Fasting Space

Are you now dealing with a weight
loss plateau,

or have you dealt with one in the past

and you have experience from it?

Hey, we're going to come together
today around this topic.

Dive right into it.

So if you have had either

of those experiences,
feel free to write about it.

Share about it in the chat if you have
worked through something like that.

Feel free to share your journey right in
the comments if you're here on the replay.

So nice to have you here.

If you're dealing with it
now, I want this to be a place where

people can come together,
share the reality of their experience,

the journey
that we are all taking together here.

As I was doing some reflecting yesterday,
I was thinking, man, weight

loss plateau to me.

I rated it as the second most frustrating
weight loss experience.

You can let me know
if you rate at number one

or number two or what behind the
yo yo yo yo.

Very frustrating.

Many people experiencing
this periods of intensity,

periods
of diving into something that is working,

having some sort of success, bouncing

all the way back, sometimes even higher.

It's like defying gravity and we are back.

Very frustrating. Plateau experience

flowing through, having some success,
sticking with something.

But then we say, well, it's not working,
but we're not bouncing.

But now we are stuck in this kind of limbo
sort of period.

Not hot or cold

can be very frustrating.

My personal experience
I put on about 45 pounds

during my residency
training over two years.

Stress eating, not exercising,
not sleeping,

just everything that you would
not want ice cream late at night

before more patients are coming
in, just trying to carry on.

And so as I got out of that space,

I went hard core exercising.

I've talked about that, lost
about 20 pounds,

could never get back to where we started.

For years.

I sat in that place for years
burning myself out

running,
which is something that I really love.

So weight loss plateau.

Something that I have some familiar arity
with some frustration with.

To me

it was fasting that helped me,
break out of it

over a year, probably over a year
as I leaned into it.

When I look across the weight
loss landscape.

Tell me if this is your observation.

Plateaus are things that are ignored,
plateaus from the

point of view of marketing or something
that don't exist

because everything in a weight
loss space, trying to sell solutions

and look at marketing.
Everything is easy.

Everything is fast, everything is simple,
everything is highly efficacious.

And,

Therefore I say a little bit

disingenuous because as a weight loss

physician, okay,
I've sat now in a weight loss

clinic both at the university
and in my own practice.

You know, it's been six years or so now,
something like that.

Spend years with people
working with every weight loss path.

I want every,
you know, path at the disposal.

And I've talked through this, talked with
many people with surgical weight loss,

which all these things have their place
and many people medical weight loss

prescription a medications

talking about every natural practice.

And the more that I have leaned into it,
the more I have just settled into this

sort of space fasting.

Another tool that to me was the unlock
personally and for many people.

But it's not a magic wand.

And I think a lot of times

this is one of the reasons
I started making my own fasting content.

As I was sitting in clinic,
people are saying, who should I watch

or go watch this person,
go watch this person?

But I was like, I want some videos
that just help people to understand that

we are on a journey here and we are moving
in a direction in a process.

We want it to be grounded and long term
and we want to balance.

A lot of things, to me,
a lot of the process of fasting

is a process
of bringing things into balance.

And in order to do that,
it has to be very reality focused.

And so the reality
is, okay, fasting is a powerful practice.

It's an incredible tool
to bring into the mix

of every other health practice.

But just because someone like understands,
oh, I like fasting,

this is something I can do.

It doesn't mean that
the path is always completely straight,

or that we get exactly where we want

in the time frame that we want,

and there are many
reasons for that, and many.

Situations.

Knots to untie.

I really like that.

So we did yesterday.

There's a problem solving space, right?

Putting our energy into solving problems
from a certain point of view.

Here's where we're going to start
settling into it on our little graph

plateau space coming down into a space

much more stable
from a point of view than a yo yo to me.

So it's like, okay.

Already we can see we're settling
into a space maybe not so bad.

So I'm going to try to help you
take some pressure off of things.

So much pressure internally and externally

generated on a weight loss path

to me, a fasting space,
a way to break out of this.

This is what I want.

So much for people breaking out
of pressure, finding flow in it.

One of the first.

Metaphors, the first flip.

Okay, we're going to get into trying
to flip a lot of things.

Today we went through that whole book,
The Mountain Is You.

We're thinking about our experience,
our journey like climbing a mountain,

overcoming an obstacle,
something I really want

to help you do.

And mountains have plateaus, right.

So now we're not seeing plateau as like,

we can't get through here.

We're seeing we are climbing. Like,
do you feel that way?

Are you climbing on your health journey?

I am stepping,
I am bringing all of my mental capacity

and we are trying to make the best,
you know,

decisions, choices,
steering the ship in the direction.

Right.

We're doing the best that we can, having
love and grace for ourselves as we do it.

Recognizing
this path is a difficult thing to do.

Much easier to just go with the flow.

Go with the cultures,
consumption, culture.

But not many people in our culture
having long term success,

right?

This is the issue. Right?

And so this is what I want for people
is say if we are taking an observation,

say not a lot of people climbing
the mountain, some people climbing

the mountain, kind of going around
and then back down again,

we are trying to develop here
very strong and powerful

long term mindset, like an investment
that compounds over time and builds

into the type of energy
that helps power us up and over.

So somewhere along that path, there
going to be a plateau.

The trail is going up.

It doesn't go straight up forever.

We find a plateau. We find a space.

I like that the first example I gave of
that is like climbing Mount Everest.

Or it's like you got to get to base camp
and camp out there for a while,

because if you walked straight up
mount Everest

and you can adjust to the oxygen,
like you're not going to make it.

I mean, people die doing this, right?

So you got to spend some
time at base camp, acclimate

into this space,

building up the foundation
in the experience

for the next leg of the journey.

