Jay's Journey

Image credit: Towfiqu barbhuiya at Pexels

Went to the doctor earlier this week, got on the scale, and I'm 20 pounds lighter than my last visit. SWEET!

No, I'm not sick, but I am eating differently. My doctor totally high-fived me, too.

And, as a chronic over eater, to be able to still lose weight is pretty cool. What's my secret? I'll share that with you now.

MAJOR DISCLAIMER: Always check with your doctor before making any changes to your diet, or your health overall

Currently, I eat a large dinner, and even have dessert if I want. Most times I'm so full from dinner, though, that I'm not hungry for dessert. I also have soda with my dinner, and pretty much eat and drink what I want all the way until I go to bed.

Like I said, I'm typically an over eater, but I can discipline myself to not eat when I wake up in the morning all the way until dinner. Now, I do have dinner pretty early, like between 3:30 and 4:30pm, depending on my schedule. Sometimes, even later than that if the day calls for it.

In the morning, I do have coffee with sugar-free creamer, and Equal zero calorie sweetener. And, I do drink water all day long.

However, I only eat from dinner time until I go to bed, which is typically a 5 to 6 hour window. Well, that's to say, I allow myself to eat, if I want, until I go to bed. As I mentioned before, most times I'm so full from dinner, that I don't want any more food, or soda, well before bedtime.

It works for me because I know I don't have much self-control once I start eating. And sure, I still need to address the root cause of my over eating. But, for now, by intermittent fasting, I'm reaping all the benefits of autophagy, and not eating so many calories in a day that I gain weight.

That helps my blood pressure, improves my immune system, and a host of other benefits. It's like I'm gaming the system for my best benefit while still being able to have the foods and drinks I enjoy. I guess you can call it “manipulated moderation”.

And, when you're fasting, you don't really need to count calories, because the nature of fasting means you're highly unlikely to overeat.

It didn't start that way, though. I did some trial and error on different fasting protocols for over three years until I settled on this one for the past year.

The different fasting methods I tried are for another post on another day, though. For now, I'm just thrilled that my year-long intermittent fasting protocol that I settled on is actually working. It didn't seem like it was, but, even though I wasn't seeing instant results, I changed my reason for fasting from losing weight to just feeling better.

And, wouldn't you know it, by changing focus from weight loss to just feeling better, the weight came off anyway.

More on the specifics of my fasting journey later. For now, I'm just enjoying this small victory and continuing to stay the course.

tags: #observations #diet

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