Fasting-Induced Overeating
Nice to have you here with me today.
Hello, I'm doctor Z.
Today we are going to be talking
about fasting induced overeating.
So I'm here with you on this channel.
Simple fasting channel.
We're trying to explore fasting,
which is an extremely powerful weight loss
practice.
Incredible benefits for resetting
hormonal systems in the body.
And it can be fun and exciting.
And we do plenty of it.
Focus on the good side of the curve
and say everything is flowing.
Things are going well.
Everything I want about this channel
for all of us, reality based, grounded
and not turning a blind eye to anything
we look on the other side.
Fasting can also be a challenge,
can be difficult.
We can bring stress to it.
Something that I don't want for people
and under certain circumstances
that can push us off of
an emotionally grounded center.
For some people especially,
we're going to get into it
can trigger an episode of overeating.
Have you ever experienced
something like that where you were trying
to do some fasting
and it just felt like too much,
and then fell overwhelmed
by eating on the other side of it?
Some amount of that is normal.
We're going to look at some scientific
studies that have looked at this.
I'm going to give you that perspective,
and we're going to try to understand
on a deeper level what is happening
when we stop eating for a while,
and how is the body
compensating and dealing with that,
and how can we use
what is happening to our advantage, help
move us along on our path,
and make sure that we're not creating new
barriers and difficulties for ourselves?
Here's our mini outline of what
we're going to do.
We're going to look
at some energy physiology in the body.
Then we are going to get into some deeper
psychology
of what is happening, bring it home
with some practical steps that all of us
can use to help
keep everything in balance.
Put in here in the chat.
Have you ever experienced a period
like this?
Feel free to share.
So if you're here live,
throw some thoughts in the chat.
We have a discussion at the end
if you're here on the replay.
So nice to have you
put some thoughts in the comments
and we can have an ongoing discussion
even if you are here months later.
I just love that
this is here as a resource.
So I've experienced that.
I've done lots of fasting in my life
and sometimes I've had varied experiences.
We can flow in and out of some things.
You know, our stress is changing,
sometimes
easier to step into it
just in a normal flow.
Sometimes it's like, whoa,
I ate a lot more.
And so this is just something
we really want to be aware of.
So here are some philosophical
at least sort of thoughts.
Kind of philosophical, kind of scientific
at the beginning to define things.
Fasting is about eating less.
And not everybody agrees with this.
Actually, it's not always clear
even in research studies, because
sometimes we define time
restricted eating as fasting.
Or someone call a study
intermittent fasting,
but it's really just time
restricted eating,
meaning we're taking a certain
amount of time without food.
We call that a fasting interval. Yes.
But then what is happening in the space
where we are eating?
And in one of the studies
we're going to look at here shortly,
it isn't really controlled
in any fashion.
And what if we are, Cramming
all of the food that we were
would have been eating over the whole day
right into that space.
See, to me, this isn't fasting.
Like if we finished a day
and we ate the same amount of total food,
say, well, we're really fasting in that,
like the spirit of fasting to me is about,
okay, less is coming in.
Right.
And so in the ideal scenario,
if we're eating three times a day
and we took away
one of those meals, my vision
of fasting those other two meals
would be about the same.
Right.
Because what we're trying to do,
we're trying to take out a meal,
replace it with some weight
that we're trying to lose.
Right.
If we took about out that meal
and then we ended up coming back
and doubling up, you say it was like,
well, now we kind of took it from here
and then added it back.
And you can start to see from this.
Oh, if we are having fasting
and then it is triggering us to eat
a whole lot, it's like
we're kind of fighting with the process.
Right. And that's something we don't want.
And if we see it, we see the tension.
We see a weight loss
process is leading us to be eating more,
especially if we're really blowing
that out, be very counterproductive.
We say,
is there benefit in a fasting space
like time restricted eating
without a calorie restriction there?
There is potentially in having
some effects on insulin resistance
and other things.
There's papers that have looked at that
that we could get into, but
as a powerful weight loss process, it's
gonna it's gonna really bog things down.
So as we have that thought, this is if,
you know, if you have watched
YouTube videos on fasting, you see,
there's all kinds of battles and arguments
that people have.
Just fasting only work
because we get fewer calories.
It's like from my perspective,
I say this,
I think it's a generally necessary
component, very hard to lose weight
in what some people might call fasting
if we're not actually eating less.
Like there
are these extra benefits, right?
But people who say calories don't matter,
I think generally
are not helping people very much
because calories do matter.
They are real. And.
These other benefits, yes,
they are there, but
especially if your primary purpose is
is weight loss.
This is the sort of scenario
where it comes to me.
Someone comes into my clinic, I bring up
a fasting thing that say, oh, fasting.
I tried that, it didn't work. All right.
This is like the key in where I start,
like thinking about calories.
One of the things that is nice
about a fasting process
is to try to get out of the mindset
of counting calories all the time.
You know, it's like we can if if a certain
person has a very analytical mind
and they want to have tons of spreadsheets
and count every calorie and macro
like, that's fine, and there's benefit
that can come from that.
