Why I have had success doing Intermittent Fasting.
But probably not for the reasons you might expect.
I have been following a Keto or Paleo diet for several years now, low-carb, no sugar or processed foods, good fats and protein.
I started out measuring and counting the carbs and other nutrients I was consuming, but quickly quit. Tracking nutrients at the beginning gave me insight as to the breakdown of many foods, but it was work. Many of the foods I eat are repetitious, so after a short period of time I felt comfortable just winging it.
If something is too much work, I don’t stick to it long enough for it to become a habit. It needs to become a habit for me! While guessing at my portion size and nutrient counts wasn’t very accurate, it did give me the flexibility and freedom to easily sustain that eating regimen with positive results of weight loss and mental clarity.
If you are anything like me, any energy I don’t have to waste by making a decision, like what to eat, is a win. There are a lot of other more important decisions that need to be made during the course of a day that will require my attention. On IF, the only decision I need to make is when do I want to end my fast. I don’t have to think about my food choices or preparation until then. You just have to remember not to eat anything until you reach the end of your fasting window. After a while it becomes habitual and you don’t even think about eating during your routine fasting time.
Intermittent Fasting is low on the cognitive load. It can easily become a habit!
You can skip any meal(s) you want. Whatever works for you and fits into your lifestyle with ease. A lot of people find it easier to skip dinner, rather than breakfast, especially if you go to bed early. But when I was a teenager I regularly skipped breakfast without any effort, so I thought skipping breakfast would work well for me.
There are many well documented health benefits to fasting and they are learning more of its great effects every day. I normally do a 16–18hr fast, 6 days a week consuming only water, coffee or tea during my fast. I work out pretty hard on Saturday mornings and prefer to eat something beforehand to get me through my workout, but you may not need to do that. My body does seem to work better when not encumbered by constantly trying to process the food I was eating.
Be careful not to overeat during your eating window. You don’t want to undo all of that work you did earlier in the day! I have noticed that I lost weight in areas that I never had before. I would like to believe that I was pulling and burning fat from all of those stored parts of my body.
I have done a 24hr fast several times, but nothing longer. Doing a 2–3 day fast is one of my goals for this year.
If the health reasons or being easy doesn’t motivate you, here are some more practical benefits for incorporating fasting into your life.
Practical Benefits
- New found time in your day because of not having to fix and eat breakfast, or the meal(s) of your choosing.
- Pride in being able to adopt a practice that is beneficial to your health and easily sustained.
- Feeling of empowerment from being less dependent on food.
- Saving money because you are buying less groceries and/or eating in fewer restaurants.
Don’t get me wrong! If someone asks me out for breakfast I usually go. But I always try to steer these invitations toward lunch if I can, and I almost never turn them down. I feel human interaction is just as beneficial for my well-being as intermittent fasting, especially if it is with family and friends, new or old.
