Health Coach | Speaker | Writer | Welcome to my digital diary! I'm here to help you blend life & fitness to find your health & happy! Thank you for being part of my family & allowing me to add value to your journey!
So you tried low carb, keto, maybe dabbled in some carnivore too & now you’re ready to add some carbs back in…
Yikes, right?!
It’s normal to be a little scared & anxious after seeing results on a low carb approach to your nutrition, but feeling you need to switch things up.
I’ve felt that too! But after pushing through the fear & embracing more vibrational, functional eating, you’ll strengthen your trust muscle with each experience & season of experimentation! It’ll help you find your sustainable lifestyle approach to look & feel your best!
Y’all know I’m an advocate for meat-based, protein-focused nutrition for my Crohn’s & health preferences if you’ve been here a while. If you’re new, WELCOME! Pumped to have you here in this safe space of love, wellness, & learning!
I’ve lost 60lbs & put my bulimia & Crohn’s disease in med-free remission via a flexible carnivore diet approach & kept it off for over 4 years!
Tap photo for a blog guide I documented just for you on how I lose the weight & gained health!
Y’all should also embrace that nutrition isn’t one size fits all! I fully support a no diet dogma approach & support trying new things to find YOUR WAY.
So say low carb worked short term, maybe you lost a few lbs, maybe you tried it for a reset, a medical condition — whatever.
For most, yes, you’ll lose weight initially, primarily because of water loss & more food awareness (quality & quantity). Most don’t stick with the low carb/keto/carnivore diet long-term unless they’re on it for a specific reason or it fits their lifestyle/preferences appropriately. That’s ok too!
The most common reason people fail to stick to any diet regimen: “real life” & social situations ends up “getting in the way.” Adherence & consistency are the keys to any success plan. 🤷♀️You ultimately make the decision to stick to your commitments to yourself or not.
You can incorporate carb cycling just like you incorporate fat cycling, it’s the same concept just utilizing a different macro as a fuel source. I have a blogs on resetting your insulin & leptin resistancehere and specifically how to carb & fat cyclehere.
Regardless of why you stop, there are things to know to help ease your transition.
You can save this post on Instagram here!
MAIN POINTS
1.) Have a plan
2.) Get familiar with portion sizes
3.) The order you eat your food matters
4.) Focus on whole foods over processed
5.) Go slow
6.) Expect fluctuations
Things I believe in no matter what diet:
NO diet dogma & eating for HEALTH
Cyclical, seasonal eating
Quality, Quantity, When, & What you eat matter
Variety & nutrient density
Eating for efficient digestion & absorption
Experimentation & fun = learning & results!
Optimal protein centric meals
Eating for strength, health, & functionality
Loving your life & being kind to others!
Self love living + an abundance mindset!
Take it slow, you got this! No need to exclude or be dogmatic about any food choices or diet as long as they help you be your best!
Here are some more gut friendly, gluten free, low fiber, low fodmap options that worked for me.
Great options for pre or post workout carbs. I keep mine post workout in the form of plain rice cakes mainly if I feel I need a carb refuel after heavy training or high intensity cross training or cardio. These tend to be easy on the stomach with minimal bloating & gut issues for most.
Let’s dive in further!
Regardless of why, there are some things to know to help ease your transition.
1.) Have a realistic plan
One of the biggest problems with dieting altogether — lack of clarity/planning. Most people end up falling back into bad habits. What’s your why? What’s sustainable & realistic for you? What’s your relationship with food, self-awareness, and your body image? Your story matters & your results hinge on all of these details.
2.) Assess portion sizes
Quantity, quality, when & what you eat all matter. With any form of restriction, especially carbs, once you allow them, you’re more likely to go ham. Make sure you’re a moderator (not an abstainer) & comfortable & ready to add them back in. Measure & weigh your portions! Check nutrition labels for anything you’re sensitive to.
It’s all about balancing blood sugar. Food order & when you eat matter. Sugar & carbs spike your blood sugar more than any other macro (protein & fats are the other 2 macros).
Tips:
Don’t eat your carbs naked (by themselves): pair them with a protein like ground beef or grilled chicken or a fat of your choosing like bacon fat, butter, or a nut butter if you aren’t sensitive to those. It acts as a buffer & slows your blood sugar spike. If you can eat fiber & non starchy veggies, these will help buffer the spike as well, but not as efficiently as protein & fats.
Examples: white rice & butter & ground beef, rice cake & peanut butter, grilled chicken and sweet potato, etc.
When eating a meal, eat your protein & fat first, veggies if you eat them next, then your starchy carbs. You’re less likely to overeat as well because protein & fats are more satiating.
I time my carbs if I’m going to eat them after my workouts. That’s when I refuel my body & it uses the carbs more efficiently vs storing them as body fat. Also reduces your cortisol levels & helps with recovery. Choose sources that serve you best mentally & physically. I personally avoid anything treat-like or sugary, including fruit to prevent binge eating tendencies & gut issues. High fiber, fruits & veggies, & sugar are huge gut irritants for me. You may be able to eat them and that’s ok! Do you!
3.) Quality Matters
Rather than going straight for processed options like chips, pasta, doughnuts, & cupcakes, go for whole-food, non-starchy vegetables first like your greens, then white rice, potatoes, gf oats, fruit, etc. Again, choose things that are not physical or mental triggers for you.
4.) Go Slow
Keep it easy on your GI system: choose gluten free, cook food thoroughly, & go low fodmap if you’re one that struggles with any G.I. distress. Start with adding carbs in at 1 meal/d for a few weeks & assess how you respond. If you’re good, add a serving into another meal. White rice is usually a safer, gut friendly option.
5.) Expect Fluctuations
You might have weight & blood sugar fluctuations — it depends on how your body metabolizes carbs, your diet, exercise, etc. Much of the weight changes are water weight initially. Pair carbs with protein & fat to help control those blood sugar spikes. With every gram of carb, you get 4g of water. Bloating & constipation could happen because of the re-introduction of fibrous foods, drink your water! You may have more energy or less. You might feel hungrier. Again, we’re all bio individually different. Have patience.
Supplements to Help With Carb + Nutrient Utilization & Body Goals
I was tired of struggling with post-meal blood sugar spikes when eating carbs and grappling with insulin sensitivity issues. NuEthix Formulations has a wonderful profuct, Slin-Trol™, the glucose disposal agent designed to assist your approach to managing blood sugar levels.
Slin-Trol™ enhances your body’s ability to efficiently utilize glucose, ensuring it is directed towards muscle cells rather than being stored as fat.
DIRECTIONS: As A Dietary Supplement, Take 1 Tablet With Carb Containing Meals To Improve The Nutrient Partitioning Of The Meal And To Possibly Minimize Fat Storage.
I take mine prior to my largest meals & walk 10-15 minutes after eating for better digestion.
Utilyze is a dietary supplement designed to support digestive wellness and nutrient absorption.
It contains a blend of digestive enzymes that target the breakdown of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in the body, which can improve overall digestive function and help with nutrient absorption.
Utilyze comes in convenient travel packets and aims to support overall health and wellness through improved digestion. This supplement is gluten-free, non-GMO, and suitable for adults of all ages.
DIRECTIONS: As A Dietary Supplement Take 1 Packet With Larger Meals 2 To 3 Times A Day.
Cort-Eaze is a natural supplement designed to help with stress and anxiety relief. It contains a blend of herbs and nutrients that work together to promote a healthy stress response and support adrenal function. I use it for recovery & cortisol balance, which can affect your sleep, digestion & ability to build muscle & lose fat.
Some of the key ingredients in Cort-Eaze include ashwagandha, rhodiola, holy basil, and magnesium, all of which have been shown to help reduce cortisol levels and support overall mental and physical well-being.
DIRECTIONS: Take Two Capsules Daily. I take mine post workout & before bed. One post workout & one before bed.
Helpful Educational Resources
Fabulous book on protein focused, anti-aging nutrition!
EXCELLENT article on food sequencing and balancing blood sugar here
Take-Home Message
Watching glucose spikes is particularly important if you have diabetes or a handful of other medical conditions. Your treating doctor or dietitian will advise how to modify your meals or food intake to avoid glucose spikes. Food ordering & timing may be part of that advice.
For anyone wanting to live a healthier, leaner, stronger life, consider removing sugary beverages & foods, processed food, & focusing on protein/meat-based foods as the foundation of your meals. Add fiber, proteins or fats to carbohydrates to slow gastric emptying and flatten glucose spikes. Walk 10-15 after meals & shoot for 10k steps per day. Lift 3-4x per week and watch your body & well being change!
If you found this blog helpful, join me on Instagram for daily inspiration & subscribe to our newsletter community here! I would love to have you!
One mindshift allowed me to finally lose weight after 3 decades of trying & failing…
In the last 30+ years, I quit binging on carbs & sugar so many times, but I always went back to it. Sometimes it took 1 week. Sometimes I resisted for as long as 3 months. But I always broke my promise. I ended up getting bigger & bigger & sicker & sicker every year. Veggies & fruit & even foods I thought were “healthy” killed my gut & caused my Crohn’s to flare.
Losing weight can be a daunting task, especially when we think about the sacrifices we have to make to reach our goal weight. However, making tiny changes in our daily routine can result in significant weight loss without having to make drastic changes to our lifestyle.
The mindshift that helped me: “You need to be okay with failure to succeed”
I’ve heard this many times but it didn’t click with me until my healing & fat loss journey “plan” finally worked.
This is not just about weight loss. When you expect results right away & get dependent on them, failure to reach them in a certain time frame frustrates you & throws you off your goal.
The solution to this problem is to be okay with the possibility of not reaching the goal. It is to be invested in the process & the other benefits of doing the work.
When you stop obsessing about the result, it magically appears!
How I’ve been able to build muscle & maintain my weight loss working 40+ hours a week at 40+
I maintain the same habits & commitments to myself as when I was losing weight because I want to be the healthiest, happiest, & strongest version I can be. I’ve made fitness my lifestyle.
I don’t let the scale determine my success or worth. I know it will fluctuate naturally with sleep, stress, food intake, hydration, workouts, etc. I do not cut food & punish myself when it goes up. I stay consistent with my plan & take it simply as data to help me.
I prioritize health & how I feel with food, workouts, & movement. My mindset determines my reality. I know I cannot hate myself thin, happy, strong, successful, & fulfilled. You have to diet & live from the inside out. Being active & strength training are always priorities no matter what age or season I’m in.
I am patient & consistent af. I know body change & healing take time. I leave room for flexibility. I do not cheat, earn, or burn my food. It is fuel, not a treat. I don’t do rules, I do what feels right.
What I eat about every day!
Your Super Simple 5 Step Blueprint
1. Prioritize Walking: you can make a lot of progress by simply walking more. Aim to take at least 10,000 steps each day.
2. Prioritize Protein: eating is where most people struggle when trying to lose weight. You can simplify your nutrition strategy. In every meal, prioritize protein. I shoot for at least 40-60g per meal.
3. Prioritize Whole Foods: building on the last point, eat nourishing, whole foods 80-90% of the time. These are foods that aren’t processed & don’t come in a package. READ YOUR LABELS! The less ingredients the better.
4. Lift Weights at least 3 x Per Week: lifting weights is crucial whether your goal is muscle gain or fat loss. Lifting weights increases metabolic efficiency and muscle mass. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn on a daily basis. Lifting weights also increases excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which means you keep burning calories even after you’re done exercising.
