I tried an intermittent fast for 10 days and that's what happened

To sleep badly to make healthier food decisions, I share my intermittent fasting results.


Imagine that you go on a diet and be able to eat and drink everything you want. There's noCup carbohydrates or calorie counting. And you can drink wine and still eat the occasional bowl of ice cream. His attractive? Thenintermittent fast Could be the key to seeing the results. It's the diet version of being able to have your cake and eat it, too.

Rather than restrictingWhat The foods you can eat, the intermittent fast (IF) limitwhen You can eat. By dividing the day in a fast period and a period when eating is allowed, the idea is that you naturally reduce your caloric intake from day to day, since you are limited to eat only during small windows.

Like many people, I lead a busy life and do not want to fear being limited from certain foods or have to achieve a caloric goal every day. And that's why I thought, if a diet was worth trying, this one was for me; Who is one of the main calls of if-plus time constraint, you can follow a diet without changing one thing.

So I decide to try for 10 days to see what would happen. But before I talk about my experience, I first want to start with a brief overview of what fasting is really intermittent.

What is the intermittent scheme fasting?

Woman staring at cupcakes
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There are few ways to run an intermittent fast diet, but two the most common are the 5: 2 and 8:16 approaches. While the plan is not to count the calories, the idea is that you naturally reduce your caloric intake by limiting the window of your diet. "In the end, like most schemes, there is another approach to the calorie cut, which is really the key ingredient for weight loss," says Lisa Moskovitz, Rd, CDN, CEO and founder ofNY NUTRITION GROUP.

For 5: 2 approach, the food is normally consumed five days of the week, and the other two days only eat require 500-600 calories. During the 8:16 approach, the window of your diet is 8 hours long during the day, and the fast period is 16 hours (including the night during your sleep).

The experts disagree if intermittent fast is an effective diet to see long-term results. There are not many studies onIntermittent fasting services Still, if the results come mainly from anecdotal evidence of people who have tried themselves if. Like many schemes, success varies depending on the person. Thus, while some diet people have experienced benefits such as weight loss and blood pressure, in others, if IF can also lead to fatigue and crash on unhealthy snacks. "The 8-hour eating day can be difficult for people, and I'm really hungry makes people," Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN and founder ofIsabel Smith Nutrition and Lifestyle.

Moskovitz says she tends not to recommend whether to customers because it is not always a lasting approach to weight loss, but there are certainly reasons to try. "For those who have trouble witheat late at night, Especially eating junk food, then he can certainly make a difference ", explains.

She gave me useful tips to start the experience: continue to focus on a healthy and balanced diet, take a multivitamin to make sure you always get all the necessary nutrients, and listen to your body.

The IF I Follow-up

I chose to go with the 08h16 diet, because there was no way I wanted to go two entire days without eating. Smith accepted, noting that "for most people at night 12-14 hours is fast possible. When I asked her tips, Smith recommended that I actually work my way up to the 08h16 method: Start by doing 12 hours, 12 hours of rest until I could make a way up to 8 out of 16 off. Every day ended up looking different for me, but on average a day my schedule looked like this:

07:30 To wake up
08:30 30 minutes walk at work, take a coffee
10:30 Snack (days 1-4)
24:00 Snack (Days 5-10)
14 hours Breakfast
17 hours Snack
18 hours Walk at home
18:30. 1 hour of exercise
19:45 Having dinner
11 o'clock in the evening. To sleep

This routine is quite welcoming to the IF food, but my weeks contain a lot of things at random from Baby-Sitting to dine with friends, so I feared that my lifestyle a little chaotic would inhibit my success. That said, I always thought it was worth trying.

Intermittent results fasting

1

The hungry morning was real

Hungry woman fork knife empty plate
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I'm not huge at breakfast, but I start snacking at 10:30. Every day almost religiously. During the first three days, it was not a huge problem because I was only fasting for 12 hours. I stopped eating most nights at 9 o'clock. And had the green light again at the same time the next morning. But when I plunged this window of no-go at 4 pm the four day, my belly roared was difficult to ignore until noon. Smith warned me that theHunger often leads to bingingSo, I was careful not to start pushing chip handles in my mouth when the clock struck 12. I ate an apple or banana with peanut butter to keep my snacks shut up until I have a greater meal around 2.