Today,

we're going to look at a couple new ways
to think about it.

I call the title of This Plateaus
Our platforms.

Think of a platform.

Think of stepping out on stage
and speaking right.

What does the platform do?

It elevates you right.

And this is the way to think about it.

We think of weight loss, plateau
heading down and can't go lower.

Think about a platform right.

This is like a mini version
of the mountain.

We're trying to overcome
a huge obstacle in our life.

We're climbing a mountain.

Okay, listen, we're just stepping up
on a platform here, like a stage.

I like this, it's a few steps
and we get up to the stage.

Think of the stage that supports you.
Okay?

We can think a lot
about being stuck in a place.

And I want to try to help you flip
that today

and go from being stuck

and feeling stuck to feeling supported.

Right?

Because as we're climbing up
onto a platform, look what you can.

You can jump on
it. You can run around on it.

I love the analogy

of jumping, though,
because it's like you can push off of that

and get to an even higher space,
and the platform is supporting you.

And if we have gone into a space,
the yo yo has stopped, right?

We didn't have some success
in Bounce Back.

We found a stable platform
to operate from.

So this is how I'd love for you to think
about a plateau, because in the end state,

we want to say
if we're just watching the graph

of the numbers, what I would love
to happen for you flow into a space,

have some success,
meaning a different way of being.

We've adjusted to a space
and now this becomes a stable support.

And think of what a platform does.

Think of a speaker going on to a stage.

What are they
doing is a performance of some time.

It's like theater, think theater.

I like to bring in all these analogies
that we are doing something creative.

In our experience,
we're expressing ourselves in some way.

It's like theater is like
like the theater of our life.

I did some session like that, right?

We're
the main character in like The Show of Us.

That is happening right and right here.

We have our opportunity express ourselves.

Now we've stepped up on the platform
and this is a creative space.

Maybe it's like an improv show, right?

Because it's like there's no script
that we are following.

We are creating it each day
we have an opportunity, and now

we have a stable foundation
to speak from and perform from

and try some things

to see
where this analogy is going with it.

When we have also we can see the analogy,
okay, climbing up a mountain

and we're seeing the plateau here,
it can feel like a ceiling.

Have you ever felt
this way? Plateaus like a ceiling.

We can't break through it.
We're not even sitting in base camp.

It's like we're bumping our head
up against the wall.

That's like the against the ceiling.

That's like the feeling
of feeling stuck in a space

when we're starting to see a platform,
something that is strong

and stable, that we can step up on
and that will hold and support us.

And we can see it's
like we're not going back.

Do you see there's like a lot of fear
in a plateau space.

In my experience working with people,
it's like, is this going to stop?

Is this going to stop?

Are we going back? Are we going back?

But if you're in a plateau

space, the longer this is flowing
on, do you see the other side of it?

Can you feel it? Support,
support, support.

We're not going back.

It's becoming more and more stable.

We're building a stronger
and stronger platform to spring off of.

This is the way to take every bit
of self-doubt, every negative thought

that is coming into our mind about how

and why this is and transforming it,

harnessing the energy of it
to push ourselves

forward in a space.

Hey, thank you for sharing
this experience.

My goal

was 40 pounds lost 18

then beginning,
then began hitting plateaus

after every 1 or 2 pounds.

Currently at 21 pounds

lost but varies 1 or 2 pounds daily.

Really difficult to lose weight now.

Stalls out after every pound.

Regular exercise
challenging due to fatigue

2 to 3 times per week.

Thank you for sharing this perspective.

Just I just want to validate it okay
I want to validate your experience.

I see it and I hear it and I feel it.

I want

a magic wand, I really do.

I want, you know, to have experiences
for people that are just powerful

and they make everything and easy street,
okay.

But like wanting a thing
does not make it reality.

This has been my humbling experience,

my experience
currently as a weight loss doctor.

I'm meeting with people in clinic.

I think there's a great value to it. Okay.

And you know, I've done this for years
and there is a lot of value there.

But the part when I am doing it
that is, that I always feel

like has been missing is, is this
and this is why I'm doing it.

Because, you know,

everything in our medical system is siloed
into these little tiny encounters.

You know, you get 15 or 30 minutes
or whatever it is with a doctor,

and you've got to either
have the insurance or the co-pays or the

things and, and every little contact,
hundreds of dollars is happening.

And then there is value there.

But and then do you do that once a month
or once every three months?

And it's like this little touch point

when the things that are important

are the fact that this is like
a daily practice, right?

It takes daily practice
to be able to step forward every day.

And what I wanted for the longest time,
you know, is something like this.

Because I think this is where
the magic is, if we can use that word

loosely,
I think this is where the real work is.

It's like, yes,
we need, you know, some one on ones.

Wonderful. Like, really dive deep.

I can't provide medical advice
to anybody here.

I can't like,
really get in and understand it.

But we're going through archetypal
sort of patterns of very common.

And I really love, this space

because there's no pretense in it.

We don't have to say that experiences
like have been shared

aren't real, or that that doesn't mean
that success isn't happening.

And this is what I'm going to say.

So many things are happening.

I love the analogy in this regard.

Of the butterfly is in the cocoon, right?

The caterpillar goes in.

You cannot see what is happening.

They might be in there
for how long? Months.

You know,

which out of the whole life cycle, it's
like half their life or something, right?

Cocoon phase.

It's like happening.

The transformation is happening.

Cannot always see it.

And so I want
you feel supported in that space.

This is the feeling right.

Turning frustrations
into support and energy.

Feeling the joy on the journey,
seeing the good and the positive.

And then in the space,

using everything to take the next step.