5. Prioritize Sleep: there’s no shortage of research showing a lack of sleep can lead to fat gain and hinder our ability to increase our muscle mass. Ways to improve your sleep quality: morning light exposure, keep caffeine in the am, avoid eating late, keep a consistent sleep schedule, create a calm, dark, cool environment, limit electronics
Strength Training as a Newbie Tips
As a beginner, you’re obviously not going to be pushing as much weight as someone more advanced. When I started CrossFit, my coaches started me of with less reps & lighter weights, focusing on the basics & proper form first.
I had to drop down to much lower weights than when I was at the peak of my more competitive CrossFit days & times when I took a break from heavier/more frequent training due to work & life stuff.
Devoting 20 minutes 3 x per week — or 10-15 minutes a couple times a day works too. Start somewhere & build from there in terms of weights, frequency & intensity.
Pro Tip: invest in a quality trainer or group fitness program. They will show you how to use equipment & movement with proper form as well as workout routines. Utilize YouTube for workout videos & education at home. Tons of home workouts programs are available nowadays with minimal equipment & cost.
Best Time To Workout?
Choose a time you’ll actually get yo ass to the gym. There’s no magic time. Some days you may need to be flexible, it’s called life. Being a creature of habit & routine will help with consistency.
Once afternoon strikes, my motivation to get to the gym is next to nothing. I prefer 5am or 10am depending on work.
This obviously varies from person to person as all of our lifestyles are different. But as I tell clients, “workout time is sacred time”. If you’re committed to it, you need to find a way to get it done.
Pro Tip: Start every morning with movement. Go for a walk, do mobility — something. Set out your workout clothes or sleep in them. You literally just have to roll out of bed & go. Split up your workouts into 2-3 mini sessions if you dread long sessions. Instead of doing 1 long workout, do 3, 10 minute workouts. It’s easier to make small simple commitments to yourself.
Realize Lack of Fitness Is An Emotional Issue
My job as a coach & mentor is to get my clients to “feel” like improving. To “feel” like doing the things they need to do to be their best. That might be working out in the morning, eating more protein, eating MORE, staying off the scales, working out less, nixing the negative self talk, etc. Binge eating especially comes from restriction with food & self worth – body, mind, & spirit.
It’s why people continue smoking when they know the risks. Why people overeat when they know it’s taking years off their life, why people would rather binge Netflix all day than go walk.
Humans seek short-term pleasures over long-term rewards. Most things worth doing take time to pay off. Most things that get you into trouble feel comfortable in the short-term. But until you “feel” like changing, long-term progress won’t happen.
Goals are great. They’re like the north star on a map. But the whole point of goal setting is to develop the habits & routines along the way to create a lifestyle.
Adherence & Consistency Are More Important Than The Details of the Training or Nutrition Plan.
I remember my first few years of work as a nutrition & CrossFit coach vividly. We could have the most “perfect” program, I could give the best advice I could. Then…the clients didn’t show up. They didn’t do the work. And they continually fell off the wagon. It doesn’t matter how good the plan is, if you don’t do it, you’re not going to improve.
Or as Joe Defranco says “a poor program done perfectly, is better than a perfect program done poorly.”
Dan John, a favorite of mine in the strength & conditioning world, has a catchphrase “Little & often over the long haul.” It’s not about how hard you can train today, how many times you train for the week, or even the month. It’s about showing up today & again tomorrow & the next day & repeat this lifestyle for years on end.
Movement, The Power of Words, & Accountability Are Important
Very few people wouldn’t benefit by taking more steps. Get up to 10,000 as a goal. I prefer to break this up into 2–3 smaller walks during the day. You might prefer one long one. It doesn’t matter, just get those steps in.
Take the word “might” out of your vocab & switch “have to” to “get to.” My pet peeve is when clients say “I might get to the gym tomorrow.” Or “I’ll try & eat good today.” They’re giving themselves an out, not committing. Don’t give yourself the option. Do you have to train at the gym or do you get to?
Group training & accountability make exercise more enjoyable, more efficient & produce greater results for most. Gyms like CrossFit, Spin, Orange Theory, & F45 have nailed what makes fitness more enjoyable.
Go through hell together & laugh about it afterwards. Or more simply: train, laugh & repeat.
Aesthetics are the By-Product of Quality Training, Nutrition, & Health.
The physical follows the physiological, target health first. Aesthetics shouldn’t be your focus. Yes, looking better naked makes us feel good. But that shouldn’t be the focus of your training/diet unless you’re an elite bodybuilder. Longevity & a sustainable lifestyle lean should be placed at the pentacle.
I’ve also seen far more “aesthetically-minded” clients get burned out, fall to binge eating, & stop training altogether than I do with “performance & longevity-minded” clients.
When your sole focus is on how you look in the mirror or the reading on the bathroom scales. You lose hope when it doesn’t change & often develop an unhealthy relationship with food and fitness.
Pick some performance goals. Let’s say a 2-mile run, max pull-ups & increasing your back squat. If you improve your performance on these 3, your body will look better, I promise you that.
Final Thoughts
Create your own framework & system for success! With all habits, developing them often comes down to mental hurdles.
Your body is the reflection of inputs & outputs. If you fuel your body with healthy, balanced nutrition & stress it with strength training, it will adapt appropriately.
Before we dive into fat & carb cycling for fat loss on any diet (especially a carnivore/keto/low carb approach) lets reiterate WHY your story & food/dieting/health history matter when it comes to experiences & results.
There’s no shame in the main reason most people choose the Carnivore Diet & a low carb approach because they want fat loss. That’s fine, we all wanna look good nekkid. The difference lies in our starting point: calorically, metabolically, hormonally, physiologically, mentally, emotionally – HOLISTICALLY. This stands for any diet.
We should approach any diet from a health & healing perspective, first, aesthetic perspective, second.
Your Story & Starting Point MatterSignificantly When It Comes To Results.
You’ll hear me say it time and time again, we are all coming from 50 shades of our own dieting f*cked upness. LOL!
Some of us come from eating the SAD (Standard American Diet), some have been dieting basically our entire lives & still think 1200 calories is the magic number for weight loss.
Some fear fat, some fear carbs, some are binge eating &/or suffering from disordered eating & still in denial.
Some come from Keto (High Fat Diet), some have been struggling with gut issues/autoimmune stuff for decades & really have no idea what they can eat.
All of these different stories & starting points impact the transition & adaptation to a diet. Some will lose fat immediately, some will gain.
I gained 15lbs when I started the carnivore diet! I needed to heal, I needed more calories, & the weight gained was most likely weight restoration to repair & recharge.
Was it uncomfortable? Absolutely.
Was it necessary for fat loss & progress? Absolutely. Have patience. Put in the time & work.
Things I need as a coach to help you figure out appropriate macros/diet/fitness approaches:Click for Coaching FAQ’s
Age, Current Weight, Height
Training modalities (how you prefer to workout. CrossFit vs running vs yoga vs Orange Theory vs walking vs Barre vs Bodybuilding vs power lifting etc)
That’s a LOT of stuff, right? It’s not as simple as simply picking a set of macros numbers, or calories, or a magic diet camp. You are not a template or calculator, you’re a human.
Usually I see two different stories, & thus experiences, when working with clients. We’ll call them Peter & Patty:
1. Peter
Peter is male, used to over consuming the typical SAD, dad bod (aka looks like he might lick something deemed “healthy” & work out occasionally but really loves tacos & would much rather smash a 6 pack vs have a 6 pack). Simply eating meat & cutting out all the other crap significantly reduces his caloric intake & the fat just falls off.
2. Patty
Patty is female, lets say 30-40yrs old, habitual yo-yo dieter, excessive exerciser, wants to lose fat & build muscle but doesn’t wanna be “bulky” (sigh smdh), scared to eat more than 1200-1500 calories & gaining weight is one of her biggest fears.
She’s tried every diet in the book. Had some success with “Keto” (doesn’t really know what keto means but she’s eating less carbs right?!) but always falls off the wagon, stressful home life/ job, struggled with bloating & gut issues for years. Her neighbor, Peter, looks great since carnivore, so she decides it’s gonna be the magic quick fix to all her issues.
Sooo Patty stops tracking food (because she was told it didn’t matter on the carnivore diet) & starts smashin all the bacon, ribeyes, cheese, ribs, & chicken wings. Her gut issues get better, the first week she dropped 3lbs, but now shes about 6 weeks in & hungry, tired, & the scale is going up! So she decided to start fasting more, & ups her steps to 20k/d. (Further stressing her body out more btw).
She gives it another month with more weight gain. She wants to quit after a couple months despite her gut issues resolving. It doesn’t work she says, “I didn’t lose weight.”
Reasons You May Be Gaining Weight or Bingeing on Carnivore/Low Carb Approach
You’re eating in a surplus. As with ANY diet you choose if you are eating in a surplus chances are you will put on body fat. It’s part of it. This is when you should be focusing on muscle gain & strength.
You’ve been eating in a chronic deficit & your body is finally getting the nutrients it needs to function & grow muscle. You WANT muscle growth. More muscle=more food=more badass. You can’t have the athletic body without building the muscle underneath FIRST. This weight gain is actually weight restoration.
You’re snacking too much on things like pork rinds, fat bombs, or fake keto sugar free junk like Atkins bars. They’re easy to overeat & nutrient deficient. Even no cal artificial sweeteners can trigger hunger, water retention, & over eating for many. Go back to the basics for a while & experiment. Simplify. Meat, eggs, water, coffee, electrolytes, minimal sweeteners. Get rid of the extra butter, creams, & oils on food & in coffee.
You’re choosing highly palatable meats & foods like ribeyes, bacon, cheese, butter, processed meats, brisket, etc. They are delicious, YES, but can trigger over eating when you’re not really hungry. It’s like when you’re not hungry but then they bring out dessert. Most of us will want that extra piece of cake. Choose foods that are satisfying & get the job done. My choice (FOR ME) is ground beef & ground chicken cooked in the air fryer. Delicious & satiating, but not so much I’m triggered to eat more for pleasure & not true hunger.
You’re overly fasting, overly training, not sleeping, still eating foods you don’t digest well, over caffeinating, &/or consuming excess alcohol. All these things are stressors which increases our blood glucose & cortisol level. Chronically high cortisol & hormone imbalances affect your weight, recovery, energy, & fat loss. Reduce your workout intensity & volume, SLEEP, reduce caffeine/alcohol, cut out foods & habits that hinder your digestion, shorten your fasting window or STOP fasting. Get a @nutrisenseio continuous glucose monitor to track blood sugar levels. It’s a wealth of information & will help you more accurately make adjustments! Code: lilbitoffitCGM10
This is what biofeedback means
You’re eating too much protein, throwing hormones & your biofeedback off. Try increasing your fats & start with protein around 1g per lb of body weight or goal weight if you have more to lose. Everyone’s ratio preferences/needs will be different. Remember our optimal energy sources come from fats & carbs, so if you’re experiencing low energy, play around with different kinds of meats & macro ratios. There’s no one-size-fits-all. If in doubt, invest in a coach or practitioner to help! Coaching FAQ’s are HERE
Left I gained 15lbs and got up to 125lbs, Right is more my aesthetic now, sitting around 105lbs at 5’1. 20lb weight loss, which didn’t start till around month 8 after starting a meat based diet. Have patience & learn as much as you can!
My story was similar to Patty’s.
I gained 15lbs when I started carnivore, gut issues completely went away, energy was all over the place the first 3-6 months, I didn’t track initially until about month 5 & was eating hyper-palatable meats & foods like chuck roasts, ribeyes, ribs, pork, bacon, & pork rinds. But I kept going and experimenting.
I started tracking. I noticed I was eating WAY MORE than I thought. I also noticed I was swelling & not digesting pork well so I eliminated it. I noticed I digested ground beef & chicken best & it was easier to track. I also noticed my fat threshold was lower, so I stopped adding butter & bacon grease to my already high fat meats, I stopped consuming cheese & only eat pork rinds on occasion.
