12 Amazing Things I learned from 2 Weeks of Intermittent Fasting

Come for the weight loss, stay for the contentment

Let’s start with a confession: I was really not enjoying my reflection in the mirror at the beginning of the year, even after a solid month of no alcohol.

I was in an extended break from working out while my back healed and just wasn’t ready to accept sitting on the couch and waiting.

I also do not enjoy feeling overly full—yuck! It’s somewhat tolerable at breakfast, but for the rest of the day, it’s a no-go, especially at night.

I was tired of feeling no desire to eat dinner and yet thinking something really bad would happen if I didn’t eat, like OMG, I’m going to be so miserable in two hours, right before bed.

Then I discovered intermittent fasting and things like; “Once your body switches over to burning fat instead of glucose (Aka sugar) for fuel, you don’t need to eat so much, nor have much desire to eat.

The skinny on Intermittent fasting

Simply put, intermittent fasting is a daily eating schedule where you limit the hours you eat (called an eating window) and a fasting window where you only consume liquids (i.e. water, tea and coffee)

By default, we fast when we sleep, so IF is a way of extending your fasting before/after you sleep, while you’re awake. Make sense?

At the core of IF is allowing your body to naturally tap into and use fat stores as fuel, not sugar/glycogen from your last meal. Once your body switches from sugar to using fat for fuel, typically after approximately 12 hours of fasting, the benefits of intermittent fasting begin. (Your eating pattern will vary based on your goals and objectives)

Also, intermittent fasting is not starving yourself of food. It’s not. These are entirely two different scenarios. In fact, the world record for fasting was 382 days. Yes, over a year!

Full Disclosure

Listen, I appreciate that talking about weight loss can be a charged topic, so before I digress, let me just say a few things:

• • I am not promoting intermittent fasting (IF) as a weight-loss strategy to solve an internal body shaming issue. If you need help, get help. I’m not a doctor.
  • Why eat later in the day, or in the morning, if you don’t feel hungry? That seems silly because it wastes time, money and energy I could be using elsewhere.
  • I also fully rejected the idea that we’re supposed to gain weight as we get older. Sorry, not sorry.
  • What I say here are just my opinions, and my POV on IF. Take what’s helpful, forget the rest as my late wife would say.
  • I encourage you to do your own research and consult experts you trust to help guide your health plan. I’ll stick some links down below for experts that helped guide me down this path should you choose to explore IF further.

Really, no desire to eat? Sign me up!

So, the basic theory of IF is that once your body switches over from using glucose/sugar for fuel, it will switch over to fat. Cool, I’ve got some of that lying around.

As an aside, before anyone starts spouting off about losing muscle mass, unless you’re down in single percentages of body fat already; which you probably have no need to fast, then you likely have thousands of calories just hanging out around your waist line wasting to be used for energy. I know, I did.

My body had at least at least 10 lbs of fat to burn; which is about 35000 calories of fuel from fat according to The Mayo Clinic. Given a 1700 calorie daily diet, that’s nearly three weeks of fuel!

Given those numbers, I was thinking this could be interesting. So how’d my experience go?

11 things intermittent fasting taught me

I’m writing this article in mid-March and have actually had to switch back to eating more often these past few days because of the success with intermittent fasting (IF).

Does the theory actually work? Hell yeah it does!! Once my body made the switch, my life changed for the better. Here how:

