Hey friends! A couple months ago I briefly mentioned I was doing a 6-week fitness program. It recently ended and now I’m excited to share my experience!
The program I joined was the FASTer Way to Fat Loss (FWTFL) which combines intermittent fasting, carb cycling, macro counting, and strategically paired workouts so that you are working smarter, not harder. If all those terms make you dizzy, I’ll get to them in a minute. First I wanna share my backstory with fitness!
The Backstory
As I approached my mid-30s, I was really feeling the lack of strength in my body. I heard about FWTFL over a year ago from Katie. I saw how she lost 11 inches and 11 lbs and toned up her body in just 6 weeks (!!), and I signed up right away! However, I soon found out I was pregnant with Ella and had to cancel before the round even started. For the last year while being pregnant and postpartum, I continued seeing Katie’s results, her friends’ results, and my own friend’s transformation and waited for the day I could start!
Before doing FWTFL, I had already been doing intermittent fasting and mostly eating low carb meals, and in the first 3.5 months of being postpartum I was able to shed all but 8-10 lbs of baby weight. But I’d hit a plateau. Plus, even though pounds were dropping, my body was still super soft, and I wasn’t strong. I was finally at a place post-pregnancy that I could start FWTFL, so I did!
Results After My First 6-Week Round of FWTFL
It feels pretty vulnerable to post these before and after pics on the internet ?, but I want yall to see the change in my body composition. I’m purposefully NOT flexing my abs, even though I actually have some now ? since I’m not walking around with flexed abs all day, you know? Haha! Without flexing or trying to make it look impressive, you can see the difference!
Through my first 6-week round, I lost between 7-8 inches all over and was able to wear all of my pants that hadn’t fit since pre-pregnancy! I lost 1.5″ around my belly button, 1.5″ around my natural waist, and 2″ around my hips! Plus more from my arms and legs. And more importantly, I’m stronger. ?? There was a moment about 3 weeks in when Addie (now 4 years old) was struggling and asked to be held/carried. Prior to FASTer Way to Fat Loss I hadn’t been able to carry her for more than 30 seconds since she’s so big now, but this time I carried her for over a quarter of a mile without struggling AT ALL. I turned to Benson and was like, “WHOA, look at me! I’m not even tired yet!”
I would talk about pounds shed, but FWTFL actually super encourages you NOT to step on a scale. The name of the program is FASTer Way to *FAT* Loss, not FASTer Way to *WEIGHT* Loss. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you’re shedding fat but putting on muscle, your weight may not even change at all even though your body may look totally different.
I still have some fat I’d love to shed, and I want to get further toned, but it’s pretty exciting to see what a difference there is in only 6 weeks! Especially because I didn’t feel like I had to kill myself working out to do it! Even though I’d seen other people’s transformations, I was genuinely surprised–and delighted–at my own!
Why I Was Hopeful and Skeptical
I was both very hopeful and somewhat skeptical going into it. I was hopeful because like I said, I’d seen many other people’s transformations firsthand. Like one of my friends–I told her about it back in December 2017 because for 5 years I watched her try to lose weight after having 3 kids. We were on a walk together and stopped for a bit to let our kids explore. My friend started furiously working out in the downtime while I stood there 5 months pregnant. It dawned on me that for the last 5 years she had been working out for an hour a day with minimal results. I told her about FWTFL , and she signed up immediately. After her first 6-week round she CRUSHED it! She lost 20 inches (!!!) by working out less than she had been–just smarter. And more importantly, some ongoing hormonal and thyroid problems she’d been battling got fixed! Okay, I digress. I’m just so happy for her! But that’s all to say, I’d seen firsthand what the program could do and I had hope in it.
However, I was skeptical because I had already been doing intermittent fasting and was relatively conscious of what I ate. I mean, I definitely ate ice cream often and California burritos once in a while, but I am reasonably in tune with nutrition, how much protein, carbs, calories, etc., are in foods, and was conscious of balancing them. I wondered, “I’m already doing intermittent fasting and eating low-carb most days. I’m already doing elements of what FWTFL does–how much more effective could this program be?” I jumped in hopeful but also skeptical.
