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A WEEK OF INTERMITTENT FASTING - MY EYE-OPENING JOURNEY

After weeks of bumping into new and old friends who’ve told me they’ve been doing intermittent fasting for weight loss and health improvements, and after seeing how well they look and hearing how much they rave about it, I thought it was time for me to give it a try. Here's what I learned.

I’d previously been reticent about IF because my preference is for mindful eating, and to me that includes eating when I'm hungry. I’ve lost a lot of weight by eating slowly and eating every time I felt hunger. As such Intermittent Fasting, (IF) is alien to me. I approached it with trepidation but felt like I had to surrender myself to the process and see what would happen. I decided I would try an app and found Zero. It’s not the only IF app by a long shot, but something about its simplicity appealed to me.

The app let me learn a little about IF and start a fast. I was encouraged to try 16:8 which means I fasted for 16 hours and then had an 8 hour window in which I could eat. I stopped eating after dinner by 7pm. The evening went well. My husband snacked on cheese, grapes, and copious peanuts. I drank water and chamomile tea. It’s important to say that I only ever drink ‘hippie’ teas;  teas like chamomile, ginger, maybe mint, and lavender - teas without caffeine and definitely without any milk or sugar. I also enjoy drinking water. The drinking part for me was no different from usual. I went to bed thinking ‘this is easy’, had a few tummy grumbles just before bed but I slept well.

In case you’re wondering at this point - why are people turning to fasting for weight loss, here are the supposed ways intermittent fasting can assist in weight reduction:

Caloric Restriction: By limiting the time available for eating, you naturally consume fewer calories, making it easier to create a calorie deficit, a key factor in weight loss. (I certainly experienced this.)

Improved Fat Burning: During fasting, your body switches to burning stored fat for energy, helping you lose fat more effectively. (This may be so but I am not sure that I spent long enough fasting to get into fat burning mode.)

Enhanced Insulin Sensitivity: Intermittent fasting can improve insulin sensitivity, reducing the risk of insulin resistance and promoting better blood sugar control. (My experiment wasn't scientific enough to test this).

Reduced Appetite: Over time, many people find that their appetite decreases, making it easier to control their food intake. (I definitely experienced this even in just a week.)

Weight Loss without Muscle Loss: Intermittent fasting is reported to preserve muscle mass while primarily targeting fat stores. (I definitely ‘feel’ like I have lost fat.)

So what happened next? Well, the next day I woke with ferocious hunger. I was sure this was psychological, i.e. I was imagining it. I am a breakfast person and advocate breakfast eating. In fact, I believe I've read a study that shows people who eat breakfast are generally thinner than people who don’t. So I believe in breakfast. I enjoy it. The fact that I couldn't have any breakfast was irritating. I felt deprived. I also felt like I was having seriously low blood sugar - a bit weak and even wobbly. I walked the dog which took my mind off it and made me feel a lot better. From 10.00 I counted the minutes until I could eat.

Relief came in the form of a toasted bagel with butter and jam. Not the ‘healthy’ breakfast I would have been prouder of; the extreme hunger made me do it! Carbed-up I felt better, then tired, but continued my day. I was concerned I'd want to eat ‘everything’ having been deprived of breakfast but was surprised to learn the opposite happened. I ate a salad for lunch with lots of protein but had very little appetite. Throughout the rest of the day, I snacked less than I normally would. Then it was dinner time.

By this point, I thought I’d give it a go again - and so after I ate my dinner around 6.30 I ate nothing again until the next day. A week later, I’ve learned:

• Evenings are easy - I have no desire to snack in the evening

• Mornings are tough, I feel weak but can get through it

• Fasting makes me eat less because I can eat for less of the time

• Fasting makes me eat less because my appetite is reduced in the window when I can eat

• I think about food less of the time

• I don't crave things so much

• I intentionally eat better foods when I can eat

And the physical results?

• My sleep is better

• I had more headaches

• And… I have lost in the region of 3 pounds. Not sure how much of that is fat, but I believe some of it is.

Will I continue intermittent fasting? Yes, I think I will. I am actually finding it hard to give up. I have a night out planned so intend to take a day or two off to allow for a few glasses of wine and breakfast the morning after but I'll then be back at it. I may pay closer attention to the food I eat in the coming weeks and explore how fasting interplays with mindful eating.

Would I recommend intermittent fasting? Well if you have no metabolic issues such as diabetes, you could always experiment gently like I did. What I’ve learned from this experiment is that I actually like something I never thought I would. With a few tweaks, this could really become a habit!

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WEB

Here’s our weight loss news and opinions roundup from around the web this week. It shouldn't need more than common sense to encourage people to lose weight with a positive message, but we are glad the data backs this up this week, plus, industry news is still preoccupied with Wegovy.

Weight Loss Tip 19: Understanding the role of eating speed on weight

This week in our regular Weight Loss Tip, we took a look at the role of eating speed on your weight. Can eating fast make you gain weight? And can eating slowly help you lose weight? Read more here.

STUFF WE LOVE

We bring you a selection of lush stuff each week to help support your weight loss journey. This week we love…

Zero - App for IF and more

Zero is the app we’ve been testing out to learn more about Intermittent Fasting and we like it so far 💖. The app promotes to help you ‘create simple, interlocking habits to leverage the transformative power of the Four Pillars of Health: Eat. Move. Sleep. Restore.’ Find out more here. 

We hope you’ve enjoyed Weight Loss Buzz this week. If you have, please share this newsletter with your friends. We wish you every success on your healthy weight loss journey.

Until next time,

The Weight Loss Buzz Team

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