Today I want to share something a bit more personal with you and celebrate a major milestone in my life. This isn’t the typical type of blog post that I publish and I have been debating for quite a while if I wanted to do this. To be quite honest, it’s pretty scary putting myself out there to be judged. Ultimately though, I am hoping that my journey will inspire someone else out there that is struggling with health issues stemming from excess weight. Maybe my story will resonate with you and help you on your own journey to lose weight and improve your health…
Today marks a significant milestone in my quest to improve my health. Just over a year ago, I embarked on what has become a new lifestyle for me. I initially started this journey to finally quit smoking for good almost 3 years ago and to lose the excess weight I put on during menopause.
I quit smoking and started working a sedentary job where I sat at a computer screen all day. Then…menopause hit. It created the perfect storm, the trifecta for weight gain. It was a slow but steady increase in weight of about 2 pounds a month. It doesn’t sound like all that much, only about 2 pounds a month, but after 2 years I had packed on a whopping 50 pounds! I was tipping the scales at the heaviest weight of my entire life. The only other time I weighed near as much was with my first pregnancy.
I started experiencing some health issues at my heaviest weight. I developed plantar factitious, my cholesterol levels were creeping higher and higher, and I just felt awful. I was always tired. I felt like I was moving through Jello, everything was such an effort to do. I was puffy and bloated. My digestion was a constant issue; my gut was always cramping and gurgling, and I just lived with an overall sense of not feeling well. Heartburn was becoming a problem that I had never experienced before. Type 2 Diabetes ran in my family and I knew that if something didn’t change it would be something I would develop. I hated the way I felt; I hated the way I looked and I was so unhappy with myself.
I tried so many different diets to stop and reverse the slow but steady weight gain. Nothing seemed to work unless I was extremely vigilant. It was mentally exhausting and emotionally draining to have every waking moment of every day filled with thoughts of what to eat or not eat. Making sure to get enough exercise to burn excess calories. Shopping, preparing and packing all the special “diet” foods I needed to eat each day; preparing separate meals for myself and for my family.
I would start-off each new diet with such high hopes! I would do it perfectly and see some results. But ultimately I would fall off the wagon after a few weeks. Something would always derail me; a party or dinner out to a restaurant, or just plain hunger. Once I fell off the wagon I would go right back to gaining all the weight I had managed to lose and then some more.
It was just so hard! Who wants to eat plain boiled eggs, and tasteless chicken breasts all the time. Cabbage soup three times a day for weeks on end? No more bread or cookies in my future. Chips? I could kiss those goodbye as well. Sigh…
I was at a point in my life where I thought that I was destined to be an unattractive, fat, middle-aged woman, and I just needed to accept it. Only I couldn’t. I kept thinking that surely there must be something out there that I could do; something that didn’t require every waking thought to be consumed with losing weight and obsessing over food. But I hadn’t found anything that worked for me and I was trying to reconcile myself to the fact that I would never get back to a healthy weight that I had enjoyed for most of my adult life.
I was miserable but I had no idea how to change it. I felt terrible. I looked terrible. I was depressed. I was disgusted with myself and my inability to get my weight under control. I just didn’t have the mental or emotional energy left to get myself back on the weight-loss roller coaster. I had pretty much given up, and I was so very unhappy.
It was at this time in my life that I first started hearing about fasting. My first thought was, it’s just some crazy starvation fad diet. I had fasted before, but struggled to fast just on Ash Wednesday and Friday’s during Lent. How could I possibly fast on a regular basis? I was sure it wasn’t for me. I kept hearing more and more about it and the fantastic results people were having. I finally decided to take a closer look at Intermittent Fasting (IF) and see for myself what it was all about.
The general premise is that you eat everything for an entire day in a short “window” of time each day. There are no “good” foods or “bad” foods. You may eat whatever you choose to satiety but it can only be during your “window”. During the fast you are allowed only water, black coffee or plain unflavored tea. You get to determine how long your window will be.
The “window” sounded fabulous! I could eat what I wanted? Bread? Wine? Chips? All my favorite foods were not forbidden foods. I could cook the recipes that I loved and eat the foods I love. No more cooking a meal for my family and not being able to enjoy it with them. I knew I could easily do the window, but the fasting part? That might be a bit harder to do.
