I've just seen so many changes happening with my health, and in my life in general, since I really committed to investing in myself and investing in TFM.

And this program has just made all the difference.

[music] Welcome to another episode of The Fasting Method podcast.

This is Coach Terri, and I'm very excited about this episode because I am joined by one of our Community members who has a great story and great insights to share, and her name is Kirsten Hopkinson.

Kirsten, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great, Terri.

I'm so excited to be here.

Thanks for having me.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

So excited.

So one of the reasons I was hoping that you could do this episode is I've gotten a little window into your journey, I've gotten to know you for the past few months and have gotten to see what you've been working on, and I wanted others to get to experience that and see what they can learn from you and apply that to their own journey.

So, Kirsten, if you would just kind of start with, where have you been in this journey?

And then, what has that led to for you?

Sure.

I started the journey with TFM in April 2025, so a few months back, with the goal of losing 80 or 90 pounds.

To date, I'm down 50 pounds and counting.

I've been fasting.

My schedule changes based on a variety of factors.

I've done 24-hour fasts.

The longest is five days with the Community Reset.

Some big wins are that, since April, my A1C has gone from 5.7 (which is pre-diabetic range) to 5.2.

And I've just seen so many changes happening with my health, and in my life in general, since I really committed to investing in myself and investing in TFM.

And this program has just made all the difference.

I'm almost speechless, even though I've known these things, just because that's such an amazing amount of progress in a pretty short period of time, and I know how dedicated you've been in the journey.

I'm wondering, you know, oftentimes people come to TFM and this is not their first time, this is not their first rodeo.

What stands out to you about what you've been doing since April that makes this experience different for you?

It's what I've been doing.

But more than that, it's the mindset.

Like many members of TFM, I have done everything under the sun before this.

I have lost and gained that same 50 pounds over and over and over again.

Every time I got to the point where I had to make a change - "I've got to do something," - it was because I was just kind of sick of myself.

I couldn't stand being the size that I was and living the way that I was anymore.

This time is different because I have learned that-- so I turned 50 last year.

Just prior to that, the year prior or the few years prior were very, very stressful due to caring for some aging family members that weren't well.

They eventually-- they passed away at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024.

But that was a very, very stressful period of my life and also very meaningful because I attach a lot of value to caring for others.

And once they passed away, I realized that I had really high cortisol.

I was very, very stressed out and I was in a fight-or-flight mode for years.

And then I turned 50.

They were gone, and I was realizing that I didn't feel that I had that meaning anymore, and what do I want the next 50 years to look like?

What do I want 58 to look like?

And 62, and-- you know, and on and on.

So the difference this time is I wasn't coming from a place of I'm so disgusted and saying all these gnarly bad things about myself.

I was thinking about, what do I want the rest of my life to look like?

I wasn't chasing skinny.

I'm not chasing skinny.

I want to look good, of course I do, but this time I'm really working to create habits and create a life to live my genuine self, to live with my genuine purpose, to live in my own skin, and experience life in a fuller way.

So I think I've discovered for myself, you do have to find the ultimate WHY, your North Star.

And for me-- professionally, I work with geriatric patients.

I'm a medical speech language pathologist working with stroke rehab.

I want to be active, I want to be fulfilled in my life, and I wasn't doing the things that I needed to do to get there.

I discovered that, in order to live the life that I want, I have to start doing those things right now, because life is happening right now.

Connecting to the idea that, "This is my identity," was brand new.

It wasn't about getting skinny.

It's about living the life that I want, aging well, and aging healthily.

I think that's really powerful, Kirsten, that, obviously, in watching your family members as they were struggling with health in their later stages in life, and watching patients that you work with, or clients that you work with, and really seeing, on a regular basis, the quality of life that some of us reach, and really then making a conscious decision about the quality of life you want to have, as you said, in these next 50 years, rather than just, you know, "Gosh, I want to fit in this size jeans," or, "I want to wear a bathing suit that looks like this." How do I want to feel in my body?

How do I want my body to be able to navigate this world, not just living longer, but thriving, you know, living a healthy, vibrant life?

And as I was listening to just the juxtaposition of what you have witnessed with who you work with and in supporting family members, and really then setting a clear, like you said, that North Star of how you want your life to go from here forward.

And I think also it's really being a part of this community has been a game changer, absolutely, because, for the first time-- you know, I would start a program-- I won't name a specific program, but I would toe the company line, you know, I'd drink the Kool-Aid, and I'd say, "Oh, yeah, I'm doing this.

