin.

But the sugar is high.

And so we're seeing we're

ending up in an opposite space
even though the hormone is higher.

Can you see this pattern that we can get
into with leptin resistance.

Whereas like the body's
trying to send the message

like turning the hunger switch off
and it keeps amping up that

signal higher and higher,
but now the body is burned out to it.

And so we don't get that message.

Body doesn't get the message.

It's almost like the leptin is none.

It's like we're getting none of the signal
that says,

oh, we're full
and we don't need energy, right?

So is how we answer this.

How do high levels of a satiety
hormone end up driving weight gain?

Because you end up getting resistance
to it, and then the signal goes away.

And so you can end up in a bad place.

Look at this person dealing with stress
okay.

Think of cortisol.

Think of how so many hormones
are like this in the body.

Cortisol as an anti-inflammatory hormone.

And in the short term in low levels.

It helps to actually
repair things in the body.

But when the cortisol is driven
out of its normal range by chronic stress

and trauma and all the difficulty,
it has a totally opposite effect.

And we did that session back a while ago
where we saw how chronic stress

and chronic cortisol
is actually pro-inflammatory

and is upstream
of so many diseases in the body.

So you're starting to get the feel here.

We got three different hormones
insulin, leptin and cortisol.

And then so many other things are like
this.

Hormones are messages.

And it's not just one message.

Different levels

and patterns of hormones in the body
can end up sending different signals.

And so we end up in this space
with leptin resistance.

Fat cells are screaming

like we have plenty of energy here,
but the brain is not hearing the message.

Brain thinks there's like no energy here
and it can trigger this hunger cycle.

And I think so many people
I think are stuck in that.

Have you ever been in that personally?

I know I have is like,
oh, you feel hungry all the time.

And so, so many of these things are like
hormonal and say,

how do you get out of it?

How do you reset leptin resistance

is basically the same thing
as resetting insulin resistance.

Thank goodness we don't have to learn
some giant new process.

Exercise, especially in the short

term, is like the process
to help unwind it, which is amazing.

And so if we are stuck
in a cycle of eating and we have patterns

where it's like, oh, I am always
feeling hungry and how do I get out of it?

And we've talked about,

okay, fasting space
paradoxically can be helping for

many reasons is helping our microbiome,
which is feeding together

with satiety hormones.

And it can help with natural GLP one.

And so here we're seeing exercise
doing the same thing,

giving us hormone altering
effects with GOP one and Grayling.

And then every time we go around
this cycle

exercise can help
to be resetting this leptin level,

which is like the return of satiety
sensitivity.

That's what I was getting from this paper.

Satiety sensitivity.

It's like when the leptin resistance
is there,

the signal
that is trying to tell our brain,

like everything is okay and we don't need
anything else to eat right now.

It's like burned out
exercise giving us a space that can reset.

That means like,
turn the hunger off again.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Like, isn't that what we want?

Absolutely.

So strategic exercise is a tool
that I am seeing in this space

that is so much more profound than I have

even appreciated in the past.

The ideal scenario, if you're struggling
with cravings at a specific time,

maybe you're keeping a pocket journal,
like we were saying in the other session,

like you're seeing
when a stress is hitting,

the ideal scenario would be able to

target exercise around
that maybe an hour ahead of time,

because the most powerful effects
of an exercise going to last,

you know, 1 to 4 hours,
depending on how intense it is

and how you know
your physiology responds to this.

Now, obviously, we have to work sometimes
our most stressful things at work.

And so second best is just whenever
you know it works in your life to do it.

If you can do it
ahead of time in an effect,

and then that can carry over, of course,
that's beneficial

if it just doesn't work in life
and you're doing later.

some of these studies
we're seeing yesterday

that we're looking at is just showing.

Whenever you put exercise into your life,
it is helping,

like in every way is helping
to make you stronger and globally.

Now we can see the hormonal basis
for how even cycles.

Maybe you're not getting that
short term effect helping with a craving

right there, but it can be helping
to reset a leptin level.

And then of course,
then that is going to feed back

everything into balance.

When I was on track, the comment
losing weight,

training almost every day,
doing OMD fasting felt great.

Yet I was told my cortisol
was probably high and it's dangerous.

So confusing.

Yeah, I can really appreciate that.