But a lot of times I tell people, the math
I like is like one, two, three, like,
how many times did we eat it in a day?
If we're eating five times
and we can knock out a couple snacks,
and now we're eating three
and we go 3 to 2,
I usually don't say like, oh,
you need to think a lot about calories.
People say, well, how many calories
should I be eating at these meals?
I say, look, you just have the normal meal
you'd be eating.
Just keep doing that.
We want to eat a general amount of food
that feels satisfying,
but if we start to do that and say
it's not working, then we start to see,
well, what's really happening.
Sometimes I see, you know, people going,
oh, mad one meal a day,
but then that meal is like 2000,
2500 calories.
I was like, it's like,
whoa, we're over compensating.
So to me, here is a view.
Just some general things that I have.
Fasting is openness and it is flow.
And it is the opposite of stress.
It is nothing that is driving
people in a space to say, oh,
I have to
is triggering me in some fashion.
I have to overeat and respond
like so stressful.
So if someone is approaching
something in that way,
I'm just trying to build this mindset
already.
Like we got to say, let's back off.
Let's make sure
that we are really grounding ourselves
doing this for the right reasons.
Being kind, gentle
and loving even to ourselves.
Right? Not a mindset.
You're going to get very much
in a clinical trial, right?
I try to bring that
into my clinical study.
But like this mindset, fasting
often seen as very rigid and strict.
And as we'll see,
this is one of the things that can end up
triggering us overeating cycle
which we don't want.
So this paper, first paper
I wanted to look at.
This was a study college kids.
And I would just dial in on the abstract
here.
College kids that they were
studying the effect of skipping breakfast.
And they didn't run this
as any kind of weight loss study.
They told the kids,
the young adults, they told them
were studying the effect of breakfast
on cognitive performance.
Okay. A perfectly great thing to study.
And so they just have some group
sometimes eating breakfast, sometimes not.
And then they're really
what they're trying to do
is just figure out
how much lunch do they eat. Right.
If we're skipping breakfast,
what kind of compensation
do these people naturally do
when they're not thinking about it?
You know, if we're telling
the people it's a dietary study,
maybe it is influencing a thing.
So we're just trying to
get the natural state and what they found
when people would not eat breakfast
compared to when they would eat breakfast
and see they're adding about 140 calories
in at their lunch,
say, is about 20 to 30% of calories
that people will add back
after they miss a meal.
Now they just did this on a few occasions.
It wasn't any long term thing,
but there are a few different studies
like this that looked at this
that show the same sort of physiology.
When people are just randomly
missing a meal, they will come back
and they will eat about 20% of the energy
extra
that they would have eaten, but not 100%.
Right. So that there is this deficit.
And then these types of studies show
that people will end the day
with a calorie deficit
at the end of the day.
And this is the type of physiology
that we want to be developing.
If we're trying to lose weight
by fasting,
you know,
this is a tool to help us eat less.
I generally say this is one
of the most pleasant ways to eat less,
because many people hate
eating tiny little bits
all the time, never satisfying meals.
And this can create, you know, this
psychology where we're never satisfied.
And so I like to tell people,
you can eat satisfying meals
when you are practicing a fasting regimen
in that eating window,
but then making sure
we bring it into balance.
Maria is here. Hello.
So nice to have you with us here.
Says fasting isn't the challenge for me.
It's the feeding on the other side
and trying not to binge.
Yeah. So this. Thank you for sharing.
This is like equally important side
of the equation I think.
And it's the type of thing that is not
looked at so much in videos like,
you know, educational sort of things
we think a lot about.
And you know, it makes sense like, well,
this is the fasting part.
But then when you dive into it, it's like,
I like to say eating
and fasting, two sides of the same coin,
it is the same thing.
And so we got to spend some time
looking at the other side of it.
Just as important,
how do we get back into this process
of eating on the other side
so that we can flow between these things?
We're doing this every day, right?
Especially while we're sleeping.
We have eating and fasting,
eating, fasting.
And how do we if we are changing
that fasting part of it?
How do we make sure
that when we are changing it, that we
flow between them in a comfortable space?
Because I want people to have
a great relationship with food and enjoy
it and be satisfied with it,
just like satisfied with fasting too.
So this is really something to dial in
on now.
This paper I think is very interesting.
The causal role of breakfast
in energy balance and health.
So here we get
a randomized controlled trial
in a more applicable group okay.
In individuals with obesity these
these short term studies like the last one
I was giving example all done in college
kids not necessarily overweight.
And you know just for a couple of days.
And so this study done in England
has people range 21 to 60
who are overweight or with obesity.
And then for six weeks
and then these groups,
it was like 24 people, I think randomized
to a 700 calorie breakfast
or no breakfast for six weeks.
Also not a weight loss study, okay.
Also not a weight loss.
They weren't trying to lose weight.
They were just trying
to study the impacts.
They said just a metabolic study.