Slowly my performance in the gym started getting better, about month 8 my weight started dropping, I was able to fast longer & was able to really feel & understand what true carnivore satiety felt like, I knew what meats worked best for me, I figured out what calories & macro ratios worked for me, & I discovered the airfryer was my best friend & meat bars were born! I have now lost 20lbs & feel better than I ever have 2 years carnivore!
SO HAVE PATIENCE! Adapt, gain confidence, & self awareness first before trying to mess around with fat loss cuts. Now, I experiment with fat cycling with fabulous results! It comes naturally & I listen to what my body is craving & how I’m feeling.
Fat & Carb Cycling
Before we get started, though, let’s get one thing out of the way, no diet dogma here, we’re neither pro-fat/carb cycling nor anti-fat/carb cycling.
We’re pro-sustainable & realistic results.
This is also my experience, I am not a physician & learning right along side of you! We’ll learn about:
What fat/carb cycling is
How cycling works
Who should try cycling
What is a common cycling strategy
Protein & Fat Cheat Sheets to help
What is Fat & Carb Cycling?
Fat & carb cycling is when you fluctuate days between eating lower fat meats & animal products & higher fat meats & animal products. For carbs, you simply eat more carbs one day & fewer other days. People who fat/carb cycle usually end up calorie cycling, too. This simply means they eat fewer calories on their “low fat or carb days” and more calories on their “high fat or carb days.”
For example, a typical fat cycling schedule might look like this:
Non-workout days: low fat, lower calorie
Workout days: high fat, higher calorie
Examples of how you can calorie cycle via changing your fat macros per day.
So you ask, “Why don’t we just eat low fat or lower our protein?” Well, to be frank, some “not so great” stuff can happen when you don’t get enough protein or fat.
For example, if your fat intake stays too low (& too low calorie), you may lose your menstrual cycle & your sex drive. And if your protein intake stays too low, you can lose muscle, be less satiated at meals, hungrier, & experience mood swings.
What Does Calorie Cycling Do? A Couple of the Big Rocks
Fat & carb cycling may help keep your metabolism functioning more optimally during fat loss. When you eat less, your body responds in a variety of ways. For example:
Your daily activity outside of workouts tends to decrease because you have less energy. You’ll find you move around less.
So as you lose weight, you have to continue reducing how much you eat in order to keep seeing results. You can only reduce calories so much.
Example: Let’s say you start a 2,000 calorie a day diet & lose weight steadily for a while. Over time, you might find that stops working. So you cut back to 1,800 calories to kickstart weight loss again, then you plateau, then you have to reduce to 1,600 & so on…
This is called metabolic adaptation. So all you chronic dieters out there that can’t lose weight & gain anytime you eat above 1200-1500 calories, this is what has happened. You must reverse diet to fix this.
2. Calorie cycling may help regulate hormones affected by fat loss.
Intense dieting messes with your hormones. Specifically: Leptin, Thyroid hormones, & Reproductive hormones (testosterone & estrogen)
If you’re trying to lose fat, leptin’s a particular concern. Leptin is released by fat tissue, & plays a key role in hunger & metabolic adaptation.
The more body fat you have, the more leptin in your blood. Your brain uses leptin levels to make decisions about hunger, calorie intake, nutrient absorption, & energy use. When you reduce calorie intake, even just for a few days, leptin levels drop. This tells your brain you need to eat to prevent starvation.
The kicker: Leptin is one of the reasons you feel so hungry & binge when you consistently eat less. It is also considered the “master controller” of other hormones, meaning that when leptin drops, so do thyroid & reproductive hormones.
So by periodically eating more calories from fats (known as a “refeed”), our leptin levels will temporarily rise, telling your brain that you’re safe & well-fed, causing a temporary decrease in hunger & appetite. The extra calories & energy will also help with performance.
This higher calorie break, might also make it feel easier to adhere to a lower calorie intake. As with any diet, consistency & adherence are key!
Optimizing hormone & metabolic health is essential for any body goal. Learn to work WITH your body not against it!
Who Should Try Fat CyclingSpecifically?
Fat cycling isn’t right for everyone, nor is it necessary of any kind of diet. But it can work for specific types of people.
Try it if:
You have your big rock habits nailed down & have ADAPTED FULLY to the carnivore /keto/low carb lifestyle
You eat nourishing meats & animal products, you’re eating at your maintenance calories, your gut health is good, sleep is great, exercise habits are routine, your relationship with food is great, you eat mindfully, no disordered eating or bingeing, etc.
You want to get leaner& have plateaued
As you diet & get leaner, your body will start to fight every last bit of fat loss. Cycling calorie & fat intake could help minimize the metabolic adaptation that often occurs with a chronic, ongoing calorie deficit. Plus, refeed days & cycling more food can make dieting suck less & easier to adhere to. Carb cycling can do the same thing for those of you who consume carbs & a more “balanced” plate approach.
Common Fat Loss & Dieting Strategies
Common Fat Cycling Strategies & What Has Worked For Me
There is no one size fits all here, again, you can choose any number of days to reduce your fat & calories depending on your needs.
There are many of us in the carnivore & low carb community experimenting with fat cycling. Which, as explained above, simply means cycling periods of days during the week that are leaner (eating lower fat proteins) with days of higher fats (more around your grams for maintenance calories). This naturally will lower your calories when you do this.
I feel its beneficial as a whole to cycle any kind of diet/fitness regimen. Our bodies are smart, they adapt to the same foods, workouts, & stressors.
I’ve found fat cycling to be helpful if you’ve plateaued on your fat loss journey or not seen any progress (again, your definition of progress will be different depending on your goal & needs) for several weeks.
This is very similar to carb cycling for those of you who follow a traditional diet which includes carbohydrates.
Red light therapy significantly helped my energy, sleep, digestion, & skin! It’s one of my favorite biohacking routines. Read all about it here!
I use an EMR TEK FIREWAVE red light. Discount code at checkout: lilbitoffit20
**As always, I am not a physician, always consult with your doctors before changing any kind of protocol, this is simply my experience.
My physique is leaner than it has ever been, weight has only fluctuated a couple lbs here & there but I find I wake around 100-105 lbs the majority of the time. I’m 41 yrs old, 5’1, 15k steps/d, active job in radiology, workout 5d/week doing a mix of Orange Theory, lifting, & occasional CrossFit. Protein stays ~130- 175gish (for ME), low fat day ~85-90g, high fat day ~135-150g. Calories range from ~1,550-2100+/d. Surplus/Refeed ~2,200. I always listen to my body and eat what I’m craving. I eat when I’m hungry and fast when I’m not.
For supplement support I Take GDA-Max, Utilyze, & Cort-Eaze from @nuethix_formulations to help with stressors for hormone balance. Discount Code: lilbitoffit
I’m happy with my physique where it is, so I know I need to make sure to cycle in more higher fat days (which means higher calories) if I find I’m too lean or losing too much weight/strength. Naturally I typically cycle 3-4 lower fat days, 2-3 maintenance days, & if I feel like I need more, I’ll throw in 1 surplus (refeed) day. It varies. I don’t have a set program & live vibrationally honoring my energy.
Favorite lower fat foods: 90% ground beef, Perdue ground chicken, shrimp, cod, & swai. My crispy airfryer meat bars are life & easy to track. Track. Your. Food. It will help with adjustments. I use MyfitnessPal.
Happy cycling y’all!! I hope this helped! You can always slide into my DM’s on Instagram!
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of healthcare, fitness, & personal development.
You can find her personal weight loss & healing story here.
She’s been involved in travel nursing & radiography for 20 years! She’s a writer, connection maker, nutritionist, & entrepreneur who loves helping others & squeezing every drop out of life!
Katie grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture & healthcare were her first loves.
She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation with weight loss & Crohn’s disease.
She competed as a competitive CrossFit athlete in her early 30’s. After decades of struggling with her own health issues from Crohn’s, obesity, disordered eating, infertility, & hormonal imbalances, she is passionate about helping others find self-love, achieve their health & business goals, & create sustainable success habits for an EXTRAordinary life!
I got to a point in my fitness & health journey where whatever I did, even if I bought expensive appetite suppressants, I couldn’t stop eating.
With Crohn’s, hell there were days I didn’t know what to eat because everything seemed to irritate my gut & I was still gaining weight, despite fasting all the time.
The inflammation & weight gain made me want to eat less & workout more, further exacerbating my terrible relationship with food & exercise. I empathize with y’all struggling.
When I was younger, I was following a low-fat, high-carb diet. Fat was the devil. I also observed this undesirable situation happening to friends, family, coworkers, & fellow athletes.
The reasons we couldn’t shed the body fat were ultimately malfunctioning or unbalanced hormonal issues. More explicitly 👉 leptin resistance, insulin resistance, & imbalanced cortisol.
Symptoms of leptin resistance, for example, might include:
The inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction & extreme exercise
Extreme cravings for food even if you’ve recently eaten
Persistent weight gain despite attempts at weight loss
Lower than normal body temperature & resting heart rate
Presence of other hormone imbalances (including hypothyroidism, estrogen dominance, low progesterone, low testosterone, or high cortisol)
In this story, my story, & maybe it rings true for your story, I explain why leptin resistance, blood sugar control & cortisol balance matter for fat loss & metabolic health.
Here’s how I fixed mine & created a healthy lifestyle I love!
Keep in mind, some people with underlying health conditions might need medical intervention & support. Therefore, just adjusting our lifestyle might not work for some of us. This is not medical advice or a prescription, simply things I’ve learned & how I improved my health!
BONUS: I created a guide of biohacking products & services {+ discount codes 😉 } that changed my life here!
Here’s How I Fixed My Leptin Resistance & Helped Balance Blood Sugar & Cortisol
What is leptin, and why does leptin resistance matter?
Like other hormones, leptin is also highly complex. However, I feel we don’t need to know the details unless we work as medical specialists in a field. Lets keep this as simple as possible but still have a solid understanding of the what, why, & how behind it. It is easy for us to manage & optimize with healthy lifestyle changes. Its implications can be invaluable for appetite management & preventing undesirable fat gain leading to metabolic disorders.
Leptin is a hormone that signals the brain we consume enough food. In addition to being a signaling hormone, leptin also regulates energy balance & counteracts the hunger hormone called ghrelin.
Unfortunately, if leptin does not function correctly, we will continue eating & consuming excess calories, which turns into visceral fat. Consequently, this condition can imbalance other hormones & lead to metabolic disorders.
Excess calories might be from carbs, fats, or proteins. However, the ones from carbs can much more quickly turn into fat molecules, & they accumulate, leading to obesity.
When leptin signals work properly, we stop eating naturally as the brain triggers feelings of satiety. Having a leptin-sensitive body prevents us from overeating.
However, leptin resistance is an agonizing health condition if it persists. It prevents the brain from receiving satiety signals causing emotional food consumption of more than what we need.
A leptin-resistant body might lead to binge eating due to the constantly activated hunger hormone ghrelin.
When the body is leptin resistant, the ghrelin hormone creates hunger feelings so strong that we might feel like starving even though the body has adequate stored energy.
This awful & paradoxical feeling encourages us to eat emotionally even if we physically have more energy than needed to survive.
Overeating, unfortunately, causes weight gain, might lead to obesity, & cause metabolic disorders such as type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, & even some cancers.
Based on my past experiences of struggling with weight gain, Crohn’s disease, gut & inflammatory issues, here are shifts that helped me improve leptin sensitivity, lose body fat, & gain my health back!
