Ugh-my weight! From what was my heaviest, I'm now four pounds more than that. This winter played me for a fool and sucked my motivation other than to enjoy warm cozy slippers and comfort foods. There's no magic to losing weight eat fewer calories than your body burns, but there is science to the what and when a person eats. I thought I had been better in February but the scale, and ill fitting clothes tell a different story. So once again, I am going to focus efforts, not just to look better, but to feel better both physically an din my head, and try, try, try to lose some weight. One method that was shared at my August doctors appointment, but quickly moved on when the sleep issues surfaced, was to look at Intermittent Fasting, IF for short.
There's several versions of it like not eating at all every several days, or alternating between regular eating days and low calorie days. I've been reading on the 16-8 plan for fasting where you eat nothing for 16 hours, and then eat meals and snacks within a designated eight hour window. That seemed like a good plan to me to keep me energized during the day, but restricted from mindless snacking in the evenings. I'm setting my time from 11:30-7:30. This will allow me to still occasionally go out for dinner or lunch, have the one, mind you, one beer at trivia. I'm not much of an early breakfast person anyway, often not eating anything at my desk until mid morning. I'm just pushing that back. What I need to remember, and again, this was briefly mentioned by my doctor, the eight hour window is for healthy eating, not bingeing on junk food.
I've been testing this our for a week or so, but jumped into it yesterday officially. I had a peanut butter sandwich at about 11:45. I ate more at around 1:00, cottage cheese with two clementine's, and a skinny slice of veggie pizza. That powered me through the day. Supper was leftovers with part spaghetti, part cottage pie. I was super tired last night and was in bed and sound asleep by8:30, and woke up not a twinge hungry. I can see I have a lot of carbs, and less protein and fruit and veg, so as I pull y lunch together, I think I'll bring an apple to slice and eat with PB rather than a sandwich. I was going to bring the last of the leftover spaghetti and sauce, and another couple clementine's. Because of my schedule, I rarely eat my whole lunch in a sitting, so it kind of works out to be lunch and snack. I can have all the calorie free beverages I want. I wanted a splash of milk in my coffee, but black it will be. Since I can't morning or evening snack, I sipped a lot more water, which is another good side effect. It seems a lot of folks that do IF also eat Keto. As I'm more leaning towards less animal based and more plant based foods, that might be too big a leap for me right now.
I've got another appointment in March, so will be mindful about my overall health and not just weight. I know it's not healthy to dwell on body image and beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. This is about me trying to feel better and be confident that as I age, I'm taking care of myself. I am vain enough though that I do want to also look confident, and right now, that isn't me. It's roughly 10 weeks until May, the amount of time I've read it takes to see the impact of IF and if it works for a lifestyle. I won't dwell on this subject in m blog, but will give some occasional updates. I'm not looking for advice, but feel free to share your experience if with IF, or other changes in your eating that have made a positive difference. Please also take note that I started this, and will be doing this, under medical guidance.
Hallo Twinny, here we go again on the same wavelength. I weighed myself this morning and despite doing pretty well on my "1,000 Miles in 2020" so far AND doing dry January and (almost) dry February I haven't lost an ounce! Bloody marvellous right. I suspect, in reality, I am getting a bit fitter but was put off by not losing anything. I also looked at IF (the 16-8 system) and don't know if I want to go there yet (although it would stop me from picking at stuff in the evenings), but I've just relogged back on to Myfitnesspal (I'm the same weight as I was a year ago!!!) and I found that that was the only thing that really made me think twice about what I was eating. Eat Greek yoghurt? No problem, but do I really need the honey in it that cost me 100 calories? That kind of stuff. And like you I'm fed up of the way I look so I might tag along with you and see how I do until May also. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI like this concept because I'm not dieting, but hopefully training myself to be more disciplined about when I eat, and makes sure what I eat counts since my window is narrow. It's 9:48 and I'm getting hungry,though normally, I often haven't eaten anything. I have to get out of a deficit mind set.
DeleteOne problem with IF I find: If you get so hungry, you lose the concept of intent when eating. So, if you have a fasting period coming close to ending, you might be son hungry that you will grab the bagel chips and salmon dip, and stuff them in your mouth as you are preparing the carefully thought out dinner you planned. Then, by the time dinner comes, you aren't really hungry, but you put all that work into it, so you eat it anyway...ask me how I know. So, another rule I have for myself is, other than coffee and wine, no food is to be eaten anywhere other than sitting at the dining room table. This really helps me with pre-meal snacking.
DeleteI can guarantee I'd never grab the salmon dip, lol!
DeleteI have on o.k. figure (a little softer, rounder since menopause and no longer running due to an injury). I have done a version of IF for as long as I can remember. In my teen years, when I wanted to lose the last bit of baby fat, (around age 17) I had a hard fast rule that nothing went in my mouth past 6 p.m. As I didn't enjoy lunch as school, I would eat a decent breakfast at about 6 a.m., dinner at 5 p.m, and generally not eat anything else. Worked like a charm. In later years, with kids and a travelling husband, when he was gone, I would fast from dinner until dinner, eating dinner around 4:30 with the kids. If I got hungry I would eat something like unsweetened applesauce with cottage cheese around 10 a.m. As I went to bed around 9p.m., this was not problem. Now I am back to the nothing in after 6 p.m., including wine. That's the tough part. Pretty sure I'm not losing any weight, but I look o.k., and feel pretty good. What I really need to do is up my exercise, but since I can't run, it's hard for me.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your IF is more just your eating style and a way of life. Would you say it is intentional or just how your body compels you to eat?
DeleteThat's the thing--when I was a teen, it was intentional, but it became the way my body forced me to eat. Aside from dinner, I really only ate when I was hungry, and come dinner, I was hungry, hungry enough that I really enjoyed the meal. The only time I really ever ate 3 meals/day was in college, and that was when I was at my chubbiest. That said, I don't think it's the healthiest lifestyle--type II diabetics, for instance, shouldn't even consider this. Intent, though, is key. As I told you, I try to eat only at the dining room table, making the meal an event in itself. I think the pop phrase is mindfulness. Previously, when I wanted to lose a bit of chub, I'd make a point to write everything I ate down in a notebook--got to the point that I wouldn't grab those M&M's because I didn't want to write it down, and have to read it at the end of the day!
DeleteI too am trying to lose some weight. Lost a couple of pounds on the weekend but don't recommend how I did it (dental infection then meds that made me super sick!). Now to keep them off - so hard at midlife.
ReplyDeleteOh no! That is not how anyone should do weight loss. I'm hoping a combination of this eating style, better food choices, and more outdoor time as the weather gets better will be a positive combination. I hope you get and stay healthy.
DeleteI lost some weight and then with the loss of my home, I gained a bit back. Good luck on your weight loss.
ReplyDeleteStress can add weight I am sure, plus you were trying to figure out so much. You eat a healthy diet form what you post.
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