2

The coffee was my best friend

Coffee
Mike Marquez / Beldshash

I have been a coffee drinker from high school. He has always helped slow my hunger in the morning, but only until my 10.30. Snack Time rides around. I sipping the problem quite slowly (I even bring my own insulating cup because it is still cold in a cup), then when the morning food was out of bounds, I gave myself an extra dose and separates me until I can eat. Coffee is allowed during fasting periods as long as it's zero-calorie, but I'm not a black coffee fan because it's so bitter, so I added a splash of vanilla almond milk to my coup. Some call who cheat, but I call it a change.

3

My mornings were either mega-productive or unnecessary

Woman working at desk
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At first, I could not focus me in the morning. I was so distracted by my hunger that I could not pass through tasks without dreaming of subsequent meals or scroll through the central Instagram accounts of the food. Before fasting, I was much more productive before lunch, so it was a strange change. He even extended to the weekend. I'm stolen to see the family and I struggled to get up and move before lunch. My last day with the family was when I hit my fast until 16 hours and I returned to work and the city, my mornings finally felt productive. The weekend has solidified the fact that I lived to be hungry, so I used this feeling when I was back at work. I took care until the lunch stole. Essentially, as with any diet, it takes a while to go and get used to the changes.

4

I improved to planning

Calendar
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The first days, when I finally been allowed to eat, I ate mostly tons ofHealthy snacks Because I was voracious. Almonds, apples and peanut butter, pretzels, hummus and cheese, you get the picture. But finally, I started being more aware of the food I ate and I wrote everything in a newspaper to keep a track.

Instead of cute snacks and snacks that were easy to lose, I specify meals and snacks that I could eat between the two. Moskovitz advised me to make sure the diet did not miss me with nutrients that I receive for a normal day of eating, so I discovered that the writing of my meals in advance allowed me to make sure I sat up enough. If I knew I was going out to eat, I would leave a white and fill it with everything I ordered the next day.

5

I was more conscious

Woman choosing apple over sugar-filled pastry
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In the same vein, when I started planning my meals, I was much more aware of what I ate. I chose healthier options as I get used to what I did not want to waste valuable catering schedules on empty calories. For example, Day 7, I spent most of my catering period at airports and sitting on aircraft. I knew I would not have had the opportunity to cook and plan meals for the day (thank you very much, in phase 100), and I did not want to ruin the choices of this day by catching the first calorie, treatedairport food I saw. Although Aunt Anne was tempting, I tasted a carrot and ranch pack. I gruised that and almonds I had in my backpack until I come back to New York and that I can make me a real meal. The full consciousness postponed in the other days too, because at the end, it made me feel like I had more control over the brief window I had to eat.

6

I did not sleep very well very well

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I do not know if it was one of the results of the intermittent fast, but I noticed that I did not sleep very well during my experience. After a few days, I woke up several times during the night who feels super thirsty and had to get up to drink water before we can fall asleep. I tried to adjust the types of food I ate to repair it. Other bloggers who have tried the diet have reported similar problems, but I could not find concrete research linking the problem with fasting in addition to my reception accounts. Normally, I do not have a problem to sleep, it was a negative side effect.

7

I lost weight

Feet on scale
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Well, half a book. But on the basis of the search I led before starting, even this small number is better than the zero books as most people lost. I did not feel roughly thinner, but I always attribute the change to my conscientious regime and the fact that I was running this week more than in a while. Since my mornings were generally groggy and less productive, at the moment I left the work at night (in the middle of the peak of maximum consumption), I felt energized and motivated for the races I raised all the winter. Before fasting, I would use all my energy during the morning and afternoon. As I found myself at home after leaving my office for the day, exercise was the last thing in my mind. I can only assume that I had continued to go there, I would have even more weight. But hey, Rome was not built in a day.

Latest thoughts:

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I noticed that my schedule and lifestyle do not make if a very sustainable food plan for me. Do not label myself, but I live in New York and I was 22 years old at day five of this experience. I constantly crowned and have trouble sticking to a routine.

For example, if it was a children's custody jitter, a class of Hiit after-life, or catching a late train, I found myself to find myself at checking the time and realize that it was after 8 hours and that I had not eaten anything for dinner. This problem left me with two options: I could dine at 9 o'clock. then fast up to 1 p. The next day, or I could give up my nocturnal meal (and try to ignore the pains located in my stomach until the next morning) and eat it by 9 o'clock. No other option was ideal for me.

My no-go windows changed almost every day and I could not maintain the discipline only because I knew I was doing this for a limited period.

This diet is much more suitable for people who have a strict daily routine. Smith warned me that weight loss takes a while on this diet and found that she was right, so it's not the best for aFast correction of belly.


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