Hello and welcome to the Intermittent Fasting Gems with Jen Podcast.

I'm your host Jen, a middle-aged Michigan mama, wife, and teacher who

in 2021 stumbled upon this crazy cool thing called intermittent fasting.

And before I knew it.

I've lost 46 pounds in four months and gained an incredible lifestyle

filled with complete food freedom.

If you're hungry for unique, no nonsense fasting tips that actually

work, you're in the right place.

So whether you're walking the dog, folding that last load of laundry or cruising to

your nine to five, let's start fasting.

Our way to freedom together.

Hello and welcome my fabulous fasting friends in today's episode.

I thought it would be fun and hopefully very helpful to talk about

the schedule that I followed to find success with intermittent fasting.

So in today's episode, I'll be sharing the exact hour by hour

eating, drinking, intermittent fasting daily schedule that I followed.

When losing 46 pounds in four months.

All right, here we go.

So, back in January of 2021, my life began to completely change for the better.

I was 45 years old at the time, and after years and years of yo-yo dieting,

fad diets, juice, cleanses, you name it, I discovered the incredible

power of intermittent fasting.

Hallelujah.

And after jumping into the intermittent fasting lifestyle with both feet, I

successfully lost 46 pounds in four months and actually reached a weight on the scale

that was lower than my high school weight.

I could not believe it.

I was in shock that I had been so successful and honestly compared

to all of the other fad diets out there that I had tried.

There were a lot of them.

I found intermittent fasting to be so much easier and doable probably

because I have never once felt like I was on a diet since I started in 2021.

I. Anyways.

Today I wanna share with you the exact intermittent fasting schedule

that I followed pretty much to a tee each day to lose the weight and

put into motion a sustainable plan that has helped me to maintain my

weight four years later as a woman.

Who will be, oh yes, I will be 50 years old in just three short months.

Alright, so back in January of 2021, when I first learned about and began

my intermittent fasting journey, I was working as an elementary physical

education teacher, um, in the morning.

I would roll out of bed about six 15, brush my teeth immediately,

drink a large glass of ice water.

Then I would be listening to a motivating intermittent fasting

podcast, usually one by Jen Stevens.

While I was putting my makeup on and getting ready for work, grab my

black coffee and head out the door.

Once I was at work, I did not eat any food, and I just continued,

uh, with my fasting and continued to drink my black coffee.

Until about noon.

As an elementary PE teacher, I wasn't getting what you would call an

official exercise workout in, but I was definitely keeping quite busy and

active as I interacted with my students.

During each class, I do warmup exercises with them.

I most often play tag games with them, so.

I pretty much kept myself so busy at work that I didn't even have time

to think about or worry about eating lunch, so I really didn't miss it.

Moving into the afternoon around noon, I would stop drinking my black coffee

and switch to drinking one to two 12 ounce cans or bottles of plain.

Sparkling mineral water and the emphasis is on plain.

So I usually would drink the plain sparkling mineral water until about 2:00

PM and I know I've talked about this trick a lot, but when I say game changer

for curbing hunger I really mean it.

Once I began drinking plain sparkling mineral water, intermittent fasting

truly became an absolute breeze.

The carbonation, the bubbles pretty much just stops hunger in its tracks.

It's awesome.

Just remember that again.

You've got to drink plain, sparkling mineral water.

If you are in your fasting hours like I was.

Anything with flavor is a no-no and could possibly spike insulin

levels and break your fast.

So just save the flavored sparkling water for your eating window only.

Next I switch to sipping on a nice big mug of green tea between about.

Two and 4:00 PM Green tea is an absolutely awesome intermittent fasting

clean drink because there are so many massive benefits to green tea.

It not only improves your health, but it simultaneously aids

in shrinking your waistline.

My absolute favorite green tea brands are Bigelow.

That's a really great brand and I also like 365 by Whole Foods Market.

They're both very high quality green teas, um, and they are cost effective as well.

I will leave the link to both of those, in the show notes.

Remember though this is just like the plain sparkling mineral water.

If you're drinking green tea, you want to keep your fast clean, you still need

to avoid putting things in your tea.

So no adding any lemon or other flavorings to your tea that could

potentially break your fast.

And just a side tip here.

Um, if you're looking to kind of jazz up your intermittent fasting

clean drinks during your fasting hours, I kind of got into this

routine and it's really, really good.

So I actually would take the plane sparkling.

Mineral water and I would steep the green tea in it and drink it.

Um, cold.

I don't know what made me do that, but once I started it,

it was really, really tasty.

So if you wanna switch things up and, you don't, you wanna get away, maybe

it's, uh, warmer weather, you wanna get away from hot tea for a bit.

