“What is Intermittent Fasting?”
In my first blog, I mentioned what I like to call my “Secret Sauce” to weight loss, which is Intermittent Fasting. When I came upon this way of eating, it literally changed my life! What is Intermittent Fasting (IF) you ask? It is a pattern of eating where you restrict the hours that you eat. You will count the number of hours that you eat, and the number of hours that you fast. In my book, and around this site, we refer to this as “eating windows”. You open your eating window when you consume your first meal or snack of the day, and you close your eating window after your last calorie is consumed. I also refer to it as the “fasting” state and the “fed” state. There is no magic number of hours each person should remain in their eating window, some people have found that 8 hours work for them, for some it is 6 hours, and others will only eat one meal a day. The secret sauce will be different for everyone. When I first learned of Intermittent Fasting, my trainer recommended that I start with an 8 hour window. This means that I would fast for 16 hours of the day, and eat for 8. An example of this would be eating my first meal around 10a, and finishing my last meal around 6p. When I started doing this, I didn’t see any big changes. I quickly realized that this wasn’t too far off from the way I would usually eat. So I decided to narrow my window to 6 hours…. Eating my first meal around noon, and taking my last bite around 6.
For the first two weeks, I didn’t see any change on the scale. I was encouraged to continue on, and on the third week, I wooshed away four pounds! I have consistently lost 1-2 lbs per week ever since then. I guess you could say that I am waisting away! When I really want to tighten up, or challenge myself, I will narrow my window down to four hours a day, a small snack and a meal, or even just one meal. Sometimes I will eat lunch one day, and I won’t eat again until lunch the following day. That is a 24 hour fast!
The beauty of Intermittent Fasting is that the secret sauce will be different for everyone. If you are used to eating for 12 hours per day, maybe from 8a-8p, you will notice changes if you start by narrowing your eating window down to 8 hours! Gradually your body will get used to living in the fasted state, and feeding off your fat stores. There’s no better feeling than knowing that your body is attacking it’s own fast during your fasted hours!
If you would like more tips to help you get started on Intermittent Fasting, please click here to pre-order my new book. When you pre-order, you will instantly receive a Downloadable Beginners Guide to Intermittent Fasting, as well as access to exclusive podcasts where I answer questions from people all over the country, and dive deep on these topics.