Welcome to my fourth month of intermittent fasting! If youâve been interested in the fasting lifestyle I hope that my experience here is useful to you. This post is part of a series, so if you want to start at the very beginning, click on over to Month Zero â Iâll wait.
This month I fully switched over to one meal a day (OMAD), and realized that it’s very easy and eerily familiar.
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After a week of eating only dinner I realized that I used to eat one meal a day for years. Most of my 20s were generally very exciting due to equal portions of being very busy and being very poor.
I worked in retail for many years, so 30 minute lunch breaks were normal (but I have never been a fast eater, so I could easily spend my entire lunch break eating one bagel – and that’s if I brought it with me!), so I spent many a “lunch” just sitting outside drinking coffee because I would rather not eat than need to gobble food. Being rushed to eat is probably my number one pet peeve.
Then there were many times that I had a tight budget and refused to make any late payments, so if I was tired of rice for dinner then I would skip dinner and just go to bed early. No wonder eating one meal a day was easy for me – I was an old hand at fasting! The difference now is that I know what I’m doing, and it’s my choice.
Month four was March for me, and the same month that COVID-19 became a household name. Odd times – but that’s not the point of this post.
â Related: Staying Calm in a Pandemic
This month I started with a 20:4 protocol. Some days I did nibble for four hours, and other days I was finished eating within one hour and was easily 23:1. Generally I aim for a minimum 19:5 (fasting for 19 hours, with a five hour eating window).
6 p.m. – Open window with dinner, then have dessert (or seconds) after Baby Jupiter goes to bed. No food after 8 p.m., but I will drink wine.
I always eat until satisfied, and never count calories.
My stomach loves growling at 3 p.m., and it’s silly. I don’t feel hungry, but my stomach likes to be dramatic. I like to think that is when my body shifts gears to burn fat – but I will never really know. If the rumbling bothers me I place a pinch of pink salt under my tongue, then drink a carbonated water after the salt dissolves.
Early March – I haven’t been craving any particular macros, so I just menu plan like normal; I aim for general variety over the week. Variety in dinner protein sources, variety in the colors of our side dishes, etcetera.
Late March – Since I only eat once a day I try to make the best of it. I do take a liquid vitamin most nights with dinner, but not all nights. This month I’m taking Tropical Oasis’ Liquid Beauty supplement. The bottle supplies 32 servings so it’s perfect to drink for a month before I supplement something else (variety!).
The struggle in month four – Still not taking bites of Baby’s food. It feels so wasteful to rinse yogurt down the sink because I won’t break my fast to lick a spoon.
The success in month four – I started making Baby Jupiter’s food in the evening while my window is open. I got a set of 4oz jars that are easy to fill, and at night I can make him a variety of jars and freely lick spoons.
Also SIZE MEDIUM LEGGINGS fit better than size large. *Cues marching band & parade*
††Goal Pants â These are non-stretchy waist size 30 denim by ALLSAINTS.
Well, I’ll be damned. They mostly fit.
I can fasten the entire button fly and still breathe. They’re snug in the seat, so maybe they’ll fit better next month? Right now they do fit, but sitting is uncomfortable…so wearing them in public is impractical.
I suppose it’s time to start putting on other pants to see what does and doesn’t fit!
I set Zero to track a 19:5 fasting protocol. That’s my new minimum fast, though I realistically prefer a 22:2 OMAD. My recent average dropped because I had a much deserved up day (two whole meals in one day!) and was happy to meet my cravings and remind my body that there isn’t a famine out there.
And here’s a peek at my BMI. I know that height and weight don’t tell the whole story, but for a gal like me who rarely weighs (and doesn’t get regular body composition analyses) BMI tells me enough. Trending toward the healthy range is just what I wanted.
â Ready for more? Intermittent Fasting for Autophagy and Designer Denim, Month Five (April 2020)
Lady Jupiter 