Top Tips To Lose Belly Fat

As I lose belly fat significantly, many consult me for tips. Here are my two top tips:

Fasting and Exercising.

Simple enough that everybody knows. But I have some tricks behind. My belly shrank 3 inches by doing these.

Fasting

To begin with, go on a 3-7 days of water fast or juice fast. This will shrink your belly by about one inch or so. Allow some individual differences. A good start is for sure to encourage your going on. Right? Shift to intermittent fasting (IF) for as long as you are happy with your belly size.

Warning: once you see the IF benefits, you may not want to give up the IF way of eating.

IF Suggestion: skip breakfast and lunch twice a week. I.e. Eat dinner only on two days in a week. No need to fix a date. Do it flexibly in order not to interfere your work/life balance.

Exercising While Fasting

Daily exercise of 30 minutes is a minimum. I have been doing this for many years but still suffering from a big belly. Why? The time to do exercise is important. The trick is to do it without food.

Do exercise as soon as you wake up. This is the best time in a day to exercise and burn fat, for two reasons. One you are calling your stored fat as energy. Two food releases insulin which blunts fat burning. When you wake insulin is at its lowest allowing the most fat to be burnt. If you plan to eat breakfast, eat only one hour after exercising.

Fasting Exercising vs Traditional Wisdom

You may find my suggestions contradict some of the health rules which you might have heard of a million times. Listen, something you think is right and that you’ve been told a million times that it is right, may not be right, or may not be completely right. Check out the term ‘factoid’ and you’ll know.

Eat before and after exercising may be necessary for athletes but definitely not for people looking to lose weight. Breakfast is the single most important meal in a day had no scientific support, so as drinking 8 glasses of water a day. These may only be the bibles of cereals companies and water selling companies. To me, they are factoids.

In fact, there are many factoid strange eating rules promoted by health gurus. I have a short report about the top 12 and how to break them. Email me at annafasting(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)hk with a headline ’12 Strange Eating Rules’ and I’ll email you a copy.

To lose belly fat or lose weight in general, doing morning exercise without breakfast is a very effective fat burning method. Jogging outside if possible, otherwise same-spot jogging at home is also fine. If it is boring, alternate with hula hoop.

Intermittent Fasting Success - Lose Belly Fat

My Health and Fitness Rules – Exercising

To repeat, I’m one of the few individuals who manage to lose weight and stay fit.

How I do it? I’ve mentioned my eating rules in my previous post, here are some of my workout rules. Again, you don’t have to follow, but if you do, you’re likely to benefit in one way or another.

In fact, my eating rules and workout rules in some perspectives are quite consistent. Let’s see.

1. Morning Exercise
An apple everyday keeps doctors away. My ‘apple’ is the exercises that I do in the first 20 minutes of every morning. It does not keep me away from doctors permanently, but once I started, I didn’t see my doctor for two years. I have been doing this for many years. If you want to minimize your medical bill, try it.

2. Natural Exercise
I eat fresh and natural. Likewise, I workout naturally.

I have a gym membership, but I go there mainly to use the pool. I won’t do treadmills or row a stationary boat. That’s too boring. Instead I do jogging in a park or rowing a real boat. You see what I mean.

Enjoy a natural breeze and breathe well in the nature while working out.

3. Concentration
Seriously, have you ever read or watch TV while doing any exercise at your luxury gym? If so, you're not concentrating enough on what you're doing, plus you're probably not working out hard enough to see any real results. You won’t talk on a mobile phone while swimming, will you? Do exercise that requires your full attention and you’ll see real results. Here is a very insightful article on this topic: Do You Really Need Cardio?

4. Do What You Enjoy To Do
Do you enjoy jogging or playing hula hoop? Personally, I enjoy playing hula hoop more than jogging, though both exercise spent the same amount of calories. I also enjoy swimming, so I do both exercises alternatively. I’m never tired of the exercises that I do. Because I only do whatever I enjoy to do. See how much fun I am having. You will only stick to doing something that you enjoy and continue doing it. If you don’t, you’ll soon quit.



5. Do It Over The Long Run
How often do you do exercise? Once a week for a couple of hours or 3 x 30 minutes per week? Both are fine, provided you don’t do it for a month and quit. If you do it for a month or so, it’s just better than not doing. Want to see the real results that your workout contribute to your health and weight loss, you must do it over the long run. I have been doing morning exercise over the past 20 years and I’m sure I won’t give up. Likewise for my weekly 3 x 30 which I started 10 years ago.

Finally, my two golden rules for health and fitness are:

Rule #1: Eat Less
Rule #2: Workout More

Eating Rule: 2 Meal Solution and Eat Stop Eat
Workout Rule: Truth About Abs and Workout Without Weight

Intermittent Fasting Success - Health and Fitness Rules

My Health and Fitness Rules - Eating

I’m one among the few individuals who manage to lose weight and keep it off. Want to know how I do it? Here are some of my health and fitness rules.

These are my personal rules that you don’t have to follow. However if you do, you’re sure to benefit in one way or another.

Let me start with my eating rules.

1. Eat Less
When I eat less, I feel better. Foods taste better, I feel happier and less worried. You may already know that eating less can help reduce risks of cancers and diseases.

2. Eat Fresh and Natural
I drink orange juice from a real fresh orange. No bottled or canned orange juice. I’m sure you see what I mean. I don’t take supplements. That’s right. Reading through my blog, you won’t see me recommending any supplements. Fancl House, GNC…no way to make money from me.

If you eat a variety of real fresh good foods, your need for supplements is close to none. And I’m not alone. In fact, overdosing on supplements/antioxidants may take your health in the wrong direction.

3. Eat Less in an Enjoyable Way
I successfully lose weight and stay fit by eating less. More importantly, that’s the way I enjoy. I suggest your finding a sustainable and “enjoyable” way of eating less. That way you will stick with it because you enjoy it.

If you want to learn how to eat less in an enjoyable way, here are the two books I recommend: 2 Meal Solution and Eat Stop Eat.

4. Learn to Cook
The more you cook for yourself, the healthier you eat. Do learn to cook and teach your kids to cook as well. No time? Do you have time to date your boy friend or girl friend? Why not cook together? Share the fun of cooking with people you love and eat healthier.

5. Make My Own Dressing
Eating salad is healthy, isn’t it? But don’t forget the dressing which makes you fat. I start making my own dressing after reading this article - The Salad Dressing To NEVER Eat. It’s quick and easy, however delicious and healthy, and I’m never tired of it.

Finally I suggest everyone read The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet if you seriously want to know “what to eat”. You don’t have to agree with it all…but at least it gives great insight into food and your health.

These are my health and fitness rules in terms of eating. I’ll continue with my workout rules.

I wish you eat well!

