Lost 60lbs with Intermittent Fasting - Interview with Jason Kurland

hi this is dr. Donald Pelt oh I have
Jason Kurland here and he is someone
that's very excited about health
nutrition and this kind of this
interesting topic that everyone likes
these days called intermittent fasting
so Jason thanks thanks for joining the
program you're welcome thank you for
having me so tell me a little bit about
it's been a year and your life has
changed quite a bit in the last year it
really has you know I I had been trying
to get into good into shape and to be
healthy for a few years prior to the
beginning of this year been going to the
gym had been trying to eat you know as
healthy as I could but I was eating like
throughout the whole day and I was
getting larger as far as you know muscle
wise but I wasn't really losing a lot of
fat yeah and that's really what I was
going for was to try to lose you know
more fat to have more of like a V taper
kind of physique and also just to feel
better yeah and I just you know through
looking really the Internet has been a
wonderful thing and so I you know
through browsing online about different
you know ways to be healthy and diets
and so forth I had stumbled upon
intermittent fasting actually a while
back even a couple years before and I
just passed by it because it just didn't
sound right it sounded like I heard the
word fasting and I was like oh that
doesn't sound good it sounds like you're
starving yourself like I can't be Ali
and then when I came back to it about a
year ago I decided actually to just read
about it a little bit because it seemed
to be gaining more popularity and and
then the more I read it I was like huh
this actually make does make some sense
where basically instead of eating
throughout the day I just choose a
condensed window of time to eat all my
calories for the day and then the rest
of the time I fast which basically means
I don't consume any calories and all I
drink is water and black coffee to not
break the fast
so I read about it and I said you know
what I'm gonna give it a shot I'm gonna
try it so I tried it about January maybe
late January this year and at first I
I took it slow which they recommended um
and how did you how did you ease
yourself into it yeah so I started off
basically just skipping breakfast and
then starting to eat it around noontime
which actually wasn't that hard for me
because I sometimes didn't need
breakfast anyway so it actually wasn't
too big of a stretch to start eating at
noon and that he'd from noon til about
like maybe 8:00 or 9:00 at night that's
the only window that I ate and once I
got used to that
then I condensed the window so then I
pushed it until 1:00 o'clock to eat okay
and then once that was fine I to do I
pushed it to two o'clock and I just kept
doing that and by gradually doing that
it became easier it easier to fast for a
longer period of time and to condense
the window which I ate and I'm now at a
point where I'm usually doing about a 20
hour fasting in about a four hour window
when I eat and I try to time it with my
workouts as well but yeah so I if
anybody was to try this I would
definitely recommend starting and
gradually easing into it don't start off
with a 20 hour fast every day because
it's gonna be too hard to do it first
yeah I get used to it but yeah so just
as a kind of a health warning to those
that are watching here first of all if
you're diabetic you should only do this
under a doctor's advice especially
because if you really reduce the amount
that you're eating and you're already
taking insulin it's going to really
bottom out your blood sugar level so you
really need to be followed by a doctor
your primary care should be following
you if you're doing something like this
you should read the appropriate
literature to learn more on this video
we're gonna put some information on the
bottom that you can kind of learn more
at the end of this video as well but
let's go just kind of the proof is in
the pudding you know what we're going to
show now is we're gonna show a before
picture of Jason and then now we're
gonna also show an after picture of
Jason here so at this point we're about
twelve months into your your kind of
healthy lifestyle and how much are you
down how many inches and your ways yeah
zones so I've lost about 50 to 55 pounds
and about eight pant sizes I had to get
a whole new wardrobe which was worth it
you know
so that was really that's really what I
was going for it was was the waist size
so and I and I I just turned 39 recently
I feel the best I've ever felt in my
whole life I mean I just I feel great
never felt this good it's great
um I don't get headaches anymore not
that I was getting you know too many but
I you know I I don't really get bloating
or discomfort in my stomach just I just
feel feel great I have more energy more
mental clarity and focus so this was
absolutely I can just I just know that
this was the right thing for me to do
and and I've talked to some other people
my wife's doing it now too and she's
having very good success with it as well
that's great and there's just so many
benefits to it health-wise and also it's
very convenient for my lifestyle yeah so
let's talk let's all wait since you
brought at the top convenience yes why
is it convenient what does it make
easier well the simple fact is I don't
have to worry about cooking or preparing
