FasterSelf, VIII: Intermittent Fasting and (not even slightly) Furious

If you haven’t read the seventh chapter in this series, do so here:

Since my last article, I have been experimenting with intermittent fasting- and it’s awesome so far. My work schedule (as of the time of my writing this) is three 12 hour shifts and four days off, then four 12 hour shifts and three days off, and so on. Because of that, I figured that I would fast on all of my work days. I started this on the three day work week, and it went fine. I did break my fast a bit early on the third day, just so that I would be able to eat a properly sized dinner. However, I don’t think you get the kind of major stomach shrinkage with IF that you do in a longer fast.

This past work week was my four day week, and what I ended up doing was two “day and three quarter” fasts- meaning I fasted Sunday and Monday until I had dinner on Monday night, then I fasted Tuesday and Wednesday until dinner as well. Because I’m not an absolute masochist, I figure this will make continuing this regimen a bit easier, because I’m avoiding having to hit the third day (which is the hardest) of fasting every week. Another cool benefit of this plan is that it makes the end of the work week even more refreshing, which I did not think was possible.

There are several advantages that I’ve found IF to have over long fasts. First, and the best, is the fact that you don’t have to take salt (or other electrolytes) every day- I can’t illustrate how much that sucks to do. Second (and related to the first), you won’t become excessively dehydrated, although it seems the body does dump a lot of water during the first day of the fasting, for some reason. Third, your mouth won’t taste like crap constantly (like it does in the later parts of a long fast). Finally, it’s not terribly hard to stay motivated when you can remind yourself that you only have a day or two to wait to eat a good meal.

Additionally, and this may be a bit off topic (but it’s my website, so I determine what’s relevant- deal with it), as of last Friday, I made my first ever grocery list and meal plan. Because of the fact that fasting lends itself to a great deal of food ideation, it helps to have a delicious meal to look forward to. I initially thought it would be much cheaper, although I actually ended up spending almost 50% more than I normally do at the grocery store. However, because most recipes feed a family four, and I only count as, at best, one-and-a-half, it went a much longer way than I expected. I was able to make a fantastic meatloaf that lasted for five meals and some jägerschnitzel that lasted for three. Because of the fasting, I’ll only need to buy food for two weeks out of the month total, so once I get this whole “shopping responsibly” thing down, it should result in some savings.

If you’ve never done it, I highly recommend you try intermittent fasting. It’s far, far easier (and practical) than doing a long fast, and it’s something I think I’d like to continue doing forever. I don’t know that I’ll be writing another of these articles anytime soon, but I may do an update after a few months of IF.

Until that day comes, I hope you’ve found this series helpful, and I want to thank you for reading!

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