Thursday, March 18, 2010

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

1 comment:

  1. Great information and very inspirational. I started IF the end of January and have lost about 14 pounds. It hasn't been hard at all. Mostly, it's a mental challenge. Once the first week is over, it gets much easier. Thanks for encouraging us with your story.
    Lisa, NY

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