By Christine

There are several reasons I haven’t posted in such a long time and I could probably continue milking them for a while, but I worry people are thinking that intermittent fasting has been a giant failure and I’m just too chicken to admit it, so I’m here to set the record straight.

For me, IF has been great. The hardest day was actually the day after I wrote my last post. The hunger seemed incessant, I was doubting all I’d read, sure I’d fallen for some idiot theory once again. Then I went to bed, woke up the next day, and just like that I’d adjusted.

Some points of note:

Although I haven’t weighed myself in ages, I can tell there’s progress because when I started this just after New Year’s I was wearing my trusty belt at the second notch. Two weeks ago I had my father-in-law drill a sixth notch, because the last one was too loose.

I fit into all five of my pairs of jeans, only two of which fit before. Those two are now clown-like baggy.

I see no difference in how my bra fits. It seems the inch-loss occurred primarily in my waist, hips and buttock areas.

Although my temperature still reads low, I’ve found that I seem to have adjusted. I’m no longer cold all the time and I have no temperature spikes while eating.

My cycle has been regular and completely unaffected by IF.

I have been eating whatever I want during the five-hour window. Ideally, this lifestyle is supposed to coincide with the paleo diet (what Linda is doing now). I guarantee my results would be astounding had I done that.

I’ve had guests over for weeks at a time and despite spoiling them with lavish meals three times a day, I was able to easily stick with IF and, although they thought the whole idea crazy, unhealthful and bizarre at first, my guests soon got used to my joining them solely with cups of coffee for two meals a day.

I’ve been going through a stressful month of weaning my daughter off her nap- and bedtime pacifier use. This has meant epic fights when it’s time for naps. I am a firm believer in the Weissbluth method, which means having to listen to her screaming her refusal to nap every day. This has triggered the stress-eating reaction in me. And I give in. So I’ve switched my eating window to earlier in the day. This is actually easier than just eating dinner, but it also means not making the fancy meals I so enjoy cooking. I like the flexibility of IF.

I have found not preparing, cooking, plating, cleaning up after two meals a day astonishingly liberating. (My daughter eats easy breakfasts and dinner leftovers for lunch.) I have spent that time reading, watching inspirational presentations on Ted.com and learning how to garden, planting and growing strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, oranges, tomatoes, potatoes, pole beans, sugar snap peas, lettuces, mesclun mix, spinach, radishes, corn, carrots, onions, chives, scallions, cucumbers, watermelon, bell peppers, chile peppers, and a variety of herbs. I have no idea what I’m doing, and it’s at times one of the most frustrating projects I’ve ever taken on, but also one of the most fascinating.

Besides fasting intermittently, I’ve also been making a point of only eating local and in season. I’ve been feeling very virtuous and holier-than-thou about my desperation for the taste of a fresh tomato or cucumber until I realized I’ve been eating garlic from Argentina. I didn’t even think to check the origin of friggin’ garlic. Luckily they sell it at the farmer’s market all year long. I just have to make a point of buying it there.

So, the next thing I’m going to work on is going paleo and pairing that with IF. I’ll keep you posted.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 11:32 am and is filed under Blogs, Hippo in a Tutu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.