When you’re used to eating when bored, suddenly stopping yourself is difficult.
I’ve always been a big girl. Unfortunately, due to extreme stress and medication, I gained a lot more weight than I ever would’ve expected. Of course, being overweight seems to be the root of every single medical problem now – insert sarcasm here.
Yet, as much as people like to say, “Just eat better,” or “A calorie deficit is all you need,” for all of us who have been big forever, we know it is never that simple.
I’ve tried it all too – green smoothies, the military diet, flat out not eating, restricting myself, and a lot of detox teas.
Here I am now, 24 and 270 pounds.
I decided to take a serious look at my eating pattern and wonder what kind of eating habits would work best for me to bring me down weight-wise. This was the beginning of my intermittent fasting journey. I noticed that eating breakfast or eating anything before around 11am – 12pm made me feel nauseous and I was never quite ready to eat. For a long time, I didn’t even realize I was skipping breakfast, especially while I was in college. I’m not a morning person, so in college, I would schedule all my classes for the afternoon and evening, and just eat either right before, between or after those classes. Little did I know, I was intermittent fasting before I knew what the term meant.
Intermittent fasting is when you decide to eat only during a certain time. For instance, I eat from either 11am – 7pm, 12pm – 8pm and sometimes 12pm – 9pm depending on the weight of my meals, how far I spaced them out and if I’m a little extra hungry that day.
There are many methods of intermittent fasting, such as:
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5:2 – you eat normally five days a week and 2 days you limit yourself to 500-600 calories.
16:8 – fasting for 16 hours and eating for 8 out of your day.
This is my personal favorite method, and it is probably the best for beginners.
The Warrior Diet – eating small amounts of fruits/veggies and drinking water (or other non-added sugar beverages) every day and eating a large meal as your only meal before the fast ends.
There are other methods, but they may be quite difficult for beginners and not the best because they require you to eat normally for some days and then fast completely (no food just water, black coffee and tea without honey or sugar). Two of these methods are:
Eat-Stop-Eat – eating 5 days out the week normally and fasting the other two days.
Alternate Day Fasting – fasting completely (or within the 500-600 calorie range) every other day.
So far, I have lost around 13 pounds on this diet (in about 2.5-3 weeks) and I am really happy with my intermittent fasting journey so far. For those of you who may not know where to start, this is what I do. My pants are looser and baggier, and I have to hook my belt a bit tighter.
I do have some assistance, as I’m on Adipex, but I still do get hungry before the fast ends and it’s rough on the weekends when I’m going on a date or hanging with friends and it’s not quite my time or it’s over. For things like that, I say eat. Do not sit up there while everyone else is having a full meal at 8:30pm at the bar and you’re drinking a canteen of water – you're going to suffer. It’s hard some days, but it’s completely worth it and one day, you’ll get used to it.
I do the 16:8 method and this is how it goes for me:
12pm – first meal (medium size)
5-6pm – snack
6-7pm – second meal
7:30pm – smoothie, heavy snack
8-9pm – fast over
For those of you wondering, “What do I eat?” Eat what you want (within reason).
I do a lot of smoothies that have vegan chocolate chips and protein (for when I want something sweet and heavy), and I’m heavy on the seafood because I’m pescatarian. I enjoy eating Southwest salads with salmon on it with plenty of kale or carrots. I drink a lot of tea, with honey when I’m not fasting and without honey when I’m not and I still treat myself! I bake cookies every now and again or go get some French fries, and there’s nothing wrong with that. People mess up when they feel like you have to restrict your time window and what you eat. One at a time, and restricting what you it usually results in a relapse anyway – just keep moderation in mind. I hope my intermittent fasting journey will encourage your to try this intermittent fasting for losing weight.
If you’re over all the weird, eating restricted diets, try intermittent fasting!
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