HOW TO START
I stumbled on intermittent fasting by accident. I had gained a lot of weight due to menopause and I was very frustrated because I tried everything to lose it.
I went to the gym three times a week. I walked for two hours every other day. I lifted weights. I ate like a bird. Still, I couldn’t lose weight.
I began researching different kinds of diets, and just by chance, I stumbled upon a doctor named Michael Mosley, a UK Dr. who did experiments on himself with a fasting regime.
Up to this point I had not heard of intermittent fasting. In fact, the mere mention of fasting made me cringe. I had always thought that fasting was only for when you had to go get your blood tested.
I have thought that fasting was only for religious purposes like we did in our church periodically for a spiritual reason. But I was wrong.
I began to look into something called the 5:2 fast that Michael Mosley developed to lose weight. This is a type of fast that teaches you the very basics oh how intermittent fasting works.
I always recommend that people start with the 5:2 fast, simply because it teaches your body to go slowly. It helps you gradually grow into the intermittent fasting lifestyle. And I do mean a lifestyle because that’s what it is.
Instead of just being a diet for a short-term fix, the 5:2 fast teaches you that this way of eating is completely sustainable.
If you can grasp that concept, you will be well on your way to achieving weight loss and health benefits beyond your wildest dreams.
Even the most sedentary person can lose weight doing an intermittent fasting regime.
CHOOSING THE BEST TYPE OF FAST
There are many types of fasts that you can do. The 5:2 fast is just one of them. That’s when you eat normally for five days of the week and fast for two days. You can eat nothing on those two days, for the allowable 500 calories.
I started out eating 500 calories on my fast days but realized that’s not a whole lot of food. It was just easier not to have to track my calories and simply drink water. But that’s just me. You can do whatever you want.
I lost 50 pounds of stubborn weight loss around my middle over a period of six months by doing the 5:2 fast every week. I got used to just drinking water on Mondays and Thursdays. The rest of the week I ate like normal.
I graduated to other types of fasts as I became more confident with the intermittent fasting lifestyle. I experimented with the 16:8 fast, where you skip breakfast and then eat like normal every day.
The 16:8 fast has become very popular and you find a lot of celebrities skipping breakfast now. What we were told about breakfast being the most important meal of the day was actually false.
The 16:8 fast basically works the same way as the 5:2 fast does. You fast for 16 hours, that includes while you sleep, and then you have an eating window of eight hours.
At first, this confused me until I realized that you count the hours that you were sleeping and then skip breakfast also. That amounts to about 16 hours of fasting which is pretty incredible considering you get to sleep through most of it.
I also experimented with longer fast because of the many health benefits. Harvard studies have proven that intermittent fasting improves overall health from boosting your immune system, to cell regeneration called autophagy.
Once a month I like to do a 4-day water fast. I use this time to detox my body and purge the toxins that built-up overtime. I have really grown to love my 4-day water fast because they make me feel so much better.
I find myself looking forward to doing long fasts especially after holidays like Christmas and summer vacation when we tend to eat a lot of food that we don’t normally eat.
If you can find a friend to do a long fast with each month, it makes it much easier. My fasting buddy and I coordinate with each other and use an intermittent fasting app to track everything.
When I feel like giving up, I text her and she encourages me to keep going. Vice versa. That is really helpful and pushes you through to achieve your goal. I highly recommend getting a fasting buddy. Just ask someone who fasts, to do it with you. You might be surprised when they say yes.
I have also experimented with the 20:4 fast. This type of fast is called a few different things because you can alter it a lot.
I’ve heard the 20:4 fast called the Warrior Diet. I’ve heard it called the Lean gains diet, and I’ve heard it called the OMAD diet (one meal a day).
I know many people would say that’s not what the 20:4 fast is at all. The 20:4 fast is when you fast for 20 hours and have a four-hour eating window. That’s true, but so many people do variations to this particular fast and get hung up on the logistics of it.
OMAD is also a fasting regime that people alter a lot. It’s basically when you eat one meal a day, usually supper. I eat this way now every day. I love its simplicity.
Some people say that OMAD should be one plate a day. I don’t agree. One meal a day can be spread out between four hours of an eating window like the 20:4. Not everyone wants to scarf down their allowable calories in one sitting.
