Intermittent Fasting Benefits – Weight Loss and Many Others

I’ve enjoyed fasting benefits for many years. 2018 marks my 12th year of intermittent fasting. To review my IF lifestyle in the past 12 years, I must say I have changed a lot – mainly eating habit and appearance. If I were to name the most significant fasting benefits, I would say bloating relieve and natural weight loss. 

Road to Intermittent Fasting

My road towards IF was relatively short as I didn’t go through any experiment stage. Though I have been suffering from digestive problems for 17 years, I kicked off my fasting out of an overnight decision. Once I see the benefits, I had never looked back to my old ways of eating throughout these years.

My fasting window is averagely 24 hour, as I target one meal a day. If I eat dinner tonight, I won’t eat until next day’s dinner. In between I had some drinks such as water, fruit juice, coffee or tea and I don’t care about decaf or not. In some occasions, due to social/ business commitments, I eat lunch following the previous dinner, my fasting window was much shorter. Nevertheless I try to maintain the 24 hour window about three to four times a week. For beginners, my suggestion is to start slow. Try it once or twice a week and when you see the benefits, move on progressively.

The Fasting Benefits I’ve Seen 

According to Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat, periods of fasting have been associated with being more alert, ambitious, competitive, and creative. As for myself, below is the list of benefits that I have personally enjoyed.

1. Bloating relieve. Though it is still bothering me occasionally, but I feel far better than before.
2. Natural weight loss. This came naturally and steadily. I lost six pounds in the first week and progressively up to 20 pounds in six months.
3. Improved mental clarity. My job is very hectic and I have to manage multi tasking almost everyday, however without a problem.
4. Improved workout performance. I do lunch hour swimming during weekdays. I’m not an Olympic swimmer, but I recon my speed had improved.
5. More energy. I used to feel tired most of the time. After I started doing daily workout plus intermittent fasting, somehow I realized my energy level was greatly improved. Now I can swim without food before or after.
6. Improved appearance. I had to wear tight underwear in order to fit into my Chinese traditional night gown ‘cheung sam’. Now I don’t need it any more.
7. Food tastes better. When I had no food for a period of 24 hours, I really enjoy and respect each meal. I’m amazed that food tastes much better than before when I routinely fed myself three meals a day.

Any Disadvantage About Intermittent Fasting?

Yes, if I were to say, there is one. I spent some extra money due to IF.

Some people thought I should save money by eating less. Well, the money I spend on food does not relate to the amount I eat; it relates to what I eat. Like three meals a day can be bread and butter; one meal a day can be Kaiseki. I spent extra money in buying new clothing as I am now two sizes smaller. I really look odd if I continue wearing my old clothing.

Learn More About Intermittent Fasting 

Flexible IF is increasing in popularity.  If you ever wanted to venture into intermittent fasting, Brad Pilon has written a best-selling e-book Eat Stop Eat and he will walk you through ‘why’ and ‘how’ to do IF. You would need to pay a little fee for this book, but you will then become a registered member and can log in to Brad’s website to see any updated version of the book, and download any associated free items.

Simple Life Weight Loss

The beauty of fasting for weight loss is simple and easy. As Brad Pilon said in his e-book Eat Stop Eat “There are no phases, no point systems, no weighing foods, and most importantly no foods that are ever off-limits”. Is this simple enough?

In additional, the simple benefits of fasting are saving money, saving time and saving energy. You no longer have to continuously plan your day around the timing of your next meal, and you may be “resetting” your body’s expectation of when and how much you are going to eat.

Of course you don’t have to spend time to shopping at the supermarket and cooking in the kitchen. All these will enable extra time for your doing things you like, or things you normally don’t have time to do. At least taking the shopping and cooking time for a little rest is not bad at all!

And in terms of easy, there are less rules and guides and things you must do when you practice short term fasting. When it comes to diet rules, less is more. The simpler and easier these rules are, the higher chance for success, that said, you will be able to develop your new long term lifestyle if there are fewer rules to follow.

Simple Life Weight Loss

Less is More!