We're just going to see what happens
to people's metabolism biomarkers.
And then this point, you know,
at first I read this paper,
I was a little disappointed, you know,
because, see, and
I found a few different papers like this
which say, oh, people, they, they,
they brought in some fasting element.
They didn't lose any weight.
I say at first I'm like, well,
that's that's discouraging.
But then it's like you get in
and you're like,
you look at what is really happening
and it's so, you know,
I think thoughtful and just,
you know, real.
So I value this perspective.
Listen to what they say.
Energy intake was not significantly
greater with breakfast than with fasting.
Body mass increased in both groups
over the study
slightly, which is fascinating.
No real effect on body composition
or metabolic rate.
And so what's so interesting
as we get into this space, right.
We're sitting here fasting.
Look, we took away a whole 700 calorie
meal from these people.
And their total food intake didn't
change in the day, which means, right,
that they compensated at lunch and dinner
and the end results.
They didn't lose any weight.
And doesn't this bring in
some really interesting things
for us to think about?
So I pulled out
just because I don't want to
be efficient with our time as I can.
I just highlighted and pulled out
the most interesting little nuggets.
I thought out of the paper and discussing
this same group that did this
study, did the exact same study
in lean individuals
with like a BMI of like 24,
and the lean individuals
who were fasting did
not compensate their energy intake,
and they lost weight doing the same study.
But they didn't in this study,
when they ran with individuals
who are overweight,
they say this finding is consistent
with the interpretation
that people with obesity display greater
compensation for a morning calorie deficit
than their lean counterparts.
And so this is like something that I hope
is helping to bring in this mindset
to us of like, what is happening in people
who are struggling with weight,
where it is hard to lose weight.
And so we're trying to take
as much real data
from analytical studies
as we can see what is happening.
And I think this study is really showing
part of what is happening,
this group of people, compared
to other people having compensation
that is blocking their success with it.
Here are two points they make here.
In view of the public perception
that breakfast consumption facilitates
weight management, they say, is
not what we see. In this study.
Ten of the 11 people in our breakfast
group gained weight, right?
So it's not like just eating breakfast
going to fix the problem.
Either. Yeah.
They just
that was their final kind of conclusion.
Breakfast
didn't facilitate weight loss okay.
Like the fasting didn't either
when people were compensating.
So they conclude neither overall energy
intake nor activity is different
in obese individuals fasting
during the morning or consuming breakfast,
like when you just leave people to it
without any guidance.
I would say not that they were instructed
on, you know,
something better,
just kind of left to their own process.
But the data that we have here
may provide the understanding
necessary to target mechanisms
that would best allow this.
And this is what I think is so good
about it, because I believe this is true.
Enhancing or limiting compensatory
responses to breakfast or fasting,
respectively.
Like this is where
I think we can really advance our thinking
and make some progress
in helping people who kind of stuck.
You know, you can see
I talk a lot about a plateau space, right?
Because plateau is a place that people
often find themselves on a weight
loss journey of any kind,
whether it's medications
or exercise or anything.
And fasting
absolutely can be part of that.
To my experience, though,
with a fasting process
like that is a classic calorie
restriction.
Diet without fasting tends to be shaped
more like you shaped.
Or maybe I need to go this way for you.
Fasting based process.
People tend to get into it. Some.
Some people no, no plateau,
but other people flow in and then it tends
to just kind of level off.
That's what
I call this kind of transformation space.
You know, where it's like the butterfly
and the cocoon.
We're trying to figure it out.
Part of what
we're actually trying to figure out,
I think, is this dynamic
in this relationship
that we're getting into right here,
what is happening.
We got our fasting space, but what is
happening in the rest of this space,
the non fasting space, what are we eating
and what is the emotional space
that is hitting our stress
and our hormones?
And what is the exact types of food?
A lot of things to solve in that space.
And then this compensatory thing,
also something really big to think on.
So these studies
that we've looked at so far,
I want to reiterate,
they're not weight loss studies.
They're no intention to it.
They're not dialing in
on thoughtful things
like if I am consulting with someone
I have like
hyper dialed in on
what exactly are you eating?
And we need to be really thoughtful here.
And I bring in all kinds of advice
to people about getting the processed
food out.
See none of that happening
in these clinical studies.
And these things
all make a huge difference.
And of course, we're
bringing in every good thing.
No mindset in here.
It's like, I hope you see
I'm hitting people with huge mindset,
huge nutrition counseling, huge movement.
We want to try to take every good
and wholesome thing that we can bring it
all together into a comprehensive system
of wellness, of which fasting is one part.
And so don't don't be discouraged
looking at a study like that and say, oh,
someone fasted in the morning,
they didn't lose weight doesn't
doesn't mean
that you can't have great success with it.
But it's like we need to bring
all of these pieces, you know, together
part of how we do better.
I say here, help people eat less,
don't have this overcompensation.
So let's dive into some psychology.
So there's a whole medical literature
that exists in the psychology space
on a spectrum of binge eating.
