So, are you looking to lose some weight? How about 10 pounds? To start, maybe? Even more? Well, so am I and I am having quite a hard time with it.
Is exercise the key?
I thought it was. Keyword is thought…past tense.
I have been consistently in the gym walking on the treadmill for three times a week for the past 3-4 months for 30 minutes at a time. I have been walking at 3 miles per hour, so I walk a mile and a half. Recently, I started to use the incline feature to help build up muscles in my legs as well.
Now, back to the topic at hand.
So far, I think that my walking routine has been pretty good, right? I thought I would see some kind of difference in the scale with that. After all, I have not had a consistent work out routine in many years.
Speaking of years, I think that is part of the problem, getting older is not helping me. Ten years ago, if I had been consistently walking that much, I would have seen some weight loss, even five pounds would help spur me on.
But back to losing those ten pounds. For me, it is really more than ten pounds needed, but I think it will really inspire me to stick with it if I can just get started with those first ten pounds.
What to Do Next?
When I started looking for ideas to lose weight, I researched ideas on the internet. There are millions, or at least it seemed that way. I read the information about them but are they right for me? For you?
One topic that popped up a lot on groups and blog posts is intermittent fasting. I saw the word “fasting” and thought “No Way!” It was not quite what I pictured in my head when I read the information about it.
Different Ways to Intermittent Fast
- One popular way to intermittent fast is the 5:2. You eat regularly for five days of the week and then you fast for two days. On the fasting days, you try to eat about 500 calories if you are a woman or about 600 calories if you are a man. You can end up eating two smaller meals on those fasting days to get you through.
500 calories sounds like a very small amount of food, but if you think about some of the frozen entrees like Lean Cuisine and WW Smart Ones, a lot of those are 200-300 calories. You could eat two of those for meals and still stay within your calorie limits. Obviously, there are many things you can eat that can fit into those numbers too, but I was just giving an example of what people could eat.
- Another popular intermittent fasting technique is 16:8. You would not eat for 16 hours in a row and you would only eat during an 8-hour window. There are no restrictions on what you eat during that window. If you think about it, you can eat from 7:00 a.m.-3 p.m., or 8:00a.m.-4:00 p.m., or 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. You would just need to keep it in an eight-hour window. Then, you would not eat for the next 16 hours. These hours would also include the hours that you are sleeping. The theory is that your body starts to burn fat from your body.
- Another version of that is 12:12 where you eat during twelve hours of the day but then you wait until the next twelve hours is done to eat again. You could eat from 7 am to 7 pm and then stop. The next twelve hours you do not eat anything, but you would be sleeping for many hours of that period. You would not notice the hunger as much.
That might be an easier way to start intermittent fasting and then work up to the 16:8 concept with only eating eight hours of the day.
With all the fasting periods, you can drink no-calorie drinks like water, tea, and coffee but nothing with sugar that would bring up your blood sugar.
- There are a few other ways to do intermittent fasting, like fasting every other day (24 hours on, 24 hours off) but personally I think that would be very hard to do.
- Another way to fast is to skip meals periodically. It was termed spontaneous fasting, like skipping dinner or lunch. I think a lot of people do this at times anyway. It is not always as a way to lose weight, but sometimes life gets in the way and we skip meals.
I have done this myself recently. I have skipped dinner at times. I feel like I eat the most calories then. Some days if I feel like I ate a big lunch or am just not feeling hungry, I will skip dinner. I figure that I am saving calories. I do not do it enough to make a difference, at least at this point, but it is a part of my trying to eat healthier and lose weight.
What Is the Best Method?
There are many ways to lose weight. I am surprised we still have the obesity problem that we do with all the research, topics, ways, supplements, and “magic” pills that are advertised, she said sarcastically.
It comes down to putting in the work and effort. The most common advice that comes up page after page, post after post and website after website?
Eat less and move more. It really is what we all know deep down.
