Intermittent Fasting Results
Submitted by 60 IN 3 Blog
As most of you know, I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting this month. I’ve been trying to spend at least one day a week with a low amount of calories, about 50% of my usual daily total, and another day a week with no calorie intake at all. Overall, my results have been positive, but I don’t think this is an experiment I will stick with, at least not in its current form.
Physical Results
I’ve lost three lbs this month, something I wasn’t really planning on. That’s good news for me since I’ve been stuck at a weight plateau for several months now. Unfortunately, I’m not expecting this change to last since I’m not going to stick to the fasting routine I was doing this month. Looks like I’ll need to find another solution to these last 15lbs.
I will say that I was surprised at how easy it was to not eat. When I first considered this experiment, I thought I would have serious difficulties with hunger during the fasts and with binge eating on the day after the fast. Neither one of these things happened and I actually found it very easy to not eat. I didn’t feel starved, either on the fast day or the on the next day.
At the same time, my workout performance has stayed the same. I was actually worried about this when I initially started this experiment. I was concerned about the effects of a very restricted calorie intake on my muscles and endurance. However, this proved to be unfounded, at least in the short term. My physical performance is just fine and I am capable of just as much running and weight lifting as I was at the beginning of this month.
Energy Levels
Here’s the odd thing. On the evening of a fast and on the morning after a fast day, I felt incredibly energetic. I was awake, I was attentive, I felt great! I thought I’d be feeling tired and weak from the lack of food, but instead I found myself feeling full of life and ready for anything that came my way. Mentally, I felt sharper and more capable plus I felt happier somehow. I don’t quite have the words to describe how I felt, but it was definitely good. This feeling would last right through the post fast day.
Social Issues
Here’s the problem, and the reason why I couldn’t keep this up. As I discovered through this experiment, food plays a huge part in my social life. No matter who I’m with or what we’re doing, eventually, people want to eat. When they eat, they don’t want me sitting there not eating. That would not be social and I suppose it would make them feel a bit weird. That means that on days where I want to fast, I cannot spend much time with other people. Unfortunately, that just won’t work for me.
I’m a very social person and I enjoy spending time with other people. There’s just no way that I’m going to give up this part of my life. Therefore, there’s no way that I can maintain this habit of intermittent fasting even though I like the health benefits. However, there is a way that I can adapt and retain some of this experiment.
Adaptation and Improvisation
As social as I am, I don’t go out every night. There are evenings when I stay home and do things like work on 60 in 3, read or do school work. This usually happens about once or twice a week. On these days, I plan on skipping dinner altogether and eating only a small lunch. That means that I’ll be doing one to two partial fast days a week, which sounds about right to me. I’m hoping that this is enough to gain the benefits of fasting without interfering too much with my life.
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What new thing are you trying out this month? For me, I’m trying out a whole new approach to the people around me, but that’s a topic for a different time and a different blog. 
