Monica struggled with her weight beginning in elementary school. She began to diet and use diet pills in high school. By the end of 2018, Monica found herself at her highest weight of 248 pounds. Desperate, she found yet another diet program and stumbled upon IF through the program. Teresa is the founder and director of The Willow School. She struggled with her weight as a child and remembers comments made by her family about her body. She began to diet in high school and was self-conscious throughout her teen years. This led to many years of emotional eating, shame, countless diets, and weight gain. We were both so busy last year trying to get her through chemo (she went into the hospital for five days, every 3 weeks, for a total of 6 treatments) that our eating habits got out of hand. As she mentioned (below), they told her to eat whatever and whenever and that is exactly what we did. And because I adore her and she is my hero, I was there with her for every bite! LOL.

Community - Gin Stephens, author and intermittent faster Community - Gin Stephens, author and intermittent faster

Tammy is a caregiver. Over the years, she tried all of the diets and even diet pills. When she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in June of 2022, she did some research and found Delay, Don’t Deny. Tammy immediately began her IF journey and felt better right away! The next day I got up and resolved to fix the problem that I had created. I was the only one capable of digging myself out of the hole. I began by just watching what I ate, walking every day, and focusing on healthy fats and portion control. It wasn’t long after that I began a HIIT workout three times a week. I lost weight with this approach, but an odd thing happened... I found that when I got up in the morning that I no longer wanted to eat breakfast. In fact, I resented being told that I must.Even though the Gin talks about her personal experience, she’s not asking you to take her word for it. The book is filled with resource links just in case you are skeptical and want to read all the details behind her findings. Proponents of intermittent fasting claim it helps with weight loss and can boost energy and mood levels. But if you’ve decided to try limiting your eating to a certain timeframe and are having trouble adjusting to the plan, it may be because this eating style is vastly different from your previous eating habits. You may also inadvertently be making mistakes which can make your transition more difficult. Today's blog post is just for fun, but also should be motivational as you locate yourself somewhere within these stages. I have shared this in my Facebook support groups over the years, but now it's here for everyone. I'm the same as you - I can maintain on around 1500 cals a day but need to go below 1200 consistently and over a long period to actually lose anything noticeably. Jan - Delay, “Donut” Deny girl 🍩! Excited, high, I can do this! OMG can I do this?? UGH when is lunch?

Gin Stephens, author and intermittent faster Get the books - Gin Stephens, author and intermittent faster

In the next few weeks I read Gin's other books, as well as a few others including The Obesity Code by Jason Fung. I have always felt that knowledge is power and all of this information was so awesome. I could barely contain my excitement. The traditional postpartum diet of my culture dictates a new mother is fed iron-rich whole foods, healing herbs, a LOT of ghee – and nothing after sunset (time restricted eating with circadian rhythms and fat for satiety anyone?). I disregarded Ammamma’s traditions and shuddered at the calories – there would be no liters of ghee in my house. I didn’t need all that nasty fat! I shed some of the weight from both pregnancies but gained stubborn belly fat that endless sets of stomach crunches couldn’t shift.Visit ginstephens.com/community to join us. An annual membership costs just over a dollar a week when you do the math. If you aren’t ready to fully commit for a year, join for a month and you can cancel at any time. If you know you’ll want to stay forever, we also have a lifetime membership option available. In July 2017, I started working out in a gym doing pretty intense boot camps. It was at this gym that I was introduced to intermittent fasting. I thought it sounded crazy-- I mean, going at least 16 consecutive hours without eating?! Wouldn't I starve to death? How would it impact my running and boot camps? It took me NINE MONTHS to take the plunge into IF, and I joined a facebook group of intermittent fasting women. That group lead me to Gin Stephens and Delay, Don't Deny. In the Summer of 2017 I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond and on a whim, I decided to step on one of their operating scales. Before I did, I guessed that at 5’ 7.5” that my weight would be in the 160-pound range. I knew that wasn’t great, but in my mind, I could justify it. So, I stepped on the scale and it said 188.8 pounds. I stood in the store in front of two other women and wept. The stats: while I’m sure I exceeded 250 pounds during the summer of 2016, my highest recorded weight was 247 pounds in the previous May. I wore a size 22-24, or a 3X. I now weigh 147 pounds, and I wear size 3/5/7 jeans depending on the brand, a size small or medium shirt, and a size 6 or 8 dress. Meanwhile, I found running in 2003 and truly enjoyed it, training almost daily, completing 5 half marathons over the years and successfully managing my weight with it. I’d brag to friends that I never diet, and run so I can eat and drink whatever I want, whenever I want. And I did. The metabolism of my 30s made it possible.

Delay, Don’t Deny | The Fast Solution Delay, Don’t Deny | The Fast Solution

Gin is down to earth, factual, and by her own confessions, a professional dieter. Her tone is conversational, and she does a fantastic job of translating all the science-y words. Then, at age 61, I stopped eating animals. I’m an artist and was doing illustrations of adorable creatures...and something snapped inside. Practically overnight, I became a vegan. I immediately lost 20 pounds while I figured out what I could eat. Within a few months, I realized there were some astounding health benefits to my new lifestyle. My blood pressure and cholesterol plummeted enough that I no longer needed medication. Acid reflux disappeared as well. That encouraged me to start researching plant-based diets. At age 63, I discovered Dr. John McDougall (and several other plant-based physicians) and started eating high carb low fat. That’s also when I started following Dr. Douglas Lisle, psychologist, and learned the why’s and wherefore’s of so-called emotional eating. I credit these two doctors with saving my life and sanity. By age 68, I was down to 147 pounds...but couldn’t seem to get any lower. I wondered if that was going to be my body’s final resting weight. Oh, I could have sacrificed and severely dieted my way lower, but I was trying to get out of my diet mentality, not sink further in.Similarly, you should also give up diet sodas. “You don’t want anything heavily sweetened, even if it’s calorie-free,” says Fung. “ Zero-calorie sweeteners still have a negative effect on insulin levels, stimulating the appetite and making you want to eat.” I currently use the 16-8 method. I eat my first meal at noon and close the window at 8:00 pm. I routinely stretch it to 18-6 several times a week. I had a routine physical a few months prior to starting IF. My numbers were all very good. I had to get a physical for insurance recently. ALL of my numbers had improved. Mind you, they were already good. I was at a sales meeting recently and someone I hadn't seen in approximately 3 years came up to me and said, "I didn't speak to your earlier because I wasn't sure that was you. You look so YOU. I remember you being older!"