This post is set up as Decline Payout as I don't want to take anything from the reward pool. If you think, however, that this post was beneficial to you in any way, feel free to transfer some Steem or SBD to me, using "30 days intermittent fasting" memo, so I can track down your payment. It's part of my own experiment here on Steemit, in which I try to understand the real mechanics of appreciating someone else's work. I will update the post with the total I'm receiving at the end of the article (you could always look for these transactions in the blockchain yourself, if you want to track it down).
A month ago I started an experiment: intermittent fasting. Besides being the latest buzzword in the "internets of health", as you may discover just by doing a search on Google, I think intermittent fasting is a really useful life hack.
History and Definitions
Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but an eating routine. There are no restrictions to what you eat, only to the times when you eat. It doesn't matter if you're vegetarian, vegan or omnivorous. I've been a vegetarian for the last years of my life and I keep this habit. This has no link whatsoever with intermittent fasting, though.
There are many flavors of intermittent fasting. I practiced this for a while by skipping eating every Friday, a couple of years ago, for a few weeks. While I did feel good while I did it, something prevented me from making it into a habit. It was probably the social cost of not interacting over meals for an entire day, not even with your spouse, which seemed a bit too much for me at that time.
The pattern I'm following now is called 16/8: I fast for 16 hours, then I eat for 8. My first meal is at 10 AM and my last one is before or around 6 PM. During the last 2 weeks I was eating consistently around 4-5 PM.
Motivation
My main motivation for trying this is improving my metabolism. Specifically, improving my fat burning processes. I'm an ultra-runner and, during the last 2 years I discovered that I function much better on fat than on sugar on any race longer than 70km. Since I intend to continue running in my "goldilocks area", which is between 100 and 200 kilometers per race, improving my fat burning metabolism is very important.
All my training is done using MAF (Minimum Aerobic Fitness) which means all my runs are at or below a heart rate of 140 bpm. At this pulse my body is burning predominantly fat.
Consequences
I lost some significant weight. that's for sure and I won't lie: when I'm reminded about that by my girlfriend I'm feeling really good. A lot of the fat I lost is mostly around the belly but I think it was fat stored on the organs, because there are still significant deposits under the skin. That means there is still some fuel to be burned until my body fat will start to lean into the percentage that I want it to lean into (which is below 12%, right now being at around 21%).
Sleeping patterns are improving a lot. I have more energy, I wake up relaxed and I feel great. Cravings or feelings of hunger disappeared after the first 2 weeks, so right now I can easily join my girlfriend for her late dinner, without feeling the need to eat myself. There is also more clarity and a general improvement of my body activity, which I attribute to the fact that I'm not spending energy for digesting food on a larger time window. All the digesting is taking place between 10:30 AM and 5:40 PM, for the rest of the time my body gets energy from the body fat stores and it expends it only for general functioning tasks, not for digesting.
Immune System
A very interesting thing happened during the last 3 days. I've been exposed to some virus, I guess, which is something quite common during spring, there are many bugs waking up and it's almost traditional for people to "catch a cold". Usually, that means a few days of rest, some medication, and pretty much that's it. I used to walk it off, not taking medication and just wait for it to pass. You know that saying: "with medication, it ends in 7 days, without medication, it will take a week".
The first day I felt a bit fuzzy and I had a small sensation of discomfort in my throat. I also had a bit of trouble getting asleep and I even woke up at around 3 AM with a big headache. It's important to note that I don't have headaches. The next day I felt spaced out and I had, most likely, a bit of fever. In the afternoon I accepted to take 2 pills of vitamin C and then my girlfriend made a polenta with garlic butter. I love garlic and it's very helpful for colds. After eating that polenta, very hot, I started to sweat big time. I went to sleep still a bit activated but then this morning I wake up basically healed. I'm writing from a coffee shop, my overall body activity has resumed and I have no fogginess at all.
So, it took me only 48 hours to fight the cold, as opposed to 7 days before intermittent fasting. I know this may be caused by many other factors, like my body becoming more resistant over the years, but my overall feeling is that intermittent fasting has some significant contribution to it.
Next Steps
I intend to shorten the eating interval to 18/6, meaning I will start my eating window at 10 AM and finish it at 4 PM. It will be very interesting to see how this is unfolding, especially since I'm increasing my training times. I run in the morning or during evening, outside the eating window.
I will keep you updated.
Here's the list of the contributors to this post (people who paid out of their own packet because they found it useful):
| Contributor | Value |
|---|---|
| @steemvest17 | 1 SBD |
| @doitvoluntarily | 2.519 SBD |
| @trevor.george | 11 Steem |
| @dreemit | 5.679 Steem |
| Total | 3.519 SBD + 16.679 Steem |
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
