‘Lightbulb moments’ with Data-Driven Fasting

by

We always love seeing what people learn as they dial in WHEN and WHAT they eat.  

The learning journey is accelerated as we reflect on our data and share it with our community.   

We recently asked the Data-Driven Fasting Group what their ‘lightbulb moments’ were on their journey. 

Their comments were too good not to share with you, so here are a few.

I probably knew it deep down but didn’t want to face the fact that keto, especially the added fat, wasn’t serving my weight loss goals. It sure tasted good though!  My other realisation was NOT to snack between meals.  When I did IF, I would only eat 2-4 hours, but I’d pretty much snack the whole time.  [Hazel]

Decreasing my fat and increasing my protein has totally broken my year-long plateau!  [Rose]

When I learned to coordinate my hunger with my glucose I realized my natural eating window is much different than the one I was trying to use for fasting. I had been trying to force a 2 – 8 pm window because I thought waiting longer to eat would bring weight loss.   I now have my first meal between 10 – 12 and my second between 4 – 6.  My glucose levels overall are trending down, and my weight has been trending down for three months too!  [Katy]

A common mistake for a lot of people with intermittent fasting is the mentality of ‘more = better’.  That isn’t always the case.  [Beth]

I started fasting with an 8-hour eating window, that didn’t work, so I went to 6 hours, then 4 hours and some days even less than that.  I got some results but it was so hard to maintain!  Now I can eat two satisfying meals a day and love it!  [Romy]

I didn’t know that too much fat raises your blood sugar the following day. That opened my eyes. I was doing keto to lose weight, but my waking blood sugar just kept climbing – the one thing I wanted to lower.  I increased the protein and cut the fat. I am now eating more veggies. It hasn’t been easy but it’s getting better. [Pamela]

I’ve heard that ppl who follow keto for a long time have higher blood sugars long term.  Until following DDF, I’ve believed that it’s not a problem if you’re keto.  Now I’m not so sure!  [Rose]

Coming from “window” fasting, when I opened my window, I opened it with a bang!  I realised that “one more thing, one more thing.” turned into grazing throughout my entire window.  I also realised that I wasn’t eating near enough protein.  I have learned a lot. After so many years of dieting, restriction wakes Lizzy up if I’m not careful. Still learning and tweaking.  [Stacy]

The weight loss journey must be sustainable over the long term. Eating healthier is great, but there are going to be occasional not so healthy meals, and that’s OK.  I know what to do now to get back on track.  [Jeanne]

I realised that longer fasts (I was fasting daily for 20-22 hours for over a year) were not necessarily better. I added back in a meal at hour 18 or 19 (mostly protein), and I feel so much better.  I have been fasting daily for three years.  I kept tweaking it and have been at my goal weight for 2.5 years, but in the last 6 to 9 months, I was feeling “off” – like I was not getting the nutrition I needed with OMAD and 22 hour daily fasts. I will for sure do another one to see what else I learn. Marty Kendall and his community are so smart and helpful.  [Julie]

I have given up the longer fasts also. I was doing ADF for the last half of 2020 (up and down the same few pounds). That early protein meal does just feel better! I also have not lost any weight. Eating daily (2 meals most days at that!!) feels luxurious.  [Stacey]

I realised that I give up too quickly, thinking I needed to tweak and change things instead of holding the course.  Realising that a ‘cheat meal or cheat day’ can affect me for up to four days afterwards.  [Rowena]

Longer fasts are not necessarily better!  [Sue]

Establish a nutrient-dense protein forward main meal earlier in the day.  [Abby]

Longer fasting does not work for many people over the long term.  Eating fats and carbs together takes much longer to recover from, both for the next meal or the next day.  So where possible, I split it and am strategic with carbs and fats.  Splitting fuel sources at meals works like a charm to have my beloved starches.  Protein and nutrients are the bomb!  I also kept it a game – mindset is huge.  The more you relax and enjoy the process, the more your lizard brain relaxes and lets go.  The graphs in the DDF app showed me I didn’t need to be perfect with my pre-meal number or hitting it all the time.  I focused on delicious but satisfying, colourful foods -the weight just fell away.  No snacking required – reaching goal weight – dropping 18lb since Jan – life is good!  [Debbie]  

I was an unsuccessful IFer.  I was going longer and longer while intuitively knowing it wasn’t right for me.  I’m happy to be now eating two meals every day and now getting the protein and nutrients I need.  I feel saner.  [Jeanne]

That overeating is worse for me than poor food choices. I can have a small amount of what I would consider unhealthy choices with little change to my BG in the long run but overeating impacts me well into the next day.  [Missy]

I must eat earlier and stop having evening snacks as a chill-out or reward. [Carol]

Protein matters! I seemed to be living my life in a struggle between fat and carbs, never knowing if my weight/health issues were caused by too many carbs or too much fat. Somehow in that dichotomy, protein was completely out of the equation. With DDF, it became clear that protein needed a prominent role.  [Karen]

Feel free to share some of your lightbulb moments in the comments below.  What have you learned on your journey towards optimising WHEN and WHAT you eat? 

Keep reading

Learn more 

To learn more, you can:

Data-Driven Fasting Index 

1 thought on “‘Lightbulb moments’ with Data-Driven Fasting”

  1. Marty,
    I’ve been reading your blog now for about 5 years, and have never gotten the guts to step into the Cronometer ring. However, I do follow along with your articles and the comments much like the ones above. Making the switch from fats to proteins as my meal emphasis helped me break a gaining streak from keto, and allowed me to lose about 17 lbs. since making the switch. Since I’m getting up there in age, the added protein is a logical step to help stave off sarcopenia/catabolism/whatever you want to call it.

    Just as there was a thing called “dirty keto”, I guess I’m employing “dirty P:E”–not really adhering to my macros much, but losing weight just the same USING ONLY REAL FOODS. When I get to the end of this weight loss journey (this is round #2), then I just need to find out what mix of protein/fat/fiber/carbs will help me maintain for the long term. I’m also curious as to what will get me through the winter, and if I’ll need to employ a “seasonal eating” pattern with regard to the timing of proteins or fat. That’s an experiment I plan on conducting over the rest of my life to see the results.

Comments are closed.