Monthly Archives: July 2013

36 hours

As most of you know, I’ve been doing Intermittent Fasting, or IF. After a weekend of down time, I’ve decided to start my week with a tough challenge. I plan to do a 36 hour fast. My last meal ended at 11:00 PM last night. I’m hoping to stretch this fast until tomorrow at 11 or noon. It hasnt been too bad so far. I’d say every 5 or 6 hours, I’ll get a hunger pang or two. But I’ll be ok. If you’ve gone as long as 36 or even 48 hours, I’d appreciate some feedback on what to expect. I’m anxious to workout. As I said in my previous post, working out while doing IF definitely gives you more energy.  Whatever calories stored in you from your last meal will melt away. Looking forward to it.  Well, that’s all I have for now. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them. I welcome them all. Thanks.

My “Gandhi” Diet

About three weeks ago, 3 of my friends and I all made a pact to get in shape. We all had our reasons. Motivation ranged from dunking, to pure vanity. My purpose was on a bigger scale. July 21st of this year will mark the 1 year anniversary of being married to my beautiful wife. In March, I found myself looking at our wedding pictures. I hated what I saw. 235+ in weight with a new wife. The way I was going, 300 was easily in sight. I didn’t want that. My wife is a HUGE health nut, but for a while I was the complete opposite. We’re expecting our first child any time soon, and I don’t want to miss out on her growing up because of my selfish urges. But that’s enough about my background, you came here to see about this “Gandhi Diet.”

First off, it’s not really Gandhi’s diet. It’s really Intermittent Fasting, also called IF. Once I told my friends what I was doing, they kinda coined it as the “Gandhi Diet.” So we own no parts of the name. So what is Intermittent Fasting? Mental. That’s what I’d say it is. Fasting isn’t a new fad. Most religions speak of fasting and getting closer to their spiritual higher being. For the past few months, I’ve fasted a few times. Not like this though. As I’ve gotten back into Church, I would regularly fast for 12 hours on Saturdays. Intermittent Fasting gives you an amount of time to fast (sleeping hours are usually good), and once the fast is broken, use an allotted amount of time to eat. The average ratio is 16/8 (16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating). Some sites will say that you can eat whatever you want, but I’m not interested in breaking even. For the most part, I eat somewhat healthy with an occasional indulgence. I want to build lean muscle. I’ve started SERIOUSLY fasting intermittently on Sunday July 7th. The following is a list of my fast times and what I ate when the fast was broken.

Sunday’s Fast Started: 10:00 PM
Sunday’s Fast Ended: 4:00 PM Monday
Food Eaten: 3 lean baked pork chops, green beans

Monday’s Fast Started: 10:00 PM
Monday’s Fast Ended: 4:00 PM Tuesday
Food Eaten: 3 cans tuna salad (1 tbsp pickle relish and 1 tbsp olive oil mayonnaise)

Tuesday’s Fast Started: 11:00 PM
Tuesday’s Fast Ended: 4:45 PM Wednesday
Food Eaten: Jimmy John’s BLT with regular potato chips (don’t judge me..lol), baked chicken, (2 servings) spinach, and (2 servings) brown rice.

Wednesday’s Fast Started: 8:30 PM
Wednesday’s Fast Ended: 10:00 PM Thursday
Food Eaten: 2 lean baked pork chops, brown rice, and tomato slices

As you see, I usually give myself ample time to eat when I want (roughly 6 hours). I could pig out for 6 straight hours, but what would that really get me? 5 seconds of pleasure and chewing can ruin an hour’s workout.

My fast for today began at 10:15 PM and I’m going to push my limit. How am I doing it? Working on it mentally. Yes there will be times when my stomach groans and pangs, but it’s nothing water can’t handle. Now of course, there will be those that say this is wrong. But the saying “different strokes for different folks” fits appropriately. I appreciate all feed back. I didn’t just jump into this. I’ve done my studying. Most people live by the whole “6 meals a day” theory. I’ve done it. If that’s what you want…good on you. I know some ask about “Starvation Mode.” Yeah I haven’t experienced that yet. If anything, I feel the opposite. I’m no longer needing to take a nap in the middle of the day (sound familiar?). I have more energy throughout my workouts, and for the most part, I’m eating pretty healthy.

Our minds are trained that we need to eat when our stomach tells us. Well my stomach told me to eat every chance I could. I’ve seen where that got me. No thank you. It’s really a mental test. Have you ever gone through a day and realized you didn’t eat? When you’re fasting, there will be times when you get hungry. You have to train your mind to block it out. Get up and do something. Play a game. Do a crossword. Play Candy Crush. DO SOMETHING!!! If you think you’re going to spend 19 hours complaining about being hungry, you’re not going to make it. Think it and be it. I’m going to try this for a few weeks. For the past few days, I’ve noticed that I’m not as hungry as I use to be. If you decide to try IF, consider sleeping hours during your fasting times. If you have your last meal at 8:00 PM, 6-8 hours will be spent sleeping. Catch my drift?

This is all I’ll post for now, I hope I’ve sparked some interest from some of you. If you have questions, message me for more info. It’s not as bad as you think. Hey…Jesus did it!!! I’d say he was pretty relevant. I’ve listed a few links from a few sites that I discovered in my studying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyrY64DoHeE (funny)

http://anthonymychal.com/2012/10/9-things-you-should-know-before-intermittent-fasting/ (He’s good to respond to your comments).

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting/#axzz2YSQ1rueo

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/01/25/intermittent-fasting/comment-page-2/#comment-430495

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