 Welcome everybody to Lillian's Vegan World coming to you live from gorgeous downtown Honolulu. I'm your host Lillian Cumick, vegan chef and author of the new cookbook Hawaii, a Vegan Paradise. Today's show is intermittent fasting for weight loss, a journey toward health and hope. I'm so excited to welcome my guest today, Amanda Dolan. Amanda, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. The pleasure is all mine. You have such an amazing story, Amanda, and a truly inspiring story. So we're going to start from the beginning. First of all, tell us about yourself, what you're doing now and where you are coming live from. I am live from Denne, Texas, which is a medium-sized city north of Dallas and Fort Worth. I am a mom to two awesome kids and I am a life coach for my job. So it's my goal to help people become the best self they can be. Awesome. I think you're going to make an amazing life coach given the journey that you have been on. You recently, in the past few years, have been on a weight loss journey. You started off at what size, at what weight, Amanda? I was 322 pounds when I started. I had to look that up because I'm Australian and I don't understand pounds. That's for anyone else on the metric system, that is about 146 kilograms. Yes. So a lot. That is a lot. I had not been that heavy. And then I started a new medication and put on a lot of weight really quickly. And I saw some pictures of myself and realized that my size 28 jeans couldn't button anymore. And I just thought I have to do something. So I jumped right in quite literally. I jumped into the pool and started swimming. And that was my first attempt, or not attempt, that was my first, my starting point, my jumping off point into this weight loss journey that I'm on right now. Amanda, let's take a, if you don't mind, let's take a look at your before photo. This is when you're at your peak, your highest weight. This is actually about 15 pounds lighter than my heaviest. And how many years ago was this photo taken? This was about four years ago. Okay. Well, it was May three and a half years ago. Okay. There's one more, I think, which is also a before photo. That is actually after I finished a two and a half mile open water swim. Congratulations. That's, that's quite a feat. When did you do this swim? I did that last summer. I plan on, you know, over. A year ago now, I plan on doing it this past summer, but, you know, everything was canceled. So, but, but yeah, that's, you know, swimming is, is what I do for myself. It's my peaceful Zen time, you know, because no one can bother you. You don't have a phone. There's no television. There's no kids. There's no dogs. It's just you in the water. And it's incredibly good for my mental health. Awesome. Okay, Amanda, let's go back to the beginning. So you're at this, this weight of 146 kilograms, 322 pounds. Where did you start? How did you start? How did you say, Amanda, I'm going to change my life? Well, it actually started about five months before I got in the pool. And I had woken up in the morning and it was a March, it was March, it was a Thursday morning and I woke up and I said, this is how I'm going to kill myself. And I said, you know, I had a plan. It was not a, you know, I think I want to kill myself. It was a, this is exactly how I'm going to do it. And that was a wake up call to me. And I started seeing a psychiatrist, got on medication. That caused me to gain weight. I went into therapy and I realized that I was just really unhappy. And I was not taking care of myself. I was taking care of everyone else. I was, I was just doing all of these things for everyone else and not taking care of me. And when I did things that, that I thought were for myself, it was a lot of food things. You know, I'd be like, I had a really rough day. I'm going to eat Oreos. Oreos are vegan so I can have a package of Oreos or, you know, I'd get a pint of vegan ice cream and I would eat all of that. And when I became, well, I became a vegan before that, that suicide plan, but I wasn't eating a well balanced vegan diet, you know, there's vegan junk food. So in August of 2017, I went to the doctor and that number was on the scale. And it, it was scary for me. I had high blood pressure. I was pre-diabetic. I had lots of pain. I had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia because they just couldn't explain the pain that I was having. And the doctor suggested that I move to a Whole Foods plant based diet. And I also have something called PCOS, which is polycystic ovary syndrome, which causes insulin resistance and also makes weight loss very difficult because of the way your hormones are. Essentially, you have too much testosterone for being a woman is a very simple way of putting it. And he suggested that to me. Like frankly, I blew him off for about two months, but I started swimming and I was like, well, see, I'm doing something. And then I said, this isn't enough. I have to have to be here for my kids because at the time they were nine and 11. And they deserve to have a mom that was available and healthy and could play with them and get up off the floor without needing help. I was 37 years old and I couldn't stand up on my own hardly. And I started making small changes, little things like instead of putting the sweetened almond milk in my smoothie, I got the unsweetened almond milk. And then I decreased portion sizes. And then I tried to cut out as many processed foods as I could. