Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss

Does Intermittent Fasting Really Work?

You may have noticed I write about dieting and weight loss a lot.  I am somewhat of an expert.  When I was about 12 years old my mom put me on the Weight Watchers diet.  Back when I was a kid (yes, in the dark ages,) that was the only “diet” program in existence.  How times have changed.

I have spent the better part of the last 45 years on some sort of eating program (I refuse to call it a diet anymore).  I have even been a vegan or vegetarian a few times.  I love animals and hate eating them but I have never felt good on a vegan or vegetarian diet. The Dr. Atkins Diet, the 70’s version and the current one didn’t work that well for me but I did lose 60 pounds over a period of about 3 years doing different low carb (and low fat) diets.  After I lost the 60 lbs I had no problem keeping it off for 2 years – the longest stretch in my life that I was slim.

How Intermittent Fasting Helped Me Keep off the Weight

For two years I ate whatever I wanted and it was a piece of cake (I love food metaphors) to  keep the weight off.  I used to brag to my friends how I ate tons of food.  And I did.  I just ate earlier in the day.  I swear I ate about 2,000 calories most days.  I didn’t know about intermittent fasting and thought I must be burning off the calories.  I didn’t lose weight but I was happy just maintaining for the first time in my life.

Why Intermittent Fasting Might Work for You

There are various ways to do intermittent fasting.  You can just eat your food during a smaller window of time every day (my favorite), eat 500 or 600 calories two days a week, or if you are really disciplined, don’t eat anything at all 1 day a week. Though I am a firm believer in the fact there is no one size fits all when it comes to slimming down, I do believe if you want to lose weight, you should give intermittent fasting a try.

According to Dr. Mercola , ” One of the most effective ways I know of to eliminate sugar cravings and shed unwanted weight is intermittent fasting as this will help reset your body to burning fat instead of sugar as its primary fuel. When sugar is not needed for your primary fuel and when your sugar stores run low, your body will crave it less.”

Intermittent fasting is a tool.  This doesn’t mean you can chow down several plates at a lunch buffet.  Eating good quality food is important.  I won’t go into that because I am going to assume if you are reading this blog, you already know what that is.  If not, leave a comment and I will answer.

Never Feel Deprived Again

I did put on some of the weight I lost years ago. I stopped the intermittent fasting. I am going to put that  back into my life and will let you know the results. I love this way of eating because I am one of those people who detests following  a strict protocol. I also love the discipline of not eating for 16 hours a day (not to mention less meal planning). One of the interesting things about intermittent fasting is that your body gets used to not eating for hours and you won’t feel hungry. Sometimes I used to go 20 hours without eating because I wasn’t really hungry. Our ancestors weren’t chowing down on food all day long (at least I don’t think they were). It makes sense that 1 or 2 meals a day is all we need to stay healthy and slim.

To your Health!

Peter Gillham

You have successfully subscribed!