Alternate Day Fasting: How Not Eating Every Other Day Changed My Life

You have to eat every day. Not only that, but you have to eat three meals a day. Make sure you get lots of snacks between meals too, because if you don't eat for a few hours you won't have any energy.

I struggled with being overweight my entire life, mostly bordering on being obese. I love food. More than that, I love how it makes me feel. Happy, at least for a few seconds. It was unhealthy though, and as I grew heavier, I knew I couldn't move and run the same as most. Small amounts of exercise made me exhausted and sweaty.

The solution seemed easy enough. Exercise. Hard, every day. Eat less, restrict the amount of food you're eating. No junk food.

I continuously failed at both.

I didn't like exercising, it was harder for me than most. I was overweight, and combine that with being in a calorie deficit, meant that exercise was substantially more difficult for me than someone who's at a healthy weight and eating at maintenance.

I could eat healthy for most of the day, but that always ended in a binge. I would have one piece of chocolate which would spiral into a daze of thousands of calories.

What if there was a way to lose an extreme amount of weight without exercise and by eating whatever I wanted? It seemed impossible, but five months ago I found a study that proved me wrong. It showed that healthy non-obese adults could safely do Alternate-Day Fasting (ADF) for several months. One day the participants consumed zero calories, the next they ate whatever they wanted.

It was difficult the first few days where I consumed zero calories. I had to remember to drink enough water, I'd been used to getting lots of liquids through foods. It slowly became easier. Humans for thousands of years regularly went days without eating when hunting, and it's something our bodies our designed to do. Your energy levels can actually increase while fasting.

On my unlimited eating days, I actually find myself eating less. I was craving healthy and nutritious food, instead of the usual junk food. I still regularly eat fast food, but within moderation and normal portion sizes. I redefined my daily calorie limit to a weekly limit. I know that if I eat an extreme amount of calories one day, it's not a big deal.

I've lost nearly 40 pounds in under four months. It has been one of the easiest things I've ever done. It almost feels as if I'm hacking weight loss. If I was still trying conventional methods, I would have likely gained weight. The fitness industry relies on you believing that you need to do insane amounts of cardio to lose weight. The diet industry manipulates you into believing that you have to follow specific meal plans and only eat certain food to lose weight. These industries care more about money than your health. They don't want you to lose weight, because they'll lose your business when that happens.

If you're interested in following an Alternate Day Fasting regime, and consulted with a health care professional that it's safe, here's a few things that helped me stay on track.

Plan your meals. On eating days plan most of the things you'll eat, and try and stay consistent. This makes it easy to not go crazy and binge.

Track your calories. Use a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you should consume each week to lose weight.

Minimize setbacks. It's not a big deal if you eat a chocolate bar. It is a big deal if you feel extremely guilty and eat ten chocolate bars to cope.

Drink water. 90% of the time you're hungry, you're actually thirsty.

Get support. Share the ADF study with family and friends, and hopefully they can support your health journey!

SOURCES:

https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30429-2

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326213.php#1

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190827111051.htm