SugarFox's Journal, 14 Jan 20

i know the feeling,lost ALOT of kgs in 2014-15.(135-82)fell pregnant,put back 30 in pregnancy and a whole lot more after pregnancy...back so square one....lets do this!  

Good luck!!! Glad to see you back SugarFox! 

Good luck!! 

Hi SugarFox! I remember you from before. Welcome back! 

Hi there SugarFox, have you heard about intermittent fasting? this a great and healthy way to loose weight, built muscle and live a healthy lifestyle. if you are interested in this i can tell you more about it. 

good luck u can do it 

Hi Celeste002, please tell me more 

If you did it once , you'll do it again. 

Hi Hildastr, I am glad that you are interested in knowing more about intermittent fasting. let me start by telling you that i have been doing this for over a year now and it really works! not only for weight loss but general health. so you will only have an eating window of a certain time (depending on what works best for you) in which you will be allowed to consume food. (any form of calories). the easiest setting for beginners is the 16/8 hour fast, meaning that you will be fasting for 16hrs a day (no calories!) and after your 16 hrs you will have your eating window of 8 hrs in which you may eat. there are more ëxtreme"time settings for this and obviously the longer your fasting window, the better results. I am doing a 20/4 hrs fast for 5 days a week, and the results are wonderful. there is something very important that you must know about what liquids you may consume during your fasting period, the following is NOT allowed because it contains too much calories and it WILL break your fast, so please avoid: cold drink any drink with sugar and even most sweeteners milk (you may have coffee and tea but do not add milk or cream) sugar free/diet sodas, because of the type of sweetener it contains. The following is what you may drink during your fasting period: black coffee (no sugar, milk, cream, sweetener) black tea water - Obviously carbonated water like "soda water" but please be careful with that, check the sugar and sweetener content first. these are the very very basics, but there is sooo much more you should know about intermittent fasting, but before we go into detail, decide and please let me know if this is something you will be interested in taking on. One more IMPORTANT point i want to mention is: this is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle. Do yourself a favour and just go have a look at Thomas Delauer on youtube, he is an expert with intermittent fasting and his advice and videos has helped me so much. please let me know what you think about this :)  

I want to start with IF on Monday. The problem I have is the no sweetener in coffee and tea, find it very difficult to drink bitter drinks. Also, can you chew sugarfree gum while fasting?  

4th day back on low carb and finally ready for IF again. Couldn't even eat my dinner last night. I don't ever want to feel the way I felt in the Dec holidays.  

Hi Celeste002, thank you very much for the info on Intermittent Fasting. I am definitely interested. Can I ask you to send me more info please. You are a star  

you got this ! 

hi there Hildastr, i am so happy to know that! I would love to share more valuable and important information with you, i will type to you as soon i i arrive home :) 

Hi Erenza, yes the "no sugar/no Sweetner"thing is not for everyone. a lot of studies will show that you may consume sweetner, the only reason that makes it not so "fasting friendly" is the fact that the sweet taste actually sends the message to your brain saying that you just has sugar, due to the sweetnes. now this is new information to me however i am not so sure if that is 100% true. i do believe that a bit of sweetner with your coffee and tea will be alright because it does not actually contain any calories. as for the sugar free gum, i think it is relatively safe, i used to chew the sugar free gum as well in the beginning however i found that chewing actually makes me hungry. i would like to send you more information regarding IF as well. 

Go for it Mariaan, that is the best thing to do. that will lead to serious results in no time 

Intermittent fasting Now, a lot of people believe that you may eat whatever you would like during your eating window, examples include fast foods, cakes, sweets etc. as long as they did their 16/20hr fast. But one of the main focuses of intermittent fasting is calorie restriction, so if you think about this logically, would it make a big difference if you consume for example 1500 calories throughout the day, or only once in the evening? It will have a slight difference yes but think how much greater the benefits and weight loss progress will speed up if you do not consume bad foods such as fast foods, excessive amounts of sugar, carbohydrates etc. The best thing to do is to complete your fasting period and during your eating window eat healthy, clean foods. If you want to go further into depth with IF, you will have to be familiar with some facts. 1. During your fasting window your body will become more sensitive (not physically, you will not feel this sensitivity) which means that your very first meal to break your fast is MOST important. 2. Avoid breaking your fast with the following foods: a. Anything containing sugar b. Carbohydrates and fats e.g a slice of bread with avocado on. If you can help it try to avoid the carb and fat combination all together. c. Dairy, because dairy will have an inflammatory effect which would not be too bad but should be your first choice. If you really want to break your fast with dairy the best meal would be fat free greek yoghurt (I know this does not sound most appetising) but you may add a segment of orange into your yoghurt or strawberries. The fruits have their own natural sugar so keep that to a minimal for your first meal. Large amounts of protein 3. The best foods to break your fast with, are the following: a. Lean white meat (small to medium size chicken breast) b. Lean fish – tuna (please note that this will be the canned tuna with added water, not oil) c. Rice cakes – this one might be unexpected but because it is puffed rice, all the carbs are separated which make it so much quicker to digest. There are more detail regarding the foods you may eat and should avoid, but I am only giving the basics to try and keep it as short but helpful as possible. Next I would like to tell you about fasting and training, unfortunately I do not have a lot of free time tonight so this will be all for now. But please bare with me, this is a wonder lifestyle choice.  

Thank you everyone for your support! I'm overwhelmed by how much I missed being part of this community where everyone is in the same boat but also on their own journey. And there's no judgement - only advice and love. I think that getting back onto this wagon is going to be a treat! :) 

Good luck you can do it don't give up.