Become Healthy And Lose Weight Through Intermittent Fasting
To my dismay I recently discovered that I’d gained some weight. I wasn’t quite sure why. I was eating the same amount, I was walking more and exercising just as much as before, and yet I’d ballooned by a stone; around 14lbs.
After taking a closer look at my diet and exercise I concluded that it was because I was snacking more and I wasn’t sleeping as much as I was in the past. Rest is a vital part of losing weight. Without enough rest, fat is less likely to drop off. Fatigue can also lead to weight gain.
What to do?
I couldn’t exercise more as I would burn out and I’ve made my position on dieting very clear in the past. I don’t like diets and I don’t like dieting. The only way I’d allow myself to be on a diet, and my only criteria on diets, is that any diet you go on should be a diet that can be sustained for life.
If it cannot be a permanent diet then it is not worth doing. Any weight lost will return once the diet is over.
I also not a fan of strict diet regimes like vegan or raw foods. Those diets can also fail should you ever find yourself in a situation where those things are not an option. (As I learned the hard way.) Suddenly your whole way of life is out the window. You have to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what to do for you next meal rather that being centered.
So, I tried to amend my diet a little but nothing changed. In fact I’d gained even more weight. I was confused and a bit worried (which is another emotion that doesn’t help with weight loss).
Then, four weeks ago, my brother came up to me and asked:
“Do you think I’ve lost weight?”
“Yep you sure do! What have you been doing?”
“I have a secret to show you which could help with your weight loss.”
I was intrigued and so he pointed me the BBC documentary, Horizon which was presented by Michael Mosley. He’s a journalist who’s medically trained and decided to try out fasting, or more specifically, intermittent fasting.
Fasting is something that is huge part of the Hindu faith. My parents, my mum in particular, used to do it often. Muslim’s do it for Ramadan and there are many faiths and cultures that practice it.
I used to do it but I never did it with any regularity. I always found it very beneficial and felt so refreshed afterwards. I don’t know why I never kept it up.
My brother was doing really well with the fasting so I decided to give it a go.
Results
I’ve been fasting for four weeks now and so far I’ve lost a stone in weight. I feel much lighter, my libido has rocketed and I made another discovery during the process.
I never realized just exactly how addicted to food I was.
Food Addiction
You need food to survive but if you can’t survive a day without food then you are addicted. For the first few days that I fasted my mind just kept on going back to food. I had a habit of reaching for a snack anytime I felt peckish but what’s worse, is I’d reach for food when I was bored! Not good!
I just wanted to constantly reach for something anytime I felt any slight bit of boredom or when I had a moment free.
I never acknowledged how bad my food addiction was until I began this fasting process. I love food, but I think I’d crossed the line.
The Benefits
The first major benefit of the fasting so far has been that I’ve overcome, or at the very least, I’m overcoming the food addition. On my non fast days I no longer feel the need to reach for food when I’m inactive.
I’ve found that I’ve naturally become more disciplined with what I eat. I don’t eat as late in the evenings. I have my main meal much earlier than I used to.
I do not pig out on food the day after my fast. While I’m fasting I feel hungry and in my mind I think to myself that I’ll eat like crazy the next day. However, when I wake up I’m not really hungry. If anything, I wake up feeling full and so my breakfast tends to be quite light.
My digestive system is functioning so much better than before. I won’t say anymore on that subject 😀
My appetite and my stomach have both shrunk. The first place I’ve lost the lbs is my stomach. I still crave a huge amount, but I simply cannot eat as much.
Some people opt for a tummy tuck to shrink their appetite. You don’t need a tummy tuck. A few weeks or a couple of months of fasting will have the same impact. If doctors took this action rather than option for the easy surgery imagine how much money the health service would save. Not only on the tummy tuck surgery itself but also on the overall healthcare of the nation.
