THE UNIVERSE WANTS ME TO "IF"

Well, that might be a slight exaggeration.  Actually, I ran out of eggs yesterday and I forgot to go to the store, so there was nothing to have for breakfast.

I have been thinking about trying Intermittent Fasting (IF) again for couple of weeks, and with nothing in the house for breakfast, it seemed like a good time to jump in and start.

The last time I did this was back in the summer of 2010.  I had been on a long stall for about eight months, and when I started IFing, I immediately started losing weight. After a while, I guess I just got tired of doing it and I quit.

There are lots of ways to IF:

• Just skip a meal now and then, or every day
• Eat normally every day, then fast one day per week, or every other week
• Eat within a certain "window" now and then or every day
• Plus other ways that I have not heard of yet

I have tried eating breakfast, skipping lunch and eating dinner for a few weeks in a row.  I have also tried eating in a five-hour window every day for a few weeks in a row.  The latter is the one that I was the most comfortable with.

If you want to learn what IF is all about, look to the right and click on "Intermittent Fasting" in the sidebar under "Labels".  There are some articles written by others that explain what it is and how different people are using IF.

I was nervous to start again, just because I didn't want to be hungry.  Doing Atkins, I am never hungry, and I've gotten used to that.  Here was my experience today, my first day back on IF:

My breakfast this morning

I was truly not hungry after skipping breakfast this morning.  Bill skipped his, too, and did not seem to mind.  We planned on going shopping at Whole Foods Market around 10 am, and on the way there, I mentioned to him that I was not even hungry, and he said he was a little hungry.  I guess my brain must have been listening to our conversation, because, within about five minutes, I started feeling pretty hungry.  At least, I think I did - it's been so long that I sort of forgot what hunger feels like.  It's like a pain, right?

At the store, I passed by the samples of blood oranges and guacamole with corn chips.  I even passed by the sample of Seeduction Bread, which is a favorite of mine.  I never buy it - I just take a little taste now and then.  Bill, however, was eating all the samples in sight.  Even so, I found it easy to turn away from the foodlets.

On the way home, I suddenly started experiencing the worst bloating and gas pains in my stomach.  I'm not sure why that was happening, but it lasted around 30 minutes.  When I got out of the car at home, my stomach was actually distended.  I went to the bathroom and felt a little better.

I left the house to go to physical therapy for my torn shoulder tendon, and I realized while I was there that I was freezing cold.  I remember being that way all the time when I was eating low calorie and low fat.

I got back home at 2:15 and started cooking!  By 2:30, I was eating three scrambled eggs in ghee, three slices of thick sliced bacon, home cooked pumpkin with Stevia, cinnamon and ginger, and about 1/2 oz. each of macadamia nuts and pecans.  I also had 10 grams of dried, unsweetened coconut.

I then made hot cocoa made with non-sweetened almond milk, Hershey's cocoa and Stevia.  It was pretty good!

Around 5 pm, I pan sauteed some beautiful, fresh tilapia in ghee, and when we were done eating that, I made a salad with my homemade dressing, romaine, avocado, tomatoes and parmesan cheese.  I also had another ounce of nuts.

At 6:30 I made my Flax Seed Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, and ate two of them.  I finished them up right at 7:30.  So I finished my last bite right at five hours, which is what I planned.

After I put my food onto fitday, I found out that I had eaten this:

2224 calories
175.6g fat (71.1%)
101.9g protein
59g total carbs
29.8g fiber
29.2g net carbs, of which 12g came from veggies
2468g sodium

Whoa!  That is more than I usually eat by eating three meals a day!  I did not keep track of the numbers as I was eating.  I just wrote it all down as I ate it, and I just now put it on fitday.  I am surprised how much I ate.  I don't know if I have ever eaten this much in one day!

The fat is high.  And, I recently heard from Robb Wolf of The Paleo Solution that I should be eating around 1 gram of protein per each pound of total body weight.  Others, like Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple, have said to eat 1 gram of protein per lean pound of body mass.  So Robb says 145 grams of protein, and Mark says 97 grams of protein.  And Atkins says between 71 and 149 grams.  I only got 102, so according to Robb, I am short, according to Mark I am over, and according to Atkins, I am right in the center of recommendations.

The only thing I came in "good" on was carbs and fiber.  I even got my 12 veggie net carbs.

Well, I am done eating for the day.  I'm going to do it again tomorrow.  Maybe I won't eat so much!