I have a lot of friends who won’t try intermittent fasting and it doesn’t surprise me because I used to be the same. The idea of only eating 500 calories, two days a week, just seemed too extreme to me and I was kind of set in my ways when it came to losing weight. The problem was, the old methods of only having 1200 calories a day for weeks or months on end plus slogging it out in the gym was just constantly proving too hard.
With my first novel, Gallipoli Street, doing well and a further five book deal under my expanding belt, I was by then writing around the clock and living a very sedentary life when I used to be very active. I had no time to get to the gym, no energy to continue surviving on such a restrictive calorie allowance (especially when the weekend rolled around and wine was literally on the table) and my motivation continually deserted me when the results were so hard won.
My sister, on the other hand, had dived into intermittent fasting and achieved great results – a 30kg loss in fact! There aren’t many fatter little sisters who wouldn’t have tried it after that and I was no exception, especially when she explained there were more ways than one, and that you didn’t have to only eat 500 calories two days a week. By then she was starting her company SuperFastDiet and I adopted one of the other two methods they advocate – part-day dieting.
Part-day dieting means you only eat in an eight-hour window each day, say 12pm until 8pm, and you can have 1600 calories per day. I was skeptical, if I’m honest, as it all sounded too good to be true. I mean, 1600 calories within 8 hours is a lot of food, but I did it for a week, and to my shock, I lost almost 2 kgs! It was so easy really. The only slightly tricky part was not eating until midday, but I got used to it and now it’s just second nature, especially as you can still drink tea which I love. I have also tried the 500 calories, 2-day regime, as well as the 1000 cals, 3-day a week model. I find all of them doable, although part-day remains my fave.
All three methods are literally part-time dieting, as my sister now calls it, and I think if I’d known about this lifestyle back when I first started writing I never would have gained the weight in the first place. It’s the same with a lot of people I know, sitting in front of a computer all day results in weight gain – unless you do something to thwart that process like constant exercise or full-time dieting. Part-time dieting is a far easier alternative because it doesn’t rob you of anything – time remains yours, the freedom to eat and drink whatever you want in non-fasting times means socialising without guilt also remains yours and the results are very, very surprising.
I say to anyone who struggles with their weight to ditch the old, restrictive methods and give intermittent fasting a try. 25kgs lighter I can’t believe I ever thought it would be hard. Being overweight is far, far harder.
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