Kim Smith - Unbelievable Freedom: How We Transformed Our Health and Happiness with Intermittent Fasting

Unbelievable Freedom

How We Transformed Our Health and Happiness with Intermittent Fasting

Ryan and Kim Smith

Copyright 2018 Ryan and Kim Smith

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0-692-19967-1

Dedication

To Gram B, whose spirit continues to guide us to enjoy life and to encourage others.

Lorraine Lillian Hewes Beatham, 1918-2013

Foreword

U nbelievable Freedom !

Yes, those are powerful words. Intermittent fasting is a powerful lifestyle, after all.

When Kim and Ryan asked me to write the foreword for their book, I was both thrilled and honored. I have known Kim since 2017 when she waltzed into my Facebook intermittent fasting support group with her contagious smile. From the very beginning, Kim was a shining light within the group. Her positivity came through in every post that she made, and soon, other members began to look forward to her posts. We all loved seeing her progress photos! One thing was constant: as time went on, her eyes got bigger and bigger...and so did that smile. Many of her progress photos also included her husband, Ryan, and it was apparent that they were in it together.

As the months went by, Kims enthusiasm for intermittent fasting grew...as she and Ryan both shrunk. I could tell that Kim was a leader and that her excitement was spreading to those within her community. I remember when she first reached out to me with the idea to start her own intermittent fasting support group so she could mentor her own friends. I had a hunch right then that Kim was going to impact more lives than she could fathom.

I loved watching her journey over the months. I remember when Kim was thrilled to fit into a size 10. I told her to prepare to be amazed, because her body was not done yet. Before we knew it, she was in a size 6. I told her she STILL wasnt done yet. Im not sure if she believed me that day, but I was confident. Now, she is rocking a size 4. I am pretty sure that, like me, Kim never dreamed that she would be fitting into a size 4. When you are obese, a size 4 seems like a pipe dream.

I remember those days well. You see, I topped the scale at 210 pounds in April of 2014. My whole diet story is in my first book, Delay, Dont Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle . On the fateful day, when my own obesity slapped me in the face, I was on a cruise with my family, and I couldnt believe that woman in the photos was actually me. Right then, I vowed that I would not be that woman any longer...the woman moving through life in an oversized body that didnt feel like it could possibly belong to me. I felt that if only I could get back into a size 10, I would be thrilled. A size 6 seemed too good to be true, but I put it on my vision board and began the search for some method that would allow me to shed my outer fat-suit; because that is what it felt like to me. Can anyone relate? I knew I was still inside there somewhere, but I needed to emerge. And, one way or another, I was going to make it happen.

Like Kim and Ryan, I took some missteps, twists, and turns along the way, but my journey finally led me to intermittent fasting. I was able to lose over 75 pounds (that has morphed into 80+ over time), and when I hit my initial goal weight of 135 pounds, I was amazed to find that I was not, after all, a size 6...I was actually a size FOUR. What?!?!?! In my wildest dreams, I never expected to be a size 4.

Now, a couple of years later, I am no longer a size 4. Why? You may be thinking that it must be some weight regain, right? After all, nobody can lose weight and keep it off. According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2005), only about 20% of dieters are able to lose even a measly 10% of their initial body weight and keep it off for over a year...and I lost about 38% of my initial body weight. So, I MUST have regained some or most of it, right?

No, its true that I am no longer a size 4. I have to admit that it was a little sad to have to retire some of my beautiful goal clothes that I bought when I hit that magical size 4.

I had to retire my beautiful size 4 clothes because...are you ready for it? They became TOO LARGE. Yep. Its true. Over the three plus years that I have been in maintenance after losing 80+ pounds, I continued to lose clothing sizes without even trying. Now, I dont even pick up size 4 clothes in the store, because I know they will be too big for me. I head straight to the end of the rack with the size 0s and size 2s. Thats where I find my clothes these days.

Yes, intermittent fasting gives us Unbelievable Freedom . For the first time in my life, I dont worry that my I will gain weight and have to buy new, bigger clothes. For the first time in my life, I dont count calories, fat grams, carbs... I eat to satiety, and then I stop eating when I have had enough. For the first time in my life, I am free to eat foods that are delicious every day of my life.

For the first time in my life, I know that I am off of the diet roller coaster for good.

Unbelievable Freedom .

Are you ready to hear how Kim and Ryan found their own Unbelievable Freedom ? Their heart-warming story lies ahead in the pages of this book. A lot within their story reminds me of myself, and Im pretty sure that some or much of it will feel familiar to you, too. All the years of struggle. The giving up. (I did that, too, for a while.) But, just like Kim and Ryan, we only have to try ONE MORE TIME than we quit in order to be successful. Intermittent fasting is here for you when you are ready, just like it was here for me and it was here for Kim and Ryan.

Unbelievable Freedom . Kim and Ryan have found it, and their story is inspiring.

Unbelievable Freedom . Its waiting for you, too.

Gin Stephens

Author of Delay, Dont Deny: Living and Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle

Welcome from The Smiths

B efore we jump into the story, we want to address all of you, our readers. We feel like were talking to the members of our online IF community, thousands of people we have never met in person who nonetheless have taught, supported and encouraged us through the past 16 months. Writing this book feels similar to addressing the members of our own Facebook IF support group, currently numbering over 2000, all folks with some degree of interest in bettering their lives and their health through intermittent fasting.

Why did we write this book? There are two reasons. First, reading Gin Stephens book Delay, Dont Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle showed us clearly that one person putting their story out into the world could create ripples of impact. We hoped that two of us telling our interrelated stories could have similar effects.

Second, and maybe more importantly, people asked for this book. We heard over and over that our transformation was amazing, incredible, unbelievable. People looked at our pictures and said, Wow! You look like two totally different people! How did you do that? We were asked so many times that we began to ask ourselves. We reflected on where we had come from, our lives before we met, the years of our marriage so far, and the point in the process we had reached. We looked at each other and agreed that yes, this is a story that should be told, especially for those couples who may feel locked in a pattern of using food to deal with life. You too may have found yourself stuck in a rut, gaining weight and feeling powerless to do anything about it.