For most of my adult life, I have eaten only one meal a day, but I have supplemented it with snacks, sweetened coffee with creamer, etc., which of course is not fasting at all. Over the last few months I've been changing my lifestyle for that habit to become actual intermittent fasting.
First I cut out all the snacks. That was a few months ago. It actually just sort of happened. I had been becoming more health aware and doing research, and without actually making the decision, I just found myself not eating the snacks. I kept the sweetened coffee though. About a month and a half ago, I replaced the coffee with unsweetened tea. Since then I have been on a single meal a day (~1800 calories, which for me is maintenance). I have experienced no ill effects whatsoever. Certainly there was some hunger in the beginning, but it was a distant and manageable hunger. After a month and a half, I am finding the hunger to be rather minor actually.
My next step is going full ketogenic and dropping to 1600 calories for moderate weight loss. Right now I am finishing off the food I already have (I tend to have a couple of months of food at any time), so I am still eating those carbs. However I have already prepared (and frozen) about a month's worth of ketogenic meals (and plan on more), getting ready for the point when I have eaten all the carb meals. I am about two weeks away and looking forward to it. A careful, low key exercise regime will start once I am keto. Right now I am very sedentary.
At the moment I am basically pan frying hamburger with some onion, garlic and spices, adding some mushrooms and whatever keto approved vegetable I found on special. I am adding a fair bit of butter and olive oil, then mixing it all together and freezing it in daily doses. Everything has been fairly well measured to make sure I am getting the correct portions of different fats, protein and staying (well) under the 20 gram limit of carbs. If anything the calories are lower than 1600.
I am 59 years old and on a forced retirement due to issues with my feet and legs (old knee injuries and bursitis in my feet). I can't get around easily without pain. I walk with a cane. I am hoping that going keto will help with this.
While I could stand to lose a good fifty pounds (I intend and expect to, long term), weight loss is quite secondary to my motives for going keto with intermittent fasting. I am for instance of an age where I can notice a small loss of brain function. I am doing most of the right things to avoid that, starting with a reasonable IQ to begin with, being intellectually curious, being bilingual, reading a lot, playing video games, etc.. But my father's last years were saddled with massive cognitive decline. I'll take that as a warning sign and hope that going keto can help keep that at bay.
Anyway, that's probably more than you felt like reading. I look forward to learning ever more.
First I cut out all the snacks. That was a few months ago. It actually just sort of happened. I had been becoming more health aware and doing research, and without actually making the decision, I just found myself not eating the snacks. I kept the sweetened coffee though. About a month and a half ago, I replaced the coffee with unsweetened tea. Since then I have been on a single meal a day (~1800 calories, which for me is maintenance). I have experienced no ill effects whatsoever. Certainly there was some hunger in the beginning, but it was a distant and manageable hunger. After a month and a half, I am finding the hunger to be rather minor actually.
My next step is going full ketogenic and dropping to 1600 calories for moderate weight loss. Right now I am finishing off the food I already have (I tend to have a couple of months of food at any time), so I am still eating those carbs. However I have already prepared (and frozen) about a month's worth of ketogenic meals (and plan on more), getting ready for the point when I have eaten all the carb meals. I am about two weeks away and looking forward to it. A careful, low key exercise regime will start once I am keto. Right now I am very sedentary.
At the moment I am basically pan frying hamburger with some onion, garlic and spices, adding some mushrooms and whatever keto approved vegetable I found on special. I am adding a fair bit of butter and olive oil, then mixing it all together and freezing it in daily doses. Everything has been fairly well measured to make sure I am getting the correct portions of different fats, protein and staying (well) under the 20 gram limit of carbs. If anything the calories are lower than 1600.
I am 59 years old and on a forced retirement due to issues with my feet and legs (old knee injuries and bursitis in my feet). I can't get around easily without pain. I walk with a cane. I am hoping that going keto will help with this.
While I could stand to lose a good fifty pounds (I intend and expect to, long term), weight loss is quite secondary to my motives for going keto with intermittent fasting. I am for instance of an age where I can notice a small loss of brain function. I am doing most of the right things to avoid that, starting with a reasonable IQ to begin with, being intellectually curious, being bilingual, reading a lot, playing video games, etc.. But my father's last years were saddled with massive cognitive decline. I'll take that as a warning sign and hope that going keto can help keep that at bay.
Anyway, that's probably more than you felt like reading. I look forward to learning ever more.
