I started IF or Intermittent Fasting on February 25th, this year. I remember this day because it’s my brother’s birthday. I started for a selfish reason. I might have a series of family reunions from May to July 2018 and do not want to look really fat. And you know family. They love you but they freely tell you hurtful truths that can echo in your mind for years to come.
Weight Gain while Doing Online Pursuits
As I mentioned in my first blog I tried to switch from a regular job to earning online. The bad side of online gigs is that it is so easy not to move around and stay in your PJs. Well, I did. And do not even talk about the winter season! It is so easy to just work on your bed and just not move at all unless you want to eat! Long story short, I gained weight. Plus, my menopausal hormones kicked in and I weighed 160 lbs. I am 5’5” so I was officially in the overweight category and had to lose at least 10 lbs. to go back to the “normal” bracket. If I do not do anything about it, chances are, I will balloon in a few months and enter the obese column for my height and age! I really have to do something and intermittent fasting seems to be the key.
Initial Goal IF: Lose 30 Pounds by My Birthday
Can I lose 30 lbs in 4 months? Well, according to my superficial google research, I can, if I do intermittent fasting. So I decided to be just 130 lbs by my birthday on June 30th. I will not bore you with what it is and its benefits but here are the most useful articles I found:
- https://omdetox.com/benefits-of-fasting/
- https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/questions-and-answers
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting
And the most helpful forum is this women-only support group from FB. They are really inspiring and you will not believe how much weight and sickness they have shed! When I started, I thought 30 lbs is too much. But in a little over a month, the Weight Guro App told me I achieved 32% of my goal! I lost 11.7 lbs! So how did I do it?
Apps to the Rescue
But can I do it? Believe it or not my iPhone apps helped me all the way. At first, I used Zero, a free app that tracks how much you have fasted so far. On the picture above, it is the dark orange screen shot where it logged that I already fasted for 15 hours 41 minutes and 52 seconds when I started this blog. The blue one, Fasting Habit, is a paid app. It logs the opposite of Zero—-how long you plan to fast. Zero’s max goal is 24 hours. Fasting Habit can be configured to target the number of hours. I targeted 36 hours so it tells me how many more hours before I feast. It is a good combo and it really inspires me to go on.
The last one is Window. It documents my eating or feasting window. It even lets me take a picture of what I ate and take notes—-which I will use for my next IF Success Logs. If you told me last February that I will only eat for 5 hours or less then skip eating, I will tell you you’re crazy. But equipped with what I now know about the benefits of IF, I happily feasted during my eating window.
Apps are my Silent Partners
I have more stories to tell but I just want to focus these I for this first IF Success Log. I like them because they document my journey without judgment. I do not have time to explain to others what I am doing. And that includes my husband. He noticed that my belly is shrinking but he did not even ask how. That is better. I’d rather he focus on the results. But I do want to share it with you, my readers, so I am writing this IF Success Logs.
Follow, Upvote, Comment
If you want to see my future IF Success Logs, please follow, upvote or comment below. Let’s see if I will achieve my weight goal by June 30th, 2018.