This this space that we are
in, you know, the nutrition space,

the health space, weight loss dieting is
I just picture it from my perspective

as somebody like in the giant mix of it
and trying to help people walk forward.

In a way, it just it feels like standing
like in the middle of a hurricane

swirling around, is that this person
is saying that and this person is saying

The reflection that I have on this comment
specifically is.

How amazing it is that

that we can be on a track
and all these good things can happen

and that we can actually be derailed
by the health care system.

And I have just seen this so many times,
and I feel very badly about it.

I'm I'm thinking of a time specifically.

I had a patient who had.

Had a heart attack, ended up
having some stents placed.

This patient was very,
very overweight, struggling

severely with their weight,
and they had type two diabetes.

And they came in for a consult
through the weight

management program at the university.

And they said, you know this.

And many times things go this way, right?
We have a wake up call.

I say a heart attack.

They did not die,

thank God, and say, hey, I've got to like
go in a different direction.

Can you help me
go in a different direction in my life?

so I just talked through different,

you know, avenues in the exercise
and the healthy eating.

And then I just present
to people physiology of fasting.

Like, here's something that could,
you know, really boost the progress.

And this patient over the course of a year
was able to lose 80 pounds.

Basically the type two diabetes went away.

The their off all their meds
except you know,

the cardiologists have them on the statin
and a blood pressure med, but they could

barely tolerate the blood pressure med
because the blood pressure is going down.

And the patients have felt
the best that they've ever felt.

And the cardiologist was so mad.

They were so mad. And they called me.
They were so angry.

You can't have my patient fasting.

I'm like, well, it's my patient, you know?

And actually they've lost 80 pounds
or diabetes is gone.

Their blood pressure is better.

They're feeling better
than they ever have.

Like and it's like and they're
telling them directly not to do it.

I was like,
you're going to tell this person, go back

and start eating how it was giving them
a heart attack and is like, oh, man.

So I'm not giving anybody
any medical advice.

You know, I'm internet guy.

See all my disclaimers.

You know, I'm sharing a perspective

that fasting is a very thoughtful,
open space.

It's the type of space
that you can get into when you approach it

from a gentle and thoughtful perspective
that can get us

into a parasympathetic flow
that can diminish the cortisol.

I think the average person
and the average health care provider

is seeing fasting
from a certain point of view, a very it's

a very biased and from my perspective,
not completely informed perspective.

Maybe they would say that about me.

Okay, let's have a dialog.

Anybody who disagrees, I say, come on,
I can host you live on the show.

We talk it out.

I've had so many discussions
with people who disagree about fasting.

We just need a big societal dialog.

But people see, you know, people

from a very cynical perspective say,
oh, fasting is starving yourself.

People talk like that.

I despise language like that.

But yet many people see it
that way, and people see white

knuckling it through it and say, oh,
I'm just going to starve my way to health.

And okay, from a certain mindset,
someone could do that,

and that's not fasting.

So to me, fasting is openness
should feel positive and joyful and good.

And at the most intense part of it
should feel like a calling and something

that you want to do out of a deep respect
for the body, giving the body a gift.

And it's okay to go through something
that is a struggle and difficult,

but not pushing us over
into a place of suffering.

If we are suffering in a bad state.
Absolutely.

Could you raise a cortisol?

You could.

And so,
you know, as I'm talking through it,

you know, with the comment,
you know, be mindful,

you know of it and think, is this person
having a thoughtful perspective?

We can learn from everyone's perspectives.

We don't want anybody to be in a scenario
where

our cortisol is extreme
and we're stressing ourselves out.

But fasting can be approach
from a place is so thoughtful

to take us to the opposite place.

And so this is why I think it's important
to have open space,

have deep conversations,
to get into it, to close the loop on it.

I would say
if you've been in a place in your life,

anybody out there, okay, where you are
on track, you said, you know,

I was using some health tools
and they were going so well.

I was like,
let's just take a note of that.

You know, I was like that physiology
hasn't disappeared from your system.

You can get back to a place like that.

I did the session the other day
restarting fasting.

Right.
It's like we talk a lot about starting.

The first time I did
the session on restarting is that actually

restarting can be harder than starting,
because now it's like you were in a space

and things were working,
and then we tend to remember like

the peak of our experience,
and then we start like we start over

and we're like,
how come it isn't like that?