food during the day I don't eat at all
during the day just eat within that
window in the evening so I used to
before this I would have to prepare all
my meals out were you so before this
you're doing three meals were you doing
the six meal I was probably doing four
to five meals yeah smaller meals smaller
meals throughout the day and so I would
have to spend a lot of time cooking and
and prepping prepping and getting all
the food in there break taking the food
dealing with all the dishes all that
it's so much easier now that I don't
have to worry about that at all and I
just know that I just don't eat during
the day I know that I just eat you know
at home and so I'm not even tempted
while I'm at work or during the day
because this is just not when I eat and
one funny kind of a bit of information
that I read that got me into the fasting
that made sense to me was someone
explained I forget who that if you think
about it what do they do for babies to
help them put on weight they have them
feed all throughout the day they eat
constantly they're constantly eating
constantly eating is they're supposed to
gain fat they're supposed to gain weight
so it doesn't make sense that if you as
an adult if you want to lose
that you want to lose weight it doesn't
make sense to be eating all throughout
the day because that's the opposite of
what it's intended to do and that just
made a whole lot of sense to me that I
shouldn't be eating all throughout the
day I should just be eating during that
condensed window and I should be fasting
the rest and for me it's it just works
tremendously and how does it differ in
your opinion let's say fasting versus
I'm sure you tried this before maybe
eating less right you can eat let's say
you eat three meals or five meals but
you're oh I'm really eating less and
have you tried that
what didn't that would I did try that
and that didn't work and and I have
tried that and I know a lot of people
say oh it's all just calories and
calories out but from the what I've read
and from my own experience I'm not I'm
finding that to not be the case it's not
losing fat is not just a simple calories
and calories out it there's a lot of
hormone balance and and things with
insulin that come into play and by
fasting I'm keeping my insulin levels
really low and that is allowing my my
fat stores to be opened up and to be
utilized while I'm fasting and so it's
it's it's just a way to burn fat very
efficiently whereas with the calories
and calories out it's just it doesn't
really worked the same way as far as
helping you burn the fat it's more
complicated than just that
so I basically eat you know all my daily
calories within that
condensed window I probably end up
eating slightly less because I just
don't have enough time to be able yeah
that was the question so within that
four hour period from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00
p.m. do you eat the equivalent of what
you ate breakfast lunch and dinner
before pretty close maybe a little bit
how can you fit that much food into a
four hour period yeah how do you do that
it's true breakfast first and then lunch
a couple hours later and then dinner
it's funny because I I do eat like a you
know a big meal when I do eat and I
usually like a big meal and then I'll
have protein shakes after I work out and
then I might have like a little
something a little later before I go to
bed
but it's yeah I probably end up eating a
little bit less than I would have
otherwise throughout the day okay
just because it's that difficult to be
able to fit in that much within a short
amount of time but I'm not eating
throughout that whole four hours the
entire four hours I'm eating like one or
two meals within that a couple of big
meals right exactly in from what you
read about intermittent fasting can you
so for example can you eat whatever you
want to eat are there certain
recommendation you think let's say you
didn't change anything about what you
eat and you only changed when you eat do
you think you would have seen the same
benefit I think I would have seen some
benefits but not not as many as I've had
so I have read about that even if you
you know keep the standard diet where
you're eating you know a good amount of
carbohydrates and sugars and things like
that that people that do intermittent
fasting can still have some benefits and
lose some fat because of their fasting
period but for me it's been kind of like
a two-part thing where I've done the
intermittent fasting but I've also
combined that with a mostly like a
ketogenic carnivorous type diet where
I'm eating basically all proteins and
fats and virtually no carbohydrates no
sugars and I feel like the combination
of those two things the intermittent
fasting and that type of very very low
carb diet has been the most effective
thing the combination has really been
what's tell me so for those that are
watching we're gonna kind of define a
few things like a ketogenic is very
similar to what the Atkins or some
people call it paleo basically it's a
diet that's high in protein that's low
in carbs right high in fat high in
ketogenic from what I've read it's it's
almost more focused on the fats and then
you have like moderate protein and you
know very very low carbohydrates and and
I did that I've done that for a while
before this I would see I was exactly
exactly I was seeing some results but
