Home Blog All Intermittent Fasting Experiment - 4 weeks

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Created: Wednesday, 13 June 2018 07:41

Was 65.3kgs - Currently 62.5 - 63.0kgs 

Intermittent Fast Week 4

Four weeks down and I’m still doing my intermittent fasting daily and have not had anything terribly naughty - Maybe a few wines and the odd Saturday night treat  but my food has certainly been on point throughout the period. . My scale weight started at 65.2kgs and now I sit between 62.5 & 63kgs. Not a huge loss but I feel so much better, lighter and tighter.
I had a try on of some of my clothes on Sunday. An online purchase that was too smug when I received  it last year, is now too big. I could hardly zip it up on its arrival and the disappointment was real, but jeez, it almost falls down now and now features “baggy crotch”

I can never hope to fill it out so Im posting it on TradeMe this weekend.
How the jumpsuit looks on the model compared to me... Thumbs down!

I also tried on a sexy tangerine dress that I brought in Melbourne which was embarrassing form-fitting back then,   but it now looks gorgeous except I have no way of hiding the “frozen nipple” feature no matter what I wear under it,  but can’t wait to wear it with #My Fiancee one evening soon - he will love it!
Nothing  feels quite as good as picking an outfit out of your wardrobe knowing that your going to rock it,  he’s going to love it and it's going to feel awesome wearing it. Feeling every bit as good as you deserve to feel is so awesome.  If you personally are having wardrobe dramas, then set your realistic body goal, pick a good sound nutrition plan, set a realistic time frame to reach your goal, and begin being the boss of your own body. It is in your control.  

Trend Diets

I want to say that I really DON'T agree with plans which pull out any food groups permanently from your daily plans.  I enjoy the Keto way of eating( no carbs or just minimal carbs) but that is because it really suits me. I still love Keto plans now and would still be doing it,  had I not taken on this Intermittent Fasting Experiment. However at the moment I am loving the intermittent plan. I have carbs, fats and proteins so I miss no food group.  I plan my food and have my macros correct to ensure I get my protein requirement in then I use the extra calories for my fat and carbs. I will continue to do this plan for as long as it suit me. To me, it's not a magic plan, but it suits me.  It's not so much for weight loss for me, but for me to understand a little bit about the concept of this particular plan. The little bit of weight loss has just been a benefit for me.

Everybody thinks dieting is easy for me.  Well it is kinda easy now - but it never used to be easy.  I struggled a lot through different periods of my life. Now I don’t have a problem with food. I can take it or leave it.  I get hungry of course but I don’t mind being hungry - actually I kind of  like being hungry. As a competitor we train ourselves to be hungry - we need to becos competition diets are another level.     

I’m actually a self confessed carb addict! I could cook a whole bowl of rice and eat it all myself.  So I feel better keeping my carbs to a minimum or have no carbs at all cos when I have them I want more.  That’s just me - I would rather have the protein and the fats, oh and the wine.

HISTORY
My dad was  a big eater ( and an awesome road cyclist his whole life)   I once ate 12 weetbix at breakfast to try to match him and I did. I ate all 12 and probably asked for more.  I was so proud of myself! My mum used to eat weetbix too ( although not 12) with boiling hot water from the jug poured over it, then she  would top it with sugar. I did the same one day and the hot water burnt my mouth so badly I passed out at the table, and knocked my head on the wall leaving a hole in it. I didnt even think to let it cool down beforehand (that's how gutsy I was)  My sisters and I were well trained fast eaters. If we didn't eat quickly my Dad would say are “you not eating that” and try to take it from us, so that is where my fast eating comes from and my love of carbs.

So as a teenager I was quite active,  ( on the netball courts, the athletic field and also behind the bike sheds lol)  and I used to come home from high school and boil a saucepan of rice - gluggy rice which I still love.   I would pour hot milk over it, add a great big dob of butter then top it with sugar and eat it before Dad come home. I don’t think I shared it - actually I think my sisters hated it,  so I would cook it most days cos I knew I was eating something nobody else would want.
Please note:  I hate shared food to this day so don’t ever ask me to a restaurant or a home cooked meal with shared plates.  I either wont go or you wont get any lol!!

Raymond Leo Stokes - My Dad used to make this gorgeous egg flip for us kids , which was boiled milk,  beaten eggs and vanilla essence. It was part of Dads post-cycling food, but to us it was a treat almost as good as a soft serve Mr Whippy. . It  was his version of a protein shake so I guess I learnt the value of eating for your recovery way back then As I grew up, I learnt more and more from him.  I would see him eat for his recovery after his training rides, and see him eat in preparation for his long bike rides or his very competitive road races. He carb loaded with bananas and rice, raisins, etc and he would tell me why he was doing it.  We were a family of 6 living in Greymouth then we moved to CHCH when I was 11 or 12 , but we didn’t have the money where he could just go out and shop for his own nutrition, so he did the best he could with what he had and now that I look back, I wish I could of thanked him so much more for his sacrifices for us.  He was a very talented athlete who put his family first before his own personal love.
After Dad’s bike races or training rides   he would treat his tired body and muscles by soaking in a bath of epsom salts and he or Mum rubbed liniment on his legs and any other sore places he had.  

I didn’t know it at the time, or appreciate all of the whys, whens, hows,  etc of my Dad’s actions, but I recognised it later in life that he was my teacher,  and he passed onto me his limited understanding of sports nutrition ( although limited, it was certainly sound and grounded) and for that I am so thankful.  He paved my career from a young age, and I can now help give my clients the tools to do the best they can, with what they have, to get the best results for themselves as individuals.
Dieting doesn't have to be rocket science.   It’s made way too much of a big deal on social media in a way to get your money. It's not a genetic programme. Its very very personal and that's the only way it will work long term.

