Intermittent Fasting: I accidentally fell into this diet method

Who knew that I was actually doing a popular thing???   I have just been trying to set myself up for a healthy sustainable life.   I’ve been just trying to find an eating plan that brings balance to my life and is natural for me.   I was just trying to listen to my body and eat when I want to and not because the clock said it was time to eat.   Who knew that what I was doing was the ‘new diet fad’ called intermittent fasting.

Let me start back at the beginning of my recent turn around.   I’m not talking about my very first post on here.  I’m talking about a few months ago when  I was starting to get serious about losing weight and regaining a healthy life!   I began to reflect upon my journey through weight loss and a subsequent regain.    I decided that in order to succeed for LIFE I had to find a balance.  Not total restriction, but not a free for all.  I decided that I would have to find a plan where I was enjoying what I eat and furthermore when I wanted to eat.  I in essence had to find a plan that worked for me!

A few months ago when I decided to get serious in terms of weight loss and more importantly healthiness, I looked at what I had done before.  I wanted to pattern myself after that model because I had great success!  And I want to repeat that success!   But I also had great failure with the subsequent regain.   And I don’t want to repeat that!  The regain made me decided that I had to do something different.  I had to really work to find a balance between life’s food challenges (normal living) and healthy living.   

I liked some of my beliefs from before.  I would not be starting to eat yogurt just because it was ‘healthy’ for me.  (Yes at one point I was eating yogurt every day for lunch...even though I’m not a fan of yogurt...ok, I kinda hate yogurt!). Food is fuel, but it also needs to be palatable and something I at least like to eat!    The next thing was that I wasn’t going to eat just because the clock said it was time to eat.  When Jason and I first started dating I realized that I was with a man that ate according to when he was hungry.  NOT because it was simply lunchtime.  It started to open my eyes.  And while he has always been more than happy to stop for me to grab a bite even if he isn’t hungry, I started to realize that I was just eating because it was ‘time’ to eat.  That practice was going to end.  First up on the chopping block?  Breakfast!  And I don’t miss it at all!!!  My stomach doesn’t growl and I rarely even feel true hunger pains...even as lunchtime approaches (this past week was a rare exception!)

I have been hesitant to announce my breakfast free lifestyle in a post because it was pounded into my head that ‘we must eat breakfast’.  But other than a rare occasion (usually on a weekend....and in all honesty usually because I’m bored!) I haven’t had breakfast in maybe 4-5 months.   But I’m coming clean today because recently I read about someone else following this model of eating. (Escape from obesity.net).  And I have also heard the buzzwords intermittent fasting a few times.   

I finally found the time to look up intermittent fasting and what do you know?  That’s what I’m doing!   I’m apparently doing the 16:8 method. Fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8 hour window.  They say there is incredible benefits.  Weight loss for one (as long as one doesn’t just shovel food into their mouths during the 8 hours...they say you don’t even track your food during those 8 hours...however I still track).  They say that without a constant food source your body will start burning fat.  Sounds good to me!   There are other benefits.  They said energy, lower insulin levels and all sorts of other things.  So I guess I’m an intermittent faster.

Weekend shenanigans

We of course did our normal weekend errands...groceries (We hot up two stores each week...Aldi’s and then usually giant or Walmart).  I had to pick up cat food from the pet store.  And we hit up a farmers market. 

 Once fully stocked we were ready for the fun!  :-)  We headed out for a bike ride.   We have amazing conversations, deep and intense while we are biking...or hiking!  So it was a good ride.  Well....except that my one gear kept slipping (the one I wanted/needed to be in!)  Furthermore, something is rubbing on my bike.  I thought it was the brakes, so I disengaged the breaks and rode breakless for a while...but that didn't take away the problem.  Ironically enough, bike shopping for  me was a conversation that we had already had during the bike ride, so I wasn't too upset about the bike issues...although I do want them fixed!