I want to talk a bit about my personal experience with adding some intermittent fasting into my life. This was a few weeks ago and my end of week reward cheat meal dissolved into a 2 week struggle. So, as I am getting back into being very primal again, I thought I should post and share my results of that first experiment.

Like when I originally tested low carbohydrate eating 5 years ago, I found myself baffled at how, exactly, it was supposed to work. Like many new things, that confusion quickly dissipated. Just don’t eat for a while, and experiment! Specifically, I decided to do a series of 24 hour fasting and feeding cycles, and also allow my body to tell me when it’s hungry during the feeding cycles.

For example:

Start fasting Sunday @ 3 pm, eat as usual before.

Workout Monday @ 2-3 pm, followed by 2-3 protein focused meals.

Start fasting Tuesday @ 3 pm, eat as usual before.

Workout Wednesday @ 2-3 pm, followed by 2-3 protein focused meals.

Start fasting Thursday @ 3pm, eat as usual before.

Workout Friday @ 2-3 pm, followed by 2-3 protein focused meals.

Saturday and Sunday morning, eat a bit more freely.

Sounds complicated, but if you look at it, it’s actually very simple and I was surprised at how easy it was to follow through on. The reason I focused on protein post-workout was because I found it hard to eat even the 1300 calories I was getting every day, and I didn’t want to compromise my weight lifting. I simply wasn’t as hungry as I thought I’d be, even post workout, and yet I had plenty of energy for workouts, or anything else I was doing. I was shocked.

Best yet, that week I reached a weight I hadn’t been in 5 years.

Of course, your mileage will vary, but after sitting on my butt for so long without exercise, eating poorly and drinking way too much, I’m shocked that I’m seeing the successes I’m making.