This is how I see it and think it!
You eat to prepare your body for the next day! You eat for reparation for the “today”  and in reparation for the previous day! You are eating to repair the damage you have caused while training and prepare your body for what is about to come.   I don’t care if your a golfer, a fitness junkie or a stroller, you eat for what you have done, are actively doing. or are planning to do.
You balance your macros, respect food and ultimately respect your body!
You eat what suits YOU. Not what is the fashion,  or what suits your best friend or your instagram idols

YOU learn how a certain food affects YOU.  Not how a certain food has affected another person.
You learn to eat foods that benefit you.  
You eat what you love, not what somebody has told you that you HAVE  to eat.

That is why I prefer to” teach” rather than “preach”   
And that is why I get with my clients to design a plan for them which is 100% personal.
And in time they can go off and manage their own food, and maybe come back to me every so often for a check in and refocus time.. Everybody needs to refocus sometimes, learn some new ways,  and to readjust things a little bit as bodies mature and situations change. Even I need a kick up the butt occasionally.

I have been dieting on and off since I was 13.  But during my 57 plus years so far, I had to re-train myself several times in regards to my nutrition  - and at one time with counsellors, in order to regain a healthy attitude towards food. I’ve had some times in my life where I most definitely needed to  form a new respect for carbs and fats. I went through post competition binge cycle practices which is not a nice experience and very difficult to get out off.   It was a horrible time in my life so I know how you feel or what you are going though if you are at that point atm. But you can beat it.
How I reprogrammed myself.
I’ve alway had respect for protein so that has not been a problem.  Protein has always played a huge part of my daily nutrition.
During my dark dietary periods,  I used to think carbs & fats were my best friends and I would turn to them regularly, but they actually used to be my enemy and I would use them as a form of self destruction for many years.  
Thank god now NOW they are at the bottom of the list of my “My Personal  Support Crew “  Protein(is at the top of my list) followed by fats and carbs which support my preparation for the next day, my reparation for the present day and the reparation of the previous day.

They are in this order:

Support No 1.  Protein

Support  No. 2  Fats

Support No 3 Carbs
My first meal of each day. A perfect balance of protein, carbs and fats.

Back when I was 30 years old, when I was premenstrual, I used to eat 1 x can ( 400grams )  of condensed milk per month in one sitting - sometimes two if my period was late...
I would eat condensed milk  before my period was due and I would make it my deserved treat just for being a woman,  for having periods and for having to put cotteney things with strings inside my vagina while experiencing period pain. I deserved condensed milk.  Sometimes I would boil it for 3 hours in a preserving can just cos I felt I needed it and I deserved it. But it was a habit. My premenstrual body didn't need it.   My mind was telling me I WANTED IT.
 I remember looking up in a calorie counter one day and I worked the condensed milk macros out to be 1400 calories per tin.  I was so shocked as I used to belong to a running group and realised that the hour I ran only burnt of half of the can I had eaten on one treat and I was sometimes eating 2 cans..
Looking up the macros  on My Fitness Pal just now  and tells me that 1 can it has 1376 calories, 223 grams of carbs,  223 grams of sugar, and 32.4 grams of fat. That f….ing ludicious.  That's not a treat, that is self destruction at its worst.

High carbs and sugars only  create the urge to eat more carbs and sugars.  Premenstrual woman in particular insist on needing more carbs or more sugar.  But they do that because they have trained themselves to have more carbs and sugars which in turn increases the cravings for more plus some. You train yourself to want and need it and you can untrain yourself. Go have a nice piece of salmon and a spinach and strawberry salad instead and see how you feel after that.

if and when  I do give Keto to my clients it is normally to help them drop weight initially and also to give them a new perspective and appreciation for carbs as a food choice. I  try to teach them how to use them and that they will always be an option in future plans.

So overall, this blog is not so much about the Intermittent Fasting Plan.  It’s about dieting in general. I feel sad that some clients are continually on the diet roller coaster.  Losing weight, then regaining, losing again and so on. The school year paves the way for the “diet year” Good nutrition habits and exercise are slotted into “Terms” to match the  school year. Dieting and exercising in the school term, then on complete food and exercise holiday while the kids are at home. Then school term starts again and another even more severe diet/exercise term begins again.   I just wish I didn’t see so much of this in my little office.

Diet is not a magic word.  If you are on the diet cycle, then it doesn’t matter what trend you are following  - Raw food, The Ketogenic, Intermittent Fasting, Paleo. It’s about calories in calories out, balancing your macros so you get to enjoy foods that you like and that will keep you on plan, and so many other things like your job, family commitments, your stress levels,  your exercise levels etc . So all those elements must be taken into consideration. .
If you are dieting, diet sensibly.  Be in deficit to allow fat loss. Enjoy your food and whatever exercise you participate in.   Try different diets to see what suits you and give everything a good go. Above all. Be patient and kind to yourself.  

Myself personally,  well I am loving the intermittent fasting and could see myself doing this for quite some time, but I seriously cannot see how anybody not used to dieting or not focused or “diet trained” can do it properly long term.  I have had clients say they have done it for months etc but they haven't learnt anything in the process and are still trying every new trendy promising plan available. Unless somebody is learning about themselves, and learning about food in the process, then no diet is going to work.  Maybe short term but definitely not long term.

So I do stress to select the right plan for you. Something you can sink your teeth into. One which fits your lifestyle, your budget and something you can stay on until you have reached your goal without the feeling that you are punishing yourself every day.  

There is a Part 2 to this blog.  Its a subject close to my heart and I just have so much to say and write about so until next week

Luf and Muscles - Jo.