Success Stories and Secrets of the DDF Biggest Losers

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Over three hundred Optimisers have lost more than 10% of their body weight in our Data-Driven Fasting Challenges! 

At the end of each challenge, we love to celebrate those who have seen the biggest changes in 30 days.  But this article unveils the ‘secrets’ of Optimisers who have seen the biggest weight loss.  

By the end of this article, you’ll see how changes in premeal glucose lead to reduced body fat, weight and fasting glucose.  

Each person’s journey takes a different trajectory.  But as you’ll see, your glucose only needs to lower a little to allow your body to burn off all your excess body fat. 

Contents

Carol  

Carol was one of our early Optimisers who jumped into Data-Driven Fasting as well as our Macros Masterclass and Micros Masterclass. 

Carol was passionate about being active with her beloved dogs and was a Nordic walking instructor until she tore her knee ligament in an accident.  Then COVID lockdown hit.  She said, “My alcohol consumption got completely out of hand,” and the weight piled on. 

Weight

In just over nine months, Carol lost 37.4% of her starting weight, going from 102 to 64 kg, with an aggressive rate of 1% per week!

Note:  Our Optimisers track their progress during the Data-Driven Fasting Challenges in the DDF app, which guides them on when and what to eat.  To create the charts in this article, I’ve downloaded all the data for review and plotted the data for each user in Excel. 

Try the DDF App now!

Premeal Glucose

The chart below shows Carol’s premeal glucose levels during her weight loss.  The moving average (red line) shows that her premeal glucose fell from 85 mg/dL to around 80 mg/dL and stayed stable until the end. 

Notice that there are some breaks, during which she focussed on the Macros Masterclass and Micros Masterclass before returning to Data-Driven Fasting.  Carol was one of our most passionate optimisers, managing her pre-meal glucose with DDF and ensuring her body had all the nutrients required to thrive and crush her cravings.

Many are excited to see their premeal blood glucose trigger drop when they start the  Data-Driven Fasting Challenges.  But the reality is your premeal glucose doesn’t need to fall a lot to allow your body to use your stored body fat, especially if your glucose starts out fairly low.

The key to the success of the process is that the DDF App automatically lowers your premeal glucose trigger to find the point that pushes you to burn body fat rather than being continually stuck burning off the excess glucose. 

The key is to use your glucose to guide when to eat to ensure you’re tapping into your stored energy reserves just a little before each time you eat. 

Fasting Glucose

Carol’s fasting glucose fell quickly during the first few months and stayed fairly stable through most of her weight loss. 

Fortunately, Carol acted before the weight gain turned to pre-diabetes.  It’s exciting to see how glucose can still be a powerful guide for people who still have glucose in the normal range. 

Body Fat

With consistent focus on both when and what she ate, guided by her glucose fuel gauge, Carol consistently lost body fat.  

You can learn more about Carol’s inspiring journey in my chat with her here.

Muffy  

Muffy is another early Optimiser.  She still attends our DDF Live Q&As to support and inspire new Optimisers with her can-do attitude.  Muffy has faced significant challenges and was incredibly motivated to get the weight off. 

Weight

During her aggressive weight loss phase, the weight came off at close to 1% per week, dropping from 198 lbs (89 kg) to 130 lbs (59 kg)!

Premeal Glucose

The chart below shows Muffy’s premeal glucose, which fell from around 95 mg/dL to 75 mg/dL and rose slightly when she transitioned to maintenance. 

Notice the ‘blips’ in the moving average on Muffy’s premeal glucose chart when she re-started baselining at the start of each round of the Data-Driven Fasting Challenge. 

Muffy also participated in the Macros Masterclass to ensure she got adequate protein to preserve her lean mass during her fat-loss phase.   

Fasting Glucose

Muffy’s fasting glucose dropped from the pre-diabetic range to well within the normal healthy range (i.e. less than 100 mg/dL).

Body Fat

Finally, Muffy’s body fat fell from 45% to 27%.  She was eager to get to 25%, but her body had other ideas.  

You can learn all about Muffy’s inspiring journey here.

