So based on last week’s blog post, you can get the sense that I have been facing this rough patch lately. There is a lot of emotions and thoughts running through my head, and sometimes it can get overwhelming and I become unsure of how to handle it. So naturally, I handled it the worst way possible last week.
It was a week filled with lots of chocolate, LOTS of wine and making poor excuses for not following plan, not working out and not giving myself some love. I felt like I hit the deep end going a 100 miles an hour, and promised myself I would turn it around this week!
So my mom FaceTimed me today and told me to research this thing called intermediate fasting, or IF. After watching a few videos and reading news articles, I am going to try it…but I am super scared.
If you don’t know what IF is, it is periods when you fast (preferably 12-16 hours at a time) instead of eating the three meals a day, or the six small meals a day – whatever it may be. There are a lot of different techniques, like fasting every other day, or only two days a week (but for 24 hours, fuck that). So I am going to 8:16 approach, which means having a period of eight hours a day to eat, and fasting the rest of the 16.
Reading this, you’re probably like ‘what the hell Molly. Why would you do this to yourself?’ It’s because reading up on it and seeing the science behind it, I am interested to see if it will work for me.
Like I have said previously, dieting is hard for me. Its easy to lose the first couple pounds, but to stay consistent is tough and sometimes seems impossible. So with this, it is not what you eat, but when you eat (I mean, it’s still what you eat, but you know what I mean).
So I usually wake up and have a mini-breakfast before my workout around 7:30am, which means on the 8:16 IF, I will stop eating at 3:30pm and fast until the next morning. Honestly, it sounds impossible. The research recommends you only start with three days a week the first week you do it, so I will do it three days this week, and then the full week the week after and tell you how it was (I AM SO NERVOUS!)
The health benefits to this are insane. Here are some links of the things I watched and read, so you can do your own research and see for yourself!
https://www.today.com/health/intermittent-fasting-restrictive-eating-right-you-t102998
https://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting
https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/6-Month-Intermittent-Fasting-Transformation-43906359
So there you have it. It is intimidating as all get out, but it seems worth a shot! While fasting, you can only drink zero calorie liquids, like bone broths, water and black coffee (and some herbal teas).
I will be focusing on this for the next few weeks, as well as drinking enough (and probably more) water and making sure I am taking the steps in the right direction to be happy and healthy.
Side note: if you need another pick-me-up song, listen to Glorious by Macklemore and Skylar Grey. It is a great songs that talks about being pushed down and getting that chance to start again, and taking advantage of it. I mean, you have probably heard it but every time I hear it, my mood instantly gets better.
Have a great week y’all!
My European Adventure 