What Did I Learn After My Latest Round of The Fat Loss Protocol?

Cyndi-FLP-another-round

Written by Cyndi

Cyndi is about educating. Her greatest love is to teach, both in the public arena and within the large corporate food companies, to enable everyone to make better choices so they too can enjoy greater health throughout their lives. Considered one of the world's foremost experts in Nutrition, Cyndi brings over 40 years experience, research and knowledge.

February 9, 2021

I love The Fat Loss Protocol. I do it yearly as a check in to stop me becoming complacent with my eating habits.

The first time I did the protocol was late November 2012, leading into Christmas. So, in 2020, I decided to do it at the same time.

The thing I love about doing it at that time of year is that it stops me from being a crazy food addict through the December Christmas cheer. Come January 1st, I don’t want to have to make another New Year’s resolution to lose weight, instead I want to be ready for manifesting an incredible year ahead, feeling energetic and healthy.

And, I have a confession.

I love carbohydrates: tropical fruits, winter fruits, grains, home made sweet goodies, chocolate and the like. For the most part I have them under control, but sometimes they control me. I learnt this very early on in my life. I was a student at university in the USA and loved chocolate chip cookies and crackers and peanut butter with honey piled on top…these were my Achilles’ heel. Yet even as a young 20 year old they would cause me to stack the weight on, despite for the most part eating real foods and real carbohydrates not filled with dubious ingredients. I was talking with my brother the other day and he reminded me what I looked like when I got back from my two year stint overseas. He said our Mother wanted to just stick a pin into me and then I’d deflate. Oh if only it was that easy!

I was 22 and had put on, in the old scale, one-and-a-half stone while at university and travelling the world. I immediately water fasted for 7 days on coming home then very quickly got back to my weight of 9-and-a-half stone. This is still my comfortable weight (60kg) and a different type of fasting is still the way I control my weight, health and my carbohydrate cravings.

In October last year, my husband and I went for a helicopter ride near Carnarvon Gorge. I had to get on the scales and they read 64kg – argh, time for me to do something. I knew it! I was beginning to not like what my clothes felt and looked like on me. We try to fool ourselves by not getting on the scales and just avoiding the issue. I’m like anyone else, I am good at that too!

So I’ve begun 2021 at my perfect weight, with a ton of energy and loving what I look like in my clothes and bikini. My mind is clear and I’ve manifested my year ahead.

It just goes to show, it doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, you can still manifest a great life around you and for yourself for 2021.

Every time I do The Fat Loss Protocol I learn something new. I find it easier and easier to do each year, partly because I know what to do and what to expect. I’m pretty boring when it comes to food. I don’t change it up too much as I love the food, except for the last week when I’m ready to mix it up a little so I may try some different protein or a different combination of greens.

Phase 4 is my learning time, but after 8 years I’ve become proficient at knowing what works for me regarding food, so I simply increase my meats, add some sweet potato and then slowly get back to how I love to eat.  When I’ve done the program, I don’t feel like a lot of carbs and dessert doesn’t interest me. I’m reset for the year.

While I did the protocol last year I went to see my Dad in Melbourne (the borders were open, I had to go) and then went on holidays with my family, away from the Sunshine Coast. Nobody had seen me at all during Phase 2. People’s reactions when they did see me after the new year were wonderful. My wonderful friend Dani, who knows the program well, saw me on one of my walks and after a hug and a catch up she mentioned I was looking fit and amazing. I looked at her and just said “Fat Loss”, she laughed and then came and got two bottles of support drops the next day, and her and another friend started the program immediately. Tens of other friends have also been inspired by my results on the program.

The Fat Loss Protocol not only has the ability to inspire and change you, but it also inspires people who can feel and see the difference in you. I loved seeing all the amazing stories in the private Facebook support group while I was going through the protocol – they gave me energy and such a warm, wonderful feeling knowing that other people are understanding the power of food and the concept of fasting and being in ketosis.

One friend who started the program a week ago called and asked me about the increased frequency of her hot flashes. I told her that she was releasing fat and along with the fat comes an excess of hormones and toxins which sometimes increase symptoms. Once that has been released, those symptoms will subside. Sometimes things do get worse before they get better.

The one thing I really noticed during this time doing The Fat Loss Protocol was my sleeping – I had been waking through the night to go to the toilet. I’m not old and feeble at 60 so this should not have been happening. But by week 2 of Phase 2, I had stopped waking and was sleeping through the night without any need to get up and empty my bladder. The other thing I noticed concerned my bowels – before the protocol they had not been performing at their optimum and I had thought I might need to do the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet for a period of time. But now all is functioning well and I did identify that too much butter is not good for me. You see, these may not seem to be big things, but they were whispers to me that something was not right.

In today’s society, if the body whispers with a pain, a gut issue, waking at night, not sleeping, less energy, headaches or any myriad of small symptoms, we rarely listen to those whispers. Instead Western medicine, and marketing and advertising by pharmaceutical companies, encourage us to keep marching on by taking a painkiller, a sleeping pill, an anti-inflammatory or some other magic pill. But it is these whispers that tell you things are not quite right and you need to do something about it. These whispers should not be silenced with medication, but questions should be asked as to what could be causing them. And if you don’t listen to the body’s whispers, it will scream at you with increasing pain and symptoms. Yes of course medication is needed sometimes, but we have become a pill-popping society.

When my Dad was a pharmacist in the 1950’s, he told me it was mostly only the elderly that were prescribed medications. But now medications are being prescribed to every age group and many people are told that they must stay on their meds for life – a good example of this is statins for blood cholesterol. Diet and lifestyle can change the trajectory of impending heart disease.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when the body sends you a nudge or whisper:

What did I eat or drink that may have caused this that was different to what I usually consume?

What did I do differently that may have created this issue?

Does this issue occur at the same time each day?

Did I sleep well?

Did I have too much screen time late at night?

Did I get out into the sun?

What stresses have I experienced?

Was I dehydrated?

There are many questions to ask, but inquiry is better than dulling the symptoms. Remember, doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity and if we inquire, we may find we can do something different.

The Fat Loss Protocol has always been my first port of call. If that doesn’t fix the issue then I have other tools in my toolkit that I can use. So far, I’ve not needed to use them, but I know that we have had people do the protocol that have needed to go onto GAPS or some other gut healing program in order to fix an issue that may have become a scream in the body.

The more I learn about fasting, being in a state of ketosis, fat cells and toxins, fat cells and hormones, leptin, insulin and historical eating patterns, the more I understand the power of The Fat Loss Protocol for not only weight loss, but also health, energy and longevity.

My annual check up has been, and will continue to be, The Fat Loss Protocol.

See you in the next Challenge!

Cyndi O’Meara

Nutritionist and creator of The Fat Loss Protocol

 

 

 

 

 

 

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