How I Got Started with Intermittent Fasting

I have been an intermittent faster for over a year. I’m sharing my story about how and why I got started with this healthy eating and wellness lifestyle in the hopes that it will help you as well.

First, a disclaimer. Do your homework — read about it first. I’m not a doctor and I am not offering medical advice. Intermittent fasting may not be the best approach for your particular needs. I am only sharing how I got started and how it works for me.

ONCE UPON A TIME . . .

I once heard a quote from Dr. Jerome Harste, a professor of education at Indiana University who said, “You must always assume that one of the pillars of your thinking is dead wrong.” While he was speaking about education in an entirely different context, that quote has stuck with me for many years.

When it comes to my eating habits, that quote comes to mind again. Let me explain.

When I was in middle school and high school, I did not like to eat breakfast until 10 or 11 a.m. My family typically ate dinner around 6 p.m., so I was “fasting” for about 16 – 17 hours per day.

That period of time in my life was when I felt the best, had the most energy, and maintained a healthy weight without much effort. (Okay, I was also a lot younger then, but I still remember how good I felt at that time!)

For years (like about 40 of them), I believed the popular nutritional idea that you need to eat 5-6 small meals per day to keep your metabolism high. I, like many people, fell for that idea since it seemed to make sense and also had some science behind it (or so I thought).

However, in addition to spending an obscene amount of time “prepping” all of these meals and snacks, I was losing energy and started slowly gaining weight. So I did what most people do — I cut calories and carbs even more, which did nothing to change things.

It should have occurred to me that this eating approach was not healthy for ME, based on the fact that I had low energy, was slowly gaining weight, and was obsessing about food. Then my thyroid levels dropped, which only made everything worse.

Every time I would mention my eating plan issues to friends, they would parrot the same advice that I was following, but I didn’t connect the dots to notice that these friends all struggled with maintaining their weight as well.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Clearly, something needed to change. I refused to accept that I was getting older, everything was slowing down, blah blah blah. There had to be a better way. I started seeing a naturopathic doctor who helped me increase the fats in my diet and reduce the amount of gluten and processed foods I was eating.

I also started doing my own research. I heard about Amanda Tress and her “Faster Way to Fat Loss” program on someone’s blog. I was interested in learning more, so I went to her site and noticed a term called “intermittent fasting.”

At first, I thought, “Fasting? I could never do that. That would be too hard. It would shut my metabolism down. I would obsess about food. I would probably gain weight because I would be so hungry at the end of my fast, etc., etc.”

But — after reading her article, and remembering the time in my life when I actually was intermittently fasting — I realized that this approach might work for me. At least it was worth a try. (By the way, Amanda has an amazing eating plan and workout program. Check it out here