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It is twelve-o’clock and I can finally eat. My stomach is going crazy, I haven’t eaten in 16 hours. I feel weak, my body is about to start eating itself. I rush to go to the tower dining at IUPUI and go straight for the stir-fry line, “What would you like to eat” said the lady who was wearing black clothes, and no hairnet. “Everything”, I said.

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I have been doing the intermittent fasting diet for about three weeks now and I have some incredible and fascinating results because of the way the diet works, and the easy and successful way to do and finish the diet. 

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Intermittent fasting is easy and simple and everyone can do it, intermittent fasting includes only being able to eat at a certain time of a day, and not eat till the next day when it is time to feed again.  For example, I am only allowed to eat from twelve to eight p.m every day, and I am not allowed to eat until noon the next day. Intermittent fasting works by changing your metabolism, which includes your insulin levels, human growth hormones, and norepinephrine which breaks down fat cells. Short-term fasting leads to several changes in the body that make fat burning easier.

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I started fasting as soon as I figured out that I had to do a project for my English class at IUPUI, the professor called it an Immersion Experience. I watched a lot of youtube videos from professional dieticians and other health professionals. I also did a lot of research on respectable medical websites, and other academic journals on how to properly do the fast, and things I should avoid.

 

One of them is by Jason Fung, a physician that declares that intermittent fasting is the best diet to use in terms of weight loss and reversing serious medical problems. He was featured in a documentary about intermittent fasting called, Fasting which gave real stories about how fasting has changed their lives. Jason has even written a book about intermittent fasting called The Obesity Code, which is available on E-Bay and Amazon.

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The first day was the hardest of all, my body was not used to not eating breakfast, which used to be one of my favorite meals of the day. My stomach was aching, and grumbling all morning until it hit noon. I was instantly saved by the greatness of stir fry, which included broccoli, carrots, rice, chicken, and peas. The key is to trick your body to think you are eating a big meal, but really you are just eating small foods, that have great sources of energy and vitamins. I ate the food so fast, it was like it never even got to the table. After eating what felt like two whole pizzas, it was time to go on with the rest of my day.

 

There have been a lot of studies that support intermittent fasting as one of the best diets in the world for weight loss. Dr. Pam Taub, a cardiologist at the University of California said, “We saw a 3% weight loss reduction in their weight and a 4% in abdominal visceral fat.” Also, Satchidananda Panda, a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies said that “We are surprised that this small change in eating time would give them such a huge benefit.” Dr. Pam Taub quote also supports Satchidananda Panda, because they are both well-respected professors and doctors in the biological and medical fields, they both see that the diet is very beneficial and easy to do if anyone wants to lose weight and benefit their health in some way or another.

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I noticed that I had more energy, and also had better focus since I ate my first meal of the day. I am someone who also works out almost every single day, I noticed that it was harder to work out the first day because my body was not adapted to have such low calories and carbs. After I worked at five o’clock it was time for dinner, mostly high protein, and carbohydrate foods to last me till noon the next day. 

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A week into the fast it was time to check and look for results, I was about 216 pounds when I started the fast. After the first week, I stepped on the scale and it said 214. I lost two pounds in a week,  the best results from any diet I have ever tried. Next week, 212, week after that, 210, week after that 208. I have not been in the 200 level for about three years now, it was a great milestone to have. 

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After the three to four weeks, I started to notice something, I stopped losing weight, this happens when your body starts to adapt to what you are putting in and taking out of it every single day, it is called a weight loss plateau. After hitting the plateau I had to start rethinking and adjusted my diet accordingly. I know am on a macronutrient restricted diet, such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and I continue to fast. This type of plateau happens with every diet, your body knows exactly what you are going to put in day in and day out, so your body can now adapt to the lifestyle and diet, so it will eventually stop burning fat and you will stop losing weight. It is not hard to get past the plateau in the fasting diet, because all I did was change the times again, I know to eat from 1-8 pm every day instead of 12-8, I am now losing more weight day by day again.

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This helps to keep your metabolism on its toes and helps me start losing weight again. I have been tracking my calories unlike before, and now I am actually eating healthier and losing more weight again, I am now down to 207 pounds. Having been on this diet for more than a month now has been phenomenal, I have seen tremendous results, losing ten pounds in about four weeks, which averages to about two pounds a week. I would recommend this diet to anyone who wants to start trying to lose weight and to try a new diet that maybe other diets could not do, every diet is different, and everybody's diet will react differently to certain things, but the data shows that intermittent fasting is one of the best diets for health and weight loss. 

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Works Cited

“Fasting.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 21 Dec. 2017, www.imdb.com/title/tt7813060/. 

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Fung, Jason. “Intermittent Fasting for Beginners.” Diet Doctor, Diet Doctor, 28 Jan. 2016, www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting

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Tello, Monique. “Intermittent Fasting: Surprising Update.” Harvard Health Blog, 10 Feb. 2020, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156

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“What Is Intermittent Fasting.” Youtube, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIhhrYjVhOk

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