Being a rip off the Band-Aid kind of girl, I of course decided to jump in with both feet. From day one, I started with a 20-hour fast and a 4-hour window. I committed to not eating anything until after I got home from work at 6 pm each day. I have to confess, I white knuckled through the first few weeks. Those first few weeks were not easy and I really struggled! I obsessed over food and what I was going to make each night for dinner. I struggled to drink my coffee black without my sweet flavored creamer. It was rough but all the literature I had read said that it took time to see results and to commit to doing Intermittent Fasting (IF) for at least 3-6 months.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
- Weight loss
- Increased energy
- Mental clarity, improved memory and brain function
- Increase in the production of Human Growth Hormone
- Lowers risk for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
- Improved skin tone
- Promotes cellular repair through Autophagy
- Reduces insulin resistance and protects against type 2 diabetes
- Lowers bad cholesterol
- Promotes longevity
Somehow, I think I knew that IF was going to be the answer for me. All the research I was reading just resonated with me and made sense. Even though those first couple of weeks were really challenging, I stuck with it. Then about 2 weeks in, it happened. I experienced the abundant energy that everyone talks about with IF. I can still remember that weekend. We were getting ready to move and I spent most of the day packing. Then I painted a bathroom, detail cleaned the refrigerator, changed all the sheets on the beds, did four loads of laundry and I even did the grocery shopping and then cooked dinner that evening and cleaned up the kitchen. I was like the energizer bunny and I felt AMAZING!
After that, it got so much easier as I settled into my Intermittent Fasting routine. I love how I no longer have to worry about packing a lunch for work every day. I no longer get hangry like I used to. For the first few weeks, I was like a Hoover when I got home from work. I literally inhaled food! But now it’s so much easier. Some day’s I’m not even all that hungry when it’s time to open my window. Who am I?!?!
I have steadily lost a little over a pound a week during this past year. The weight loss has slowed now that I am close to my goal weight but I’m in no hurry. I know that I will get there in due time.
I keep noticing changes happening to my body; muscle definition without exercise (especially in my upper arms), bloating and puffiness gone (most noticeable in my face), more stamina and energy (my house has never been so clean), clothes fit better and better all the time (they no longer catch, bunch or cling to rolls of fat around my middle), all this without changes on the scale.
They say that most people come to Intermittent Fasting for the weight loss, but stay for the health benefits, and it is true. I feel at least 10 years younger, I have so much more energy now, I sleep better, the bloating, heartburn and digestion issues I was having are gone. The plantar factitious is gone and that feeling of moving through Jello is gone. I have much better mental clarity and a feeling of lightness and boundless energy that I never experienced before.
I recently went in to see my primary care doctor and asked him run a full battery of blood tests, just to be sure that what I’m doing isn’t having any adverse effects on me. All my labs came back in the normal range. Not too shabby for a 55 year old post menopausal woman!
To date I have lost 45 pounds, just shy of my goal of 50 pounds. I’m ok with that because I know eventually I will reach the weight that is best for my body. I have the tool to get me there.
If you are interested in learning more about this lifestyle you can read more about it here. It has been life changing for me! This lifestyle allows me to enjoy cooking and eating all my favorite foods. Nothing is off limits, really! Curious about the foods I love to eat? Check out the recipes I’ve posted here to see all the foods I regularly enjoy.
No more crazy diets. No more eating tasteless foods, no more craziness around food. I fast each day, then eat what I enjoy and I have steadily lost weight doing this. I feel fantastic, I have loads of energy, mental clarity and I love the way I look again. I no longer hate the way I look!
I encourage you to check it out, it’s free, the science behind it shows that it is a healthy way of eating and the results are astounding! You can ask me any questions you have in the comments. I’m happy to share from my personal experience.
So I ask…what do you have to lose?
It’s best to begin your intermittent fasting journey by progressively working up from overnight fasting (12+ hours per night). And yes, sleeping counts as fasting! If you are looking for significant weight loss, you might consider working up to 18-20 hours of daily fasting (OMAD or one-meal-a-day), alternate day fasting (fasting every other day, with up to 500 calories on fasting days) or a 5:2 schedule (fasting for two days per week). Learn more about fasting for weight loss and other benefits here . Hunger is normal during a fast, especially when you first start fasting. However, if you keep a set fasting schedule daily, you’ll probably find that you begin to not even feel hungry until near the end of your typical fasting window. You might also begin to relate to your hunger differently, recognizing true hunger from cravings .
Noah, you are correct, fasting is most difficult in the beginning. For many folks easing into it is easier than starting off with a 20 hour fast each day right off the bat. I have been fasting for over 2 years now and it does get much, much easier with time.
A motivating discussion is worth comment. I do think that you ought to publish more on this subject, it might not be a taboo subject but usually people do not speak about such topics. To the next! Cheers!!
You story is really beautiful my friend, and sharing is with the world shows so much courage! I have been moved to try this for myself for the same reason you have taken this journey! Thank you for being so vulnerable and open, for I am sure you will touch many lives with your message of hope.
You are BEAUTIFUL!