Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting (called IF) is a pattern of eating where you time your eating. There is a deep study by various people on this (Read on here...) and I have tried some of these including:-

16:8 Fasting

You fast for 16 hours and limit your eating within an eight hour window. I was doing this day in day out early 2015. My breakfast was coming in by 3pm every day and I lost weight and my blood work became almost perfect. I think I got discouraged along the line when some "concerned folks" started complaining that I am doing "too much". I regret ever listening to them now, not sure they were God sent.

24 hours Fasting.

This is when you don't consume any calorie for 24 hours straight, I normally fast breakfast to breakfast i.e. 7am today till 7am tomorrow. I did this as a "collabo" (together) with the 16:8 and I think this was what made my weight loss so drastic and noticeable. I did this early last year and I had a surprise with my blood work and health by June, what more do I ask for?

6pm Fast. This pattern is the type I am used to i.e. stop eating by 9pm and not eat anything including water till 6pm the next day (21 hours), I mostly do this for spiritual essences.

5:2 Diet Fast. This is when you do two 24 hours fasting within the week, you will pick any 2 days of choice and for me I decided on Mondays and Fridays. I wanted to work according to the letter but alas yesterday was actually a disaster, lol.
According to 5:2 diet fast, you eat a maximum calories - 500 for women and 600 for men - which is supposed to be a quarter of your TDEE within the 24 hours of fasting. So whatever you eat should be calculated and be sure not to go beyond 5/600 calories.

My Day 1 Fast according to 5:2 Diet Fast
I started the day as Mosley recommended 7am with a breakfast (2 boiled eggs), that is a 156 calories remaining 344 for the day. By noon, I became so hungry and restless and I had to take four small pieces of chinchin (I call it African cookies) with lots of water, by the time I was closed for the day, I had become HANGRY and I ravaged everything in sight. A very large portion of boiled rice and vegetables and of course more African cookies, I am sure I had gone beyond what was required of me for the day.

Conclusion:
I will not follow the timing recommended anymore, neither will I eat anything till the end of the fast. I have a pattern that works for me and that is my '6pm Fast', this time I only need to wait another 3 hours to complete the 24 hours and then I can eat my 500 calorie-meal. When I wake up in the morning to take my breakfast by 7:30am, I would have eventually fasted for 34 hours with 500 calories in between (and if I wait till 9am before the breakfast, then I have a 36 hour fast on my badge), I think that is really doable for me.

Note: No fasting on TOM days. It could have contributed to my weakness yesterday

Some examples of 500 calorie meal for ME.
- 1 small pack of noodles (342) + 1 large hard boiled egg (100) + 2 tablespoon steamed spinach

- 1 cup boiled beans (230) + 1 tsp butter

- 1 cup boiled rice (200) + 1 tsp butter

- 1 cup cubed yam (158) + 2 small eggs (156) + 1 tsp oil for frying.

I am not likely to miss with the above even when I may not know all the calories involved. The above should be fine since I am not expected to be stuffed.