Right. This is learning space.

It's growing space,
taking everything to take the step.

I have said, okay, a fasting practice
itself is like a patience practice, right?

We are super practicing patience.

Next meal okay till it comes,
putting things in its place, a weight loss

process in general like big picture
whether you're doing any fasting or not.

Right?

Here is a patience process
we're going to have to stack.

Think of three years.

I mean, we're just like over
a thousand days, right?

Where it's like,
whatever it is, 1200 or 13,

we got to be stacking these.

Okay.

Hey, thank you for this comment.

These videos help me tremendously.

This is a two part effort.

Maintaining the loss,
continuing to lose weight.

Absolutely.

I was at a seminar the other day

and they were outlining a three part
process.

I typically tell people
when I'm in the clinic like,

let's have a three year process.

And I think the speaker was saying like,

year one, figure it out, and then year
to work it out, and then year

three rocket out, you know, and so like,
that was a business focused idea.

But to me, it mirrored right on to what
I'm trying to help people do.

Right.

Figure some stuff out is like takes
takes a bit to do that,

working it out, going through the process
of like really getting going.

And then your three is like, now we're
really cooking, you know what I mean?

I thought
I would bring in some beautiful ideas.

I read from this book,
one of my very favorite books,

The Creative Act, Rick Rubin,
this book becoming a sensation.

You know, it's everywhere.

Now, I read this, I don't know,
was it even five years ago or something?

But it's it's such a universal,

Book.

You know, I think the ideas of it, the way

he writes, they just flow
across the human experience.

And I think this is the point
of what he is saying.

We're all artists.

We are all creating things.

And, you know, he writes it for sculptors
and painters and musicians.

But then just halfway
and it's really for everybody.

So I just love it.

Hey, this is a beautiful perspective.

If it takes two more years,
I'm good with that.

This is this is this book, right?

This is radical acceptance, right?

It's like when we accept things,
when things really start to flow, right?

We accept things.

And in order to change them.

I really love that.

That's a difficult thing to say.

I have something I don't like.

How do you accept it?

When you accept something you don't like?

It doesn't mean you stop not liking it
means you stop sending the energy into it.

This is what I've come to see.

We only send the energy
in the positive direction.

You know?

We only lean into things
that are giving life

and energy and vitality and helping us
solve problems and not sending

any energy into regret and discouragement
and and all of these things,

you see that that's just like parasites
on our progress.

This chapter.

Is titled The Opposite is True.

This is what I was saying
in the beginning.

Right? We want to flip a bunch of stuff.

Look at the opposite.

Look at the inverse.
Go the other direction.

I wrote I

just scribbled in this chapter of belief,
a plateau is a barrier.

Look at the opposite.

A plateau is a platform to spring off of.

Okay is the opposite is true.

Rick writes for any rules
you accept of what you can

and cannot do as an artist,

of what your voice is and isn't, of

what is required to do the work

and what you don't need.

It would be worthwhile
to try the opposite.

So I love that line.

Right there is like, because look,
we got work to do, right?

We're trying to be on a weight loss path
when we're exercising.

It's easy to see the work. Right.

And you say, oh, we're working

right to use this energy now fasting
kind of like the opposite of that.

It's like we're doing nothing.

But now we we have to do the mental work
of doing nothing.

That's the patience.

He says.

If you're a sculptor, for example,
you might start with the idea

that what you're making has to exist
in the material world.

That would be a rule to explore.

The opposite would be to consider
how a sculpture

could exist
without being a physical object.

Perhaps your best work could be conceived

of digitally or conceptually,

with no solid footprint.

I feel like that is taking us
into our little fasting space here.

No solid footprint.

Maybe it won't be our best work,
but the thought process

might lead
you somewhere novel and intriguing.

I just love these words
because they're bringing so much energy

into our experience that I want people
to be exploring curiosity.

Right now we are on a platform. Right now.

It is supporting us.

It's like, think of the theater.

It's like, now we get to play,
you know what I mean?

Now we get to explore.

What if I did this?

What if, what if the opposite was true?

What if I leaned into this?

Think of a rule as an imbalance.

Darkness and light are only meaningful
in relationship with each other.

Without one, the other would not exist.

They are a matched dynamic system

like yin and yang.

I wrote on the side here.

Without the barrier,
there couldn't be a breakthrough.

Do you see what I'm saying?

This is like what
life is like without the barrier.

That can't be the breakthrough.
I want to break through for you, okay?

Every session I'm thinking, I'm thinking,
how do I help people have a breakthrough?

We're stuck in a place.

We're feeling like our head
is bashing up against the ceiling.

We can't get anywhere.
We're feeling stuck.

We're using this principle.

The opposite could be true.

We flip everything upside down.
You're not stuck.

You're supported.

You're not banging your head
into the wall.

You're getting ready to jump. Okay,

examine your methods.

Consider what the opposite would be.

What would balance the scales.

And then I say flip that.

What would unbalance the scales of sound?

Stepping on the scale.

Right now it's balance, but as a balance
at a number that I don't like.

We want it to be smaller.

Let's unbalance the scales.

Let's push it in the other direction,
I say.

What would be the light to your dark

or the dark to your light?

It is not uncommon for an artist

to focus on one end of the seesaw,

even if we don't choose to create
on the under

the other side, understanding
the polarity can inform our choices.

See, I love I just love this.

This is why I'm sitting here on a fasting
channel, right?

Simple fasting I love fasting.

We talk about it all the time.

Okay,
but I try to put it in its proper place.

I'm not sitting here
telling you the only path

to health and the only thing to do
just fast every day.

Hammer, hammer. Harder, harder.

Right?