While doing the program, my skepticism actually grew because I felt like I was eating more than ever some days! Coming from a low-carb lifestyle to eating tons of proper carbs was weird, a little scary, and sometimes a discipline. Some days I felt like I was eating all day! I thought, “Umm…how is this going to work?”
But it turns out that intermittent fasting and low-carb eating are not the end-all to it. Like I said, FASTer Way to Fat Loss combines intermittent fasting with carb cycling and macro nutrition, as well as strategically pairs different nutrition days with types of workouts. All of those cylinders firing at once is so, so, so important and led to great results!
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What I Love About FWTFL
What I love about this program is that it’s strategic and effective, like I mentioned.
Also, you don’t have to workout for a billion hours a day. Benson did the At-Home workouts and I did the Beginner workouts. At-Home workouts took around 40min and Beginner workouts averaged 20min. We worked out 5 days per week, resting for two days. Some people don’t do the workouts at all and only focus on nutrition their first round and still see crazy results.
Lastly, I was able to eat some treats, indulge a little, and still see results! Due to lots of parties and family in town over the last 6 weeks, I was not always tight on my nutrition. I know I would have seen even more significant results had I stuck to our diet better! W had several special occasion dinners and multiple parties, including TWO parties with catered Filipino food, complete with leftovers for both of those following weeks. I took visiting friends and family out for a lot of tacos and burritos, cuz when friends visit San Diego, they MUST EAT MEXICAN FOOD! 😀 There was a LOT of stuff going on. I tried to fit all those less healthy foods into my nutrition plan as best as I could, but my diet could definitely have been tighter. That’s to say even fudging things a bit, I saw results! Plus, on a particular workout day, the program encourages you to eat a treat like a donut or drink some wine! It’s really reassuring to know you don’t have to be perfect on this program for it to be super effective! (Though still, I would not recommend fudging thing as much as I did, obviously. Hahaha. Just saying there is some wiggle room, and when you can’t always be on lock down, try to be tight on nutrition the next day.)
Join the Next Round of FWTFL!
If you’re looking for a jumpstart or something different to get you out of a rut, consider joining me for the next round! I’m doing a second round to move on to the At Home workouts, be tighter on my diet, and continue firming up my body. I still have some fat I’d love to shed!
It’s fairly expensive, but so, sooooo, so worth it! It’s so effective, and you don’t have to totally kill yourself to see results. You can read more about it and sign up HERE. I’ll also answer some questions below.
Click here to join the next round of FWTFL!
Q&A
I know you may have lots of questions! I’ll try to answer some initial questions here, and then I’ll do a follow up post if you have more.
-Intermittent Fasting? Carb Cycling? Macros? What the whaaaaat?
I will be honest–it can all be very confusing and intimidating AT FIRST. Even though I was already doing intermittent fasting, was familiar with macro counting, and had a decent handle on nutrition, it still took me a bit to figure out the right foods. Don’t be intimidated by all that stuff or let it keep you from doing this! After just 1-2 weeks, and through the help of the FWTFL coaches in the Facebook group, it’ll become second nature to you. Just be okay with being confused the first 1-2 weeks and asking lots of “dumb” questions to the FWTFL coaches. Everyone new is just as confused as you are!
-What is intermittent fasting and why is it important? And how do you not die without eating breakfast?
Intermittent fasting is when you limit yourself to a shorter window of eating through out the day, thus being in a “fasted” state for more of the day. Specifically, having only an 8 hour period in which you eat and a 16 hour period where you don’t eat. For example, eating only between 12pm-8pm and not eating, or “fasting,” from 8pm-12pm. Basically you skip breakfast and don’t eat until 12pm.
