Why I chose the FASTer Way
In the fall of 2017, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable in my body and spending a lot of time reflecting how my weight had jumped up so fast. I had depleted everything I had 2 years prior on a low cal diet, and now was feeling the effects of it. As a nutritionist I was pretty embarrassed that my body was not reflecting my healthy way of eating, and I was no longer physically strong and my body hurt.
I wasn’t sure what the issue was, and just about that time, I stumbled on Amanda Tress’s FWTFL. I watched her live videos and instagram posts and watched her followers change their bodies. I was pretty skeptical at first. I know a lot about nutrition, the body and weight loss and it didn’t seem so easy. So, I sat and watched and at the same time grew larger, unhappy and weaker. What the hell!
It wasn’t until I was about to turn 42, when my husband had asked me what I wanted for my birthday. My first response was a stool test. Let me remind you, that I am a Nutritional Therapist and Restorative Wellness Practitioner, stool tests are cool to me. He didn’t like that gift, so instead opted to sign up for the June 18th FWTFL group. I was going to jump in with two feet and see if it would work for me.
I thrive on structure so the daily low carb, reg macro, and low macro days paired with workouts were exciting to me. I knew I could stick to the nutrition schedule, the exercise though I wasn’t sure I would be able to. Not that I didn’t like exercise, moving my body has never been my favorite. When I was kid, whenever I exercised or became over heated my pulse would get really high and my blood pressure would drop. I would end up fainting and it felt TERRIBLE. So I trained my brain to fear movement and working out the body. It has only been in the last 10 years that I could effectively move without fainting.
I started working out slow, then each day I was able to push a little harder and then each week I was lifting more and doing more. I was enjoying the exercise. Each day is a little different, paired with strategic nutrition we did two days of HIIT or Sprint workouts and on regular macro days we did strength workouts. 3 days of muscle building, these were my fav! Especially leg day, this is the day that we incorporate a treat into our daily targeted macros. It really turned out to be the most important day. Incorporating a treat or fun food was very helpful for me, I never felt deprived and I knew if I indulge, it wasn’t going to hurt or stall my progress, but really keep me on track.
Carb Cycling
Carb Cycling is a variation of carbohydrates through out the week. Some days will be low carb, meaning you will only consume a certain amount of carbohydrates. This will help the body deplete the glycogen storage and allow fat storage to be used as fuel. Each of us needs a certain amount of carbohydrates to function, and when I say carbs I am talking about all the vegetables. So it is really important to eat your carbohydrates, trust me you will feel better.
Three days out of the week we had regular macro days and the carbohydrate intake was much larger. This was to replace our storage for the remainder of the week and to help with muscles building.
Not only does carb cycling help with achieving weight loss goals and platues, there are also some incredible health benefits.
Benefits to Carb Cycling
Regular carb days help refuel muscle glycogen
May improve hormones leptin and ghrelin with are weight and appetite regulating hormones.
Low carb day the body utilizes fat based energy to help with metabolism and the bodies ability to burn fat as fuel. Switching from a predominate sugar burner to fat burner.
Improvement of insulin sensitivity and resistance.
Intermittent Fasting
The scary “F” word. Don’t let this part scare you! The structured 16/8 schedule is an also an effective way to rest your digestive system giving your gut a break and letting it recover from the previous days worth of food. So when we eat your last meal of the day, the countdown starts. So if you finish you dinner at 7pm, you will break your fast around 11am the next day. Totally do able, right?!
Fasting has been around for a long time. Many cultures and religions have been using this eating practicing and there are many benefits to fasting.
Some benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Improves hormones
Helps maintain skeletal muscle mass
Decreased blood glucose levels
Decreased insulin levels and insulin sensitivity
Helps the body breakdown fats and fat oxidation
Increased growth hormone levels
Tracking Macros
While counting calories was never my strong suit and frankly I found extremely difficult, counting macros makes more since to me. Calories are not created equal and though I do feel as though you should be aware of the energy you are putting in your body, where that energy comes from is more important than how much energy. While we do track macros we don’t track calories. Using MyFitnessPal has made the process so easy and to be honest toward the end of the 6 weeks, I found that I knew what my totals were going to be before I logged them.
If you find that using the app is difficult, there is a video for that! There is a video for just about everything with the FASTer Way To Fat Loss! Amanda easily broke down how to set goals and log in your food that it made the transition effortless.
I love this program, it is inline with my nutritional beliefs as a Nutritional Therapist and Restorative Wellness Practitioner. It utilizes the cutting edge techniques to maximize your daily eating and workouts. I felt comfortable in my body and importantly I felt strong! I was loving the workouts and eating schedule. I found something that felt effortless and that is what I needed. With so much of my time being pulled in so many directions I wanted and needed easy and effortless.
Don’t get me wrong the first couple of weeks was a challenge, a good one, and with the help from my coaches I never felt alone and always had a someone cheering me on.
I loved it so much, I became a coach! I found this to be another way to help my clients really get the most our of their efforts with weight loss and fitness.
If you would like more information on the program, sign up for my free guide and get on my waiting list for the next round!
