Over the last few months I have had several co-workers, family and friends ask me about how to use fasting to lose weight. On my vacation to India in December, not a day went by without the topic of weight loss coming up one way or the other...
So I decided to post my experiences about fasting...There are two ways to do it..the easy way and the hard way...and most of the people who tried fasting did the latter and of course crashed and burned....
First of all let me make one thing clear...fasting is not a magic pill...it does not somehow magically create MORE fat loss than any other weight loss method...
Primarily all weight loss comes from creating a daily/weekly/overall calorie deficit. How you create that deficit depends on a) who you are listening to b) what works for you...
More updates on Fasting
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 0 comments
I have already written a lot about my fondness for fasting as a fat loss tool.
Its just so much eat one big meal as opposed to 3 small meals.
If you are just starting off on a diet then every meal you consume will be a battle of will... you will constantly have to resist the urge to go for the second helping or controlling the portion sizes.
So when you are eating 3 meals a day you have 3 opportunities to succeed or fail.
Also if you overeat at breakfast, you will either stress out about it all day or just say "To hell with it..I blew my diet today anyway, I might as well go all out...I will just start over tomorrow"...
I have suffered through both in the past and there is really no need to go there in the first place.
With just one meal ( or one small meal and one large meal ) you reduce your chances of failure..especially since you will be eating one big meal every day. So in case you end up eating a huge breakfast/lunch ( which you didn't plan on ) you can just skip dinner or have a small dinner.
When you learn that hunger is not an emergency, hunger pangs suddenly loses their power. I used to visualize my fat burning when I had hunger pangs in my starting days of fasting...and it really is what I think is happening.... Your body is looking for energy and if you dont feed it, its going to use up the stored fat... my abs are a shining proof of that.
So far my strength in the gym is on point. I have been able to increase weight in almost all of my lifts , except perhaps my bench press.... The bench press is really just plateaued right now...but at least I am not getting any weaker with fasting...so I'll take that any day.....
Even my weekly runs are equally great. Once in a while I will knock out 8 minute miles but mostly I am running between 9:15 to 10 minute miles while chit chatting and catching up with my running buddy.
The only side effect of fasting I have noticed is constipation... When you change your diet drastically and are eating less, it can cause constipation in some people..and I happen to be one the lucky ones :)
After a couple of not so pleasant dealings with constipation, I started taking fiber everyday and the problem went away very quickly. Now as a part of my daily routine I take a spoonful of tasteless water soluble fiber every morning. I also make sure I eat at least one fruit a day and have some veggies or a salad with dinner every day.
So if you are looking into fasting, its something to be definitely aware of....especially if you drink a lot of coffee.
Other than that fasting is just so much easier and time efficient. I no longer have to cook 3 meals or go spend money on breakfast or lunch. Of course from January I will be back to maintenance and eat 3 meals a day.... Also I dont feel as exhausted like I did last time when I was running 30 miles a week just to burn off all that excess food.
If you go to the bodybuilding.com forums, you will see quite a few jaw dropping transformations of people who have using Intermittent Fasting to drop the body fat.
If like most people you are planning to drop the extra pounds after the holidays, you should really consider fasting. You will drop all the holiday season weight gain in no time and by February you could have gained enough momentum to drop the rest of the vanity pounds as well!
Its just so much eat one big meal as opposed to 3 small meals.
If you are just starting off on a diet then every meal you consume will be a battle of will... you will constantly have to resist the urge to go for the second helping or controlling the portion sizes.
So when you are eating 3 meals a day you have 3 opportunities to succeed or fail.
Also if you overeat at breakfast, you will either stress out about it all day or just say "To hell with it..I blew my diet today anyway, I might as well go all out...I will just start over tomorrow"...
I have suffered through both in the past and there is really no need to go there in the first place.
With just one meal ( or one small meal and one large meal ) you reduce your chances of failure..especially since you will be eating one big meal every day. So in case you end up eating a huge breakfast/lunch ( which you didn't plan on ) you can just skip dinner or have a small dinner.
When you learn that hunger is not an emergency, hunger pangs suddenly loses their power. I used to visualize my fat burning when I had hunger pangs in my starting days of fasting...and it really is what I think is happening.... Your body is looking for energy and if you dont feed it, its going to use up the stored fat... my abs are a shining proof of that.
So far my strength in the gym is on point. I have been able to increase weight in almost all of my lifts , except perhaps my bench press.... The bench press is really just plateaued right now...but at least I am not getting any weaker with fasting...so I'll take that any day.....
