Exercise

I am about a week in to a lifestyle change that I've decided to try, after hearing lots of good things about it. I'm doing intermittent fasting, where you have an eight-hour eating window and a 16-hour fasted window. It is supposedly good for regulating metabolism, kickstarting the autophagy process in your body and managing appetite. 

I had just gotten back from California, where I had stuffed my face with lots of good things as I usually do on trips overseas. I knew I had to make a change because suddenly my pants were starting to fit a little too snugly, if you know what I mean. My face was also turning into an M&M, which if you know me, I absolutely adore but do not want to look like. 

Besides, I'm turning thirty in about six months. Time for a change. I want to look younger in my new passport photo (which I will apply for in about six months as well) and I want to start the new decade looking better than I did in my twenties. I am going to motivate myself with a kimono photo shoot from Inkimono for my birthday next year. I will look amazing. I will be healthy and happy. 

I had initially played with the idea of the ketogenic diet, but the thought of putting butter in my coffee and smearing cream cheese onto a steak was absolutely revolting. I don't care how good it sounds, I am not going to eat it. 

I also tried the calories in/calories out for a while using MyFitnessPal. Initially it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but my god it was a pain in the ass. Can a single Skyflakes cracker mean you failed your calorie goal for the day?

Apparently yes. A single cracker is 40 calories.

So when I heard about intermittent fasting, or IF as the reddit community calls it, I thought it might actually work. It is still a variant of calories in/calories out, but the idea is that you put your body in a state that it starts to rely on fat stores in your body for energy. Pair that with fasted exercise, and you are setting up your body to burn fat more efficiently. 

I don't know about that part yet as it's only been a week. But I can tell you right now that mentally, I am more alert and I am able to curb my cravings a lot better. Part of it is being mindful of what I am eating. Last night, my eating window was going to close in 45 minutes. I wanted something sweet and sugary, but thinking that as it was going to be my last meal for the next 16 hours, was I really going to spend it on empty calories? I opted for a proper meal instead, and it kept me sated until I had breakfast this morning at about 11. 

I'm curious to see where this goes. So far, I don't feel any intense hunger pangs while I'm in the fasting window and I am able to control how much I actually eat when the window is open. But consistency is the key to all of this, so it is my challenge now to be consistent. 

I've already started doing yoga several times a week to get myself into the habit of regular exercise. Once the gym I signed up for is ready for business on the 1st of December it's back to training for a half marathon. You will be hearing more about that so stay tuned!

That's enough chatter for now. Have a photo of my lunch today. There was a popup grilled oyster bar that opened up of the building I work in, so I got myself six oysters, two mussels and two scallops.

Yum!