Marilyn Bright, a retired New Jersey school administrator, lost over 20 pounds and reduced joint pain by combining faith with a ketogenic health plan through the Fast of Faith program. She credits the shift from treating faith and health separately to integrating spiritual practice, nutrition, mindset work, and community support.
My name is Marilyn Bright. I am located in New Jersey, and I am a recently retired school administrator. I was in— my faith journey was pretty strong. I've always had a pretty strong foundation in faith. And I was struggling more in the health realm. I was carrying excess weight. I was struggling to eat well. I had low energy and just often felt joint pain and just sluggish. I think that the biggest piece though, before joining Fast of Faith, was that I treated those 2 parts of me as 2 separate entities. So I, you know, I did my faith work. And then I tried to do my health wellness work, but I kept them separate as 2 separate components in my life. What stood out to me about Fast of Faith was the faith component for sure, and it was marrying all the different aspects of my life. So it was taking faith and putting that together with a health wellness program and the mindset. So what I really enjoyed about it, I really like it, is that it was a full comprehensive program. No longer was I isolating different parts of me. No longer was I trying to do this by myself. I also really have come to love and appreciate the community. The sisterhood community has been amazing. You never feel alone, and at any time of the day, you can check in and get support and get encouragement in that space. I knew I needed to do something different when I was starting over every Monday. So every Monday was, I'm going to start a new diet, or I'm going to start the same diet and try to do it again. And then by Tuesday, sometimes even Monday afternoon, I pretty much gave up. And then I would beat myself up all week long, try to fast just for the sake of starving myself. So it was more of punishing myself. It was very— I was very punitive and not treating my body well. And then I would start again the following Monday with new, you know, high hopes. So that cycle and just being caught in that trap, I knew I couldn't continue that. I had to break away from that and really find a new way to do things for myself. My coach is Melissa, Melissa Savoy, I think is how you say her name, and she was amazing. She is amazing. She, from day one, she supported me. She encouraged me in positive ways. She stayed connected with me. She cheered me on, never put pressure. Never used guilt or anything, any of the tactics that I've tried to use on myself. But she came to me with compassion, with kindness, with tenderness, and always rooted in faith, always rooted in scripture, and just lots of support and lots of positive encouragement, and always celebrated all of my wins with me. So I really feel like she was not only my coach, but she was also my cheerleader. What have you noticed in your health since you've been on the ketogenic diet? All of it. You know, I definitely have more energy now. I no longer feel a need for the mid-afternoon naps that I used to take sometimes, especially on a Saturday or Sunday. I sleep better. I also have a sleep— better sleep hygiene, better sleep habits and practices so that I do get good quality sleep. I've lost a little over 20 pounds since I started Fast of Faith, and that resulted in, I think, the energy gain as well as, as I mentioned earlier, just having like some joint pains or just feeling stiff. I do practice lots of movement and lots of slow intentional movement through yoga and those kinds of exercises, and I feel that my mobility and my flexibility has improved amazing in amazing ways. I feel better. I just, I feel more energetic. I feel more focused. I feel more driven. It's just an overall feeling in how I, how I go and how I show up in my day-to-day life. That was lovely. That would be— it's been beautiful because, you know, you get to, one, you know, you know, you're not alone. You know, you get to read and hear from other women who have very similar stories as I have. 2 is that you get so much positive encouragement, so much support, and you get lots of ideas, and you can ask anything, and you get women just, you know, just coming around you and answering and supporting and encouraging in such positive ways. Another huge part of it that I really like is that it's set up similar to a typical social media platform, but there is zero negativity, zero drama, it's all good, and it's such a positive space. And that's a huge shift from your typical social media that, you know, that we see and hear about out there. It's been invaluable, and I think that that's also been a huge part of the success that I was able to achieve, was having that sisterhood community. I want them to know that, that one, that they're worth it, that they are so worth it, their health, their body, themselves, they are worth it. That I want them to know that it's not another, you know, weight loss program. We're— that's just the surface. You know, Fast of Faith goes deep. We're talking about mindset work. We're talking about soul work. soul work. We're talking about changing your entire life. We're talking about connecting with, with God and the Holy Spirit in deep, meaningful ways. We're talking about slowing down and listening for the Holy Spirit and getting direction and getting clarity. I mean, it's not just, oh, I want to lose 20 pounds. This is, I want to change my life. I want to live on purpose. I want to live with intention. And you can't put a dollar value on that. You cannot put a price on that. There is— there should be nothing standing in the way of for any woman to want to live her optimal life and show up fully and completely present every single day. I can't even stress enough how much of a difference this has made for me in my life. Yeah. Yes. It seemed like a natural path, and, and honestly, it's, it's, it's been, it's been amazing. I, I, I cannot even express how happy I am. Um, you know, I, I— it's completely changed my life. I decided to retire early. Um, I decided to pursue this, you know, just dive all in. Um, and to see the women go through a transformation as a coach and be on this side of it now has been amazing. I can see women who show up week from week to week, and I can literally see the transformation. I see their faces change. I see their attitude, their demeanor, their heart. You can just see it, you know, when they come to you and by, you know, by a couple of weeks in, and they're the ones that are doing all the talking and sharing and just exploding with excitement for what they're seeing in their own lives. And that just blesses me, that they bless me more than they realize. They come to us for coaching services, but I'm also equally blessed by them and by seeing their transformation. Yes.
