My personal experience with intermittent fasting
Here at fuelED, we believe there's no one "right way" - we're all about helping people find the nutrition strategy that works for them. Read on to learn about Alexander's personal experience with intermittent fasting.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a more structured way of eating, where there is a period of time during the day when you are fasting and a period of time when you can eat. This may seem very detailed and difficult, but it can be a great thing to try if you are looking for ways to alter your eating and lifestyle habits. Several studies have shown that practicing intermittent fasting helps turn fat into energy, which will then release ketones into the body, resulting in more energy. There have also been studies that have shown intermittent fasting increasing your metabolic flexibility, and also lowering insulin resistance, which leads to a lower chance of type 2 diabetes. Intermittent fasting has also been linked to a decrease in many different kinds of long term diseases, like Alzheimers, heart disease, and risk of stroke. I don’t want to bore you with all the other potential health benefits, but those are just to name a few!
My intermittent fasting experience
I started intermittent fasting in March of 2020. When Covid hit, I really wanted to use the opportunity to try and work on my diet and overall lifestyle choices. With so much free time, it allowed me to experiment with new things. Intermittent fasting was one of the first things I tried and I still do it to this day! I do a 16-8 hour window of fasting. This means I fast for 16 hours/day, and eat during the other 8-hour window. So, I usually finish eating around 8pm, and eat again at 12pm the next day. There are all kinds of fasting periods, from 10-16 hours being the most common. And if one day I really have to eat at 11 or 10:30 because of a scheduling issue, I can! But, I try to stay consistent with the time period as much as possible. In my experience, the first week or so was difficult. I was a sucker for a big breakfast, so the change of not eating until noon was definitely something to get used to. There were many challenges to intermittent fasting at first, including periods when I was super hungry. It was a battle; but I really wanted to give it a try and see if the benefits I had read about were true, so I stuck with it. Some things I did to combat my hunger were drinking lots of water, working out, and I even started drinking coffee. Eventually, I got used to it; my body responded really well and I started to see some of the benefits that came with intermittent fasting. I felt more focused, I felt more energized, and my workouts felt better. Whether all these benefits can be attributed to intermittent fasting or not, they’re definitely correlated with the change I made in my lifestyle.
Is intermittent fasting right for you?
Like we always say at fuelED… it depends. It works well for some people, myself included. Like I mentioned above, there is some evidence for health benefits associated with intermittent fasting. But for some people, the main reason intermittent fasting works - especially as a weight loss strategy - is simply because it limits the window in which they're eating (and therefore limits mindless snacking). And there are plenty of other strategies out there that can help you achieve the results you’re looking for depending on you, your lifestyle, and your goals.
So what kind of nutrition strategy or approach will work best for you in the long term? Maybe it’s intermittent fasting, like it was for me, or maybe it’s something else. This is exactly the kind of question that having a nutrition coach can help you answer. Click the link below for more information!
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