And I'm not really going to I thought,
I won't dive so deep into these studies,
but I just wrote some highlights
of two of them,
and I'll just show you one point
on the second one.
All these papers.
By the way,
I have linked in the references notes.
You can go
look at any of them if you want,
although this one by Schomburg.
I put an asterisk by that.
I actually said read
if you're going to read one paper.
I actually just read that one
because it's really thoughtful.
I just think it's really thoughtful
and it's I think it's better for just
a general audience,
two different perspectives on
what is triggering
a binge eating or an overeating episode.
This one from Pallavi cognitive
restraint theory,
highly rigid dieters viewing
fasting as an all or nothing rule,
and then people have committed to it.
And so if you break out of it, either
eating at a time where you weren't
planning on it or eating a food
that you says you weren't going to,
and then you're also in this fasting state
where it's like,
like we haven't had food in a while.
We see the normal physiology
from the other side.
It's normal to eat a little bit more,
and all of a sudden we're tacking on
this extra pressure, this cognitive
restraint theory, and then it breaks down.
The control leads to disinhibited eating.
And so I try to bring a lot of ideas
of countering this.
I try to talk about this a lot.
All or nothing thinking is something
that I am certainly prone to in my life.
I've certainly recognized
that lots of people have that, and then
I try to bring in a lot of flexibility
to the fasting process,
specifically to counter this sort of idea,
when it's like when we think
it's all or nothing and like life happens
because isn't it the case
that it's like life happens, we're here
and then we're there and people are here
in this stress and that,
and then food is kind of
tied up in the middle of it.
And, you know, for the right person,
I try to walk this line
for the right person.
Some rigid discipline is the right move.
And if it serves you like I love that
session we did back in the fall.
No rules for weight loss,
just things that are serving us
and things that are aren't.
If a rigid process is serving you
and it keeps you on track
and you don't experience breaks on it,
that sends you
in a bad psychological headspace,
you know, then it can be fine.
But recognize for a certain person
this can really be a trigger.
And then I lean on the side
of staying away from it, because I
so much do not want people to experience
harmful things from anything.
Okay, so that's cognitive
restraint theory, loss of control.
Eating in this paper that I really liked,
especially individuals
who have emotional eating habits,
how they define as disinhibition.
Fasting could trigger heightened reward
sponsors,
especially to hyper palatable foods.
Right.
And this is part of the big thing
while we're trying to get the processed
foods out 100%, if possible,
some people tell me, doctor
Z, it's not reasonable
to get 100% of these things out.
And I say, well, listen, you do you.
But I just tell you,
every human being that ever existed
until 100 years ago never had it.
So there was 100% compliance
for 100,000 years or whatever it is,
you know what I mean?
And so, like,
if you can get in that kind of mindset
to realize and people were not struggling
with weight. Right.
And do you see the correlation
like from that perspective
I think it is so important.
Okay.
And then when you're in this space,
these are the types of food especially
that the literature would say really
triggering people into things like this.
It's like very like out of any foods
that people are going to trigger
binge eating, you know, if you it's not
going to be carrots, you know what I mean?
I'm just saying.
And if it was, you know, you you'd be more
okay then highly processed foods.
So damaging.
Okay, so here's a paper I show you.
Just a tiny bit of it.
Does short term fasting
promote pathological eating patterns?
The big answer to the study was no. Like.
And the authors basically
say their hypothesis is that it would.
And whenever it was this published 2015,
you know, this was like
the prevailing idea back then and,
you know, ten years ago, and this is some
of the barriers that people have had to
face that they've tried
to bring fasting to people
beneficially for weight loss
is that, you know,
a lot of the medical establishment,
especially coming out of the psychology
space, said, man,
you start pushing people on fasting.
It's like, I never push people.
I say even just offering and say,
are we going to create problems
like on two sides?
Is it going to drive people into,
are we going to have more people
struggling with anorexia?
Because now we're promoting
people not eating?
Are we going to have more binge eating
because people felt
that this would trigger it?
And so this study done
in a couple hundred college kids,
so here's another college
study did not show that.
So and this is one of the steps
that started
changing people's minds on it.
What they did show.
So I had to show a couple highlights
from it.
Baseline
disinhibition predicted excessive eating
as well as objective binge eating episodes
both before and after fasting.
It wasn't the fasting that changed it,
it was the baseline
disinhibition,
which I'll define an assessment.
Eating disorder risk
associated with fasting is derived
from the interaction with other individual
difference variables.
That's what they concluded on it.
And here is just where they define that.
Dietary disinhibition refers to the degree
to which people are sensitive
to episodes of overeating that
are inconsistent with weight loss goals.
So this is the primary
thing that is affecting things
both before and after fasting.
Like so it's like someone fasted
and then they had some overeating.
As someone already dealing with that.
And maybe the fasting exacerbates it.
Like here is a spectrum.
One of actually the most beautiful
analogies of fasting that I have come
across in my life came from a musician
that I was consulting with that came into
my weight management clinic,
and they're trying to lose weight.