I believe that’s why OMAD is so controversial. If you want to only eat one plate a day, then, by all means, do so. But if your style of OMAD is spreading that “meal” out in a four-hour window, then so be it. People need to stop getting so hung up in the logistics of certain types of fasts and just do it.
We are all different.
When you fast, you do what you like. When I fast, I do what I like. That’s the beauty of intermittent fasting. You are in charge and that is powerful. Its the best part of intermittent fasting in my opinion. I love being in charge of my eating regime.
There are some other types of fasts that I just wanted to briefly mention. You can do the, 18:6 fast, the 4:3 fast, the 13 hours fast, the 36 hours fast, fast mimicking, dirty fast, clean fast, keto fast, or create a custom fast. Really, the sky’s the limit.
There are so many variations to intermittent fasting that you really can find something that works for your lifestyle and respect everyone’s choices on what they choose to do. What works for one person, may not work for the other, and that’s okay.
Choose the type of fast that works for you.
START SLOW
It’s very important to start slowly no matter what type of intermittent fasting you choose to do. Your body needs time to adjust to the new way of eating.
Not only that but when you start something that is good for your body you start to purge toxins. They may come out in ways that you don’t expect. What I mean by that is it could get worse before it gets better.
This is one important reason why you should always start slowly with your intermittent fasting regime. There is something that is called a healing crisis. You might hear it called the keto flu, or the herxheimer reaction.
No matter what you want to call it, the effects are the same. Toxins come out of your body when you do intimate fasting and you start to heal. That healing can take place in your gut, your skin, your brain, wherever toxins have built up.
If you do too much too soon, you will feel ill. Take it one little step at a time. That’s why I recommend doing slow-type fasts first like the 5:2 fast or fast mimicking (where you cut down your caloric intake on specific days). If you jump into a fasting regime like OMAD every day you might have difficulty.
If you like the OMAD style of intermittent fasting, then why not do it gradually, two or three times a week at first instead of every day. Start slowly and your body will adjust easier.
TRACKING CALORIES
As I said before, when I started with the 5:2 fast, I did the allowable 500 calories on my fast days. That meant having to count my calories to keep track of what I was eating.
If you’re a first-time intermittent faster I would highly suggest learning how to track your calories because it helps you understand just how much you are eating in a day. That might be shocking to find out what that number is.
For me, I was shocked to find out that I was overeating every day even though I felt like I was eating like a bird. I couldn’t believe how many calories we’re in things like a glass of milk, a piece of cheese, or a milkshake.
I think that everyone who decides to try intermittent fasting should track calories at least for a couple of months. It really helps understand the concept of food intake.
Once you realize how many calories are in food, and you understand your body mass index and your caloric intake, you’ve passed the test. You know how much you need to take in, and you know how much to cut down.
Once you develop the skill of tracking calories and understanding calories, you can stop tracking calories. I say this with all due respect to those who do continue to track calories. I understand the importance, and I respect those who choose to do this every day. I just want you to know that you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
Tracking calories is not a pre-requisite for intermittent fasting. I decided not to continue tracking my calories because I didn’t want to be a slave to it. I wanted freedom.
Once I decided this, the full aspect of the intermittent fasting lifestyle kicked in. I didn’t feel like it was dieting anymore. I felt in full control
That’s the feeling I was after.
If that’s how you feel, then, by all means, stop counting your calories as I did. But if you enjoy counting your calories every day, by all means, do it!
Really, it’s a personal choice and we all need to respect each other and how we do this whole intermittent fasting lifestyle.
BE PATIENT
Being patient isn’t easy especially when it comes to weight loss. We want the pounds gone, now!
When I started doing intermittent fasting, I didn’t even think it would work. I didn’t tell anybody what I was doing. I just sneakily did my regular plan each week until one day, a friend commented about how I looked.
“You look amazing!” she said, “What are you doing to yourself?”
Of course, I loved the compliment but I didn’t share my methods… yet. I didn’t want people finding out what I was doing just in case I didn’t succeed. I didn’t want people thinking I was anorexic or something either.
I was really surprised that fasting was actually working for me. It wasn’t even that hard. It was just a process of being patient and waiting for the results to come.
And they did come.
Within about six months of doing intermittent fasting, I had lost about 50 pounds. It was truly amazing that I was able to see those kinds of results with such little effort.
So be patient with your weight loss. Don’t expect anything. When you do that you might find surprising results.
