My Approach to Intermittent Fasting

I will preface this article on intermittent fasting by saying that I’m no expert on it. Sometimes I eat.. sometimes I don’t! Mostly I do not, but when I do, I eat mostly well and I enjoy my food alot. I’m not a nutritionalist, nor a dietician, but I am a cook, and a feeder of sorts. I have been deliberately fasting on and off for over two years now. Sometimes I do it to loose weight, other times I simply skip breakfast because I’ve grown accustomed to feeling empty in the mornings and mostly feel better for it. Occasionally I prolong my fast and have just one meal a day, especially if I plan on eating alot at a party or special occasion for example.

It historical terms, the ‘3 square meals a day’ construct is a relatively new phenomenon in the evolution of the human species, and our bodies have adapted well. Look at how well they store the energy we don’t need! and it looks like overall that we in the western world are consuming more and more calories that we do not need, and as a result, we’re fatter than we used to be.

Excess food is converted to glycogen (another form of glucose) for short term storage, and if our glycogen requirements are exceeded that body converts energy to fat for long term storage. (I think we can all vouch for how good the body is at doing this).

Well it can be done, and the good news is, it’s easier than you think to achieve. It only takes commitment to a few simple principals.

The goal will be not to loose weight par-ce, although tracking weight loss will be an important metric. Our goal will in fact be to firstly burn fat and secondly to build muscle. Two things that can be done simultaneously given the correct circumstances namely :

Maintain a calorific deficit of around 15%
Eat a protein rich diet (0.8g per kilo of bodyweight)
Resistance training every day (weights, calisthenics)

These three things combined effectively can be referred to as Body Recomposition, where the goal isn’t simply to achieve a smaller you, but to sculpt and tone the body too. As more muscle requires more energy to sustain itself, creating more muscle will increase your metabolic rate and make it easier to keep the weight off in future. Also, there are many studies that show increasing muscle through resistance training is the single most important thing you can do for your overall health and fitness. It will stand to you as you get older. Remember, it’s not about looking muscular, it’s about creating shape.

How to maintain a calorific deficit :

There are many ways to achieve this. My approach is simple :

Restrict eating to between 12 midday and 8pm each day (NB).
Cut out anything made from wheat.
No booze.
Eat protein with every meal.
Increase physical activity.

Pretty simple. We take full advantage of the natural fast we all do while we’re asleep and we lengthen it by having our last meal no later than 8pm, and continuing the fast to lunch time. So no breakfast, or, think of lunch as a late breakfast. After fasting for 12 hours, your body will enter a state of ketosis, where it must find it’s energy from fat reserves in your body. As it metabolises the fat, it produces ketones. These can be used as fuel by every cell in the body. So, once you’ve gotten used to fasting (and after your body has used up all it’s glycogen* stores), you will not feel any dip in energy while in ketosis and you will be amazed at how energised you will be and how clear headed you will feel!

Fasting from 8pm to 12pm the next day will give us 4 hours of ketosis, so that’s 4 hours of fat burning a day, without having to do anything! Seriously… there’s nothing to do! (Just don’t fucking eat lol) Kinda cool! : )

The first meal of the day should be protein rich, I always have a cooked chicken in the fridge, and I eat alot of chicken full stop. So chicken salad, with or without rice.. or smoked mackerel pate on baby gem. I’ll go through meal ideas later. Also, fat free sugar free drinks for in-between lunch and dinner… I like fat free yogurt with sweetener. Sometimes fruit. This is just to satiate the appetite. Hunger will have to be dealt with at certain times of the day. Dinner, should be balanced. Protein, carbs and veggies for your micro nutrients. Also, no harm in taking a multi-vit and a natural probiotic such as keifer. (You may want to stay away from diet drinks though as aspartame damages the microbiome in the gut. Natural sweeteners are much better. Your choice.)

Cheat Days

Very important for mental health and also to keep you on track overall. We do not want to deprive ourselves. One cheat day a week is fine, but no more than that. One cheat day every two weeks can seem like a long stretch to go without, but the resulting weight loss can be worth it. So, I would suggest no cheat day for the first 2 weeks, and then one cheat day a week. That being said, if you eat a large packet of crisps at 10pm for example, there’s nothing stopping you from fasting until 2pm the next day, so skipping breakfast & having a slightly later lunch (and pulling back on the carbs) followed by Dinner at the usual time or a bit later.

