Here is the quick summary of my experience with intermittent fasting over the last three months.
I have never had issues with my body weight but as I age I have noticed that my metabolism is slowing down and that my belly is slowly growing. Eating significant amount of carbs and dairies I had a constant feeling of being bloated and that feeling would stay with me whole day. Three months ago I have set myself a goal to fix that.
HOW DID I START?
I have simply started with googling the questions such as How to prevent bloated feeling? What makes us bloated? Etc. One of the first tips I have come across is to cut the dairies. And I have done so. I have stopped drinking milk in my coffee, stopped eating cottage cheese etc. Improvement was immediate but not complete.
However, in order to achieve set goals I have come across numerous articles on carbs, how bad they are etc. I have decided to stop eating carbs. Completely. And it worked! My bloated feeling was gone and improvements were visible. My waist felt smaller and other people start noticing as well.
However, not eating carbs can impact our mood and not in a good way. It felt great to have a smaller waist but I started feeling very depressed. Our body obviously can’t work without the carbs but I didn’t want to go back. I was looking for a diet which would include consumption of all macros and which would help me achieve my goals at the same time. And again, I have simply googled my question and I came across some blogs and articles on Intermittent fasting.
INTERMITTENT FASTING
Intermittent fasting or IF is an umbrella term for various diets that cycle between a period of fasting and non-fasting.
IF can be divided into following three categories:
- alternate day fasting (ADF)
- whole-day fasting
- time-restricted feeding (TRF).
1. Alternate day fasting – involves a 24-hour fast followed by a 24-hour non-fasting period
2. Whole day fasting involves various ratios of fasting to non-fasting days / 5:2.
3. Time restricted feeding – involves a set daily fasting period and shortened eating window. For example 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of feeding.
Based on my goals, lifestyle and trainings I found third category as a very appropriate so I have started with shorter periods of fasting and longer period of feeding 12 hours of fasting period and 12 hours of feeding window. I followed that routine for about a week as I wanted my body to slowly to get used to a new regime. After that I have tried slowly to extend fasting period to 14 hours and shorten feeding window to 10 hours. Finally, after a week I have achieved my goal of 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of feeding!
16:8
So how does my day look like?! I always thought that breakfast is the most important meal of the days and I believed that without a proper breakfast I would not be able to survive the day. Especially in work. Now I get up at usual time for work at about 8.00, skip my breakfast and I only have black coffee and water until lunch. My first meal is usually at about 13.00. I tend not to overeat as I don’t wanna end up in food coma. After the lunch I usually have coffee and snack before I leave office. My trainings are usually at 19.00 so before training I have a protein shake and pre-workout drink. After the training, usually at 20.30 I have protein shake following with my last meal of the day, the dinner at about 21.00. I will again fast for another 16 hours until 13.00 hours next day and my feeding window will be between 13.00-21.00.
BENEFITS
Over the last few months I have noticed following benefits:
- My body fat has significantly dropped
- I have more energy and am not cranky and tired in the morning
- My mind is sharper – especially in the morning when I get to do majority of work
- I am not bloated any more
- My healthy dieting habits have significantly improved
DOWNSIDES
There are also couple of downsides
- I have lost some of the hard gained muscles
- Eating is very social moment so it can be difficult to skip breakfast or brunch with friends on weekend
If you have any questions, let me know: marijan.hodak@gmail.com
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