My Experience with Intermittent Fasting-Week 1
Intermittent Fasting is everywhere.
Intermittent Fasting, or IF, is being talked about by daytime talk shows, fitness magazines, weight loss gurus, and moms at PTO meetings. Everyone wants to find the magic pill to health and weight loss. Could this be it? We will find out! Essentially, IF is spending a planned and specific amount of time without any food, and then eating in a specified window of time. This IF series and personal experiment will be on the 16:8 plan. That is a 16 hour fasting window and an 8 hour eating window.
So, let me just fill you in on how I fell into this nutritional experiment. I’m a fitness and nutrition coach. I spend my time helping people get healthy, strong and lose weight. One of my clients, much to my dismay, was NOT following the rules of eating often enough! She was so busy at work that she would skip breakfast every day, and not eat until around 1:00 in the afternoon. Everyone knows that you have to follow the “eat every few hours” rule, and workout EVERY day in order to lose weight….right? She was barely getting her workouts in, eating twice a day and LOST 11 POUNDS in the first month.
My client had accidentally fallen into Intermittent fasting. She was not eating anything at all between dinner and her 1:00 meal, which is just over 16 hours, the required time in the 16:8 Intermittent Fasting plan. Once I realized this, I did a TON of reading and research to prove to her how important it was to eat in the morning and snack a bit. It was ABSOLUTELY my plan to bring her back to what I had learned in all of my health and wellness education. Do you know what I found?
I found out that Intermittent Fasting could be, in fact, VERY GOOD.
Study after Study, shows that Intermittent fasting is good for weight loss, insulin levels, cardiovascular health(Anson, M et.al), and even brain health(Bronwen, M et al)! Call me a skeptic, but I believe you can find studies to support your already in tact point of view, so I thought I would try it before I recommended it.
Fasting is quite a bit different than Starving. Fasting is intentionally removing food for a period of time. Giving the body time to restore, and repair itself right down to a cellular level. Starving is when your body is chronically not getting what it needs to function. These are NOT interchangeable words.
For years, we’ve been told that you have to eat to get your metabolism started. You MUST eat breakfast because it’s the most important meal of the day. And don’t forget snacking! Snacking is super important to keep everything functioning at a high rate. Now don’t get me wrong, there is science and actual user experience that says those are all true statements….for some people. You see, if there’s anything I know in this nutrition and weight loss industry, it’s that everything works……for somebody. Not everything is a good idea for your body, but it almost ALL works for someone, somewhere.
Eating frequently works for some people. Eating high carb works for some people (Vegans for example), Eating Keto works for some people. They all work! I’m a big believer that the best nutrition plan for you is the one that allows you to get ALL of your nutrients, and is sustainable in your lifestyle. For example, I know people who’ve MELTED away fat on the Keto plan. They are full of energy and love their new healthy selves. I won’t do it. I won’t sustain Keto. I love pineapple and bananas in my green smoothies, I love cream in my coffee, and there is nothing anyone can do to keep me from a treat now and then.
As a trainer/wellness coach, I want two things out of this plan.
- I want to lose a few stubborn pounds. Just like most people, Christmas and Michigan winters tend to make my pants tight.
- I need to check the safety of this program myself, before more clients jump on. If I feel un-energetic, or find that I can’t maintain high nutrition, then I won’t recommend it to my clients.
Week 1-
I’m following the 16:8 because its
- Recommended for beginner fasters,
- The highest recommended for women in my age group.
To get started, basically I don’t eat after 8 pm and then I skip breakfast. The only thing I am having in the morning is coffee. The first few days I had it black, then I started adding my creamer. It is said that as long as you don’t have more than 50 calories, you won’t break your fast. So I feel pretty confident.
At noon, I finally break my fast and am pretty hungry when I do! The first few days I was searching my fridge and eating whatever looked good while I prepared my lunch. About the third day, my hunger wasn’t quite as ravenous and I was able to start making better lunch choices. I try to break the fast with high veggie, and good fat with protein of course. Some of my lunch time meals have been:
- Egg salad made with Avocado oil mayo, celery, pickles and chopped salad
- Bone broth and leftover chicken/broccoli dinner
- Mexi-Cauliflower hash with guacomole and a protein smoothie.
I am pretty full and satisfied until dinner, which for me is about 5:30 or 6:00. I eat a normal, well balanced dinner with my family. In general we try to stay away from white, starchy carbs but they certainly creep in. I make a lot of soups, chicken and veggies with a side of potato, or the ever popular taco night. I’ve kept my Macros at about 30 %C/30 % F/ 40% P, and my same calorie goal of about 1400.
Results of week 1
Well by golly I lost 3 pounds this week! Here is why I think it worked well for me
- I love to eat. Although Ive always kept my calorie limit at an appropriate 1400 calories for my goals and size, I think that I often lie to myself about what is TRULY going in to my mouth throughout the day. So shortening my window of eating time, kept my calories at an appropriate amount.
- Science says that when you are in your fasting window, especially those morning hours when you’ve been fasting for a while…you are using energy out of your fat storage, since you don’t have carbohydrates to work from. Plus, your body is releasing more growth hormone, which builds muscle and blasts fat.
