How I Started Intermittent Fasting: Gillian's Journey

Hey everybody!

I hope you are all having a great week. I sure am!

I wanted to talk about intermittent fasting (IF) this week. Several ladies in our Nutratalk Support Group have been talking about "breaking their fast" in the mornings for awhile now so I finally decided to ask about it. The word fasting didn’t sound all that appealing to me as I really don’t like feeling hungry. I keep thinking about fasting in the context of having to get up early morning and beat it to the hospital for blood work.

I was willing to give it a go after having it explained to me and later reading about it. So last Sunday night, my friend Angie and I decided to try out this new thing (well new to me anyway.)

Intermittent Fasting

For those of you who don’t know, is a way of life that can help you drop pounds by fasting for 15-16 hours every second day. There are other methods of fasting as well. Doing 24-hour fasts, twice a week as well as restricting your calorie intake to 500 calories a day for a couple of days each week. Now I don’t know about you, but I cannot live on 500 calories a day so that method was out for me.

I'm also a diabetic so 24 hour fasts twice a week are out as I’m sure that would really wreak havoc with my blood sugars. So, I opted for the "Crescendo Method" of fasting every second-day with the weekends off.

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised my first time.

I fasted from 6pm to 9am and I wasn’t nearly as hungry as I assumed I would be. After all, I could drink as much water, plain tea, coffee and clear broth as I wanted. I felt really good that first day and was looking forward to day two. My second fast, I slept through the night, only getting up once for a bathroom visit. That day I felt more clear-headed, almost like a fog had lifted. I felt well rested and alert.

Mind you I was only doing this every second night, so I was pretty amazed at these results. Today marks the end of my first week and the beginning of my next week of fasting. This morning I stepped on the scales and was down 3.2 pounds! I was thrilled with that loss! Not only that, but the scales have dipped down into the next "decade" of pounds. I’m rocking a weight loss of 30.2 pounds as of today! I’m so happy!

It felt really great to see a change in that middle digit especially since the last 3 weeks have been a bit disappointing.

I felt I was doing well, sticking with the plan and exercising more since joining a new walking group. Mind you, I didn’t get there every night though due to a flare up of Psoriasis on my feet. I’ve been battling some pretty painful sore spots, but I continued taking shorter walks regardless. I was feeling tighter around my hips and bum and was thrilled that I was making progress.

When I got on the scales however, I was up 2 pounds. I had to be gaining muscle and not fat because I hadn’t eaten anything I shouldn’t have. Pound for pound, muscle and fat weigh the same but muscle takes up less room in your body than fat.

That 2-pound weight gain, although a bit disappointing, didn’t discourage me much.

I kept on walking as much as my pain level would allow and the following week I lost a pound. Now after a week of fasting I’m down another 3.2 pounds which is a 2.2-pound loss from 3 weeks ago.

Getting back to the intermittent fasting, I’m going to include a link to an article here, that I read today. This fasting way of life can yield some amazing results ranging from reduced insulin levels, reduced insulin resistance, reducing inflammation in the body and preserving muscle mass! Take a look and see which method would work best for you. If you’re in doubt, ask your doctor for their take on fasting. It could really be beneficial!

Nutracelle and IF

Now that I have added I.F. to my Nutracelle way of life, I feel I am well armed in this "Battle of the Bulge” ha-ha! I feel there are greater things in store down the road. I’m 9.8 pounds away from my Christmas goal and I feel that goal is attainable now. I’ll keep you all posted on that as time goes by.