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Health and Fitness Rules

How To Make Fasting Weight Loss Work For You

Want to do fasting weight loss? If so, you’ve made the right choice.

Listen. I mean short term periodic fasting. It is very often referred as intermittent fasting (IF). And it is what this blog is all about.

Fasting may sound scary in the first place. I understand how you feel. If you’ve been on 3x, 6x or 10x meals a day for years, fasting could be something beyond imagination. However if you understand what fasting is and how it works, fasting weight loss is not that scary. In fact, I am eating EVERYDAY.

Why Not Fasting To Lose Weight
Few people will tell you that fasting is a healthy act. Why? Because there are many people who want to make money from people who want to lose weight. Cereals companies advertise heavily by promoting how important breakfast is; diet programs and recipes producers want to sell more of their products. Not to mention the luxury gyms want to recruit more members in order to charge them extremely expensive fees.

99 doctors out of a hundred will not suggest fasting weight loss. Their license which they spent years of hard work to acquire will be challenged.

So why am I here to talk about fasting weight loss?

Well, because it works.

Why Fasting Weight Loss
A fast cleans up the body. If you bath once a week, you may spend an hour in bathing. If you bath everyday, it may be just a matter of minutes. Fasting works in a similar manner. Prolong fasting cleans up your body, your colon and your bloodstream; short term intermittent fasting can do the same.

A Clean Body Needs Less Food. If your car engine is clean, the same amount of fuel will let you run more mileage; in other words, you need less fuel to run the same mileage. Our bodies work similarly. Food is absorbed and utilized better in a clean digestive system. Your clean body will need less food to run. That is common sense. We don’t need research reports, surveys or clinical tests to prove that.

How To Make Fasting Weight Loss Work
Review your eating habit. Today, we have a world of chronically tired, sick, rapidly ageing, overweight and mentally clouded persons around us. Unfortunately they are still being told to eat more often. Or eat like a king over breakfast, like a queen over lunch and so on. Well, eating 3x, 6x or 10x a day is your choice. Have you made the best choice? Review your eating habit and see if there is another way which might be better for you.

If you ever want to find out what the 12 strangest and most destructive obsessive compulsive eating habits are and how to avoid them, while still losing weight, read The Dirty Dozen. Brad Pilon, author of the book has allowed my readers for a free download.

Learn to control food desire. Fasting on a periodic basis allows you to gradually gain control over your appetite. Learn to control your desire for food. When you successfully merge short term periodic fasting into your life, you will not feel hungry when you end your fast. You are not hungry, but the desire to eat is there. There is a big difference between actual hunger and desire for food.

Prepare for a lifestyle change. This is the ONLY way any type of permanent weight loss becomes effective. You must have a change of thought pattern and a change of lifestyle. If you go back to your old destruction way of eating, you’ll soon gain back the weight you lost through fasting.

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Fasting Weight Loss

Fasting For Weight Loss

When I talk about fasting for weight loss, some feel curious, some feel feared. Many wondered why and how I developed this habit. In fact, if we review our eating history, it’s easy to find something in common.

Remember how much and how often you ate when you were 13? Look at the photo here.


The bottom row was how I ate when I were 13. True! No exaggeration! I did have a record of eating 5 bowls of rice for lunch. When I grew up, my food consumption decreased accordingly. I thought I cut from two to one at my mid 20s. Now I am eating one meal a day, or even without any food on some days. In fact, this does not only happen to me. Many find that they are eating less and less, especially on weekends when they don’t have to work.

Fasting may sound scary to those who worry about energy level or afraid of hungry pangs. However fasting for weight loss isn’t scary at all. I am still eating EVERYDAY and eating what I love to eat.

The kind of short term fasting I do have almost no impact on my social life and yet my body benefits. That way my digestive system got periodic recess, shifting focus from digestion to cleansing and repairing, resulting not only in weight loss but more energy and better skin, not to mention my bloating problem says good bye to me.

May be you’ve been told a million times that you should eat at least three meals a day; or eat like a king for breakfast and a queen for lunch and a beggar for dinner. Forget about these. They may work for some people, but not for you, if you want to lose weight naturally and permanently. Fasting for weight loss is the new trend, whether you want to shed a few pounds or maintain your body weight. Try to start your fasting weight loss project by skipping a couple of meals a week. I’m sure you’ll see the benefits.

If you are afraid of hungry, drink a glass of fresh prune juice to replace lunch or dinner. Its high fibre will create a feeling of fullness and keep you away from hungry. It will also encourage bowel movements and you will gain additional benefit if you are suffering from constipation. Because of this, please make sure no over consumption of prune juice to avoid diarrhea.

More about juicing for weight loss.

Try it out once, and I’m sure you’ll love the feeling. Be prepared to allow some time for your body to burn fat, and DO NOT expect overnight results.

NOTE: You need to do a little more if you are aiming to maintain a steady body weight, i.e. do this short term fasting in an ongoing manner. It could be even better if you could incorporate some daily exercises. If you do these, you’ll simply save money in buying weight loss programs, diet recipes and still enjoying a healthy life.

Read my fasting for weight loss story.

Recommended reading: Eat Stop Eat – a scientific guide for short term intermittent fasting.

My Fasting Windows

Some readers ask me about my fasting windows. Regarding my eating schedule, I have a diary which records every single details. As someone who eats one meal a day, what to eat, where to eat and with whom to eat are very important to me.

Back to my fasting windows. I have recently draw up a table to compare my eating schedule with two of the mainstream intermittent fasting pattern.

ADF (alternate day fasting) - you know what it means, simply eat every other day. This may suit people who enjoy disciplined life.

IF (intermittent fasting) - one meal a day mode - is my preferred option. But as a matter of fact, I've done this in a flexible way.

Anna - I just pick any week in my diary which records three sessions of 24-hour fasting, two of 16-hours and one of 40-hours.

The big picture is: keep at least two 24-hour fasting windows in a week. That's it. Make it simple and flexible. Never fix a day and do it on an unplanned and natural manner. If you keep your eating schedule too rigid, you will have no fun, and somehow will affect your social life.

Anna's Thought Today:

Make fun by fasting, enjoy eating while losing weight!

Intermittent Fasting Success Report

Fasting and Starvation

So let’s talk about the death journey. Scary? Yes, it is. Starvation is really scary, but not fasting.

Starvation induces death. Fasting will not.

But why is there the misconception? Let's clarify it.

Fasting Facts

First of all, let’s take a look at some of the fasting facts.

Health experts say that most healthy individuals have enough fat stored in the body to live without food for several weeks, as long as they keep themselves well hydrated and without emotional stress. Starvation only occurs when the body has exhausted its fat reserves and must use tissue from vital organs as a source of energy to survive.

