Meet Star McEuen from Arizona!  Star is a 40yo mom of SIX, Wife, Fasting Coach, Influencer, Author and downright badass.  Most Star's life was focused on her weight- she always wanted to be “skinny and/or fit”.  She had tried every “diet” out there to lose weight, did all the at home workouts, went to the gym, became a personal trainer herself, hired a nutritionist...and they all lead to the same place, failure, disappoint and defeat. She turned 35 years old and no matter what she did to lose weight before, nothing was working this time and the weight just pilled on. Star's last recorded weight was in May of 2019 at 210lbs. She was at the darkest point in her life - depressed and deteriorating health, tired and felt out of options. Then in August of 2019, she found intermittent fasting (IF) through her high school best friend who had been sharing about her IF journey on social media.  Her friend had lost weight successfully and said it was fairly easy -  she recommended Star try it. She read Delay, Don't Deny by Gin Stephens and started with a clean fast aiming for a 19 hour fast and 5 hour eating window protocol with an OMAD (One Meal A Day) lifestyle. By February 2020 she had reached her first goal weight of 140lbs. In April of 2020 she started implementing one "meal-less" day a week and by August of 2020 (one year of IF) she had lost a total of 81lbs!! Her new goal now is to get to 20+ hours fasted each day, with a 1-3 hour eating window  (with the occasional shorter fasts and longer eating windows depending on her day). A huge game changer for Star was breaking her fast with her main meal instead of a snack. For months she broke with a snack, then had a meal, then if she felt the need for something else she would have it. One day, her body stopped liking this protocol. Each fast was getting harder, she wanted 2 meals all of a sudden- it took her awhile to pinpoint what was going on... she was breaking her fast with a snack, but her snack would be so BIG, that when dinner came, she wasn’t very hungry. This lead to her not getting enough protein or nutrients to sustain her fast the next day. Once she started breaking her fast with her main meal, fasting felt easy and good again. Today, when she feels the need for her body to “reset” she will throw in a meal less day on occasion, but for the most part sticks to a daily fasting protocol of 20+ hours fasted and a 1-3 hour eating window - she feels her body does best there. If she allows a longer eating window,  sometimes she  will tend to not make the best food choices - short and sweet is her sweet spot. IF has taught Star to be mindful of everything that goes into her body and to eat for nutrition and purpose, it has taught her to think nutrients NOT calories. She is no longer a prisoner to food, food is not the enemy -  too much circulating insulin is the problem. IF helps us regulate All our hormones and helps us learn how to trust ourselves around food again. IF truly is THE health plan with a side effect of weight loss -  everyone should be an intermittent faster whether they have weight to lose or just for the health benefits alone! https://www.instagram.com/lovemyifinglife/https://www.amazon.com/Women-Action-Takers-Gained-Losing/dp/1956665056Support the showhttps://fastandfabulouspodcast.com