Blog Post #4: Week 2 Eating Low Calorie // Intro to Intermittent Fasting

Heyyyyyy everyone!!! 😊

Last week was my last day on a low-calorie diet while trying to remain under 1700 calories each day. I found that the second week of this diet was not as great or as easy as the first week. I noticed myself craving sugar and high-calorie foods, especially by Friday of the second week. There could be other underlying factors that could have caused this, such as alcohol on Friday evening, my friends/roommates ordered food without having the willpower to say no, and it was also my time of the month where I would crave junk food (if you know what I mean...😑). However, there are other factors that could have influenced these cravings such as dehydration, not enough exercise, stress, hunger, or lack of nutrients (Marcin, 2018). As you can see in the chart below, I have not been drinking enough water and have not been exercising, which could have been causing factors.

👇Here is my chart from week 2 on a Low Calorie Diet👇

While doing some research, it seems as though one should not have intense cravings on a low-calorie diet, however, if you are not feeding your body the proper nutrients, you will crave certain foods. For example, if I am craving sugars and sweets, I may not be eating enough foods containing healthy sugars, such as fruits, as well as dehydration is a big cause of sugar cravings (Xue, 2020)

After following this low-calorie diet, I realized that it is not possible to solely focus on my eating habits, as my physical activity, water intake and other factors do influence how my body reacts. Over the last week, I did notice an improvement in my mood, this could be due to the fact that I was not restricting myself too much. This week I actually gained 0.8 lbs, as I did no stick to my diet on Friday. I found that this low-calorie diet somewhat restricted me, and I noticed myself eating too much during the day, then not having many calories left at the end of the day. This here made me feel slightly hungry, and craving food, however, I was unable to eat, or else I would have gone over my calorie limit.

Now, let's move into Intermittent fasting!

This week I began the Intermittent Fasting Diet, which seems to help me control my food intake, as I will have to eat all of my daily calories in an 8-hour window. Intermittent fasting is one of the world's most popular health trends, and there are so many positive effects of this eating habit. Intermittent fasting doesn't mainly focus on what you eat, but rather the time in which you eat. There are different ways of fasting, such as a 16 hour fast every day, or a 24 hour fast twice a week. Personally, I believe that the 24 hour fast would be very tough, and I think I need food for brain power while in school, so I chose the 16-hour daily fast. Here is what I chose:

The 16/8 method: Also called the Leangains protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1-9pm. Then you fast for 16 hours in between (Gunnars, 2020).

The Healthline article also states that Intermittent fasting is a way of weight loss, where people don't eat as much because they have less time to eat. Fasting can also increase your metabolism, and people have seen significant changes within 3-24 weeks of intermittent fasting. I think that this type of eating change can become a long-term change, however, I would like to see and track how I feel, and any changes so that I can see how my body reacts to such a diet.

Some questions that I had were:

1. Do I have to count my calories during the 8 hours? Should I still try to eat under 1700 calories Or can I eat whatever, as long as it is within the 8-hour window?

- You should still stay in a calorie deficit, so depending on what your body type needs (Horton, 2019)

- For me, I am going to up my calories to 1800 for intermittent fasting, so that I am not eating too much, but I am also not restricting myself to a super low-calorie diet)

2. Can I drink during the fasting period?

- Yes. Water, coffee, tea, and other non-caloric beverages are fine but don't add sugars to coffee. Small amounts of milk or cream may be okay, but you want to have very few calories during the fasting period. That being said, coffee can blunt hunger. (Gunnars, 2020)

- Horton (2019) seems to be against the idea of coffee with any calories in it. You can have coffee, but it should be black or else you are technically breaking your fast since you are consuming calories.

- I have decided that I will not drink coffee during my fast, but will allow myself to eat/drink anything that contains calories between the hours of 12pm-8pm.

Now it begins! As I wrote this post, I have already begun the intermittent fasting diet, and seem to enjoy it so far! As I have shown you the last 2 weeks, I will continue to track my moods and changes throughout the next two weeks, and I can't wait to share my results with you!!

Have a great weekend, I'll talk to you soon!!

- Jenna 😊