**My points are not prescriptive, as they might not apply to everyone. However, I emphasize the critical principles here so y’all can learn & can customize these protocols based on your needs.**
Optimized blood sugar via a meat based “carnivore” diet approach
My first step was to optimize blood sugar & prevent frequent & prolonged insulin spikes. When my blood sugar suddenly dropped, I faced an extreme sense of hunger & craved unhealthy foods like processed foods. I want y’all to understand this process, so dietary changes make sense.
Our bloodstream needs glucose to cater to the energy requirements of cells, tissues, & organs. If the amount passes the threshold, the body perceives the glucose as “toxic” & quickly acts to eliminate it. The pancreas releases insulin hormone & causes the glucose to be quickly removed from the bloodstream.
The first preference is muscles, as they are critical for survival. If muscles don’t need glucose, the body sends the excess glucose to fat cells by converting glucose to fat molecules.
Consequently, our fat cells grow by accumulating visceral fat, especially in the abdominal area. Muffin top ring a bell?
Optimized blood sugar & prevented insulin spikes by reducing carbs
When muscles and other organ cells stop responding to insulin signals to utilize glucose, a condition called “insulin resistance” occurs. The pancreas creates more insulin to manage elevated glucose. One of the causes of insulin resistance is hyperinsulinemia.
The culprit to raise blood glucose & cause sudden insulin spikes is the overconsumption of refined carbs. Too much protein can also cause more insulin spikes but not as much as refined carbs.
So my dietary solution to optimize my blood glucose & reverse insulin resistance was to cut all refined carbs, particularly bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, candy, & any sugary beverages.
This step primed my body to optimize glucose & make it more insulin sensitive. However, the 2nd step sustainably contributed to making it more leptin sensitive after having an insulin-sensitive body.
Increased healthy fats and bioavailable proteins via a meat based “carnivore” diet
When doing my research, I learned that there were 2 critical factors determining the relationships between dietary fats & leptin.
The 1st factor is leptin is made up of fat molecules. The 2nd is that leptin informs satiety in the brain when we consume food containing fat in each meal. It keeps us fuller, faster. Leptin also relates to the overall body fat percentage.
Those with higher fat should have more leptin, however, we need to understand the issue of leptin resistance in obese people. Leptin resistance means that the body & brain become unable to respond to this critical hormone so we keep eating more than we need.
One of the root causes of leptin resistance is not consuming enough healthy fats, optimal protein, & too many carbs. Therefore, when I started eating more healthy fats & more bioavailable proteins, my satiety increased, cravings & inflammation decreased, & hormones started balancing out. I no longer binged or craved carbs.
This solution stopped my hunger pangs. I felt great satiety after each meal. I understood more fully my poor emotional relationship with carbs & sugar. I relate it to being an alcoholic. I can’t have one cookie or cake, I’m an addict. You don’t tell an alcoholic it’s ok, just have a drink. Understood?
Nowadays, even if I eat OMAD (one meal a day) for several days, I don’t feel any cravings & don’t consume food emotionally. I only eat when I physically feel hungry.
My diet consists of primarily red ruminant meats like beef & lamb, occasional chicken, turkey, & pork, seafood, eggs, occasional daily (butter/cheese/milk), organic coffee, water, electrolytes, & occasional social alcohol in the form of bourbon or vodka.
The next step focused on reducing oxidative stress & chronic inflammation. With Crohn’s disease these are CRITICAL!
Improved sleep quality, lowered stress, prioritized self care & “biohacking“
During my research of metabolic hormones causing weight gain, I discovered that the 3rd cause of leptin resistance was sleep deprivation & stress – basically a f*cked up sleep routine & not being able to chill out. They caused both increased cortisol & blood sugar. This was an eye-opener for me.
The solution to balance insulin & cortisol was restorative sleep, self care, & whatever the hell I had to do to chill out, detox, & slow down to lower oxidative stress & chronic inflammation. When I got restorative sleep, my chronic stress & inflammation all but disappeared. As a result, my hunger pangs & food cravings diminished & gradually ended too. Which is why I say NO to going out when I don’t have the energy. My health suffers.
I now incorporate infrared sauna, red light therapy, grounding (earthing) mats, blue blocking glasses, get outside in nature & the sunlight as much as possible, & reduce toxins in my beauty, food, & home products as much as possible too. Biohacking products all posted in my IG highlights & codes in link in IG bio!
Why Stress & Cortisol are Making You Fat
What is Cortisol & why does it matter?
Cortisol is a hormone, which as levels rise in response to stressors, not only affects our blood glucose, but influences our physical & psychological processes including fat loss.
Stressors can include things like:
Under eating
Over exercising
Relationship stress, kids
Job stress
Trigger foods, gut issues
Lack of quality sleep
Over caffeinating, Alcohol
Fasting too long
The direct effect cortisol has on insulin is a big contributing factor to weight & fat gain.
For example:
Elevated cortisol levels stimulate gluconeogenesis, the breakdown of non-carbohydrate sources like protein into glucose. This will increase our blood glucose even on low carb diets. If prolonged, this can lead to changes in appetite regulating hormones like leptin & ghrelin, causing us to eat more than we need.
How can we minimize stressors?
Eat enough food for optimal body function & activity. Typically called our true maintenance calories. You can use the TDEEcalculator.net to find yours.
No chronic dieting or yo-yo dieting. Periodize nutrition. Eat meat & healthy fats. Minimize processed food.
Get to sleep! 7-9 hrs of quality per night.
Limit caffeine intake to mornings only.
Cultivate a positive environment & monitor what you consume from social media, to food, people, tv, books, podcasts, etc. GRATITUDE.
Take time for self care. No excessive fasting, find an optimal fasting window for you. Most do well 12-16 hrs overnight.
Recover from workouts efficiently, take rest days, walk.
Here’s my daily routine. I created a guide for you!
The best pre-workout: sleep, proper hydration & electrolytes
The best fat burner: sleep, stress management, & a calorie deficit
The best workout & training plan: The one that you’ll do & stick with longer than 2 weeks.
The best diet: The one that you’ll do & stick with longer than 2 weeks. (Meat-based for people with gut issues, autoimmune needs, & emotional issues with food addiction & carbs imo.)
The best protein & multivitamins: meat, eggs, & healthy fats from animal sources.
Realize the body you want requires you to eat more & lift heavy stuff, not living in a constant state of restriction & extremes. Your weight & what you look like are the least most interesting things about you. You can look good nekkid at any weight, it’s about perception & confidence. Health looks good on everyone.
Why Your Blood Sugar May Be Affecting Your Fat Loss
Tools I’ve Used To Check Mine
Keto Mojo: checks both ketones & blood glucose. Has app, blue tooth, syncs with phone, got mine off Amazon.
Nutrisense Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM): my top pick. Painless application, has app, syncs with phone, no pricking your finger, continuous monitoring, access to their nutritionists. Discount Code: lilbitoffitCGM10
Times to Check Blood Glucose
Fasted 1st thing when you wake before any food or drink: to gain data & a biomarker of metabolic & hormonal health. This is when I weigh myself too.
2 hours after eating combo meals: to see how they interact with one another & affect your digestion & blood glucose. Quality & quantity matter. Ex: combos like carbs + protein +fat, high protein + low fat, high fat + lower protein, carbs + protein, carbs +fat, etc.
After eating singular foods: to see what spikes your blood sugar more than the other. Ex: like testing after eating carbs, diet pop, chewing gum, using sweetener, eating dairy, after a larger high protein meal, after a bolus of fat, etc.
After periods of stress: to see how your body handles stress. Ex: after a hard workout, a poor nights sleep, after a stressful life experience, etc.
FAQ’s & Tips To Help
What can I use to track? I’ve used a keto mojo & my top pick is a NutriSense CGM. You can get a simple glucometer from your local drugstore too. Discount Code: lilbitoffitCGM10
What range should my blood sugar be for optimal body fat loss? I like MINE in that 70-90/dL range fasting. Normal fasting ranges will vary but for most are in the 70-100 range. Mine tends to run higher, around 85-100 while others may be lower around 65-80. Lifestyle, genetics, & environmental factors all matter & can affect ranges.
How long should I wait after meals to check my glucose? I recommend checking prior to your meal then 1-2 hours after eating for your “peak” levels.
What diet works best for food/sugar addiction? Low carb & meat-based hands down in my opinion.
What are normal blood sugar levels?
They’re less than 100 mg/dL after not eating (fasting) for at least 8 hours. And they’re less than 140 mg/dL 2 hours after eating. During the day, levels tend to be at their lowest just before meals. For most people without diabetes, blood sugar levels before meals hover around 70 to 80 mg/dL. For some people, 60 is normal; for others, 90. Again, we’re all different.
Why does it matter if my blood sugar is high, like around 120-200ish sometimes?
It is very important to keep your blood sugar level under control. It affects everything really, mood, fat loss, weight gain, hunger, satiety, energy, performance, sleep, etc. When your blood sugar level is high, it can cause damage in your veins & arteries. This damage could lead to complications later such as heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, neuropathies, vision problems, etc.
What foods spike my sugar most? What food has carbohydrates? Carbs typically spike blood sugar the most, then protein, then fat. Fruits, starchy veggies, milk, dairy, yogurt, rice, cereals, bread, grains, basically think anything sweet all have carbs. High glycemic foods affect glucose the most, ex: bread, cereal, candy, baked goods, fruit, honey, rice, crackers, cookies, rice cakes, sugar, pancakes, waffles, potatoes, corn, most processed foods.
If it is sugar free, I can eat as much as I want, right? SF foods can be part of your diet in moderation. Abstainers typically do better abstaining from any carbs, sugar, or SF substitutes. Many cause gut issues like bloating, constipation, & pain due to added fibers, fillers, gums, sugar alcohols & artificial sweeteners. Some of these foods still have carbs (in the form of other sweeteners such as sorbitol, isomalt, & mannitol) & may affect your glucose levels.
Things That Elevate Blood Sugar You May Be Overlooking
Coffee: Increases adrenaline, cortisol (stress hormones) & blood sugar which can cause a release from our liver glycogen even when fasting. This was one thing I tested, luckily black coffee only affected my blood sugar like 2-5 points. Best to drink with food 90 minutes after waking for more optimal hormone balance.
Fasting too long: Again, increases body stress which increases your cortisol level which will cause liver glycogen to be released & your blood sugar to rise. Are you waking up in the middle of the night? Is your fasting AM blood sugar high (>95)? Try eating more, shorten fasting windows
Dehydration: Less blood volume=higher concentrations of glucose in the blood. Shoot for 1/2 your body weight in Oz of water daily.
Over exercising, under eating, &/or eating trigger foods: All huge stressors on the body which increase cortisol & thus blood glucose.
Carbs: No they’re not the devil. Typically it’s our relationships with them & our habits that are. Carbs do keep us calm by serotonin & cortisol. Our tolerances vary bioindividually. Typically in a healthy individual the more active the more carbs we require & tolerate. Carbs do spike your insulin higher than protein or fats. Carbs obviously spiked my blood sugar higher than any other food even experimenting consuming 2lbs of a high-protein meal. 3 rice cakes spiked my insulin to 160. The 2lbs of beef #meatbars spiked my insulin to 130.
Artificial sweeteners & sweet beverages: If it tastes sweet typically it will cause a reaction in your body & spike your blood sugar to some degree. I’m all about moderation but don’t have the majority of your diet full of diet foods & Splenda just to save a few calories & carbs. They lack in micronutrients which your body needs to function properly. In my experience with the CGM, they did elevate my blood glucose slightly but not very much, maybe 5 to 10 points max.
