Day Three Of Intermittent Fasting

On July 1st I issued a challenge to myself and the members of Not Your Average Tribe and then I figured, why not throw it out to everyone here on the blog.

Since July 1st was also on a Monday and people like to start new things on Mondays, the challenge was pretty simple.

Commit to something for the next 31 days. Something really small and doable.

I call these “one minute habits” with my Tribe members.

Since menopause is throwing me for a loop and I’m realizing that I just can’t eat the way I did ten (or two) years ago, I decided I wanted to stop eating after 8 p.m.

I had developed some really bad habits in that department.

I’ve also been doing a lot of reading on intermittent fasting. And many of my fellow menopausal mom friends have had lots of success with this.

So I decided I’d give it a try.

Today is Day 3.

For three days I have done a 16 hour fasting/8 hour eating plan.

The first day sucked.

All I thought about was when I could eat and then I obsessed about how horrible it would be not to eat after 8 pm.

It was possible I would die.

After making it through the first day, the second day was much easier.

I wasn’t nearly as hungry as I thought I would be.

In fact, I wasn’t really hungry at all, and I found myself not able to finish the food I had planned to eat for dinner that night. I mean I could have shoved it down, but I just didn’t feel like eating it.

So I stopped.

Today on Day 3, something pretty amazing happened.

I am addicted to coffee.

I drink a lot of it.

LIKE A LOT OF IT.

And around 1 pm, I usually struggle to stay awake. This lasts for a couple hours. From 1 to 3 pm I am fighting the overwhelming desire to take a nap.

And then I drink more coffee.

Today around 3 p.m I realized I hadn’t felt exhausted all day long.

And I was up at my usual 4:30 a.m. and ran 4 miles this morning. I’ve got 23,918 steps on my watch right now, and I feel pretty great.

Maybe it’s just a fluke.

But maybe it’s not.

I don’t want to say anything yet because it’s only day 3. I have no idea what I’ll feel like a couple weeks from now.

But I drank a fraction of the amount of coffee I normally drink, and I felt so much better today than I normally do.

I’ve heard intermittent fasters say things like I have so much more energy! and I always thought it was kind of a load of bullshit, but now I’m not so sure.

On Monday I went for a run and then lifted at the gym, and on Tuesday I was in the gym lifting at 5:30 a.m. and in a spin class at 6 a.m.

This isn’t affecting my energy levels during my workouts. And I think I may be sleeping better already.

So I’m going to keep going not just with the no eating after 8 p.m., but also with the 16/8 intermittent fasting.

I haven’t made it all the way through Day 3 yet, so it’s not filled in on my tracker.

I’ll do that tomorrow morning when I wake up.

And even though it’s only been three days, I’m really proud of myself, and I feel pretty darn good.

How about you guys?

Those of you who joined me in your own 31-Day challenge, how’s it going?

If you missed a day, IT’S OKAY!

Don’t throw in the towel. Get right back on the path.

If you haven’t missed a day yet, GOOD FOR YOU! KEEP GOING!!!