There is this instinct to do more, to figure it all out fast.

But what I have found is that healing and metabolic health, it often requires us to slow down, get curious, and really listen to our bodies.

[music] Hey everyone, I'm Coach Amy Medling from The Fasting Method, and today I'm honored to share a conversation that truly moved me.

I spoke with Alicia Peters, a thoughtful and inspiring member of our TFM Community.

Alicia first found The Fasting Method during the challenges of Covid and perimenopause, a time when baking became a creative outlet but also led to some unexpected weight gain and frustration.

What makes Alicia's story so powerful is the mindset work she's done along the way.

And in our conversation, she shares how she shifted from self-criticism to self-compassion, from comparison to acceptance, and how she's learning to work with her body instead of fighting against it.

This conversation originally aired as part of our monthly Community Town Hall, a space where TTM members open up about their experiences and support one another.

The insights Alicia shared were so encouraging and relatable, we knew we had to bring it to a wider audience through the podcast.

You'll hear themes of self-trust, healing at your own pace, and letting go of perfection.

I think Alicia's honesty and wisdom will inspire you as much as it inspired me.

Let's listen in.

[music] I am thrilled to introduce our Community guest today, Alicia Peters.

Alicia has been on a powerful journey here at The Fasting Method, and what really stands out about her story is how deeply she's worked on her mindset, not just her fasting routines but the way she's approached obstacles, setbacks, and inner shifts.

I invited Alicia to share with us today because I think her experience will resonate with many of you.

Whether you're just getting started or you've been on this journey for a while, her insights might be exactly what you need to hear right now.

So, Alicia, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the invite.

I was a little taken aback because I'm not yet at goal, but I'm like, "Okay, let's do it!" I can always share my story.

Yeah, well, it's a journey, right?

We never probably get to that ultimate goal.

The process is what is so powerful, but I would love to just start with what brought you to The Fasting Method and what was going on in your life that made you think, I'm ready to try something new?

Sure.

Sure thing.

I think I have to go back to a prior-- I joined The Fasting Method January 8th of this year, but I have to backtrack for it to make sense.

Right before Covid, 2019, I was really doing well with my health, getting all my medical tests, working out with a trainer, just really focused, hyper focused on losing some weight.

I was overweight, not yet obese, and so I was like, "Let's get this weight off." And then everybody knows...

Covid happened.

My trainer was at a gym.

The gyms shut down.

Life shut down.

One of my stress reliefs is baking, so I was just baking a lot.

Fortunately, I had friends to come over, but I think I was just eating a lot of sugar and carbs because I was like, "Oh, Instagram, let me try this.

Let me try this!" Fast forward...

I moved to Colorado from Los Angeles in 2022, and then perimenopause, out of nowhere, the symptoms just started hitting hard.

And then things that I normally did to lose weight really quickly-- you know, I think I've been overweight for a few years, but I always felt good in my body, so I never worried about it.

But then those things were not working, like the six small meals were not working.

Instead, I just kept gaining and gaining and gaining.

And I got really discouraged because I topped out at close to 97 kilos, in November of last year, after being diagnosed pre-diabetic and hypertensive.

I was super, super discouraged because I'm like, "This is not me.

This is not my body." But nothing I was doing was working.

I just kept gaining more and more weight.

And then I remembered that I had I'd read The Obesity Code, and so I started relistening to it and it mentioned the podcast and TFM.

So I started listening to the podcast, and that was in November.

And I just really binge -listened [laughs] to all the TFM podcasts over a few weeks.

I immediately started practicing TRE [time-restricted eating] when I started listening because that was-- Coach Nadia was on there at the time, and so I immediately started practicing TRE.

And then I did lose some weight, so I lost some.

I think it was about seven kilos that I lost November, December.

But January, I was like, "I think I need the support of the Community." So I went and found it online and signed up for that January cohort.

And I just got a lifetime membership because I figured this is going to be a lifetime battle, so I'm probably going to need the support forever.

So I just signed up immediately with lifetime membership.

And so that's the long story of what brought me to TFM.

Yeah.

You know, I think that so many parts of that story, it can really resonate with folks, certainly, how life just really shifted during Covid.

And in my years of being a health coach, I have found that women who are really struggling with their health lack a creative outlet.

Baking can be a great creative outlet as long as you're not indulging in all [laughs] of the baked goods.

But finding a creative outlet like baking, something that brings you joy, is really an important part of this process.

