My Experience With Intermittent Fasting

  Hey guys, The time is 1320 and I've found some time to engage in writing a blog post. And given I'm really hungry right now - I thought I'd base this post around exactly that. My fasting/intermittent fasting escapades. So what I'm trying to do - is to cut down my calorie intake by around 20% with the advent of my increasingly sedentary lifestyle and my increasing age. I'm now 35, and my ability to 'eat anything and not get fat is being sorely tested. So with this in mind - as I've seen my stomach over the years I've stopped doing any resistance training and I continue to eat more takeaways and grow bigger than it should - I've slowly been making changes to try and offset the changes in my lifestyle. Specifically - as an example...I'm simply aiming to eat less. So now the time is 1323 and I've yet to eat today. Granted there are extenuating circumstances right now (I'm waiting with my mate in Moorfield A&E eye hospital), but all the same calorie reduction is what I'm working upon. There are several interesting insights that I have about this whole experience -

IT'S A GOOD MENTAL TEST

Getting into the discipline of fasting is something that requires a little bit of mental toughness and discipline because of course your stomach cries for food. Mine has been several times this morning - and there's a sport in being able to resist it. This is useful in many other aspects of your life - so I recommend trying fasting just for this very reason alone! [convertful id="197358"] Naturally, I've not been good at this intermittent fasting malarky for almost 100% of the time I've tried it. But there's power in trying and I've got faith that over time I'll be able to overcome and conquer when it comes to building fasting into the fabric of my life. Right now I have to blog about it too (as I always do) to try and bring fixing my diet to the fore. And blogging about it will underline it in my mind as being critical to my success.

I LACK PROPER INCENTIVES

This is often time a big failure point of mine. That I don’t connect the experience of intermittent fasting with something bigger that I want to achieve in my life. So right now I want to try and make that change. (I recently discovered that I have high cholesterol and I’m going to explore this in a separate blog). Here’s something I’ll try and connect it to immediately -

1. Deepak if you want a six-pack you need to intermittently fast
2. Deepak unless you want to look ugly naked you better fast
3. Deepak stop being a little bitch and just damn fast

IT’S HARDER WHEN YOU HAVE A HIGH METABOLISM

It pains me to write this down as it’ll weaken the mind - but I discuss intermittent fasting with my friend Luc - and he can do it so easily. And I don’t think it comes down to a lack of mental strength on my side. To be honest with you I know he is heavier set than me and seems to be totally comfortable with not eating for longer periods of time (Luc that is) - but I think it’s more to do with myself not having the proper incentives in place. But the rate at which you burn energy will definitely impact how often you get hungry. Again, however, with discipline, this can be completely controlled.

I’M LOOKING FOR SLOW AND STEADY PROGRESS

The progress I’m looking for is to get better over time rather than to make massive progress immediately. Experience has broadly taught me that drastic changes don’t really work well and therefore you need to look at the overall growth rather than anything day to day or even week to week. It’s the much bigger long-term that you should care about more so than anything else.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are many benefits to intermittent fasting such as going into a state of ketosis where you burn your fat stores instead of your carbohydrate stores. You are in a state of calorie deficit. And of course - we’ve discussed the mental discipline this builds. I think also - I’m just excited about the challenge of it - especially now I’m making a bold statement about it. Let’s go!