Prologue.......
I have actually spent most of my life dealing with what is called the Yo-yo Syndrome. You lose some weight and then you gain it back again.
I started out being a chubby baby, but once I was a toddler, then I was slim until around 4-5th grade.
During my teenage years, I maintained pretty well, although gaining weight over the winter and then losing it in the summer.
As an adult, I think that I have probably tried about every diet (and read every diet book !) that came along; so I have starved myself or denied myself for so many years, that I just felt guilty, no matter what I ate. I exercised until I was exhausted, with only minimal results, or very slow ones, and that usually came when I was also eating a low carb diet.
When I started reading about intermittent fasting, it just looked like something that would work, but I had no faith in my ability to go even the 16:8 hour fast, let alone only eat once a day.
However, I started out slowly, having dinner earlier, and discovered that 16:8 was doable for me.
After that, I stopped eating breakfast and just had a protein shake before going to the fitness center and swimming. Then I read that you burn fat better when you exercise in a fasted state; so I skipped the protein shake, too.
Now, I have one cup of coffee with a dab of heavy cream, and I don’t eat until after I am home from swimming, which is any time between 11-3, so I have basically a 4 hour window, but eat anywhere in that time frame for my one meal.
There are so many health benefits that come along with intermittent fasting, and I want to work into having longer fasts once a week. The longest one I have done so far was 51 hours, and it really was not any harder than doing the 1-day fasts.
This journal will be a record of my experiments with different foods, different lengths of fasting, and also a record of my progress back into a slimmer body and better health.
For me, this is not going to be just a temporary diet , there are so many heath and longevity benefits, that this is going to be a complete lifestyle commitment .
I have actually spent most of my life dealing with what is called the Yo-yo Syndrome. You lose some weight and then you gain it back again.
I started out being a chubby baby, but once I was a toddler, then I was slim until around 4-5th grade.
During my teenage years, I maintained pretty well, although gaining weight over the winter and then losing it in the summer.
As an adult, I think that I have probably tried about every diet (and read every diet book !) that came along; so I have starved myself or denied myself for so many years, that I just felt guilty, no matter what I ate. I exercised until I was exhausted, with only minimal results, or very slow ones, and that usually came when I was also eating a low carb diet.
When I started reading about intermittent fasting, it just looked like something that would work, but I had no faith in my ability to go even the 16:8 hour fast, let alone only eat once a day.
However, I started out slowly, having dinner earlier, and discovered that 16:8 was doable for me.
After that, I stopped eating breakfast and just had a protein shake before going to the fitness center and swimming. Then I read that you burn fat better when you exercise in a fasted state; so I skipped the protein shake, too.
Now, I have one cup of coffee with a dab of heavy cream, and I don’t eat until after I am home from swimming, which is any time between 11-3, so I have basically a 4 hour window, but eat anywhere in that time frame for my one meal.
There are so many health benefits that come along with intermittent fasting, and I want to work into having longer fasts once a week. The longest one I have done so far was 51 hours, and it really was not any harder than doing the 1-day fasts.
This journal will be a record of my experiments with different foods, different lengths of fasting, and also a record of my progress back into a slimmer body and better health.
For me, this is not going to be just a temporary diet , there are so many heath and longevity benefits, that this is going to be a complete lifestyle commitment .
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