They had never heard of fasting
as a process.
They started doing it.
They totally loved it.
They were like, well,
this is really beautiful.
And the analogy that they came up with,
they say fasting
is like the space between the notes
that makes the music beautiful.
And I was just I still just love that.
I was kind of overwhelmed
when they said that.
They're like, if you're
when you're just eating all the time, it's
like nothing really tastes good.
And then but man, I have this space.
I said, I'm enjoying food so much more,
you know?
And so they were so happy about it.
And they they did very well with it.
I took that concept.
I made that into a video on the channel
fasting for food lovers.
Just like to give some space,
you know, absence makes the heart grow
fonder, right?
It's like we take some space
and then we can really dial
in a beautiful appreciation
and enjoyment for food.
That's the positive side of it right now.
You could take that
and someone could have that
from the other experience
where it's like this space.
The way they describe it in
this paper is like for
some people
it's it's increasing the sensitivity.
On the good side, we say,
oh, this is making like the food tastes
better and more enjoyable.
On the other side,
it's like priming the pump to overeat.
You know, this would be the negative side
of it to really watch out
for, especially with sugary, fatty foods.
That's what they say here is for
some people that fasting space,
and it's a minority of people who say it's
like priming that so much that then
if you eat something especially like that,
it's like it's hitting all these centers
and it can trip you into a space
where it's like, now we can't stop.
And that's what they define in this paper
as loss of control eating.
And, you know, this is something
I never want people to experience.
I have experienced it.
I have had
I have had that, a couple times.
Like I don't think I super struggle,
you know, with it like some people do,
but like,
there's a spectrum of these things.
And the time that I've that was the worst.
I think I've told this on the channel
before, people
when I was at the university,
we have a break room.
People bring donuts
in. They're trying to be nice.
And I remember one day people
someone brought in like a whole,
like one of these giant knotted
pecan caramel, you know, things
in this whole whole frosted, glazed
like thing and whatever.
And I was in a stressed thing
and I thought, shouldn't I just eat one?
And I ended up eating, like,
almost the whole thing, and I was sick.
And this thing, it's like, whoa, you know,
we can all trip into something like this
at some point.
And so hopefully this is showing
as we flow through this thing,
the spectrum, that it's normal
to have some compensation,
that there is
this space of loss of control eating.
It's like any of us could be pushed
to a place where we're tripped into it.
And then fasting does have the potential
of enhancing the probability
that something like that could happen.
Murray says.
Good to see the results
from these studies, since most YouTubers
say calories
have nothing to do with weight loss.
Yeah, there's there's I mean,
there must be 100,000 videos like this.
I've been trying to put all daily calories
in my six hour
eating window, as I was worried about
not getting enough protein.
Yeah, all these things. Yeah.
Everything in balance.
We want everything in balance.
And so hopefully this data is helping us
to see both sides of it.
Absolutely.
Hey this is like this can be
a huge insight and a huge breakthrough.
Thank you for sharing this.
I've got it on my list
to just do a deep dive on protein two
because of course
protein is super important.
But like we can get
also really driven into a space.
And I think the influencer wellness
space is like hyper overboard on protein.
Actually, protein is not
the type of thing that you can just store.
I mean, the way you store proteins
by building muscles.
And of course we want that.
I want everybody as strong
as they possibly can and want to be.
Absolutely.
But it's not like sugar
and it's not even like fat.
You know, we get sugar and fat
and we can store an infinite amount
of this stuff basically in the body.
But protein, we can't do that.
Protein gets converted
if we can't use it within
even a relatively small amount of time,
a few hours,
you know, it'll get converted off
in a fat or carbohydrate.
And so just eating,
even if we're not hungry to hit a protein
target, counterproductive in my view,
you got to get the protein,
but probably less than is like
pumped out at people.
I really do believe and.
Can can drive weight gain
in and of itself.
Protein in general.
More satiating means it helps us to feel
more full, just like fats.
Also do that compared to carbs,
but it still calories.
And if we're not hungry,
then
that can be also really counterproductive.
And so, you know, somewhere
I put a video out,
I think it's on this hunger series
that I have on the channel.
I think the thumbnail title,
you know, card is something like
giving yourself permission to lose weight
or something like this, but it's like the
the idea was like, what is the lowest
hanging fruit and the lowest
hanging fruit in weight
loss is don't eat if you're not hungry.
So like because it can be very hard
to not eat if you are hungry, right.
But if you are not hungry.
So you've got to give yourself permission
to sit in that space
because that could be the easiest path.
Not hungry here.
Body is content and it's like that's
a space then that you can flow through.
Because then this is
what we're really looking for, man.
If I can go through
some space as fasting space,
not hungry, then it's not difficult.
Like we can use every cognitive strategy
that we have to flow through spaces
that are difficult, but it's like,
let's make things as easy as possible
on ourselves and not avoid the spaces that
are actually easier if we can have them,
if you see what I'm saying.
Okay, so here's a spectrum.