- I’m doing my workouts in the morning. Fasted workouts use energy straight from fat storage, so that makes sense to me.
All of these facts added together led to a pretty good fat loss week! And it’s been REALLY easy for me. I can’t wait to report back next week and fill you in! I hope the results continue.
Week 2
Week 2 seemed easier to abide by the time, but harder to eat properly. Again, my workouts were in the mornings during my fasting times, and I was FAMISHED by the time lunch came around. I found myself eating anything I could get my hands on. I ended up making A LOT of poor choices, breaking into my sons school lunch basket and ate pre-packaged Oreo cookies, Cheezits, and probably worse. There were even a few nights where wine was my beverage of choice with dinner! All in all, a rough week with or without fasting.
The timing wasn’t difficult. I have become accustomed to it and honestly it’s very natural for me.
Results of Week 2
Although I didn’t lose an ounce, it’s not necessarily a bad sign! I truly ate a lot of unplanned and unwise foods last week. Had I lost weight, I would have probably seen that as justification to continue that pattern. So as a coach and trainer, it’s a positive to me that this fasting doesn’t work as a magic pill. You still have to eat wisely, you still have to monitor your nutrition. That’s a win, even though I would have LOVED to lose again.
Week 3
This past week of fasting was interesting. We had a HUGE weekend for my dad’s 75th birthday. I hosted a party at my house, and my brother came in from out of town. There were 2 days this week that I did not fast, because the family went out to breakfast. I missed 3 days of working out in a row, but was very active throughout the weekend. My nutrition was decent for the first part of the week, but I lost a little bit of control at the weekend. We had a PARTY! You’ve got to live….right?
Results of Week 3
I still showed a weight loss! My weight on the scale can fluctuate so much day to day that I try to stay away from it except one day a week. So, from my very first weigh in, which felt terribly high, I’m currently at a 9 lb loss. I’m thrilled! I’ve been struggling to dump some extra weight for a while, and then when I got on the scale after Christmas I was so defeated with a solid 5 pound gain. That terrible feeling that comes over you….its so depressing. Especially when you really feel like you do things “right”. Well so far, Intermittent Fasting is the answer for this girl. I’ll report back next week!
Week 4
With cold and flu season in full blast, I feel very lucky that my family hasn’t gotten horribly sick (knock on wood). That being said, I think last week we did have a small bug run through our house. Its number one symptom was fatigue! Zero energy last week. Skipped workouts, falling asleep throughout the day, just feeling BLAH! Springtime cannot come soon enough for me and it’s only February! UGH!
Intermittent fasting has been going well in spite of the lazy week. I’m very happy to have found a program that seems to suit me. I am a rule follower by nature. I enjoy the absolutes in life. So really, it has made my life easier and better that I know for sure I will not be eating between 8 pm and 12 noon. My daughter can make cookies (which are a huge downfall for me) at 8:05 pm, and I am able to say “Oh bummer, it’s after 8. I can’t have any.”. I also really enjoy that on this program I don’t feel guilt if I choose to have that cookie in my eating window. Don’t get me wrong, I eat very healthful and thought out meals. However! Like I mentioned, I love chocolate chip cookies. If they are around, and it’s in my eating window, I’m probably going to have one. I believe that knowing I can have an occasional cookie in my eating window, is what gives me the strength to avoid it when I’m fasting.
One of the issues that I am having is getting all of my calories in. 1400 calories doesn’t seem like it would be hard, but when you only have 8 hours, and you’ve lived a good part of your life eating SMALL and frequent meals…there’s a lot of change happening. I’ve been increasing my amounts of protein at my meals. Where I used to try to eat a piece of chicken about the size of my palm, I’m having 1 1/2 to 2 times that. I’ve found that by eating more protein, I won’t reach for the cookies 🙂 My water intake has decreased a bit which I’m working on this week. I think that’s happened because I’m consciously not taking anything in during my fasting, but that is not supposed to include water.
Week 4 Results
I decided not to weigh myself this week. After a week of fatigue, I felt lazy and kind of dumpy. I knew that if I got on the scale and didn’t like what I saw, I would possibly feel defeated. Since I had a positive outlook on week 5, I didn’t want to upset that. All in all I feel it was a good week, and am enjoying the program!
Week 5&6
During weeks 5&6 I really don’t have any changes to report. I’ve settled at about a 10 pound loss from the IF. There have been a few days where I pushed a bit passed my 12pm-8pm window, and a few days that I went out to breakfast with my husband. Interestingly, when I have decided to break the fast early and go to breakfast, I find that I’m much more controlled of my daily food choices than I used to be. Maybe it has to do with being in the habit now of only eating twice a day, maybe my body has adjusted to taking in fewer calories than it had in the past. I’ve mentioned that the fasting has helped me to be more honest with myself and what goes in my mouth, so now that it has been 6 weeks, I’ve truly created a new habit and my body has adjusted. Currently we are in the middle of Lent, and although I’m not Catholic, I do recognize this time as a Christian and try to stay prayerful and aware of the season. I’ve been reflective of my hunger in the morning and have been enjoying the fasting for more than just physical health reasons.
Week 5&6 results
Feeling good. No more weight loss. I’m telling myself that it’s ok, but really want a few more pounds LOL.