Just, it's nice and refreshing and, um, as I've talked about before.

Green tea is great for freshening your breath.

So a lot of times if you've got that coffee breath, , from the

morning, which I definitely did.

And also if you are eating low carb and you're really fasting deep into your

fasting window, ketones are, really revved up and you've got a high ketone level that

could cause a little bit of stinky breath.

And the green tea is going to be a great, solution to helping freshen your breath.

Alright, so moving on to early evening, as I'm wrapping up school, as I

walked out, of school for the day, I would grab one more bottle or can

of plain sparkling, mineral water.

And, I had just kept it cold.

I had a little mini fridge at school, so I would grab that, uh, on my way out

and I would drink that on my drive home.

Usually between like four and 4:30 PM.

So then once I returned home from work in the early evening, I

would quickly change my clothes.

Then I headed to the basement for a fasted workout, which is another very

powerful game changing intermittent fasting weight loss tip for you,

one that I've talked about before.

You can actually head back to episode number 41 of this podcast.

If you want more details on fasted cardio as well as.

A really awesome 30 minute fasted cardio workout.

Next, after finishing my 30 to 40 minute fasted workout, I began cooking

a delicious Green Chef meal for myself and my family usually around 5:00 PM

For those of you who don't know, green Chef is a meal delivery system and I

believe that is another big tip and reason for my weight loss success.

I actually think I'll do a podcast episode on the benefits of using a meal

delivery service in the next month or so.

But anyways, as I prepare dinner, I would listen to in very.

Poorly sing.

I'm, I'm a terrible singer.

Um, but, you know, I'd love to sing, but anyways, as I prepared dinner, I would

listen to my favorite country music tunes in the kitchen, and make up a serving of

my a CV fast breaking weight loss drink.

And while sipping on my apple cider vinegar, weight loss drink, I would just

continue making dinner for my family.

I usually finished my a CV drink, well around like five 30, and that

is when I would enjoy a delicious, healthy snack, like mixed nuts,

hard-boiled eggs, maybe a few of my famous homemade crunchy dill pickles

as I finish preparing to serve and eat.

Dinner with my family and then around 6:00 PM I would feast.

I'm not kidding you.

Uh, it's m mad baby.

I love m mad and yes, I eat way more than my husband, and, and I am okay with that.

Even those four months, when I was losing 46 pounds, I ate a

lot during that one meal a day.

I never counted a single calorie or macro and I ate until I

was completely satisfied.

It was beautiful.

This truly was complete freedom to me.

I savored every bite, and that is when I. Immediately fell in love with the

Oma intermittent fasting schedule.

, Additionally, after breaking my fast for the day with my a CV

drink while I was eating my dinner.

I usually enjoyed fun flavors of mineral water throughout my actual eating window.

I love the different flavors that Aldi has to choose from.

, They have a great selection.

Um, I, I, I don't know.

I don't even know if there's a kind that I don't.

I. Like, uh, grapefruit, maybe I'm not a fan of grapefruit, but other than that,

I like to experiment with different flavors during my eating window only.

Okay, so moving into late evening time after relaxing on the couch with my

husband and or watching an episode or two, oh, he's like, okay, two is

enough, we got kind of hooked on, uh, well, actually it was 90 day fiance.

We got hooked on during, um, COVID when we were home.

And then we've moved into, uh, married at First Sight.

We are, we are addicted to trashy reality shows.

Um, so I would probably watch two.

He, he says, you know, two is enough.

That's, that's our limit for the night.

So while we're enjoying a few trashy reality shows, I, would

enjoy a satisfying, healthy dessert.

Uh, this would usually be between like seven and seven 30.

I always.

Made sure and I still to this day make sure that this dessert is

packed with plenty of healthy fats.

Because eating healthy fats at the very end of your eating window, it should

be a priority so that you can fast, easier, and longer into your next fast.

The next day.

So my go-to desserts were, and they still are, uh, usually a Greek yogurt

parfait dessert that I make , maybe a protein packed smoothie or one to two

of my fat burning coconut oil fat bombs.

So all of those, were choices that I definitely would

pick from so that I could.

Easily fast longer into my, next fast the next day.

Then between seven 30 and 8:00 PM I closed my eating window for the day

and began my next fasting period.

I stuck to drinking plain water for the next hour or so, making sure to

stop drinking anything after 9:00 PM one hour before heading to bed.

And finally, I consistently.

I jumped into bed around 10:00 PM each night, , especially

after I discovered that getting enough sleep is most definitely

directly related to weight loss.

So I tried to make that a consistent routine and like I said.

Go to bed by 10 o'clock and that's it.

Easy peasy.

