First, let's talk about what the book says about eating protein 30 minutes after you wake up. Dr. Zach wrote his book 12 years ago. There have been a lot of studies and new ideas in weight loss in that time. Dr. Zach is pretty passionate about reading about physiology and new advances. He has written a blog about adding intermittent fasting to the HCG 2.0 protocol. You can read that blog
here
.
By now, you all know my story, When I started 2.0 Easter of 2017, I was obese (215lbs), I was a type 2 diabetic with an HbA1C of 11.5. My blood sugars were running 380-450, pretty much everyday. I was giving myself shots, and knew if I didn't fix this, I would be dead before my youngest children were in middle school. My grandmother died on the operating table of a heart attack while they were taking off her second leg from diabetes complications. I knew better than to let this get any worse.
The day I started my very first round, my fasting blood sugar was 394. 9 days on VCLD and my fasting blood sugar was at 97. I was on my way to getting my diabetes under control AND losing weight. BONUS!!! Throughout that very first round I didn't cheat once. I kept my carbs at 20 total or less, but my fasting blood sugars kept fluctuating up and down, Nothing like they were before, but ranging from 147-99. I wanted to know why, so I started doing some research. A friend of mine told me about Intermittent Fasting and Dr. Jason Fung. I watched his video on curing diabetes with Intermittent Fasting (IF) and I was hooked. I know this is kind of technical and long, but bear with me--it's worth it.
Here is an excerpt from Dr. Fung on the physiology of fasting
full blog here,
Glucose and fat are the body’s main sources of energy. If glucose is not available, then the body will adjust by using fat, without any detrimental health effects. This is simply a natural part of life. Periods of low food availability have always been a part of human history. Mechanisms have evolved to adapt to this fact of Paleolithic life.
The human body has well developed mechanisms for dealing with periods of low food availability. In essence, what we are describing here is the process of switching from burning glucose (short term) to burning fat (long term). Fat is simply the body’s stored food energy. In times of low food availability, stored food is naturally released to fill the void. So no, the body does not ‘burn muscle’ in an effort to feed itself until all the fat stores are used.
Fasting is the most efficient and consistent strategy to decrease insulin levels. This was first noted decades ago, and widely accepted as true. It is quite simple and obvious. All foods raise insulin, so the most effective method of reducing insulin is to avoid all foods. Blood glucose levels remain normal, as the body begins to switch over to burning fat for energy. This effect is seen with fasting periods as short as 24-36 hours. Longer duration fasts reduce insulin even more dramatically. More recently,
alternate daily fasting has been studied as an acceptable technique of reducing insulin
.
Regular fasting, in addition to lowering insulin levels, has also been shown to
improve insulin sensitivity
significantly. This is the missing link in the weight loss puzzle. Most diets reduce highly insulin-secreting foods, but do not address the insulin resistance issue. Weight is initially lost, but insulin resistance keeps insulin levels and Body Set Weight high. Fasting is an efficient method of reducing insulin resistance.
In essence,
fasting transitions the body from burning sugar to burning fat.
Resting metabolism is NOT decreased but instead increased. We are, effectively, feeding our bodies through our own fat. We are ‘eating’ our own fat. This makes total sense. Fat, in essence is stored food. In fact,
studies show that the epinephrine (adrenalin) induced fat burning
does not depend upon lowering blood sugar.
Recall our previous discussion of
How Insulin Works
. Fat is food stored away in the long term, like money in the bank. Short term food is stored as glycogen, like money in the wallet. The problem we have, is how to access the money in the bank. As our wallet depletes, we become nervous and go out to fill it again. This prevents us from getting access to money in the bank.
Fat is stored away in the ‘bank’. As our glycogen ‘wallet’ depletes, we get hungry and want to eat. That makes us hungry, despite the fact that there is more than enough ‘food’ stored as fat in the ‘bank’. How do we get to that fat to burn it? Fasting provides an easy way in.
One of the best ways to achieve effortless and long-lasting fat loss? Train yourself to eat two meals a day (and eliminate snacking). When you’re in the fasted state your body can burn fat that has been inaccessible during the fed state. Because we don’t enter the fasted state until 12 hours after our last meal, it’s rare that our bodies are in this fat burning state. This is one of the reasons why many people who start intermittent fasting will lose fat without changing what they eat, how much they eat, or how often they exercise.
Fasting puts your body in a fat burning state that you rarely get to enter during a normal eating schedule.
There are a number of ways to actually perform intermittent fasting, but the easiest and most popular varieties involve taking advantage of your natural overnight fast by skipping breakfast and pushing the first meal of the day forward a number of hours. Once you have passed the 12 hour mark from dinner the night before, you are truly in a fasted state and you begin to rely on stored body fat for fuel.
The longer you stay in the fasted state, the more metabolic practice you will get at burning stored body fat and the deeper your fat adaptation will get. In fact, if you can maintain this intermittent fast for 20 to 24 hours you will achieve a very high rate of lipolysis (breakdown of stored body fat into free fatty acids, available for burning in the cells) and fat oxidation (burning of fat in the mitochondria).
(
Dr. Jason Fung, excerpt from here: https://idmprogram.com/fasting-physiology-part-ii/)
To do a "true fast" you would have no calories during your fast. When you incorporate IF with HCG for weight loss purposes, you may have 1 tbsp of MCT oil in your coffee or bone broth. If you need more calories to make it through a fast, it is better to fast and eat a little calories, than not fast at all. You can do 16:8 or 18:6 or any variation thereof. That's where you fast for 16 or 18 hours and you eat all of your calories in a 8 or 6 hour window. I personally do 23:1. On P2, I ate all my calories in one meal. On P4, I still do 23:1 at least 5 days a week. I find it is really easy to maintain my weight this way. Most days, I don't eat all of my BMR calories and never have to worry about weight gain.
I hope you made it through the science...I can tell you through losing weight with HCG 2.0 and practicing IF, I not only lost 80lbs, but took my HbA1C to a 5.3 in less than six months. No more diabetes for me, no more medications. I was a slow loser on 2.0 before I started practicing IF--it made a huge difference for me.
If you haven't made the switch to HCG 2.0, now is a great time to try it out and
Kylene - standing in for:
Dr. Zach LaBoube
Author of HCG 2.0
