Welcome to 19 hours = Freedom! I wanted to set up this blog so that I could keep track of my weight loss journey, for myself and for any others who are looking for a new lifestyle rather than a new diet!
I have been dieting for many years and have struggled with my weight since I became an adult. I love food, especially sweets and my weakness has always been snacking. In January 2010 I decided that it was time for me to stop the yo-yo dieting and get on board with a new lifestyle! That is how I found Fast-5!
Fast-5 is a lifestyle created by Dr. Bert Herring. You can view his website through the link on the right hand side of this page. He wrote a book about the lifestyle and you can download it for FREE on his website, yes FREE!
Dr. Herring came up with an amazing way of eating that has saved me from dieting! Basically, you eat only during a pre-set 5 hour "eating window" during the day, and fast the rest of the time, about 19 hours including about 8 hours of sleeping. Any window of time during the day is ok, just choose the time period and stick to it. This puts your body into a "fat burning state" because fasting allows the insulin and leptin levels in your body to fall to baseline levels and stay there for a longer period of time. This allows the body to use up the fat stores we have for fuel.
This is the easiest thing I have ever done! The first few days were a struggle as I got used to the feeling of fasting. Now that my body has adjusted, I feel better than I have felt in years! I have TONS of energy during the day and I rarely feel any hunger pain now in my fasting period.
The best part of all of this is that I never feel deprived. Feeling deprived was the number one reason that diets never worked for me long term. I always craved and wanted the things that I was not allowed to have. I would watch others around me eat the foods I loved, I would not be able to eat out with friends or enjoy the treats that others always had to offer.
With the Fast-5 Lifestyle you can eat what you want. Anything you want. NO food is off limits. Of course you don't want to binge and eat donuts all day. But, if you want a donut, have a donut! No measuring, no counting, no planning, no expensive grocery bills, no powders, no pills, NO DIETING! When I am fasting and I see others eating or I have a craving for something, I just say to myself, "I can have that, I just have to wait a little while." Then when you break your fast at the scheduled time, go ahead and have that thing that caught your eye.
Fast-5 has given me FREEDOM.
COMMON SENSE
I come from the school of common sense. It is how I live my life. For me, if it doesn't sound plausible it probably isn't. I haven't listened to my common sense a lot in my weight loss journey, until now. I think that is because of repetition. Martin Berkhan said it best on his blog LeanGains:
Here are some of my common sense observations:Repetition. Repeat something often enough and it becomes the truth. If everyone is saying the same thing, it must be true. No need to look into it and think for yourself.
If you fast you will lose muscle because your body will burn muscle first before fat (a statement that one of my readers got from a personal trainer).
COMMON SENSE: If our bodies store fat for the purpose of burning that fat when it is in need of energy, why would it then go and burn muscle instead? It doesn't make sense.
If you fast you will go into starvation mode and gain weight rather than lose weight.
COMMON SENSE: If I skip a meal, I am not STARVING. I have been skipping meals for almost a year now and I have lost almost 50 LBS so common sense tells me that I never switch into "starvation mode".
THINKING FOR MYSELF: Again read what wikipedia has to say about this here.
Exercise is the key to weight loss.
COMMON SENSE: You need to have a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories to release 1 pound of fat. If I work out HARD for one hour I can burn about 400-500 calories. Common sense tells me that this might work, oh wait, that means I would have to work out HARD one hour per day EVERY, SINGLE, DAY and keep my calories in line perfectly, EVERY, SINGLE, DAY.
THINKING FOR MYSELF: Now lets be realistic here. We are all busy, we all have responsibilities. Working out that hard every day just won't work, not for me at least. And being perfect with my food intake in this society is also really hard. Check out this article on the subject and one of my previous posts on Diet vs. Exercise here.
You need to eat six meals a day if you want to keep your metabolism going.
COMMON SENSE: As we all know, in history, there wasn't always a grocery store on every corner stocked with any food we could ever want in one place. As early humans we had to wait to get food until we could catch it, grow it, find it or whatever. Why would our bodies be designed to need a constant stream of food if for most of history we have been without the grocery store?
THINKING FOR MYSELF: Check out this article from the New York Times. And the US National Library of Medicine here.
Fasting is not good for you health. You need to eat regularly to be healthy.
COMMON SENSE: Since I began intermittent fasting as a lifestyle I have seen positive effects in my health. My skin which usually had acne on my face and shoulders constantly is now perfectly clear ALL THE TIME. I rarely get sick, and when I do it passes easily. Compared to before when I got colds all the time that would put me in bed for a week or more. I feel better and have more energy than ever before. I could go on and on...
Bottom line is don't believe everything you hear just because it comes from a "professional trainer". They don't have all the answers, go and find the answers yourself and learn from experience. What works for one person may not work for you, so customize your weight loss journey to fit YOUR needs.