Human fat is valued at 3,500 calories per pound. Each extra pound of fat will supply enough calories for one day of hard physical labor. Ten pounds of fat are equal to 35,000 calories! Most of us have sufficient reserves, capable of sustaining us for many weeks.

From Fasting to Starvation

There is a huge difference between fasting and starvation.

Fasting is when there are foods around but we don’t eat for a period of time in order to achieve a certain health goal.

Starvation is when food is badly inadequately, people eating scraps of whatever is available or even dirt.

Here is an article describing the starvation death journey in details. I have summarized it for your quick reference.

The Death Journey of Starvation

Until water fasting goes on past the point where all fatty tissues and all abnormal deposits have been burned for fuel and recycled for the nutritional elements they contain, vital muscle tissues and organs are not consumed. And as long as the body contains sufficient nutritional reserves, vital organs and essential tissues are rebuilt and maintained. In fact the body has a great deal of intelligence in doing whatever possible in keeping us staying alive. It knows exactly which cells are essential to survival, which ones are not. The body knows which cells are abnormal deposits, and it goes to work to metabolize them first.

For example, the body recognizes arthritic deposits, cysts, fibroids, and tumors as offensive parts of the landscape, and obligingly uses them for foods in preference to anything else. A starving (not fasting) body also knows precisely in what order of priority body cells should be metabolized to minimize risk of death or permanent disability.

After a starving body has reached skeletal condition, or where some small amount of fat remains but nutritional reserves (vitamins and minerals) are exhausted and there is insufficient nourishment forthcoming, the body begins to consume nutrient-rich muscle and organ tissue in a last-ditch effort to stay alive. Under these dire circumstances, the least essential muscles and organs from the standpoint of survival are metabolized first. For example, muscles in the arms and legs would be consumed early in the process, the heart muscle used only toward the very end. The very last part of the body to be metabolized when one is starving and as has come very close to death would be the brain and the nervous system.

Starvation begins where fasting ends, which is when real hunger begins. If the return of hunger is ignored whenever it takes place, whether it is in 30, 60, or 90 days depending upon body weight and type of fast, at that point exactly, not a day before, starvation begins very slowly. Usually it takes a considerable period of time after that before death occurs. It is important to note that this discussion applies only to the abstention from food, not water. Death takes place very quickly in the absence of water.

So now, do you still find fasting scary? If we are talking about a 24-hour fast, there is practically nothing to do with starvation. However prolong fasting say beyond 60 days could be risky.

HEALTH WARNING: You must discuss with your doctor before going on prolong fasting and received medical supervision throughout the process.

Exercising While Fasting

Is exercising while fasting possible at all? Yes, of course.

When I talk about my eating habit, a lot of people immediately relate to starvation, hunger pangs, energyless and a lot many negative things. Exercising while fasting is somewhat a mission impossible.

Fact is, there are things in the world that look impossible are actually possible and practically doable.

Yesterday at the swimming pool, I had a chat with a life guard. He was wondering why I'm there everyday over lunch hour, so we exchanged thoughts on eating.

He was a young guy but his views towards eating are quite traditional. In fact, he is one of those who doesn't understand what fasting is though he sees a live example who come do swimming everyday over lunch hour without eating. He insisted I must eat breakfast, regardless of amount, I must eat something. And of course he was thinking that eating nothing until dinner will impact my work performance.

He would never know what he thinks is just in reverse of reality. I enjoy doing my workout in a fasted state and feel myself refreshed and energetic working in the afternoon.

People like the life guard who has no fasting experience may find it undoable or unbelievable to go on living without food for 24 hours, not to mention working and exercising during the period. What if you give it a try? You may start to fall in love with this new way of eating.

In fact, fasting is not something new. It is not even invented by people of our generation. It's been around since the Cavemen period when food was not always available. Great thinkers and philosophers such as Plato and Socrates both practiced fasting to attain mental and physical efficiency.

Our bodies are designed in a way to withstand periods of high and low calorie intake in order to keep us alive. Nowadays we have more than sufficient food, so we are requiring our bodies to do only the digestion work without utilize its ability to fast.

Short term intermittent fasting is like adding new wine to an old bottle. We make use of an ancient concept with new methods to achieve health and weight loss. Eat Stop Eat describes the process in a scientific way.

So why do so many people think that fasting means starving? I'll talk about this in my next post.

Intermittent Fasting Success - Exercising While Fasting

The DIRTY DOZEN Obsessive Compulsive Eating Habits

Does any or all of these seem to be the way you are eating? If so, you may want to read my free report on The Dirty Dozen.

1. Eating multiple small meals every day – even if it doesn’t fit your schedule
2. Drinking Green Tea to help burn fat
3. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water every day
4. pre, during, and post workout nutrition
5. Overeating “healthy foods”
6. Allow yourself a cheat meal once a week
7. Eating To Maintain Muscle Mass
8. Avoiding entire food groups
9. Making Your Nutrition Habits The Most Important Factor In Your Day
10. Keeping a Food Diary
11. Obsessing Over Nutrient Timing
12. Letting Your Diet Define You

Many people follow these rules in their quest to lose weight. However, most of these rules do very little to actually promote weight loss. Since it is believed that following these rules should ALWAYS cause weight loss, you have no choice but to assume the rule itself is correct and therefore YOU are doing something incorrectly.

I have a report called the DIRTY DOZEN which is all about the twelve most obsessive compulsive eating habits and how to break them.

I have the author’s permission to distribute it free for my readers. Email me at annafasting(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)hk with a headline "The Dirty Dozen" and I’ll email you a copy. (I respect your privacy and your email address will be kept CONFIDENTIALLY)

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Free Report on OCE

Bookend this Long Weekend for Weight Loss

July 1st and July 4th are the Canadian and American big time long weekend kick offs for the the summer. And there is also some big time eating that goes on during these weekends.

BBQ steak, burgers, ribs, sausages, chicken, pasta salad, potato salad, grilled veggies, beer (or whatever your beverage of choice might be)...and that's not even mentioning the desserts.

No doubt there will be some serious eating going on, and some serious OVER eating. So how do you enjoy all the great food during a long weekend and still come out the other side without gaining and fat?

I've found the easiest answer is to 'bookend' the weekend with the principles found in Eat Stop Eat.

By using the techniques in Eat Stop Eat to prepare for the weekend you can eat all the great foods that will be cooking during your long weekend feast without the guilt or the extra bodyfat that usually comes with these kind of events.

Get Your Copy of Eat Stop Eat today

Use Eat Stop Eat again the day after the weekend to get back on track for the following week and you might even LOSE weight when it's all said and done. This is the 'bookend technique' that many other Eat Stop Eaters have adopted and used with great success to get through holiday weekends without gaining weight.

Eat Stop Eat is the easiest and quickest way to prepare for and erase any potential fat gain from a long weekend eating extravaganza.