Tracking

Tracking weight is a valuable metric. Weigh yourself every day on a digital scales before eating each morning and keep track of your weight. Where as weight loss isn’t the prime objective, think of the scales as your personal trainer. It’s giving you positive feedback on a daily basis and this helps you stay motivated. If you have a cheat day, the scales will not fail to let you know either! Just like a real personal trainer. Bear in mind, it can take 48hrs for the scales to reflect any changes in weight.

When to eat

Simple. Nothing in the mornings until lunch time except for water or black coffee (no milk). Then, nothing after 8 o’clock in the evening.

So that creates a 17 hour fast. This will be difficult in the beginning and fatigue and headaches are to be expected as the body runs out of the fuel that it’s been used to using as it’s prime energy source (food). So it switches to glycogen* in the liver and muscles. Glycogen is basically just glucose in a different form that the body stores as a secondary source of energy. It can be quickly metabolised but as it does it produces lactic acid. This can cause cramps. It may take a couple of days for the body to use up all it’s glycogen, but once it does, it will start to burn fat instead. This is what we want. Be very aware, the body will eat up muscle too if you’re not eating enough protein! So… at lunch time, make sure there’s plenty of protein, if you wana snack in-between lunch and dinner, eat more protein!, and at dinner… more protein!! This will ensure that we only burn fat in ketosis. We are after fat loss, not weight or muscle-loss…as we loose fat we want to create more muscle, not loose it. This will build a bigger body that will actually require more calories to function, thus increasing our metabolism and enabling us to enjoy the benefits of more strength, better mobility and a lower risk of injury.

What to eat :

As long as you stay away from empty calories (sugar, wine, white bread, pasta) you can eat pretty much what you want. Just try to eat protein with every meal, as protein is digested slower, it slows the digestion of carbs and gives you energy for longer. Good carbs such a rice and sweet potato are healthy choices, just don’t go overboard with portion sizes.

Dealing with hunger

Hunger will be an issue, more so in the beginning phase as your body gets used to not having it’s usual fuel supply. Satiate it with black coffee and water in the mornings. Black coffee may take you some getting used to I realise, so I would suggest upgrading the quality of coffee you use so you can appreciate it more.

When eating don’t shy away from fats and oils, as these satiate the appetite and make you feel fuller for longer, and you won’t want to eat as much. So oily vinaigrettes, cream, saturated fats found meat, nuts etc… all good, just don’t go crazy with them. Have a little fat with every meal. For example, Chicken breast fried in olive oil well seasoned, served with salad with vinaigrette and a little rice. Simples! Eat good, tasty food and enjoy it. The beauty of this process is that we are not letting ourselves go without.. we are focusing more on WHEN we eat. That’s the trick ; )

Fat free yogurt and a little natural (or unnatural) sweetener is a great way to stave off hunger. It lines the stomach, makes u feel like you’ve eaten something, but there’s no calories, just some good bacteria for your gut.

Water. Drink loads. Morning, noon, afternoon, night. 2.5 litres in total.

You will come to enjoy the feeling of being empty in the mornings and as your body adapts to keytosis over the first week… you will start to feel amazing : ) as your body becomes efficient in metabolising fat as your primary energy source in the mornings.

Don’t forget to weight yourself every morning. The feel good factor from seeing how much weight you are loosing also helps to deal with hunger and keep you motivated. I recommend downloading the Simple Weight Tracker App.

Remember N.B. Any food whatsoever, including skimmed milk with coffee will halt ketosis and switch your body from fat burning to food burning. Maintaining the morning fast is crucial.

The exercises we will do are known as ‘The Big 5’. That is, they are the 5 compound (working more than one muscle) exercises that collectively work the entire body. If you stick to these 5 exercises you won’t need to do anything else.

Squats
Deadlifts
Overhead Press
Bench Press
LungesIn order to build muscle, we need to do at least one set per exercise to failure (10-15 reps, failing on the last one) at least twice – three times per week. Use a set of dumbbells to add weight. I would suggest getting a pair of 7kg weights.

To conclude :

You don’t have to break your back doing loads of exercises to begin with. Focus on small wins first. Stick to the eating times, push through the first 3 days which will be hard, I will be here to support you, and when you begin to see the weight coming off.. use that feel good factor to gently begin doing some exercises. And be gentle with them first. Just get into the habit of doing them. Learn the movements and then we can slowly begin to up the intensity if you so wish.

Be careful not to loose your initial weight loss in the first week. Be good your first weekend! No cheat days for two weeks!… so when you do have a cheat day on week 3, you won’t be taking two steps back.

OK Lulu, show me what a good girl you are ; )

Let’s do it x