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.

Welcome fasting friends.

Today we are chatting with Jean who lives in Slovenia, uh, a European country, and

I am so excited that Jean is with us today for a fun little chat, uh, about if and.

His, we get to listen and hear all about his intermittent

fasting story and how Jean makes intermittent fasting work for him.

How are you doing, Jean?

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for the introduction.

Uh, it's perfect.

yeah, before we kinda get into things, I am just curious, did

you find me through the podcast or you were in the Facebook group or

No, I actually find you through the podcast, right?

So I was, yeah, almost like, to be completely honest, like I just wanted to.

To share my story a bit, to share like what I do, because I've also read a bunch

of other people like what other people do.

Right.

And, and I think that I found like my own thing and just sharing it is super.

I think it's super helpful when you hear someone else's what they do.

Right.

And sometimes you take something from it, sometimes, you know, you just, you

just use and, and try something else.

Uh, but yeah, and that's why I reach out to you so.

I am very thankful that you did because I do know that when, you know, four and

a half years ago when I was going through my intermittent fasting journey, the

number one motivator for me were success stories of real people who had done it.

And so, and especially we don't get men a lot that wanna tell their stories.

So I, again, I can't thank you enough.

So, John.

Uh.

I'd like to start off by asking you what have been your top three wins with

intermittent fasting, whether that's weight loss or any non-scale victories,

like improved sleep, more energy.

Go ahead.

Yeah, to be completely honest, like I've started my journey I think three years

ago, maybe even four years ago, and I just found this thing on the internet,

like on some group or somewhere.

I don't know.

It was a forum or something.

Right.

And I've noticed like.

Oh my God.

Like, this is like a, one of the things beside many things that

you can do for your health, right?

That that can be like useful.

And, and, and I tried it out and I realized this is

a great little tool, right?

It's nothing special.

It doesn't like it.

It can be very, you know, you can, you can choose and pick whatever

parts work for you and what doesn't.

Right?

And, and that just, I just fell in love with it.

Right?

And that was the first thing.

So this is the first one, is that.

Matic investing for me.

You can pick and choose what you want and, and what works for you.

Right?

The second win for me definitely is because you can pick and

choose, you can stick with this.

Right.

Um, for me, I think that if you do something or if you want to do

something, uh, well, and, and if you want to do something that is going

to be impactful throughout your life, you have to kind of stick with it.

And to be able to do that, you have to make it work and then, you know, do it.

You know, throughout the, the weeks and months consistently.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And then like if I, if I'm being completely honest with the winds,

like weight reduction, right?

That, that helped, like I think I lost three kilos or four kilos, um,

and I gained a little bit of muscle.

All

at math, so can you convert that to pounds

lemme do, lemme do, lemme do, uh.

you say?

How many kilos?

So three kilos, um, three to five kilos, uh, in.

But to be completely honest, like that's not a lot, like, it's not

like a huge success story, right.

But what it is, at least for me or what it did right, is allow me to, to

look the way that I wanted and, and that's all that kind of matters for me.

And, and yeah, because, you know, yeah, that's pretty much it.

Yeah.

and I, I, you know, at the risk of this sounding creepy, I, I'm gonna

be 50 next week and you could be my child, but for everybody out there,

you know, they're listening, they're not seeing, but you're 26, right?

Yeah, that's correct.

Adorable.

You look like a surfer.

You look like a surfer boy, actually.

So,

Thanks.

I said, don't take that creepy.

I, I'm happily married

Yeah, it's fun.

It's fun.

uh, for those of you wondering, yes, absolutely adorable.

So,

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

yeah, if we can do the, we can do the conversion another time,

three to five kilos, but yes, you look, you look fabulous and

I'm guessing you feel great too.

Yeah, that, that's also one of the parts for me, like what I've noticed,

I'm somebody who, like throughout my life, people always said to

me, you have to eat breakfast.

And I did.

And that really doesn't work for me.

Like I've noticed eating breakfast, it makes two things for me.

It makes me hungrier sooner in the day, and it, it just like kind of

ruins my, my, I don't know what it is, but I just don't feel fine.

Yeah,

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

The focus and I feel sluggish.

, It's

exactly.

down.