Alcohol: I’m just leaving this one there, y’all this is common sense. The higher the calorie, the higher the sugar, the higher the carbs the more it is going to spike your blood glucose. The “worst” options are beer, wine, sugary cocktails like White Russians, margaritas, Mojito‘s, Long Island iced teas, etc. I know it’s heartbreaking right ?!
Sleep: Not only does this disrupt your satiety & hunger hormones like a leptin & Ghrelin which can cause you to crave carbs & feel like a bottomless pit, it also spikes your blood sugar, & your performance, fitness goals & recovery suffer. I found lack of sleep, not getting sunlight, & high intensity workouts especially fasting were the biggest culprits that spiked my blood sugar & made me feel like trash. Get outside at sunrise, take sun breaks midday. Use blue blocking glasses. Reduce caffeine. Utilize red light therapy. I have an @emrtekinc Firewave light. Discount Code: lilbitoffit20
Helpful Charts
Conclusions and Takeaways
In summary, I owe a healthier, leaner body to 3 simple lifestyle habits:
The 1st was to refrain from refined carbs & sugar.
The 2nd was to increase healthy fats & consume adequate bioavailable proteins via a meat “carnivore” based woe.
And the 3rd was to get restorative sleep, reduce stress, & increase self care via “biohacking.”
However, I also incorporated a 4th solution, which was time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting. It indirectly contributed to making my body more leptin sensitive because it made it insulin sensitive & fat-adapted, too. No excessive fasting, I am intentional & follow my body’s natural hunger cues. I fast 14-20 hrs overnight on avg. Just wanted to create awareness. It’s optional as it might not be feasible for everyone & might not be needed if the 3 mentioned steps are in place.
When we make the body insulin & leptin sensitive, keeping a healthy weight can be a breeze. Therefore, we might not need expensive supplements, fad diets, or excessive exercise. Thank you for reading my perspectives & experiences! I wish y’all the healthiest, happiest, & most badass life ever!
Like this blog? Find it helpful? Interested in trying carnivore & fasting with me? Join my coaching community & book a coaching call!
{I also provide you with a recipe book, Meat & Macros Guide & 2 workout plans!}
oxox Coach K
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of healthcare, fitness, & personal development.
You can find her personal weight loss & healing story here.
She’s been involved in travel nursing & radiography for 20 years! She’s a writer, connection maker, nutritionist, & entrepreneur who loves helping others & squeezing every drop out of life!
Katie grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture & healthcare were her first loves.
She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation with weight loss & Crohn’s disease.
She competed as a competitive CrossFit athlete in her early 30’s. After decades of struggling with her own health issues from Crohn’s, obesity, disordered eating, infertility, & hormonal imbalances, she is passionate about helping others find self-love, achieve their health & business goals, & create sustainable success habits for an EXTRAordinary life!
This will probably trigger you… It triggers me everytime someone asks me. “How do I learn to love myself?”
Straight up, I’ll tell you, you are the reason you’re not where you wanna be. And it’s because of fear.
I tell you this as your coach & fellow human that understands.
For the majority of you following along my fitness journey via the interwebs, I feel confident saying we have many things in common, including this painful topic.
You see I realize now, as my 41 year old self, fear of gaining weight totally stifled my potential, controlled, & basically wrecking balled my life in every facet.
Every facet of life is connected. I categorize mine as health, self, wealth, & relationships.
My disordered eating & self love journey started at the age of 8.
Fear of gaining weight & self loathing caused me to live decades in agony & struggle.
I ate all the wrong things for me. All the “healthy” sugar free food & crazy diets that tore up my gut, hormones, & metabolism.
I starved, binged, purged, & over exercised myself to exhaustion, inflammation, & imbalances.
I didn’t have many friends & missed out on SOOO many memories because I feared eating food, both because I didn’t wanna go over my calories & be “fat” & I feared being judged for not being able to eat “normal” due to my Crohn’s.
I didn’t ask guys out, I doubted myself. I was never athletic enough, skinny enough, lean enough, strong enough, pretty enough, smart enough…
I never reached a body goal I was happy with no matter how thin I got or how strong I got. Not because I wasn’t a hard worker, I worked my ass off, but because my relationship with myself, my negative mindset, & fear of gaining weight controlled ME.
I had a DM from a woman desperate for me to give her magic macros & all the answers to get a lean physique.
First thing she said, “I’m afraid to gain the weight back, but what I’m doing isn’t working.”She was eating tons of lean protein, little fat, stated she was hungry all the time, fasting, working out like a fiend…sound familiar?
I said you’re right, it’s not working. The main issue isn’t not having the perfect macros or workout regime, it’s because you’re letting your fear of gaining weight block your doors of abundance & success.
It’s preventing you mentally & physically from making the correct decisions & courses of action. Your body also responds to your thoughts & feelings, if all you think & feel is self hate, despair, & poor health – that’s what you’re gonna get.
She said, “I never thought of it that way.”
I said, “Exactly.”
So I wrote a list of simple things I did to help me learn to love myself for you to refer back to. Make these yours however they fit & resonate.
I hope they give you HOPE that you can learn to love yourself too.
Simple Ways I Learned to Love Myself
Self awareness means to know & accept yourself. It’s impossible to love yourself if you don’t even know who you are. Invest in discovering what you believe, value, & like. And yes, this will mean making mistakes, but you’ll learn & discover what you do like.
I asked myself these questions: What are my strengths? How do I want to feel in my body, relationships, & finances? Who matters most to me? Who are my people? What am I ashamed of? What do I like to do for fun? What am I worried about that consumes my thoughts? What are my values? What do I believe in? If I could have one wish, it would be… Where do I feel safest? What or who gives me comfort? What or who do I numb with? If I wasn’t afraid, I would… What is my proudest accomplishment? What is my biggest failure? Am I a night owl or an early bird? How can I arrange my life to better suit this part of me? What do I like about my job(s)? Does it bring me joy & fulfillment? What do I do to show myself love & self-care? Am I an introvert or an extrovert? Am I energized being around others or being by myself? What is/are my happiest memory/memories? What am I grateful for?
Say “no” when you need to. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you smart & more able to fully yourself & those around you. Boundaries are one HUGE form of self-care because they let others know that you are deserving of respect.
Comparison is the thief of Joy -Stop. Others aren’t better or worse, more or less than you; we’re all just different. You are worthy simply because you exist. Period. The reason we struggle is because we compare everyone’s highlight reels to our behind the scenes.
The reason we struggle is because we compare everyone’s highlight reels to our behind the scenes.
Know and own your strengths. We all have tremendous gifts. refer back to those questions in number 1. And again, stop comparing. When you’re busy, distracted, & always stuck in comparison “whoa is me” mode, it’s hard to acknowledge & access these vibrant qualities. Focusing on your strengths will increase your positive feelings for yourself & inner & outer vibration.
Let go of the past. Your past mistakes and imperfections don’t need you anymore. Cut the cords physically & energetically. Embrace your humanness. Mistakes are normal. Imperfections are part of what makes you, YOU. Everything is an experience. That’s it. You can choose & begin again every day.
Accept that some people won’t like you no matter what you do. All that matters is you love YOU. People view you from their own lens of life experience & trauma. We do this to others too. So think about that before you go to judge someone. Don’t waste your time trying to please people who are impossible to please or people who just aren’t that important to you. Being yourself means you have to give up your people-pleasing ways and embrace your authentic self. People pleasing leads to you losing yourself & ultimately building resentment.
Make JOY & fun unapologetic priorities. We were meant to live this life in Joy. Put something you love & look forward to on your agenda every week. Anticipation is a key stage in helping you feel happiness; by having something to look forward to, no matter what your circumstances, you bring happiness into your life well before the event actually takes place. That’s you vibrating those happy feelings we all want which helps us attract abundance into all areas of our lives.
Practice gratitude. Gratitude is one of the simplest ways to focus on the good in yourself and in your life. Name at least 3 things you’re grateful for when you wake up every morning. Flood your mind & morning with positive quotes, images, intentions for your day. This is an enormous part of my morning routine. I speak out everything I’m grateful for no matter how silly they seem. I can’t tell you how many times I say, “Thank you God & Universe” during my days. And it has made all the positive difference. Even for small things like a light turning green, or a parking space, or bills or expenses that enable me to live a life of comfort & joy.
Here are some things I like to do that help me live in positivity & gratitude:
Waiting in a checkout line, compliment someone. Acknowledge people & say good morning. Buy someone’s groceries or coffee. Be kind to the homeless & less fortunate.
Leave sweet notes for your partner, spouse, kids, roommates, coworkers, etc telling them how much you appreciate them. Send a kind text.
Send people gifts on Amazon. OMG, one of my favorite things to do! Get their address & send them something to brighten their day! You can do this anywhere & anytime without even leaving home or getting out of your pj’s!
Tip well & express gratitude for exceptional service. Give well deserved reviews. I do this at restaurants, bars, on instacart & amazon, surveys about services.
Thank the Universe, God, Collective- whatever & whoever you believe in for letting you live another day.
Thank Mother Earth & farmers for our food.
Express your appreciation for the weather.
Daily, write down at least 3 things you feel grateful for.
Look in the mirror & appreciate all the miraculous things your body does for you. What do you love about yourself?
Open the door for people. Help the elderly. Talk to everyone no matter who they are. Tell people who serve you THANK YOU!
Take nurturing, loving care of your body! Y’all, health is truly priceless & your greatest wealth. Give yourself the gift of feeling physically strong & thriving – move, exercise regularly, eat healthfully, hydrate, get 7-8 hours of sleep most nights, say no to gluttony, & minimize alcohol &/or other numbing mechanisms. The most successful, happy people are those with daily success habits & a routine that helps them thrive!
Write yourself a love letter. Get it out, you’re amazing! This puts all the wonderful intentions out there & that’s what you’ll attract back to you. We attract what we ARE. Attraction also includes the words ACTION. Do the things that embody the person you desire to be. Repeat this list in the mirror every morning. Write them out on post it notes & put them where you can see them.
Surround yourself with a nurturing, up leveling environment. This includes everything you consume: people, books, movies, social media, food, drink, jobs, where you live, where you hang out, etc. Who you spend time with reflects how you feel about yourself. People who feel worthy surround themselves with positive people. Sometimes loving yourself means you have to end relationships & things & let them go. Let them go with LOVE.
Things that keep me HIGH VIBE⚡️✨:
Pinterest scripting (saving photos I wanna manifest & those that make me feel AMAZING, LUSCIOUS, VIBRANT, EMPOWERED, etc)
High vibe music
Exercise, walking, nature
Infrared sauna, red light therapy
Positive podcasts & audiobooks
Coloring & Canva design
Talking to my people, writing
Smiling at someone, hugging
Doing something kind for someone
Gratitude shower
Putting on makeup, hair/wardrobe accessories
Dressing in sparkly vibrant clothes/jewelry
Massage, Doing my nails, lash & hair extensions
Organizing & cleaning my space
Wearing certain colors #colortherapy
Start with the ones that feel easiest for you & work on something new every week. A reminder you can do hard things, especially when the hardest thing feels like loving YOU.
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of healthcare, fitness, & personal development.
You can find her personal weight loss & healing story here.
She’s been involved in travel nursing & radiography for 20 years! She’s a writer, connection maker, nutritionist, & entrepreneur who loves helping others & squeezing every drop out of life!
Katie grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture & healthcare were her first loves.
She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation with weight loss & Crohn’s disease.
She competed as a competitive CrossFit athlete in her early 30’s. After decades of struggling with her own health issues from Crohn’s, obesity, disordered eating, infertility, & hormonal imbalances, she is passionate about helping others find self-love, achieve their health & business goals, & create sustainable success habits for an EXTRAordinary life!