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. Because I genuinely believe that a diet, I mean, and a diet is not something you go on to lose weight. A diet is what you eat. Because that is so, yes, sorry to interrupt. That is so true. I think people misuse the word diet because diet can diet really is a lifestyle. You know, we refer to this plant-based diet or vegan diet, but I prefer to use the word lifestyle personally because that is exactly what it is. Your lifestyle is not only about food. You have to make sure all of the other areas in your life, your friendships, your marriage, your family life, your eating habits, your sleeping pattern, your exercise regime, how much you exercise, all of these things make up a healthy lifestyle. It really simply is not only about food. So you started off by cleaning up your diet, heading towards more of the whole foods plant-based diet, which is recommended. By the way, as a disclaimer, none of the information on this show is intended to be of the medical advice. So anyone who's listening out there, please do seek professional medical advice from your doctor or physician before changing your diet drastically, especially if you're taking any kind of medication just to make sure. So Amanda, you start taking these small steps. How's everything going? You start seeing the weight come off? I started very slowly. I remember it was about two months in, and I was finally, I stepped on the scale, and the first number was a two. And I got so excited. It was like the first number's a two, not a three anymore, full of soon. But it took a solid two months. And I know people that have done, especially that were as heavy as I was, that lost 40 pounds, 50 pounds in the first two months. And to be quite frank, I was disheartened that it wasn't coming off faster. But my doctor reminded me that, like you said, it's a lifestyle. It's got to be something that will last forever. That's part of your everyday living. And it's not restrictive to the point where it's not maintainable. Exactly. You need to find the lifestyle that is going to be easy to maintain for the rest of your life. Because that's how I think the fad diets and all this calorie counting kind of really screw up your ability to maintain a healthy weight and stay at the weight that suits your body, that makes you feel good. So Amanda, did you try intermittent fasting? I did. That was something that was suggested to me by my doctor at about a year in. So about two years ago, my doctor told me to give it a try, see what would happen if it would help me. Because my blood sugars were still higher than they should be. And she thought that would be a way to lower my blood sugars. So I started with 16.8. So I didn't eat for 16 hours and I ate in an eight hour window. Amanda, let me just jump in for a second. Just for the people that still are not sure what intermittent fasting is, you just explain now intermittent fasting is an eating pattern. You set aside time to fast and you set aside time to feast. You just explained a typical intermittent fasting eating pattern, which is 16 hours fasting, eight hours of a feasting window where you're not restricted. So you can eat during that time frame. Now, that might sound like a lot of fasting time to the average person. But when you think about it, all you have to do is skip breakfast. Right. And then you're already going to have like a 16 hour fasting. That is what beginners or people who are new to intermittent fasting should do. I'm now up to 20 to 22 hours of fasting per day. And I eat between two to four hours. And that's during my eating period. And I feel fantastic. I feel good as well. I go, I do anywhere from 20 to 22 most days. And then I do a 36 hour fast every Sunday. So I stop eating dinner on Saturday. And then I'll eat breakfast on Monday and I don't eat on Sunday. And it's some of that is actually spiritually based for me. But also it's Sunday is an easy day for me to fast because I'm running all over the place. I'm running errands, spending time with my kids back and forth to church. And so it works very well for me. But like I said, I started with that 16 eight and slowly worked myself to where I am now. I think it's important to note, though, that with intermittent fasting, it's not about calorie restriction. If it really is about just limiting the number of hours you eat every day. Absolutely. Amanda, I do want to take a quick break and then come back and talk more about this intermittent fasting, your weight loss and your journey. So everyone stay tuned. We're going to take a break for a few messages and be back shortly. Welcome back to Lillian's Vegan World. I'm with my awesome guest, Amanda Dolan, who is sharing her journey with intermittent fasting and weight loss. Welcome back again, Amanda. Thank you. Just before the break, we were delving into intermittent fasting and how it worked for you. So to continue, what's your eating pattern like now? So I usually eat from about two to