Metabolism
Will fasting slow your metabolism? Honestly? I don’t know although, if the results I’ve had are anything to go by, then definitely no. If anything, I think it speeds it up. Why? Because I feel like I’m eating slower and appreciating food more, especially on my fasting days.
By-Product
Experiments on people who do intermittent fasting have show that it will lower cholesterol, blood sugar and your IGF1 count.
You will also lose weight through fasting however, you should think of that as a by-product. Fast because you want to improve your health and enjoy the perks of losing weight and increased libido.
The Method
As with anything, I always recommend using your uncommon sense. If you feel you need to get medical advice before embarking on this method. Then do so. If you think that you’re in good health and want to try intermittent fasting, then go for it.
The method is simple. Twice a week you fast. Pick any two non consecutive days you wish. On your fast days you have a reduced amount of calories. I try and have one meal of around 600 calories. Or maybe even two small meals of 300 – 400 calories each. I’ve tried both and I prefer the latter simply because I have very long days and a single meal is more difficult to manage on.
On the fast days I try an avoid any sugar. I normally have my morning coffee with a little bit of raw sugar but on my fast days I started having black coffee with no sugar. I’ve actually grown to like the taste.
So, on a typical fast day, I’ll have a small bowl of porridge in the morning made with rice milk or, a small fruit salad. Both are roughly around 200 calories.
For lunch or an early evening meal I’ll have either a salad, some soup with a small piece of bread, or some vegetable noodles. All of which are around 400 calories.
On the days which you do not fast you can eat whatever you normally do. Naturally, I would recommend to eat sensibly and healthily.
It’s that easy.
You’re also less likely to break a fast because you know that the following day you can eat what you like.
There we have it. A simple and manageable way to improve your health and lose weight.
Share and get some good karma! 😆
Another approach to intermittent fasting, that works well for me, is to skip one meal a day and eat all of your calories during an eight hour window each day. It shows many of the same benefits and is more managable for many. Check out leangains dot com for more info. I’ve lost 34 lbs in 8 months by eliminating simple carbs ( eating only natural foods ) and using intermittent fasting. Since I’ve adopted this as a lifestyle I feel much healthier.
Dan @ ZenPresence.com
Hey Dan,
That’s an interesting alternate method on the intermittent fasting. It’s definitely one I’m not sure I could do but It’s amazing the kind of results you’ve had. So far mine is still going well and the weight is dropping off, more steadily now and I feel much better.
Thanks so much for your alternate perspective! 🙂
woohoo! really enjoyed reading that dude! combine fasting with a bit of power yoga everyday and ur stamina will be skyhigh too! 😀
im so proud of u for taking on a truly sensible diet regime, one that actually works (as u have proved), and i honestly hope more and more people are inspired to quit their ridiculous vegan/Atkin’s/slim-fast diets and take on yours 🙂 xx
i must admit though that i was a bit of sceptical @ first mainly because u work such long hours, uve got so much else going on, and i was seriously worried that this diet may not work in ur favour.. but im glad uve proved me wrong 🙂 xx
Me too. I wasn’t sure how much of effect it would have on me but the truth is the combination of benefits it’s had has definitely been worth it. xxx
Thank you so much Skittles. It’s not been easy at times but now I’m used to it and I really enjoy this lifestyle. I feel so much lighter now as a result. I’ve no idea how much I’ve lost now but I feel my stomach shrinking as each day goes by 🙂
yum ke hungry! that picture makes me want to eat! : D nice site!
🙂 Glad you like the picture!
I’ve never thought about fasting intermittently, I’ll definitely have to research it a bit more. One thing I did do, however, to lose a good 30lbs was to cut out fast food completely (which I shouldn’t have been eating anyway) and limit the amount of meat in my diet. I had good leverage after researching what goes into the slaughtering process of most of our meat in this country, I’ll spare the details!
Awesome information, can´t wait to try it! I need to lose weight. Thanks for the information.
You’re welcome. Good luck with it! 🙂