I followed this schedule pretty much to the letter Monday through Saturday

for the four months that it took me to lose the 46 pounds on Sundays.

I had a much less strict of a day.

I always go to my parents' house on Sundays for a nice, big family meal.

We've been doing it for, uh, well, my husband and I, next two weeks

is our 25th wedding anniversary.

So we've been doing it for like 27 years.

It's, uh, it's the greatest thing.

I love my parents.

They've been married 54 years and they are the sweetest.

So shout out to Mike and Linda.

I love you both so much.

Okay, so, um, we eat around 1:00 PM so on Sundays back then, and still

now I follow more of a two mad or a traditional 16 eight schedule where

I eat both lunch and dinner, and also snacks, uh, throughout the day between

about noon and 8:00 PM on Sunday.

And I gotta tell you, I think it's important to mix things up.

So this was also what I believe.

Was a huge, part of my success was, you know, having that

basically that consistent omad schedule for six days of the week.

But then on the seventh day on Sunday, I really did mix it up.

I was way less strict.

Um, and, you know, so I think you gotta do something like that

to keep your metabolism humming.

So, um, and along those same lines, I do think it's important to note that I

also did a few 36 to 42 hour extended fast in that four month period, as well.

But overall, this is again, pretty much the exact daily schedule

that I most often followed.

Alright, so here's a quick recap of the intermittent fasting

schedule I used, uh, most often.

Back when I was losing 46 pounds, uh, six 15 to noon, I just stuck to drink

a huge glass of water when I woke up.

Then just stuck to black coffee, no food until about noon.

Stop drinking, black coffee around noon and.

Switch to plain water or plain sparkling mineral water.

Um, then like around two or so, I usually switch to some green

tea, between four and four 30.

I usually drank more sparkling mineral water on my way home.

Once I got home, I did, did my exercise in the fasted state, uh, broke my fast

with my a CV drink and then, started making dinner, uh, and had a few snacks.

Usually had my big OMA dinner around.

Six o'clock and then a healthy dessert before, seven 30 or so

and started my next fasting period around seven 30 and from seven 30

until 10 o'clock when I went to bed.

Just plain water stopping, usually with water around nine o'clock

and heading to bed around 10.

So, so that's it.

In the end, I gotta say.

My journey of losing 46 pounds with this intermittent fasting schedule has been

nothing short of life changing for me.

And I, I hope that, um, you can pick parts of this and say, Hey, I think that might

work for me, and give it a try and, um.

I, I know you can be successful with this intermittent fasting thing too.

You absolutely can.

So it's, it's trial and error.

I'm not gonna say that what works for me is gonna work just as well for you.

Heck, maybe it'll work better, but it's a starting point and it give you

some reference, um, as to someone who's gone through it and you can kind of

tweak it and see what works for you and what doesn't and, and go from there.

Alright, so that's about it for today's episode.

Remember, if you are looking for tons of free, low carb, high protein, intermittent

fasting and weight loss meals, snacks, and healthy dessert recipes.

You can find over 150 recipes on my main site.

So what if with jen.com and then just head to the recipes tab at the top.

And if you are finally ready to get serious, lose the weight, feel great,

all that good stuff, you can get my intermittent fasting and weight loss

video masterclass for just $39 when you enter the discount code gems.

10 GEMS 10 at checkout.

Last week I had a client who sent me the sweetest message.

Uh, she purchased my course a few weeks ago, and she's currently

working her way through it.

She is a fellow PE teacher, which I thought was really

cool, but in her email she said.

Jen, I absolutely love your course.

It honestly feels like I have my own personal coach cheering me on.

Your energy and guidance are exactly what I needed to get started.

Can't wait to see where this takes me.

Oh, thank you so much.

That was just the sweetest message that made me so happy because

truly that is what I wanna do.

Cheer all of you on along your IF journey.

Hey, make it a great day, everybody, and I hope to connect

with you again very, very soon.

Hey, thank you so much for choosing to spend part of your day listening

to this episode of the Intermittent Fasting Gems with Jen podcast.

If you think these tips could help a friend or a family member, please

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Tune in for new 15 to 25 minute episodes released on the 10th,

20th, and 30th of each month.

Episodes will feature solo shows filled with if F hacks that

have worked for me, as well as episodes where I get to chat with.

Fun folks of all ages who've experienced incredible success

with intermittent fasting.

If you have questions or want more unique intermittent fasting health and

weight loss tips, tricks and recipes, please visit my website and blog at.

So what if with jen.com?

Finally, we'd love to welcome you into our free intermittent.

Fasting Facebook support group.

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Find all of these links in the show notes below.

And as always, I hope you spend your day loving without fear and

laughing until your cheeks hurt.