Look,
we have a palette of paint to paint from,

and some part of our painting
might be the color

that is fasting that we leave through it.

But maybe it's just one golden ray of sun
that is streaming down

as like we have every other color,
which is like, how are we moving our body?

What foods are we eating?

What is our mindset?

How are we taking care of ourselves?

How are we sleeping?

You know, all of these sort of things?

How are we coping and managing
with stress?

What?

See, we want a holistic way of being.

When I talk about fasting,
I'm also talking about eating

because we have to
do each of these things.

It's just what brings things into balance,
right?

We need a certain amount of food
in a day or a week, right?

Depending on how much fasting space

we really do need a certain amount
of fasting space in a day.

When you start to think about it,
everybody can realize it.

We can't be up all night eating.

We think about okay, consumption
culture is telling us every waking moment

we should be eating.

Basically, like always have a snack,
keep the metabolism running.

But then we see.

But this doesn't quite
make sense, does it?

Because energy is always flowing
into the system.

Don't we need spaces to let it flow out?

Like if we take this to the extreme, he's
going to say this

here, push something to the extreme,
see what's happening.

Like is this perspective
from culture normal?

Should we stay up later
so that we can eat more

so that we can keep the metabolism going?

It's crazy, right?

Nobody would say that, right?

So clearly we see there are barriers,
there are spaces.

And so now we say
now we have a negotiation.

Now we're up on the platform.

What's the negotiation with the body.

Body has energy. It knows it's there.

However it does it it does. No.

And it will release it

when it deems that the environment
is the appropriate space to do it.

How do we create that environment?

What is the combination?

Is what I say unlocking the puzzle.

I'm tying the knot.

This is the plateau space.

It's the problem,
the process, the experience

of jumping out of it.

Here's this paragraph.

Another strategy might be to double down,
to take the shades

you're
currently working in to the extreme.

I just showed you doing that
on the cultural perspective, right?

Meaning someone tells you
we got to keep eating all the time.

Let's push that to the extreme
and see what happens.

Right now
we're getting some perspective, right?

We say we push our diet to an extreme.

That way we see
that's not going to make life better.

That's a process for going crazy
and gaining a lot of weight.

Okay, so we've stretched our mind
in that direction.

You can see that going
to be my way of being.

Let's pull back on that.

Let's head back the other direction.

A much better way to flow in my view.

Lean in the other direction.

Weight loss plateau.

Can leaning into a fasting space
help that?

It absolutely can. In my experience,

when you are ready for it,

if it is your calling.

Hey, thanks for sharing this.

I tried extended fasting out to 72 hours

but the weight loss
could not be sustained.

I appreciate the weight loss

I have had
so that keeps me from getting frustrated.

Hey, thank you for sharing that.

Thank you for sharing that.

You know,
I did the session a couple weeks ago. Now.

You know the guy, we looked at that
interview, the the doctor who I'm sure

is very successful and thoughtful person,
was just really hammering people.

Why don't you do 72 hours?

Why don't you do it? It's so powerful.

Like here. Here is the answer.
And this is my experience.

After working with hundreds
and hundreds of people,

I'm I'm not oblivious to the fact. Right.

It's like a longer fasting
can help people to lose weight.

Faster is powerful.

But what difference does it make
if a human being can't sustain it?

Right. And, you know this.

This is the thing,

things only have value
if they feel good enough to be sustained.

And if we're hitting a fasting experience,
it isn't resonating like it doesn't

matter what some other person says
or what some other person's experience is.

We are here in our own life and we're
trying to figure out our own situation.

Comparing ourselves to other people
does not help.

We have to find our expression
and our way of being.

That helps balance
these things in a way that we can handle,

makes our life
better, helps us to carry forward.

And if that takes two years, that's,
that's, you know how it is

and that's fine.

Whatever it is, it's
like we just focus on the reality of it.

goes on here only

through experimenting with balance

do we discover where we are on
that seesaw, right between the extremes.

How do we find the balance point?

Once you identify your position?

You can move to the opposite side
to find balance.

You can move further out along the linear
on creating more leverage.

Right.
But we want to understand the space.

I think we're kind of laying out like in
how many times can someone eat today?

We're kind of pushing it to one extreme,
we're pushing it to the other.

We're trying to find a balance point
in our life

in the midst of all the other barriers
that we have,

all the other options,
all the other practices.

Picture.

He's seeing a seesaw, you know,
seesaw is happening one side or the other.

I see let's put that seesaw up on our
platform like we've climbed up into place.

I like, you know, seesaw.

I love that he's bringing that out.

I'm just picturing some childhood
playground. Right.

This is the sort of thing
that I'm seeing on our platform.

This is like a theater.

This is our way of being, our expression.

How are we performing?

You know,

and when I'm thinking of performance, I'm
not thinking of judging things.

I'm thinking like the performance,
like the expression of a play of, like,

just the actor

having fun on stage, an improv show.

I love that I wrote on the side here.

This is what a plateau is a period
of experimentation, learning and growth.

This would be like the most positive way

to look at this,
because it's the reality.

See, the reality is happen.

We've had some success.
We're grateful for it. Right?

Awesome space.

What I'll tell you in this space
that's gone along, this is a success.

This is winning.

This is not going in the other direction.

This is also learning
growth, transformation happening

and using this as a springboard.

More success can come.

It will come when we are thoughtful
and we lean into it

and we stick with it, and we don't quit
and we don't turn around.

Right. Because

so many
of these things getting into our identity.

Right. Who am I?

We're not going back
to the way things were.

We are learning.

We're setting ourselves up for success.

And that is the stable, supported place.

ends his section for every rule followed,
examine

the possibility that the opposite
might be similarly interesting.

