Welcome to my first month of intermittent fasting! If you’ve been interested in the fasting lifestyle I hope that my experience here in the beginning is useful to you. This post is the second in a series, so if you want to start at the very beginning, click on over to Month Zero – I’ll wait.
Today (and in future fasting posts) I will share my current plan, but also my recent struggles and successes. By the way, it’s funny when you start seeing IF results, because time seems to slow down since the only thing between me and my Goal Pants is time.
Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links; I am deleting them as I can.
Month one for me was December. It was easy to get started after the Thanksgiving bloat subsided (but to be honest I don’t stuff myself silly on Turkey Day anymore, I got tired of feeling crappy when trying to have a nice holiday with family). Either way I was as ready as I could be. I knew that I would feel hungry at certain meal times, and I had a good collection of green tea and Stumptown beans at the ready.
- Reminder – sudden fasting isn’t for everyone, you may want to speak to your doctor first before making big changes.Â
Current plan is 16:8. I started with an 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. window, but I couldn’t sleep. So I moved the window later so I can eat closer to bed time; 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
3 p.m. – Open window with a big salad, have a small dinner a few hours later, then a snack before the window closes.
11 p.m. – Begin fast until next afternoon.I tried to have a smaller window, but I apparently need some food before bed. I tried to remove it, and I don’t lie in bed hungry, instead I lie in bed wide awake. Not bursting with energy, but I need some carbs or protein to help me sleep. I usually reach for some leftovers, cottage cheese, or frozen pancakes to close my window. I am working to remove this crutch.
(Please let me know if there is any other context where one can use pancakes to close a window, ha! But really…tracey@ladyjupiter.com.)
Early December – Not having breakfast wasn’t too hard. I don’t get hungry at breakfast, but I do like milk in my coffee, so ditching the milk was a little hard at first, but not bad. I calmed the scheduled hunger signals with green tea, and within a few days I could easily push my lunch later and later. I started with an 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. window where I ate lunch and dinner. This was met with medium success, and I started getting pickier about my meals because processed junk or drive-thru fare just sounded terrible.
Late December – Mister Jupiter and I went to Hawaii for a week. I wanted to continue my new fasting routine, but it didn’t work very well. I did skip every hotel breakfast, and usually started the day with black coffee or an americano – but the defined eating window…otherwise went out the window. I may have been fasting 12:12.
The struggle in month one – Training my body to not eat when Baby eats. When I got weak or shaky I ended the fast and ate whatever I was hungry for (usually instant ramen because I love the stuff).
The success in month one – My body got used to delaying lunch pretty fast! I needed an early window three or four times, otherwise I just drank a cup of tea or hot water every hour and that was all I needed to ride the hunger waves (that do subside).
†â€Â Goal Pants – Are on a hanger in the closet. Waiting.
Reminder to grab a copy of the Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung, and a copy of Delay, Don’t Deny by Gin Stephens if you haven’t already. Both are available on Audible and I re-listen to each audiobook often. (P.S. I’m also a fan of Deep Nutrition by Cate Shanahan M.D. – great info if want to break up with sugar and vegetable oils.)
â Ready for more? Here’s Intermittent Fasting for Autophagy and Designer Denim, Month Two
  
  
Lady Jupiter 