Episode 243 Audrey Scott -Four Years of living an intermittent fasting lifestyle and adapting to maintaining weight loss.

By Audrey Scott I have been Fasting since June 2020, aged 51, 4 months into the Pandemic. My weight had crept up again despite exercising 4 hours every morning to pass the time and try and keep the weight gain to a minimum. I weighed 230lbs at that point. I read Delay Don’t Deny by Gin Stephens. I can’t remember how I found her on the internet, but I bought her book on Amazon, and it resonated with me so deeply that I finally felt hopeful that I may have discovered a lifestyle that could work for me. With my Nursing background, I understood the concept of Insulin Resistance and suspected that I suffered from this as I’d dieted for over 20 years on and off.  I was slim as a child and always adored food, and I can remember feeling hungry a lot as a girl and not enjoying that sensation My weight gain started when I left home to train as a nurse, with shift patterns and feeling like I had no control over when I would next get to eat on shifts, I began the habit of overeating so I wouldn’t experience hunger. I also discovered fast food and Alcohol and enjoyed the student lifestyle to the fullest!! I knew I was gaining weight but didn’t weigh myself regularly as I didn’t want to know.   This continued for years, I lost weight on a low fat diet after I had my first child only to regain again after I had my second daughter. I began to try to seriously address my weight gain in 2003 when I moved to the USA with my husband and family; at that point, I weighed 266 lbs, my highest recorded weight, and needed to lose some. I lost 40 lbs. That was the start of years of YoYo dieting before I found IF in 2020    I started on an 18/6 protocol, clean fasting from Day 1. I lost 2 lbs of water weight in the first week and nothing for three months! I persevered as I genuinely thought that something would be happening inside of me, and my clothes were getting loose. I had a woosh of a 2 lb loss in October and then lost weight steadily from that point on, about 1 lb per week.  In the December of that year, I started doing a Meatless Monday for the autophagy benefits, and I swiftly moved onto a Hybrid ADF Approach on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with subsequent Up days and a 4/6 hour window on a Sunday, which means I can be socialable on the weekends with my family.   I have been maintaining my weight around the 170 lb mark for about 18 months, happily fasting with zero plans EVER to stop   I have been married happily for 28 years, have 2 precious adult daughters and two gorgeous rescue cats. I work part-time in a Secondary school as a Learning Support Assistant.  In my free time, I love being with family and friends, doing Zumba, moderate exercise, listening to podcasts, reading, and watching TV.  I love going on holidays/vacations. I try to cruise at least once a year and still fast on these trips, just adapting my windows to what suits you.  I am so grateful to have discovered Fasting; it has given me the tools to make me feel good about myself, and I love to look and feel healthy.