I'm, I'm more tired if I, if I have breakfast.

Very, yeah, for

Yeah.

Same here.

So for me, like, you know, this was kind of going hand in hand, right?

I've noticed, okay, if I stop eating breakfast, I can go and have

lunch, and it's actually not as.

How can I say this?

I don't have to eat as much at lunch as well because I guess my body gets

like used to like eating less during the day and then at lunch I just eat

a smaller portion of the meal and all of that combining with like not eating

breakfast helps with so many things.

Like in terms of like, I feel better, I'm more focused, I'm more alert.

Like during the work, I don't feel like this need to kind of have like

a breakfast and then before lunch, a snack, and then another snack,

and then lunch and then, yeah.

This is, for me, just doesn't work.

I just like simple life, simple things.

You know, a lunch and then,

Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So, so, yeah.

Well, that will move us, uh, transition well into, uh, my next question, which

is, John, what is your, your main or your preferred intermittent fasting method or

schedule that, that you typically follow?

Go

Yeah, so I typically follow like this.

I started eating at lunch, so at noon, right?

This is my first meal of the day, and then I try to finish by six, uh, pm Right?

And why is that?

Is because, so I, I already said, I noticed that eating breakfast isn't

really for me, so I skipped that one out.

And I try to finish my meals by six because I've noticed if I eat

too late in the evening, right?

I don't sleep that well.

I have a, a tracker on my wrist, so I track my sleeps as well.

And that also kind of helps.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And

Yeah,

yeah, it's amazing.

And you can see like different data and so on.

And I've noticed like my sleep, especially like the deep sleep and all the other

stages of the sleep, like dig it, like sleep can get really ruined if you,

if you eat too late in the evening.

Right.

And that's why I just have this like kinda, like a block of eating, right?

So I try to finish it by 6:00 PM and that's perfect for like a couple

of hours before, before my bedtime, and it just works for me so well,

I think for such a big, like, chunk of the population that 18 six, uh,

intermittent fasting schedule is.

Just the sweet spot, you know, because, um, you're, you're still

able to enjoy two meals so you can get your lunch and a dinner.

Yeah.

but like you said, you're finished, uh, plenty of time before bed.

And also the biggest thing about that is in my opinion, you're,

you're getting to that 18 hour.

Fasting point, which really is where the real magic begins with the fat burning.

So you are really tapping into those fat stores by that time.

Um, because I think sometimes it's, it's kind of crazy.

Like people will be fasting 16 or 16 and a half or maybe even 17

hours and they're not really seeing.

Results.

Um, and then they just bump it up like an hour.

And it's, it's amazing the difference that they really can't see with,

with results, with just making sure that they get to that kind of

Right.

18 hour mark.

So, um, so

Yeah.

a noon to six schedule

I.

really, that's perfect.

Um, so do you use a fasting tracker?

I know you, you've mentioned your watch for sleep, but

Um, ye

or.

yeah.

Yeah, I do.

Like, I did like throughout, like, to be completely honest, I do,

I, I, I do use an app of course, but like, I've used multiple apps

in the past two years, right.

And I'm using, uh, iPhone.

So I, I'm not an Android person, so I don't really, I cannot really recommend

for, for the other, uh, operating system.

Sure.

I've tried a bunch of them.

I think, I don't want to say any names to be completely

honest, because I don't want to

No

promote something.

you absolutely do not have to.

Um, I'm an iPhone user too.

I, uh, I asked that question, excuse me, only because, when I started.

I

started my Facebook group and everybody kind of jumped on board.

We all loved the Life app, and that was wonderful.

Uh huh.

unfortunately, that was discontinued.

And so, um, sometimes I ask just because people are searching.

Uh, right now I'm using Easy, fast, and it's a free app and I like it.

But I have also, I've, I've used lightly, I've used different apps in

the past, but I think the main thing is.

know that you do use a fasting app, and what are the main tools on that

app that you, that you kind of track?

Why I didn't want to like say it right away, which app it is, is because,

you know, uh, as a, as a, as a someone who creates software, right?

I did write my own app.

Uh, it's available for free.

Yeah, I did,

you

but it's something I think, yeah.

it.

Let's do it.

Hey, I'm all

Yeah.