I'm just curious, have you found something else to kind of take that place of baking?

So, not that I follow all of the astrology and the stars, but I am Gemini and we try a lot of different things.

So I've gone into painting, doing some charcoal stuff.

I'm into pickling right now, so that's my new thing.

I still do sourdough, but not a lot of sugary treats anymore.

So yeah, I do a variety-- gardening because I moved to Colorado, so that has been my focus is gardening.

I've had zucchini from my garden, tomatoes, strawberries.

Unfortunately, the squirrels got to the strawberries.

I only got one.

[laughter] Planting flowers, you know, hiking.

So I've found a lot of different things.

I've gotten back into yoga.

I was an avid yoga practitioner when I was younger (I started in college) and it just got lost.

I think I started feeling uncomfortable going into the studio the bigger I got, you know?

And so I've been practicing at home, and so I've gotten back into yoga.

And so that's been really great.

Yeah.

You're finding sweetness in life in non-food ways, and you just named so many ways that we can do that.

That's wonderful.

The other thing that I heard you say is that, you know, you felt like, "This isn't my body.

This isn't me." And I think a lot of women going through perimenopause can certainly relate with that, with the fluctuating hormones.

You know, estrogen is wildly fluctuating, cortisol is often elevated, progesterone is lower.

And what worked for you in your 20s and 30s often just doesn't work anymore.

Those, you know, three meals and three snacks a day with insulin resistance rising because of the hormonal array, it's wonderful that you were able to rediscover The Obesity Code and Dr.

Fung and the Community, for sure.

I was also kind of wondering, you have spoken in some of my group meetings about some mindset shifts that you've made along the way.

Can you maybe talk about something that has helped you continue on your journey here?

You know, you've been here since January and stuck with it.

That's fantastic.

But what has kind of helped you get unstuck or stay consistent?

I think I've embraced inconsistency.

[laughs] My journey is definitely not linear.

And I'll talk a little bit about fasting later.

But I think what's really helped, it's the group meetings, it's the zoom meetings.

More than anything, when I started, I thought, "Just tell me what to do.

I'll do it.

I don't need any mindset meetings." But then, as probably other people come to realize, is that I really needed the mindset shift.

Because I was going into this--

I'm very type A: got the goal before me, let's get it done.

So I went into this like, "Okay, I'm going to fast, lose the weight, and then be done," but the shift is the lifestyle.

Because I came here for three things, right?

I wanted to lose weight, reverse pre-diabetes, and reverse the hypertension - that's the direction I was going.

I was very, very specific of what I wanted to accomplish.

But then I started going to meetings (especially Coach Terri's, some of your mindset), and it really started helping me to think differently about not just the weight loss, but the way of life, and what led to this, and really understanding insulin.

Insulin is like the biggest thing.

I was like, I never really got it.

Even reading The Obesity Code, I never got the whole insulin thing until I kept hearing it over and over and over and over.

So I think that was the mindset shift.

Like, okay, there's nothing wrong with me.

I just need the proper processes in place that work for my body.

And you talk about this often, being kind to yourself and partnering with your body.

And so I've been practicing, like, really practicing being kind to myself.

I know Coach Heather has said that you you can't heal a body you hate.

And I absolutely detested looking into the mirror.

But I started practicing, you know, in January, looking into the mirror, telling myself, "I love you and I'm going to take care of you." And I think that kind of mindset really, really helped the shift.

It was like, okay, this is my body.

We're one team.

We're going to figure it out.

These cravings are because you probably need something really healthy, not the junk.

And I won't be feeding you junk.

Let's take care of you.

And I think that's the major shift for me.

You know, I hear from so many type-A women, whether, you know, they're my clients or in the Community.

And, you know, I certainly kind of struggle with-- I call myself a recovering perfectionist, but there is this instinct to do more, to figure it all out fast.

But what I have found is that healing and metabolic health, it often requires us to slow down, get curious, and really listen to our bodies.

And you've just described that, and you've been doing such a beautiful job leaning into that shift.

I think, for me, it's always so refreshing to hear, like that high achiever say, "I don't need to fix myself, I need to work with myself." I think that's just such a powerful reframe.

Yeah.

And you helped a lot with that, with the whole concept of working with my body.

And I'm just learning a lot.

I'm super grateful.

Like, you know, I'm 48 years old and never really thought much about my cycle and how it affects me, and what do I need to support my body.

