I.F. You Asked Me What I've Given Up, It Would Be This

Like what the title says, if you asked me what I've given up, it would be this: eating from six in the evening up until ten in the morning. Now in case you're wondering why the "if" is "I.F.", it's because I've recently started Intermittent Fasting.

Back in the day, I've tried a number of diet plans and they all worked for me. But, the temptation of food is just so great that limiting your carbo intake is just so challenging; pasta, pizza, turn overs, donuts, ramen… Plus, it doesn't help that I do have a food blog (https://tira-tirahan.blogspot.com). So, I get back what I shed off. Until age caught up and my natural metabolism wasn't as active as it used to. Even if I went back to the diet plans, exercise routines, it was taking more effort than it used to.

Eventually, I gave in and just accepted the fact that this is my fate. I've reached the weight of 80 kilograms. That's very heavy. Already on the obese side. I missed the days when I was just 64 kilograms heavy. I know that however I worked out and diet, I would never get to that weight again. Until one day, I heard of a technique that was new to me. It made sense because I know that the body, when it has no more carbohydrates to burn, it will start to burn stored fat. And when the fat is all out, it will start to consume protein. I also know that the brain consumes the most energy. The problem was, I didn't know how it actually works or how to activate the process. This technique told me how the process was activated.

But since I've let myself go for so long already, I never really paid much attention to it. I was skeptical since at my age, with my slowed down metabolism, it just might not work. So yes, I did not do any fasting in any form.

Then came our company's annual physical examination for 2019. When I went on the scale to get my weight, it tipped at 99 kilograms. Oh my god! Almost a hundred. Sure I was seeing myself getting bigger and bigger every time I go by the restroom mirror. And I didn't mind. But getting an actual number attached to that size, that was different. That was almost 20 kilograms from the last time I checked. That's when I decided to give intermittent fasting a try.

The first week was the difficult one. Suddenly adjusting my eating habits from "eating when hungry" to "eating just within the window" was quite difficult. I almost gave up. But I thought to myself, "Let's see where this takes us for at least a month, then we quit if it goes nowhere." So with a lot of will power, I persevered.

One week went on and the second week was a lot easier because my body had already adjusted to my eating window of 10AM to 6PM. After three weeks, it was already clockwork. And then a month went by without me noticing. I only realized that that I needed to check on my progress after a month and a half in. When I checked, I was down to 84 kilograms. It actually worked. And I could feel the changes as well; my shirts felt bigger, my pants as well. Some of the clothes that I couldn't wear because I got bigger started to fit again.

The wonderful thing about intermittent fasting is you can still eat whatever you like as long as you eat within your eating window. So I never gave up on the carbs. However, if you do choose to give up on the carbs as well, it might accelerate the fat loss since your body will skip the carbo burning and go straight to fat burning. That's just what I think.

If you want to know more about intermittent fasting, there are a lot of information out there about this technique. Just be sure that you're okay with it. I'm sure this is not for everyone, especially those with stomach problems like hyper acidity and ulcer. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

For now, I'm sticking to intermittent fasting until I get to the lowest weight I can get to. Even though getting to 64 is quite a stretch.