I think it's obvious from all the recipes on this blog that I love food. I love to cook. I love to bake. And I love to EAT! I always have! But I don't love being fat. I've never been morbidly obese, but I've certainly carried around more weight than was healthy for me.
The first time I lost a sizable amount of weight, I was around 16 years old. I went on a low-carb diet and upped my exercise and lost around 30 lbs. I kept that off for most of my twenties, always conscious of my carb and calorie intake. I have never been an athlete, but I have always and still do a lot of walking, with the occasional bout of aerobics or light running thrown in.
Then after being married for almost a decade and having three children, I found that I needed to again lose weight. This time I latched on to the Weigh Down diet. I don't agree with the founder's spiritual beliefs, but the diet itself did work. I lost 30 pounds. Again. This diet teaches you to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. The problem with this diet is that you end up not eating much ever! I guess that really solves the weight problem, but I began to miss food. I missed eating. Remember, I LIKE to eat! With this diet, the less you ate, the less hungry you get, and if you aren't hungry you don't eat! Thus the rapid weight loss. Eventually I rebelled from this diet and slowly gained the weight back.
Though I value exercise for it's wonderful and many health benefits, I certainly wasn't going to work out like a Biggest Loser contestant. Bob Harper would kill me in a week! One comment that stuck with me from the Weigh Down diet, was that disabled people were not destined to be fat just because they couldn't exercise. I agree with that. Reducing your calorie intake is a sure way to lose pounds. You should exercise to increase your health, stamina, overall feeling of well-being and flexibility, but you don't have to kill yourself to be thin.
I had resigned myself to being a bit overweight. I wasn't huge, certainly acceptable for a woman in her 40's. I didn't love my body, but I didn't absolutely hate it either. I didn't want to follow a diet that precluded me from eating carbs, or fats or sugar or said I could never have a feast. Like I've said in a prior post, I don't like to be told I can't have something! It just makes me obsess about it until I get it!
Then one day my husband started losing weight. For him it's simple. Just don't eat and you lose weight. He was losing a lot of weight by just not eating all day and only eating a reasonable dinner. I wasn't willing to do this every day. I like eating too much.
That's when I discovered Intermittent Fasting, (IF). You can search Intermittent Fasting on the Internet and have a slew of people explain it much better than I can. But here is my take on it. Basically you pick one or two days a week and FAST for a period of time. For me this means that after eating dinner one evening, I will not eat anything until dinner the next evening.
I find this so much easier than counting calories, or eliminating whole food groups. I just don't eat for a 24 hour period a few days a week. As you can imagine this really puts a dent in my calorie input for the whole week. Some people do this once a week, others do it three times a week. Mormons evidently do it once a month. The benefits are incredible. Not only will you lose weight, but you actually extend your life span, fight cancer, and re tune your body to insulin. Think about it. You are putting less carbs, fats etc. into your body, just by not eating for one day. You will therefore decrease your inflammatory index. Your cholesterol will be lower. Your blood pressure will improve. I don't have a problem with overeating the next day. That has not been an issue for me at all.
On my eating days I eat what I want, though I try to eat small during the week. This means I still try to not overeat for the most part, but if I'm hungry, I eat. On weekends I allow myself to splurge, and eat what I want, within reason. I don't eat all day, all weekend long. But I will allow myself to eat cookies and ice cream and pizza. I still follow my rule of two, which is simply that I only eat two of the indulgent item and call it quits. This plan has worked, with little effort on my part. I tolerate fasting well. I actually look forward to it, especially if I have eaten a lot over the weekend! As it is only one day at a time, I know I can eat the next day, so I don't get stressed out about it. With the Weigh Down diet, I could never eat cereal in the morning because I wasn't sure I was really hungry. But with IF I can look forward to my cereal and decaffeinated coffee on my eating days and enjoy eating. I can have those nachos at the ballgame, because I know that though I may be consuming more calories than I need for that day, tomorrow I will have a deficit on my fasting day. It all evens out. I don't have to resign myself to only eating rabbit food for the rest of my life. I have lost those pesky 30 pounds again and I have kept it off for about a year now. I feel confident that this plan will work for a lifetime. I don't feel the urge to rebel, as I can still eat what I enjoy in moderation and stay thin.
Now I've set a number on the scale. If I go over that number, it's time to really crack down and increase my fasting days. Otherwise, I just maintain, enjoy the occasional feast and splurge on the weekends and get back on track during the week. I love it!
For more information and science on this eating style, visit Intermittent Fasting or Eat Stop Eat. I never bought a book, or spent any money. I just read enough to want to try it and I am here to tell you it absolutely works!
One word of caution for women, please be sure and get enough calcium, Vitamin D and green leafy vegetables in your diet to prevent bone loss. This along with some form of weight resistance exercise will keep your bones healthy.
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