Go

Look, look, look, I, I'm just gonna say it like this.

I've tried, I've tried a, like, not a couple, I think I tried like probably

five to 10 apps in the past two, three years, and I couldn't really

stick with the, like neither of them.

And that's because one reason all of the apps that I've tried so

far have this like kinda like.

Feeling circle or something is filling or something is, is growing.

Right.

And for me, okay, that makes sense.

Right.

But the problem is, what I want to do is some kind of visualize the way

that my fasting is going in terms of not just the current window.

So not just the current eating window or the current fasting window,

Sure.

like the whole timeline.

So I can see like what's coming up and, and what's been right.

And, and I couldn't find that on the app store to be completely honest.

And I don't.

Saw like any kind of other apps doing this kinda timeline based approach.

So I just decided to kind of build it up and to be honest, like it

was harder than I first thought.

You know, because there's so many edge cases in terms of like, like

when you start a fast, what happens if you edit a fast and things like that.

So yeah, it's a lot.

I can just show you right now.

I know that the listeners won't see it, but like I'm

currently in the eating window.

is the app called Fast Slow, that

Yeah, fast love.

That's the, that fast loan.

Yeah, it's available.

It's available in the app store.

And, and to be completely honest, like, you know, all of the fast, all of the

past fast and eating windows are like this kind kind of timeline based bloss, right?

And you can see like, you can go scroll to the past or we can go to the future and

see what's coming and what's been right.

And of course like.

Like, you can use any app, app.

Uh, I, I don't really like to promote my own, but you know, what

I need in an app is first it has to kinda show me, okay, fasting,

eating, that kind of stuff, right?

I can set my own preferred, like this, uh, 18 by six or whatever.

You know, there are other modes as well, right?

App has to have a notifications because without those.

Sometimes I get lost, to be completely honest.

Like if you're picking, if you're currently in the market for a new

fasting app, like if it doesn't have like kind of any notifications,

and that's pretty much it.

And I've noticed so many and, and of course some statistics

is also useful, right?

You can see like how much you're fasting and things like that.

That's also useful, right?

But for me, like this very simple like.

Um, just like a simple app that does one job really well, it's perfect.

And what I've noticed, a lot of the apps currently have like a bunch

of different stuff added, right?

They have like some kind of a, I don't know, a coach or a, a

weightlifting program built into them

yes.

tracker, right?

And it's just like a bloated thing and I don't like that.

And, and yeah, just like, I want the simple app.

Just do the thing.

And that's pretty much it.

I, I really love that.

And I, it kind of goes hand in hand with the whole intermittent

fasting lifestyle and the attraction to it is the simplicity of it.

So, um, everybody out there, it's fast.

Slow.

Two words.

I'm checking it out as soon as we get off of this interview.

So

Yeah, actually.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Awesome.

Actually there is like a, a huge update coming to the, to, to

like, to the app really soon.

So yeah, maybe, maybe hold, hold out a day or two to, to check it out.

But yeah,

do

I

All right.

And I'll also, if you're okay with it, and send me, uh, the, the link, I will

put that in the show notes, um, for

of course that would be perfect.

Well, thank you so much for that, Jean.

That was awesome.

alright, let's talk about challenges.

So you said you've been fasting for three or four years.

What would you say is your biggest challenge with intermittent fasting?

Jean, go ahead.

I think like as I mentioned before, if you want something to be, to be

like useful or if you want something to be like, um, powerful, right?

You have to do it consistently.

And for me, like I can be consistent.

For weeks.

Right.

And then like, something happens, or something like in my life changes

or environment changes, right?

And I kind of get off that train and, and I do things that, you know, I start

eating in the morning or, or I, like, I, I forgot, like I eat in later in the evening

and then everything kind of falls down.

And for me, what I've noticed right now is just that it's really

important to come back, right?

This is like a challenge that I've been like, I, I said

I, me, I mentioned like, um.

Three to five or or three around three years that I started fasting,

Sure.

like almost on a daily basis.

Right.

But there has been like periods where I didn't do it for months.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

And it's not because like, you know, I didn't know the benefits

of it, or I didn't like, or I didn't want the benefits.

I mean, that's just crazy, right?

