Intermittent Fasting Journal – Week 8

by

 

In Week 8 of The Intermittent Fasting Journal podcast/video, Donna Reish, blogger and “Fasting Inferno” parody writer, describes her eighth week of Daily IF, including 20 hour fasting window, weight loss . spite of vacations and holidays, how much easier IF is than her previous 40 years of dieting (!), and more. She details, using Dr. Jason Fung’s refrigerator and freezer examples, how the body burns its own fat stores through I, the importance of a clean fasting window, and how to make your body crave healthier foods. She also teaches about the book, What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, and applies his self-talk approaches to Daily IF–including self-talk, self-write, self-conversation, and even self-sing.

(more…)

Slideshow 5 Tips for Weekends With Daily Intermittent Fasting

by

For optimal viewing on a mobile device, tilt your device to landscape mode.

 

 

Slideshow 5 Tips for Weekends With Daily Intermittent Fasting

 

 

#1

 

 

Think of Weekends Differently Than You Used to With the Diet Mentality

 

 

When we start Daily Intermittent Fasting, we gradually change our thinking from Diet Mentality to Lifestyle Mentality.  Diet Mentality (which is actually responsible for many of us not reaching our weight and health goals) says that week days are for self discipline and strictness—and weekends are for excess. This cycle yields a net gain or net balance of weight for most traditional dieters. Our week day perfection is undone in two or three short weekend days of indulgence.

 

With Daily IF, we no longer need to go off and on. We no longer need to “suffer through the week” in order to reach the weekend splurge. We can follow our new Daily IF seven days a week! You might need to adjust your eating window for certain occasions (any of the seven days a week that an occasion arises), but the whole idea of gluttonous weekends is now behind us!

 

#2

 

Plan Each Day According to What It Holds–Not According to Where It Falls on the Calendar

 

 

It’s easy to say that we should treat weekends like every other day, but other people do not do that–and we live with other people. Thus, rather than treating weekends differently than you do weekdays, consider each day’s schedules, meal plans, social events, etc. The problem with acting like weekend days are different than every other day is that even if we don’t have something special on the weekend, we still often have our guard down and eat indulgently  (with the Diet Mentality).

 

 

Instead, look at each day and plan your longer fasting window/shorter eating windows and vice versa on each day’s merit–not based on where it falls on the calendar. If you have a party Thursday night, plan your eating window around that. If you have a Sunday family dinner at noon, plan your fasting window around that. Treat all seven days the same–with longer and shorter windows based on each day’s activity, while still keeping your fasting hour average where you want it to be.

 

#3

 

Stop Eating “Treats” on Weekends and “Health Food” During the Week 

 

 

Again, this is a Diet Mentality. There’s no perfection in eating–and no over-indulgence in eating–with Daily Intermittent Fasting. If you want some low carb days to put yourself into fat burning faster, have them (any day of the week!). If you want ice cream on Wednesday, have it! If you have a birthday party on Thursday, eat cake!

 

 

When we assign “good foods” to weekdays and “bad foods” to weekends, we give ourselves license to overeat, eat outside our eating window (“I’m already blowing it today with a lunch then a birthday party!”), and wreck everything we’ve done all the other days. Eat what you want when you want it–based on your schedule and social events for the week.

 

#4

  Only Extend Your Eating Window for Important Occasions

 

 

Like we taught our children with doing their schoolwork and chores, “every day can’t be special.” Life is life. It is filled with a lot of ordinary days (and many wonderful ones and many ordinary ones that are also wonderful!). When we start extending our eating window every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we are back in the Diet Mentality (and we have trouble getting our fasting average per day back up!).

 

 

Extending your eating window for a carry-in lunch at the office on Tuesay, eating with the grandkids on a Wednesday at noon while you’re cutting their PB & J sandwich, a Friday birthday party at noon, Saturday brunch with the family, and Sunday dinner at your favorite Mexican restaurant all just made your fasting window way too short for health and weight management and fat burning–and your eating window way too long to control total intake. Judiciously choose (ahead of time!) which days you will have long fasting windows and which days will have not so long fasting windows. Every time you shorten your fasting window under 16-18 hours, you run the risk of not getting your body into fat burning those days.

 

#5

 

Plan Your Weekend Free Time

 

 

One way that weekends can be different and challenging to Daily IF is that we are often not as busy as we are during the work or school week. Another difficulty is, of course, that people eat out and have events morning, noon, and night on weekends!  In order to keep the Daily IF hours fairly high on the weekend, we need to look carefully at our schedules and fill our time up with non-food activities.

 

 

Look at each weekend day and see when you can fast FOR YOU! Then look at your schedule and fill down time that is not in your eating window with things you enjoy. Plan activities that you can’t eat while you do–reading to your children; taking a walk, run, or hike; yoga; cleaning; organizing; knitting or other hand crafts; etc. Plan your down hours so that you don’t find yourself bored and wandering out to the kitchen looking for food. Also plan for really yummy foods that you can look forward to. Sometimes just knowing that you’re going to have a favorite food during your eating window can help you be strong even during slower times of off days.

