For some of us, maintaining optimal weight is an enigma. We struggle all of our lives to break the chains of bondage that excessive weight places on our lives. What’s worse is that there are so-called experts with some extremely conflicting ideas and no one seems to have the answers for why some people easily pack on the pounds and others can eat whatever and however they want and still remain thin.
The truth is, we have been told an enormous lie since the 1950s and the government promoted this falsity to the point of creating a country-wide obesity epidemic. Whether you believe this lie was perpetrated on the American public on purpose in order to enhance big Pharma or you give the government the benefit of the doubt having been drawn into the lie just as much as all of us Americans were, it matters not. The fact still remains that three generations of Americans have now been taught to believe a false narrative that all that is needed in order to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you expend. This narrative does not take into consideration how much your body regulates itself to accommodate the lower food intake by lowering metabolism to balance the scale. It also doesn’t take into account the many hormones involved in food consumption, which regulate blood glucose levels, feelings of hunger, and when we feel full.
When I was in college in the mid-90s, everyone had to take a fitness course their freshman year. During that course we learned all about calories in and calories out; how it was important to eat less and move more. It didn’t seem to bother the professor or those writing the book assigned to the class that the human body doesn’t count calories. Humans invented the calorie as a means of measurement. Our bodies, however, have no concept of the idea of a calorie and nothing within our system has the ability to count or regulate calories. But, I was young and wasn’t the type to contradict authority, so I worked hard to master the concept of watching my calories and exercising away the extra calories I ate. Unfortunately, no matter how much I restricted my eating or took up jogging and time at the gym, I could not lose the weight. In fact, I ended up gaining thirty pounds while counting calories and working out every day.
What we were never taught in that fitness course was how the body actually works; the human physiology of how hormones maintain a perfect blood glucose level, how the liver stores extra nutrients for later use, and how insulin stores away the over-abundance of nutrients in a way that is much harder to access. We never learned how mitochondria, the power-house of the body, busily clean up dead or damaged cells while a person refrains from eating. These fundamental aspects of our human body did not seem to matter.
Eventually, I found myself feeling hungrier and hungrier. I could never fill the void in my stomach that led to satiation. After eating a meal three times the size of friends I knew, I felt satisfied for an hour and then the hunger pangs would start again and I would begin to think about what else I could eat. The more I ate, the hungrier I felt. This vicious cycle did not end for me until I found myself in desperation at the steps of Overeater’s Anonymous (OA). In those rooms where no one judged and I was accepted for the crazy, food addicted person I was, I found out one of the first pieces of information that I had never known before; sugar is a highly addictive substance, more addictive than cocaine according to some studies. After refraining from sugar for a year and eating an older Weight Watchers™ diet from the 1970s that my sponsor recommended, I lost over 70 pounds in one year and regained my lease on life with an ideal body weight of 160 pounds. For the first time, I felt free and happy.
I was able to keep the weight off by forcing myself to stick to the diet and get myself to meetings as often as I could, but eventually that devil sitting on my left shoulder whispered a crazy thought, “No one else has to eat such a restrictive diet and they are healthy, so why do you?” In that moment, I lost it all and began to eat whatever I wanted once again. Forgetting all about the important lesson I had learned in OA that sugar was highly addictive, I once again turned to high carbohydrates and sugars and found my old ways quickly returning. I ballooned to my highest weight of 375 pounds in two years time and have not been able to lose the weight to any degree since then.
I tried all the diets. You name it, I tried it. I bought books about dieting, read and followed them. I went to counseling. I tried hypnosis. I went back to calorie counting. I got a personal trainer and joined a gym. I even went to a gastric bypass surgeon, did all the tests, and got approved for weight loss surgery. I would have gone through with it if my insurance had paid for it, but they didn’t recognize weight loss as a serious enough health issue to pay for weight loss surgery.
Then, one day on the phone in 2019, my sister mentioned that she was going to start the Keto diet. I had no clue what ketones were or what ketosis meant. I had never heard of macros and truthfully didn’t even know there were three types of foods: carbohydrates, protein, and fat. But, I was faithful and learned all I could about this new concept. Ultimately, the Keto diet did not work for me, either, because I was never able to enter any significant degree of ketosis despite steadfastly monitoring those all important macros. However, learning about ketones brought me a new understanding about the role of hormones.
Eventually, I found a few YouTubers such as Dr. Ken Berry and Dr. Jason Fung who helped me understand the truth behind how the human body processes food and why on earth I could never feel satisfied when eating carbohydrates. After learning all about the physiology of the human body, I lost 75 pounds and kept it off as long as I ate a high protein diet. What got in my way was that I still clung to the notion from the Keto diet that I should eat a high fat diet in a ratio of 80/15/5.
From the Keto diet, I then explored the carnivore diet, which also did not work for me. I was able to maintain my weight eating carnivore, but not significantly enough to reduce my weight on this diet. It appeared that my body was still able to convert red meat into glucose and I still could not reach any significant level of ketosis.
Frustrated beyond belief at not being able to loss the weight I so desperately desired to lose, I turned to intermittent fasting and then long-term fasting, eventually trying a 3 day fast, a 7 day fast, a 14 day fast, and then a 21 day fast. I lost weight, but every time I ate again, I gained it back. It appeared that I couldn’t fast long enough to benefit me with any significant weight loss.
The more I learned about fasting, the more I thought about how many failed attempts I had experienced at losing the weight. Without eating, I find that I no longer obsess about food. I don’t have to work hard to avoid temptation because with long-term fasting, my body has now adjusted to a fasting state, the ghrelin hormone has ceased, and I no longer crave food at meal times.
Today, I am going the distance to reach the finish line of health, optimal weight, and hope to break the record of the longest days without eating. It is the ultimate test to see if I can finally win this battle against my body’s insistence that I bow to its whims. No longer! I am going to take back control and not allow myself to be a slave to the craving and food desires any longer! It is time to seize the day and live free!
Perhaps this story is similar to yours or perhaps you have a different story. Extreme long-term fasting is not for everyone. I happen to not have any health issues looming over me. I caught myself just before I began to have symptoms of metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, or full-blown Type II diabetes. But, you may not be in exactly the same boat. You will have to make that decision for yourself. For me, extreme long-term fasting seems to be a way to let go of my carbohydrate addiction and heal myself of this torment I have placed on my body for so long. This website houses the knowledge I have gained throughout the years trying desperately to rid myself of this incessant disease called morbid obesity. I hope the information housed here can help some of you with your struggles with weight and the health issues associated with constantly feeding your body with “crappy carbage” as Jimmy Moore from the Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Show likes to say.
The truth is that any type of fasting you do will help. The key is to start. If you can only fast overnight, from early dinner to late breakfast, then do so. If all you can do is cut out snacks and eating in between meals, then that will help your body rest until you eat again. It is okay to feel hungry and not give in to your body’s insistence. In fact, just like a child who demands that you buy him toys every time you go into the store, it is okay to say no. Your body is simply responding to hormones that have been regulated based on your previous eating habits. It is up to you to change them. You can take back control of your eating habits. You can clean house of all the damaged or unusable dead cells and particles causing toxin build-up in your body. All you have to do is give your body time to rest from the feast and bring on the fast!
| About Jennifer Stoeckl | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> |
 | Hello there! I am a former special education teacher turned business owner who is now the CEO and founding member of Dire Wolf Project, Inc. I wrote a non-fiction book on the Dire Wolf Project and am fully immersed in the world of dogs. However, I have also spent my entire life trying to find a permanent solution to my morbid obesity, which has plagued me since adolescence. Now, I have embarked on a long-term fasting adventure to turn my life around and take control of my body’s cries for help. |