Normal hunger versus
a binging type of experience.
And so we're trying to see the balance
between that everybody get hungry
and everybody after fasting.
Naturally the studies
would suggest eat a little bit more
but usually not fully compensate.
And that's the type of cycle
that we're trying to develop
so that we can flow through that space
and then take the excess energy
to fill in the gaps from the body.
So expected physiological occurrence,
eating 15 to 30%
more at a breaking the fast meal.
So if you were eating 800 calories
instead of 600 at a meal,
that'd be considered normal
if you're normally eat 600 calories.
But if you were having 600
calorie breakfast
and you brought 200 into lunch,
now you're -400 calories.
And if you
kept the dinner at a normal spot,
if you're doing a 16, eight, two meals,
then you finish the day 1400 calories
instead, you know of 1800 to 2000.
You see, okay,
that is creating a calorie deficit,
and it's putting that calorie deficit
in that fasting space.
And this is the key is to balance
both fasting and calories,
is that now that calorie deficit
is in a space with no food.
So the insulin is low, which is black
in the body fat that insulin dissipating.
And now there's actually access
for that energy to flow out.
And you know,
I think part of what can happen to
is if we overload those meals,
especially that dinner meal,
and we have this huge amount of food
and then we come around,
maybe our insulin level is still high,
we're still running off that food,
and then maybe we're not even getting
that effect in the fasting space.
And I've never seen a study
that has looked at that.
But it's like,
this is why
we need to bring everything into balance,
because we're trying to balance
a lot of things at once.
Calories and hormones and times without
food and transit through our GI system.
That's another thing.
You know, if you have some delay
in the gastric emptying
and and all these things,
all of that is in the mix.
And then as we go beyond it, okay,
like anybody
also can have
this called hedonistic drive, right.
The eating is pleasurable.
We're surrounded by hyper palatable
things have been scientifically designed
to get us to overeat because the more
we overeat, certain process things
that are high margin products for certain
companies, the more money people make.
And obviously, you know that this is
dynamic is happening all over
the nutrition space, including with
so-called like, health products,
you know, that are pushed.
I'm increasingly growing somewhat
skeptical of protein powders.
You know,
it's like we're so protein focused,
but now we're taking the protein,
running it through factories and powder,
rising it, filling it with flavor
risers and chemicals.
And people like people
got to keep having their shakes.
And I'm like, you know what?
Like, let's get some real foods, you know,
that give us the protein we need.
But like
just think about like some legumes,
you know, very simple cost,
almost no money, no factories.
This is what I'm talking about.
Give you some protein.
A lot of people on this planet
getting by just fine
and strong
without expensive powders and things.
Okay, so we just can take anything
that we can make hyper palatable.
It's going to tend to make people overeat.
So anybody deal with that.
And then level three
that we're getting to like really getting
into this loss of control space.
And I really want to help people
stay away from that.
Eating 100%
or even more of miss calories in a single
meal, often associated with distress.
Feeling out of control.
We got to stay far, far,
far away from that.
So I'll put a couple things.
Who is susceptible
just to kind of drive at home?
High cognitive restraint.
We talked about this
this all or nothing very rigid mindset.
Like I want to help people
stay away from that.
If it is causing any trouble.
Key thing breaking our fasting space
with processed foods.
Big no no. Right.
If you're ever going to have these things,
especially, just don't make it.
The first thing
like that would be step one.
Like ideally you'd never have it,
but if you're going to have it,
okay, have something healthy first.
You know, break the fast with something
simple a soup.
It could be, you know, a portion
of protein to get it, whether that's
some meat, some tofu, some legumes,
something, you know, anything.
But give the break from the fasting space
to the eating space
without something like that,
and that'll help you ease into it,
so that if you even had that, it wouldn't
be so overwhelming, wouldn't create
that drive.
Never having a cycle like this, this,
this was in the first article,
the psychology
one that I didn't really get into.
But but this is a cycle that happened.
Restriction binging cycle.
A lot of things in the medical literature
about this that people will use fasting
as punishing themselves for overeating,
but then that just sets up the next cycle.
So please zoom out if you're ever
experiencing something like this.
You're experiencing periods of overeating
like zoom out and and just see
what is the mindset that we have here
and never create anything like that.
That's why I started with that space
at the beginning.
Fasting is openness and flow.
It's a gift to the body to bring love
and light and gentleness to the body
so that it can rest and heal.
Okay, it is so far away from from that.
Listen to the body. That's the thing.
It don't ignore the cues from the body,
the feeling.
It's important. Right?
We want to feel good.
Like fasting can be intense, right?
There's an edge
where you say, oh, hunger is unpleasant,
but we can flow through it
and it's okay to find that edge.
But like, very, very thoughtful.
So much grace and patience to the body.
Never suffering.
Right? Never punishing. Okay.
So practical protocols
to prevent overconsumption.
I put just three on here.
Plan.
Love this plan.
How are you going
to get out of this space?
I think this is so important
planning in general.
You know, here's the thing.
