You may have seen intermittent fasting somewhere or heard about it without fully understanding it. Yes, No? Well, I’m gonna tell you everything I know about it.
I started fasting intermittently on the 27th of July, 2017 and I have lost 5kg so far. I’ve never been bothered about what I weigh as long as I notice changes in my body and clothes but I weigh 55kg as at today.
I was skeptical about trying intermittent fasting because I wasn’t convinced of its benefits. I fast regularly during Ramadan and some Mondays/Thursdays between 5:15am – 7:00pm every year and I never lose weight. My neck only gets longer with holes by the sides which everyone notices and that’s it.
Intermittent Fasting is an eating pattern where you eat for a limited duration of time and fast for the rest. It switches your body to fat burning mode and it also helps reduce cravings if you eat low carb, good fats and healthy protein during your eating window. The most common form of intermittent fasting is a 16 hours fast and 8 hours eating period. This is the one I started with obviously.
Okay so it’s not like you are fasting 16 hours during the day lol no😂. The 16 hours includes your sleep time too. So for instance, you start eating from 12pm then you stop at 8pm and the fast starts then and ends at 12pm the next day. During the fast you are allowed to drink water and organic tea but nothing else.
For me, I chose to fast between 10pm to 2pm and eat between 2pm – 10pm. I started noticing changes in my body very quickly. This hardly ever happens for me because I’m one of those people that find it difficult to lose weight. I always have to put in an extra effort but it wasn’t applicable here.
By the middle of August, I worked out less and my clothes were getting loose. I went to the tailor’s to get fitted for a dress and when I went for another fitting two weeks later, I was significantly smaller. I started working out more to keep my body in shape😂. I don’t wanna be thin🙄. More weights and squats and definitely less cardio. Who needs cardio??? Okay, okay I went on a walk once a week because I like to clear my head.
By September, it became a lifestyle and routine. Even during my watermelon diet, I was still fasting intermittently. I try as much as possible to have fruit first when I want to eat. This is because it stimulates the digestive tract to energize the body. Also, I have two meals or just one each day.
Intermittent Fasting has helped me in other ways besides the obvious weight loss;
- It has helped me stop my unusual late hour snacking. I’m not allowed to eat after 10pm so no Jacob’s crackers or naan bread for me 😂 just tea.
- It has made my food resistance level so high that sometimes I forget I haven’t even eaten till later.
- It has helped me realize I can still have a lot of energy without eating so much.
Yes, there were some times I ate after my deadline (10:30/11:00/12:00). Whenever this happened, it only meant my fast would be longer(2:30/3:00/4:00) and I stopped eating at 10:00 to keep the routine going.
Are you looking to lose weight fast?? Try Intermittent Fasting. There are a couple of apps that are designed to help you to monitor your fasting times such as Zero, Vora, InFasting from the App Store.
Thanks for reading.
Mariam Shittu
xo
MARIAM SHITTU 
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