Like I said, Benson and I had been doing intermittent fasting for about a year and a half, long before FWTFL. When Benson started I thought, “I could NEVER do that. I would get so hangry without breakfast!” But the logic to it made so much sense to me that I wanted to try for just 2 weeks. The logic is that in a fasted state, your body actually has the chance to burn fat stores instead of burning the food it has just consumed. Also, over the years I’d noticed that if I skipped breakfast, my stomach would growl once or twice but then it would stop and I’d be fine for a while. But if I ate breakfast, I’d get hungry waaaay sooner–and hangrier than if I’d skipped breakfast. I noticed that over and over. The logic and my experience not eating breakfast somedays were enough for me to test it out. And it turns out it’s not so bad and your body gets used to it!
The creator FWTFL wrote an article about intermittent fasting that you can check out HERE for more info.
-What is carb cycling and macro counting?
You can read about carb cycling HERE.
Macro nutrition has been talked about a lot in the last few years and there’s tons of info about it in Google. FWTFL will also help clue you in when you do the program. But in a nutshell, it’s making sure you’re not just getting a certain amount of calories, but it makes sure you’re getting the right kinds of calories and the right balance of them. This part is super duper important to not just helping you lose fat but making sure your body is functioning optimally, helps balance your hormones and internal stuff, and is the piece that increased my breastmilk supply. (Cuz duh, I was finally getting the right balance of nutrition!)
-What do you eat on this program?
It’s different everyday, as the program cycles you through low-carb days and regular days for strategic fat-loss reasons. (Super strategic and effective–I love it!) It’s also different for every person. But on a meta level you try to eat whole foods, avoid starchy processed carbs, and eat dairy-free as much as you can. Generally, “if it comes from the ground or has a mother” it’s fair game. It’s not as hard as it sounds! Stuff like chicken, chicken wings, pork tenderloin, slow cooked pulled pork, beef stew, barbecued chicken, Aidell’s chicken meatballs, Aidell’s sausages, salmon, quinoa with sweet potatoes and zucchini (frozen pack from Trader Joe’s made it sooo easy), eggs, avocados, bacon, oatmeal, and lots, and lotssssssssss of fruit (not shown). Um, plus the Filipino and Mexican food I mentioned earlier which included some starchy carbs and a bit of cheese. Yikes! 😀
Some of my meals are below (sans all the billions of servings of fruit I ate), and I can talk through them more in-depth for anyone who does the program but needs help figuring out what to eat for the different days.
-Can you do this as a breastfeeding mom?
Yup! The program advises you how to adapt it mildly if you’re breastfeeding. The creator of FWTFL has a baby under 1 year old and has been doing it while breastfeeding. I’m still breastfeeding as well. And actually, because my nutrition is so much better, my supply actually increased while doing FWTFL!
-I still have more questions!
I’m happy to answer questions in a follow-up blog post. But, I would encourage you to read through the FWTFL site HERE first. After reading it, THEN ask me specific follow up questions in the comments below. Also remember, you don’t have to understand it all to start. The FWTFL provides coaches and a Facebook support group which is actually a better place to ask questions rather than to me! There is so much wisdom and help from the experts!
If you’re thinking about it at all, just jump in! You guys know me–I try to be very thoughtful about things like clothing purchases and am not usually one to jump into things without getting allllll the info. But in this case, it’s the kind of thing where the info will make sense once you actually do it for 1-2 weeks. Just be okay asking questions to the Facebook group and FWTFL coaches. They’re there to help!
There are always new rounds opening, so you will always have a chance to sign up! Reserve a spot HERE!
Click here to join the next round of FWTFL!
This post is not sponsored in any way by FWTFL, nor did I get to try the program for free. I registered for the last round and the Sept 17th round myself. However, I can earn a referral commission if you sign up through one of the links provided here. If this post has inspired you or helped answer some of your questions in any way, I would be so appreciative if you signed up through one of my links! Thank you!
MORE FWTFL POSTS:
Read my FASTer Way follow-up Q&A post HERE!
As a reminder, I am not any type of official representative for FASTer Way, and I’m definitely not an expert. FWTFL provides coaches to answer your questions once you’re in the program, and you can email [email protected] with questions prior to registering. I’m just someone who did the program once, just like any of you would, and used their referral program that anyone can use. 🙂