I'm like, my goodness, I've missed out on so many years when I could have really been supporting my body in a different way.

But I'm super grateful to be getting this knowledge now, and learning how to support my body so that I can be at optimal health.

Yeah, and I love what you said about the Community and the group meetings.

I think it's just so important to realize that you're not alone and to be kind of reminded.

You come to the meetings and you hear the shares, and you're kind of reminded of the tools that we have in our toolbox and the mindset that really supports the sustainable change and the consistency that we're all working towards.

I know that, for me, sometimes just hearing someone else affirm what I'm feeling or sort of say, "Me too!" you know, in a group meeting can help calm that nervous system response in a way that no amount of reading books, or listening to podcasts, or research can.

It's just so nice to feel like you have just a partner in the Community.

That's at least how I feel about it.

I know.

I think the Community is the best part of TFM.

Hearing everybody's journey, ,heir successes, their struggles, how they get back on track.

It's very helpful for me.

When I first started, I had a lot more time work to be in the Zoom meetings and participate.

Now, I don't have that luxury, but I often have my earphones just listening and soaking up what I can soak up in between.

And so I think just attending the meetings, for me, has been really, really life changing.

Yeah, and it's just a good reminder that you don't have to raise your hand and chat.

You can just be present and listen.

The other thing that I just wanted to comment again on is, you know, when you were kind of saying, "This isn't me, this isn't my body," I hear a lot of women will say, "It felt like I was broken," you know, kind of going through perimenopause years.

And I think it's just so important to realize that your body isn't broken, it just needs a different kind of support.

You're not failing.

The approach that you are using, whether it's like just white-knuckling it, trying to be perfect, you know, drive, drive, drive to achieve the results, that just doesn't match what your body needs at this phase of life.

So that's just another kind of comment that I wanted to make on your experience.

We all hit bumps in the road in our journey.

I'd love it if you could share a time that you felt stuck or discouraged over the past many months, and how you found your way through.

So, for me (and this is something I have had to consistently work on), it is the comparison trap.

When I started-- so you start with your cohort, and people are having success.

They're able to do 48, 72.

And I could not fast for the life of me, right?

I could do TRE beautifully, but I could not even make it 24 hours.

And I felt so defeated, just starting, like, "I can't even make it to 24 hours!" And that was really, really hard because I'm like, that means it's going to be super slow for me.

I had a goal to lose this weight by May, my birthday, but then I wasn't on track to doing it.

So I think the struggle for me was coming up with my limitations.

I had to reset what's a realistic goal, and that I am not everybody else.

And this whole n=1 thing, which used to annoy me so much.

I'm like, "What do you mean, n=1?

Just tell me what to do!" [laughs] But then I started embracing that.

I'm like, "Well, obviously, my journey is not everybody else's journey, so let's just kick it in TRE." And so I did TRE, and then three 24s, and I did that for a long-- what I considered a long time.

It wasn't until like June that I started doing consistent overnight fasts.

I started losing weight on the TRE and 24s, and it was just slow.

It's been what I thought was a slow process because I thought, "Okay, we're going to lose 4 to 5 kilos a month." But, nope, I've been losing 2 to 3 kilos and I've had to, you know, again, my limitations just accept that.

I'm like, "Okay, that's what I'm doing right now.

That's what my body can't handle.

Let's just celebrate that you've had some losses and you're not gaining." And so that, for me, was the biggest struggle.

I have gone on vacations, eaten.

I don't eat perfectly.

When I go on vacations, I do give myself latitude and leeway.

But then when I come back home, I'm like, "Let's get back on track." So I don't consider it a struggle because I'm like, I know I'm going to come back with some extra poundage and some water retention, but I know exactly what I need to do to get back on track.

I try to keep things out of my house that will make me go off or something.

It's easy to do because I live by myself with my dog.

[laughs] You know, so when people bring stuff into my home, when I like host, I send it back out with them or it goes into the trash after they leave.

So that's very easy for me to control.

And that's why I tend to eat at home and rarely eat out because I just can't control other people and I don't know what they're doing with their food.

So I tend to just cook my meals and eat at home.

Or if somebody invites me out, I bring a dish I can eat and bring something to share.

Or, you know, I'll stick with things that are not so much processed.

Yeah, so many good strategies there.

You know, I think that folks listening can probably relate to what you started off with about comparing yourself to other folks' journey, you know, comparing yourself to folks in the cohort.