But we kind of forget about the process
that had to build up to get there.

Yeah, many people have had an experience
like this, you know, and,

you know, I think everybody learning,
everybody trying to do their best.

I'm sure a person you were dealing with,
you know, sincerely in their hard

probably trying to give good advice
and be helpful.

And it's very hard in this system
because there are so many conflicting

sources and so much money
and so many things pushing things.

But yeah, if you can find

something that is working for you,
I just have

I say, pay attention to that leaning in.

This is where I've been going
with this practice, strategic exercise.

As I've been reading through
all of the literature, some literature,

you know, supporting the idea,
any amount, even the very smallest levels.

And I do resonate with that.

You know, if you are struggling
with a hunger space just to take a walk,

a gentle walk is something that can help

you like walk through it literally.

And so there can be some appetite
suppression

mitigation
just from the lowest levels of activity.

The literature that I have reviewed,
many studies very clear

that the higher
the intensity of the exercise,

the stronger and longer
and more durable that effect is.

So high intensity interval training,
you know, at the top end,

like sprinting and heavy weight lifting
would be like maximizing that effect.

And then between these two spaces
is the space

where you want to be very thoughtful
and dial in on it.

So to try to get like a hunger crushing
sort of effect,

you know, we're talking
about dialing in intensity.

Just want to make sure everybody
watch the video from yesterday.

You know, I'm not going to give, you
know, a giant ten minute disclaimer again.

But I talk through
all the important things yesterday,

making sure that we are staying hydrated,
that we are avoiding,

you know, heat in the summer, you know,
and that we don't injure ourselves

by doing more than our body is prepared
to, always making sure that we do have

a trusted medical provider on our team,
that we can discuss our situation.

If you're going to start
any kind of new exercise routine,

especially if you're taking medications,
have medical conditions,

you want somebody who can understand
your situation and really give you

a thoughtful perspective on it.

Don't jump from 0 to 100,
you know, in one day.

That's what the lean in dial is,
both with fasting, with exercise,

with anything in health,
we want to lean into it gently

so that we so it can be sustainable
so we don't hurt ourselves.

So we don't create any sort
of negative experience for ourselves.

You know, if you get an idea, I'm
going to start a new health practice.

And it really is a good health practice.

You want to lean into it
slow, gently and slowly.

Because what if you lean in too hard
and you have a bad experience, you know,

and then it's like, it really is.

Then we've got another barrier
to overcome.

This is why slow and steady
wins the race.

I say that absolutely.

So if you need an effect,
if you say doctor Z, I'm doing it.

Im not getting the effect
I want. Okay. Lean in.

See if you do.

Because the the literature pretty keen

that the higher intensity
the effect the stronger the effect.

Marie is here.

Just finished 30 minutes on the bike
listening to you 19 hours fasting.

Had a big lunch yesterday,
so not really hungry.

Hey, this is a beautiful space.

I just love that you're having that
experience and that you're trying it out.

And as we lean into it.

This is a type of thing
I want to put in people's mind.

This is what fasting is to me as a base.

Two meals a day in a 6 to 8 hour window.

Just remembering
so many of the fasting studies

that say fasting, they aren't really doing
something like this.

We're trying to say, okay,
look at the Green arrow.

Six hours.

Eating 12 hours
to flip us over into a space is opening up

six physiologic hours in the day,
where our insulin level is dropping.

We're actually getting access
to that energy.

And then the tighter we make our eating
window, think of shrinking that

green little arrow there is opening up
that golden window on the other side.

Think of O'Malley.

When we shrink that green arrow
all the way down to kind of one, you know,

then we opening up,
you know, half the days,

like we flip over
and then we've got this big space.

You thoughtfully and gently put some
exercise into one of those golden windows.

It can be anywhere in there, and
you don't have to cut it off right away.

You put the exercise in the window.

This is the thing
that is so interesting to me.

Then using it as a tool

to make flowing through that latter
part of the window easier.

Because right, if you are starting
and fasting in the morning, you say, okay,

I just slept through a lot of it.

That's like easy mode.

As long as you can get to sleep. Okay.

And then can the exercise
help you flow through that type of space

without needing so many supplements
and other sort of things?

So the thing that I've been thinking about
in these last two days, having really

been some diving in on fasting exercise,

is just appreciating the synergy of it

in a deeper way than I think
I even have in the past.