Um, but it's just like.

Yeah.

Life gets in a way, and, and it's sometimes it's hard to, to

deal with those things, right?

It's hard to go, to do those things, you know, to, to, to reignite your

own like inner spirit or whatever.

Right.

To, to start doing it again.

Right.

Yeah,

so yeah,

Life changes.

I,

and you're 26, so, you know, I think that has a lot to do with it too.

You, whatever phase of life you're in.

You said you're a software engineer, is that right?

yeah, that's right.

do you work regular hours?

'cause I know sometimes that affects, uh, kind of your fasting

regimen and things like that.

Um, yeah, I currently do.

I'm, I'm very thankful for that.

Right.

But, uh, you know, it's not just about, yeah.

Yeah.

That's part of it.

I also do like a lot of different sports and, and, and I train

for, for different things.

Right.

So, so that also kinda has a fact for and effect.

To me, like on me, uh, especially like when I have some, I, I

usually ride my bike quite a lot, like endurance, uh, riding.

So it's like a longer three, four hour sessions and during that time I

have to kind of fuel for those rides.

Right.

And sometimes like if I have an early morning session or things like that,

I do have to fuel beforehand, right?

Because like, and that kinda sometimes complicates things, but I really try to.

Keep it simple.

Right.

And I, and I do most of my, uh, working out in the afternoon.

Right.

So I'm already fueled from the, from the lunch that I eat.

So that, that's fine.

But

Yeah.

So I think, I think you've made a good point though.

The consistency can be very difficult, and I hear that from a lot of people.

Um, but I did hear you say too that, you know, you've gone three or four

months at a time without fasting, but.

Guess what you did?

You always came back to it.

And so something that you

right.

it's a tool that you have and you are young and it is something that

you can come back to and you know it works, uh, you know the benefits and

just to have that in your toolbox.

Then you, you do have that flexibility because life does get in the way.

Um, and sometimes, you know, maybe for illness or things like that, we,

we have to kind of step away, uh, take a break and things like that.

But like I said, we can, we can come back.

So,

Yeah, absolutely.

alright, so let's talk about, your eating and your fasting windows.

Let's talk about fasting first.

So first of all, when you do fast, Jean, do you, uh, clean fast?

Meaning sticking to or do dirty fast, you stick to, uh, black coffee.

Go ahead.

Yeah, look, look, I'm gonna be honest, I am not eating during my fasting windows,

so when I fast, I don't eat anything.

Right?

Um, the only thing that I have is like this black coffee,

Okay.

is only allowed, um, during, I mean, only allowed like it's

easily a morning coffee, right?

Okay.

so that one is kind of, is kind of starting the day.

But then I, the first meal, as I said, like no snacks, no anything

like the first meal is, is is lunch.

And that's pretty much it.

Yeah.

Some people, the, you know, and I, I'm not the fasting police, I just know that, um.

Clean fasting works best for me.

Um, and when people are struggling with weight loss and, and I am

like, Hey, are you clean fasting?

And they're like, well, I'm putting a little, stevia or a little creamer

or a little nut milk in my coffee.

You know, once they kind of knock that out, you really can

tell the difference most times.

Um.

But like I said, you know, I, I do think the clean fast if, if you're

gonna take the time to fast, you know, having it be clean, sticking

to black coffee, water, herbal tea.

Do you drink any tea at all?

Um,

I do drink tea, but most of the time I drink water.

So like that's my primary thing.

I do This is like, without this, I wouldn't be able to do it, honestly.

And to be completely honest, I think even, even without fasting, like I

don't think that we drink enough water.

So like where I have the chance, I just have like my, my

flask with me and I drink it.

It's like a liter.

And then, I mean, uh.

Like, uh, yeah, it's like a, I, I don't know, American units, but yeah.

It's like a huge one.

Right.

Oh,

And,

about, oh, it looks about, oh, I'm not very good.

I guessing that

it, it looks like a, uh, 32 oz. Does that say something to you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

32

Okay.

Okay.

Alright.

Yeah.

yeah, and I do think, yeah, the hydration and I talk about that

a lot in my podcast episodes.

The hydration is so, so important, whether you're fasting or not.

Um,

Exactly.

if you are fasting.