This is my new lifestyle.

This is the way I do it.

This is my new lifestyle." And I would say that, but I didn't really believe it because, to me, it was just something you were supposed to say, and then it makes the diet stick, and then you lose the weight.

But really, with TFM, the idea that this is my identity, I'm a healthy person that makes healthy choices.

I am a person that goes out for a walk every morning.

I used to tell myself, "I'm not a morning person." So if I'm telling myself I'm not a morning person, what am I going to get up and go for a walk for?

Right.

But if I'm telling myself, "I'm a healthy person and I want to be active, and have my joints be mobile, and feel good in my body," then, yes, I'm going to get up and I'm going to go for that walk.

And what I've discovered along the way is that I enjoy it.

I enjoy the morning air, I enjoy-- I count the cats that I see along my walk [laughs] and I make friends.

I see other people walking.

I don't know their names, I've never spoken to them, but we wave to each other, and they're a part of my community, and they motivate me.

So I've learned to tell myself a different story and I think I'm rewriting my story as I'm living it, that I've chosen to change my narrative in a big way.

And along with that, I have had to make some massive changes in my lifestyle.

And I've seen only benefits from these major changes.

And I've only been able to do it, I think, because it was the right time in my life where I was ready to let that cortisol down, and I was ready to to make a change for the better.

And then, with the support of my one-on-one coach (thank you, Coach Terri) and the Community.

These meetings with 30, 80, 100, I don't know, 90 people in them - they're all just like me.

People are so genuine and open and supportive of one another in these meetings.

The education that I've received, all of the support - that has made the difference.

That's what's really been different this time.

Yeah, you're not going this all alone.

You know, you've really kind of wrapped yourself-- wrapped us around you and gotten that support.

And I hope it's okay to say this, but I remember a time in one of my large Community meetings when you were struggling, and you came in and you shared that.

And that's hard, with a lot of people, to share, "I'm struggling with the steps I'm taking right now," or other things.

You got that support, and then you have been that voice of inspiring others in other meetings, being able to support other people who are struggling at different times.

And to me, it just really highlights that we're all in this together.

We don't all succeed every moment of every day.

We hit some difficulties, we run into some challenges.

And it was so powerful for me to get to see you be in different roles, to, at one point, be someone who was struggling and needed to share that and gather some support around you, and, other times, being the one that can wrap around someone and offer that support.

So it's been really cool from this side to also get to watch you and that journey.

yeah, and, Terri, I think the other really cool thing is I've been able to connect with other Community members and they've become-- I consider them close friends outside of the meetings and outside of the group.

We text one another daily sometimes.

Because motivation does fade.

It's all new, brand new and exciting-- and, you know, at first I was doing all the things (every single thing, every single day), well aware of the idea that, yes, people burn out.

Oh, no, I'm not going to.

[laughs] This is-- I'm in this.

But sure enough, I did find that there was a point where I was doing too much, and I needed to prune out the things that weren't going to be a great fit for me.

Unfortunately, there is no magic formula.

Everybody has to take a bit of knowledge from each group that they attend or each thing that they read.

For myself, I've had to really piece together what works for me and for my life.

And that's the only way to make a sustainable, because this is who I am now.

I'm a person that gets up and goes for a walk.

I have some bone broth on the stove right now.

Who is this girl?

I have no idea.

[laughter] It's a really massive change, but that accountability with the Community members has made a tremendous impact on me.

The combination (with TFM) of the education and the support and the mindset focus, that's been the key.

Obviously, I'm biased on that, so I love hearing that, that it's really-- it's not just one thing, it's not just the knowledge.

The knowledge is super important, but, without the support, without the accountability, and without that mindset shift, all the knowledge in the world starts to wear thin, you know, because we run into challenging times, our brain gets tired of doing something after a while.

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[music] So earlier, Kirsten, you mentioned, you know, you've done various degrees of fasting, you've done different protocols and things, and it changes and evolves depending on what's going on or where you are in your journey.

Something that I think a lot of people who first come to TFM, or listen to the podcast, or sign up for coaching with us, one of the things many of them believe about this process, and struggle with shifting the belief, is, "Fasting is so powerful, that's all I have to do.

I don't need to make other changes.

I can keep eating the way I eat, I can keep my general lifestyle the same, but I'll just fast sometimes and that will do it." And I know, from what you've already touched on but also in what I know of you, that it's been much more than just the fasting.