Get your copy of Eat Stop Eat today and be prepared for the upcoming long weekend.

It's the perfect way to get rid of guilt AND fat at the same time.

Anna

PS: For additional information, read my previous post on My Crazy Fasting Lifestyle and see how I ate madly over the Easter long weekend and resumed normal weight in two days.

Juice Fasting - I lost One Pound Per Day

My fasting journey started with one week of juice fasting. The way I did it was to replace lunch and dinner with a cup of fresh juice. I drank water for the rest of the day. The process lasted six days and I lost six pounds.

As juice fasting is concerned, I have two basic rules:
1. Go for fresh juice, NOT bottled juices.
2. Change of colour in terms of fruit choices.

Well, I don’t have to emphasis why fresh juice is better than bottled ones. You should know the answer to this. But isn’t it possible to make fresh juices at the office? Yes. I have a little device which I can take to the office and made fresh juice for me.

This little juice extractor is cheap and portable. But the disadvantage is that it is only cater for orange, grapefruit or lemon kind of fruits. So when I go home, I’ll use my home juice extractor to make other kind of juices.

Regarding the type of fruits, I’m not a nutritionist but believe all kinds of fresh fruits are good for health. So I have developed my second rule as to change the fruit colours. Juice fasting could be a little boring if you stick to one kind of fruit. To have a change in taste and vitamins, change of fruit colour is the simplest solution. Kiwi, watermelon, mango and so on.

In fact, when I eat these fruits on a regular day, I didn’t find them to be so delicious. However during my juice fasting period, they all became very yummy.

As I have been doing periodic juice fasting in these years, I have bought a ebook called Ejuice which gives me creative ideas of juice recipes.

If you have no previous fasting experience, you may find the first two days difficult. And that was my experience too. But I must say the psychological side weighted more than the physical side. In fact, my strongest motivation was HEALTH. As far as I don’t want to put up with my unhealthy life anymore, fasting becomes easy.


Intermittent Fasting - Juice Fasting

3 Great Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting Is A Good Idea!

You may not have heard of intermittent fasting, and so you may not know why it can and should be a part of your workout and fat loss plan.

Intermittent fasting is the practice of abstaining from all but water for a period of usually 24 hours to help with the goals associated with fat loss and weight loss in general. The way in which it helps in this arena is by cutting out a full days caloric intake, while still being able to maintain a full workout schedule. Let’s look at three main reasons I believe that intermittent fasting is a good idea for anyone serious about fat loss and muscle building!

The primary reason I’m fond of a workout plan that involves intermittent fasting is that it promotes maximum fat loss. Most people employ these types of fasts two days a week while working out, and this means they are effectively cutting out a full two days caloric intake from their weekly consumption. This combined with your workout can and does have a dramatic effect on the pace at which you lose excess fat. By working out while doing these fasts, you are attacking your goals with a two-edged sword, slashing it from both ends of the spectrum.

The second reason would be that this type of fasting allows you to maintain a moderate to intense workout load while still maintaining your energy and metabolism. Many people think that fasting drains both of these aspects, and while that is true for other, particularly longer fasts, for intermittent fasting the opposite has proven to be the case. You often have more energy and a higher metabolism while engaged in this type of fasting, making it the best of both worlds. Many other fasts are so debilitating that you are left at the end of the day so drained you are unable to do anything. Intermittent fasting is not like that at all.

The third reason why I believe intermittent fasting is a good practice to include in your workout plan is that it has beneficial aspects to it that are a little less easy to see, but of great benefit all the same. There is a cleansing of your system that takes place with any fast, as your body adjusts to less content being put into it. There are also undeniable psychological benefits, such as a very affirming sense of accomplishment that can help you in many areas of your life. Knowing that you are not a slave to food is a major part of that.

I’m a firm advocate of intermittent fasting as a way of enhancing your fat loss and workout routines. There is in my mind no faster way of getting maximum fat loss while still being able to handle a full workout load. Investigate it today. I think you might be surprised at the results you’ll come up with!

Still having reservations? Browse my blog posts on workout, calisthenics, diet and photos.

Eat Stop Eat - Too good to be true? Maybe not!

Most things that sound too good to be true are just that.

But sometimes, something comes along that might actually be too good to be true.

And that’s kind of the way many reacted the first time they heard about Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon.

The first time hearing about it, many thought there is just no way it could actually work, and wasn’t even sure if Brad was being serious or not.

The concept was simple enough, a flexible form of intermittent fasting, but was that all it took to lose weight?

I practiced intermittent fasting before I read Brad’s book, so I had no doubt about it. But after hearing him out I was even more convinced and became a true believer.

And that’s when I realized that we’ve all made dieting and weight loss far too confusing and difficult, it really is simple if we let it be, and that’s what Brads book does…it simplifies weight loss to an almost stupid level.

I can tell you right now that the book is about a flexible form of intermittent fasting where you take a certain degree of time ‘off’ between meals.

But the real genius of the book is the science behind fat loss and the freedom it gives you from the trap of ‘dieting’.

Eat Stop Eat helps un-complicate the idea of weight loss and how to eat for weight loss, and maybe most importantly it provides a way to enjoy the process of losing weight.

I know that just thinking about trying to diet scares some people to the point that they can’t even get started.

But what if it wasn’t scary, what if it was actually something to look forward to (of course the weight loss itself is something to look forward to) but I’m also talking about the process.

Eat Stop Eat is unique in it’s approach to weight loss, and most of the people I know who follow it actually really enjoy the process and don’t consider it a diet at all but rather a lifestyle.

I can’t really explain it as well as Brad does in the book, and now you can also listen to him explain it with the new audio book that he has just released.

Brad has offered to give you the audio book for free if you decide to pick up Eat Stop Eat within the next 72 hours…

Get your copy of Eat Stop Eat and the free audio book today.

I suggest you pick it up and take advantage of the free audio book giveaway (because hey, everyone likes free stuff).

The book is well researched, the audio book is a great bonus, and the best part is you can start using the techniques he teaches in the book immediate, as soon as your done reading/listening.

It’s really that simple, and the weight loss results come fast, like within the first 24 hours fast!

Ask yourself this:
“Am I afraid of failing on yet another complicated and impossible diet”
“Is that what’s stopping me from trying to lose weight?”
If you said “yes” then you’re need a new approach to weight loss that is simple and removes all the complication of dieting, in short you’re ready for Eat Stop Eat.

It has totally changed the way I look at food and weight loss and it’ll do the same for you…no more second guessing yourself, it’s time to change.

Get your Eat Stop Eat now (while the audio book is free) and get your new body. Click Here to get started today.

P.S.
Don’t wait till tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes, go to Eat Stop Eat and start losing weight today.