How to do that? That is where personal preference comes into play. What might work for one person, may not work for another.
I am still looking for what will work for me. But for me, information is key. So, I look, read, absorb the information and then read some more.
Hopefully, I will come up with something that will work for me and will be sustainable.
A lot of these trends, fads, and gimmicks promise that you will lose weight.
And then, what if you do? You reach your goal weight? Yay! Celebrate! But then you need to be able to keep it off.
But that is another post for another day!
Here’s to trying…
What about you? Have you found something that worked for you? Have you been able to keep weight off? Comment below and let us know. After all, we are all in this together.
I’ve had people I know do intermittent fasting and I’ve always been impressed. I love food too much to feel I can go a whole day without barely eating anything. If I were to try it, I think I’d do the 12:12 which would possibly curb my late-night snacking addiction 😛 I didn’t realize there were different “options” for it, though. I always thought it was ” fasting by the day”. Thanks for sharing!
I thought it was fasting all day too and I would never be able to do that. I was thinking the 12:12 might work for me too. Finish eating by 7 at night and then breakfast in the morning? Might be doable. Key word is might. 🙂 I have tried to cut down or eat healthier but never eat chocolate again, that’s not realistic for me. Some people are well disciplined but I wouldn’t have as much to lose if I was, I guess. Oh well, we will see if I can find something to help. I may try skipping dinner or trading for salads to help too. Little steps should help, well, hopefully.
Interesting. I know this is becoming a hot topic and I appreciate you outlining the different ways to intermittently fast.
I kept on seeing it when looking for dieting help and I thought it was straight fasting and knew I couldn’t ever do that. Breaking down helped me understand it a little better. I’ve been thinking of if I’d be able to do 12:12 to start seeing some loss. Working out alone did not help yet, need to do nutrition too. I need to find information to understand things better so it’s my way of learning.
IF with 16:8 is the only thing that has ever broken a plateau for me, and helped me to get back on track. I needed that reminder today. Thank you!
That’s great that it worked for you. I was trying to see if I could try the 12:12 to get started maybe. I would never be able to do 16:8. More power to you. I am trying to find something that will work for me and be sustainable. No way I could follow most plans. I hate dieting.
I love the brain clarity that comes with intermittent fasting!
Wow, brain clarity? That is so cool. Never even thought of that. I just thought it would be great to lose weight but helping the brain too, that’d be great!
How interesting! I could see myself doing the 12:12 to begin, maybe from 8 – 8. I’ll have to try it out! Thank you for laying everything out so clearly.
I thought about that too, to start off with. The die hards that can do a six hour window or eight hour window of eating, more power to them. I haven’t started it officially yet but have been working my way towards it by trying to end my eating earlier at night and starting later in the morning. I call it baby steps. I’m a chicken in this case. But maybe soon.
My friend has lost a lot of weight doing this and she loves it. She looks and feels amazing, too!
That is so great that she was successful with this. I may try the 12:12 and see if I can do it at that point. Some people are really good about being able to skip the days too, that’s hard core I think. I know I’d feel better with even 10-20 pounds off so I’m exploring all my options. Another thing is that it has to be sustainable or I’ll gain it back and unfortunately, I’d probably gain extra. I don’t even want as much as I have now, let alone worry about gaining any more. You know what I mean?
You want to lose weight than do it. Drink a cup of Apple cider vinegar before bed to melt away burn body fat fast.
It is not that easy or there wouldn’t be the problem in the world that it is. There are no quick fixes, but there are billions of dollars spent every year on fads, trends, and what not that promise that it’s easy.
I’m impressed, I must say. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s equally educative and interesting,
and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head.
The issue is an issue that not enough folks are speaking intelligently about.
I’m very happy I found this during my hunt for
something regarding this.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post
reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept chatting about this.
I will forward this article to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. It’s a very popular trend to lose weight these days. Hard to get around the small time window so you have to have good will power!
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Thank you.
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