When there's no plan,
then anything could happen, right?
This is just true in eating in general.
And it's like sometimes
like that's traveling, right?
It's like, well,
we don't know where we're going to be.
And the only thing here is a fast food.
And so it's like it's unplanned.
Anything can happen.
If you'd been in your normal environment,
you never would have eaten there
like,
but then, you know, no plan, no structure.
Sometimes it has to happen. Okay.
But we can take that.
And okay, so now we can see
the planning is important.
This is why I've brought in,
you know, the playlist that I have like
Atomic Habits, which I would, you know,
just read title much more boringly
creating our environment for success
because that's all what it's about.
Like how do we structure things
so that we have to use as little willpower
as possible, that we can flow through
a decision that is as easy as possible?
If we don't bring the things
into the house in the first place,
then they won't be eaten.
And then in the very difficult moment,
okay.
I just finished my fasting interval
and now there's no plan.
And the hyper palatable thing
is sitting right here on the counter.
You see, that would be
the very most difficult thing.
Then I know if it was me
and that was a bag of chips,
like I went to a picnic yesterday,
two days ago
and, you know, and then the chips.
And I said, well, wouldn't it be nice
to have some chips with the sandwich?
And then it's like, but it's like,
oh, it's so hard to stop eating chips.
And once you stop eating them
and I know if I,
if man, if I was in a fasting space
and then the bag of chips is right
on the counter and I started eating them,
I would have great difficulty
not eating the entire bag of it.
It's like just planning, right?
It's like
I try not to have chips in the house.
If I'm going to have a fasting space,
try to have those things in the cupboard.
Right.
And then what are we going to eat to say,
I want to eat a high
protein, high fiber, healthy
fat sort of meal.
You know, a beautiful thing.
If it's a wonderful salad
full of fresh veggies, this thing.
But if that stuff's not in the house,
I was like,
am I going to go to a natural food store
and pick out the healthiest things
right now while I'm hungry?
And I was planning and eating
and I have a meeting in an hour,
you know, it's not going to happen. So.
This is the world, right?
Where it's like,
we all have a lot of pressure.
We all have tons of things
that we need to do.
And we have so many convenient
food options.
You know,
we can have just a thing that we board
pre-made thing and we can pop it
in the microwave and go, you know,
and it's like when that's the alternative,
it feels like a chore, doesn't it,
to have to go to a special store,
really invest the time.
But it's like these are the decisions
that really matter.
These are the decisions of matter.
So plan. That's the thing. Huge.
And the other thing
that plan in is the buffer.
Right.
So when we are looking
at these scenarios, cycles of overeating,
the thing that we are bringing now to
it is great intentionality,
great observation and awareness
that this is really important
because it's like, oh, we think,
oh, fasting is the only thing important.
And then just eat something.
It's like, no,
like we really want to dial in
on the other side,
like we said at the beginning,
to bring it back
two sides of the same coin,
both equally important in my view.
Important to have fasting space.
Such an incredible physiologic space
in the body.
Important to be very thoughtful
about what we are eating
and what we are not eating,
to bring in the best nutrition
and then to recognize this potential.
Of the.
Of our nature, you know, to bring in
a little bit more than we need.
And how are we tuning that
and recognizing that physiology
that actually bringing in the.
A little bit more, but not too much.
Can we plan in the buffer.
You know, can we plan in the buffer.
And then this would be a pause. Right.
And then to check in. Can you do it.
You know obviously in the ideal scenario
you'd be able to do it.
And so this would be a warning.
You know I think as we get to
the next one, you know, I write in here,
eat a moderate meal, wait 20 minutes
for the hunger hormones to catch up.
Right.
We've talked a lot about mindfulness.
I love bringing in mindfulness.
How much?
Space are we giving?
The food literally
has to kind of soak in here.
You know, it's like we're tasting it,
seeing it, smelling it, feeling it all.
This is sending information into the body
to that's telling.
The body food is here and we have enough.
But it can take a little bit
most of the time. Right.
Is this your experience?
Hunger comes as a wave
and we feel it at the peak moment.
And it's like and then our eating will
ride on that wave were the most hungry.
That would be the biggest drive to be.
Overeating is like, okay, we bring
in the amount of food that we planned.
Now it's like we're drinking a water,
we're taking a walk, we're setting a timer
or doing anything
we can to let that soak in
and let the wave crest and then things
going to come into balance.
Remember the session we did the other day
about finding inner peace?
Right? That is like returning the ripples.
You threw a rock in the water,
and then the ripples going to calm down
and settle out.
That's like a hunger experiences
like big Boulder is thrown in
to the water, feels intense,
is like the wave crashing from it.
But then it's going to come
and settle down.
20 minutes.
Now, if you can't do it, this is the
another space to flow in to this side.
De-escalate rigid rules.
Okay, if fasting were to be
in your scenario, triggering spaces
where you're eating more than you want,
the worst being loss of control, eating.
Okay, just say back off on this.
And this is like the big thing.