not nearly as good
then the more that I was doing it the
more that I read I started reading about
more of a carnivorous diet where you're
basically eating just animal products
mostly proteins and fats and I gave that
a try and I've been doing that mostly
for a while and that's actually even had
better results proteins fats and then
vegetables probably well actually I have
mostly cut out those as well so there's
a protein in fact that's right but let's
talk about a typical or what do you eat
for Deaton tonight sure I will and I do
have vegetables every once in a while
okay I do so almost every day I eat
steak and whole eggs and our cheese the
eggs
I have hard-boiled eggs and there it's
very convenient so I get them at the
grocery store they're already peeled I'd
the whole egg so I take a hard-boiled
eggs I eat like a hard charge on or yum
you heat it up I don't actually I just
have it a hard cheese for you know from
the grocery store and it's got fat in it
and proteins not let anything low-fat
and I do one thing that's I do a little
different than just a pure carnivore
diet as they say which I guess is
gaining popularity is I do throw in some
walnuts macadamia nuts I just feel like
I just I like those my that and they
have a lot of good other nutrients and
vitamins and things like that and so
yeah that's mostly what I've been kind
of gravitating towards and bacon bacon
yeah I eat bacon sometimes actually is a
treat I get these bacon-wrapped scallops
from Target that I really like as like a
treat and I actually just went to get
some recently and they were out of them
so I was really kind of sad but that's
kind of like a like a treat for myself
and I've actually found that I'm taking
out a lot of the fiber out of my diet
has actually helped my digestion okay
I'm it's actually improved the fact that
I've kind of lowered the amount of fiber
that I had I always used to you know
you're tied yeah I was just to think
that having a very very high fiber is
it's good for you for from it it might
be for some people but for myself i
Function i Function better on the lower
fiber
it's just worked better for me and so
this is a really what I'm doing is you
know it's a very stripped-down it's a
very basic type diet and you know what
they say if you can do that then you can
kind of add in some things that you
might want to eat in and if you
tolerated well then maybe you can keep
it but if you don't tolerate it well
then you you know that you need to
eliminate that so it's it's a way to
kind of gauge you know how you respond
to food and how it affects you and and
what you might be sensitive to and so
forth so how about in terms of when you
when you eat that big meal when you get
home how is your energy level do you do
kind of crash and burn you take a nap or
you have a lot of energy well to be
honest when I do eat I I do get a little
tired and I think it's because you know
all the blood is now rush to your you
know to your to digesting the food and
so but it actually that's part of the
reason why I time eating in the evening
because then I'm it actually helps me
with sleeping because I've eaten my nice
big meal and and now I'm you know
feeling a little more relaxed and tired
and so it actually helps me sleep and
when I'm fasting throughout the day my
energy level was sky-high I'm super
energy super focused I don't have that
lull in energy that I used to have when
I used to eat like throughout the day
you know I've even be lunch and you're
at work or something you start to feel
sluggish yep in the afternoon I don't
get that anymore because I just I don't
eat during that time so I've just found
that that's just been really helpful for
me yeah good and then we're gonna kind
of segue now and this is kind of what
you eat and how you how you do it the
four hour so is this seven days a week
this four hour window or do the weekends
or like holidays are coming up
we just had some holidays yeah how do
you how do you deal with that so I try
as much as possible to stick to doing my
schedule every day of the week and every
I've been trying to do like once a month
where I actually do a 2 day fast the 48
hour fast and I timed that so that right
at the end of the of the 48 hours I do
like a workout and then and then I can
get in to eat and the reason I do that
once a month is
not really for the fat reduction
qualities it's almost for something
called Otto Fuji which is something I
read about that's define the word so
that is where your body's ability to
recycle the weak so the weak cells in
your bodies and proteins right it's like
a healing mechanism and it's it's
triggered by fasting and the longer you
fast the more it kind of kicks into
overdrive so the reason I do that to day
one is to get the more benefits of the
etaf adji as a way to almost kind of
like reset your immune system a little
bit it's almost like a cleanse like a
cell like a natural self cleanse and and
I feel great doing that - I want the
hangry do you ever get hangry everyone
ask someone hey yes yeah well I did it
first when I was doing this and even
throughout I do go through some periods
during my fast where I go through mica I
call it a hunger spell how long's it
last and how do you deal with it it's a
good question
it sometimes it might last for half an
hour something like that the way I get
through it is I either drink a lot of