I think that's very, you know, being part of a community like this, it's definitely a trap, right?

We hear everybody else's stories and think, you know, why is that progress not happening for me?

And I appreciate you for being so honest about that.

That comparison trap can really steal our peace if we're not careful.

But it's just important for everyone to realize that your body, your life, your starting point, it's different.

And progress isn't always, as you said, linear.

Your journey is not always linear or even scale based.

That's why we love those non-scale victories to acknowledge along the way.

But I think it's really admirable that you were able to stay anchored in your journey and realize this is unique to you, and then you figured out the fasting regimen that worked best for you.

And as Donna-- Donna did post in chat, you know, I'd love to lose 2 to 3kg a month and congrats on that achievement.

That's definitely nothing to diminish.

You had said that you wanted to talk a little bit more about your fasting regimen.

Is there anything that you wanted to add to that?

Like I mentioned earlier, I started with TRE, so I did not even start doing 24-hour fasts until maybe February.

So that was like three months, because I started in November on my own with just TRE, November - three meals.

And then I was still eating everything, [laughs] all the sugar and all that stuff, but I was like, "Let's just bring it into my meals." I wasn't listening to Dr.

Nadia.

I'm like, "I'll eat whatever I want, just in my meals." And I did lose weight and I was able to start off well.

And then I started doing the 24-hour fasts, three times a week.

It would be two or three times a week.

That's what I did, the 24s.

I tried to do a 48.

Failed miserably!

[laughs] But I was like, "Okay, my body isn't ready for that," so I stuck to 24s.

And then I did join Megan's fasting group in June, and I think that gave me more confidence to start doing overnight fasts.

So then I started doing the 48s more consistently, just one 48 and two 24s, trying to-- because I didn't seem to be able to make it to the second 48, so breaking it up into two 24s really helped.

And then sometimes I went back to TRE.

If I felt like, "Oh my gosh, I really, really need to eat," I just went back to TRE for a couple weeks, and then would go back to fasting.

But the only thing consistent is my TRE.

That's what's super consistent.

The fasting protocols maybe not so much, but what's super consistent is TRE because I just really-- I wanted to get a lifelong way of eating.

I think that was my focus.

I don't want to be on diets or constantly thinking about what to eat, what not to eat.

You know, I just wanted a lifelong way of nourishing myself that was very intuitive.

For me, TRE is just that.

It brings me back to childhood and how I grew up.

It just makes so much sense to eat two or three meals and not snack between.

I really relate.

I remember my grandmother always saying, "Don't spoil your dinner." You never hear that.

I try to say that to my daughter and she looks at me kind of like, "What do you mean, spoil my dinner?" [laughs] But, you know, I think using TRE as that firm foundation and feeling like sometimes that is enough as it is.

And you achieved weight loss just doing TRE alone.

So I just I think what you've said and shared can be such a relief to somebody listening who feels like they're behind folks in their Jumpstart group or their cohort.

You know, they're sailing along with 48s and they're still at TRE.

But, you know, this isn't a race.

It's a long-term, healing journey, a sustainable lifestyle, like you described.

Yeah.

So I love TRE.

[laughs] I think that that's probably like my favorite thing.

I do not like fat fasting, I'll be very honest.

I am part of the doing the fasting reset [5-Day Reset] and today I was really hungry and it just reminded me, like I do not like fasting.

You know, but I'm like, "Let's try to go as long as we can." But TRE, it's just so easy.

It's like a no-brainer for me.

I love it.

I think it's a great basis and I know exactly what to fall back on.

Even when I'm on vacation, I practice TRE.

With my friends, they have snacks, and I'm like, "No, thank you, no thank you, no thank you." I'm like, "We're going to eat dinner, right?

I'll eat then." And so they're like, "Oh, what's going on?" And they're now a little bit used to it.

One of my friends, she texted me, she was like, "I'm trying your no snacks, but it's really hard." And so I was encouraging her, like, "You can do it, you can do it.

You're going to have a wonderful dinner," because she's an amazing cook.

So, yeah, I find it really an amazing baseline.

You know, I heard you say that, early in your journey, Coach Nadia's advice of kind of bringing whatever it is that you wanted to eat to the meal.

I was wondering if-- for folks that aren't sort of familiar with that strategy, if you could just-- and you were kind of coaching your friends to do the same thing, maybe you could just kind of give a little overview of that strategy.

