Get Fit Friday

This Week's Goal:  IF 16:8; 3 days in the gym

Did I meet it? Nope. One day I only got in 14 hours of fasting before I caved. (fasted  at least 16 hours the other 6 days) Did not make the gym.

Previous week's average weight: 258

This week's average weight: 255

Previous week's average daily caloric intake: 2300

This week's average daily caloric intake: 1313

Previous week's average steps per day: 3200

This week's average steps per day:  4700

Previous week's average resting heart rate: 88  bpm

This week's average resting heart rate: 89 bpm

Biggest Accomplishment: increased steps,  at least 14 hours fasting every day, made 23 hrs 23 min one day and didn't realize it until I'd eaten something; cut my calories again.

I'm feeling... Fine. I am clearer headed than I have been in a long time. I am looking forward to boot camp. I am interested to see what my body can do.

Next week's Goal: Get in the gym, IF 16:8 every day

It's Important to me because: I might die if I go to boot camp cold turkey. IF so that I can get used to it before boot camp and hopefully drop a few more pounds before i start boot camp. (every little bit helps)

What I need to succeed: get my head in this. believe I can change. enjoy the process

Big hugs!
K

Thursday Thoughts on .... IF (Intermittent Fasting)

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn't specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them.

I may have shared my thoughts on IF before, but after last week's post on Friday, several messaged me asking about it... so here we are.

TBH I like IF because I am lazy... and broke...and I'm easily overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed with the whole prep 6 meals a day program. I've been known to purchase fresh foods with the intention of preparing them for my family for the week only to have them go bad before I get around to cooking. The truth hurts. The great thing about IF is that I'm not ADDING anything to my day or schedule. I don't have to cook one thing for me and something else for my fam. No meetings, no prep, no... nothing. 

All I'm doing is postponing WHEN I will eat. 

In theory, you can eat what ever you want when your fast is over, but I have learned (the hard way of course) that it's a terrible idea to eat a bunch of garbage (sweets, fast food, processed foods) during your eating window. Not only will it make your sugar spike, and leave you feeling like garbage, it will make it way harder to fast later. I learned that the more whole foods I eat during my eating window, the better my body appreciates fasting. Most say that eating KETO in combination with IF is the way to go, but if you've followed me for very long, you know I'm a veggie lover... so I have not tried Keto. You do what works for you.

That being said, here are a couple of terms...

Breakfast - still the most important meal of the day - it is when you BREAK your FAST. Matters not if this is at 5am or 7pm. Pay attention to what you feed your body after fasting. If you fast for more than 24 hours, be gentle. I have to be gentle if I fast more than 18. My stomach is fickle.

Eating Window - this refers to the number of hours within a 24 hour period that you are not fasting. So, if you fast 16 hours, you have an 8 hour eating window. 

OMAD - One Meal A Day - Some people eat this way all the time (talk about simple) but I have only used it when I restrict my eating window to about 2 hours... not much time to put 2 meals and a snack in that window.

Here are the basic types of IF:

When I FIRST started IF, I was scared I was gonna starve (LOL) so I started off with 12/12 (12 hour fast, 12 hour eating window). Think about this... if you sleep 8 hours a night, all you have to do here is stop eating 2 hours before bed and then wait 2 hours after waking up to eat again. 

Now that I have fasted a good bit (albeit with little consistency), I can start out with 16:8 (16 hours fasting, 8 hour eating window) and make adjustments from there. 

Personally, the 16:8 fast is easy for me during the work week. I'm rarely hungry in the morning and so this just means I skip lunch. Not a big deal. The weekends are a bit more of a challenge for me because the family likes to eat. Haha

When I am fasting, I typically follow a daily 16:8 schedule. Once my body adjusts to this schedule, I can modify it so that I fast a full 24 hours every other day. Again, not a big deal. Eat dinner at 6pm  and then eat again at about 630 the following night, then fast the next 16 hours, eat lunch (maybe a bit of a late lunch), eat dinner and then don't eat dinner until the next night. One of my coworkers eats one meal a day most days and she seems to tolerate it quite well. 

The BIGGEST adjustment for me each time I've fasted has been to break the habit of snacking. I like to munch on stuff. Just typing this makes me want chips and dip! LOL Not taking in ANY calories for 16 hours is a challenge only because I like to eat... not because I'm actually in need of food. 

You can research all  this for your self. Like anything else, there are people who say IF is great and people who say it will kill you. (Same applies to being Vegan or Eating Keto, eating 6 meals a day, or cardio vs weight training) You have to decide for yourself what works for you, your lifestyle and what gives you the results you want.

Here are some noted benefits of IF:
Drop in insulin levels
Increase in Human Growth Hormone
Cellular Repair
Boosts Metabolic rate
Loss in visceral fat 
Reduced Insulin Resistance
Reduced Inflammation
Reduction in Free Radicals
Improves Blood pressure
Improves HDL
Improves LDL
Improves Inflammatory markers
Improves Triglycerides
Improves Blood Sugar Levels
Initiates Autophagy  (cellular waste removal)


The biggest argument against fasting is that you go into starvation mode and use your muscle for food. Jason Fung addresses this and I am just gonna leave you with his words....

"It is virtually impossible that humans were designed to store food energy as body fat, but when food was not available, we burn muscle. This would mean that all peoples up to the 20th century following this feast-famine cycle either through periodic starvation or fasting would be almost pure fat. Instead, they were lean and strong." 

You can read the rest of this article here.

I also heard Dr. Fung say that our bodies are not created so stupidly that we would burn muscle instead of stored fat when we are in calorie deficit. He said that would be like storing up wood for the fireplace in preparation for cold weather and then chopping up your furniture to burn when the weather actually got cold. You wouldn't do that. You would burn the wood you stored. Our bodies do the same. 



Big hugs!
K

Wednesday's Weekly Recipes - Pico de Gallo

Y'all... have you ever tried to come up with recipes while you are fasting? What was I thinking? I am 20 hours into my fast and I am on the struggle bus for sure this evening! Okay, so... a recipe... that won't make me want to binge out on Hostess snack cakes or Wavy Lays and Green onion dip....


How about Pico de Gallo? that sound good? I think so... but I'm hungry... LOL!! Cinco de Mayo is coming up... so you need this recipe anyway!

Ingredients:
Roma Tomatoes (they have fewer seeds) - the fresher the better
Onion - white or red
Jalapeno or Serrano peppers (remove the seeds for less heat) use more or less to taste
Cilantro (sorry if you are one of those people who think that Cilantro tastes like soap... fresh cilantro is a must for this dish)
Lime (we will use the zest and the juice)
Salt
Pinch of Cumin (optional)
Remove the seeds from your tomatoes
Dice all the veggies up nice and small
Add some Lime zest and then squeeze in some lime juice.

Let it sit for a few minutes, but not too long... it's best when it's fresh!

You can add things to your Pico too....
what about something like
Fresh avacado
Mango
Peach
Cucumber
Corn
Red Pepper
Fresh mint
Roasted chile peppers

Oh my goodness my mouth is watering!

This is one of my favorite kinds of recipes... because you adjust the measurements to your taste.
 BUT I know some of you HAVE to have measurements, so here ya go...

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups diced Roma tomatoes (about 6 tomatoes)
• 2/3 cup diced white or red onion (about half of a medium white onion)
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, loosely packed
• 1 to 2 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, cored and finely diced
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• (optional) 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Enjoy!

K

Tuesday Tips and Tricks - Life Hack #2635 - Affect vs Effect

R(AVEN)

(A)ffect = (V)erb

(E)ffect = (N)oun

*or just forget all that and use the word 'impact' instead*

Monday Motivation