By
Twin 2
I
am on a weight loss journey. My goal is
to lose about 40 lbs. That is a
lot. I can’t believe I let myself get to
the weight of where I am today but I did and now I have to deal.
I
have signed up for Weight Watchers (I have done this before and it worked but
never stuck to it for too long).
I
am also trying Intermittent Fasting. I
have never heard of this before until one day I was listening to Chalene
Johnson’s Podcast (please listen to her podcasts she has one of the best out
there) and her guest one day was Dr. Sara Solomon and talking about her success
with intermittent fasting. It sounded
pretty easy and made sense so I thought I would give it a try. What is it you ask?
Here
is a link that will tell you all about it and you can sign up for free
tutorials (which I recommend if you are interested). You will get emails and even get some of Dr.
Solomon’s HIIT workouts.
http://www.drsarasolomon.com/category/intermittent-fasting/
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is not a diet. You still eat your normal
amount of food, you just eat it in a smaller time frame, referred to as your
eating window. It is simply a plan telling you when you can eat and when you
cannot eat. Since you spend more time fasting than you do eating, it gives your
body a chance to tap into its stored fat for fuel.
Why is Intermittent Fasting Better for Satiety and Fat
Loss?
When I was eating 6 small meals a day of 150 to 250
calories each every 2 to 3 hours, I was always hungry, cranky and cheating on
my diet. I never shed any fat because my body was never burning my stored
fat for fuel. Think about it: I never gave my body a chance to burn my
stored fat for fuel because I was constantly stuffing my face from 6 am until
midnight, which meant I was only burning the food I was shoveling into my face!
And because I was always hungry, I would snack in between meals, which made me
even fatter (because my insulin levels were chronically elevated).
Intermittent fasting is a great strategy if you always
feel hungry following the 6 meal-a-day plan. Why? Because you will feel
more full by trying to cram in all your calories during a narrow feeding
window, rather than spreading them out over 17 waking hours. For example,
if you are on a 1500-calorie a day diet and you eat 3 meals during an 8-hour
window, this means you get to eat bigger portions (~500 calories) at each meal
(promoting satiety and preventing dietary indiscretions). But if you eat those
1500 calories all day long as six 250 calorie meals, you will never achieve
satiety. These small meals will tease you, leaving you hungrier than a hostage
in a holdup situation.
This made sense to me
and sounded easy enough. I chose the 16/8
method which means I fast for 16 hours and eat for 8. I chose to consume all my calories between
10:30 am and 6:30 pm. At first this was
a little hard in the mornings because I enjoyed eating my breakfast at 7:30 am
when I got to work with my coffee. After
almost two weeks of trying this out I don’t mind it at all. I also sometimes don’t eat until 11:00 am or
so. During the fast you are permitted to
drink water, green tea, oolong tea and black coffee. If necessary, you can chew sugar-free gum.
I still have not
mastered the black coffee but have cut back on what I put in it. I am down to very little milk in it and a
tiny tiny bit of sugar or even some stevia which I am allowed to have.
"Fast" Tip:
Oftentimes you may think you are hungry, but in actual fact, you
are just thirsty. Both hunger and thirst are controlled by the hypothalamus.
That explains why you often misinterpret thirst for hunger. So when you feel
hungry, drink a glass of water. You can drink as much calorie free liquids as
you want during your fasting phase.
I find I am snacking less. I usually eat the same breakfast/lunch/supper
but I find I only snack once a day (if at all) now instead of twice as I eat my
breakfast at the time my first snack used to be. That has allowed me to cut out one snack
altogether. Maybe someday I will start
eating at noon and have a shorter eating window. Dr. Solomon does the 20/4 method and eats for
4 hours (usually between the hours 5pm and 9pm). She said she always used to go home after
work and sit on the couch and eat her face off so now she can do it without
feeling guilty.
I’m not sure how this will actually work and am still
trying to iron out the kinks and find out what works best for me but so far it
has eliminated my eating in the evening.
Eating at night was the norm and now knowing that I can’t eat after 6:30
pm has eliminated the eating in the evening (I may have had a slip up once or
twice).
My next goal is to work out in the mornings in a
fasted state (rather than work out after I eat in the evenings).
I was down a few lbs last week but after this
week of retirement parties/lunches I put it back on. I’ll try again. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
