Now, I’ve done intermittent fasting (IF) a few times in the past, notably during covid out of necessity to stretch the groceries we had as we were only going one once a month to stock up. It’s a simple thing really – just don’t eat breakfast and stop eating at 6:00 pm every night. The food window was 12-6 and you can easily get all the food you need with a healthy lunch, a sizeable snack and dinner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had tried it in fits and starts before then – mostly inspired by a few Netflix documentaries I saw on the health benefits of fasting – specifically around autophagy and its role in disease control and weight loss. Armed with the knowledge that it was not just a diet but a way of aligning with how our bodies worked I did it for over two years until about halfway through 2022. I’m not sure what happened but I just kinda gave up on the idea and started eating breakfast again and sneaking in late night snacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I realized with this challenge that yes, I’m 50 now and the risk factors for certain diseases start rising – and I should be leaning into IF \/ periodic long fasts as a way to help control these risk factors. So I made sure there was a section in the goals for both of these fasting methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
for the IF I used the free version of the zero app to help track the times. It’s pretty simple interface and allowed me to log fasts with a simple click of a button and it also tracked a countdown to my goal and when I started the different phases in a fast (glucose depletion, fat burning, autophagy). I found it helpful to keep me on track as I’d need to physically get my phone and click the button admitting that I didn’t fast as long as I wanted so it was a nice deterrent. I also used the streaks app to track how many days in a row I was doing (I used this app for most of my 30 day \/ 2 week goals) and getting to see that streak climb was another deterrent. I mean every little bit helps!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first few days were filled with morning hunger pangs but on the third or fourth day my body remembers this is something we’re doing and I’m fine. I don’t feel hungry until lunch and I stop craving snacks at night. A week in and it was becoming routine again and something that I automatically did without thinking about it too much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of thirty days I felt a bit better – not much weight was lost (around 5 pounds) but I wasn’t focusing on lowering my caloric intake too much as I was playing basketball and training for a 5K and running a caloric deficit during this time would have impacted those activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know that the things happening in my body during a fast have longer term metabolic effects so I wasn’t expecting some miracle where I suddenly felt 25 again but I was content with the knowledge that I was doing something good for my body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the 30 days I continued as best I could – usually doing IF during the week and enjoying a breakfast on Saturday morning (usually an egg sandwich on a bagel). Yes, there were days when I ate a snack late a night or grabbed some breakfast on the way to work because I was really hungry but overall I’m working IF into my life again and I hope to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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