So, um, how about electrolytes, supplements, uh, to get you through.

Do you use anything like that?

So I don't, I do sometimes have like these kinda, um, tablets

that you put in the water, but I don't really have them anymore.

What I do use is if I have, like, if I go out and I, it's a hot day and

there is like a workout that I need to do in a hot day, I do put some

salt into it, like just a normal salt that you buy in the store and that's.

Pretty much like what I do.

It's super simple.

You don't need anything.

But that's only like really only on a hot day if I have a workout.

Otherwise, I, I don't really, I don't really do anything.

Yeah, and I've noticed, you know, I, I do, I like the element, but

I, I barely do it anymore, only when I'm doing an extended fast.

It really did help me in the beginning when I was getting my

body, you know, used to fasting.

but it's a little pricey.

And like I said, I, I stick to maybe one per week when I do an extended fast.

But, but you're right.

Just some.

Plain old mineral salt, um, sprinkled into

That's right.

I like to do that as soon as I wake up in the morning now.

And that really has been helping, like with headaches and things like that too.

But like, if you like, just because you mentioned the element, right?

Mm-hmm.

to say like, if there is something like in your routine or something that you do

or some small thing that like, makes you like, uh, it makes your heart tick, right?

Like do it.

Go ahead.

I, I think like.

I think like when you're fasting or even when, when you're not right, if, if

there is something that you can do for your health that you can do every single

day that makes you like 10% happier or, or 1% happier for that sake, right?

Like just do it.

Like, yeah, it's worth it.

At the end of the day, like that's pretty much like, like I wanna live

my life like a better person, happier person, so why not do it, right?

I'm, I am, I am right there with you on that for sure.

So, so Jean, what would you say is the longest fast you've ever done?

Uh, I like to be completely honest, I didn't do yet any super prolonged fast.

The, probably the, , the longest one was 24 hours, and like, that's not a lot.

I know that in the community, like people are, are doing some crazy things, right?

And I know that there is like, like, but I know that there are

like, like a small portion of the community, like doing things like, uh,

Yeah.

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, but to me, like I.

go ahead.

Yeah.

To me, for me, like what I want to do is I want a routine that

works for me on a daily basis.

And like if there is some special event or something like this, sure I

can like join in and, and do it right.

But most of the time I just want my routine here and I just

want to do it every single day.

And, and that's pretty much it.

Yeah,

I love it.

Yeah, and that's where the consistency comes in too, so,

exactly.

Yeah.

good.

Alright, Jean, let's talk about some fun stuff about, uh, eating.

So what kind of foods do you really enjoy?

on during your eating hours.

Like what are your favorites?

Your go-tos.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a really good question.

To be completely honest, like recently I've started eating a little bit less

of meat because I've noticed that, you know, like, to be completely

honest, it's not so much on the.

On the, on the, on the, like, taste of food, right?

It's more towards addicts that, um, that I started realizing that, you know, maybe

this like piece of meat doesn't really make too much sense, um, to eat because.

Yeah, at the end, at the end of the day, like I can have just this, like

a good meal, uh, with vegetables, um, but I'm not going fully vegan

or fully vegetarian just yet.

So, yeah, don't worry.

Oh,

Uh,

it's

yeah.

Yeah.

Well,

Uh,

you're, you're in a totally different country.

I

I,

a, a whole different podcast could be on, on the food quality

here in America, but what,

yeah.

you say as far as, uh, you know, the food industry over in Europe?

I mean, do you feel pretty good about it or

Mostly, yes.

I think like if I compare it to the US I think it is a bit better, right?

It's like in terms of some regulation or, or things like that, like some

color additives and things like that.

I've noticed that in Europe we pretty much have it like.

Really good, but you still have like a lot of process things.

You still can buy whatever you want.

Like it's not like perfect.

Right.

And I, I've noticed like a couple of things, which is

like, um, you can start like.

Yeah, you can start eating basically the same as in America.

You can pick and choose, right?

Even in Slovenia we have issues with, or in Europe, right?

We have issues with like, uh, ultra processed foods and they're available

just like around the every corner.

Just just as in the us right?

So that's for me, like, um.

Yeah, you have to pick and choose, right?