It's one of the things that I first learned because Coach Nadia always talked about insulin, right?

So if you reduce the amount of times you're eating, then you're reducing how much your insulin is going up.

And so she would advise, "Okay, you want that chocolate, you want that cupcake?

Just bring it into your meal and eat it after you've had your protein, your good fats, and your fiber." So that's what I would do.

I am a baker.

I had all kind of baked goods in the freezer that I would take out a slice at a time.

They're all gone now.

Some in the trash, some in my mouth.

But I would just say, "Okay, we're going to have this at the end of the meal." And sometimes I was so full from the great meal that I didn't even want it, which was always a pleasant surprise, but I just brought whatever it was that I wanted to eat or that I was craving into my meal times.

And at the time, I was eating three meals, so I think I was still eating very carb heavy, like a lot of oatmeal for breakfast, a lot of rice for dinner.

So I was still eating very, very carb-heavy, even though home-cooked meals.

But I brought whatever I wanted into that meal time, and I did not eat outside of that meal time.

So breakfast, lunch, dinner, that was it for me.

And then I sometimes would do just breakfast and dinner, depending on my work schedule.

So how has your diet shifted then over the last-- since January?

It sounds like it was more carb heavy, you were still-- you know, had some habits that kind of carried over from the way that you were living before the TFM journey.

How has that evolved and where are you now?

My major meals were always carbs on your plate, a little bit of meat, and a little bit of veggies, right?

But it was always mostly carbs, a little bit of meat, a little bit of veggies.

Now my plate is lots of veggies, lots of fiber, both raw and cooked veggies, with protein, so like a meat.

I'm omnivorous, I guess, so with meat and sometimes a carb and sometimes not.

The carb would typically be-- like, right now I'm hooked on purple yams.

There's a lot of it in the Asian market that's by my house.

So I'm like, "Oh, I love purple yams." So I might introduce-- but not a whole yam.

I'll have a third of it into may be one or two meals per week.

So not so much carb heavy, I've just switched it.

My favorite is white rice.

It really is a treat for me at this point in time.

I'll eat it maybe every few months.

I ate it on vacation when I was in LA at the end of July.

I don't know when I'll eat it again.

So it's a treat.

I try to stay away from a lot of grains.

Yeah.

And really working with your body over the last few months to see what it likes and what it responds well to.

That's such an important part of the process.

I was wondering, you know, you've had a lot of wins along the way and you've described some of those, you know, what are you most proud of, whether physical, or emotional, or even just kind of the way that you show up for yourself right now?

What's your NSV?

I think my NSV is mindset.

It's just thinking about the process differently.

The whole shift with a focus on health really, really helped me.

For example, when I went to a lot of Coach Andrea's classes when she was here and then the CGM-- at first I was overwhelmed with CGMs.

What is a CGM?

Why do you need it?

But then I got one and I was very overwhelmed with the data.

I was following the data, and I'm like, "Oh, this is way, way, way overwhelming." And then I put the CGM away.

I was like, "Okay, maybe I'm not ready for it.

I'm going to be a data junkie." And then I brought it back, and then I was able to look at it more objectively and be like, "You know what?

Maybe your insulin resistance is not cured yet." And so that's why I eat the way I do.

Because of the CGM, I see the spikes.

When it's carb heavy, when I tested the rice as a resistant starch, as a non-resistant.

So I've been testing the foods that I love to see if it works with my body and it doesn't.

And I think for me, that's an NSV - not beating myself up, not feeling like, oh my gosh, I'm missing out.

My mindset has shifted to more curiosity about the process more than it has to be this way, "Oh, why can't I eat like this person or that person?" So just really recognize that, okay, this does not work for me at this point in time.

So, if I eat it, this is gonna really spike my insulin and insulin drives fat.

So I talk to myself.

I'm like, "Are you at a point you're at where you want to drive fat?" And then normally the answer is no.

Sometimes it's like, "I don't care," but [laughs] oftentimes it's no.

And so then it helps me with my decision making.

So I think, more than anything, it's been the mindset for me.

That's the biggest NSV.

Yeah, that's amazing.

I think treating our bodies almost like a science experiment in a way, and using your CGM to collect the data like a scientist.

You know, scientists, they're looking at their experiments without judgment.

It is what it is, whatever the outcome is.

And you know, they're not beating themselves up because they didn't get the outcome that they wanted.