1. This was the easiest and most gratifying way to feel healthy again – Period. Stop. My past efforts to lose weight and regain my health were, admittedly, matters of pride, lack of acceptance, or proving something to the world.My experience using IF to lose 11 lbs in two weeks was less demanding than the 3-4 hours of weekly HIIT training or 9-15 hours of cycling training I’d done in the past. In retrospect, that was a lousy way to go about losing weight, and extremely difficult
2. Sugar detox was real for me – Experiencing a sugar detox was intense for me. If you know me, you’re aware of my love for sweets. THE hardest part of IF was the first 2-3 days of transitioning my body from running on glucose to using fat for fuel.Mostly, it was the sugar-detox headaches.Think of it like an annoying hangover; not fun. In retrospect, had I not stopped eating sugar cold turkey, I could have transitioned with fewer side effects.
3. IF taught me what my body was missing – This is speaking to quitting processed foods. Once my body transitioned to nutritionally-dense foods and a more natural state of using fat and hunger, I discovered I needed certain everyday vitamins, electrolytes and minerals. This is a good thing!
4. Using fat for fuel just feels good AND natural – Read that again. It is so satisfying and pleasing to not give so much of my daily schedule to eating and all that goes with food. I simply didn’t feel the need to eat as often making it easy to skip meals without any negative side effects.
5. Prosperity for the win! – My blog and message is all about prosperity. Did I mention intermittent fasting is FREE??? You don’t need a personal trainer, any equipment or even special foods.In addition, I’m saving time and money on trips to the grocery store and spending less time eating, food-prep. Off the cuff, my normal $75-$90 trips to the store easily dropped down into the low $50 range.
6. I feel exponentially more contentment and happiness – Yeah, not sure how to convince you about this without actually experiencing it for yourself.I no longer look to food as much for reward or some escape from life. Things are a lot simpler, and a whole lot more satisfying, than before I fasted. Let me try to explain further:
   1. • Zen-like state-of-mind – When I’m using fat stores for fuel there are no hunger pains or sugary-induced mood swings. It feels like a low-level buzz effect like I’d typically get from a cocktail. I’m just not that same “hangry” person I was when I was hungry.
      • Increased tolerance for BS – For reasons I cannot quite explain, bull shit just didn’t have the same impact on derailing my focus.
      • Elevated focus – To add, the effectiveness of my work also shot up. I was able to get so much more accomplished in my work window when using fat for fuel
      • Improved decision making – Finally, that mental clarity improved my capacity to make more confident decisions faster
7. Good food tastes better – Foods taste SO much better! Seriously, I started to crave eating good healthy foods. Once I divested from the need to eat processed sugars, I think my taste buds just transitioned to more satiating food choices.Don’t get me wrong, I still eat an occasional sweet when I know it’s time. I just don’t crave them like I once did.
8. Walking is the most effective way my body burns fat – Here in the Ranch, we have some amazing places to walk, both indoors and outside. My workout routine for the entire month of February was walking for an hour (3.1 miles) 5-6 days a week.
    
   I’d just head down to the rec center and hop on the treadmill, listen to an audio book or learn something new on YouTube.
9. My digestive system was in disrepair – Digestive challenges started happening early during IF, mostly constipation. This was expected as my gut biome needed time and some specific supplements to repair itself from the overdosing of processed foods in my American diet. This seemed to be corrected after a few days.
10. Cortisol was my real villain – Stress caused by life’s challenges, and caffeine, were, and is, my greatest distraction to expanding my overall health, wealth and prosperity.
     
    I learned that cortisol was impacting my fasting progress because the body stores fat when excess amounts of this hormone are present. Not having to deal with food cravings helped me see more clearly when stress was elevated and I needed a time out, or waited till later in the morning for coffee.
11. My body hunger became more natural – I started IF doing a baseline of 16:8 fasting schedule. This means 16 hours of fasting and an 8-hour eating window. Think of it like eating “9 to 5”. Next, I moved up to a 19:5 fast, so my eating window became noon to 5p. This became my norm and then things got REALLY INTERESTING!
    • First, I naturally started feeling full faster and stayed full longer.
    • Feeling full faster meant I was naturally eating less; and because my body was using even more fat for fuel, it felt like it just easily switched back over to fat once I’d digested what was in my stomach.
    • Feeling full longer meant I had fewer food cravings; which gave me more control over the bombardment of daily food triggers.

Life is better now

Sure, I could boast about how much weight I lost, or how my clothes don’t fit anymore, but here’s the most important thing IF gave me.

My life is better now because of the personal freedom I’ve gained over the sugar cravings, need to be always thinking about what for the next meal, and FOMO over what’s on the desert menu.
There’s just more wonderful calmness (read less anxiety) in my life; and in today’s world, that’s a huge win for me, and maybe it would be for you as well.

So there it is, a list of 11+1 things intermittent fasting taught me. What could you learn from IF?

Check out the links below for resources; and by all means, please use my experience to help you however you see fit. After all, we’re all on this path to greater prosperity together.

Until next time.

All my best,
Bryan

Resources

• YouTube – Dr. Jason Fung: Dr. Fung, author of The Obesity Code and considered the godfather of modern IF, provides a comprehensive beginner’s guide to intermittent fasting, covering the basics, tips, and health benefits
• YouTube – Dr. Mindy Pelz: Dr. Mindy Pelz focuses on fasting strategies tailored to women, addressing unique challenges and offering tips for effective fasting. Her content delves into the science of fasting, its impact on hormones, and how to practice fasting safely and effectively. She provides a wealth of information for those particularly interested in how intermittent fasting affects women’s health and wellness.
• YouTube – Dr. Eric Berg: Dr. Berg offers extensive information on intermittent fasting, focusing on the ketogenic diet in conjunction with fasting for health benefits and weight loss. His videos cover a broad range of topics related to fasting, including its effects on the body, how to overcome potential challenges, and tips for maximizing the benefits of intermittent fasting. Dr. Berg’s approach is informative and rooted in a deep understanding of human physiology and nutrition.