 

Resources

 

#1 Your Fasting Window Might Not Be Long Enough to Burn Through Your Glycogen Stores: IF Journal Episode 4

#2 You Might Not Experience Appetite Correction (AC) in a Longer Eating Window: Appetite Correction by Burt Herring

#3 You Will Likely Consume Too Many Calories for Weight Loss to Take Place: Delay, Don’t Deny

#4 Your Body Will Experience the Other Benefits of Daily IF More Fully. The Obesity Code

#5 You Will Likely Experience More “Personal” IF Benefits With a Shorter Eating Window: IF Journal Podcast

IF Fasting Journal here at Donna Reish

Recipes and Tips here at DonnaReish.com

YouTube Channel

IF Journal Podcast at iTunes

Find ME–and Find Out More About Daily Intermittent Fasting!

(1) FB Group for Support and Daily Help

(2) Blog with all videos, articles, 5 Top Tips for IF Slideshow, and more.

(3) IF Journal Podcast at iTunes

(4) YouTube channel

(5) Donna Reish Blogger FB Page

Thanks for Viewing My…..

5 Tips for Daily IF Slideshow

Find More of These Weekly Slideshows here at donnareish.com

PIN THIS POST!

In the slideshow above are a couple of links to books I use and love. I am an affiliate for Amazon.com. If you click on the links above I will earn a small commission. Thank you for your support of this blog!

Intermittent Fasting Journal: Week 7

by

 

Donna Reish, author of “Fasting Inferno” parody on YouTube, describes her seventh week of Daily Intermittent Fasting in this video/podcast. Donna describes her 19 hour daily fasting windows, adapting Daily IF to holidays and special days, using an app for tracking fasting hours (and for motivation!), and much more. She details four techniques that she uses to keep motivation during the fasting window: (1) Looking at/calculating with an app; (2) Performing physical actions of closing, opening, and locking a window; (3) Tooth brushing; and (4) Changing food associations with verbal cues. Donna continues in her “what I learned” section to teach listeners how to divide the OMAD (one meal a day) eating window into three parts for more self control and how to experience Appetite Correction. Donna also introduces her “Fasting Inferno” song in this episode!

 

(more…)

3 Favorite Green Bean Recipes

by

 

Okay…I admit it….I am obsessed with green beans. If you knew how I used to eat a couple of years ago (before Plexus), you would understand why. I had been trying to “keto” for a few years (and actually even a moderate carb average of 100 per day healed my pre-diabetes), so I would “keto” during the week then go crazy on weekends eating as many carbs and as much sugar as I could. I would only eat fruits and vegetables if I absolutely needed them to stay on my low carb plan (and ONLY during the week). So the fact that I now crave green beans and Romaine lettuce, even if they are a couple of the only green veggies I like, is a pretty big deal. I seriously eat Romaine lettuce and green beans at least five times a week (and for someone who only eats one meal a day (OMAD–Daily Intermittent Fasting), that means that I eat lettuce and green beans 5/7 of the time I eat a meal (and sometimes I eat them for my snack/opening my eating window too!). (Learn more about opening an eating window in Episode 7 of The Daily IF Journal podcast)

(more…)

Fasting Inferno–A Parody Song to “Disco Inferno” About Intermittent Fasting

by

 

 

 

Okay, friends, I’m a little over ten weeks into my Daily Intermittent Fasting journey, and I’m so excited that I wrote a song about. Really. I did. (I tend to get excited about things and write about them–A LOT….which is why I have written over 50,000 pages of language arts and writing curricula for kids–I really love language arts and writing! lol). So it is with my beloved Daily IF! But I didn’t just write this because I love IF. Or because I love clever. (I REALLY love clever!) I wrote “Fasting Inferno” for another reason as well…

 

Motivation. I believe we all need motivation to keep doing the hard things in life. Controlling our weight and health through Daily Intermittent Fasting is no small feat. It, much like low carb eating or clean eating, requires discipline, motivation, and forward thinking.

(more…)

Creamiest Potato Casserole (Freezer & Low Carb Options)

by

 

I have been a “freezer cook” or “mega cook for over twenty-five years. Throughout this time, I have done everything as small as making two casseroles and freezing one for later all the way to mega cooking enough meatloaves for six months–and so many things in between! I share some of these on my blog (see Crunchy Ranch Chicken), and as I add tweaks and suggestions to make them healthier, I will continue to do so. You do not have to be interested in freezer cooking specifically to enjoy these recipes. For example, the one I share below is one that we did in bulk for a luncheon that fed over one hundred and one that a friend used for our daughter’s rehearsal dinner–and I have served it at graduation parties with well over 150 guests! Bulk cooking, mega cooking, freezer cooking—they are ways to help others in need, ways to bless others who are not trained or experienced in an area that you are experienced in. We have found cooking to truly be a way to help others and serve others!

 

(more…)

Happy New Year!

by

 

 

Just wanted to pop in to wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous, exciting, meaningful 2018…..

 

Thought you might like this graphic my tech girl just made of me and Hubby. (We are the second picture…. ROFLOL).

Sometimes life is just like this graphic. It isn’t quite what we think it is. It doesn’t really look like what we think it looks like.