Jan  

Jan, from Brisbane, Australia, just down the road from me, managed to lose 28% of her starting weight with Data-Driven Fasting!  After her success, Jan has been a passionate advocate for DDF, inviting many of her nursing friends who have also had great success. 

Weight

Jan’s weight chart shows that the weight loss started very quickly and settled into a consistent groove until she reached her goal over the year. 

Premeal Glucose

Jan’s premeal glucose also started out fairly low.  Still, as she kept chipping away, waiting until her glucose was below her trigger before she ate, the weight continued to come off. 

Fasting Glucose

Jan’s fasting glucose also fell from the pre-diabetes range into the healthy range. 

Body Fat

And her body fat dropped from 27% to less than 21%!

 After looking at hundreds of these long-term weight loss charts, I wanted to share some reflections on the trends I’ve seen. 

Rate of Weight Loss

While different people see different weight loss trajectories, the average rate of weekly weight loss for those who lost more than 10% of their starting body weight was 0.55% per week. 

Often, people who go faster find they need to take longer breaks in between focused weight-loss stints.  However, 0.5% tends to be more sustainable over the long term.  Losing weight at more than 1.0% per week makes it more difficult to get the protein, minerals and vitamins your body needs; eventually, this catches up with you, resulting in binges and rebound weight gain.

What You Eat Matters!

Data-Driven Fasting has grown in popularity because it’s an effective way to calibrate our hunger with our need for food and guide the weight loss process without tracking your food. 

Lots of people see rapid weight loss in our challenges.  But sadly, some return to their previous eating habits and regain weight. 

People who lose a lot of weight and keep it off stay actively involved in our Optimising Nutrition community.  Rather than just taking a short-term challenge, people make nutritional optimisation a new lifestyle and build new habits and identities that tend to keep the weight off for the long term. 

For many, Data-Driven Fasting is just the first step in their journey, highlighting that they must also change what they eat. 

Our Macros Masterclass and Micros Masterclass ensure that they give their bodies the nourishment they require to continue and maintain their weight loss journey. 

Note:  Our Macros Masterclass guides Optimisers to tweak their balance of protein, fat and carbs to increase satiety for weight loss, while the Micros Masterclass focuses on ensuring they get all the minerals and vitamins they require to maximise vitality and longevity.  

DDF Works Very Well for Peri/Post Menopausal Women

To my surprise, Data-Driven Fasting has become very popular with women over 35 who have tried many other approaches, like extended fasting and high-fat keto, only to regain weight, often with worsening body composition and metabolic health.  Around 80% of people using our DDF app are female and often in the post-menopausal demographic. 

You Don’t Need to Have Diabetes to Benefit from Using Your Glucose as a Fuel Gauge

People with Type 2 Diabetes tend to have great success with DDF.  Still, most Optimisers are just trying to lose weight and move from pre-diabetes to more optimal metabolic health. 

You Don’t Need to Drive Your Glucose to Zero!

Many people who come to Data-Driven Fasting have a background in extended fasting, where more is better.   But with DDF, the goal is to see our glucose drop just below normal for us, not push it to zero.  Your glucose is a tool to validate your hunger and perfect your meal timing. 

Data-Driven Fasting helps people establish a regular eating routine that empowers them to lose weight while still eating regularly without pushing their bodies to extremes they have no choice but to rebound from. 

Data-Driven Fasting turns your glucometer into a powerful tool to validate and train your hunger and ensure you keep progressing towards your goals. 

Action Steps

  • To learn more about Data-Driven Fasting and access the DDF App, we’d love to take our DDF 101 Course. 
Join DDF 101 now!
Join the DDF Challenge now!

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2 thoughts on “Success Stories and Secrets of the DDF Biggest Losers”

  1. Hi, as a T1 D, it’s hard to know my what my premeal glucose really is due to (as you know) so many factors that can affect me.
    I eat VLC, focusing on protein. I’m on a pump/cgm ( not looped because it wants to keep me too high), micro bolus throughout the day when needed.
    Im interested in whether ddf would work for me. How do your wife and son manage with their threshold? So many things can affect our true hunger bg..

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