So, you know, just kind of taking that data point and learning from that and applying it to your life.

You've done a beautiful job with that.

Part of this journey and creating a consistent lifestyle is really celebrating those little wins along the way.

So, you know, I encourage you to do that.

Like Alicia has kind of demonstrated for us, celebrating those wins along the way of this journey, it's so important.

There's some questions here, Alicia, I don't know if you want to...

Let.

Let me pull this over.

Susan asks, "Did you cure your blood pressure and diabetes?" So yeah, I had pre-diabetes when I started.

So it was at 6.0.

And then in March, after doing TRE, it went down to 5.2.

So I was no longer pre-diabetic.

It has gone up some.

My recent blood tests show it at 5.5.

So we're troubleshooting with Megan, like what's going on with that?

But I'm not really worried about it anymore because I figure, over time, it will go down to where it needs to be.

My blood pressure is now normal.

It's less than 120 over 80.

I test it at home infrequently.

I used to test it daily when it was on the high end, but now I just check in a couple of times a week to see if it's good.

So the blood pressure is now normal.

My doctors, when I talked to them (I was trying to get advice about fasting), they were completely against it.

They were like, "That's like an eating disorder." But it's my health in the long run, so I made the decision to continue fasting.

When I went back last time, they were completely shocked at my weight loss and how I've normalized my blood pressure.

So I'll probably become an evangelist for Dr.

Fung and Megan Ramos.

But yeah, so I'm working on some other health stuff, which is to do with the hormonal stuff.

But overall, I think right now I'm pretty good.

Yeah.

Yay.

Colleen asks, "What would be the biggest challenge you had to overcome to succeed?" For me, it's not letting like hindrances.

Like, if I eat something off plan, before (this was the diet mentality), if I ate something that wasn't a part of the diet, it totally wrecked me.

And then I was down this rabbit hole of just eaten everything I shouldn't.

But now, one of my lifelong mottos that I always tell myself is, "Do the next best thing." And so that's why, when I go on vacation, I'm like, "Okay, when you get back, the next best thing, what's the next best thing?" For me, that's fat fasting, or it might be a TRE.

So it's not to get derailed, I think, for me.

Because, before, I would get derailed, you know, go to a party and I'm derailed.

The next day, I'm eating foods that are not on my plan or on my diet.

And then that goes on for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Now, I don't let that derail me.

I just tell myself, "Do the next best thing." Same like if I don't exercise for a day because I didn't have good sleep, which my sleep has been hindered.

I don't pressure myself like, "Oh, you gotta get it in," which my perfectionist nature would normally do.

Like, "You gotta get it in." But now I'm like, "No, I don't want to injure myself.

So let's just focus on the rest.

We'll do it tomorrow." So I think being really kind and gracious.

I give myself a lot of grace now, lots and lots of grace.

Being super gracious to myself, I think, that-- I wasn't in the past.

I was very hard on myself.

Like, "You've gotta do this and do it right." But now I'm like, "Nah, 70% .

A C is passing.

We'll be satisfied with 70%.

I don't care about the 80, 90%.

70% passing.

That's good enough for me." So that's what I would say, Colleen.

Donna, "Did you test your sourdough?

Is it one of your foods?" I did recently test it.

It is one of my foods with some parameters.

It has to be eaten in very small portions with lots of protein and fat.

Then it absolutely does nothing to me.

However, I tested it on its own...

Sshoom!

So I can't just go take a slice with some butter or something.

I can't do it.

I tried it with tapenade.

I thought the fat in the olives would kind of offset it.

Did not work.

So, for me, it has to be done with parameters, like after a really good, satiating meal, I can have it like a treat afterwas in a very small portion.

Because when I tried a very small portion it was fine.

It did not do a lot of damage to my blood sugar, but trying it by itself, nope!

So yeah.

"Alicia, how did you eventually get over the hurdle of not being able to do 24-hour fasting?" Honestly, I think it was just time.

I think my blood sugar was just so high that it was driving me to a lot of hunger.

So I just kept trying to test it.

I would go 16, 18, 20, 22.

So I would just test it until I could finally get into a 24-hour fast.

Here's the graciousness.

I would count my 20 hours as a success.

I was like, "Woohoo!" It's like it's four hours off.

I'm like, "Imma celebrate my 20 hours." I would say, "Yay, that's a success." [laughs] So that's what I'd do.

