Sunday- Day 1
It’s around 10 a.m. and I’m really hungry. REALLY hungry. In a way, this is good because a lot of the time I won’t get hungry since my eating patterns vary between frequent snacking and full on binge eating. I feel a lot more energized, like I want to take my time and make a meal for when I can break my fast at 1 p.m. To pass the hungry feeling, I keep chewing on mint gum and drinking lots of water and tea (herbal only- caffeinated teas will irritate your stomach without food in it!).
Monday- Day 2
I felt surprisingly really hungry again when I woke up. I wanted a good, full breakfast which was less okay because I had to go to class this day and couldn’t pass the time just lying in bed or watching tv. I read that in intermittent fasting, it’s not good to set your fast times during the time of day when you are the most active. If you are a person who works out in the morning or works early shifts, for example, it might be more productive to set a fast that starts in the afternoon and goes overnight, and to break the fast earlier to when you can have breakfast so you’re not drained during the whole morning of awake-time. Later on in the day when I ate I was a lot more satisfied, which was a good sign.
Tuesday- Day 3
This day was a lot easier because instead of having breakfast, I got a no sugar (stevia sweetened) and soy milk cappuccino. Coffee is a natural hunger suppressant, which I didn’t trust before but I tried it but I really wasn’t hungry at all until around 1 p.m. After this I ate a good, wholesome lunch. This diet has really made it a lot easier for me to tell when I’m actually full, and when to stop eating. It definitely cuts down on my emotional eating both because late night snacking is banned and also because my stomach seems to be more aware of how much I eat when I am eating.
Wednesday- Day 4
This morning was easier because I slept in until 1 p.m. although even then I wasn’t too hungry. But I made myself have a little bit of yogurt because as my mom says “enfermo que come no muere,” which is a saying that basically means if you eat, you won’t die (facts). Afterwards I had some soup which surprisingly filled me up . Later on in the evening I got my period so me and my friend sat down to have a period/emotional eating sesh of chocolate cake and guacamole. It was easier for me to eat less and feel full than before. Usually, I will eat the entire portion of whatever is in front of me. Somehow, I feel like this diet has made it easier for me to stop or to feel more satisfied with food and deter me from binge eating.
Thursday- Day 5
This day made me question the diet a bit. One of the side effects I was warned about when doing this diet was the headaches, which promoters of the diet referred to as effects of your body adjusting to a different eating schedule. I felt this mild headache as soon as I woke up in the morning, so I bought some green juice as an in-between to calm my headache and not break the diet by fully eating a meal. It definitely helped, but I feel like this being a side effect would make me want to eat a smaller breakfast such as a fruit or a bit of yogurt instead of fasting completely (for people who are more sensitive to dietary changes). Later at night I also broke the diet because of my work schedule. I wasn’t able to eat even one full meal, since I got off work after 9 p.m. which is when I set the fast to end. I had some leftover Pho from work, but this led me to be even more hungry so I actually ended up eating more afterwards. The feeling of not being completely fed due to not eating all day made it hard for me to feel like I’d been totally satisfied after the Pho, so I had some fruit and peanut butter.
Friday- Day 6
Today I managed to stick to the fast again! At night I was really tempted to break my fast because I also had to work all day again, but I had eaten a good lunch and I also had some ice cream earlier so I figured the fast would save me some extra McDonalds cravings calories. It was hard to stick to it, I would again say that this fast should include the option of eating a small fruit or some sort of thing to satiate one until the next day.
Saturday- Day 7
I almost made it to one week…. And by now I’m not hungry in the mornings anymore. Today I ate pretty healthy except that I’ve noticed now I buy a lot more juice and sugary drinks which probably doesn’t help with insulin consumption.
Sunday- Day 8
Made it! In conclusion, I didn’t super love this diet. It was definitely easier than any other diet but it’s emphasis on calorie loss rather than healthy food was a big con for me. I found myself just eating a lot of fatty and sugary foods instead of trying to balance out healthy foods. Overall, I did lose weight but I didn’t really feel much better. I felt a little dizzy most of the time and I feel like there are better ways to lose weight.