Intermittent Fasting
While waiting on our big announcement greenlight, I thought I’d post re: an aspect of my personal health & wellness regimen that I get a lot of questions about: intermittent fasting. It’s a trendy buzzword phrase in fitness these days, but I’ve been doing it for four whole years now, as of March. I was initially introduced to the concept during a Bible study that I lead worship for which focused on healing in every aspect of a woman’s life; we had a nutritionist come and speak to us about healthy food choices at the end of the Bible study portion each week, and one day she introduced the idea of intermittent fasting.
Here’s a simple intermittent fasting overview - what it is exactly & how it benefits your body, (like reducing inflammation & insulin resistance! Read & come back! ;-))
It initially seemed absolutely impossible to me, not to mention counterintuitive when thinking about teaching my morning fitness classes in a fasted state, with no pre-workout fuel... But as God always moves in my life, He kept bringing the idea of trying it to the forefront of my mind. I’ll never forget the first night I tried: it was a Wednesday; I left the house for Praise Team at 5:45 PM. When I got home a little before 9, I made a conscious choice not to snack – I wasn’t starving, so why not try this? After getting the kids off to school the next day, waiting to eat until 9:45 AM felt like no big deal at all. I was stunned.
In general, whenever I make big lifestyle changes, I ease myself in: I don’t ever make a big proclamation that I am changing whatever aspect of my life, because then I feel trapped and set myself up for failure. It’s just my personality. If I give myself a potential option out, I rarely take it, and I am always more successful: I had done this one night, so cool. I wasn’t officially committing to anything else, but being open to trying whenever it seemed to fit easily into my schedule... And as God usually handles me, He orchestrated it to fit into my schedule again quickly & often. :-D Obviously it took discipline on my part, but God’s assistance certainly made it seem more easily attainable. (Isn’t that so true with anything God leads us to? “If He leads you to it, He’ll lead you through it.” :-))
In the first couple months, I instantly slimmed down - everyone noticed, (which was nice. :-)) It was incredible for that initial weight loss, but in the almost-four years since then, I feel like it has especially helped me to maintain a healthy state, even as my metabolism slows and my body changes into my 40s.
People often freak out initially and want to know the EXACT hours I eat: always only 9-5? 12-8? Scary!!! Stressful!!! No, I don’t do it that way. Like I said, I need flexibility over rigidity: I go for 16+ hours of fasting, whenever those hours happen to fall in my schedule. There are times when I have dinner meetings or social events where we eat until 9 o’clock at night – that is definitely *NOT* my preference, but if it’s something I enjoy, I’m not going to pass it up just because of the time. On those following days, I usually have no problem waiting to eat until after 1 PM. On Mondays, I teach my one evening fitness class at 6 PM, so I’m done eating before 5:30 PM & technically could eat anytime Tuesdays from 9:30 AM on… But breakfast is actually my least favorite meal ever, so I still usually wait for lunch. I really don’t eat breakfast ever, unless we are all out on vacation together or have guests and they want to go out for a big brunch production. I do all my morning workouts fasted, too. It makes me feel so much better! “They say” (“they” always makes me snicker :-P) that 25-30 calories won’t break your fast, so every morning before working out or teaching, I drink a B12 vitamin drink (blueberry raspberry Zipfizz - no compensation for endorsing; I don’t drink coffee, so I love the jitter-free energy boost.) Yes, I *do* usually eat all afternoon. :-)
That’s it. It’s simple. No big mysterious plan to decode. Just fasting for ~16 hours at a time. The end. It initially leaned me out and has since helped me maintain balance as I get older. Let me know if you have any other questions or if you end up doing it, too!
Have I *gained* any weight while intermittent fasting? Yes, in two ways: 1) a couple years ago, I felt an abrupt metabolism shift. (Everyone warns about when you hit 40; I figured this was it.) That was also when I stopped coaching cheer = significantly less physical activity. I feel certain, though, that intermittent fasting kept the scale reasonably in check. 2) I started lifting weights about a year before I started intermittent fasting, so after five years now of strength training, I have gained a considerable amount of lean (not bulky!) muscle. How much? I have no idea! I’m proud to say I haven’t weighed myself in almost a year!!! (That’s huge for me! I have a tendency to get obsessed with numbers, so to stay off that arbitrary machine when I *know* I’m not overweight & judge myself instead on how I feel is a new level of self-actualization.)
Do I plan to do this forever? Intermittent fasting is definitely a positive lifestyle change that is working for me long term. If new research comes along as we advance down the road, I’ll always be open to learning more, growing, & changing. Shouldn’t we all be? ❤️
Here’s a simple intermittent fasting overview - what it is exactly & how it benefits your body, (like reducing inflammation & insulin resistance! Read & come back! ;-))
It initially seemed absolutely impossible to me, not to mention counterintuitive when thinking about teaching my morning fitness classes in a fasted state, with no pre-workout fuel... But as God always moves in my life, He kept bringing the idea of trying it to the forefront of my mind. I’ll never forget the first night I tried: it was a Wednesday; I left the house for Praise Team at 5:45 PM. When I got home a little before 9, I made a conscious choice not to snack – I wasn’t starving, so why not try this? After getting the kids off to school the next day, waiting to eat until 9:45 AM felt like no big deal at all. I was stunned.
