Anyone have experience with fasting or intermitten fasting that they'd like to share. I feel like that's where I'm headed based on my eating patterns lately.
I'll share. I found this video on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihhj_VSKiTs&list=PLQIrmUFjdJhIfMxdVG1Fkf5oHFNAlh0fL&t=2s&index=1 and was intrigued so I did as much reading on it as could. I have done a juice fast for 3 days before and that led me to quit my coffee habit. I was also able to quit alcohol because I was started to drinking at home when alone because I reduced going out and socializing with other adults after having kids. However, one think I couldn't manage was sugar. I would quit for a few weeks and then slowly try to have a treat once a month, which became twice a month, then once a week, then twice a week, ect, ect..
However, when I read up more on fasting, then intermittent fasting, then low-carb diets, there were so many stories of people just not craving sugar anymore because they also cut their carb addiction. I figure I would give it a shot but it took a while come to terms with low to no refined carbs, I'm Asian and rice, noodles, and starchy food in general was a staple in my diet.
Starting in November last year I started cutting down my carbs and sugar, not yet low carb. Then I did the 5:2 diet, eating only 600 calories, again no refined carbs or sugar, on Monday's and Thursday's. Once I did that for about 6 weeks. If found this blog post on a 21 day fast,
https://personalexcellence.co/blog/fasting/, which really gave me confidence to try a 7 day fast.
The fast as a very good experience for me overall, for my wife that had to take care of three kids for the last three days of the fast, not so much. I have learned a lot about what the human body is capable of and I have dramatically changed my relationship with food. I have unlearned a lot of unhealthy eating habits that I thought were perfectly normal and separated out the emotions and feelings I was trying to replicate by eating certain foods. I am also more aware of how different foods I eat affect my body and not just in theory but in practice. Which really drove the home the fact that I need to respect my body more by being aware of what I eat and how it negatively or positively affects my body, mood, and long term health.
I still miss the taste of a lot of the things I used to eat, I'm talking about you doughnuts and chocolate cake, but now it is not a matter of depriving myself and using will power. It is a choice, I choose not to eat it because I know I was eating them to feel an emotion or to recreate a feeling that I associated with them. Instead of eating to recreate the emotion or feeling I just focus on doing the things that actually make me feel them and not what was associated with the emotion or feeling i was feeling.
After my fast it was so much easier to eat healthier and I am continuing on tweaking the foods I eat to achieve my health and fitness goals. Weight loss is the only thing I am concerned about for my next fast. I'm down to 15% body fat according to my scale and don't want to go any lower, but at the same time it is difficult for me to gain weight because of my decreased appetite and only eating when i'm hungry and to satiety. So I need to gain more fat in a healthy manner before my next fast.
Another advantage as a result of my fast is now I can finally join the other MMM members that have food budgets of $200-$300 a month. I cook, make, or prepare almost 95% of my food now and have cut so much on necessary food, that even eating higher priced grass feed organic foods I am still saving a significant amount of money. I went from easily 2000-2500 calories a day to about 1200-1600 calories a day.
It is the reason I am on this thread because I'm now learning about Keto and seeing if I want to give it a shot. My current mental and tactical block is getting my carbs low enough to get into ketosis, I am hesitant to lower my vegetable and fruit intake to such low levels. I have no problems with the increased fat and moderate proteins, but the carbs is a blocker for me, especially if the recommendation is to get to 20 grams of total carbs a day to get into ketosis.