I wondered if you could share anything about how you've kind of navigated that.

What have you had to change in your lifestyle (obviously, the morning walks being a big one) around choices, around self-talk?

I think the core thing that had to shift in my thinking is that there are parts of the things that I need to do that are uncomfortable, and that's okay.

And multiple things can be true at the same time.

So, yes, I want to lose 10 pounds, yes, I want to eat that thing.

[laughs] I'm not going to eat that thing.

That's going to be uncomfortable.

So I've had to kind of push through those feelings of discomfort around letting go of certain things.

And for me, those things included things that helped me to numb out.

So watching too much TV, being sedentary, and eating the wrong things, and drinking the wrong things, and too much of everything to kind of tamp down and keep those difficult feelings away.

One of the biggest challenges has been letting go of those things that I was using to numb out and make the decision - that is not serving me so I need to let go of that and move forward.

And I have only benefited [laughs] from letting go and putting down some of those things.

I really immersed myself in listening to TFM meetings and participating in them, listening to the podcast, reading all the books.

Just immersing myself in that information and putting that in front of me in my environment as the first thing that I see and first thought on my mind has really helped to make this a lifestyle, make this a transformation versus just a weight-loss program.

That's not what it is for me.

You know, Kirsten, one of the things you just highlighted that I think is so important (and sometimes it's one of those things that's very hard to believe, just hearing it or reading it, that you actually have to experience it to recognize that this is possible and can be true) is that, some of those decisions you just described, they get experienced like a loss.

This food or this beverage that I have used to numb and comfort, I'm going to choose not to use it.

And there are some feelings of grief and loss in that.

And the beauty of it, when people talk about that in the larger meetings and things, is we all can say, "Yep, I felt that too and there's something on the other side of that loss." And I think you, again, really exemplify this.

You had to go through those difficult choices, experience some losses with those numbing tools, those ways to kind of escape what you were feeling or experiencing.

From what you've described, it's opened up a whole lot more of getting to live more authentically, and getting to experience things, and getting to share openly with others about it.

And so I invite people to leave open the possibility that, even though making some of these changes may at first be experienced as losses or some grief, there's so much more on the other side.

There's more life, there's more joy, there's more activity and ability to do things.

Absolutely.

I couldn't agree more.

As I decided, you know, "Hey, let's turn off the TV that's keeping me sedentary, and keeping me on the couch, and keeping me tuned out," I started to pick up some hobbies that I have really enjoyed in the past.

And it's like all of a sudden I have all this time and energy.

I think, physically, I have more energy because of the fasting.

And I think that makes-- you know, that changes your body and your physiology, so you have more energy, or I do anyway.

But the mental energy...

I remember listening to a Community member talk about pushing her feelings down and eating to kind of cover them up and hide from those feelings.

And once she put those numbing tools down (or whatever you want to call them), she started to feel big things, and I can so relate to that.

And the fact is, we're humans and we're meant to feel these things.

We're meant to have these feelings, and letting them flow instead of numbing them down feels so much more genuine to me.

It feels like I'm living in my body, and living in my emotions, and in my life, and in a more genuine way.

And that feels so exciting to me, and uncomfortable at times, but that's human.

I also truly believe that our emotions are in our body.

They're held in our body.

And I think with the weight loss, those emotions kind of come out.

They have nowhere to hide.

I think that's a part of the healing as well, and that's a part of the journey that's really important to make space for.

I'm making intentional choices to shape my life to be the way I know it can be.

Absolutely.

And one of the things you're, again, highlighting is, in my way of experiencing this journey for myself and watching everyone else experience it, success is not just the number on the scale moving, success is not just getting into smaller pants or having a better A1C.

Success is transforming.

You are living your life differently now.

You're experiencing things.

You're experiencing your emotions.

You probably didn't imagine that when you first signed up to-- "Oh, let me try out this TFM thing," but how powerful that is.

And one of the things that I'm also so excited about is how it's carrying over into other areas of my life.

It's not just that I've gotten control over my eating habits.

That's fabulous, yes.

And the weight loss, yes.

And going down in pant size.

That's all tremendous, but it's carrying over in the sense that I've discovered a new power within myself and a new self agency that carries over into my work, how I manage things around the house, and things that I would sort of let slide and bury under the rug.

[laughs] And now I'm out there, I'm cleaning out drawers that I haven't looked at in five years [laughter] discovering all kinds of treasures.

