Intermittent Fasting (IF) Anniversary.

Well, I’ve just had an Anniversary.  Happy Anniversary!  No, Nicole and I got Married in January, but this is an important anniversary just the same.  Just a bit over a year ago, I started doing Intermittent Fasting (IF).  For those that are not intimately familiar with Intermittent Fasting, it is a way of eating (WOE) where you don’t eat for certain periods of time, generally longer than 12 hours. 

There are several different ways in which people execute their fasts.   Some people will fast for 16 hours and then have an eating window of 8 hours, then fast for 16 hours again.  20 and 4 Hours is another method, 23-1, etc…  There are even intermittent fasting protocols which have the faster not eat for 30 or 36 hours.  Generally anything beyond a 36 hour fast would be considered Extended Fasting.

There is evidence that fasting is essential to reset your body’s sensitivity to Insulin.  By not constantly spiking insulin by eating multiple times a day, your body recovers from insulin resistance, or toxicity.  Which is a bad thing, if the word toxicity didn’t make that clear.

So, We Discovered Intermittent Fasting (IF), YAY!

We were introduced to IF just over a year ago.  Nicole saw a Facebook post from a friend about meal delivery services.  Nicole had also been noticing that this friend was having weight loss success, but was also eating this great food from the food services.  So, what gives?   They started talking about food, and some changes she had made, etc…leading to eventually talking about Intermittent Fasting(IF.) 

This friend is none other than Kim Smith of “The Super Shrinking Smiths.”  Kim and her husband Ryan just released their first book, “Unbelievable Freedom: How We Transformed Our Health and Happiness with Intermittent Fasting”

Unbelievable Freedom Paperback Link <CLICK ME>

Unbelievable Freedom Kindle Link <CLICK ME>

Kim also told Nicole about Gin Stephens’ book, Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle

Delay Don’t Deny Kindle Link <CLICK ME>

Delay Don’t Deny Paperback Link <CLICK ME>

Delay Don’t Deny Audible Link <CLICK ME>

At first, I will admit I was a TOTAL skeptic.  You mean to tell me that I can eat whatever I want, just not whenever I want?  Too good to be true!  However, my “Inner Fat Kid” was over the moon with excitement over Intermittent Fasting!

So We Started Intermittent Fasting(IF).

We eased into not eating the traditional three-square meals a day with the obligatory snacks.  For a long time when I was young, I didn’t eat “breakfast” early like most other people.  Sometimes I would not have breakfast until noon, or later, so this transition to a short eating window wasn’t all that hard.

Only being able to drink Water, BLACK Coffee, or Tea, again, not so bad.  I had gotten away from sweet drinks over the last 10 or so years anyway.  That was a lengthy convoluted detox all on its own…

I was thinking this Intermittent Fasting(IF) thing was going to be pretty easy. I still got to eat whatever I wanted in my eating window, so I could delay that craving, while not denying myself from the goodness to come later in the day. (See what I did there?  Delay, Don’t Deny 😊) 

The Scale

So, I started paying real attention to the scale.  It was moving!  Yay, the scale was going down.

Then it didn’t…  Then it went up, down, sideways, up again, down, all over the place.  I’ll totally admit at this point that I started to think of Intermittent Fasting (IF) as “Just another Fad Diet!”  that would come and go with sound and fury, but in the end would signify nothing…

Admission Time

Now, here comes admission time…  I took the whole “You can eat whatever you want” a little too seriously.

We had shifted to full on One Meal a Day Intermittent Fasting(OMAD IF) 20-4 or 22-2 or so fasting in a brief period of time. Historically, my ability to recognize hunger signals was atrocious.  Additionally, my ability to recognize the “Full Signal” is also as just as bad…

So, dinner was a BIG affair.  Since I could only eat once a day, I made sure I got what I deserved!  One Chicken Breast wasn’t enough, I had to have two.  Side dish?  Sweet Potato sounds good, but I found the biggest dang ones in the bin at the grocery store because: “By God, I only get to eat once a day, so I’m going to make the most of it!”  I think you get the idea…  I didn’t feel full, so I ate what my mind thought would be the right amount to eat, and I didn’t stop.

