I started intermittent fasting in earnest in January 2020. I’ve reflected on it a few times. A few reflections as that run came to an end 2 weeks back –
(1) I started intermittent fasting (IF) at a time when I was feeling unfit. Our kids were 3 and 1.5 and survival ranked higher than self-care on my priority list. I had a non-existent exercise routine and, as I was regularly short on sleep, I felt conscious about the fact that I wasn’t consistently making the best diet choices.
I’d read about the benefits of fasting and the idea of restricting meals to an 8 hour window felt worth a shot.
(2) IF did two things for me right from the get-go. It gifted me 20 odd minutes back in the day that would otherwise have gone to breakfast. It reduced the guilt I felt about my health and helped me feel better about myself. Win and win.
(3) Down the line, I realized that the biggest gift I had from this period was about my comfort with hunger. It helped me realize that I had a lot of capacity to deal with hunger. There were days – especially during the COVID lockdowns or during a particularly long day of work – when I fasted for nearly the whole day. It was no big deal.
I realized I had gotten into a habit of eating when the time came and regardless of how hungry I was. IF reminded me of the importance of hunger and the joy of eating when you are hungry. I think this idea had implications in my life that went well beyond food.
(4) I began wondering about whether IF was a prudent choice in the past months. As our kids have gotten older (life gets a lot better after the youngest turns 3), I have been getting back to a more consistent fitness regime. And as I’ve dialed up both the length and intensity of the morning workout, I wasn’t sure how well fasting played with this.
(5) I finally gave up on IF as one of the changes after reading Outlive. Peter Attia broke down diet control into 3 kinds – (1) Diet restricted (e.g., keto or low carb), (2) Calorie restricted (i.e., breaking down everything on your plate into calories – as athletes do), or (3) Time restricted (i.e., intermittent fasting). While each of these can help people reduce weight, he explained that he noticed that patients who were exercising were losing more protein with this approach.
He also shared some compelling data about protein loss as we age and the importance of ensuring we’re getting the protein we need.
That resonated with me. It was the source of the unease I was beginning to feel as I dialed up my workouts. And while I’m sure there are IF experts who will have found ways to make this work – e.g., by skipping dinner instead of breakfast – I’ve realized from my experiments that it doesn’t work for me.
So, I’ve substituted my missed breakfast meal with a protein shake with whey protein, spinach, and frozen berries. It works great – while more work than skipping breakfast, it still keeps things simple enough.
Overall, IF was a positive experience. It was a habit that helped me during a season of my life when I needed it. And, even as I bid goodbye to that habit, I’ve taken away lessons about simplicity and hunger that will stay with me.
