I
thought I’d take a little bit to give you guys an update on how
intermittent fasting is going for me. The short version? AH-MAY-ZING!
Being someone that suffers from
an eating disorder, let me just tell you, I actually feel IN CONTROL of
my eating for the first time in I don’t even know how long. Usually I
don’t feel in control at all, that I’m completely controlled by my
cravings and urges and that, to quote the Borg,
I felt that “resistance is futile.” It is a horrible feeling to feel
like you are a prisoner in your own life and that you don’t have control
of your own behaviors. And this is the first time, like I said, in
basically forever, that I have felt like *I*
am the one in charge. It’s such a freeing feeling and experience.
I
don’t do just intermittent fasting on its own, even though it is great
just by itself. I do a combination of calorie counting and low carb in
conjunction with the intermittent
fasting. I have gone low carb because even the high quality breads and
pastas give me horrible heartburn. Also, they’re super high in
calories and I’ve come to really love the Miracle Noodles that are made
from the shirataki root and have next to no calories.
And I don’t miss bread at all. Obviously, if I have a burger, I have
bread, but it’s not much and I don’t have burgers very often, so it’s
okay. I make sure to get lots of veggies, so I am getting enough
healthy carbs that are not processed.
With
the calorie counting, I like to keep it at 1300 or below a day. And I
don’t even touch my exercise calories anymore. I used to eat them all
or mostly, but a couple
months ago opted to stop doing that and wow what a difference that has
made. I’ve actually had MORE energy than ever before even though I’m
eating so much less than I was previously. If I’ve had an indulgent
weekend, I cut my calories for a couple days after
the weekend is over down to about 1000 to help counteract the extra
calories I consumed and get myself back to level. That’s what I’ve done
this week. I was at the renaissance festival all weekend and while I
didn’t over eat, I ate what I wanted when I wanted.
So, this week I have slashed my daily calories by 100 to 500 less than
my usual daily amount and I have to tell you, I haven’t been hungry at
all with the less calories.
Intermittent
fasting is great. Let me attempt to tell you why it’s great for me.
First, like I said, it allows me to feel in control when it comes to
eating and that is
HUGE for me. It makes it super easy to say “no” to food I “shouldn’t”
be eating if it’s outside of my eating window. I don’t want to mess up
the fat burning process by eating something and spiking my insulin (even
a small spike is enough to kill the fasting
period), so I just chug water or take a little walk to distract myself
from the “hunger” or the cravings and urges and they usually go away and
all is well in my little world again.
I no
longer stress about eating, or if I do it’s a really small stress and is
easily forgotten and moved on from. I have a huge issue with food
anxiety and I fell for the
trap of the whole “eat every 2-3 hours to keep your blood sugar stable”
baloney. It was/is baloney for me, anyway. If it wasn’t baloney, I
wouldn’t be able to make it through working out without eating first or
when I work the overtime on the night shift,
I wouldn’t be able to make it through that without feeling all jittery
and gross because my blood sugar dropped. There was a time when I was
like that, but I had trained my body to be overly food dependent so my
blood sugar actually would fluctuate all crazy
like. But now I’m eating in a more balanced and controlled manner, so I
don’t have that problem anymore. Also, I’m not diabetic, so my blood
sugar shouldn’t fluctuate like that anyway.
Overall,
I am so much happier with this combination of ways of eating. I’m
losing 1-3 pounds a week on average so it’s helping me get to my goal
weight so much faster, which
of course makes me happier.
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