In general, whenever I make big lifestyle changes, I ease myself in: I don’t ever make a big proclamation that I am changing whatever aspect of my life, because then I feel trapped and set myself up for failure. It’s just my personality. If I give myself a potential option out, I rarely take it, and I am always more successful: I had done this one night, so cool. I wasn’t officially committing to anything else, but being open to trying whenever it seemed to fit easily into my schedule... And as God usually handles me, He orchestrated it to fit into my schedule again quickly & often. :-D Obviously it took discipline on my part, but God’s assistance certainly made it seem more easily attainable. (Isn’t that so true with anything God leads us to? “If He leads you to it, He’ll lead you through it.” :-))
In the first couple months, I instantly slimmed down - everyone noticed, (which was nice. :-)) It was incredible for that initial weight loss, but in the almost-four years since then, I feel like it has especially helped me to maintain a healthy state, even as my metabolism slows and my body changes into my 40s.
People often freak out initially and want to know the EXACT hours I eat: always only 9-5? 12-8? Scary!!! Stressful!!! No, I don’t do it that way. Like I said, I need flexibility over rigidity: I go for 16+ hours of fasting, whenever those hours happen to fall in my schedule. There are times when I have dinner meetings or social events where we eat until 9 o’clock at night – that is definitely *NOT* my preference, but if it’s something I enjoy, I’m not going to pass it up just because of the time. On those following days, I usually have no problem waiting to eat until after 1 PM. On Mondays, I teach my one evening fitness class at 6 PM, so I’m done eating before 5:30 PM & technically could eat anytime Tuesdays from 9:30 AM on… But breakfast is actually my least favorite meal ever, so I still usually wait for lunch. I really don’t eat breakfast ever, unless we are all out on vacation together or have guests and they want to go out for a big brunch production. I do all my morning workouts fasted, too. It makes me feel so much better! “They say” (“they” always makes me snicker :-P) that 25-30 calories won’t break your fast, so every morning before working out or teaching, I drink a B12 vitamin drink (blueberry raspberry Zipfizz - no compensation for endorsing; I don’t drink coffee, so I love the jitter-free energy boost.) Yes, I *do* usually eat all afternoon. :-)
That’s it. It’s simple. No big mysterious plan to decode. Just fasting for ~16 hours at a time. The end. It initially leaned me out and has since helped me maintain balance as I get older. Let me know if you have any other questions or if you end up doing it, too!
Have I *gained* any weight while intermittent fasting? Yes, in two ways: 1) a couple years ago, I felt an abrupt metabolism shift. (Everyone warns about when you hit 40; I figured this was it.) That was also when I stopped coaching cheer = significantly less physical activity. I feel certain, though, that intermittent fasting kept the scale reasonably in check. 2) I started lifting weights about a year before I started intermittent fasting, so after five years now of strength training, I have gained a considerable amount of lean (not bulky!) muscle. How much? I have no idea! I’m proud to say I haven’t weighed myself in almost a year!!! (That’s huge for me! I have a tendency to get obsessed with numbers, so to stay off that arbitrary machine when I *know* I’m not overweight & judge myself instead on how I feel is a new level of self-actualization.)
Do I plan to do this forever? Intermittent fasting is definitely a positive lifestyle change that is working for me long term. If new research comes along as we advance down the road, I’ll always be open to learning more, growing, & changing. Shouldn’t we all be? ❤️
(This doodle artist is not a great speller. :-D)
Thanks for sharing how you do intermittent fasting!! I typically try to go no less than 12 hours between the last thing I eat at night and breakfast...but I do really enjoy breakfast, so I don't like to wait too long to eat it. I would like to eat supper earlier in the evening, but with my husband's work schedule and the girls' sports practices, that just isn't feasible right now - unless I want to eat by myself ;) However, if I get the chance at some point, I'd like to give this a try!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! Family schedules can super complicate this! We got in the habit about 6 years ago of the kids & I essentially eating supper as soon as they got home from school (~4 PM) before football/cheer/whatever, and then they’d snack (like a bowl of cereal) if they were hungry when we got home before getting ready for bed. JB hasn’t eaten with us during the week in over a decade with his work schedule, so we don’t have to wait for him. I loveloveloved eating my biggest meal earlier, even before intermittent fasting, so that was another way God had pre-prepped me for it!
DeleteI love reading about how intermittent fasting has worked for you! It's just a general rule for me, as well. I don't worry about it if I end up eating late or need to eat early the next day for some reason. My goal is to make it 15 hours as much as possible!
ReplyDeleteI also stopped weighing myself about a year ago. Unfortunately, I gave in and weighed myself a few weeks ago, and now I'm finding that it's hard to resist the temptation to step back on the scale! I have been thinking about writing a blog post about it. I hate it when I tie my value to that dumb number.
Yaaaaay!!! Your reply worked! š
DeleteUgh - I am tempted EVERY. DAY. to step on our scale. I feel like a recovering addict who recognizes how damaging stepping on can be...but who has to fight daily *not* to “need” that stupid number...