The years I spent working as a personal trainer and nutrition coach helped acquaint me with the current typical recommendations for weight loss.  No matter which health or fitness professional you talk to, the general recommendations for weight loss are going to go something like... Monitor your calories, switch to a low-fat diet, do plenty of high intensity cardio, and do moderate resistance training.

​

After a couple years of working in the industry I became incredibly frustrated at the lack of progress my clients were making.  I heard statistics like: America has the most gyms per capita in the world, but is also the fattest nation, and assumed my clients just didn't have the will power to stick to their diet.  I ran my clients through brutal workouts, ran them like crazy on cardio machines, and coached them up on low-fat, "healthy" alternatives to foods they were eating.  None of this seemed to work.

​

In addition to these standard weight loss recommendations, there was always a rumor floating around that fasting is super bad for you.  The reason we all gave for saying this was that fasting would make your body burn muscle and retain fat because it goes into "starvation mode," and tries to retain fat reserves for energy.  NONSENSE!!

​

The fact of the matter is that when we begin a fast our bodies quickly switch from using carbohydrates as the main fuel source, to burning stored fat.  Very little protein, or muscle, is used for energy during a fast.  Not until body fat levels are dangerously low will the body turn to muscle as a source of fuel.  This is the plain truth and my wife and I are living, breathing proof of it.

​

My wife and I first gave fasting a serious try after watching the above referenced documentary, The Science of Fasting.  We were absolutely amazed at the information presented, and we were fully motivated to give it a try.  I knew that this was the missing piece to the weight loss puzzle that I had been looking for.

​

My wife and I did 1 - 4 day fasts on and off about once per week for about three months.  We lost nearly 50 pounds each - and there was no high intensity cardio involved.  Actually there was very little exercise involved at all beyond long walks outdoors and moderate aerobic activity.  On non-fasting days we ate a generally low carb diet and only used healthy fats like butter, olive oil, and lard. We are careful to not eat to excess, but this became easy with fasting because our hunger became naturally regulated over time.

​

Never again will we struggle with weight loss, or feel like we need a gym membership to get control of our weight fluctuations.  We now fast at least once a month for 1-3 days, and eat a healthy diet full of good fats and traditionally prepared foods.