As I started to think about this blog post, that song popped into my head. "Here I go again, off down the road again..."
The last time I really posted about what I was eating and how I was doing with my blood sugar and weight was in October 2013, so almost seven months ago. Every now and then, I just get sick of the whole thing, all the tracking and reporting, and decide to just try to eat like a normal person. This never works, and I am not sure why I think it will each time I try it for a few to several months.
This last "escape" was no different and I have gained back some weight and have seen my blood sugar get higher and higher. So with regret and dread, here I go again. A few weeks ago, I decided to start tracking food and "being good" and I did start to see results, but I was not very serious and gave up quickly, because I hate it so. The tracking, I mean, not the good results.
Last week, I remembered that I had had good results using Alternate Day Intermittent Fasting. I kept it up for a while, but eventually abandoned it for a lot of reasons that you can read about here.
Basically, I think the difference between what she recommends and what I was doing before is that, while I was eating only 300 calories per day spread out into three very small snacks on the days that I would fast, she says to eat 500 calories on a fasting day and eat them all at once, like a regular meal.
The way I did it before was that I would only get to eat a few bites of something on my fast days, and it never satisfied me. Dr. Varady says that this is a difficult thing for most people to stick to, and they end up overeating on the fasting day. One of the other problems was that, every other day, I would not get to eat dinner with my husband. He was on his own, and that never went over well, especially when I had to watch him eat a nice meal while I ate a tiny snack.
This time around, I am going to fast all day until dinner time, then eat a normal meal with my husband, which will come out to around 500 calories. I have been doing this for a few days now, and fasting until dinner time (or late lunch time, if he will not be home for dinner) has not been a real problem for me. A little tummy rumbling, but nothing too upsetting.
On the days I do not fast, I will have a fat snack to get me going in the morning, then eat a normal lunch and dinner. I suspect that the non-fasting days will come out to around 1500 calories.
I know, I know... I have disparaged calories and calorie counting in the past, and I still feel the same way now about the Calories In/Calories Out method of weight loss. Using the word "calories" is just an easy way to express how I am keeping my food consumption within a range that will promote normal blood sugar and normal body fat percentage, which are the two things I focus on.
I will continue to eat high fat, moderate protein and very low carb. I believe that the way the body uses different food macronutrients differs greatly, and that not all calories are alike.
Many people who do this type of intermittent fasting believe that all calories are equal, and that your body cannot differentiate between the calories that come from fat and the calories that come from protein or carbs. All things being equal, your body will react the same to 1,000 calories worth of Twizzlers as it does to 1,000 calories of bacon. I wrote a post about that that you can read here.
I can guarantee you that your blood sugar will register the difference! Plus, after you eat that bacon, you will be satiated for hours, but after eating the Twizzlers, you will be very hungry again very quickly (after you get over that sick feeling that comes with eating all the Twizzlers) and you will want more carbs.
Anyway, before I completely run away on the calories tangent, I will share that I did start eating this way again last week, but had a false start. I did fine on the fasting day, but overate like crazy on the non-fasting day, and I gained weight. So, I took a deep breath and started again a couple of days ago. So far, so good. I have lost a couple of pounds and my blood sugar has been in the high 70s to the low 80s.
I am now eating normally on the non-fasting days and not falling prey to the old way of thinking, which was, "I better overeat today, because tomorrow I have to fast most of the day!"
THE BEST PART...
I am hoping that this plan will keep me from having to micromanage every bite of food that goes into my mouth. If this is true, not having to weigh, measure and calculate my food will truly be the best part!
I am now off to the library to get the book. I'm sure I will learn something new and hopefully will be encouraged enough to keep going. Many people who eat like this say that it is sustainable for life. I sincerely hope so!
