A friend of mine introduced me to Intermittent Fasting. Okay he didn’t exactly introduce me but just mentioned that he’s been doing it and I jumped on the bandwagon. Intermittent Fasting is one of the way to get into ketosis.
I had tried keto diet some 8-9 months ago to get into ketosis but keto diet isn’t convenient for me. I’m 14+ hour out of home and if you’re not cooking yourself keto diet, you won’t necessarily find it outside to order it either. And if you do it’s f*ck expensive. I mean, why??? I found a restaurant to order keto food near my work place but 500 INR for one meal seems outrageous and doesn’t fit in my frugal lifestyle. I even ordered from it twice or thrice but I couldn’t help but feel guilty about spending so much.
How Intermittent Fasting works
I first came across Intermittent Fasting through Tim Ferris from some of his experiments. From his podcast, I know that he’s gone on IF for 2 straight days. For me, two straight days of fasting was extremely discouraging. And my friend introduced me to 16-8 schedule where you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 hours. This was doable.
The science behind 16-8 IF is that out of the 16 hours fasting period, after 6 to 12 hours you get into a period where your body starts burning fat to gain energy. You can speed up the process by exercing for only about 10mins during the fasting process.
The best part about IF, of course, is that you don’t necessarily have to change your diet. You can keep eating what you eat, however, this doesn’t mean that you can increase the portion size.
You might wonder 16 hours of fasting would be difficult. Yes, it is! But only for the first 3 days. I struggled a lot during the first three days where my body craved for colories. And that’s okay, when you first change your diet, your uninformed body produces enzymes to digest calories during the normal schedule. After a few days, you’ll be surprised that you won’t even feel hungry anymore.
What are you allowed to eat during the fasting period?
You can eat anything that’s less than 50 calories. So non-fat coffee/ tea should do the trick.
This is my third week of Intermittent Fasting with 16-8. I even had one day of 24 hour fasting. As of this point, it’s ridiculously difficult but I’m hoping that my body adjusts to it.
You might have realized that I’m not talking much about the weight loss. That’s because it’s a click bait. While I’ve lost weight there are other advantages of IF that I value more.
My Stoic beliefs
Being a follower of Stoicism, IF fits in well where you put yourself in certain adversities so that you know you can cope well in case you actually have to go through them and aren’t weakend by external factors. I’ll continue the 16-8 schedule and add in mix of 24 hours stint in between and hope someday I can do the 48 hour one just as Tim Ferris.
I feel more alert and active
It’s only been my third week but I can’t deny how alert and active I feel. Ever since I entered my 30th year on this beautiful planet, I had started feel lethargic ALL THE TIME. I wouldn’t want to go out to meet friends and was in a general funk. I can genuinely feel I have more energy and am more alert all the time. Not just during the fasting period but even during the 8 hour eating period. And that’s one of the greatest advantages of IF for me.
I actually love networking, can you imagine how being lethargic has taken a toll on meeting new people?
I’m saving breakfast money
I hadn’t even thought about this one to be honest and was pointed out by the friend who introduced me to 16-8 IF. He’s also unemployed at the moment so I can understand why he’s been thinking about it and I’m not.
I’m used to eating cereals for breakfast which costs anywhere between 300-500 INR a month, plus adding the milk cost. It’s raining money in our house. JK.
Weight loss
Alright, let’s talk about weight loss too. In the past I’ve tried so many diets and have even tried gym. Nothing has been as effective as intermittent fasting. I started off with 68KGs and on my third week I’m at 63KGs. My target weight is to be at 58KGs for my height. To get to my target weight I’ll have to get into some physical activity and just IF won’t do the trick. That’s okay. I’ll get to it.
How to find motivation and stick to it?
If you’re planning to start IF, you might need some motivation. I used the app Bodyfast to keep track and keep myself motivated. The app offers coaching as well which I haven’t been using to be honest. Bodyfast sends you reminders of when your fasting period starts and ends. It can help you to keep yourself on track. Of course, I’m not saying you must use Bodyfast for IF. You can use whatever rocks your boat. But once you’ve started IF stick to the schedule.
The results of IF are just beautiful.