Starting to Intermittent Fast? Tips to Make It Bearable

If I could out-exercise my fat, I would strongly prefer it! I love, love, love food. And as such, it’s the kitchen that makes me fattest, and therefore, intermittent fasting helps me way more than my running, strength training, or abdominal workouts (which I do all of nearly every day). Body weight is calories in vs calories out, so even with all those physical activities I can eat over what I burn. The fasting is a good way to stay OFF a diet (no way, I don’t wanna torture myself, limit myself, make sensible choices, or miss out!) but still maintain my weight.

Find the time of day that works best for you. If dinner to dinner makes you suffer, try to fast from breakfast to breakfast instead. Experiment with time of day before giving up.

I suggest splitting your fast with a sleep. Even if I’m starving at dinner, I always wake up feeling normal. Going to bed in the middle of my fast helps a great deal.

Fast on your busiest days. I do it on work days so I’m automatically focused on something else.

This isn’t in any book, but the components that help me get through a fast are: Fiber, protein, and sodium. Those three things have left more feeling less starving, and able to complete the fast better than anything! I thought pasta would be good, but carbs left me hungry after just an hour or two! Not fair. And the 3 suggested components should be together, because chicken and salty dip alone left me hungry also. So make sure it’s fiber, protein, salt. Nachos before a fast (with chili, black beans, or refried beans as part of it) is absolutely perfect *chef’s kiss*. Chili with wheat thins (or crackers crumbled in it if you’re not addicted to Wheat Thins like I am) is another favorite of mine. Soup with chicken and beans was good. Stir fry. Sushi. A ham & cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Rice and beans with chicken. Starting out well seems to set the whole tone. Don’t eat more than you usually would (defeats the purpose), eat smarter.

Stay hydrated! If you feel icky, try Gatorade or one of those green nutrition drinks with all the vitamins and minerals. Sparkling water is also a treat. Before, during, and after the fast drink a lot!

Speaking of beverages, I still have my morning (black!) coffee during a fast. those Itty calories aren’t going to un-do the benefits, but caffeine withdrawals will make everything worse.

Keep busy, don’t fixate on it.

If you are just not going to make it–try drinking some chicken broth before cheating and having a burger. The salt really helps pull you through, but it’s light enough not to ruin everything. I mean, this is a band aid and a bridge, but for your first couple, if it’s too tough, try the broth before quitting.

Keep your exercise schedule. I work out hard, I’m even hypoglycemic, but fasting and exercise doesn’t cause me trouble. CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR OF COURSE. And, bonus, it even leaves me feeling satiated for awhile afterwards.

Avoid food commercials. Don’t smell food–this is THE most terrible for me. Don’t go into the cafe, lunchroom, or dinner table, because it’s torture. Just take a walk. Do something else. Don’t think about it, watch it, smell it, or be near food.

When you break the fast, eat slower! You will want to hoover your food. But every time I’ve eaten after a fast, my stomach/mind takes a long time to realize I’m full. So don’t eat a big portion, and don’t eat too quickly.

DON’T QUIT, just try a different strategy or start slow, or play with the variables.

And if you just can’t do a 24 hour fast, try a different one. There are at least 5 fasting schedules, and any one of them are going to cut down calories. So don’t feel like a failure and quit–just try a 16 hour fast, or a different type. And you can work up to 24 hours over time, or just keep one of the other fasting intervals.

Sure, they’re showing you GYM, but weight loss mostly happens in the KITCHEN.

Bipolar Mate

I noticed that a post about bipolar depression was on my recently read list (I’m suspicious that person was looking for bisexual) and everything has changed since then.  The post was really frustrated and worried and helpless.  So I thought I should write an update.

Bipolar is still in both Cool and my daily lives.  Each day, we go through mood numbers verbally to check in with each other.  We rate mood, energy, anxiety, irritability, and love.

Mood is from 1 (suicidal) to 10 (manic psychosis).  Luckily, those numbers hang around 5 (average) to 4 (blah) and 6 (feeling real good) mostly.

Energy is ranked from usually 3 (dozing off) to 7 (fidgety, hyped-up, restless).

Anxiety and irritability are ranked 0 (none) to 3 (very bad).

We add our love points for the day (how many hugs, verbal I<3Us, etc).

The whole scale sounds a lot more complicated than it is, and when you do it every day, it goes really fast.  Lately, we’ve been going through our numbers when we do our 1 min wall-sit.

Aside from just keeping tabs better on a day to day basis, we have this binder.  Which has been a real life-saver.  In it, we have the various cycles that a bipolar person can experience:  Mania, depression, anxiety, mixed, flat, etc, etc…  Anything that changes the above numbers and may come with symptoms.  Cool writes each paper, with me contributing input and helping brainstorm.

Here’s an abridged version of what one might look like:

Mania

-everything moves too slow

-half-assing chores

-unfocused/distracted

-selfish

-bigger fashion risks

-more talkative

this usually goes on for 20-ish things that usually happen during Cool’s specific mania.  This is a key point–it’s not just symptoms out of a book.  We’ve paid attention to many manias over time, and noted the things she personally goes through.

And when I start to notice things are off, or symptoms are ramping up, I will tell her to get the binder.  And she will read each thing and say yes or no it’s happening right now.  And I count as she does.  Then at the end, we see the percent.

Exp:  She has 8 symptoms of 24 commonly experienced on her list.  8/24= 33%

Which on a science exam is not a lot, but considering it’s a third of all the symptoms she gets that we could think of, it’s enough to necessitate a medication change, and for sure to employ some strategies.

That’s the 2nd part of each of those pages.  For each page with a list of feelings and behaviors common to Cool’s specific cycling, we have 1 full of strategies known to help her.  These were taken from books, forums, and anywhere else she could find.  The more the better.  Then, it was just about her trying them, practicing them, and sticking with them and adding more until relief of symptoms.

So that might look like:

Depression Help

-watch a comedy

-go for a long walk

-call someone to talk

-wear favorite outfit

-pet the kitties

-play a game

And really, it comes down to medication.  But using the strategies give us both some sense of control and something we can at least try.  And we both think the more she practices the strategies, the more they help her feel better.

So those are two huge things that have made a big difference for Cool’s mental health, my stress levels, and our relationship as a whole.  We are working as a team, and things are going pretty well most of the time.