And for some of the staple meals that I have, I really like rice

and something with it, right?

So a lot of the times is the salmon.

I really like the, the rice and salmon.

Yeah.

Love, love,

That, that one is, is, is a great one.

And then I have like some kind of rista and things like that.

Pasta, a lot of that.

Um, let me think.

And the pasta I know is so much higher quality in Europe.

Uh, you know, Europe, my 24-year-old daughter, she did a 10 week study

abroad, um, in Italy and oh, she just came back raving about all of that.

The rice, the pasta.

I mean,

Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

you.

the, I guess we have it good here for, for those two things.

Yeah.

And, and to be completely honest, I, what I try to do is I try

to like, have simple meals.

Um, I try to make sure that I don't consume too much, um, ultra

processed foods for me, the hardest ones are some kind of like these

bars, different snacks that you get

Yes,

kind of donuts.

I really like those, but I have to kind of cut down.

That's my weakness.

Absolutely.

So

do you like?

Jean?

I am a simple person when it comes to donuts.

I just want like a sugary one.

Like the, the like a simple dough

The

and sugar filled.

Yeah, the classic one.

I just, I just love it.

That's the best one.

And like if you have a glass of milk, oh my god, it's perfect.

you dunk it in there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's amazing.

I love it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, so let's say you've gone all day and you're about

to break your F fast at noon.

type of food do you have a go-to for what you generally, what's your routine

or food that you break your fast with?

Uh, Jean,

Yeah, so pretty much rice and salmon is, is the, is the perfect combination for me.

It's not like I usually eat it once per week.

Um, and like that's a, it's not the best choice, but it's a okay

one because I want to have a little bit of fat, but not too much.

I want to have some carb.

Yeah, protein from salmon and then some carbs.

Yeah.

That's pretty much like how I want to do it.

And uh, the thing is, I also realized some vegetables with it.

So I have usually a green salad with it, which really helps,

like with everything, right?

So.

Yeah,

Yeah, just a salad and, and something, something on the side.

Yeah.

So, all right, so let's fast forward to six o'clock.

When you're ready to close your eating window, uh, do you have like

a little dessert or what do you typically close that eating window with

So I have this kind of, basically it's a breakfast, but I have it for dinner.

Right.

Um.

Ooh, breakfast for the

Uh, yeah, yeah, exactly.

So I usually have like some kind of yogurt plus, um, some oatmeal, and then I add

some blueberries, raspberries, whatever.

It's available pretty much like any kind of food you have, like a mango or you can

add banana or you can add like, pretty much any kind of fruit, it's available.

And then I usually do some kind of like a dark chocolate, but not too

close to the evening time because dark chocolate has like coffee, like,

and yeah, that, that's not the best.

But like if I don't eat it, like at five.

Uh, pm So if, if I eat a little bit earlier, then I do a little bit of

dark, dark chocolate, some honey, and, and yeah, that's pretty much it.

So it's like kinda like a, a breakfast cereal thingy

Yeah, that

with with

Um,

Yeah, yeah,

love, I almost always end my eating window

I,

yogurt and pilot with berries and all sorts of it.

exactly.

Yeah.

Greek yogurt is amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

so good.

So good.

Um, yeah.

Very, very good.

Okay, so let's, I know you mentioned a little bit about activity, you

were talking about biking and things, but, um, so what are your

favorite ways to stay active?

Right.

So in terms of like, like I think every, like most of the people want to be fit

and most, most of the people want to like come here to fasting community and

just like, do like the fasting and, and, and, and try to find as many different

things to be healthy in their life.

Right.

Absolutely.

And I, I find fasting just one of the levers I can pull, right?

So for example, there is like workout lever, and I can pull that one.

There is like a fasting lever and I can, I can pull that one.

There is like a healthy food lever, right?

And I can pull that one, but you cannot pull all the levers

at the same time, right?

So for me at least, like there are multiple ways, like multiple levers,

like, like a, a good sleep, right?

Uh, uh, uh, relationships that you, you cultivate, right?

And all those things like really help, right?

Because at the end of the day, like, it's like a, like a day picture, like

a picture of the day that like makes what your life really is, right?