Not necessarily better, just different.

In the same way,
you can try the opposite or the extreme of

what is suggested, he says in these pages.

In anywhere else, it will likely be just
as fruitful for our learning, I would say.

I would say we are in.

A space

to learn, a space to grow, a space
to develop, a space to support each other,

a space to accomplish, overcome our goals.

Maria is here.

Hello.

Definitely harder
to lose than it was in our younger years.

No doubt.

Harder to fast.

Longer.

Harder to exercise because of fatigue.

Need to be compassionate on ourselves.

Thank you so much.

Absolutely. For sharing that.

Yeah.

These are the real, honest
observations of reality.

And this is what we love to see.

This is,
I just want to validate your experience.

It is.

Hello.

Is it Desiree?

Am I remembering that right
a dial in got your email.

Awesome to hear from you.

Good morning.

Yes, absolutely.

These are the the sorts of things you say.

I've talked with.

So many people say, oh, you know, I'm
thinking of a patient I was working with

in the fall last year who is talking
to me about their experience.

They were fasting back in the 70s.

They were telling me about it.

They were like,
oh, you know, when I was 20

and it was in the 70s,
I just they got in with a community

where it was a thing then
and they're like, oh, it felt so good.

And they did not have any trouble with it.

And, you know, here we are 50 years later
and they're like, I can't do this.

You know,
I can't do it anything like I used to.

And see, this is where where I have
come to with what I call simple fasting.

You know,
this person had gone on fasting retreats.

They spent, you know,

over a

week fasting in a supported environment
and all these things.

And they're like,
by the time they head out past a day,

they are having a, you know,
they're not feeling so good.

And I'm I'm like, you know.

Like 80 something years old
now, like this is okay, like,

like, let's just bring this down
into a gentle place.

I think, like, think about when
you were 20 and you wanted to go sprint.

You know, it's like,
I think even this narrow in my mid 40s

and I'm like, man,
I want to sprint when I'm 17 years old.

I could just sprint again and again,
like full power just going.

And it's like I try to do that now.

I'm like, already
I see like that's, you know,

the resilience of the system
is less than we wish it was.

I love this thought all about discipline,
okay.

But channeling the discipline
into the reality of our situation, right?

We cannot discipline ourselves
into something

that is impractical or inappropriate
is making things worse or unsustainable.

That's what I would say.

We want to find the edge of it.

You know, like a lot of these things,
like trying to find the balance.

Look,
how many times did Rick Rubin say balance?

Everything that I want to bring into
our experience, balance for us

right on this line.

And discipline is a word
that can be used very encouragingly.

And it's a word
that can be used very punishing.

And so we want to just keep this
so many benefits

of a discipline, right,
of staying in a routine.

When we are in a routine, it is
the type of thing that can support us.

It limits our decision fatigue. Right?

Because it's like when every day could be
different and every day is an experiment.

Here's one side of it.

Then it's like, well,
anything could happen.

And so there's huge benefits to say,
this is the pattern.

This is the sort of thing that really
resonates with me and helps me.

Then we bring that into a space
because it serves us,

not because we're boxed in by it
or trapped by it, but because

this is the sort of thing where we've made
the decisions, we've found the flow.

And as we stay in a groove that is working
and supporting and helping,

it's like it actually helps us to do it
without getting overwhelmed by it.

And we talked about this

a bit yesterday that our digestive system
trying to predict when we're eating,

you know, the big barrier to fasting,
if we feel hungry in a space.

And a lot of that message of hunger
is trying to tell us, like,

we just think we're going to be
eating now. So we're getting

all these

toxic acids that could dissolve
our body.

Even we got a tightly control them.

We're just getting it ready
for the moment.

So the food's there and use it up
and then everything is safe.

Right.

And so if we choose not to eat
or we can't eat in a situation,

then we know, we feel that that disjoint
between the expectation and the reality.

Right. That's kind of hunger.

Body's like what's happening.

It's trying to figure it out.

But then that process can run in reverse.

That's why it kind of flows up
peaks and declines.

Right.

So once we gain skill
and understanding of that,

we say, oh, hunger
is something I can flow through.

This can let you access more fasting space

if you're not, you know, suffering by it.

You know, hunger is a physical experience
in the body.

It's all show an emotional experience.

We can feel overwhelmed by it.

This is something I want people to stay
very far away from.

I don't want people
feeling overwhelmed in anything,

so the feeling of being overwhelmed
is a feeling of being out of balance.

And we do not want that.

The whole reason
I bring in all the mindfulness practices,

the breathing and the meditation
and the journaling is to try to help

get our mental and emotional

state into a calm and centered space,

so that we can get every negative thing
that's primed into our mind out,

so that we are able to make
the most grounded, honest,

helpful,
appropriate decisions for our space.

And see, this is just right on the line.

We're feeding all these sites
out of this word discipline,

and we're seeing the discipline
that is a routine that is supportive,

that is nourishing and encouraging.

That's the type of thing

that we want, never the type of thing
that is like the gym, bro.

Like punishing your way to health
sort of practice

that can lead into a thing that is like

adding guilt and judgment on ourselves,
that is pushing us to do

things that
we don't that aren't really uplifting.

Our spirit, you know, that aren't
bringing life and joy and positivity.

And so.

That is the space to me.

The plateau
is the platform to work on things.

It's the practice space.

All of these things
that we are talking about are not easy.

They take real human effort

and dedication
and sincerity to dive into it,

and that has to be sustained
in the long term.

And so building something
that is very kind

and gracious to ourselves as we are doing
it is the way to do it.