The biggest struggle as far as macros with the majority of people I work with is getting in enough protein.
Most often I see women eating in the ranges of 50-70g per day wondering why they’re not seeing tone=lean muscle, why they hungry af all the time, & not seeing results in the gym.
If there’s one thing that can help you feel satisfied & increase the chance you’ll lose body fat & gain muscle in turn, it’s eating more protein. Enjoy this guide!! Swipe!
Protein has been shown to help keep you fuller longer, speed up your metabolism, & help build muscle more efficiently. I call it the master Macro.
I realize choking down a plethora of the same ol dishes isn’t for everyone, here are some tips to help you pimp up your protein game:
HELPFUL TIPS
▫️Increase meat portions at meals
▫️Add a protein source to every meal
▫️Add protein powder or collagen to shakes, oatmeal, & pancakes if you eat carbs
I use @nuethix_formulations protein powder & greens powder (LINKS IN BIO/send me a dm with questions) link:
▫️Protein oatmeal, overnight oats (if you eat carbs)
▫️Protein shakes
▫️Mozzarella string cheese & Greek Yogurt (if no dairy intolerance)
▫️Eggs, hard boiled eggs
▫️Jerky bars & sticks
▫️All natural deli meat, Rotisserie chicken
PIMP YOUR PROTEIN! MEAL PREP TIPS + GROCERY HAUL WITH COACH K!
Questions over & over again when it comes to meal prepping, protein, & macros👉”What’s something quick & easy I can make?” &, “How can I get in more protein without the fat?”
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of healthcare, fitness, & personal development. Travel Radiographer, motivational writer, nutritionist, Medium — gifts of many things, she grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture & healthcare were her first loves.
She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation through Crohn’s disease & life as a radiologic technologist with 18 years experience!
After decades of struggling with her own health issues from Crohn’s, obesity, disordered eating, infertility, hormonal imbalances, & being a competitive CrossFit athlete, she is passionate about helping others find self love, embrace their gifts, achieve their goals, & create sustainable success habits for an EXTRAordinary life!
“When you are “getting your shit together” & finding clarity it oftentimes gets lonely. There’s growth in being alone & there’s a big difference in being lonely vs alone. You don’t have to be the person with a lot to say & you don’t owe anyone any explanations. The most powerful person is the best listener, especially with yourself.”
I’ll never forget that.
I’m writing this update & sharing my thoughts just as much for me as it is for you. Enjoy the storytelling! I appreciate all of you who take time to read & allow me to add value to your lives whether it be here on the blog, Instagram, or “real life.”
I’m at a point in my life where I’m so trusting in my abilities, self awareness, adaptability, & faith that the Universe always takes care of me, it’s unfathomable. I always end up where I’m meant to be. Especially when I feel anxious, stagnant, & just fuckin weird sometimes.
I finally surrendered & quit trying to make sense or rigidly control everything.
I live by the MO: “I don’t do rules, I do what feels right.“
Maybe you’re here in a similar energetic space, too.
Warm summer days, the road & the radio = life’s simple pleasures
When you first meet me, I’m pretty quiet. (Unless I’m jacked up on caffeine😂)
I’m an observer, an “experience collector” I like to say.
I might not have a ton to say. I may not have a ton of questions to ask, but that’s because I do a lot of listening.
Not in a judgmental sense, but out of an intention to learn. To actually hear your story. To connect with your energy & not just the words coming out of your mouth.
The more you listen, the more people tell you. The more you get quiet with yourself, the more clarity you have with your answers & paths you wish to take.
In these times when I go internal & solitary (hermit mode lol), some people in my life tend to get triggered. My silence is nothing personal, but a protective growth measure & absolute survival necessity for me.
↓SIDE NOTE ↓
{A tip that will help you live a more peaceful life: live by the Four Agreements}
The Four Agreements are:
Be Impeccable With Your Word.
Don’t Take Anything Personally.
Don’t Make Assumptions.
Always Do Your Best.
Best I’ve ever felt & looked. My 40’s have treated me well! Every year gets better!
Here are a few blogs for you, because I know I’ll get asked about food/workouts/routines, etc. ↓
I’ve had a lot of conversations. I’ve listened to a lot of stories from y’all. I’ve heard a lot about life. I’ve had a lot of wisdom, vulnerability, courage, & confession shared with me.
And while I’d never disclose the words & revelations composing these exchanges, the one thing I am constantly reminded of is: →nobody has their shit together.
The ONLY way to truly have your shit together…is to accept that you’re NEVER going to have it together & to find out how to live within that.
The people we admire for their “togetherness” just have one piece or a few pieces of the puzzle figured out. What they don’t do, is let the subsequent balls dropping interfere with their success & progress.
Managing overwhelm comes with how well you know your comfort zone. Not for the purpose of staying within it, but having enough awareness to know when it is beneficial for you to push past your pre-existing limits & when you need to stay in it.
Hey, I like my bourbon on the rocks kinda like my life LOL! Beef & bourbon can solve alotta problems ya know. [ Write that down 🙂 ]
Having it together is boring. It doesn’t give you much else to learn nor extension to grow.
I’d rather take my mess & have a story to show😉
I stumbled across a letter I wrote to myself my freshman year at Purdue.
During orientation, we were told to write these letters to our future selves with our hopes & dreams.
“Dear Katie, I hope you always remember how wildly beautiful you are. And on those days that you forget, I hope you always remember you have the strength to come back, forgive yourself & try again.”
The one piece that struck me → I ended it saying that, “I hope that when I read this letter, I have learned to love myself & have grown as a person.”
You’ll learn as you get older when you know you’re rare, you live different.
You love different. You surround yourself with other rare, high value people, too.
You don’t waste your rarity taking things personal or trying to control other people.
You don’t waste your time trying to chase or convince others of your worth.
So proud of the woman I used to be that created the woman I am today.
I wrote another letter on July 1st to myself on my 40th birthday eve last year.
I sent it to a woman today mourning a younger version of herself…
“People everywhere walk around fearing aging, & trying to deny its fate. But it is exciting…a new decade, a new start, a new adventure!
I love how much you have grown in your acceptance of being just who you are over the last few decades.
I love how you are willing to do the hard work of examining thoughts, actions & past experiences. How you work to find all the little elements that make you, you.
I love how you have taken on challenges & stepped into new things, with some trepidation but also excitement.
I love that you feel more & more comfortable in your own skin, with your own particular way of dressing, loving, eating, & being.
I love that you are a good friend & an encourager of women.
I know that last decade had pain, some heartache & tears, & I can’t promise that the next decade won’t hold that too. But I pray that you will continue to remember that grief is a part of life, that you will allow it to wash over you but not overwhelm you.
I pray that you grow in your writing. That your words reach women of all ages, that you lift them up will a simple phrase or a recognition of “me too”.
I pray that you continue to grow in your capacity to love. That you will continue to be a true, honest friend & lover. One who is able to have hard conversations & grow a friendship & relationship.
I pray that you will not despise the small ordinariness of life. But also, that you won’t get subsumed by it & will reach for extraordinary experiences.
I pray that you will continue to treat your body with the respect & honor it deserves. Not despising any part of it, but celebrating that you are a woman of 40 years.
Above all I pray that you will continue to listen to your maker & creator, when he says “this is the way, walk in it”. (Isaiah 30:21)
Happy 40th, & may the next decade be better than the last,
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of health, mindset, human connection, & entrepreneurship. Motivational writer, speaker, doer of many things, she grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture was her first love. She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation through her own relationships, financial struggles, Crohn’s Disease, disordered eating, body transformation, & adapting to a carnivore diet lifestyle.
Katie also has over 18 years experience as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, Nutritionist, Brand Growth & Sales Consultant. She works with people of all walks of life as a nutritionist & life coach to help them authentically optimize their lives to find health, wealth, & happy!
You can catch her via Instagram @lil_bit_of_fit & blog, Lilbitoffit.com
I didn’t dare talk about it much publicly when I was younger, I used to binge eat — A LOT. It didn’t help my health, gut issues, gym performance, or fat loss goals either.
It would happen mostly when I was lonely, stressed, or bored out of my mind. Sometimes, it would happen when I was celebrating, too — but always when I was alone. I would go to the store, buy all the junk food, then go home or sit in my car & eat as much as I could. I was an addict, food was my drug, & binging was a high.
I’d eat until I didn’t think I could eat another bite, & then felt so sick I’d puke to “undo” what I’d done. Sometimes even after I threw up, I’d wait a while, & when the feelings of nausea started to subside, I’d start eating again until either the food was gone, I vomited, or until I went to bed in deep shameful sleep.
Without fail, I’d wake up feeling like absolute shit the next day. I’d beat myself up, forcing an unending spiral of guilt, restriction, & punishment.
To make myself feel even worse, I’d look in the mirror & tell myself how terrible I looked, & that I would never be good enough until I could stop eating & got as thin as I could. That if only I could somehow turn myself into one of those people who just “forgets” to eat, then I’d finally be good enough.
But that was the wrong approach.
Learning to Treat Food as Fuel Looking back at how I used to treat food & abuse my body, my first reaction is to wonder what the hell was wrong with me. After all, the binge eating obviously made me feel like a dumpster fire, physically & emotionally, yet I kept doin it.
But when I took the time to look deeper into my behaviors & habits, I started to be kinder to myself & feel empathy for that past Katie.
Back then, I didn’t treat food as fuel as I do now. I treated it as the enemy.
So if you deal with binge eating at times, or know someone who does, know that you’re not alone. Know there’s hope. But you have to start treating food like you should — as nourishment, not punishment, a treat, or reward.
Here are the strategies that slowly helped me learn to stop binging & start treating food as fuel!
If you don’t know how to stop binge eating start here
Start Eating Enough During the Day
One of the constant mistakes I used to make was to eat as little as possible throughout the day, often limiting food intake to as little as 1,000–1,200 calories. I thought I was being “good” & if I could eat as little as possible without completely crashing, the better.
This caused several problems:
Incredibly low energy, meaning my workouts were shit (if I worked out at all).
Mental fatigue, due to lack of fuel — your body needs food to function at an optimal level.
Feelings of endless hunger due to hormones bring completely f*cked, even after eating a reasonable meal. This made me more susceptible to binging!
The key was pretty simple: EAT enough throughout the day.
Start tracking your calories if you need to keep yourself accountable, & aim to eat at least every 4 hours. This strategy may scare you a bit & make you feel like you’re eating “too much.” But trust me — eating enough during the day does wonders to help you avoid binging.
Don’t Keep Trigger Foods Around
We all have certain foods that once we start eating them, we just can’t stop.
A few of mine:
Cracker, cookies, cereal, cheese nips, goldfish
Sweet sugary candy & drinks
Ice cream, cool whip, chocolate, nut butters
Cake, cupcakes, doughnuts, rolls, biscuits
Rice, french fries, mashed potatoes – basically any CARB.
I’m an abstainer, carbs are drugs for me so I cut them out of my diet almost completely switching to a carnivore WOE (way of eating). Not only is my Crohn’s disease in remission, I’ve lost 55lbs, & healed my binge eating changing the way I eat.
Why do I not “cheat” on my diet? Because it’s not worth it. You’re not winning by cheating on yourself.
Grace & Control Your Environment
Nobody is perfect. We will all have days when we eat too much, choose the less healthy option.
That’s why I follow a flexible “carnivore” low carb approach. I eat well 90% of the time, eating perfect & healthy 100% of the time is unrealistic.
One of the most common questions: How do you stick to a healthy diet when you’re surrounded by tempting food?
The answer: change your environment.
In other words, make it as easy as possible to eat healthy food & as difficult as possible to eat unhealthy food.