LITTLE MILESTONES
Along your intermittent fasting journey, you will come across little milestones. Celebrate them!
When you step on the scale and it shows you’re down 20 pounds. Jump for joy! Shout it from the rooftops! Tell everyone you know that you achieved your goals through intermittent fasting.
Some will criticize you for doing intermittent fasting, but that’s okay. Let them! There will always be the haters out there that want to sabotage you. They will tell you you’re harming your body and try to make you stop. Don’t!
Show them the Harvard studies, and promote intermittent fasting as a lifestyle, as it should be. So many people pooh-pooh it without even understanding what it’s all about. I hate that!
There have been so many people who have tried to discourage me from intermittent fasting simply because they had heard it wasn’t good for you. That’s awful! Don’t listen to the naysayers, rather celebrate your milestones right in front of them.
Be bold!
After all, abstaining from food takes discipline. Anyone that can do that deserves respect and a whole lot of celebration.
So CELEBRATE!
EXERCISE AND IF
I just wanted to touch on exercise and intermittent fasting for a moment. Not that it is the most important aspect of intermittent fasting, but that it helps when you stay active.
In my opinion, exercise is not a requirement for intermittent fasting. In other words, intermittent fasting can stand on its own when it comes to weight loss. You don’t need to run out to the gym every day just because you do IF.
As I said before, many people lost weight by intermittent fasting, ONLY! I found this out after joining a 5:2 fasting Facebook group. I read all the lovely stories about people who had knee problems and were sedentary, losing weight and keeping it off.
The before and after pictures were such an encouragement to me.
So, don’t think you have to exercise to lose weight. You absolutely don’t. Intermittent fasting is good for those that have low mobility, a physical ailment, or elderly. It works on just about everyone whether you run a marathon, lift weights, or not.
The only caveat to this is the fact that being physically active helps your overall health. So, go for a walk, bike ride, swim. Do whatever it is you do to stay active because you’ll feel better if you get up and move.
TONING AND IF
When you lose weight, your skin starts to sag. Pockets of fat melt away underneath your skin leaving a hanging mess.
That’s the truth.
With intermittent fasting, you don’t see a lot of excess skin hanging on your body and that’s because of autophagy. Those bad cells are being replaced by good cells.
However, there is still an element of sag that needs a bit of toning.
Toning can be achieved through simple things really. You don’t have to start a major weight lifting program to get a little toned. All you have to do is focus on a part of your body that needs a little help, and do what needs to be done.
If it’s weight lifting, then do it. If it’s jogging, then jog. If it’s speed walking then speed walk. You get my drift.
Do the activity you love, and then toning will happen naturally. A simple walk will strengthen abdominal muscles without even trying. Canoeing will strengthen the arms without even trying.
As long as you stay active, toning will happen.
If you have lost a substantial amount of weight like over 100 pounds, you may have to be a little more aggressive when it comes to toning. Whatever that means for you, do it.
Over time, little by little, your skin flab will go away.
Even though my weight loss was minimal compared to those who’ve lost over a hundred pounds, I still experienced loose skin. If I would have gone into a full weight lifting program when I first lost the weight, I probably would be ripped right now.
But that wasn’t the case.
For me, being older, I didn’t want to hurt my joints. I had previously done that in the gym and didn’t want a repeat of that.
Instead, I wanted to go about this slow and steady. Five years later I can see real changes in my body. I may still have loose skin but the toning is happening all on its own. I can see indentations of abs, and stiffness where there was none before.
What am I doing?
I walk. Sometimes I speed walk. Sometimes I walk for two hours. But most of the time I get in my 10,000 steps a day.
Choose whatever activity you like, and the toning will happen naturally. Don’t force it because as you age you can damage yourself quite easily. So many people dive into the gym and start pushing weights.
If you do that, and you love that, then continue. Just be sure that you lift the right way so you don’t end up with arthritic pain as you age.
I also wanted to add that a simple massage routine can also tone muscles. So, it’s not all about activity or exercise. There are many ways to tone your body after weight-loss.
Just find what you love, and stick to it!
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Let everyone you know and care about, understand that intermittent fasting is a viable option for weight loss. Tell them there are also so many health benefits. It really is a wise thing to start a fasting regime today!
For more information, please got to the Hungry Old Lady Youtube channel by clicking on the video at the end of this post. Thank you for reading my blog!