That's why I'm just picturing
like in my mind, maybe you pictured.

I'm picturing a platform
with a playground on it and kids

playing, and the kids are running around
and they're having fun.

And I think, like you were saying,
as we get older,

so many of these things get harder to do.

And like, isn't it harder?
Do you find that?

Hopefully you don't, but I know I do.

Like I take kids to a playground and I
watch them run around and and goof around.

And, you know, when I was a young dad
and I was 20, whatever.

And, you know, I would run
and tear around with the kids too.

But now I don't so much.
And I've been reflecting on this.

It's harder, like, you've
really got to work at it and everything

that Marie said that, you know,
that it's harder to do longer fasting,

that exercise is harder that,
that you can have fatigued more easily.

Like, like these are more opportunities

for us to bring compassion to ourselves
and recognize it.

And recognizing
that some of this is just the the way

life is like this is the experience of it.

This is the place where we need to bring
acceptance, love and grace into it.

But I do like what is that quote?

I can't quite remember it, but it's like
we can also fight against it, right?

And we can also push as art
as we can against it.

That's the other edge of it, you know?

Yeah, decision fatigue is real.

I was completely overwhelmed by it.

Watch an older video of yours
I'm planning.

So good habits are automatic.

Yeah. Need to start planning meals again.

The basics. Yeah.

So much. Love that thought.

It's really true.

Fasting. To me.

A big reason is can help with that.

When there's less meals, like
less decision making means less planning.

And we only have so much ability to plan.

It's easier to plan for two meals
than six, you know, just as an example.

And so everything we can do to eliminate
decision fatigue, to me, a fasting

space is a space that we can just flow
through without thinking about food.

The thing that I think so much
of nutrition counseling in the weight

loss space misses is how difficult it is

to aid put all the work into planning

and preparing and consuming things
multiple times a day.

And then also
how how difficult it is in that space,

because then you're always
thinking about food.

And this is the thing that I can't get out
of my mind because I've eaten that way.

It's like when when your meal plan is,
you know, three meals and four snacks

throughout the day or something like this,
or we're grazing on things.

It's like
we're always thinking about food.

And so it's like,
and it just kind of programs the mind.

But like what fasting is
showing us is a pattern.

Is that like we there's
a way of being like, we can live our lives

where we're not thinking about it all
the time.

Like, I love eating and good food
and and especially

using food to connect with people
as much as anybody else.

But it's like there's
there's more in life, right?

Like we don't need this

as part of our life all the time
in order to have a joyful, positive,

healthy, happy, content,
satisfying relationship with food.

This is part of finding that balance.

And when we bring that into balance,
right?

This is improving our relationship
with food.

This is creating boundaries
and helping it to be a beautiful thing.

And,

you know, this is what we want.

You know, we, I think of relationships.

You know, we're talking
about our relationship with food.

Just like a relationship with per person.

Maybe there are

some people who would disagree,
and they have a very special relationship,

and they can spend every waking moment
together, but, like, don't

you need some space from people sometimes
just to, like, you know, take a breath

and then we just have some time apart
and then

connect again, you know what I mean?

I know I still am.

Thank you for this emotional eating.

You know,
eating is such an interesting thing.

What a core part of what we do. Right?

And it is so tied in to our physiology
and our emotional state

and isn't the case that it's kind
of a drug and a food at the same time.

And this is like we think about
some of these old timey medicine quotes.

Let food be your medicine, right?

There's healing power in food. Absolutely.

And then there's like emotional
soothing power in it.

We talk about comfort food.

Not it's not because it doesn't work,
not because it is an effective right.

Comfort food is comforting.

It helps us to feel better.

You know, in the short term especially,

these are all the

types of things to work through.

On the platform, you know?

What is the relationship with food?

What is it?

I like that video that I had
just the last one where I had the broth.

I say, this is fasting comfort food.

You know, I was reflecting on that.

I was hungry,
you know, I was doing the fasting space.

You don't see it on the camera.

I'm sitting there with the broth
and my family's all out there

eating whatever they were eating,
like a some sort of delicious thing.

Pork chops or and vegetables or something.

And I'm just like,
I would like to eat that, you know? But,

I have my broth here,
I smell it, I taste it, it tastes good.

Little salt, some protein in there.

It's warm.

And then the hunger went away.

You know, I'm like, oh,
I flowed through it, I was hungry,

I had one broth still there too.

On the third one I was like,
I think that's about it.

I think that's all I need.

Yeah, this is a wonderful thing.

Instead of eating when bored, I keep
active and away from emotional eating.

Find a distraction.

You know, we
we can talk about all the distractions.

Our bad. Don't have distractions.

Put the phone down,
do some digital fasting.

All right.

Dial in on a space sometime.

A distraction is what you need.

If it is something active
and it's offline

and you can get out in the world
and take a walk, all the better.

But maybe we got a lot of stuff to do.

Maybe it's just doing the laundry
and doing our job and taking care

of the kids and doing whatever,
you know, it's like if we can stay busy,

the hunger wave can come and go

and then we just flow through it.

And that is a huge thing.

You know, this is a type of thing
you can get into in a journal.

A journal can have
some data element to it.

Maybe you make a little

mini chart in there and just say,
when does the emotional eating happen?

And we can just put it into
its place and see, oh, here is the timing

when it is ten to happening,

and then we can start to get out
in front of it and say, you know,

this person when this person calls
or when this person emails or when

I have to do this sort of job
or this sort of thing,

now we're getting way out ahead of it.

And now see, we're in a space

plateau is happening,
but now we're seeing the platform.

We're creating awareness.

We're we're just
this is the growth and the learning.

We're seeing everything
that is happening in our life clearly.

