Wanna know a secret...?

Last night I watched a documentary called Eat, Fast, and Live Longer and it totally confirmed everything I have been learning through my research over the past year and a half.  The secret to a healthy weight and a healthy life is not in counting calories, or carbs, or fat grams.  It's not in taking this pill, or reading that book, or following that diet plan.  I'm gonna tell you a secret...

YOU PROBABLY EAT TO MUCH! 

(And so do I)

And not just sometimes... nearly every day!  The simple solution to a healthy weight and a healthy life...

EAT LESS FOOD (A lot less!)

It's not as hard as it sounds.  There are so many ways to accomplish this without depriving yourself all the time.  Here are some ideas I have seen in my research.

You can eat every other day (and fast every other day)- best if you have a lot to lose or your cholesterol and blood sugar numbers are looking really bad.

You can do an alternate day fasting where on your "fast" day you eat only one small meal (500 calories or less) and on your feast day you eat whatever you want.

You can fast 2-3 times a week from breakfast to breakfast, lunch to lunch or dinner to dinner- this is easier because you get to eat at least one meal every day even though you are going without food for 2 or 3 24 hour periods each week.

You can restrict your eating to a smaller window each day, for example only eat between 10 and 6.  This gives you a 16 hour fast window every day.  Your results won't be as dramatic as with the other methods, but you will lose weight.

Fasting gets easier with practice, and it gives you a feeling of control over your appetite and a sense of well-being.  It also contributes to good health and longevity.  Watch the documentary and see for yourself!

You'll wreck your metabolism! (NOT!)

One of the things I hear a lot when I talk about how I am fasting intermittently is "You will wreck your metabolism doing that!".  The truth is the research does NOT support this theory!!

This study followed 16 non-obese people who fasted on alternate days for 22 days.  There was absolutely no statistically significant difference between beginning and ending metabolic rates.  From what I have read when you fast, there is initially an INCREASE in metabolism, and metabolism does not begin to drop until about 36 hours into a fast (you do not even fast that long with intermittent fasting).

Intermittent Fasting

So I haven't talked about my fasting recently and figured it was time for an update.

I am still fasting 3 times a week from dinner to dinner.  Actually I try to eat dinner by 4pm so that the next day I don't have to fast as late into the evening.  If I am home a.k.a bored then I usually only make it until 2:30 or 3.  I have found that I am not as hungry in the mornings, so even on my eat days I usually don't have a meal until closer to 11am.

The fasting itself has gotten much easier to do, and I am able to keep up my regular exercise routine even on the days that I am not eating.  I do start to wear down as the fast nears its end.

I am pretty sure my metabolism has not been affected at all, or it may be that it has increased.  I have more energy than I have in a long time.  Next Monday makes 6 weeks since I started IF'ing.  I expect to be very close to my goal of losing 5 lbs by Mark's retirement ceremony which is July 7.

Fasting Cuts Risk for Heart Disease and Diabetes - Diabetes Health

Fasting Cuts Risk for Heart Disease and Diabetes - Diabetes Health

So many good reasons to IF...

I am finding out that for me there are so many good reasons to adopt the IF lifestyle rather than a bunch of man-made rules about what I should and shouldn't eat.  I am going to make a list of the ones I can think of...

1.   It's a convenient way to lose weight

2.   I gain an extra hour or so in my day on fast days.

3.   It's bound to cut a few bucks off the food budget

4.   Practicing self-control is good for me

5.   No counting calories, or carbs, or protein, or anything else for that matter!

6.   It's incredibly simple and flexible.  I just pick the fast days and I fast. Easy Peasy.

7.   Food tastes soooo good when you are really hungry

8.   No food is off limits. 

9.   Research on the health benefits is overwhelmingly positive

10. There is absolutely NO guilt over enjoying my food!

The IF Life

This is a great primer on the benefits of intermittent fasting and the research is cited at the bottom of the page.

The IF Life

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Until 4 days ago I had never really heard of intermittent fasting, so I am by no means an expert.  However, I have been doing a lot of reading and I think this is a pretty accurate "primer".

Intermittent fasting means to go without food, eat normally, go without food again on some sort of regular basis.  The three most popular ways (and there is no "right" way, it's whatever fits your personality, goals and lifestyle) are Alternate Day Fasting, the 24 hour fast 1-2x a week, and the condensed window fast.

Alternate day fasting is just that, you eat every other day, and consequently you fast every other day. For this purpose a day = 24 hours.  So you eat for 24 hours and you fast for 24 hours.  You would probably still be eating something every day.  If you want to know more link to the youtube video.

The 24 hour fast 1-2 x a week is outlined best in Brad Pilon's (check out his blog!) e-book Eat Stop Eat.  You can pick any 24 hour window for your fast.  I prefer to start my fast after dinner and complete my fast with dinner the following night, but again, it is whatever works best for you.

The "condensed window fast" is where you choose certain hours during the day to eat and you do not eat outside that eating window.  The smaller the eating window the bigger the benefits.  The largest eating window should be no more than 8  hours.  I actually did this for 40 days this year,  I did not eat before 10am or after 6pm.  I lost about 5 lbs in those 40 days.  I don't prefer the condensed eating window because I find that it leaves me hungry for some part of every day.  And it is too restrictive for my lifestyle.  But if it works for you then there is nothing wrong with it.

In the coming days I will post about the health benefits (other than weight loss) of intermittent fasting.