So it really is not just one area of my life that's been impacted.

I just feel that I am a work in progress and I think we all are.

And we owe it to ourselves to be on this journey of discovery and to help each other along.

And I hope that by my coming here today and sharing my experience, somebody out there can connect with something that I've said and be inspired, because we can all do this, and the tools at TFM helped to make it possible for me.

Absolutely.

I know for sure you are going to inspire people in things that you have said today.

And to kind of close that piece, what I'd like to ask you is, if you kind of reflect on the beginning of this part of your journey (so when you first joined TFM, or when you first started doing any fasting, or looking at this process differently), what advice would you give yourself from what you know now?

What would you tell beginning Kirsten?

What would you tell someone who's new at this?

That is a great question.

I don't know.

I guess I'm not there yet.

[laughs] It's something that I'm going to continue to ponder, I think.

[laughs] It's a tough question.

Yeah.

And I think partly because, as you've already acknowledged, you're so in touch with, "I'm in process right now," that it's almost hard to reflect back as if you're not.

Yes.

One of the things I would say to a person, maybe early on in this journey, based on what you've said today, remain open, remain curious, and I guess I would just encourage people to have faith that it is possible.

As you said, we can do this.

The people who succeed are not superheroes.

We're all just normal human beings with lots of struggles and challenges, but believe that it's possible and give yourself the time to go through the steps.

You learn every step along the way.

And as you said earlier, you're going to try some things that you realize, "That doesn't work well for me," or, "That's not my best strategy.

Even though I heard five people on the meeting say, that works great for them." So be open to learning, "What works best for me?" "What supports me in this process?" "What do I need?" Many of us are not used to asking for what we need.

And so I really just liked, Kirsten, your statement about remaining curious and open and in your own journey, kind of remaining that positive note to yourself even when you were struggling.

"I know this is possible.

I'm in a tough time right now, but I'm going to figure out how to get onto the other side of this." Yeah, I think it's really important to think about what can I do right now?

What can I do today?

Because you can't do all the things.

I mean, you can for a short time, but it's not going to last, even if you are determined.

And I think we teach ourselves that lesson over and over again because we've been on this journey before, right?

We've lost this same weight and we've gained back over and over.

So I think giving it the time that it needs because it's a journey, it's-- you're changing your entire life, you're not just changing your physical appearance.

That's not what it's about.

And it's a big deal.

It's a big deal, so allow it the time in the space that it needs because, at the end, it's truly rewarding to see the different impact.

It's rewarding to see how your life is impacted by the small changes that you make today will impact how you live your life and who you are five years from now, and next week.

So I think allowing it the time that it needs to make these changes.

Yeah, and I think, for many of us, learning to allow ourselves the time, learning to give ourselves grace.

We're not going to do everything perfectly.

It's all not going to look perfect while we're doing it.

We're going to struggle sometimes, and that's okay.

Just keep, you know, as Nemo would say, just keep swimming.

Like, just keep moving forward with some faith or trust that you know where you're going.

Even when it seems kind of murky, you know where you're headed.

Yeah, I think really taking the time to picture what you want your life to be like.

It's not just, "I want to fit in a certain size jeans," it's, "I want to be able to get on an airplane and feel comfortable in the plane." Well, why?

Because I want to travel.

Why do you want to travel?

Because I'm curious and I want to go to Spain.

I want to go to France.

I want to go to Italy.

I want to experience the culture and the food and the life, and I want to be able to do these things in my life.

So I'm going to make choices today that will allow me to do that.

Well, I think you and I could talk for another hour or more about this, because I think we're pretty well aligned on really working on it to make this an identity, not just a weight-loss program, not just a diet.

Certainly, that's not been the focus that you've taken in the program and not what we emphasize, so I'm really enjoying getting to talk to you about the identity piece.

It's really important to just think about taking care of yourself.

Taking care of myself has taken on a new meaning.

And I think really discovering what self-care is has been important in this journey and really transformative.

Yeah, I think that's a great-- going back to that earlier question, that's a great piece of advice to give to someone earlier on or someone who might be struggling.

This weight-loss journey, this health journey, it's a self-care journey.

It means we're going to learn new ways of taking good care of ourselves, but it really is a self-care journey.

I love that focus, Kirsten.

Yeah.

All right, everyone.

Lots of good things in here today.

We'll have another episode for you next week.

Until then, take good care.