six or four to six. I choose to break my fast, typically with a lot of fruits and vegetables. Like today was green peppers, carrots, celery, blueberries, strawberries, baked tortilla chips, hummus and a spinach artichoke dip. Yum. So and all of that is I try to avoid oil that doesn't work for everyone. But that's where I feel my best. So all of that's oil free. And then tonight I'm meeting a friend for dinner and I'm probably going to have fried rice because I can. Is there oil in the fried rice? Well, I'm going out to dinner. So I'm making it at home. No, there's not. So that's what that's what I wanted to point out. Like it's it's not set in stone. Is it this these things like when you restrict yourself to the point where you make yourself feel guilty? If you stray a little bit or something, I think that just sets yourself up for failure because you're putting too much pressure on yourself. So you just mentioned now that you don't normally consume oil, but every now and again, if you go out and you're in a you know, in a scenario where you're sitting in a restaurant, a little bit's not going to kill you in reality. And you know, like I said earlier, it's got to be a lifestyle that's maintainable for you. And if I didn't get the chance to eat out with my friends, it would be I don't know. It wouldn't be the life I want to live. So that leaves. Yes, absolutely. Your friends want to hang out with you as well. And you know, dying with you. Amanda, how about alcohol? I do drink. I love whiskey. I grew up in Kentucky, so bourbon is like in my blood. So but when I do drink, it's one or two, two or three times a week. And it's not, you know, I used to drink a lot more because I wasn't happy and it was a way to kind of escape from life. And now I just do it because I like it, you know, and it's a big difference between drinking to escape and drinking to enjoy. Just like definitely, you know, I definitely binged because I was unhappy. I ate far more than I should have and one sitting because I wasn't happy. And then when I worked on myself, my mental health, it became a lot easier to eat well and to really show myself love with the way I was eating and how I was treating myself. That's amazing. You know, one thing about intermittent fasting, because friends around me are always kind of curious as to how how I can get through it, how I can, you know, stand not being able to eat or how I can stand starving myself. For one, I'm not starving myself. I'm eating what I want during my feasting period. I eat a lot of good food. I'm a chef, so I make sure I eat tasty food, food that works for my body and enough to make me full. The one thing about intermittent fasting that I do have to say, which I love, is that you're not obsessed with food every day like a lot of people are. What am I going to have for breakfast? What am I going to have for lunch? What am I going to have for dinner? That obsession just it kind of disappears because you're only you're feeding your body, but it's something that you genuinely look forward to. And when you are fasting for so long, it does make you kind of somehow subconsciously or something want to feed your body healthy stuff. You know, I eat junk food. I I drink alcohol, too. But, you know, when I'm breaking my fast, I'm exactly like you. It's fresh fruit, fresh veggies, you know, get all those nutrients, antioxidants, all that good stuff in because I know that's what my body is craving after, you know, going without food for 20 hours. So I honestly have nothing but good things to say about intermittent fasting. And and I think a lot of people, I mean, I've heard from a lot of people, aren't you starving when you hit, you know, 12 hours? And I was like, honestly, that's why you start at that 16, eight or even, you know, a 14, 10. Like if you start low and then you work yourself up, I am not. That's why sometimes I go closer to 22 hours than 20, because I'm genuinely not hungry. I know I I choose to track my food because it helps. I don't count calories. I track my food and I think there's a distinct difference with that. And, you know, I do that so that I know if something I ate gives me some kind of reaction or if I feel poorly after I eat something, I can go back and say, oh, well, maybe it was, you know, whatever, like that, you know, yellow pepper that I ate that made my stomach upset or it doesn't. But just trying to think of something that. But but it's nice to not count calories, because for so many years, I was taught over and over that you have to count calories, that it matters the number of calories you put in, but not the quality of food you put in. And with intermittent fasting, I've learned the importance of the quality of food and not the amount or the calories. And I think that that's a big shift for me. And the reason that I say that is when I was eight years old, my mother had me join Weight Watchers. And so food growing up for me was good or bad. If you ate Oreos, that was bad food and you were bad. And if you ate celery, that was a good food. And therefore you were good. And as I learned over the last several years, that there's not good food and bad food, there's food. It's how you use it. It's how much you eat, too. But, you