Intermittent Fasting has Changed My Life

In my last entry I talked about IF and the Ketogenic diet and my experience - I promised an update.  This is my 6 month update on the overall effects that IF and Keto have had on my life.

Results:  I reduced by body weight from 194 pounds to 174 pounds, my Levis jean size went from 36x32 to 32x32.  I lost a lot of body fat over the last 6 months though the mid section and hips.  Losing body weight was never my goal, health was my primary goal.

My feeding protocol morphed into one meal a day (OMAD) Monday through Friday and two meals a day on Saturday and Sunday.  I started OMAD in April and continued through the summer months.

I did one 72 hour fast in mid September to see how it felt after I came off a week of vacation, but I primarily stuck to the 23:1 protocol.  23 hour fast, 1 hour feeding window during the week and 20:4 protocol on weekends. I ate LCHFMP - low carb, high fat, moderate protein. I did drink beer at times, so my abstinence from alcohol ended on April 23, it was a 6 month abstinence window.

I walked as my primary aerobic exercise with 2-3 mile walks each morning, slow steady leisurely pace.  Strength training migrated to body weight movements like push ups, single leg Bulgarian split squats, and dead hang pull ups.  I stopped all barbell training in mid summer.

I went to OMAD slowly and didn't push to hard on my training.  What I found is pushing through the hunger was primarily mental and once I got into ketosis and burning fat for energy fuel my hunger subsided rapidly.

Observations:

• Educating yourself on the benefits of IF and Keto eating is easily done through You Tube and reading.
• Reading two amazing books by Dr. Jason Fung, The Obesity Code and the Diabetes Code really opened my mind.
• Our government/food industry has been lying to the people for over 50 years and the proof is the epidemic of obesity in this country.
• Learning to prepare and cook some great tasting LCHFMP meals was fun.
• On my 60th birthday I performed 38 strict push ups and 15 dead hang pull ups at a body weight of 177 pounds.
• Alcohol in the form of craft beer was consumed as the summer progressed and I noticed a huge difference in how I felt after the consumption.  I cut way back on drinking alcohol.
• On rare occasions I ate cheat meals, I really felt the effects for a few days afterwords.
• Performing a 72 hour fast was not as difficult, breaking that fast was a bit rough.
• The sweet spot for me is fasting for 18-23 hours daily.
• You do not need carbohydrates, once you flip over to fat burning (ketosis).
• When I do not feel well the solution is fasting.
• Fasting costs absolutely nothing - eating OMAD saves you a lot of money.
• Preparing and cooking food at home is way better than going to any restaurant. 
• Abstinence from alcohol has great benefits and I will continue to practice periods of abstinence.
• Sleep is way better when you eliminate sugar and refined carbohydrates from your diet.
• Fructose (fruit sugar) is not as good for you as you might think and I cut way back on fruit consumption.
• Read your labels, there is a lot of hidden sugar and chemicals in packaged and prepared foods.
• Raised energy levels and mental clarity is a great benefit from IF and Ketogenic eating.
• Feeling better and health was my primary goal in this experiment.

I will update this as I progress through the next year. 

If you have not tried intermittent fasting or ketogenic eating I highly recommend you give it a go.  The word of caution is you have been brainwashed to believe the opposite of this lifestyle protocol.

Stay strong, stay hungry, stay disease free.