Here's my experience with Intermittent Fasting so far...
Updated: Aug 16, 2020
I'm sure you have heard about intermittent fasting. There are many ways to do it, but I picked the 16:8 method: fasting for 16 hours per day, and eating during an 8 hour window. The easiest way to do this for me right now (with my current working-from-home schedule) is to fast from 8pm at night to 12pm the next day, and eat from 12pm to 8pm. That way, most of my fasting hours are spent sleeping, so no biggie. I have cut out a bedtime snack. I just have to get through a morning with only water until noon. Doable? Let's find out!
I wasn't going to try it at first as honestly, it does sound a bit harsh and kind of wacky, but hear me out:
First, I find myself struggling with not overeating carbs. Having restricted myself for 7 years, it's like the heavens have opened when I eat carbs. I try to reign myself in but it's really difficult. It's like once I start, I can't stop. So instead of having all day to eat, having only a window of time to eat automatically decreases my carb intake naturally. Perfect!
Second, at first glance, intermittent fasting sounds like it would set me up for an eating disorder. A restrictive "here's when you can eat and here's when you can't" sounds harsh. But it actually isn't. It's like giving a child boundaries for playtime. Not a bad idea.
Third, I tend to have low blood sugar. Would the fasting window make me sick? This one made me pause, as I have a fear of low blood sugar episodes. I hate how it makes me feel.
So I figured, okay, I'm at home right now, if I feel one coming on, I can always just eat a fast-acting carb and head it off. There's security in that. I won't know unless I try!
Fourth, if it doesn't work for me for any reason, no harm done and at least I tried!
So on March 24th, I woke up, grabbed a big glass of water, and started up my laptop to get some work done. Once the Skype calls started up, I was so busy and distracted, it was 11am before I knew it! I noticed from 11:30am to 12pm, I became quite hungry. Maybe it was a mental thing, because I knew that I only had a half an hour to go. When it was noon, I grabbed a protein shake from the fridge. It felt weird hitting my stomach, I guess because it was full of water. Then I had my tea. I continued my day, eating as per normal and not being restrictive. At 7pm, I remembered that I have one hour left to eat. I love Costco microwave popcorn, so I made some and ate it, being sure to finish up by 8pm. Then I grabbed a diet gingerale and that's all I had the rest of the evening. I didn't feel deprived at all.
I woke up on March 25th, feeling very hungry. I grabbed a tall glass of cold water and got cracking on my work. I was surprised to see the morning fly by and before I knew it, it was 11:45am. Then I was starving! Again, a mental thing?? At noon, I had another protein shake and then my tea. And kept on with my day as per usual.
Did I eat some Easter chocolate? Yes, yes I did. Did I eat veggies? Yup! I just went on as per usual.
This morning, I weighed myself post-pee and before having any water. Now the last time I had weighed myself (on March 19th), I was 218.6 lbs. Today (on March 26th), I weighed 214.8. Can I attribute this to intermittent fasting for only a couple of days? Likely not. So I will continue to update you on how this is going for me - how it's working/not working, how I'm feeling, if I'm losing any weight...