In this episode of Intermittent Fasting Stories, Gin to Richard Flores from Abilene, TX.

Join Gin in the new Fast Feast Repeat app for The Grown-Up Year: 52 Weeks to Listen, Play, and Nourish, as well as a growing collection of intermittent fasting resources. Go to app.fastfeastrepeat.com to join us or go to the App Store and download the Fast Feast Repeat app, available for both iPhone and Android.

Are you ready to take your intermittent fasting lifestyle to the next level? There’s nothing better than community to help with that. In the Delay, Don’t Deny community we all embrace the clean fast, and there’s just the right support for you as you live your intermittent fasting lifestyle. 

You can connect directly with Gin in the Ask Gin group, and she will answer all of your questions personally. If you’re new to intermittent fasting or recommitting to the IF lifestyle, join the 28-Day FAST Start group. After your fast start, join us for support in The 1st Year group. Need tips for long term maintenance? We have a place for that! There are many more useful spaces beyond these, and you can interact in as many as you like. 

Visit ginstephens.com/community to join us. An annual membership costs just over a dollar a week when you do the math. If you aren’t ready to fully commit for a year, join for a month and you can cancel at any time. If you know you’ll want to stay forever, we also have a lifetime membership option available.  

IF is free. You don’t need to join our community to fast. But if you’re looking for support from a community of like-minded IFers, we are here for you at ginstephens.com/community. 

Richard is an architect. He shares how a Christmas trip and a growing awareness of his health concerns pushed him to make a change at the start of 2024. What began as a few days of fasting in solidarity with his daughter’s medical prep eventually led him to Gin Stephens’ books, then into intermittent fasting.  He began on Labor Day of 2024 with the 28-day Fast Start Day by Day book. He explains that the early days were hard, but having a day-by-day roadmap helped him stay committed when his old habits and fears about hunger tried to pull him back.

As Richard kept going, he lost weight, moved through plateaus, and started uncovering the deeper reasons he had used food for comfort, celebration, and convenience. He talks openly about a lifelong pattern of oversized portions, family food traditions, and the mental tug of wanting to “finish what’s on the plate,” and how fasting has helped him break that cycle. A CGM also gave him a powerful wake-up call, showing him how certain breads, buns, and sugary drinks spiked his glucose and left him crashing, while simpler meals with protein and vegetables kept him satisfied much longer.

Richard’s story becomes especially encouraging in the way fasting has changed how he lives, not just how he eats. He’s stronger, walking more, running in short bursts again, and even planning hikes and more joyful movement like dancing, because he wants fitness to feel fun rather than punishing. He closes with the advice that new intermittent fasters should jump in and start now, because waiting for the “perfect” time only delays the change they want.

Join Gin in the new Fast Feast Repeat app for The Grown-Up Year: 52 Weeks to Listen, Play, and Nourish, as well as a growing collection of intermittent fasting resources. Go to app.fastfeastrepeat.com to join us or go to the App Store and download the Fast Feast Repeat app, available for both iPhone and Android.

Get Gin’s books at: https://www.ginstephens.com/get-the-books.html. Good news!  The second edition of Delay, Don’t Deny is now available in ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook.  This is the book that you’ll want to start with or share with others, as it is a simple introduction to IF.  It’s been updated to include the clean fast, an easier to understand and more thorough description of ADF and all of your ADF options, and an all new success stories section.  When shopping, make sure to get the second edition, which has a 2024 publication date.  The audiobook for the second edition is available now!  

Join Gin’s community! Go to: ginstephens.com/community

Do you enjoy Intermittent Fasting Stories? You’ll probably also like Gin’s other podcast with cohost Sheri Bullock: Fast. Feast. Repeat. Intermittent Fasting for Life. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.  

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