Dessert

So, since dessert is just a continuation of the one meal a day I got, why not have dessert?  Sure, let’s go for it!  I love ice cream, so the “Inner Fat Kid” took over…  Ice Cream Sundaes after a big meal, You can do eeet!  By the way, I know I have an “Inner Fat Kid” because when I was in College, ordering those pizzas, I lost patience and gobbled up my fat kid self!  I think I found another “Inner Fat Kid” at this time, and gobbled him up too.

Yeah, I was out of control…. But I was following the Intermittent Fasting Program!

I lost a few pounds at first, then gained them back, but even eating all the sweets and other junk, I was holding steady…  But not losing weight, nor inches…

Ice Cream

“Do you really need to eat Ice Cream EVERY night?”  My loving wife said this several times, and by several, I mean probably a dozen or more…  Ok, probably a couple dozen.  I rationalized that I wasn’t gaining, and I was following the program.

Then one night, Nicole said… “Check your blood sugar!”

I did, the old-fashioned way, with a finger stick. I think I was somewhere around 275.  I’m Diabetic.  Blood Sugars of 275 are BAD.  Light started to dawn on this marble head that maybe I was different.  Maybe it was bad for me to eat what I was eating.   Subconsciously, (and consciously) I knew eating what I was eating was NOT good for a diabetic, but my inner fat kid, and my inner sugar addict completely overruled that knowledge.  The fat twins in my head kept whispering: “Eat what you want, you’re following the program…”   I was convinced the “when” was good, because eating all that junk, I was not gaining weight, but I wasn’t losing either.

Liberate Yourself with a Libre!

Well, I now realized I needed to change up the program!

This is where my story picks up with the Liberate Yourself with a Libre!  Post.  Most of that post is centered on that discovery, and the changes I made at that time.  I eliminated the Ice Cream Dessert, I seriously cut back on my carbohydrate intake.  This was also the time I discovered The Diabetes Code <CLICK ME>.

Well, Whaddya know?

Guess what happened?  By adapting to OMAD Keto, my blood sugars plummeted.  I felt better, and I started to lose weight again!  I’m normally a person who is super good remembering numbers, but I am fuzzy about what my weight was when I made this change.  In my defense, it was all over the place, bouncing around like ping pong ball in the Powerball machine.

I was hovering around 240, so I guess that will have to be close enough.  Additionally, my 38 inch waist pants were fairly snug. That’s fat guy double speak for: “Ok, my pants are tight, but I don’t want to admit that.”

Conclusion: OMAD Keto!

It’s been about 5 months since the transition to the Libre and implementing OMAD Keto.  You know, I don’t really miss Ice Cream one bit.  I cut out the excess carbs…  don’t miss them either.  Nicole and I follow a low carb, high quality fat way of eating(LCHF WOE), and we don’t feel one bit that we are denying ourselves.  We delay, but we do not feel denied at all.  The way we are eating can be best described as OMAD Keto.  One Meal a Day eating Ketogenic Food. 

Oh, the punch line to this whole thing is that I’m now down to 36 inch pants again, other than a brief period about 6 years ago, I really haven’t worn 36” waist pants, consistently, since the early 1990’s.  That’s a significant “Non-Scale Victory” but there is a scale victory included here too…  I recently dipped into the 220’s for the first time in probably 25 or more years.

Yeah, I’m making this IF thing work… By eliminating the sugary desserts, and following OMAD Keto, I was able to fully reset my Insulin Resistance!  You can too!

Click here to Join our Facebook Group  where we are gathering people who want to improve their lives through IF!  You don’t have to be Diabetic to Join!  We all can benefit from these changes!

Thanks,

-Todd

P.S Check out our other posts:

1. 5 Basic Rules for Cleaner Eating
2. On the Road Again!
3. The Mirror Tells no Lies!

And our Recommendations Page!