Click here to get started today: Eat Stop Eat

Fasting Vacation

Have you ever thought of combining fasting and vacation? Well enjoying a unique healthy holiday is your choice. For myself, I do fasting/IF in my everyday life. As far as I know, some people do it occasionally, but still achieve good results. My boss is one of those.

He goes to Koh Samui in Thailand once a year. Apart from enjoying a relaxed holiday, he joined some fasting/detox programmes there, come back and looks much slimmer, smarter, healthier and most important of all, younger. Of course I didn’t ask for the details of the programmes he gone through. The fact is, even if you do it once a year, you will still see results.

There are plenty of similar resorts in Koh Samui. The Health Oasis is quite famous and this is where my boss goes once a year. They have various packages of Health Services, Fasting & Colon Detox. You may go on a short programme like 3 days if you do it quarterly. However if you do it once a year, like my boss, I would say a 10-day programme may be more suitable.

Click this link to read reviews about Health Oasis.

Happy fasting while enjoying a happy holiday!

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Fasting Vacation

My Daily Calisthenics Routine

I start my day by 20 minutes of calisthenics over the past 20+ years. Just to reiterate, this has critically improved my health condition. Because of this I have been spreading this message and many people copied the idea came back with positive feedback. Now let me practically talk about what I actually do in those 20 minutes.

To start with, my doctor suggested same-spot jogging. That was the easiest. Once I got off the bed I could start doing it even with my pajamas. But that was absolutely boring. I then bought a twist board. I even went on some Chinese kung fu classes to learn about some Shaolin basic breathing exercises. Throughout the years, I kept changing and tried to give myself some new exercises to do. Until later in my life, my neck and shoulder pain began, my physiotherapist designed some exercises for me which I incorporated into my morning 20 minutes. These occupy about 10 minutes but I still need something to do for the other 10 minutes.

Frankly I am not quite creative in thinking of what kind of calisthenics to do. So I start to look for help. During an internet search, I come across an ebook called Workout Without Weights. It is all about a Progression System over 190 detailed exercise descriptions with over 250 classified into Upper Body, Trunk and Lower Body exercises and sub categorized into Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. No matter what, I’m always on the basic category – due to my neck and shoulder pain and foot problem, I try not to over exercise myself. Doing those exercises on rotation, I save a lot of effort in figuring out what to do every morning.

However I realize I haven’t made full use of the book. The book was actually written to help you setting up your progressive plan for fat burning, weight loss and muscle building. The beauty of such plan is that you can do every exercise at home without any equipment, saving money on expensive gym memberships and sports wears. All that is required is 20 to 30 minutes a day, three times a week. Trust if I have made full use of the book, I should look and feel much better than now.

Recommended reading: Workout Without Weights

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Daily Calisthenics Routine

My Crazy Fasting Lifestyle

Talking about fasting and workout, I’m extremely disciplined on weekdays and quite messy and unorganized over weekends and holidays.

Over the Easter long weekend, I have been eating madly. Moreover I gave up my daily calisthenics and swimming session. Actually over the past many years, fasting and workout follow me on my work days and not on holidays (except long holidays). Nevertheless, as far as fasting or intermittent fasting and workout remain part of my life, I’m fine.

My Easter German buffet. I love knuckles and sausages.

I eat madly but have no worries on my body weight.

I gained a couple of pounds over the Easter weekend’s crazy eating. However when I resume my fasting, my body weight drops and go back to normal in two days. That’s why I keep saying that ‘fasting is the best, cheapest and fastest way to lose weight’.

For beginners, you might feel stress about eating. Me too. At the beginning, I was thinking once I’m overloaded with food, I’m over. Experience told me ‘no’. As far as I keep my 24-hour fasting window for three to four times a week, I’m always fine – feel good and look good. Even after my crazy Easter weekend, I took only two days to resume my normal weight.

For those who’ve never fasted, may wonder why you fast and how you fast safely, perhaps having heard and/or read a little about the benefits of doing a short fast or long fast, juice fast or water fast. As with everything in life, it's worthwhile listening to people with relevant experience. I’m not a master or expert in health, but I’m someone with the experience of fasting to share.

Scientific Fasting has never been taught in any medical schools. However if you would like to read more on the topic, Brad Pilon has written an ebook Eat Stop Eat which describes the scientific approach of how and why fasting and intermittent fasting benefit our health.

Intermittent Fasting Success - Weight Loss

23 Years of Daily Calisthenics Exercise

The Magic of A Daily Workout Program At Home
Apart from fasting, my other health secret is calisthenics exercise. I have been doing it everyday first thing in the morning since 1987. You may not see the power or the magic of such a workout program until you do it. I am now 53 but I must admit that I am far healthier than when I was young. Daily calisthenics had changed my life. Here is my story.

Road to Daily Calisthenics
Some 20+ years ago (around 1987), I was badly weak. Half of the money I made went to my doctor. I caught a flu every other week, had nosebleed regularly and I was always feeling tired. My doctor told me to do some exercises first thing in the morning for 20 minutes and that should be able to improve my health condition. Of course I didn’t give it a single thought. As I was only 30, I thought morning exercises were only for old and retired people. It was about the 10th time my doctor gave me the same advice before I gave it a little consideration.

Red Cross Gave Me a Hand
At that time Red Cross had a mobile station downstairs my office building and I used to give blood. At some stage they refused my donation because I did not meet their requirement. Indeed, they needed blood from healthy people whom were not subjected to any medication three weeks ahead of the donation. For a period of almost a year, I kept refused by Red Cross for the same reason. I was really shamed.

The ‘Magic’ Decision
One day after seeing my doctor and receiving the same advice of doing morning exercise, I made up my mind and gave it a try. I was thinking I couldn’t get any worse and I had nothing to lose. I was only required to wake up 20 minutes earlier in the morning and did some simple exercises at home without any apparatus. Even if it didn’t work out, I lose only 20 minutes of sleep everyday which was no big deal. However if that worked, it would greatly improve my life quality. I am glad that I made that decision. Because of this, something like a magic happened.

Gap of Two Years
The next time I saw my doctor, he had a graceful smile on his face and said “Anna, you have a two-year gap on your record card. What happened? Did you migrate?”

I said “No, doctor, I took your advice and have been doing daily morning exercises. That should have caused the gap.” Not until I did it, I never realize the power or better say the magic of morning exercises. My health had since then greatly improved; didn’t need to see my doctor regularly and of course saved a lot of money on medical expenses. And because of this magic, daily morning calisthenics has been part of my life since 1987 through now.

Daily – Morning – Calisthenics – At Home
I have couple of rules to stick to: Do it first thing in the morning daily for 20 minutes. This is also my advice to whoever wants to do something to improve their health. If you only do it once a week or irregularly, you may not see the results significantly. There are other benefits of doing calisthenics at home. I don’t have to sign on expensive gym membership and as I am doing it with my pyjamas, I even save money in buying beautiful sports wear.


