In my best radio announcer’s voice, “This morning’s scale victory is brought to you today by Intermittent Fasting!” I haven’t been able to run now in over a week due to schedules and weather, and that leaves me rather grouchy. Not only am I losing all the progress I’ve been working so hard for, but it normally also impacts my ability to control my weight. Last week, I started IF, and I was optimistic that it would help me lose weight. Then, drill weekend happened where I ate bad food and drank a lot of alcohol. However, IF helped me do something I’d never done before: hold my weight steady through a drill weekend. This morning, after two days of normal eating and staying away from alcohol, I’m down almost 2 lbs!

It’s good to see that it’s working. What’s weirder yet is that I’m not as miserable, cranky, or tired as I thought I would be. The first day or two of IF feels weird because when you’re used to eating breakfast every day for years, there’s a part of your routine that’s missing. I also adore bacon and eggs, so not having them in the morning is sad for me. I honestly miss it. But the results have been exceeding my expectations, and I can now see myself possibly getting back into the 160’s sooner rather than never (or later).

The details of what I’m doing are as follows: I skip breakfast, but I do drink coffee. I eat my first meal of the day at 11 am, and I eat my second meal between 5 and 7 pm. That’s it. I don’t snack or eat all through the day, but I do drink coffee. This is a 16/8 IF, although truthfully, I don’t eat throughout that 8 hour window. It’s the window in which I can eat when I do eat.

I have been keeping my serving sizes exactly the same as they were before, and I haven’t found myself feeling hungry or wanting more. Now that I’ve been at this for over a week, I actually feel quite focused in the mornings, and not nearly as hungry. But don’t get me wrong: I could definitely enjoy having a breakfast. But the slight hunger I live with in the mornings seems to dissipate with each passing day as my body adapts to this new lifestyle.

I’m not sure how long I’ll stick to IF. However, if doing IF coupled with Paleo allows me to stray from the norm every now and then without negative repercussions on the scale, I may stick to it. I told Sherry this morning that IF will definitely be a part of any future vacations we take. Gaining 12 lbs after a 10 day trip is not something I want to keep repeating every year.