know, eating five pounds of grapes isn't good for you. Just like eating a bag of Oreos isn't good for you. You know, you have to have a well balanced, colorful diet that's something that you can enjoy forever. And, you know, most most of my eat the colors of the rainbow. Yes, most of my recipes are very simple. I'm a mom. I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen. And I like to sneak extra veggies into their meals when they least expect it. We have spaghetti every. I'm looking to make sure my kids don't hear this. We have spaghetti every Saturday night. I take a jar of spaghetti sauce and I put it in the blender with a bag of spinach. And I blend it up and then I heat that. So my kids are getting, you know, a cup or two of greens and they don't even realize it. And I think what exactly what an awesome idea and a great way to incorporate more, you know, especially the dark leaf greens, which is so important for your diet. That's the thing, yeah. And you can sneak those in so easily. You know, I make enchiladas that are amazing that, you know, my omni friends, my friends eat meat, love. And they're simple, you know, I get their sweet potato corn and black beans and enchilada sauce. And that's it, you know, there's nothing fancy about it. But when you season food well and you make it look pretty, people want to eat it. Of course, vegan food is just food. That's all it is. No need to be scared of it. No need to be threatened by it. You know, as soon as people hear the word vegan, a lot of people are still on that, you know, vegan food. I don't I don't want that. One of my friends who I know, one of some friends came to my place for a little bit of a celebration last week. And when they took out some of the leftovers, it was just this vegan feast. And the parents said to me, I'll give it to my kids and their friends because tomorrow we're having a get together, but I just I can't tell them it's vegan because they won't eat it. Now, this is kids that are under the age of 10 that have already decided that the word vegan is a nasty, ugly, you know, horrible word that they don't want to associate with food. So it's just it's mind boggling. Amanda, we only have a few minutes left for the show, but I do want to quickly go through some of the photos that you did prep for us. Look at that smile. I can. Are you happy now, Amanda? So so happy. I'm probably happier than I've ever been in my entire life, not just because of the weight loss, but because of therapy and getting my my mental health on track. But definitely like feeling physically better, you know, like the weight loss. Is what got me to feeling better because there wasn't that pressure on my bones, you know, all of those things. I didn't have a hard time breathing anymore. Yeah, I mean, I'm just I'm happier now. Like I'd like to hear it and also I was I was going to say, what about self-esteem? Oh, I it's so different now. I'm very I'm so confident in who I am. And I'm kind of this. I used to be, oh, my gosh, what do people think of me? I want to make everyone happy. I don't, you know, all of those things. I think especially that all of us women tend to do. And now I'm kind of like, I'm pretty awesome. And I deserve. All of these things I deserve to be happy. I deserve to feel good in my own skin. Absolutely. That that's that's wonderful to hear that you are your your success. You've turned your life around and you did it all by yourself, really. It just takes you to fix you or to help you or to, you know, better you. So thank you so much for sharing your story, Amanda. We do have a couple more photos we can squeeze in. Gorgeous. This was about 40 pounds of weight loss when I was in Italy. I made I made horse friends at the Velomistique. And the next one, please. There's your smile again. This is one of my favorites. A friend of mine just snapped that while I was laughing at something. And I don't know why I love it so much, but you can. I feel like you can just see the joy on my face that it wasn't there before. Like, it's just this genuine happiness. And I love it. Yeah, you look like it really cool. They're my enchiladas with some cilantro, lime, rice, and then a cilantro crema on top. It's just cashews and cilantro doesn't be hard. And then this you take cherry tomatoes, slice them in half, cook them and like on the stove top. I think there's some mushrooms in there and kind of let them wilt and you do that while the spaghetti is cooking and then throw it all together and you've got a meal in five minutes. Awesome. Amanda, all of your food looks absolutely amazing. We we do have to say goodbye and close the show. But I'd love to have you on again sometime next year as time goes by to see how you're progressing with your your awesome journey. So I do thank you so much, Amanda, for coming on the show. Wonderful having you. Please come back again and to everyone else. Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Lillian's Vegan World. If you're in Hawaii this Saturday, November 14, I will be at the Marine Army Corps, the Marine Corps base for my first book signing for my book, Hawaii, A Vegan Paradise. Hope to see you there. See you again next time on Lillian's Vegan World. Take care and Aloha.