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Intermittent Fasting is Right for Me
I am a flake when it comes to dieting. I am just not good at it. I like to eat, and I comfort myself with food. I also don’t get full. I can eat and eat and eat and eat and eventually I do get painfully full, but it takes a lot of food. At the start of this year I was a nice fluffy 194 lbs. Something had to be done.
Every year, along with everyone else, I make the vow that this will be the year that I lose the 15-20 lbs. that I think make me unattractive. For the past 10 years, I have failed at that vow. This year, I may have found just the right combination to help me lose the weight: Intermittent Fasting.
But that’s a gimmick! Right, its just another “fad”. You can’t seriously think that will work? What about Macros? And low carb? And keto? A few years back I tried intermittent fasting and really liked it. It worked for me. But at the time, I listened to the fitness industry chatter that touted this form of eating as “bad for muscle gains” and a “slippery slope to disordered eating patterns” so I quit.
I have recently picked up listening to Dr. Peter Attia’s podcast called The Drive. Dr. Attia is a doctor and researcher of longevity and his podcast is about all sorts of science topics that center around how to live longer. Two of his podcasts have talked about the Keto Diet and Intermittent fasting and the health benefits. It is WAY different getting your information from scientists then it is from the fitness community. For instance, I have always been against “keto” because I thought it was just the premise of “Carbs are bad. Eat more protein”. And, I never could make that work. Turns out, the fitness community’s idea of keto isn’t remotely close to the real ketogenic diet. I am still not a fan of the ketogenic diet, simply because I am not sure I could pull it off but, health benefits seem startling…and the anti-cancer benefits are even more exciting. Although, intermittent fasting doesn’t do exactly the same thing health wise as Keto, it does come close giving you the same effects.
Check out the Podcasts:
Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.: the performance and longevity paradox of IGF-1, ketogenic diets and genetics, the health benefits of sauna, NAD+, and more
Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D.: ketosis, n=1, exogenous ketones, HBOT, seizures, and cancer
I started my intermittent fasting schedule on Thursday, January 3rd and have done well so far. I have written a basic weekly schedule and have stuck closely to my daily goals. I am currently down about 9 lbs. What helped the most was a recent blog by Dr. Attia where he discusses just how many options there are when looking at an intermittent fasting schedule. The science is not there to back up one way over another way. Just stepping out and trying it, making a schedule that works for you is better than nothing at all. In the Rhonda Patrick podcast she talks about waving the fasting and having re-feed days, so that is what I based my schedule on.
Here is what I am doing:
Monday: All day fast – eat one meal between 7 pm and 8 pm (I stop eating on Sunday between 5 pm – 7 pm so that this fast is 24 – 26 hours long)
Tuesday: Fast until 1 pm – eat between 1 pm and 8 pm – do not over stuff yourself
Wednesday: Fast until 2 pm – eat between 2 pm and 8 pm – do not over stuff yourself
Thursday: Fast until 3 pm – eat between 3 pm and 8 pm – do not over stuff yourself
Friday: Fast until 2 pm – eat between 2 pm – 8 pm – do not over stuff yourself
Saturday: Fast until 1 pm – eat between 1 pm – 8 pm – do not over stuff yourself
Sunday: Re-feed – eat all day long trying to not gorge
Why is Intermittent fasting right for me?
- I never did well on diets where I had to eat different things, or significantly less food than Marc ate for supper. Intermittent fasting, where you really only get one or two meals means that I can focus on supper and we can enjoy our time together.
- I am not good at cutting calories, but intermittent fasting forces you to. I have found that I don’t have a sprint mentality during my “feeding” times to try and fit all my calories in. I typically just eat like I normally would eat during those times and this leads to a reduction in daily calories.
- It took about a week to not be ravenous during my fasting times and Mondays are hard but all in all I can be successful without too much pain and suffering
- I thought it would be hard to do my training on an empty stomach, that would then remain empty for another 5 or 6 hours. The fitness world, and the 90 minute post-training gotta eat window made me scared at first. But really, it is not different. I don’t think I could do powerlifting training, but for what I am doing now which is just regular joe training it works well
- I can already fit into jeans that were un-wearable at the first of winter and that is motivating.
- It is easily scaleable. I will continue even when I hit my target weight because just adding a small amount of food will allow me to maintain my weight but I will still get the health benefits that fasting gives my body.
Fingers crossed that I can keep this up.
On February 4th I will do a basic blood panel and will post what changes I can see from my last blood panel. Stay tuned for that information
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