Intermittent fasting. A controversial topic, lots of pros and cons.
One of the first things my doctor told me to try was intermittent fasting. She said, “look it up, figure out what works for you.” And that was precisely what I did.
I found so much information, I didn’t even know where to start. What would work for me? How would I figure it out? Could I even stick to it? Just a few of the recurring questions that ran through my head as I researched.
I decided the best way to proceed was trial and error until I found the schedule that worked for me. I didn’t really know what to try first so I literally just picked one I thought would be most manageable. In reality, fasting is hard and hardly manageable and only the strong survive (I’m serious). Mind over matter is the key in making it through.
**side note: don’t worry about the terminology, I will catch you up**
I started with the 5:2 and I was lucky enough to find the method that worked for me on the first try. So 5:2….kind of a dramatic start. From my research, most people that try fasting start with 16/8 and then usually adapt to 5:2 after they feel they’ve reached all they could’ve with 16/8. I however was the opposite.
5:2 diet
noun
- a diet that involves eating normally for five days out of a seven-day period and greatly restricting the amount of food eaten on the other two days.
“Greatly restricting” was no joke. On my fast days I was not able to consume more than 500 cals for the WHOLE DAY. For females, 500 cals, for males, 600. Looking more in depth into this concept was very interesting to me. I found myself reading blogs and watching YouTube videos of other women who use this method as well.
It blew my mind that some people did this just to lose weight rather than for the actual health benefits. I remembered what my doctor had told me, why this would help, “engaging your metabolism naturally lowers cortisol.” My metabolism at this point was basically nonexistent. I knew this would be the best way to try to engage it.
I started 5:2 the beginning of October. I chose my fast days to be Monday’s and Thursday’s, I was an idiot for this for one reason. NFL games fall on those days. *insert crying emoji here* I definitely didn’t think that one through but oh well I made it out alive.
My first week fasting was by far the hardest. Instead of consuming 500 calories on fast days, I decided I wanted to go all in and just eat nothing at all. Poor decision. After the first two fast days I attempted, I quickly learned my body needed food. I had three days before my next fast day and I needed to have a better plan. Back to YouTube and blogs I went.
I did more research and found what people like to eat on fast days and what kind of options I had without going over 500 calories. For anyone that wants to try fasting in this form I highly recommend searching 5:2 on Pinterest, its a life saver.
After figuring out what worked for me it got a ton easier. Keep in mind with this method you have no caloric restrictions on your non-fast days. You can literally eat whatever you want (within reason) on non-fast days and then restrict on your designated fast days. A normal fast day eating schedule would look like this:
Breakfast 8 AM: 2 eggs
Snack 11 AM: Black coffee
Lunch 1/2 PM: Salad or soup
Snack 4 PM: Tea
Dinner 7/8 PM: Protein shake or soup or salad
Easy enough right? Figuring out what eating habits works per individual was the hardest thing in my opinion. Once I knew that those foods worked for me, I stuck with them. Change is not your friend when doing 5:2. It can get hard trying to stay consistent when you’re constantly trying to count calories of different meals. Pick a couple meals that work and fit your calorie count and stick with those, its only two days a week you’re sacrificing. I also got to the point where I was able to skip lunch or dinner sometimes without feeling like a raisin.
This method is not easy, it was very hard to adapt too. I had people ask me all the time, “How do you do that? I could never have that self control.” To me, it was more than self control. It was my life, my health, my desire to not feel like a psychopath in my own body. Every day I fasted was a challenge. It truly was mind over matter. I’m a firm believer that people make changes when they finally become self aware and are not afraid to make the changes anymore. That is what happened to me and that is what kept me going. I knew the problem and the fact that there was a light at the end of the tunnel is what kept me moving forward. The fact that I controlled how to get from A to B, no one else.
The kick start to my weight loss was due to incorporating the 5:2 method into my life in addition to working out or being active 5-6 days a week. The weight just started to come off! My energy was coming back. I could feel myself starting to be in control again. It was really crazy to realize what had happened to me whenever these things started to become normal. I was by no means 100% but I could feel myself becoming myself again.
I continued with the 5:2 method for two months, all of October and all of November. When December came, I decided it was time to switch it up.
“Though I fall, I will rise” Micah 7:8
The Cortisol Diaries 