As most of you probubly know, I have been trying to loose weight for awhile now...well pretty much all my life, but really trying hard this past year or so. In May of last year....May 16, 2010 to be exact I stepped on the scales for the first time in a very long time. The number I saw looking back at me horrified me to no end...330 pounds is what it said. I couldn't believe it. This was possibly the biggest I had ever been in my life and I certainly felt it. All my clothes were either to tight for me to wear, or when I put them on I would have to stretch them before putting them on. I was wearing size 4-5XL shirts and size 28 pants. Let's face it...I was huge & I hated it. I vowed that day to start doing something about it.
My plan was to count calories. I started out putting myself on a 1800 calorie a day diet, I would eat whatever I wanted as long as it didn't go over 1800 calories by the end of the day. After a few weeks I dropped that intake down to 1500 calories a day. I would also cut my soda drinking down to 1-2 a day and make sure I drank at least 4-6 20oz bottles of water a day. I also made sure that I did some form of exercise everyday, whether it was riding my stationary bike for 30-45 mins a night or going walking at the local park with my sister for an hour every evening. By the end of August I had lost a total of 34 pounds! I was in 2-3XL shirts now and was wearing size 22 pants!I was so pleased with myself. However, we started going through some very stressful times in August and I started slacking off on the exercise, then I started going over my calories and the next thing I knew another year had gone by and it was September 6, 2011 and here I was stepping on the scales again to realize that I had gained 10 pounds of that 34 pound weightloss back. I was crushed to say that least. However, I remembered watching a few months back a really sweet nice lady on youtube who goes by the user name of FreeSpiritHaven. She had a channel and talked about how she used to weigh over 230 pounds and now she was a size 4! All she did to loose the weight was something called Intermittent Fasting.
Of course this really interested me so I started doing some research into it to find out if it was healthy, because we all know when we hear the word fasting we basically associate it with starving yourself and that is never a good way to loose weight. All the things I was coming across in my research though was pointing more towards the contrary. It seems that intermittent fasting, if done properly, can actually be very healthy for your body! I was reading numerous articles that said intermittent fasting contributes to wellness & longevity, weightloss, beneficial blood lipids, decreased inflammatory markers, diabetes control, arthritits , possibly even lowered instances of deadly illnesses like CANCER! I couldn't believe it. Bascially, all it is, you sacrifice 2 meals a day...now that doesn't mean you can't drink caloric drinks during the day...just not eat. Then for dinner time you can eat whatever you want! Of course making it healthy foods is as always the best option...lots of veggies, fruits for snacks or desert...things like that.
Of course I wanted to try this because I have learned my problem with diets is that 1. I do not like restricting myself in anyway. 2. I hate feeling bored with something. 3. I hate having to control my portion size. Those three things were always my most reasons for failing at my weightloss over the years. So, with this intermittent fasting the only thing I had to worry about was making sure I did not eat until the time I choose which was 5-6pm every evening when my whole family had dinner. Sounded simple enough...so I started doing it.
Now I won't lie to you, the first couple days were very hard. I found that I was my most hungry between 10am and noon. If I could make it until 2pm everyday then I found that after that it was actually pretty simple for me not to want the food. And at dinner time instead of gorging myself I never felt the need, I ate until I could feel my stomach full and then I stopped & I would always have dessert! Can't beat that! After a few days your stomach does start to shrink & when you do eat, you find that you can not hold as much as you think you want, which is an awesome thing! And your body starts to become adjusted to the fact that it knows when it is getting food and the hunger pains become less and less! I also found that my energy, instead of being depleated like one would think was completely the opposite. I wanted to do things. I wanted to clean and play with the kids! I felt good! It was like my body was detoxing itself.
Anyway it has been 12 days today and I have lost 11 pounds! That means all of the 10 pounds I had gained back are gone with an additional pound lost! I couldn't feel better.
I plan on continuing this way of life for me now...I am seeing great results and I am feeling really good too! Now am I saying that this is the right plan for everyone....NO...you have to go with what works for you. I am no doctor. I am no nutritionist. I am just doing what works for me based on my life, likes, etc. And I am choosing to tell my story not only for those who would love to listen but for myself as well. I fully intend to get down to my goal weight of 175 pounds...possibly smaller but for now that is my goal and when I do, I would love to be able to have something to look back on and read about my journey.
So take from this what you will and for those of you who are on your own journeys I say good luck and many blessings!!
September 6, 2011 WEIGHIN: 307 pounds
TODAYS WEIGHIN (9-18-11): 296 pounds!
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