Even my weekly runs are equally great. Once in a while I will knock out 8 minute miles but mostly I am running between 9:15 to 10 minute miles while chit chatting and catching up with my running buddy.
The only side effect of fasting I have noticed is constipation... When you change your diet drastically and are eating less, it can cause constipation in some people..and I happen to be one the lucky ones :)
After a couple of not so pleasant dealings with constipation, I started taking fiber everyday and the problem went away very quickly. Now as a part of my daily routine I take a spoonful of tasteless water soluble fiber every morning. I also make sure I eat at least one fruit a day and have some veggies or a salad with dinner every day.
So if you are looking into fasting, its something to be definitely aware of....especially if you drink a lot of coffee.
Other than that fasting is just so much easier and time efficient. I no longer have to cook 3 meals or go spend money on breakfast or lunch. Of course from January I will be back to maintenance and eat 3 meals a day.... Also I dont feel as exhausted like I did last time when I was running 30 miles a week just to burn off all that excess food.
If you go to the bodybuilding.com forums, you will see quite a few jaw dropping transformations of people who have using Intermittent Fasting to drop the body fat.
If like most people you are planning to drop the extra pounds after the holidays, you should really consider fasting. You will drop all the holiday season weight gain in no time and by February you could have gained enough momentum to drop the rest of the vanity pounds as well!
A quick check in and progress updates....
Thursday, October 13, 2011 0 comments
I have plenty of excuses for not updating the blog regularly...thankfully I have had no excuses for missing any workouts.
For the past few months my workout schedule has been going very smoothly....
Monday - Legs , Abs
Tuesday - 4.5 miles run
Wednesday - Chest, Shoulders
Thursday - 4.5 miles run
Friday - Back, Shoulders, Biceps
Saturday - 6 miles run
Currently I am sitting at 167 ...about 8-10 pounds away from my super lean goal weight. Since I am going to India in December, I have started dropping weight and tightened my food intake ( see..I didnt say diet ).
Unlike last year where I was running 25-30 miles a week, I am running half as many miles and doing shorter workouts. I am more into fasting right now. It is so much easier to drop fat with fasting than over exercising.
I have dropped 4-5 pounds effortlessly just by fasting without adding extra exercise.
I still eat pretty much all foods... including donuts, ice-cream, pizza, pasta....just not all of them in one meal..he he..
A co-worker is going to India next week and I told him about the whole fasting thing a month ago. He start running on the treadmill and skipping lunch for 5 days a week. He has already lost 12 pounds!
He will obviously go back to his regular eating habits but this is much easier than going on a strict diet, exercising like a maniac..shunning all the foods you like..etc....etc..
So needless to see I am a huge proponent of fasting and as I have said before, I am a big fan of the http://theleansaloon.com/ blog. That blog has really changed my approach to weight loss and fitness. And the other forum happyeaters.net is also equally eye opening for me.
Anyway, here are some of the pics I took this AM...
For the past few months my workout schedule has been going very smoothly....
Monday - Legs , Abs
Tuesday - 4.5 miles run
Wednesday - Chest, Shoulders
Thursday - 4.5 miles run
Friday - Back, Shoulders, Biceps
Saturday - 6 miles run
Currently I am sitting at 167 ...about 8-10 pounds away from my super lean goal weight. Since I am going to India in December, I have started dropping weight and tightened my food intake ( see..I didnt say diet ).
Unlike last year where I was running 25-30 miles a week, I am running half as many miles and doing shorter workouts. I am more into fasting right now. It is so much easier to drop fat with fasting than over exercising.
I have dropped 4-5 pounds effortlessly just by fasting without adding extra exercise.
I still eat pretty much all foods... including donuts, ice-cream, pizza, pasta....just not all of them in one meal..he he..
A co-worker is going to India next week and I told him about the whole fasting thing a month ago. He start running on the treadmill and skipping lunch for 5 days a week. He has already lost 12 pounds!
He will obviously go back to his regular eating habits but this is much easier than going on a strict diet, exercising like a maniac..shunning all the foods you like..etc....etc..
So needless to see I am a huge proponent of fasting and as I have said before, I am a big fan of the http://theleansaloon.com/ blog. That blog has really changed my approach to weight loss and fitness. And the other forum happyeaters.net is also equally eye opening for me.
Anyway, here are some of the pics I took this AM...
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