And in terms of the fasting lever, okay, I pull this one out and I also want to,

like, when I put pull the fasting lever down, I also start thinking about food

more in terms of like, okay, I fasted today, I did something good for myself.

Why should I eat something unhealthy right now?

It doesn't make much sense, right?

And so I pulled the, the, the, the eating healthy level, right?

And then when I do that, I realize, oh my God, like I, I'm already

fasting, I'm already eating healthy.

Why shouldn't I do something for my body as well in terms of like,

like physical things, right?

So what I do is I do some strength training, but I do

that three times a week at most.

Uh, I do have like, uh, dumbbells at home.

I also have a gym, but, um, especially right now in the summer,

I usually just do it at home

Okay.

and that's the first thing.

The second thing is some kind of cardio.

And I'm not saying like you need to do cardio.

I think even a walk around the block is perfect,

Mm-hmm.

I just love doing it and I do like cycling and running.

I'm, I'm running like half marathon in month and a half,

so I'm training for that a bit.

you done one before?

I did, I did.

I did it one year ago.

So this one is,

So

is the second one.

ran the Boston Marathon in

Oh really?

11. So

Oh, nice Eyes.

I've been a runner my whole life.

Uh, I went to college on a running scholarship and then I

Oh, amazing.

and had my, my, my babies and then went back to it.

And at that point I hadn't run more than, uh, like five miles and so.

Picked it up and, uh, trained.

And I ran the Detroit Marathon and then qualified for Boston and ran it.

Oh, that's amazing.

it, it's running is such a great sport because, uh, it helps not

just with your, your physical body, but the mental part of it, uh, is

Right, right.

So, so where are you doing the half marathon?

Here in Liana.

So it's li Yeah, it's Liana Li's Marathon.

Um, it's not like the, the most prestigious one, but, but

it's gonna be just fine for me.

I'm excited for you.

When is that?

I think it's on the 19th of October, if I'm, if I remember correctly.

and you've, so you've been training for it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm like in the, in the, in the harder sessions right now.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, I've been there.

Oh, I, I've, I've done, I haven't done one in, it's like I said, 2011 was,

was the last marathon I did in Boston.

And, uh, I keep saying I'm gonna do one.

I am turning, like I said, I'm turning 50 next week, so I, that's gonna be my, my

50-year-old goal to, to do another one.

Right, right.

and you said you bike too.

Is that

Yeah, yeah.

I started biking probably around year and a half ago, and I just picked it up

and I noticed, okay, like this thing, you can, you can, like Slovenia roads

are not the best in quality, but they have amazing views and, and they are

not like, they're not so many cars on them and you can really like, see some

amazing things and, and experience the whole nature and everything.

Yeah.

yeah, that one is also wonderful.

But if I go back to running, like what I've noticed, like, because I know that

if I would hear something like that on a podcast, I would start, I would say

to myself, oh, I have to give it a try.

Right?

What I want to say is that start super slow.

Like so many people, like I, I have multiple friends who run and they just

go every session and they, they just run as fast as they can and, and it's not as

fun if you do it like, like that, right?

Yeah.

It's, it's the worst, like what you should do.

Yeah.

Great

Yeah.

for gradual

And, and go as slow as possible.

Like you think you go slow, you can go slower.

I think like that's how I train and I do most of the runs regular like that, right?

The harder sessions, usually just once per week, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you know, when I was training for, um, the marathon, I was actually

training back in oh nine is when I started and I started with, uh, it's,

I think his name's Jim Galloway.

And I'm from Flint, uh, Michigan.

If you know about the water, where I'm from.

Um, but they have this.

10 mile crim road race that is, it's huge.

It's the biggest thing in the city every year.

And so when I was a kid and growing up, um, I was always, uh, around that.

Well, when I decided to train, um, for the marathon, I started with the, the Galloway

method, which is, it's a run walk.

So I actually was doing a four minute run.

a one minute walk, and I actually qualified for the

Boston Marathon doing that.

And people

Oh, that's amazing.

can you do that?

And it really, really works because you don't realize that one minute

of rest is saving your legs.

Eventually, I kind of broke it down to a, a four and a half,

a 32nd, um, kind of schedule.

But you're right, you've got to be gradual.

