What happens when you stop chasing weight loss and start listening to your body?

In this episode of the Pause and Fast podcast, host Erika Barnhart sits down with Michelle Montone, a trainer from the Orlando, Florida area, mom of two, and longtime intermittent faster, to share her deeply honest and transformative journey with clean fasting.

Michelle began intermittent fasting in January 2020 after decades of yo-yo dieting, diet culture burnout, emotional eating, and unresolved health issues. Over the next ten months, she released 50 pounds — but more importantly, she gained food freedom, mental clarity, and a sense of trust in her body she had never experienced before.

Now 44, Michelle opens up about how fasting has supported her through hormonal shifts, mood changes, sleep disruptions, and changes in body composition. She explains how her fasting practice has evolved over time, why flexibility matters and how focusing on quality over quantity transformed her relationship with food.

This conversation goes far beyond weight loss. Together, Erika and Michelle explore:

• Why fasting is a discipline — not a punishment
• How clean fasting supports hormonal and metabolic health
• Letting go of the scale and diet mentality
• Movement, strength training, and fasting in midlife
• Why fasting isn’t linear — and why that’s okay
• How to start slow and build a sustainable fasting lifestyle

Michelle also shares her current fasting rhythm, her “qualitarian” approach to eating, and why she believes intermittent fasting offers flexibility, empowerment, and long-term wellness — especially for women in midlife.

If you’re curious about fasting, struggling through perimenopause, or ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, this episode offers both inspiration and practical wisdom.

🎧 Listen in for an honest conversation about resilience, discipline, and thriving at any age.

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