Keep healthy food with you so you’re never tempted.
Make it harder to eat out by cooking more meals at home.
Don’t grocery shop when you’re hungry & make sure you’re eating enough to fuel your day!
Restriction or Food Freedom?
Abstainers vs Moderators
Food & sugar addiction are not bullsh*t excuses people make to eat & live a certain way. I lived food addiction for 30+ yrs. It negatively affected me physically & mentally.
I am definitely an abstainer when it comes to carbs & sugar. It is freeing to me to have food rules & not have to waste energy justifying my choices & actions. I either DO or I DON’T. I also understand not everyone is wired this way.
Moderators & abstainers are often very judgmental toward each other, as they both believe that their way of approaching temptation is the right way.
Some think that a meat-based diet or “carnivore” is too extreme and restrictive. But whether that’s true for you might depend on whether you’re an Abstainer or a Moderator. This is why we determine which one you are. It makes choosing a nutrition approach easier because sustainability, ease, & adherence are everything.
I feel our society as a whole has a strong moderator bias. How many times have you heard someone say: “Everything in moderation”?
As one who is an abstainer & suffered with food addiction, disordered eating, orthorexia, alongside an autoimmune condition like Crohn’s, I know first hand not everyone can moderate & eat all foods without repercussions.
Saying things to an abstainer like:
“You’re too restrictive.”
“Just loosen up.”
“One won’t kill you.”
etc…
…is like telling an alcoholic or drug addict to “just have one drink or one hit, you’ll be fine.”
How to Handle Food Pushers & Moderators If You’re an Abstainer
“You’re too restrictive.” We’re all different & I respect your choices. To me, the way I eat is freeing & meets my needs so I can be the best for you. I honor my body & that may change in the future, but for right now, I feel great!
“Just loosen up.” I’m happy you can moderate food choices, but that does not align for me. For people who are abstainers, we have specific needs & approaches that work better.
“Just have one.” I appreciate the gesture,but I don’t feel my best when I have those foods, mentally or physically. Thank you for understanding!
“Meat is bad for you.” Well, so is drinking nothing but celery juice. ( jus sayin lol)
Everyone has the freedom to eat & live as they choose. Right now this is my choice & I respect yours. I feel great, it’s easy & sustainable for me. If I get to a point where I feel like I need to make an adjustment, I will honor that.
Go your own way.
Can you relate to my story too?
oxox Coach K
All resources, links, discount codes, guides, recipes, coaching, & more here. Thank you for allowing me to add value to your lives!
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of health, mindset, human connection, & entrepreneurship. Motivational writer, speaker, doer of many things, she grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture was her first love. She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation through her own relationships, financial struggles, Crohn’s Disease, disordered eating, CrossFit, & adapting a carnivore diet lifestyle.
Katie also has over 18 years experience as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, Nutritionist, & Sales Consultant. She works with people of all walks of life as a nutritionist & personal life coach to help them authentically optimize their lives to find health, wealth, & happy!
This guide has now passed thousands of views! Big thank you to everyone who continues to share (my posts & your story too) & be a big part of my life as my digital family!
You guys make my days so much brighter & I hope you know how much you mean to me!
I’ve lost 55 lbs thanks to carnivore & intermittent fasting! Follow me on Instagram (@lil_bit_of_fit) to see my day-to-day journey with living a meat-based life as a busy xray tech & 40 year old athlete with Crohn’s Disease.
Interested in trying carnivore & fasting with me? Join my coaching community & book a coaching call! I also provide you with a recipe book, Meat & Macros Guide & 2 workout plans!
I tried every diet in the book to lose weight & heal my gut issues. While I did see occasional results, I eventually couldn’t sustain it and then yo-yo’d. IF & carnivore have been the simplest and most manageable way I have found to improve my health & fitness (and stick with it).
This post is intended for my friends (and friends of friends) who have been following my health journey on Instagram, Facebook, or have asked how to get started. Because the interest has been in the thousands (so amazing!), I’ve wanted to share this information more publicly.
In the interest of time, I’ve created this super quick educational start guide with a couple troubleshooting videos!
Let’s dive into fasting & why you may not be seeing results.
I see this oftentimes with all y’all chronically under eating, trying to do protein sparing modified fasting (PSMF) or OMAD (one meal a day) with a disordered eating history.
Tap for a short video on why fasting may not be working for you!
Yes, I prefer to utilize intermittent fasting. It works best for my digestion. I eat when I’m hungry & fast when I’m not. Typical fasting window is around 14-20hrs, biggest meal I consume after my workout in the am. I also love to incorporate fat & carb cycling. It is not necessary for you to fast to achieve your health and body goals no matter what diet you prefer.
Remember: health & happy hormones first.
Here’s a previous video answering a client question talking about why fasting wasn’t working for her
Intermittent fasting, also known as intermittent energy restriction, is simply an umbrella term for various meal timing schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting or reduced calorie intake and eating over a given period of time.
It is just a tool to help you to manage meal times & calorie intake, it is not a dirty word nor is it a quick fix or magic pill. There are 100 different ways to “fast” & everyone has their own “definition” of what they consider fasting. Some drink coffee & water, some don’t. Some use no calorie sweeteners, some don’t. There are more optimal times, situations, & schedules that are more effective & efficient. Make sure it fits easily into your lifestyle & schedule. Pick whatever suits your needs. Remember adherence & consistency are always keys!
Most utilize the 16/8 or 14/10 or 12/10 windows. (Fast 16 hrs/eat 8) You can also periodically fast 24 hrs or longer. I personally do NOT do extended fasts.
16/8, 14/10, 12/12 Protocols – Ex: Fast 16hrs/8hr eating window
OMAD – One meal a day, fast the rest
TMAD – Two meals a day, fast the rest
PSMF – Protein Sparing Modified Fasts: highly restrictive diet that involves severely limiting the intake of calories, carbs, & fat & consuming only lean (zero-low fat) protein
5:2 – Eat normal 5 days, restrict calories to 500-600 for 2 days
Eat Stop Eat – Eat normal for 5 days then fast for 24hrs for 2 days
4:3 or Alternate Day Fasting – Fast every other day, eat normal on non-fasting days
Skip Meals Spontaneously – skip meals when you’re not hungry
Will fasting help me lose body fat?
Why your story & background matter when it comes to fasting efficacy
Before we dive into fasting deets I want to reiterate & touch on WHY your story & food/dieting/health history matter when it comes to the experiences & results you get (or lack of).
Lets be honest, the main reason most people choose the Carnivore Diet & utilizing fasting is because they want fat loss. That’s fine, we all wanna look good nekkid, HOWEVER, the difference lies in our starting point: calorically, metabolically, hormonally, physiologically, mentally, emotionally – the whole picture.
I feel we really should approach any nutrition protocol from a health/healing perspective, first, aesthetic perspective, second.
Some of us come from the SAD (Standard American Diet), some have been dieting basically our entire lives & still think 1200 calories is the magic number for weight loss, some fear fat, some fear carbs, some are binge eating &/or suffering from disordered eating & still in denial, some come from Keto, some have been struggling with gut issues/autoimmune stuff for decades & really have no idea what they can eat.
All of these different stories & starting points impact the transition & adaptation to any diet. You do not have to fast at all if you don’t want to.
Usually I see two different stories, & thus experiences, when working with clients. We’ll call them Peter & Patty.
Are you Peter or Patty?
PETER
Peter is male, used to over consuming the typical SAD, dad bod (aka looks like he might lick something deemed “healthy” & work out occasionally but really loves tacos & would much rather smash a 6 pack vs have a 6 pack). Simply eating meat & cutting out all the other crap significantly reduces his caloric intake & the fat just falls off.
PATTY
Patty is female, lets say 30-40yrs old, habitual yo-yo dieter, excessive exerciser, wants to lose fat & build muscle but doesn’t wanna be “bulky” (sigh smdh), scared to eat more than 1200-1500 calories & gaining weight is one of her biggest fears.
She’s tried every diet in the book. Had some success with “Keto” (doesn’t really know what keto means but she’s eating less carbs right?!) but always falls off the wagon, stressful home life/ job, struggled with bloating & gut issues for years.
Her neighbor, Peter, looks great since carnivore, so she decides it’s gonna be the magic quick fix to all her issues. Sooo Patty stops tracking food (because she was told it didn’t matter on the carnivore diet) & starts smashin all the bacon, ribeyes, cheese, ribs, & chicken wings.
Her gut issues get better, the first week she dropped 3lbs, but now she’s about 6 weeks in & hungry, tired, & the scale is going up! So she decided to start fasting more, & ups her steps to 20k/d. (Further stressing her body out more btw).
She gives it another month with more weight gain. She wants to quit after a couple months despite her gut issues resolving. It doesn’t work she says, “I didn’t lose weight.”
Things that matter when choosing any diet, macros, calories, &/or fasting protocols
Training modalities (how you prefer to workout. CrossFit vs running vs yoga vs Orange Theory vs walking vs Barre vs Bodybuilding vs power lifting etc)
That’s a LOT of stuff, right? It’s not as simple as just picking a set of macro numbers, or calories, or a magic diet camp or fasting protocol. You are not a template or calculator, you’re a human. This is why we set up coaching consultations to help you!
A BIG reminder, we should not be dieting any more than 1-2 times per year, no longer than 12-16 weeks. You should be chillin, eating at your maintenance calories, enjoying life and getting strong AF the majority of the year! Like this chart? Allllll the free content available on Instagram!
Why should I try fasting?
It’s simple, eating fewer times works better for your schedule, less thinking/measuring. Your lifestyle aligns w/your eating schedule. Helpful when in a calorie deficit to allot larger meals.
Metabolic flexibility. It will utilize the fuel from previous meals/glycogen first, then it will use your fat stores to fuel your day.
Hunger response. Are you bored or really hungry? You learn/feel the difference. A big reason I would utilize IF with clients. It helps connect with your body’s true hunger signals.
Benefits of fasting: hormone balance, reduced insulin resistance, risk of diabetes, inflammation, improved focus, gut health & digestion, fat loss in a calorie deficit.
Why it works for fat loss
While I will reiterate fasting is not a diet, it can help with fat loss goals by creating a calorie deficit in various ways:
Reduces the number of meals in a day
Helps create food rules to prevent over eating & snacking, especially for people who are abstainers
Helps reduce your weekly calorie average
Helps you feel & get back in tune with true hunger cues which helps prevent eating when you’re not truly hungry. Many of us eat out of learned habit like eating in front of the tv at night, eating desert just because it is available, or seeing/smelling/hearing food cook
When should I not fast?
You’re on the gain train. If you’re ok cramming 3-4000 calories down your pie hole in a short amount of time go for it. For most, IF protocols are utilized for eating less calories simply by decreasing feeding time.
It screws with your mind & feels restrictive. Can’t sustain it easily & comfortably w/your lifestyle. If it increases cortisol/blood sugar/affecting your sleep/mood/energy negatively.
If you can’t feel fullness cues & eat past satiety & all you do is think about eating during your fasting — STOP! Try eating more frequent meals during the day.
Who should NOT fast &/or fasting is not ideal
Pregnant Women
Women who are nursing
People who are reverse dieting
People training for high performance
People who have abused or overly fasted
People who have chronically under eaten for an extended period of time (aka you’ve made chasing a smaller body your hobby)
People who are trying to gain muscle
Women a week before their cycle
People healing &/or struggling with adrenal insufficiency & fatigue
People with eating disorders &/or disordered eating habits, poor relationships with food, exercise, &/or body image where restriction is a huge trigger
Getting Started
Chances are that you’ve already done many intermittent fasts in your life.
