If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I love to be a ginea pig. And since I started school, the diets seem to be changing weekly to test and see what the results are. My latest one has been intermittent fasting. Now, I played around with this a couple of years ago when I was in the gym six times a week, but felt like it didn’t work because I needed more food for all of the calories I was burning and muscle I was building.
So now that I have switched the gym for my yoga studio, this fasting thing has done amazing things. Firstly, what is intermittent fasting? Basically, it’s abstaining from food for 12-16 hours at a time. It’s not cheating counting in your seven hours of sleep! (half way there!) Now, there are claims everywhere you look, just search anything “paleo” and intermittent fasting will come up; statements of building more muscle, burning more fat, simplifying your day…as long as you include high intensity training.
Now as I said before, I didn’t really see any results in fasting before, and come on, I LOVE FOOD! This time around, what fasting has done for me is made me more aware of if I’m actually hungry, when I’m full and make better decisions on what I eat. I will eat ice cream if I want, but I will eat it alone, not following any meals and I WILL enjoy it. So, this is what my day looks like, starting from dinner, the night before….
End meal 8pm
Next day- 10am: breakfast – usually over night oats, made with oat bran, kefir and chia seeds
12:30pm: lunch – salad and a protein
6pm: dinner – whatever I feel like
It’s three simple meals, including whole foods, prepared at home. I will go out for meals; ensuring they are midday. I have been able to say “no” to snack offerings at the 3 o’clock wall and for desserts and late night snacks. It’s been an alternative universe because I have never been able to control my cravings and choices. When I have been good it hasn’t taken too long for me to grab the cookies and eat them all. I have been eating this way for four weeks and haven’t felt in as much control as I do now.
Eat well. Be healthy.
See you in a heartbeat.
coreelynn 