Oh the world of dieting … every fad, every fake, if they’ve made an infomercial for it I’ve probably tried it! Cookies, cleanses, carb-less miracle bars, B-12 and HCG shots in the butt. You name it, I’ve done it, and, believe me, the list goes on and on.
But here’s the thing:
- They’re expensive.
- There isn’t a magic potion that will give you an instant new body (I wish, and if you think there is one please try it first for me and give the fairy godmother my best).
- Even if they do work for a bit, the likelihood they’re a lifetime solution is about 0-0.5%.
Most of these “Hollywood fad diets” seem to work for a week or three but then as soon as I begin to miss “normalcy” the unwanted pounds start re-appearing on my ever so trusty (we have a love/hate relationship) scale.
You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now – well I kind of have – BUT I still have one last one to try:
<<Intermittent fasting>>
- It’s free.
- Not a quick cure-all.
- It’s a lifestyle not a diet.
My trainer swears by it, my pilates instructor lost 10 lbs. this summer on it (which is shocking given her “before” was my “I can only dream” size) and I have to say, it really just seems practical and doable!
The whole theory is that you eat for only eight hours of the day. Any nutritionist reading this is probably saying, “WHAT?!” as it’s so against the recommended “six small meals” mentality.
Problem with six small meals though is that the mini meals turn into average meals, which then suddenly supersize before you know it.
As my trusty trainer Shad would say, intermittent fasting is “all very primitive”.
In the early days of hunters and gatherers everyone used to do it. Not because they wanted to look good in a speedo or bikini, although I’m sure, minus the hair, they would have, but there really was just no way around it!
People would sleep for eight hours, go out and work, gather and prepare food for the next eight hours and then, since there was no refrigeration, they’d have to eat said food before they went back to sleep again (eight hours).
Scientifically speaking, which is not my M.O. but am trying to grasp, during this “fasting state” your body doesn’t have new energy from recently eaten food to go off of, so it grabs deeper from your fat storage instead!
Technically you should, and could, be eating a normal day’s food in those eight hours, but with the time restraint you’re generally taking in fewer calories as well.
Try my time frame (which is flexible by the way, as long as it’s an eight hour period), noon to 8pm.
I’m basically only skipping breakfast. Once I make it to noon I can have a “brunch” and then snack, and then dinner and then snack and then I’m off to sleep!
Late night munchies no more!!
We’ll see how this goes! Today is only day three, so I’ll make sure to write an update in the next couple of weeks.
For now I’m reflecting on my primal self, trying not to think about a breakfast burrito and am seeing where this new “lifestyle” takes me!
With an empty morning stomach, XOXO,
Alex
You’re fantastic and this is brilliant! Love ya lady!
Can’t wait to hear if this works. My son has been telling me about this…but as you said, it goes against absolutely everything I’ve learned from nutritionists!