If you’ve ever eaten dinner, then slept late and not eaten until lunch the next day, then you’ve probably already fasted for 16+ hours.
Some people instinctively eat this way. They simply don’t feel hungry in the morning.
Many people consider the 16/8 method the simplest and most sustainable way of intermittent fasting — you might want to try this practice first.
If you find it easy and feel good during the fast, then have fun, experiment and maybe try moving on to more advanced fasts like 24-hour fasts 1–2 times per week (Eat-Stop-Eat) or only eating 500–600 calories 1–2 days per week (5:2 diet).
Another approach is to simply fast whenever it’s convenient — simply skip meals from time to time when you’re not hungry or don’t have time to cook.
There is no need to follow a structured intermittent fasting plan to derive at least some of the benefits.
Experiment with the different approaches and find something that you enjoy and fits your schedule.
At the end of the day, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to nutrition. The best diet for you is the one you can stick to in the long run.
I find for those who have a poor relationship with carbs & sugar, chronic gut or health issues, autoimmune needs, etc for example, a lower carb, animal or meat-based approach is extremely effective for health, healing, & fat loss.
Here’s my routine & what has help me drop 55lbs & put my Crohn’s disease & bulimia in med-free remission.
Intermittent fasting is great for some people, not others. The only way to find out which group you belong to is to try it out.
If you feel good when fasting and find it to be a sustainable way of eating, it can be a very powerful tool to lose weight and improve your health.
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of health, mindset, human connection, & entrepreneurship. Motivational writer, speaker, doer of many things, she grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture was her first love. She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation through her own relationships, financial struggles, Crohn’s Disease, disordered eating, body transformation, & adapting to a carnivore diet lifestyle.
Katie also has over 18 years experience as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, Nutritionist, Brand Growth & Sales Consultant. She works with people of all walks of life as a nutritionist & life coach to help them authentically optimize their lives to find health, wealth, & happy!
You can catch her via Instagram @lil_bit_of_fit & blog, Lilbitoffit.com
I ain’t here to preach or convince you I know everything or am the best coach in the world. I’m here to speak to my younger self, to remind my current self, & anyone else out there needing hope.
My rules for a good life are based on years of struggle, both personally, & seeing others fall deeper & deeper into the dark abyss of 50 shades of fucked up.
Now is always the time to get into the best shape & live your best life.
When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. I’m not here to tell you what you want to hear.
I don’t provide cures. If I know anything about self-improvement it’s because I battle & struggle with it every day, too. Most self-improvement writers & coaches are writing & coaching to themselves, with the hopes that it helps you.
So use the concept of radical honesty, with yourself & with others, to fight the uphill battle needed to change your life. Be honest with yourself about who you are, what you want, & what you need to do to stay true to both.
Let’s go!
Rules To Live Your Best Life
If you’re anxious, slow down. If you’re depressed, speed up.
Anxiety means we’re doing too much & overthinking. Slowing down consciously helps with this. Being depressed is often remedied by leaning into action & getting busy.
Never make big decisions when you’re emotional.
Take your time & give the decision as much time as possible. It’s ok if you’re scared, but if you know it’s right in your gut, then act. We feel our thoughts. If our thinking makes us doubtful & fearful, those thoughts are not serving us. We don’t need to be at the mercy of a thought.
If you’re self-conscious, focus on serving others.
Self-consciousness has brought me little but misery. When I feel anxious, it’s time to focus on making someone else smile & serving. This takes the pressure off me & instantly makes me feel better because I’m helping someone else.
Drink coffee.
Coffee (caffeine) is a fat loss cheat code when used optimally. It’ll help you burn fat through a few different mechanisms: Fat mobilization (moving fat out of storage), Fat oxidation (burning fat), Increased adrenaline (the release of adrenaline leads to more fat burning)
Eat 1g of protein/lb of body weight or goal weight if you have more to lose.
Protein is crucial for optimizing body composition & controlling hunger/satiety. Aim for 30–40g/meal through things like: meat, seafood, eggs, & dairy (if you’re not sensitive)
Time-restricted eating (Intermittent Fasting).
Eat all of your meals within a 12 hour or less window each day. Choose a fasting window that works for you like: 12/12, 14/10, 16/8, 18/6, etc. Don’t snack or eat outside of this. TRE will accelerate your fat loss by letting your body tap into its fat stores, autophagy, & giving your digestive system a break.
Avoid seed, veggie, & low quality oils (fats).
Things like: canola (rapeseed) oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, & sunflower oil. They’re highly inflammatory & are destroying your health, metabolism, & weight loss efforts. If you want to get in the best shape of your life, avoid these at all costs.
Morning fasted walk/movement.
During a fasted walk, your body has minimal stores of available energy (glycogen) from the foods you eat. Your body needs to tap into energy stores in the body (stored fat) plus its good for the mind.
Get 7+ hours of high-quality sleep & walk 10k steps/day.
If you’re not getting 7 hours of sleep, you’re sabotaging your efforts. Your hormones will be out of whack — leading to increased hunger/ cravings. Your body is also more likely to hold onto fat & is going to struggle to build muscle. If you want to transform your body, you need to walk more. Walking 10k steps/day might be the highest ROI habit in this list. This one habit can dramatically improve your ability to lose fat & will improve your energy, mood, & productivity too.
Make the first move & be a role model.
Stop waiting to be a follower. Stop waiting for permission to create something cool. Start a conversation with a stranger. Experiment first. Lean in first & make it a habit. Now you’re the leader, & you set the precedent for creating success that others will admire & follow.
Walk tall, always look & do your best.
Posture has been known to directly affect our chemical composition, among other benefits. Walk a fraction taller with a skip in your step. Your self-image will improve by doing this alone. The little things regarding your appearance make a huge difference in how you perceive yourself & how others perceive you. Be extra. Clean your dirty-ass shoes. Iron your shirt. It will infect your confidence (the good way).
Do what most others refuse to do.
What interests you? How bad do you want something? Your drive, commitment, & work ethic set you apart by doing what others do NOT have the patience or fortitude to do. That’s how you separate yourself from the pack.
Eat nourishing, single-ingredient foods.
You need to eat high-quality foods if you want to be healthy & lose weight. By prioritizing single-ingredient foods (i.e., foods as they come in nature), you’ll make massive progress. Eat these foods 80-90% of the time & be flexible with the other 10-20%. (Shit like Beyond Meat & packaged diet foods are NOT one of them. Read your labels!)
Lift weights at least 3x a week.
Lifting weights is key if you want to transform your body. Lifting weights: burns a lot of fat, increases your metabolism, improves your body comp (what you look like aka looking good nekkid), builds muscle (which will also lead to you burning more calories at rest).
Minimize alcohol consumption.
It wrecks your sleep, sabotages your weight loss efforts, & leads to many other unhealthy habits. Stick to an allocated 1–2 drinks/wk. Plan ahead & find alternatives so that you don’t give in in the moment.
Get your heart rate up & do HIIT 1–2x a week.
High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is another great tool for fat loss. It involves exercising at a higher intensity for a short period of time, followed by a period of rest. I personally love CrossFit because it combines strength training sprinkled with a little HIIT.
Fat doesn’t make us fat, despite what we’ve been told. We need fats — our cells are made up of this vital macronutrient & they are the precursors to our hormones. Prioritize things like: eggs, fatty fish/seafood, avocados (if you’re not sensitive), & fatty cuts of meat.
Measure & track progress (especially if things aren’t working).
You need objective data to ensure you’re making progress & proper adjustments. You can measure: food (calories/macros), body weight, body fat %, lean muscle mass, blood glucose, ketones, performance (cardio/endurance/strength) in the gym, body measurements, etc.
Manage stress.
Stress is an overlooked aspect of body transformation. Cortisol (our stress hormone) disrupts insulin activity & leads to weight gain. It also makes it hard to build muscle. Include de-stressing practices like walking, coloring, yoga, working out, & meditation.
Make a habit of asking.
Many people fall short of their dreams & potential because they don’t want to rock the boat, ask for help, seek coaching or mentorship, & let their ego get the best of them. You can be, do, or have anything you want if you’re willing to do what you need to do & learn to achieve it.
Create something & smile every day.
Journal your thoughts. Brainstorm ideas. Design. Share your stories. Build a following with your advice. There’s little downside & massive upside to daily creating. Also, smiles are free & contagious. It can change your &/or someone else’s entire day!
Don’t be a whiner, moaner, complainer, or fun-hater.
No one likes a Debbie Downer. Whining reaffirms a negative reality. Focusing on what’s good brings more good in.
Mind what you consume.
What you consume, consumes you & what consumes you, controls your life. It’s not only what we eat & drink but also what we watch, listen to, media, & environment. If you want to change, become a better version of yourself, you have to change your habits. Listen to a podcast, motivational speakers, surround yourself with successful, positive minded people – create yourself a new environment.
Final Thoughts
If you want better health, a better body, & a better life, it’s gonna take work. For some of us, maybe you’re simply not disciplined enough. It is what it is – you either do or you don’t.
There’s nothing worse than rolling through life in the passenger’s seat.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather be a DOer. Goals don’t mean anything unless you act. Just like knowledge isn’t power unless there’s application. We were made to be ACTIVE participants in life. The word ATTRACTION includes the word ACTION.
Do these sound familiar?
“I want this, but not bad enough to do what is required to achieve it”
“I can’t cut back on workouts.” (even though they’re stressing my body out even more which is actually hindering progress)
“I can’t give up sugar/bangs/etc.” (even though my glucose/cortisol are jacked up thru the roof & I can’t sleep at night)
“I can’t give up sweets & snacking at night.” (even though they’re causing inflammation, gut problems, high glucose, fat gain, & more cravings)
“I can’t reverse diet because I’ll gain weight.” (even though you’ve been eating less than a toddler for 20+ yrs & still don’t have the health or body you want)
Thank you for reading & allowing me to add value to your lives! Link here to resources, guides, coaching & more!
Life is the dash between the dates on your tombstone. What you do with it is your choice.
Katie Kelly @lil_bit_of_fit
While the inevitable is bound to happen, my goal is to carpe diem my way thru life & make my dash everything I want it to be. People will remember how you made them feel. Treat each other with respect & smile more. Remember this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy is being read, would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent YOUR dash?
Recap
23 Rules:
If you’re anxious, slow down. If you’re depressed, speed up.
Never make big decisions when you’re emotional.
If you’re self-conscious, focus on serving others.
Drink coffee.
Eat 1g of protein/lb of body weight or goal weight if you have more to lose.
Time-restricted eating (Intermittent Fasting).
Avoid seed, veggie, & low quality oils (fats).
Morning fasted walk/movement.
Get 7+ hours of high-quality sleep & walk 10k steps/day.
Make the first move & be a role model.
Walk tall, always look & do your best.
Do what most others refuse to do.
Eat nourishing, single-ingredient foods.
Lift weights at least 3x a week.
Minimize alcohol consumption.
Get your heart rate up & do HIIT 1–2x a week.
Eat healthy fats.
Measure & track progress (especially if things aren’t working).
Manage stress.
Make a habit of asking.
Create something & smile every day.
Don’t be a whiner, moaner, complainer, or fun-hater.
Mind what you consume.
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of health, mindset, human connection, & entrepreneurship. Motivational writer, speaker, doer of many things, she grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture was her first love. She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation through her own relationships, financial struggles, Crohn’s Disease, disordered eating, body transformation, & adapting to a carnivore diet lifestyle.
Katie also has over 17 years experience as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, Nutritionist, Brand Growth & Sales Consultant. She works with people of all walks of life as a nutritionist & life coach to help them authentically optimize their lives to find health, wealth, & happy!
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