8 Hour Diet/Intermittent Fasting

So I was doing a lot of internet googling yesterday about 3 day cleanses and things along that nature, when I saw a link to check out something called, "The 8 Hour Diet". I thought 'hmm.. 8 hours sounds a lot better than 3 days!' After checking out a few different sites, I realized this particular diet is fairly new, but has been getting a lot of press and media time. Basically the main idea here, is you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want, as long as you do so within an 8 hour window, then you "fast" for 16. It doesn't matter which 8 hours of the day you choose as long as there is 16 hours in between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the next one. At first that number scared me, but if you think about it, you're asleep for 7-9 of those hours, (well, I am anyway).. then you don't eat until 4 hours after waking, and 4 hours before bed. On most days when I have to be at work at 12, I don't eat until I get there anyway. The sites also said that only 8 minutes of physical activity is needed while on the plan, and that you can choose to eat this way for 3-7 days per week. (The more days you do, the better the results).

Most people probably think, there's no way you can eat WHATEVER you want and still lose weight. They're not telling you that you get to binge for 8 hours each day.. They do recommend incorporating "power foods" into each meal or snack, like yogurt, fruit, lean meats and vegetables. I was checking out Amazon to get the Kindle version of the book because it was cheaper and started reading reviews. A lot of people had positive things to say. They lost weight, were less bloated, slept better, had more energy.. Then a lot of people said this book was a rip off of another site called leangains.com. I checked out that site as well, and they're right, it's the same idea. It's called Intermittent Fasting. This website focuses a lot more on working out as well.

While fasting AND hard training is something that doesn't appeal to me NOW, maybe if I gain more energy from doing this, that it will be something I can do in the future.

I was thinking about it before I went to sleep last night, and I woke up yesterday at 8, and started eating at 9. I had cereal, some ravioli for lunch, chips and dip for a snack, and sushi for dinner. This was all before 6. If I had stopped eating there, my calories for the day wouldn't have been so bad. But then we had some mac and cheese bites, spinach and artichoke dumplings, sweet potato fries AND I baked chocolate chip cookies. That's probably at least another 600 calories. So maybe this will help my calorie intake? I decided to have my window be from 12-8 because that's usually when I'm at work. In the 16 hour fast, you're allowed and encouraged to drink water, coffee, tea or sugar free hot cocoa made with water.. which will help. Also, that way when I get home from work, it's not like I'll be forbidden from the kitchen. I can settle down with a nice cup of tea and relax before bed.

I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I'm sure there will be some days where it will be extremely difficult. I would like to do this at least 5 days a week. A few years ago when I went on a cruise, I would eat all day long.. ice cream, pizza, buffets, and I wouldn't eat dinner because I was having too much fun with friends, walking around the ship, dancing in the club.. and I ended up LOSING weight on the cruise. Who ever says that?! Similar idea though, right?

I ended up not purchasing the book because a lot of people said it was pretty repetitive, plus I think I got the gist of it. I'm starting this today. I've been up for over an hour and I can feel my stomach start to grumble now. I brushed my teeth right after waking to turn me off from eating anything for a little while, but now I'm starting to want something. I'm going to make a cup of tea and hope that my stomach starts to eat some of my fat until 12!