Go at it slow, um, just don't go balls to the wall.

And you know, like you

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

because I think if when people do that, they get turned off to running, you

Exactly.

Yeah,

and, and running is such a great sport that you can carry with

you for the rest of your life.

You can do it on vacation.

It doesn't require any equipment, just.

Some

exactly.

make it a little better, but,

Yeah.

Yeah.

so, so when you

But that's pretty much it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

you

I.

do you, do you exercise fasted, uh, like have you eaten or

what, what do you do with that?

Look, I, I've experimented with both and I know that like some people have

their own opinions on it, but I think like, especially like when it comes

to weight training, I don't think, I think you can do it fasted, right?

So most of the time if I do a weight training session, I do in the, in

the morning during my fast rate, and that doesn't really kinda.

You know, I don't see a drop in performance, uh, with that.

But when I, like, if I, if I do cardio, especially a longer thing, I, I don't

think it's a great idea to do it.

Fasting.

I think you have to have something in your body.

You have to eat something before it, or at least like, yeah, I've noticed

that you, I have to, to get something in my body to actually do it well.

Right.

Especially in the hardest sessions.

I, I do have to be like, uh, fully carved up and, and ready to do them right.

that, Jean.

I think that's a, such a perfect balance and great advice.

Um, and, and like I said, I find that too, uh, for strength training, Mike.

My kind of go-to.

I like kettlebells.

It's kind of my thing.

But yeah, I definitely almost always do that in the fasted state and I

Yeah,

difference.

But yeah, if I'm, if I'm going on a really long run or whatever, and

you have to, you have to also just gauge how your body feels too.

And

exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, well we are almost ready to wrap things up.

So I would like to end with your shiniest gem.

What is your very, very best intermittent fasting tip for success that you

can leave our listeners with today?

Oh, that's such a hard one to be completely honest.

so many awesome tips throughout the whole episode.

I'm so, so glad that you reached out because this has been so fun.

But, all right, what is zero in What can, it doesn't even have to be

anything like super fireworks, you know?

I know.

I know.

Okay.

I, I think I have it right.

right.

So find a fasting schedule that works for you and do it daily.

That's pretty much it.

much I

Because, yeah, I like to like, and to explain a bit on that, I've, I have

conversations like with different people who are fasting and who stopped and who

like just did a bunch of different things.

And I've always noticed that the people who don't come back.

Usually do too much or usually do some really strange fasting regimes.

Like I've, I've had a conversation with a guy who said like, oh, just do

like, um, four day fast and then one day eating and then four day fasting

and one day eating and you will drop the weight and things like that.

And I don't think that that's sustainable.

Maybe you can do stuff like that.

Yeah, maybe you can do it once.

Right.

But it's not gonna be great.

And I think at the end of the day, like if you don't feel great after it.

You're not gonna do it in the long run.

And if you're not going to do it in the long run, you're

not going to do it at all.

Right.

And I noticed this like, and why, why did I even start fasting?

Was because I didn't want, I want some kind of restriction in my life.

You know?

I want something to, to say, okay, this is some rules.

These rules show results, and we have to be super careful in terms of like,

yeah, I just, I just want to look fine.

I try to feel fine.

I try to do my work.

I try to exercise and if I can do all of that and feel good about it and,

and have like a nice day that I can be proud of, that's pretty much it.

And, and fasting comes here, it's daily.

It's nothing special.

Absolutely.

stick to it.

And that's pretty much it.

Yeah.

I love it.

I love it.

Very, very good.

I, Jean, thank you so much for chatting with me today and for sharing such

awesome information with our listeners.

I, I really had so much fun hanging out with you.

Um, I hope you had fun too.

And for 26 years old, you really did share a lot of, uh, wisdom with everybody.

love that you're just laid back and loving this intermittent

fasting lifestyle and, yeah, it's

Yeah.

J Jen, thank you so much.

Like, this was really fun.

I really had a lot of fun with it, and I also listened to,

to a bunch of your episodes.

Uh,

Oh, thank you.

and, and, and yeah, I was as inspired to reach out, right?

That's why I did it.

And, and

Yeah.

was super fun.

I really enjoyed it as well.

Thank you.

you so much.

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

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