Friday, April 18, 2014
Four Years of Intermittent Fasting
Historic Eating Problem
My story all began with my historic eating problem which date back to 1989. This problem started bothering me soon after I turned 30. Perhaps due to slow metabolism, but no one could explain the reason. There has been a serious conflict between my natural desire for food and my body’s saying ‘no’. However I have been pleasing my mouth, and ignoring my body’s refusal of food. So my stomach is always full to overload like an airborne balloon. In March 2006, just before I turn 50, I took an important step in my life as to change my eating habit.
Lose Weight As A Result of Fasting
Actually over the past 20 years, doctors, dietitians and friends suggested hundreds of ways to correct my problem. Somehow I found only one way work for me – fasting. At the beginning, I went on a 6-day juice fasting. I lost six pounds out of that. And most of these six pounds were shed off from my belly fat. Over the course of the next six months, I lost a total of 20 pounds. My body weight has been stable since then. Fasting had greatly improved my appearance and made me feel great.
The Magic of Intermittent Fasting
At the beginning, I was thinking that I could resume my normal three-meal-day after the initial juice fasting. But I was wrong. The miracle feeling told me that ‘Anna, don’t look back; look forward, you’ve found the right way to eat!’ The feeling was just like I’ve been temporary disabled and got fully recovered. I would never want to be disabled again. As a matter of fact, I don’t really need that much food to survive. However I cannot give up food forever, so I target for one meal a day, just to balance my psychological and physical need of food. There marked the beginning of my intermittent fasting program.
I set up a food diary to record my eating history and at a later stage set up a food blog to record what I eat. On average, I skip 18 to 23 meals in a month as in some cases I cannot avoid eating due to business and personal social commitments. In some days, I replace a meal by snacks, a fruit or a glass of juice.
Overcoming Fasting Hurdle
Talking about my fasting experience, the most challenging bit was the first two days of juice fasting. I need strong determination to suppress my natural desire for food. I told myself its time to do something towards a better quality of life as I have been suffering for 17 years. From the third day onward, the feeling was really good. Though it was a bit tired but I still continued with my morning calisthenics and midday workout. These two sessions of daily exercise has been part of my life. Even now, I’m still doing them without breakfast and lunch and I’m still energetic enough to deal with my daily work.
While practicing intermittent fasting, the other hurdle to overcome is on the social side. I have to alert people of my change in eating habit and that they need to reserve my diary in advance, in case they want to eat with me. Luckily I have my family members’ and friends’ support by respecting my new eating habit. Food wise, I don’t really have any restriction. I just eat as usually, except not as frequent as before.
One meal every 24 hour is just good enough to keep me healthy and energetic. Unlike other weight loss program asking people to focus on low carb, low calorie, fat burning, ab exercising etc. intermittent fasting enables me to lose weight naturally and gradually. It is not an overnight weight loss program, but a long term lasting health program. I create this blog to spread this message and hope that more and more people can enjoy the benefits of IF and improve their quality of life and stay healthy
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