Recommended reading: Workout Without Weight


Intermittent Fasting Success - Daily Calisthenics

Intermittent Fasting Benefits – Weight Loss and Many Others

This March marks the beginning of my 5th year of intermittent fasting. To review my IF lifestyle in the past four years, I must say I have changed a lot – mainly eating habit and appearance. If I were to name the most significant benefits, I would say bloating relieve and natural weight loss.

Road to Intermittent Fasting
My road towards IF was relatively short as I didn’t gone through any experiment stage. Though I have been suffering from digestive problems for 17 years, I kicked off my fasting out of an overnight decision. Once I see the benefits, I had never look backed to my old ways of eating throughout these four years.

My fasting window is averagely 24 hour, as I target one meal a day. If I eat dinner tonight, I won’t eat until next day’s dinner. In between I had some drinks such as water, fruit juice, coffee or tea and I don’t care about decaf or not. In some occasions, due to social/business commitments, I eat lunch following the previous night’s dinner, my fasting window was much shorter. Nevertheless I try to maintain the 24 hour window about three to four times a week. For beginners, my suggestion is to start slow. Try it once or twice a week and when you see the benefits, move on progressively.

The Benefits I’ve Seen

1. Bloating relieve. Though it is still bothering me occasionally, but I feel far better than before.
2. Natural weight loss. This does not only came naturally but fast. I lost six pounds in the first week and progressively another 18 pounds in six months.
3. Improved mental clarity. I do audio typing quite a lot at work. Though I look like a fossil while typing and listening, I am completely aware of what’s going on around me and when I pick up a phone call, I managed to immediately switch my mind.
4. Improved workout performance. I do lunch hour swimming during the weekdays. I’m not an Olympic swimmer, but I recon my speed had improved.
5. More energy. I used to feel tired most of the time. After I started doing daily workout plus intermittent fasting at a later stage, my energy level was greatly improved. Now I can swim without food before or after.
6. Improved appearance. I had to wear tight underwear in order to fit into my Chinese traditional night gown ‘cheung sam’. Now I don’t need it any more.
7. Food tastes better. When I had no food for a period of 24 hours, I really enjoy and respect each meal. I’m amazed that food tastes much better than before when I routinely fed myself three meals a day.

Any Disadvantage About Intermittent Fasting?
Yes, if I were to say, there is one. I spent some extra money due to IF.

Some people thought I should save money by eating less. Well, the money I spend on food does not relate to the amount I eat; it relates to what I eat. Like three meals a day can be bread and butter; one meal a day can be Kaiseki. I spent extra money in buying new clothing as I am now two sizes smaller. I really look odd if I continue wearing my old clothing.

Learn More About Intermittent Fasting

Flexible IF is increasing in popularity. Brad Pilon, author of the best-selling ebook Eat Stop Eat believe that in five years time, IF is how everyone will be eating.

If you ever wanted to venture into intermittent fasting, read Brad’s Eat Stop Eat and he will walk you through the ‘how’ and ‘why’. Brad goes through all of his graduate level research to lay out the case for using IF to improve your health and even your athletic performance.

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Fasting Benefits

Eat Stop Eat – All About Flexible Intermittent Fasting

As intermittent fasting (IF) has helped me to lose weight progressively and greatly improved my quality of life, I have a passion to tell the world about its benefits.

I come across Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat when I was researching to write an ebook on IF. I’m glad that Brad has not only done the entire writing job, he is also a far better qualified author than me.

After all, I am someone who practices IF and can tell you that it works with great results. But for ‘why’ and ‘how’, I’ll let Brad to tell you. Apart from being nutrition professional, Brad is also an athlete. See his bio below.

Two Reasons You Must Read Eat Stop Eat
(1) To start with, Brad said: “A true weight loss plan does NOT have to be complicated. In fact, the simpler the program the better the results will be. The more restrictive the diet, the more likely it will fail you.”
I can’t agree with this more. If you’ve ever browsed my food blog, you will notice that I never have to restrict on what I eat. Brad never tell me what to eat, it’s all up to me. I shed 20 pounds in six months by eating anything I love to eat.

(2) Brad emphasizes that your metabolism will not slow down, you will not lose muscle, your workouts will not suffer, and you will not become a ravenous eating machine. With Eat Stop Eat you will clearly see the research behind why short periods of fasting will NEVER cause you to go into starvation mode.
Again, I must say this is completely true. If you’ve browsed my ‘workout’ session in this blog, you will notice that I can do my daily workout during lunch hour, without lunch and breakfast. As Brad reveals, I feel energized and alert all the time. Throughout my four years of intermittent fasting, I had never experienced slow metabolism or starvation nor have to worry about them.

About Eat Stop Eat
Brad does not offer seventeen free bonuses or ‘special reports’ written by random authors you’ve never heard of before. Reason being – You don’t need any of this fluff. Eat Stop Eat will work for you, so he doesn’t need to entice you with a bunch of meaningless extra ‘perks’ or ‘empty promises’. Once you have read this book, I guarantee you will never pick up another nutrition or diet book ever again! Nor will you need to!

Eat Stop Eat is 16,400 words and 90 pages long – It is simple and concise and will probably only take you one evening to read.

The Eat Stop Eat method of using flexible intermittent fasting for weight loss is so completely uncomplicated that you can literally start the program the VERY MINUTE you finish reading this book.

About Brad Pilon
Brad has a unique background. He has an honors degree in nutrition. Instead of becoming a dietitian, he started working in the weight loss industry, right after university. Throughout his career, he was able to conduct multiple body composition tests on numerous athletes and top level bodybuilders and monitor them while they dieted and tried new experimental weight loss programs.

In fact, it was these experiments that ultimately led him to leave the industry and pursue graduate studies in human biology and nutritional sciences.

Many of the experiments he conducted had results that were VERY different from what he expected, and he soon realized that if he was to truly understand nutrition’s role in weight loss, then he would have to start from the very beginning and study what happens to the body when it goes without ANY food.

Believe it or not, Eat Stop Eat is actually all the research from the scientific reviews he completed in graduate school.

That’s right, Brad’s research was on ‘The Metabolic Effects of Short Periods of Fasting in Humans and its Potential Application in Weight Loss’, so in essence when you read Eat Stop Eat what you are really reading is an easy to read version of his graduate education! Aside from being nutrition professional, Brad is also an athlete. He has competed in (and won) amateur bodybuilding contests and power-lifting meets.

More about Brad Pilon and Eat Stop Eat

Eat Stop Eat - Book Review

Intermittent Fasting Success Report

Fasting to Overcome My 17-year Digestive Problems

Why 17 years? This is the question I have been asking myself. Intermittent fasting cured my pain, but why waited so long to kick off?