water or I have some black coffee or
exercising going for a walk
doing something to get your mind off it
and then it goes away and then when it
goes away it's like you don't feel it at
all and then you might it might come
back sometimes but I think the more I've
done it the less often I get those
hunger spells and but I know how to deal
with them when I do get them and so yeah
it's just something you have to kind of
get used to you know isn't it I think
fasting like anything else it just takes
practice it does it does absolutely yeah
practice it's a new habit that you're
learning it is it is I just I can't say
enough good things about it yeah so now
we're gonna get segue into this whole
realm of you say well you wait till the
end of your fast and then you do a
workout yeah you're probably thinking
we've been fast and how are you gonna be
able to run out is it healthy
everyone talks about a pre-workout a
post-workout drink all these things
talked about working out and how so how
often do you work out sure and and just
every day and when how is it following
with your fasting schedule thank you
yeah so I
we go to the gym and and III do
weightlifting like three day about three
days a week so you know not not the
whole week just about three days a week
and I and I try to do a really good
workout and the reason that I'm timing
my workouts at the end of my fast is a
couple of reasons one is since I've been
fasting that whole time and my body's
been burning fat that when I exercise
and weight lifts its it puts the fat
burning into even more overdrive so you
get even way more benefit of the fat
burning and also I time it that way so
that as soon as I'm done I can then go
eat because then I'm really hungry and
so some people don't do that some people
might work out earlier in their fast and
then and then eat later I've just found
that I just it just works well for me to
kind of time it at the end of the fast
and and then eat and act it's funny I
actually still get a great workout maybe
even better than I used to I don't feel
you know light-headed or anything
I almost feel like I have more energy
and so and another thing that I've
learned about the fasting is that you
produce something called growth hormone
which I think also time the workouts
that way because I've had that growth
hormone pumped into overdrive up until
them when I workout so that when I
workout it's kind of there to to help
preserve muscle from when I'm working
out because when you work out you're
basically tearing your muscles down and
so forth so it's like a preservation
type thing yes that's not certainly
you're gonna lose muscle or you gonna
lose and from my experience not only not
only have I not lost muscle I really
almost feel like I've gained gotten
harder and because that was one of the
main reasons I was hesitant even try
this is because I had been you know
working out for years and and didn't
want to lose the hard-earned muscle that
I had put on and I and I I thought that
by fasting you'd do that but after more
research about growth hormone that's
produced realizing that no it's just the
opposite you you preserve your muscle
mass and and you just burn fat
doesn't burn through your muscle and so
it's exactly what I was looking for yeah
and so any any good resources or
websites or things like that that if
people are interested in learning more
about this it's a good question there's
a lot of different people on YouTube
that I've but that I've been following
and researching about it somebody a
Thomas de Lauer there's a doctor named
dr. Eric Berg he gets his first dr. Berg
and actually my new favorite is this
doctor named dr. ken berry he's got a
southern accent and those are some of
the people that I've been following and
reading about and and some of them are
doctors and they're speaking about you
know the praising the benefits of it as
well and yeah III definitely done a lot
of research on it I've read some books I
read a book called the big fat surprise
by Nina
tech holds I think is her name okay
talking about like a the ketogenic
carnivore type diet and and a lot of the
research and stuff like that so that was
very helpful as well
do you ever get bored eating the same
thing that's a great question people ask
me that like holidays are coming up do
you ever go off the wagon I do enjoy
other things I can I do slightly like on
Thanksgiving I did have a couple of
things that I don't normally have and it
and tasted amazing you know fasted for
20 hours just food tastes the same or
does it taste better tastes so much
better so much better I mean it really
does if you think about it you know just
having not eaten for so long it's gonna
taste good so even health you know
healthy things don't taste good but no
and every once in a while I will break
my fast earlier in a day like recently
at my work we had like an office kind of
get together at a restaurant and we we
you know went there at about one o'clock
or two o'clock and a 9 a 8 and so I
don't kill myself over that as far as
you know worrying so much that I didn't
stick exactly exactly to what I'm trying
to do that's okay if you and the other
thing is if you break your fast earlier
you could always stop and your fast
earlier yeah to keep on track you could
do that if you wanted I think for me
consistency helps me it helps keep me
focused on what I'm doing and it it's
