What Have You Learned From Your ‘Mistakes’ with Data-Driven Fasting?

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One of the biggest challenges of long term weight loss and gaining control of your blood sugars is feeling like a failure as you fight with your instincts (aka Lizzy) for survival.  

Many people become despondent and give up.  They believe they can’t do it and go back to their old ways.  

But you need to understand that your body just wants you to survive.  

Your amygdala (in the brain) takes the die in diet quite seriously and steps in to prevent our conscious brains from starving us to death.  

Once we understand that achieving metabolic health is all about draining excess fuel from our body (and our diet), while nourishing it with what it needs (i.e. nutrients and protein), we can use the data to empower our journey.  

When we have the data to understand what is happening inside our body, what we perceive as ‘mistakes’ become powerful learning opportunities that enable us to fine-tune what we eat and when we eat, to help us move towards our goals over the long term.  

We can learn from our ‘mistakes’ to help us build healthy new habits.  

We recently asked our Data-Driven Fasting Facebook Community members what they had learned from their ‘mistakes’ by reflecting on their data during the DDF process.  Here’s what they said.  

Life goes up and down…just keep on going.  [Kelli]

I learned that every weekend is not a vacation, and I need to stay the course even on vacation.  [Devin]

That’s so interesting. I feel the complete opposite. I find that when I check blood sugar, and it’s over trigger, it’s extra motivation to wait just a while longer. When I try to think of fasting in terms of “windows” it makes me hungrier.  [Kristin]

I know I am making better choices and have lost inches. What I have learned is “no, you can’t take Sundays off and not have consequences Monday morning”.  [Angie]

The freedom to eat gave me more liberty to eat in a wider period of time and some old habits came creeping back (night eating). So I loosely kept my original eating “window” and applied what I learned from DDF and the Masterclass. The result is significant body recomposition and reasonable weight loss.  These programs are solid, and I found the formula that worked for me. I am at my lowest sustained adult weight and feel fabulous! Lots of bumps along the way, but every day I started anew to solidify new habits.  Brilliant programs, Marty Kendall and Alex Zotov. Thank you so much for your dedication to making this accessible.  [Robin]

I’ve learned I need to leave processed foods alone. [Toby]

Understanding the feelings in my body. I now know when I truly need energy and what that feels like vs when I just feel a little hungry and need protein. I’m not at the point yet that I want to stop testing before eating, but I’m feeling I’m much more in tune. [Jessica]

Dropping the window guilt helped me a lot.  [Cathy]

I learned I need to give up diet soda once and for all.  I snack too much when bored, so by waiting to test to eat. I caught on to those bad habits. [Julie]

Read, and re-read the guides.  There’s a LOT of information!  [Jane]

There was definite room for the improvement of nutrition.  I have a lot more to learn, but I do know planning ahead is critical to my success!  [Linda]

I have found a healthy way to determine when and what to eat.  I reached an A1C of 7.2. I’m so pleased that my current A1c is 5.5. My successes are because I’ve learned a whole new way to think about hunger and food. I think the protocols Marty et al. have developed are so important.  With a great deal of self-talk and patience with my brain, I have been able to eat 2 – 3 meals a day on my gym days and two on my off days. I’m also learning to predict when my BG will allow some nutritious food. I was testing 7-8 times a day initially, and I’m down to 4ish times a day. I think success or failure has a lot to do with starting small and having reasonable goals. It didn’t take a year to get where I was a year ago, and I’m not going to figure it all out in a month or two—eye on the ball every day.  Stay positive.  I give myself a pass if I am not perfect. Health is paramount for me.  [Muffy]

It was eye-opening how certain foods, alcohol and my cycle all affect my BG. If I don’t act very consciously at certain times in my cycle, I spend the next three weeks chasing my tail and then start again!  [Dee]

Alcohol is not a friend in this process.  [Diane]

I need to plan better for the weekend.  [Matt]

I’ve learned to challenge my dietary dogma – the way I’ve done it wasn’t working, so I needed to let go, and I’ve learned to listen and respect Lizzy.  When I tested, if I wasn’t at trigger but was otherwise hungry, I didn’t allow myself to get to that hangry state. I ate protein and nutrients, not fuel (carbs/fat).  This approach meant some days I ate twice, some days three times.  It worked amazingly well.  For me, I try not to let myself get too hungry, keep my stress low and have rid myself of the ‘window’ fasting mentality.  I also learned crap food=crap results.  [Cas]

I was eating too many keto balls and fats and not enough protein & nutritional foods. Afternoon bloating is gone.  My brain is switched on all day. Body fat is right down. Even with a couple of tricky weekend feasts. AMAZING.  [Joanne]

I need to finish eating by around 5 pm. More protein than I ever thought I could eat, I still need more. I’m eating a lot more vegetables and fish now.  I don’t have anything in the house that would tempt me to snack on processed food. I try to make everything from scratch, including my beef jerky.  My weight is finally starting to drop, ounce by ounce literally.  [Helen]

I need to eat way less than I thought, and I was eating way too much fat. I had fallen for the keto lies and wondered why I was putting on weight with an LCHF diet after initially having lost 25% body weight with the same diet.  I learned this all before even testing my BG with Marty Kendall’s Keto Lies, which has made a huge difference.  I’ll follow DDF more when these changes start to slow down weight loss to get to my goal. I’m taking it slowly but enjoying the results.  [Charlotte]

Plan and cook ahead, have satiating food readily available instead of hyperpalatable temptations.  [Sue]

There are no mistakes, just more data points!  [Leah]

As you can see.  There is a lot to be learned from your ‘mistakes’ if you can use the data to guide your sustainable journey towards your optimal.  

Further reading 

Data-Driven Fasting Index