I've always been a big exerciser,
always been a big faster.

I always love both of them,
but like really leaning into it

here and seeing how one really supports
the other.

It's just like total support,
like fasting space.

So beautiful for exercise, so much more
comfortable to exercise in that space,

not lugging around a stomach full of food
and feeling all the conflict

where we're trying to send the blood flow

there, like,
have you had it where you ate a bunch?

And then you try to go exercise,
you get like cramped up and it's just like

system is like does not feel good.

And so fasting can make our exercise
such a more pleasant experience

like as we train to it.

And I told the stories yesterday,
the first times you start at

it can be difficult because the body
has not built out the pathways to do it.

So that's why we lean in so gently.

But then here especially,
we're seeing the other side of it, that

the exercise can feed around
and help the fasting so much.

And this is what is really beautiful.

Like we were saying,
we just think of exercises just burning

off the calories, but like can help us
keep more from coming in.

It's like widening that calorie deficit.

Help us widen the fasting space.

Dialing in on the hormone so much.

That's what's fascinating to me,

really helping us
change the hormonal structure in the body.

And then I love the cycle. Okay.

Every time we make it through a cycle
like that, doing the work,

getting the exercise in
as it's doing that,

whether it's fasting or not, fasting,
okay.

As we're doing the exercise
cycle, helping us get that leptin dialed

in, which is really fascinating
to think about.

So fasting plus exercise,
such a powerful combination,

not just a tool to reduce
appetite in some vague way.

You know, this is what
a lot of literatures focus on.

There's not a lot of literature.

And I read, I don't know,
I look through 20 some studies yesterday.

None of them are like use exercise
to help you fast.

Like that's not a perspective
that is there.

It's like use exercise
to just help your appetite

to be a little less
so while you keep eating all the time.

Maybe you will eat a little bit
less during that and that'll help you lose

weight.

Okay, that's the broad weight loss
idea of society in general.

Lose weight
by continuing to eat all the time.

And in the best studies that I look at,

you know,
none of them are like use fasting as this.

I mean, use exercise
as this incredible tool to help you fast.

But when you do that,
I mean, this is just like so synergistic.

Do you see what I am saying
when you use it this way?

Then everything is maximized,
our exercise becomes better,

our fasting becomes ideally easier,
which means we can do more of it

than we're like burning up calories.

Yes, and less are coming in.

So like, this is just such a path
that works together.

And I think it is absolutely the

the way to go for some people. Okay.

For some people, if someone is like
exercise is just not my thing.

I've seen your two days of

really hitting on exercise,
but for me, okay, I'm not in the space.

No pressure okay.

No pressure.

I'm excited about it. Okay.

So you see my enthusiasm.

But like wherever everybody is
at for a certain place, okay?

Fasting is a place to start.

You don't have to do any exercise at all

to have incredible benefit
and success from fasting.

I just want to make that totally clear
at the end.

So much pressure in our society
to have to get a gym

membership to be burning out,
to do all these things, and we have this.

And so to me, I just want to say,
let fasting take the pressure off.

You don't have to do anything.

This is the incredible beauty
of a fasting space.

You don't have to do anything.

And the the real work of fasting
is just the work of doing nothing.

I say let fasting do the work.

We can just sit in a space,
no exercise required.

And as we're doing that,
the metabolism is continuing to function.

Heart is beating.

It's like a furnace inside of us
is 98 inside of here and 70 out there.

This energy is always being consumed
to run that system.

And so you open up some fasting space
and the energy is going to flow.

And all the kinks that we have
in the metabolism,

the stuck spots, the body is going
to start working on it in that space.

And so that's a foundation to me.

To me, we start with fasting and
then we add in healthy food on top of it.

So whatever our pattern is, those
are the two places I would always start

practicing the fasting space,
letting the body grow in

metabolic strength and then adding

the healthy food on top of it
is how I see it that supports the core

nutrition, the protein, the nutrients
that we need to have energy and strength.

And then as we are lacking those down,
then I would say,

can the exercise come in
as a joyful expression just to do things

that we love and have fun
and bring joy and positivity to life?

That's how exercise
should be brought as a mindset.

It doesn't have to carry
the whole load of all this.

