My First Week of Fasting
Some of you may be aware that recently I have started Intermittent fasting, this is where I fast from 10pm at night until 6 hours after I wake the following day. I have been doing this for 8 days now and can happily say I am really enjoying it, I was worried to start it as I thought I would struggle with hunger. I know some of you reading this are thinking I can never do that I would be starving, I have gone from eating 3 meals by 2pm to eating none, if I can do it then so can you. From 2pm-10pm is when I consume all my calories for the day so in no way shape or form am I starving myself, I eat the same number of calories as I would if was to eat all day.
So, why am I fasting? The main reason being to increase productivity and convenience, I get sick of basing my daily routine around food with fasting I no longer have to do this. Usually when I wake up its cook and eat breakfast, was up and then its time to get ready to go. Now all I have to do is drink water and I can dive straight into my online work, whether that’s social media, advertising, creating plans or writing blogs. Another reason is the amount of benefits fasting has over eating 6 meals a day, when your body is in a fasted state it works completely differently. Now your body has no or minimal food to run off it can burn fat for energy rather than your body’s favourite source of fuel sugar and carbs, it boost’s HGH (Human Growth Hormone) meaning you will retain more muscle mass and your body and your metabolism doesn’t slow down like it would if wasn’t fasting.
Day 1: I woke up at 8am and had half a pint of water, often hunger feelings is dehydration drinking water first thing will help stop this feeling. I did not get any hunger feeling until 11:45 I had black coffee which helps to suppress hunger, the reason I had a black coffee is because you cannot consume any calories in your fasting period. Other drinks that I have during my fast are green tea and sparkling water. When I break my fast I have a small snack first, rice cakes and a apple, having a small snack helps settle your stomach before a bigger meal and stops you from feeling bloated. I did not struggle with hunger on this day and I didn’t break my fast because I was hungry I broke it because it was time to. I noted that I had to try drink more water as I usually drink a lot with my meals but due to eating less meals my water intake was lower.
Day 2: I woke up with mild hunger on this day but shortly disappeared after I had a glass of water, at 12:00 the hunger came back and was more frequent than the first day. I broke the fast 10 minutes before which isn’t a huge deal but for me in some way was a little bit mentally defeating, I’m quite weird like that. Today was my first workout during my fasting and cut, I felt quite dizzy but was more to pushing myself to hard as I haven’t trained that sort of way in 18 months and I tried jumping straight back in. still enjoying my fasting at this stage.
Day 3: I started getting bad patches of feeling sick I was unsure if I was coming down with something or it was the fasting causing me to feel this way. I read headaches may come with fasting due to your brain adjusting to running off less carbs for fuel so thought it may have been something to do with that. I had to stop my work and get up to walk about, after this I felt fine. Hunger today was better than the previous day, the first couple of days I struggled to fit my calories in the 8-hour window but today it was a lot easier to do. My water intake was a lot higher which helped with the fast and made me feel better, minus the sickness.
Day 4: 9:21 I started to feel hungry, so I had a green tea, shortly after the sickness and headaches came back, it didn’t last long but still felt rotten for a while. This was the first day I felt the great productive benefits of fasting I had completed so much work which I never would have done if I was having to cook and eat every couple of hours. I enjoyed not constantly worrying about eating and cooking food and made me realise how much we base our lives around eating rather than other things. I was confused by my weight this day as there was no difference in my weight what so ever it was constantly up and down, usually when I cut by eating 6 meals a day my weight would drop by 1kg in the first week but here it remained the same.
Day 5: I over slept and got up 45 minutes late, since fasting I have seemed to turn into a bit of a night owl, not feeling tired at night so staying up later but struggling to wake up. I am unsure if it is fasting or the cold dark mornings that is making me struggle to wake up. Today I had no headache or no sickness feeling due to not having a green tea, I worked out that I was getting sick after every time I had a green tea, so I cut them out. I only get slight hunger feelings but not enough to deter me from fasting as the feeling disappears after 5 minutes or so and isn’t unbearable.
Day 6: still have more energy at night rather than the mornings, maybe due to consuming my calories later I have more energy. Once I’m up I am fine and full of energy it’s just the initial getting out of a comfy warm bed into the cold. Second day of no green and again I felt perfectly fine, so I knew it was that causing the issues, without it I get a bit hungrier but I upped the water and coffee to help suppress any hunger I may feel. My weight is still relatively the same it varies from 0.8kg down or 1kg heavier, although my weight is near the same I am noticing more definition around my stomach and feeling a lot firmer and tighter. Hopefully my weight is staying high due to muscle retention, I have been recording my weight every morning and every night, I am not obsessed with my weight what so ever but keeping a track for you guys.
Day 7: I woke up very late at 10:30am due to going out the night before for some Christmas drinks with my friends, and yes, I was a little bit hungover. Due to being out and drinking like most of us do I ended up in McDonalds eating junk food. Now whilst this is bad it’s not the end of the world. I know a lot of people that will kick themselves for eating rubbish one day, but it’s easy to get back on track. Let’s say you eat 700 calories over what you are meant to, which is a huge amount over, instead of kicking yourself and thinking your diets ruined over the next 7 days eat 100 calories less per day and then you have eradicated the issue.
And that’s my first week of fasting, I am really enjoying it and this is my first time ever experiencing it. I will continue this right over Christmas, even Christmas day, who knows this year I might eat my whole dinner without feeling overly bloated and sick. In the evening it will be a cheat day though and I will enjoy my favourite chocolates and sweets. But after that I will be right back on track and sticking to healthy foods.
I Hope you have all enjoyed this read about my current fasting experience.
If you have any questions on the topic feel free to message me.
Thanks for reading 😊