And we're seeing where,
where are the things that are can change.

Because I'll tell you.

Wherever you have been in it,
wherever it is,

don't give up on yourself or the process.

See the good in it.

Use the opportunity.

Take everything that you have learned
and keep taking one small step.

Keep going.

Other activities.

The best solution?

Yes, I, I agree something that you enjoy
if possible and maybe that doesn't

mean it's the perfect thing is if say it's
it's vacuuming and it's doing whatever.

Because keep every thought positive

because you like the clean house,
like who likes doing the things.

But we like the results, right?

So keep moving.

Keep the results there.

And you know, you flip out of it.

Do you see that like the first two minutes
we're going and then it's like

then we're out of the hunger thing.

Like the hunger is the worst

when you're just sitting there
not doing something right.

You see, I'm going to be fascinating.

But now I'm sitting here in a space
and I'm not doing anything.

It's like, we got to get moving.

That's what I say.

And then the thought disappears.
Do you see it?

And then 15 minutes later,
it's like we made it out of it.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I like this.

I've been keeping a list of distractions,
like painting the nails or decluttering

the closet. Like.

Yeah, have, like, a triage list.

Like, emotional eating is coming on.

I can feel it, like,
where's my emergency list? Because.

Right. Don't.
So often we can just flow into something.

But if we have something. Oh, where?
Because we don't know what to do.

We're not quite thinking
in our logical brain with what we wanted.

Where's our emergency checklist?

It's like, oh, nails.

Oh, look at the closet. Oh, it was like
we got our list.

Like, just start hitting it
and then we flow through it.

And then I do love that.

I do love that.

That's the trick.

You gotta read it.
You know, some sometimes.

You know, I was one
patient is coming to my mind.

That a super busy job.

You know, I think I think they
they were a doctor I was working with.

And it's like they're
running around the hospital.

They're doing all this stuff. And then.

And it was like they're sick of the phone
and was like, always the phone.

If they open the phone and they're gonna
see emails, they gonna see work.

It's like stresses everywhere.

We got a a mini
journal is like a tiny little one

inch thing, many pages,
and then like a mini fine pen.

And then we started writing stuff
like this.

We wrote affirmative thoughts.

We wrote like, little things
to do all these things on a mini

real paper journals so we can keep away
from every distraction thing.

Just have that, keep them in
that white coat pocket with them, maybe

have something.

Keep the mini journal with you,
you know, within you take it out.

Maybe you put a
this is a strategy I like to use

is just like you're in some
stressful moment right out the stress,

you know, the thought process,
just grabbing a pen

or pencil, getting it on something,
put a little something down.

If it's in a mini journal,
maybe it's just a few words, you know,

and you can receive something from that
and you can put something into it.

And regardless

of whether it's the words,
just having an action, it's a distraction.

Maybe you write wins into it.

It's like to break the cycle, like you're
saying of the impulsive, because

it's like we have cycles.

Stress is happening, impulse is happening.

It's tripping us into these
ancient structures.

Fight or flight is happening.

It's like we need something
to break the cycle, something to get us

out of our own mind
that can be on a phone.

Many different ways to do it.

I keep multiple little note
files, and I will go in

and either type it out or speak
something into it.

I like most of all writing in my actual
journal.

if you would like, let me know.

Send me an email here.

I get off camera for a sick.

I go grab one, I'll show you.

I got these beautiful leather bound simple
fasting journal.

It's maybe.

I don't know if it's hard to see,
but it's embossed here.

Or De Bost.

Is that the word simple fasting?

Put it in there is maybe easier to see
looking at it and feel it.

And even that
I love it. I love that you can feel it.

Very nice journal.

You want one of these? Send me an email.

I probably I'm not giving these away
for free.

Free mugs for viewers.

Mug head now to Desiree.

Journal, though I hook you up at cost.

I'll go at cost for those,
but that's kind of nice to me.

I like writing it's premium paper,
a nice pen, something to feel like, oh,

we are really bringing in some tangible,
beautiful

thoughts, you know?

Those are the things that you can
look back.

I love taking my journal.

Here's a journal I'm writing on right now.

I'm going to switch over to my own
simple fasting journals.

I love it
but I modeled it after this one.

You know I just love that.

Just feels so good.

And I love that I can go in here

and it's just pages of my own writing.

I love, love just seeing it.

You know, just like all the words,
you know, and like to go back,

go back years, you know,

as one of the things I, you know,
when I was just a couple pages into this,

I thought about writing a journal for
probably 2 or 3 years, and I never did it.

And then by the time I was a few pages
in like this,

I was like, man, I wish I could go back
and see what I would have written.

You know, over these last couple years,
all the things I was struggling

with, that I just sat there
and wallowed in my thoughts

instead of writing them out.

And what would it be?

You know, do you have something like this?

Could you go back
if you're in a plateau? Right.

This is this is something
highly recommended, right?

Like, wouldn't it
be interesting to just be able to

go back and read through it,
you know, like,

do you have writing from
before the process started?

And to get into your mind then

and just to

be able
to page through your actual thoughts?

Because I think what you will find,

okay, as you're
working through it, plateau phase.

It's not nothing,
you know, it can feel like nothing.

You feel like I'm not going anywhere.

But then aren't
you wrestling with thoughts?

Aren't you working on things?

Aren't you making decisions every day
and really doing the work?

Isn't this what the work really is?

This is what I think.

I think I wrote that somewhere.

This is what the work really is.

I think people missing it.

I think people in our society see plateau.

They think failure, plateau.

A process stopped working.

I think plateau is just stepping

up onto stage and getting to the place
where the work actually is.

I think we're missing it, you know?