This is what has been so crazy to

me, is to think about
when we put the exercise first,

and we don't have any fasting space
and we're eating all the time.

And like you're saying, it's like
even when we're exercising and people

are just loading themselves up with sugar
packets and bars and special supplements.

It is so crazy use of this stuff.

To have to exercise through all
that is like really crazy.

And then it's like, you feel okay,
why is it so hard?

Why am I not making progress?

It's like I have to exercise
through 900 calories of sugar

before we even get to the to the base.

Yeah,
but then you're sitting there fasting.

I know I've had that thought.

Like I said, I've done a lot

of fasting competitions, fasting,
half marathon, fasting century bike ride.

I've done multiple half marathons.

And it is
it is wild to see their every station,

the Gatorade, the goos, the things.

And and just to realize this is why I say
fasting is an empowering process

to actually realize how much energy is
right here in the body at our disposal.

Like, I could literally run

to the next town myself
just by the power within myself.

I could bike a quarter of the way
across the state,

you know, is a really empowering
sort of thing.

And I just say that
not that anyone has to do that.

Like I'm talking, you know,
this is like as extreme fasting exercise.

Okay.

That is like top, you know, not
even top level, but for me is top level.

But the type of thing
that I'm mainly talking about for

everybody is just taking a walk basically
as a place to start is good enough.

Okay.

And can we bring this in a simple way
that just helps us to lean in and grow it?

I'm sharing my experience
just to kind of stretch people's

perspective and realize
the type of things that are possible.

Yeah, this is a great irony.

At the races, I just the beer tents,
you know, it's so funny to me.

And I guess if there's a time to do it,
you just ran a race.

Maybe it is.

You know, you're going to definitely
tolerate it better, but I can't,

I cannot
I can't imagine personally, though,

not for me,
I would say not for me for sure.

So fasting cheat code.

That's what I titled this session.

Do you think it's true?

Do you find it to be true in your life?

Can it become that a fasting cheat code
where it's like

you use the exercise
to blast out the hunger experience?

So synergistic, burning up extra energy
and keeping more from coming in.

That is, that is a cheat code
if there ever is one.

And the thing I love about it completely
natural, totally free, does not have risks

like taking pharmaceutical substances
or doing something else.

It's not some crazy supplement like, oh,
if you take this special powder,

you know, and then, you know,

it's just the physiology of the body,
you know, that's what I love.

Body wants to be healthy.

Body wants to have energy.

Body is meant to move and do things.

And a fasting space is something.

If you feel I'm just stuck in a space,
I can't do it.

Let fasting unlock it.

You know, especially if someone is
struggling with a lot of weight to lose.

I usually have people
lean, weigh in on the fasting first,

lean, weigh in on fasting and nutrition,
and bring the weight down

first through this process,
dialing that in

so that it's easier on the body
to get more active.

And I've seen a lot of people try to do it
the other way,

especially people very,
very much weight to lose.

And you start pounding on the pavement
and you know, it's

not it's not pleasant for many people.

Everybody
do what is right for their situation.

But to me, I say take the pressure off,
really dial in on a fasting space,

lean into that 16 eight sort of space,
lean in, start tightening it up.

If you can get to an omni sort of space,
just eating once in a day

and finding a groove with that,
all of a sudden

we're opening up tons of space
and then the hormones are changing.

Then the insulin resistance
is getting out of the way.

So we actually start to get access
to that body fat in an easier way.

Once you're in a groove with that,
you're seeing the scale going down.

With that,
you're feeling the hormonal changes.

The hunger is resetting.

And getting better
then is when I start to say, okay, now

start bringing in more of the movement and
that will really start feeding forward.

Then in a way, always leaning in, always,

always gentle on the mindset doesn't
always have to be gentle on the body.

You can exercise very hard, but
just once you've leaned into it, right?

Okay, here we are.

Start of the fasting
and summer weight loss challenge.

We're just either day one for some people.

If you're coming in and starting out
or we're day three, however we are,

this is weight loss season in the summer
and take it a day at a time.

Be thoughtful with it

and let's keep moving forward
together on it.

Really nice to share this space
with you Thursday already today.

And then we got Friday.

We're heading into the weekend

so I will look forward to touching base
another session tomorrow

to round out our week and

keep us stepping forward in health.

Have a great day everybody.