My Fasting History
At the beginning when I felt unable to eat, I thought I might be having some serious illness. I went on body checks, seeing gastroenterology specialists, doing stomach endoscopy, seeing dietitians and whoever I thought could give me a hand. After all, I was confirmed to have no ulcer, no cancer and nothing had noticeably gone wrong. I have therefore diagnosed myself as digestive problems due to slow metabolism.

This process was a little lengthy but well worth. I suggest you do the same to rule out any potential illness before initiating any nutritional program. But DON’T do the same as to wait for 17 years to take action. I suggest your starting a fasting program immediately after confirming that yours is simply a matter of digestive problems.

I didn’t take action to cure my indigestion pain because I love eating. Every morning when the sun rises, when I’m still in bed, the first thing come to my mind is ‘what to eat today’. I just don’t want to give up eating though at some stage I realize fasting is my ultimate rescuer. I just can’t imagine how I survived through these 17 painful years.

In March 2006, my tummy was like a blown up balloon. If you take a look at my pre-fasting photos, I just looked like a pregnant woman. One evening after a social dinner which I really didn’t want to go because my stomach was just was about to explode. After dinner, I couldn’t explain how uneasy I was feeling. I told myself “Anna, it’s time to do something”. So I took a photo for myself and kicked off my juice fasting the following day.

Why Juice Fasting?
I went for juice fasting rather than water fasting because juice offered me sweetness, vitamin and glucose. I replaced my lunch and dinner with a cup of juice and drank water through rest of the day.

More information about juice fasting: How to keep slim, healthy and young with juice fasting

Why Six Days?
I’ve heard people went through a 21-day water fasting. But I won’t ask you to do that because I personally don’t have that experience. I would say a one-week juice fasting is good enough to correct any indigestion problem. It doesn’t matter its 5, 6 or 7 days. I gave up at the end of the 6th day and ate some congee the next day just to give my body a grace period to resume solid food.

My Fasting Week – Feeling Great
Actually throughout my juice fasting week, I have been doing my morning and midday calisthenics as usually. Except I was feeling a little tired (psychologically only) for the first two days, I had never felt that great in the past 17 years. My fat belly shed six pounds after the six days of juice fasting, i.e. one pound per day. This amazing result gave me duo benefits of relieving fullness pain and weight loss. The miracle feeling told me that “Anna, you DO NOT need to eat that often to maintain your energy level”.

My Fasting Years - Re-arranging Eating Schedule
Since the third week of March 2006, I have re-arranged my eating schedule to once a day. I have continued with this intermittent fasting program through now and have been feeling great, as I don’t have to carry on a big fat tummy everyday. I have decided to stay that great for the rest of my life.

Why Intermittent Fasting Success Report?
To reiterate, this blog is to tell the world the benefits of fasting and intermittent fasting. I just want to alert more people that they can relieve their digestive problems and stay healthy like what I did.

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's Fasting History
Intermittent Fasting Success Report

Four Years of Intermittent Fasting

2010 is my 4th year of intermittent fasting (IF). Ever since 2006 when I kicked off my ‘belated’ fasting program, I love my new lifestyle. I have found a long term lasting and easy way to eat and stay healthy. I plan on feeling this great for the rest of my life!

Historic Eating Problem
My story all began with my historic eating problem which date back to 1989. This problem started bothering me soon after I turned 30. Perhaps due to slow metabolism, but no one could explain the reason. There has been a serious conflict between my natural desire for food and my body’s saying ‘no’. However I have been pleasing my mouth, and ignoring my body’s refusal of food. So my stomach is always full to overload like an airborne balloon. In March 2006, just before I turn 50, I took an important step in my life as to change my eating habit.

Lose Weight As A Result of Fasting
Actually over the past 20 years, doctors, dietitians and friends suggested hundreds of ways to correct my problem. Somehow I found only one way work for me – fasting. At the beginning, I went on a 6-day juice fasting. I lost six pounds out of that. And most of these six pounds were shed off from my belly fat. Over the course of the next six months, I lost a total of 20 pounds. My body weight has been stable since then. Fasting had greatly improved my appearance and made me feel great.

The Magic of Intermittent Fasting
At the beginning, I was thinking that I could resume my normal three-meal-day after the initial juice fasting. But I was wrong. The miracle feeling told me that ‘Anna, don’t look back; look forward, you’ve found the right way to eat!’ The feeling was just like I’ve been temporary disabled and got fully recovered. I would never want to be disabled again. As a matter of fact, I don’t really need that much food to survive. However I cannot give up food forever, so I target for one meal a day, just to balance my psychological and physical need of food. There marked the beginning of my intermittent fasting program.

I set up a food diary to record my eating history and at a later stage set up a food blog to record what I eat. On average, I skip 18 to 23 meals in a month as in some cases I cannot avoid eating due to business and personal social commitments. In some days, I replace a meal by snacks, a fruit or a glass of juice.

Overcoming Fasting Hurdle
Talking about my fasting experience, the most challenging bit was the first two days of juice fasting. I need strong determination to suppress my natural desire for food. I told myself its time to do something towards a better quality of life as I have been suffering for 17 years. From the third day onward, the feeling was really good. Though it was a bit tired but I still continued with my morning calisthenics and midday workout. These two sessions of daily exercise has been part of my life. Even now, I’m still doing them without breakfast and lunch and I’m still energetic enough to deal with my daily work.

While practicing intermittent fasting, the other hurdle to overcome is on the social side. I have to alert people of my change in eating habit and that they need to reserve my diary in advance, in case they want to eat with me. Luckily I have my family members’ and friends’ support by respecting my new eating habit. Food wise, I don’t really have any restriction. I just eat as usually, except not as frequent as before.

One meal every 24 hour is just good enough to keep me healthy and energetic. Unlike other weight loss program asking people to focus on low carb, low calorie, fat burning, ab exercising etc. intermittent fasting enables me to lose weight naturally and gradually. It is not an overnight weight loss program, but a long term lasting health program. I create this blog to spread this message and hope that more and more people can enjoy the benefits of IF and improve their quality of life and stay healthy.

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's Fasting History

Intermittent Fasting Success Report

My 24-Hour Diary of Intermittent Fasting

Have you ever tried or heard of a 24-hour fasting concept? This is what we call intermittent fasting (IF). I have been having this ‘eat once every 24 hour’ lifestyle for the past four years and have been doing well.

You may wonder how my life is and how I can survive by eating only one meal a day. My life is actually extremely hectic. Once I’m at my office, I keep multi-tasking through end of the day. A little background on myself – I have been in the executive search business for the past 11 years.

Here is a report on one of my typical working days while practicing intermittent fasting.