I didn't do it perfectly.

There was no perfect 24-hour mark.

I just did it little by little and I celebrated.

Once I hit 20, I counted it as 24.

So I rounded up grossly.

[laughs] Deborah's asking if you've ever had an accountability partner.

I have a couple.

One is no longer with TFM.

I still keep in touch with her because I like to keep in touch with people.

And then I have one who is a part of the Community.

But, for me, I find self-accountability works best.

I don't know if you can see this.

You probably can't see it.

It's just a little notebook.

It has like seven things on it that I track daily.

It's just a simple notebook.

I wrote the lines.

I was like, forget all of the expensive stuff online.

I'm like, I'm gonna create something that I need, that will track what I do.

And again, I'm super gracious with myself.

I count 4/7 as passing for the day.

If I accomplish four out of my seven tasks, I was like, "We just need to get a C." [laughs] Even a D is okay, but is it more than 50%?

And so that's how I hold myself accountable.

Do you mind sharing some of those things that you're tracking?

Sure, sure.

So for me, it's strength training, yoga, fast.

I am a Christian, so it's reading my Bible and praying, those two things in connection.

Walking.

And for me, it's at least 30 minutes.

I go by this minimum standard, and, you probably figured, the minimum.

I'm like, what is the minimum?

If I accomplish a 30-minute walk for the day, I count that as a success.

Meditation.

Really simple.

15-minute meditation.

If I can't get 15 minutes in, five minutes and that's a win.

And right now I'm tracking being sugar-free because I'm doing the elimination diet, and sugar can be my weakness.

So tracking being sugar-free.

And so, yeah.

So those are the seven things that I track.

Deborah was asking, "What's next for you?

What does the journey look like moving forward?" I think I'm looking forward to no longer doing therapeutic fasts.

I won't lie to you.

I am about six kilos away from what I put arbitrarily as a goal, you know, as a goal weight.

It's the weight that the app tells me is no longer overweight.

So that's it.

So from there, I'm planning to do Megan's eight-week protocol for maintenance.

And then we'll see.

I'll just be practicing TRE from there, and maybe fine tuning my diet.

But I'm taking Jamie's elimination class because I have some joint pain.

So I'm trying to figure out if that's being caused by some of the things that I'm eating.

Well, I have one more question before we go.

This has just been so encouraging and I so appreciate your time, Alicia.

If someone here is just getting started or feeling overwhelmed, what would you want them to know?

Focus on TRE!

[laughs] And maybe shut out the noise of all the information.

From me, I had to stop reading all the books, stop listening to all the podcasts, and just focus simply on what I know I needed to do, which was, for me, TRE, no snacking.

I think if you can get TRE, no snacking under your belt, one thing will lead to the next.

It will lead to fasting and it will lead to fine tuning your diet.

So you don't even have to focus on fine tuning your diet and having the perfect diet, just eat how you're eating.

TRE.

Eventually, it's all going to work itself out and you're going to be like, "Ah, then maybe this doesn't work for me or that doesn't work for me." So, eventually, you'll come to a place where you start figuring out what works best for your body.

You know what?

I do have one more question.

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell your earlier self at the beginning of this journey?

I think I would tell myself to stop stressing about it [laughs] because I was so stressed when I started.

Because I was like, "I gotta...

I have to get to this goal by May, by this time." Just let it go.

You know, you will get to your goal if you're doing the correct habits.

You'll get to it eventually.

And, you know, taking the pressure off, I think I would want to go back and do that.

Take the pressure off.

Yeah, and just kind of trust yourself and trust the process.

If anything that Alicia said today really landed with you, I really encourage you to kind of take a moment after this call and jot it down or reflect on it, because sometimes just one shift in perspective can change everything.

I encourage you to show up for yourself with compassion, consistency, and courage.

Thanks, everyone.

Thank you.

[music] Thanks for listening today, and I hope Alicia's story reminded you that your journey doesn't have to look like anyone else's.

It just has to be yours.

If this episode encouraged you, please consider sharing it with a friend who might need to hear that healing is still possible.

Even when the path feels slow or different, you never know whose life it might touch.

And be sure to follow or subscribe so you don't miss future episodes.

And if you have a moment, we'd be so grateful for you to rate and review The Fasting Method podcast.

And remember, there's no race to healing.

Trust the process, trust your body, and keep showing up one fast at a time.

Until next time, happy fasting everyone!

[music]