Welp…..here I am at the end of my first full week of intermittent fasting.
First week impressions:
- Not as challenging as I thought it would be
- The entire experience is not starting out the way I thought it would start
- My energy seemed no different….until today
- I feel like this is a very sustainable practice
When embarking on this endeavor, I thought I would struggle with the fasting time being 16 hours. I thought I would be feel starved, cranky, and tired. In fact, from day one, I did not feel that way at all. About an hour before my fast is up, I do start to feel hungry; but where it’s only an hour, I don’t feel like I need to eat everything in sight right away. I found that I wasn’t distracted by being hungry like I anticipated either.
Because I had always followed the practice of many small meals, I thought that I would be more tired during fasting. Again, this was not the case. I am thinking that my being tired when not eating in the past was more about my iron levels than anything else, and since I have changed iron supplements (same time as starting fasting) I don’t feel so wiped out. Some people reported big bursts of energy once they started a practice of fasting, but I did not experience that. For the most part…I just felt normal. However, this morning I feel more clear headed and less like I’m dragging a tire behind me than usual. I can’t say that it’s a big “burst” of energy, but it does feel good and different.
One habit that I was sad to let go of (notice the use of the word “was”) is a morning mocha. Nearly everyday for about 10 years I have been a non-fat-mocha in the morning kind of girl. Truly…..nearly every day. Since my fast does not end until noon, this was now out and I could only do black coffee, tea, or water in the morning. Black coffee has never been enticing to me – too bitter and not enough chocolate. But I find that suddenly it’s fine. Yes it’s still bitter, but I don’t mind it.
An unexpected feeling has been aversion to sugar. For the most part, the very thought of something sweet literally makes my stomach churn right now. I have splurged on a mocha with almond milk (small one) twice during my eating window this week, but the thought of a regular mocha or a larger one sounds awful. The thought of cake, or a Snickers, truly makes me ill. Certainly this is good because I have been consuming WAY too much sugar…but I was not expecting to feel so strongly so soon. It actually makes a lot of decisions easier.
This week has been solely about my eating and figuring out how this works. My parents are visiting from out of town, and so schedules are thrown out the window in favor of time together…so I have not been to the gym. I also let myself consume a little too much junk during the last couple of days and allowed my water intake to drop off. I just got lazy about it. So I think that my results for everything from weight to attitude would be even more if I had been more diligent the last two days.
So….where does that leave me today? As stated, my energy is better than it has been for a long while. My craving for sugar, and the morning mocha, has dropped right off a cliff. I am down a solid five pounds, and I am wearing a shirt that was a smidge too tight three weeks ago. I feel relieved at how this has started, and have no worry about maintaining this plan as long as I want.
For this next week I have a couple of goals:
- Get to the gym twice. This is in addition to resuming the teaching of my Saturday Dance-fitness class
- Drink 60% or better of my water every day. My water target is 100 fl oz., so that would be at least 60 fl oz every day
Are you tackling intermittent fasting as well? Do you have questions? Drop a comment below, on FB, on Instagram, or email me….funkedupfit@gmail.com
Funked Up Fit 