In celebration of the one year anniversary of the 21 Day Intermittent Fasting Program, last month I held the second annual Summer Intermittent Fasting Challenge! AENpeeps all across the WORLD used the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle to tap into fat burning mechanisms, eat until satiated, achieve their wellness goals and feel GOOD again!
For this Summer's Challenge, I partnered up with some of my favorite brands to surprise one randomly selected winner with ALLLLL the best AENpeeps goodies!! Coffee, chocolate, collagen... oh YES! Check out the full deets on the Grand Prize HERE.
Today, I'm sharing the GRAND PRIZE winner's incredible story of how she transitioned from constantly counting calories and relying on the Keto Diet to eating until satiated and naturally tapping into fat burning mechanisms while STILL including carbohydrates!
Now... without further ado... your grand prize winner!
Meet MORGAN!!🎉🎉🎉
Tell us about yourself!
I am a 21 year old student in college, currently finishing up my undergraduate in Clinical Exercise Physiology! I frequently watch health videos on YouTube, and (funny enough) while I was walking on the treadmill at my gym, your video for “Why WALKING is better than Running” popped up on my suggested. So I watched it while walking because I already knew walking was better than running because of the fact that it actually uses more muscles in your legs to walk than when you run, and when you walk on incline, you can build your booty instead of subtract muscle from it!
But, your video took it so much further... into hormones and how it affects your mental health. And immediately I subscribed because this was a new topic I had not been informed on! So over the next week, I binged your YouTube videos while walking before my workout. I bought your Thriving Cookbook just to see what kind of recipes you included (as I was already doing Intermittent Fasting and Keto) and I fell in love with the recipes! I for sure wanted your entire program now, so I bought it, knowing I’d be super happy with my purchase, and I was! I bought the entire bundle, supplement guide and all!
Which Program are you following?
I followed the Detox, then the 21 Day Intermittent Fasting + Level Up. Since I had both, I literally used the Nutrient Timing sheet to make sure everything followed my protocol, and picked and chose which recipes I wanted for the week out of any of them! I followed the athlete protocol, while my mom followed the Hormone Balancing Protocol! We suspect she has low thyroid, she has about 70-80 lbs to lose to reach her goal weight, and she refuses to exercise when it’s hot outside, so I’m quite surprised, she’s lost weight every single week on her diet (about a lb a week) without exercise! We also schedule in one treat meal during the week, so she normally has pizza, and I go out with my boyfriend and get something yummy in a restaurant! So yeah, I even used recipes in your Thriving cookbook, so I guess I really used all of them? Haha.
What was your main goal with The Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle?
I wanted to see if I could achieve my fitness goals (tone up as much a second possible, lose fat and gain muscle at the same time) while not doing the Keto diet. I wanted to eat healthier. I knew you were a promoter of eating real healthy foods, and since I started using Nutrient Timing and your recipes with my IF, my entire body has changed! I’ve honestly never felt this healthy in my life.
Have you tried anything else in the past to achieve your wellness goals?
I, (don’t judge, all the fitness gurus and models told me to) counted calories for two years. Even when I was going through bulking and maintaining stages. I counted calories while doing Keto too. I was an avid calorie counter. I had a scale, I could guess how many calories were in something just by looking at it. Or how many calories the nutrition label “said” it had in it. Not until after I watched your video on how calorie counting is actually ridiculous (which I stopped doing the minute I started your program) did I actually stop. I’ve never felt more free. Not knowing how many calories are in my dishes, and just enjoying them for the sake of enjoying the food and it’s nutrients for my body has been completely life-changing.
Did you have any hesitations before getting started?
I was nervous, and so was my mom, to incorporate carbs back into the diet. And also having a treat meal once a week was scary, because before we couldn’t have treat meals because they would kick us out of ketosis. I was super excited to reintroduce sweet potatoes, because they are one of my many favorite foods! Haha! My muscles and my workouts feel so much better after incorporating carbs into my evening meal, so I definitely think nutrient timing + IF beats keto. Plus my mom lost weight eating carbs with me, when she wasn’t losing any doing Keto! Win-win!
What's the biggest wellness win you experienced?
My sleep is better (thanking my blue light glasses for that too!), I didn’t cramp at ALL during my last period (that’s amazing in itself!), I have so much energy because of the Nutrient Timing, and I’ve really enjoyed eating until satiated while maintaining my goal weight! Recently I stopped using the scale though, because I realized with my muscle mass increasing and fat decreasing, the scale wasn’t going to be an accurate representation of my results, so now I strictly use the mirror. And you’ll see in my Before and After Photos, that I definitely gained muscle definition in my legs! I also just love the meals. Eating organic food is literally just soothing to the mind knowing your being so kind to your body by giving it the proper fuel it needs to keep you healthy! And my taste buds were ALWAYS happy!
What was your FAVORITE meal?
I honestly loved the Pumpkin Chili Goodness, but just recently had the LA Street Tacos, and my oh my! Those are my new favorite! My other favorites are the Ginger Cacao superfood smoothie, Blueberry Hemp Smoothie, and the Blueberry Coconut Muffins! Honestly all the recipes were good, and eating all the vegetables and meat every night has been so yummy and super satiating!
Did you have a Nutrition Nerd moment?🤓
You mean the entire time? I nerded out on everything! Learning about the MMC pathway was life-changing, and I told everyone who would listen about how it works! I completely was blown away by the negative ions article (I LOVE chemistry, and I’m not sure how I didn’t already know this - so THANK YOU for sharing!) and I told everyone who would listen about that too!
Is there anything else you want to share?
I plan to make this my forever lifestyle! My boyfriend knows this, and he’s going to do it with me once he finishes up playing college tennis! (Even though he’s so small already, I just want him to do it for the health benefits!)
Where can we follow along your journey?
I have two (instagrams)! @morggill and @morgangillfitness
Thank you SO much Morgan for sharing your story! If you're interested in joining in on the FALL INTERMITTENT FASTING CHALLENGE, make sure you subscribe to the weekly AEN Newsletter HERE so that you're notified on exactly when the Challenge starts!
Want to get started NOW?! There's no better time than the present! Head over HERE to grab your Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle and start feeling GOOD again!
Your Nutritionist,
Autumn
Autumn Elle Nutrition