s/o my experience with intermittent fasting

[echoesofspring]

Figured I would start a new thread from the grad ceremony dress convo and share my experience for those who are interested. I really feel like it's a gift that's been given to me which is why I wanted to share, but I'm just an experiment of 1, everyone has to do what works best for them.

I just turned 52, and sitting somewhere in the perimenopause journey. According to smart bmi calculator, which accounts for age, I was sitting a year ago in the 'moderate' BMI range, WHO would say I was obese, the smart bmi said 'overweight'. I was so discouraged, I had a couple drs. appts where my blood pressure was very elevated after having never been an issue before in my life. My bloodwork was ok but trending in the wrong direction. And I didn't feel well, particularly when my digestion would slow to halt right before my period. I just felt like I had this 'it's all going downhill from here' cloud hanging over me. My gyno didn't feel like I had enough symptoms to start HRT yet, and I started dieting the way I had in the past, but had a lot of trouble getting motivated like I had in the past. I had read so much about messing up your metabolism and that you lose a little bit at the beginning on most diets and then regain or stall out. I had been losing and regaining about 5-8 lbs since about 2015.

One of my best friends who works at another gyno's office told me about IF. She had just turned 60 and was about a year into doing it, she's also vegan. She had a lot of success and they were seeing a lot of success when they suggested patients give it a shot. She told me about it at the perfect time, it just before my period in Oct and I felt so miserable. Honestly she probably could have suggested anything I would have tried it b/c I was so desperate. But I was also intrigued b/c what she was proposing was very straightforward, nothing to buy (except a book maybe if you wanted), no special foods, no counting macros or calories, no forbidden foods, etc. She recommended author Gin Stephen's approach - just black coffee or tea and water during your fast, the idea being that you want to minimize any possibility your body thinks food is coming, it makes the fasting easier. What I like about Gin Stephen's approach is that she's really about figuring out how to do it in a way that works for your body and your lifestyle and doesn't prescribe much beyond her 'clean' fast (nothing in your drinks) and not overfasting. It's not the 'white knuckle it/deprive yourself/be macho about how long you fasted' approach that was what I thought IF was based on how DH tried it a few years ago. It's supposed to feel gentle once you get through the first few weeks and not be difficult, and if it is hard, you're encouraged to figure out the right 'tweak' for you whether it's a shorter fast, different food, different time window for eating, etc. I joined an online community Gin runs and there are people there of all walks of life, not everyone has success but some people have amazing successes and everyone's very supportive and figuring it out for themselves.

I started right around Halloween, I lost about 10lbs by the end of the year, plateaued for all of January when I sick and taking antibiotics and then again for several weeks in March when I was very stressed and also did a lot of celebrating and eating out for various reasons. But have lost another 5lbs since the start of the year, so about 15 total. Not particularly fast but way more than I've ever loss beyond that initial loss after having kids. I'm within a pound of where I was when I got married almost 20 years ago, I'm sure I've not been there since that day.

I like that I can eat whatever I want or adjust how long my fast is and I'm not 'falling off my diet'. And 'eat whatever I want' has really changed over the last few months, the easy 'am i'm fasting or eating right now' question has really helped me examine my snacking/mindless/comfort/boredom eating habits. I still struggle sometimes with my relationship to food but interestingly a lot of food tastes different to me now (esp packaged/processed things) and I'm not as interested in them. I think some of this is due to IF and some is due to being more focused on gut health and what I'm eating - it's a separate journey I've been on at the same time. I probably could get more strict about my and it would speed up my weight loss but I like being able to indulge every now and then. And I love not having to feel guilty when I enjoy something that on a diet would have been a 'bad food', or want to bake something with the kids.

I had a drs appt 2 weeks ago, the yearly one where my blood pressure had been very high last year, even at the end of the appt. No problem with my BP and my NP opened with convo with 'wow, what you are doing, your blood work looks amazing'. It was so nice to hear that maybe I'm pointed in the right direction. Then she told me that she does at least 12 hrs fasts everyday, basically cutting out evening snacks. (I was already doing that before starting IF based on someone one this board telling us about her success.) Her only concern was whether I get heartburn trying to eat with a days worth of food within 4-6 hrs, I've not had that happen.

I know there are various people out there who advocate for specific fasting protocols for women in midlife around their cycle or advise against it or say it raised cortisol levels which prevent weight loss, etc. but for now just listening to my body is working really well for me and it seems happy with what I'm doing. If I'm craving more carbs I eat more carbs. I have a ton of energy, I used to get either so sluggish in the afternoon or hangry and unable to get anything done. I rarely am hangry anymore and if I am I just decide it's time to eat. I'm finding it easier to get motivated to work out, etc. and I've even felt like I wanted to run on my walks. I haven't run since college. I've committed to myself that I'll give a year and see what I think.

I know it doesn't always work for everyone but maybe my experience helps someone....

[WatchingThemGrow]

Wow, thank you for sharing more in-depth! Sounds like you've had a great experience. Anyone would enjoy those results!

Thanks to vacation, there might be a little time to think through how it could work during the workweek. Leaving home at 7:50am and not stopping until 12:50... so not a lot of time in there to stop and have breakfast midmorning like today.

The other thing going on with me is a trial of thyroid meds. Heading off to search past posts combining the two topics...

[echoesofspring]

Leaving home at 7:50am and not stopping until 12:50...

It does make traveling a lot easier, we did a couple road trips and plane trips around xmas time and it was nice to not feel like I needed to eat something that I wasn't that into....