08:00 Wake up and a brief visit to the bathroom. I don’t need an alarm clock, because the sun and my body logic wake me up naturally on time.

08:05 Calisthenics at home for 20 minutes

08:25 Prepare to go to work

09:00 Arrive into the office. Make a cup of tea at the pantry – no solid food. Check email and take actions accordingly. There is one email which will keep me busy for the rest of the day. My boss has agreed with a client that a candidate will fly tonight from the Philippines into Hong Kong to do interviews tomorrow. I have to make things happen logistically. Of course this will override my other projects due to its urgency.

12:00 Swim at the Island Shangri-La pool for 30 minutes as this pool is just opposite to my office.

13:30 Arrive into the office, feeling groomed and energetic as to continue with my heavy workload. Make a cup of tea at the pantry – no solid food. Multi-tasking: Audio typed two reports which my boss dictated in the morning. Each of these 11-page reports have to be completed and approved by him and forwarded to client before end of the day. I have to wear two headsets as to interchange between my audio typing and phone calls, and at the same time watching out the email pop up window to monitor the progress of my Filipino project. Though I look like a fossil while doing audio-typing, but my mind is completely alert of things happening around me.

18:00 Make sure the meeting schedule, e-ticket/hotel booking reached the Filipino candidate before he shut down his computer and head off to the airport.

19:00 Make sure my two 11-page reports were approved by the boss, proof read, formatted properly and forwarded to client. Before I go home, I have to make sure all meeting schedules and documents that I completed today are properly log into the database.

20:00 Go home. I live nearby my office. I usually walk home and eat on the way. As this is the only time I eat in a day, I will look for a reasonably nice restaurant where I can sit down and enjoy a meal relaxed and peacefully. I have no restriction on the type of food, but generally a set dinner.

21:30 Evening activities at home. Multi-tasking among watching TV, taking phone calls, checking emails and updating my blogs. Click here for details.

00:00 – 08:00 Sleep

You may notice I go do swimming during lunch hour without eating before and after. In fact I have been doing this since 2006. Yes, I don't need to constantly eat to have energy. The beauty of intermittent fasting is not only to help lose weight in the short term, but it is a long term lasting way to help me stay fit and healthy. Read more about my current health condition.

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's 24-Hour Diary

Intermittent Fasting Success Report

My Workout During Intermittent Fasting

I swim for 30+ minutes everyday around lunch hour at the pool of Island Shangri-La Hong Kong. I do my daily workout as normal as anybody does. What you might consider abnormal is that I do it without breakfast and lunch, i.e., no food before and after. You may wonder how that can be. Well that’s the magic of intermittent fasting, I don’t have to eat three meals a day to support my daily activities. Only a meal every 24 hours will do.

This is the essence of my fasting blog. Many people know that fasting benefits weight loss, detox, cleanse and is a good thing to do. However their major reservation is on energy level. Can I do my daily workout as usual? My answer is of course ‘yes’.

Let me go into more details about my daily workout.

My Daily Workout and Fasting History
In the morning I do 20 minutes of calisthenics at home before going to work. I have been doing this since 1987. There is a background for this which I will explain in my future posts.

My lunch-hour workout started 1999 when I moved to work at Central Plaza Hong Kong. They have a mini gym and pool for the use their tenants. But the pool was closed in winter and in summer closed for all kind of reasons. I can swim only twice a week plus do gym on other days. But this happened seven years before I started my fasting program. So I was still having sort of light lunch after my workout.

A critical date in my recent life was March 11, 2006 when I kicked off my juice fasting, followed by intermittent fasting through now. Since midday workout has been part of my life, I just continued however without food before and after.

In 2007 I moved to work at Pacific Place Hong Kong where my office was just opposite to the Island Shangri-La. I then joined their Health Club and continued with my lunch-hour swimming session. This all-weather pool is much better than that at Central Plaza, as it is larger, more beautiful, well managed as well as opened year round.

Daily Swimming Schedule
Monday through Friday, you’ll see me at the pool around lunch hour, provided my work schedule permits. I might move my swimming session to the evening if necessary. Occasionally I swim on morning of Saturday and Sunday as well.

Why Swimming
Because I have leg and foot pain, many other sports won’t suit me, but swimming is fine.

Working After Swimming, Without Food
Hong Kong people usually ask ‘have you eaten?’ to greet someone in the afternoon. My colleagues were always shocked by my answering ‘NO’. I meant no breakfast and no lunch. They were shocked further that I always look more charm and energetic in the afternoon than in the morning. That’s why this photo was taken.

That day was January 18, 2008 when Asia was under snow crisis and Hong Kong had only 8°C.

Any reservation in kicking off your own intermittent fasting program? Let me know. I’m happy to share my fasting experience.

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's Daily Workout
Intermittent Fasting Success Report

My Fasting Diet – Just Eat As Normal

Talking about my fasting diet, I have been targeting one meal a day, since I started my intermittent fasting program in 2006. Of course this is a personal rule, not a law. It doesn’t matter if I break it. In fact, I eat as normal as anybody. What you would consider abnormal is I eat once every 24 hours. Then you may wonder what I eat. True, this is what my colleagues, friends and acquaintances all curious about.

Now here is the answer. Check my food blog, as it is a record of what I eat. I’ve taken all these photos from my dining table. Make sure to check the post of ‘Why I Set Up This Blog’.

In a nutshell, my fasting diet could be as simple as this.

I always have some porcini and sun dried tomatoes in my kitchen
to prepare a simple meal for myself.

And it could be as sophisticated as this when I attend social gatherings.

Amount of Food
When I attended my company’s annual dinner, I had shocked my colleagues by the way I eat. Many a time people asked me ‘Anna, do you really don’t eat? I notice you’ve eaten a lot!’ Yes, I do eat a lot. As someone who eats one meal a day, I do respect each meal and enjoy. I just eat freely and eat everything that I love to eat.

Type of Food
Regarding my fasting diet, I am going to upset many dietitians as I don’t care about the food pyramid. In Hong Kong, TV commercials tell us to drink eight cups of water a day, and for ladies two cups of milk in addition. Ten cups of liquid a day! What if I love a cup of tea, coffee or juice? 13 cups of liquid a day? No way. I never meet this target but I never feel myself dehydrated. I am at the maximum six cups of liquid combining all kinds of drinks, and I’m fine.

There is however a mini rule that I always stick to. I stay away from something that is high in cholesterol and extremely oily. And for personal reason I will minimize the consumption of potato sort of food and carbonated drinks as these will create gas in my stomach making me feeling uneasy.

Do you have any questions about my fasting diet? Feel free to ask me, I’ll be happy to share my experience.

You can eat as normal while stay fit and healthy, why don’t you going on a trial intermittent fasting?

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's Fasting Diet
Intermittent Fasting Success Report