Never force anything. That's what I say.
Never force anything
if fasting is doing this okay.
Wide in the window
if like if you're if very tight window
18 six okay 18 six.
What an ounce 16 eight. How about 1410.
How about you can widen
that out as much as it happens.
Some people still eating two meals
but make it breakfast.
Dinner. You know it can be.
It doesn't have to be a tight thing.
Then we're getting double twelves
instead of non double twelves,
if you see what I'm saying
on two meals that way.
And you can slowly
bring things back together
and it can be like a training process
can be very slow and gentle.
Organ just say stops. Yeah.
Put or stop in big caps because like
fasting doesn't have to be for everybody.
I mean I don't believe
that is not for everybody.
And it might not be for every season.
And so many tools in our tool
belt on our path
to weight loss in better health if, say,
if fasting pushing us in a direction,
we say this is not resonating right now,
every time I try to not to be eating,
then I'm it's blowing out here.
Okay, well. Stop that. You. No.
Stop it.
Maybe lean in on some more exercise.
Maybe dial in, make sure you're really
dialing in on the nutrition.
Right. And then see where things are.
Maybe dial in.
Super on the mindset, the mindfulness,
the journal, the breathing,
a meditation space
really do a lot of deep work.
Like what is happening in this food space.
Like I got to understand myself here
on a deep level
and then very slowly, atomic habits,
maybe just five minutes.
Can we take five minutes?
If you come back to it, you know, don't
come back to it if it causes any stress.
Right.
But if you have a mindset, if you need it,
if you say, man, I'm
exercising every bit that I can, I'm
eating every healthy thing that I can.
I'm dialing my mindset.
I want to lose weight.
I can't do it.
I feel like eating three times
a day is too much
or is just too much for many people.
Can we just start working with it
even without going 3 to 2?
Just bringing the first meal out a bit,
still eating three times
so you don't have to change
what you're eating.
This would be a way to way.
Slow it down way.
Take the pressure off.
What if it took a year, you know?
Okay, like no pressure, you see.
So bringing that first meal out a bit,
can you do it and see.
Oh, well that's not triggering anything.
So more space without the fasting.
Do you see if you
if you did that with breakfast you could,
you could do that
with two meals at the end.
But if you start bringing those meals
together, you say no fasting,
meaning not skipping the meal entirely,
but then, you know,
more time restricted part of it
that eventually you would move that out
and eventually those meals would kind of
start merging together, you know?
And if you can march things out
in that perspective,
that might be a way that would
that would be like the opposite
of a rigid rule, like the rigid rules
like noon six, no deviation.
Here's the complete inverse.
Bring it way back toward the baseline.
Build it very gently over time.
I enjoyed this thinking.
I will tell you just my reflecting on it.
I enjoyed this thinking. Put it together.
I was thinking over it.
If you've been following along actually
for quite a while, I've been thinking
over it for a few months.
I read a lot of different studies.
I found these studies to be
the ones that resonated
the most with me on it.
I'd be very curious to hear what
perspectives people have over time on it.
Here are some experiences that I've had.
As I'm thinking about it.
I've worked with people who definitely,
as we came into
my weight management
space saying, oh, fasting doesn't work.
They've even tried, OMG,
you know, oh, mad.
I think, you know, eating once in a day.
An incredible weight loss tool.
Very powerful, very strong.
When we dug into it.
They're eating about 2500 calories
in that one meal and say,
well, this isn't a good space,
but that's kind of how much they felt like
they had to eat.
They couldn't really handle it. And.
That person found success from going
the other direction, breaking things up
into two meals, but decreasing the total
amount of food that they were going into.
So this is an example.
Back off the intensity.
Back off the rigid rules.
Trying to find a process that is
gentle is like it's not really pleasant.
You know, people would agree
it's not really pleasant
to eat 2500 calories in one meal.
You know,
people don't usually like to do that.
so we're trying to find the balance.
You see, for the right person,
eating one meal a day can be an incredible
process, life
changing process for another person.
It doesn't resonate and it's creating
distress and not even working, you see.
So you have to be very thoughtful.
You can't just force yourself
into a space
because someone online said a thing,
if you see what I'm saying.
Hey, thanks for this.
This was very helpful. Thank you.
I think I'm going to go back to in either
three small meals
or two meals in that six hour window,
I'm sure I'll feel much better.
Yeah, see how it goes.
That's
a really wonderful space to explore.
This is the sort of thing
we get into these rigid structures.
We crank things into a space.
We think we can only go one direction.
But listen, there's a lot of flexibility
in a space, a lot of space
to just try some things and then also
try some things in different seasons.
Some people say, oh,
I did this then and it was this,
but look like we're new every day.
And our metabolism, our experience,
all these things are dynamic.
And so.
Just being open to the flow, what does
the body need now and where are we at.
And being open to to some flexibility
and trying some things in a season.
Pretty much always a good thing.
Really nice to share this space with you.
Have a beautiful day.
I look forward to connecting
with you again soon.
