For a lot of people (including me), dieting fails because it feels like it’s all you think about. It becomes exhausting counting calories. When you have to measure your food it becomes much more mechanical than that feeling of relief when you sit down after a long day and eat chips and watch your favorite show. Not only that but you fear that you won’t feel full and that’s stressful. All of that to say that we hear that there’s a better way to do things. A way where you don’t have to count calories. You just eat within a certain window of time and that’s it! It’s called intermittent fasting and it’s based on when you eat rather than having you do math about what you can eat.
A new study from The University of Adelaide found that people practicing intermittent fasting lost about the same amount of weight as those who followed traditional calorie-restricted diets. The big difference? Fasting participants didn’t feel like they had to constantly monitor every meal or snack. When you can still enjoy food it becomes a lot easier to stick to it. You don’t get mad at yourself because you ate the wrong thing and it threw everything out of whack. It’s almost like a race, you wait to eat and at the end of that you get to celebrate in a certain window of time.
Flexibility is it’s selling point
If you like flexibility you’ll love this diet. I’m a night eater, I forget during the day and get too distracted to actually eat anything. It’s crazy how when you’re a kid you feel like things take forever and when you’re an adult you can rarely be bored. I feel like I always over eat when I’m depressed and I’m depressed because of the number on the scale. But with intermittent fasting that doesn’t matter! You can wait all day and then have at it if you’re naturally a night owl who loves late-night snacks.
You can even meal prep so you get some healthy food in there, protein is key in most diets and it’s key for this one as well. My nutritionist said that I should be aiming for 70-80 grams of protein per day. So I have a couple of Oikos protein shakes and then have a prepped meal with chicken and rice. And then truthfully? I eat Oreos and ice cream. I need some sweet with my savory. As long as your eating fits within your designated eating window, you can meal prep and enjoy your meals later in the evening instead of forcing yourself to eat breakfast just because it’s considered “normal.” It’s about finding a schedule that works with your lifestyle rather than fighting against it.
Kevin Smith is just one of the success stories related to intermittent fasting. After his heart attack in 2018 he changed everything. Ate cleaner and with intermittent fasting he lost around 50 – 100lbs. Of course he’s also working with his doctor so he’s able to do fasts as long as 110 hours. Like I said it’s like a race and when you get to the goal fasting time, you get to reward yourself with a treat. Food.
If you’d like to learn more about intermittent fasting follow the link here.