(more…)

5 Tips for Getting BACK to Daily IF If You Fall Off the Wagon at Holidays, Vacations, and More! {Pictorial Slideshow}

by

For optimal viewing on a mobile device, tilt your device to landscape mode.

5 Tips

to Get BACK to Daily IF If You Fall Off the Wagon at Holidays, Vacations, and More!

#1

Don’t Go Into Punishment Mode!

Keep the main focus the main focus. You know Daily IF works, so focus on that!

We have a tendency to want to make up for our “sins” by going no sugar, low carb, real foods, HIIT every morning, reduced calories, 23 hour fasts (or 48 hour Extended Fasts!). We can’t do it all! (And with a Daily IF Lifestyle, we don’t need to do it all!) So focus on getting right back to clean fasting as long as you can each day!

#2

Walk Away From Food–Literally!

Physical actions can help solidify our resolve. Go to the refrigerator, physically close your window, say aloud that your eating window is now closed, and walk AWAY from the fridge and onto something else that is physical–either taking a walk, yoga, knitting, journaling, running errands, cleaning, organizing, writing, going to an exercise class, etc.

Other physical actions that help solidify our fasting commitment might be tapping out something on our thigh or stomach. For example, tapping out Mel Robbins’ Five Second Rule: “5, 4, 3, 2, 1–Window Closed.” Or “5, 4, 3, 2, 1–Fast Now!”

#3

Don’t Wait Until a Certain Date

Waiting until a certain date or time to begin Daily IF is completely a Diet Mindset–not a lifestyle mindset. IF can be started this very day–any day that you wake up and have not eaten for the past eight hours, you are on your way to fasting that day!

The beauty of Daily IF is that you can reap benefits from fasting anywhere from 14 hours and up (with more benefits the longer you go, especially after 16 hours). Thus, some of the benefits will be reaped as you dig back into fasting even as little as 12-14 hours at first. Everybody has to start somewhere. Start where you can NOW!

#4

Plan Your Eating Window–and Include Treats If You Need To

If you know what you are going to enjoy food-wise when your eating window opens, you are more likely to stay with your fasting window at first. Some people like to look at their eating window in three parts: (a) Appetizer/Salad/Snack when window is open. (b) Main course a couple hours later, (c) Dessert or snack an hour or so later. Regardless of HOW you divide your eating window, knowing what you are going to eat that day helps IF’ers keep their fast better and longer. Oh, and if you still have pecan pie after a holiday–and it’s your favorite and totally worth spending some of your eating window time/stomach space on, save a piece for when it’s time to eat!

While planning what you’re going to eat can help you fast longer, be careful of fixating on food during your fasting period. There’s a fine line between planning your food and dwelling on food. Research shows that playing with/preoccupying yourself with the forbidden item leads to indulgence. So plan but don’t preoccupy!

#5

Work Super Hard Between Now and Your Next Holiday/Vacation to Make Daily IF a Lifestyle–So You Never “Fall Off the Wagon” Again!

IF can truly become a lifestyle for you! Because of the nature of it (simply not eating for XX number of hours each day), it can be adaptable to vacation, holidays, sick days, and celebrations. No other diet has the capability of truly being followed even when you’re having Christmas brunch or taking a cruise! (Usually those events are reasons to “fall off the wagon” from most eating protocols!)

Work on improving your fasting techniques and schedules in such a way that the next vacay or holiday will not cause you to “fall off.” Instead, you can adjust your fasting hours down to 12 or 14 or 16 whenever needed. Change your eating window from an evening window to a noontime window. Daily Intermittent Fasting CAN become a lifestyle for you!

Resources

#1 Don’t Go Into Punishment Mode! Delay, Don’t Deny book

 

#2 Walk Away From Food–Literally! 5 Second Rule book

 

#3 Don’t Wait Until a Certain Date–Intermittent Fasting Journal Podcast in iTunes

#4 Plan Your Eating Window–and Include Treats If You Need To

 

#5 Work Super Hard Between Now and Your Next Holiday/Vacation to Make Daily IF a Lifestyle–So You Never “Fall Off the Wagon” Again!

Find ME–and Find Out More About Daily Intermittent Fasting!

(1) FB Group for Support and Daily Help

(2) Blog with all videos, articles, 5 Top Tips for IF Slideshow, and more.

(3) IF Journal Podcast at iTunes

(4) YouTube channel

(5) Donna Reish Blogger FB Page

Thanks for Viewing My…..

5 Tips for Daily IF Slideshow

Find More of These Weekly Slideshows here at donnareish.com

PIN THIS POST!

In the slideshow above are a couple of links to books I use and love. I am an affiliate for Amazon.com. If you click on the links above I will earn a small commission. Thank you for your support of this blog!

Intermittent Fasting Journal: Week 5

by

 

Episode 5 of The Intermittent Fasting Journal! That means I am five weeks in to IF! I am loving it–as you will be able to tell from this episode!

 

I am learning so many things–and I am growing as a person through the empowerment that I experience from the fasting window. And I love getting past the twelve hour mark and onto the sixteen hour mark–and knowing that my body is burning its own fat. So exciting!

 

(more…)

Pin It on Pinterest