Intermittent Fasting Results (1 week)

I am a working person who does not have a lot of time on their hands. During my freshman year, last year, my new doctor took me off of the thyroid medicine I was on since my middle school years. With that, imbalanced meals and proportions, and an unreasonable diet, I gained 20 lbs. I went up to my highest weight, at 138+. As someone who is recognizably too attached to their body image, that was crushing. I went from feeling great about myself to feeling awful with the stress that was ravaging my body and could be clearly seen.

When I moved back home this summer I struggled to maintain a set plan, bouncing between different ways to lose weight, doing strength training, going from eating whole foods to processed junk. In the last two months I’ve become more serious about eating well and losing weight as a focus because frankly, I wasn’t happy. To be 5’3″ and 140 lbs as a mesomorphic body type, it just wasn’t sitting well for me. I couldn’t fit my clothes and didn’t feel confident. I downloaded the LifeSum app for its user friendliness and after using that for months I still was feeling like my results were too slow just by eating healthy. Recently I started watching YouTube videos by Chloe Ting, who makes fitness related content. She has a similar body type to me so it seemed like I could learn from her methods.

Recently a lot of YouTubers have been making videos about intermittent fasting. After seeing some of the results I felt like I needed to try it to jump start my metabolism. I had gone from struggling to make myself eat three meals a day to now feeling comfortable eating twice a day and it has dawned on me that when I was growing up and had a faster metabolism, that this was something I would do regularly, whether or not it was intentional, which got me thinking even more about trying it.

So far I am a week into intermittent fasting and I have taken two off days and will continue to do five days on. I started this going to work so my hours were a little different for me if I was to come into work from 11-4 if my fast was supposed to end at 12pm, however I just moved my hours back that I could eat and continued my fast until I completed the full 16 on 8 off fast that is the recommended amount. I would suggest being able to work with your schedule and trying not to eat to early before you go to bed.

I’m not a stranger to fasting for different reasons, but including fasting in the nighttime when I’m sleeping seemed a little odd. However, it almost seems more genius to me because you actually get the nutrients you need to boost your metabolism in the day and your metabolism is still working in its sleep.

I am not someone who naturally wants to eat in the morning every day. Some days I do but normally it felt like an added chore to want to eat just because I’ve been told it would ignite my metabolism. More often I feel rushed and weighed down especially having places to be. Intermittent fasting for me changed that. I also realized I didn’t need to snack that much. By reducing the amount of time I was eating, I was able to portion better and still have a full belly in the two meal times when I had more control, like during lunch and dinner.

Coupled with a healthful whole diet that I’ve been working hard to maintain (except for Halloween night because I’m not perfect) I’ve been able to lose 8 lbs. and it really shows. Other than losing 8 lbs of fat, I have also been able to now fit in clothes I couldn’t several weeks prior. I typically lose weight in my stomach and I’ve been desperate to lose fat in my arms and thighs as i’ve been working out more muscle groups and hope to see the toning up I’ve been doing. Considering this it is also clear that I can safely workout once I’ve eaten on days I fast. I haven’t lost endurance and have also continued weight training as normal. There are safe ways to maintain your body’s health while intermittent fasting and preventing muscle loss. However, as a mesomorph I have no issues with gaining muscle which is why fat loss is my main goal.

There is one thing I should mention, however. I have a history of eating disorders. How healthy it is for me to be fasting depends on my ability to gauge whether or not I feel I am going too far. I am pretty good at that after many years of issues with eating issues and OCD, and as of late I have not felt different mentally. This has been a huge help for me in jumpstarting a slowed metabolism and helping my body to take more time to digest rather than eating when I’m not hungry and adding on extra calories.

I want to keep updated for when I see more of a difference. Intermittent fasting is a good idea if you can eat a balanced diet with enough sugars so as not to get sick and as someone who gets hypoglycemic, my symptoms have so far improved, a stark difference from the day to day when going three hours without eating after eating a meal would make me feel incredibly ill and even worse when I ate again. This has been the biggest thing I’ve noticed. Keeping my insulin levels normal is very important to me as i consistently will get sick if my blood sugar dips, probably because with the sugar intake i would normally have, my glucose levels would shift too much.

Another key nutrient your body needs to stay healthy and when fasting is sodium. I have always believed sodium was evil because of my previous issues with food, but hyponatremia is far worse than any of my fears of salt. Several weeks ago I became very sick suddenly, my heart rate dropping significantly to a scary point. That could have been avoided had I balanced my water intake with my sodium intake. Whole foods and water are important, but if you fail to get enough salt in your system you can have serious consequences. If you must, if you become sick feeling during your fast, dissolve a small amount of bouillon in hot water and drink it so you don’t get incredibly ill. so far monitoring my intake of sodium from being even TOO LOW has helped me.

So far these are my results and I plan to continue and update when I notice differences in my body from this diet. Remember, you cannot expect to lose weight without a balanced diet and changes in your lifestyle, so intermittent fasting on its own will not help you significantly keep weight off.

***As a disclaimer, I am not a nutritionist or dietician, but I have been to them, read on the subject, and understand how nutrition works. Take everything I say as anecdotal evidence, and do research before making lifestyle changes yourself. I am doing what is good for my body personally based off of my own research, evidence, and personal experiences. Please do not try intermittent fasting if you have diabetes, are pregnant, or have other health issues that can cause you significant harm by not eating.

*Photo not mine. Don’t yet feel comfortable to take progress photos*