like a almost like comforting to know
that this is what I do and I know it I
there's no support not too many
surprises but I know that if I want to
deviate from it a little bit because of
you know a family get-together or a
holiday or something like that not the
end of the world and and very has been
very easy to get back right back on
track and and lose no ground now when
they talk about fasting they talk about
two other things that really affect the
insulin level one would be the amount of
sleep you get and then the amount of
stress have you ever had moments like
were you where that affects you and not
sleeping enough or or things like that
not really
and as I mentioned I think by timing my
meals in the evening it actually has
helped me sleep better yeah big full
belly and you can and it helps me sleep
yeah and as far as stress I really feel
like my stress levels have been reduced
from from doing what I'm doing the you
know the intermittent fasting but also
the type of food that I'm eating yeah I
don't think they don't say it causes
stress what they say is that for example
if we have if you have young kids at
home in there they're not sleeping
you're not sleeping you're stressed it's
a lot harder to do longer fast maybe a
20 hour fast aspyn but if you're trying
to do two three four day fasts it's
harder when you have those stressors in
life I would I would imagine that would
be the case yeah I would yeah you have
to and you have to do with what works
for you and your lifestyle
and so if you can't do it every day
because it doesn't work then that's okay
I'd say whenever you can do it as far as
my own experience goes it's it's it's
helpful as much as you can do it and
like my wife does it she her window
isn't quite as condensed as mine yeah
it's pretty close but not quite as
condensed but that's what works for her
and actually convinced my boss to try it
and I was gonna say has it shaped other
people yeah first she thought I was
crazy for doing it all you're starving
yourself you know because that's when
they hear the word fasting that's what
people think it and I really don't even
like the term I think it should be
called like time interval
eating rather than fasting because when
people hear fasting oh you must be
starving yourself and then you try to
explain no that's not what I'm doing I'm
just I'm eating same amount of food it's
just within a shortened window and now
my boss has tried it and and so far I
think she's she's enjoying it and doing
well so and yeah I've talked to some of
the people about it I think it's you
know not everybody it's not for
everybody yeah it's not for everybody
not everybody has the need or to do it
or would want to do it but if I feel
like for my own experience if you're
somebody who has tried other things and
they haven't worked as far as for fat
loss and and just feeling good maybe
give it a try yeah rebut research about
it and start off slow it start off so
research maybe talk to your doctor
doctor your doctor
yeah especially once again especially if
you're diabetic you should talk to your
doctor if you don't go to lower there
can be a problems but for a lot of
people they get good results when they
have diabetes yes doing this because
it's a way very similar if you kind of
can use this analogy bariatric surgery
many people aren't get off all their
diabetes medicine after having bariatric
surgery that's the same as just you
can't eat so it's it's fasting right it
so it's a way of dealing it with it now
in terms of you are you with this 55 to
60 pound loss are you done are you think
your the question is is it going to get
to a point where maybe you're gonna have
to do less days of these 20 hour fast or
you think you can do this forever it's a
great question not a hundred percent
sure probably just you probably probably
just equalize me yeah I'm at a point
where I'm happy with where I'm at but I
also I also really enjoy doing what I'm
doing easy right yeah the ease of it the
convenience of it how I feel so not only
do I think that this is something that I
wanted to do to just kind of kickstart
like a fat-burning I also feel like this
is just something that's part of my life
part of my life I because also for the
other benefits the autonomy the low
having low insulin levels you know to
protect against certain kinds of you
know illnesses cancer and other cancers
and
and diabetes heart diseases and things
like that so I just I feel like in so
many ways this is something that I just
want to continue for I can't imagine you
know not doing it and the number one
thing is just how good I feel doing it
yeah I just I feel so much better in so
many ways and all the other benefits are
almost like icing on the cake I feel
like yeah so I plan on just having this
be what I do and I don't find it to be
difficult at all it's not like I'm
suffering yep like yeah that you're
suffering to have to fast and and do the
whole thing but no and just the opposite
it's it's a it's a convenience and a
comfort to do what I'm doing great well
thank you Jason so Jason's been he's
lost 55 to 60 pounds been doing it for
about a year this intermittent fasting
it's something to look up there'll be
some more information at the bottom of
this video if you'd like to learn more
and thank you Jason for coming thank you
very much resume I'm honored thanks
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