Plateau phase, not

broken plateau phase,
pushing things right to the place,

finding the line in the body of like
just reality.

Like here is where we are.

I think as I'm feeling as like things
that I've written as I've gone through it,

as I've gone through different plateaus,

like this plateau is all over the place,
we plateau all over a weight.

Maybe a weight
loss is just one instance of it.

It's just the instance of it

that we can see in our body
that we can measure on a scale.

We can't see plateaus
in other areas in our work

and our relationships can't measure it,
you know.

But like, don't you work through it
the same way?

You know, if I'm you're stuck
in any pattern in your life,

don't you have to struggle with it?

Think about it, work
through it, figure out

who I who am I in this space,

you know, and it's it's a great experience
to write these things down.

And then it's almost a greater experience
to go back and read it again, you know,

and to say, man, here we are
three years ago and like, and this was me.

But then it's like it
kind of doesn't feel like you anymore,

you know,
because it's like, oh, we've grown,

you know, and they're like,
oh, why was I struggling about that?

Then we get some perspective on it
and then it's it's like it bounces back

and forth, you know what I mean?

Because it's like
we're getting perspective then.

But then it's giving
perspective to us now.

The past is informing our present.

The present is driving our future

This is a great question.

And I I gotta tell you,
I don't know the answer to it.

I am not going to sit here and tell you
I know the answer to this question.

I do want to know the answer to it.

You can watch a lot of videos.

You can read different research
that people have on this topic of a body

set point.

And I've done a lot of reading
and thinking about it.

And,

I don't have a firm,
conclusive thought on it.

What I can tell you is
there are a parent set points.

Okay.

It's obvious that people flow

into a certain space and you can say,
oh, do we feel stuck in this space?

It feels like the body is stuck here.

What is happening in that space exactly,

though, is harder

for me to say exactly what is happening

when a

number on a scale is in a space
and nothing is changing.

Like we can say, well, certain
things are in balance at this point.

You know, it's like we
everybody can agree on that.

And why is that exactly?

And then this is the big thing.

Like, are we fighting against the body?

Is the body going to
and how would the body be fighting back.

And does that mean like okay, can
there be metabolic slowing in the space?

We've looked at that.

There is a variable that can happen.

Are some subconscious systems
are kicking in to say, we're actually kind

of driving you to eat more
because we need this to like go there.

And so is it not that, you know,

matter and energy
are not created out of nowhere, right?

So in some way, equations are balancing
with calories and macros

and all of these things.

Is it because the metabolism
is slower than it was

for the amount we were eating
when the weight loss was happening?

Is it because we're actually eating more
and we're not really aware of it?

Is it because our exercise is less
like all of these things are happening?

I found
a fascinating machine the other day.

I've been thinking about buying it
as very expensive,

but, it's a machine.

Remember on the mitochondrial talk
I was talking through how?

Okay, the mitochondria take what we eat
and think of as energy

carbohydrates and fats, even proteins.

And it turns it into ATP. Right.

And so ATP are these carbon skeletons
with the phosphorus,

these high energy phosphorus.

And that's what does the work of the cell.

And then the byproducts of this
one of them is carbon dioxide.

So when we're breathing out

carbon dioxide is flowing
out is like a gas.

We don't see it.

But it was actually the food that we ate.

Part of it is so amazing, right?

This machine can, count and monitor
the amount of carbon

dioxide coming out,
and therefore it can calculate

and determine
your actual resting metabolic rate.

And so to me, this is type of thing.

This is some studies use this device

in scientific studies to figure out
people's basal metabolic rate.

A lot of these studies are not done
in a way that I feel like really helps us

answer this question that you are saying,
but I'm very interested.

I might some future state
when the money is flowing in a bigger way.

I would like to buy one of these
so that I could actually run people

through it and actually tell people
what your actual resting metabolism is.

And I think, and maybe actually start
doing some scientific studies.

Again, this is something
that I would really like to do.

I love doing the study at the university.

I think the potential of kind of, maybe
crowdsourcing or doing some independent

research to really practically answer
questions like this would be really good.

What I can

tell you is that I don't believe in
fate, and I have seen many people flow

through a plateau space
and emerge on the other side.

And from a certain point of view,
I don't,

know about the set points
in a scientific fact,

but if I just had to,
instead of taking ten minutes

to flow through it, if I just,

had to give you a simple answer,
I would just say yes.

Okay. I would just say yes.

Let's just imagine

for ourselves
that there is such a thing as a set point

and that it is a real thing,
but it is changeable and it is difficult.

But the plateau phase is the space
where the body can change it.

Whether that's scientifically true
or it's only metaphorically true,

the answer is that you can be
at a certain place, and two years from now

you can be at a different place.

And if that's because of something
that is a set point that is actually

body programed in somewhere,

it doesn't really matter.

The the result is, is that
it is changeable and progress as possible,

and it will happen.

And we want to create the way
of being that flows

toward that place in the most gentle
and sustainable way possible.

I'm going to do a lot more thinking
about that question and how to,

to a scientifically answer it
in a better way and be,

yeah,
how to articulate it in a better way.

Really nice to share this space with you.

Share your thoughts and reflections on
this thinking on plateau space fan space.

This session eyes wide open.

We don't run away
from the reality of the world.

We don't hype anything.

We sit in a space of reality.

We try to use every tool that we have
as thoughtfully and sustainably

as possible, to get everybody
the results that they would like.

Yes, as fast as possible,
as quickly as possible,

but also actually getting them
and not burning out and not bouncing out.

And this is the balance that we will have.

I wish you all a beautiful day.

I will talk with you again tomorrow.

Be well everyone.