Today marks day 1 of my intermittent fasting journey!
Over the next 30 days, I’ll be following the recommended intermittent fasting guidelines and see how my results are. I’ll check in daily at first since it will be a tough adjustment from my current meal plan. After the first few days, I’ll probably check in once every few days to give updates on how I feel and my results. I’m hoping this will help anyone that is interested in intermittent fasting, you’ll really know what to expect and in the end if it works!
What is intermittent fasting?
This is the process where you fast for 16 hours of the day and only eat during the other 8 hour window. The 16 hour fasting phase is supposed to trigger your body to burn fat cells rather than the calories you would normally be eating at that time. If done correctly, it’s supposed to burn fat quicker than normal dieting.
Why am I doing it?
I have 2 reasons for giving it a try, I’ve been working out for months now and have plateaued a little bit with the weight loss. I have about 10 to 15 pounds of fat that I would like to get rid of prior to going on vacation. The second reason is curiosity haha. I have heard a lot of people rave about this method and I’m curious to see if it’s just hype or if it actually works.
What are my Concerns and Challenges?
Huge Change – I’ve been doing the 5-6 meals a day where I front load the meals between 6AM to 1 PM with one other meal and a snack later in the day. Instead I’ll be eating 2-3 meals a day in the afternoon and evening. So just this change will be a struggle at first
Energy – Will I have enough energy to make it through my workouts and the day in general? Most people that review this methods stress that they have more energy after they get through the first few days. I’m curious to see if this is true.
Hunger – I’m removing 2 meals a day…. Will I feel hungry all the time? If I feel hungry all the time, it’s not something that I will continue long term.
Nutrition – Can I still get all my nutrition with less meals?
My thoughts after Day 1:
Considering I was sleeping for half of the fasting period, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. The last 30 minutes were the hardest. I naturally had the urge to cut it short with the thoughts, 30 minutes out of 16 hours couldn’t hurt…. But I stayed strong and waited until 11 AM to eat. I did decide that I need to have a bigger meal at that time since I was still hungry afterwards and hard the urge to eat for the next few hours.
I do have to say I did enjoy my meals a lot more during the eating portion of this plan over when I used to eat 5-6 meals a day.
In addition to the fasting and eating phases, I did have a workout (lifting) at 4:30 AM in the middle of the fasting period. I’m used to working out on an empty stomach, so it wasn’t bad, but I was hungry afterwards. I’m interested to see how I feel during these workouts in a few days.
If you’re considering trying intermittent fasting, please let me know what questions you have or if there are any areas that you want me to focus on, just let me know.