The Reason why?
Dear Reader, my story started following botched knee surgery earlier this year, subsequent corrective surgery, I had been unable to exercise and my weight ballooned (I gained nearly 2 and a half stone around 40lbs)in a matter of months.
I had read a couple of articles this year notably in the Guardian about health benefits of intermittent fasting and decided to give it a try. Having never fasted before I began the journey by starting small with time-restricted eating.
.
This is a practice where you eat your day’s calories inside a set number of hours and fast the remainder of the day, you don’t really need to calorie count but try to make the vast majority of your diet whole foods, remembering to include protein, healthy fats and plenty of different vegetables (especially green leafs).
I started gradually with a 10-hour window and over the course of 2 weeks reduced this down to a 6-hour window fasting for the remaining 18 hours of every day, it wasn’t easy but after a few days my body started to adapt and the feeling of wellbeing started to kick in.The immediate results were astonishing, losing 20 pounds in the first month, and I, of course, was hooked!
The next step, in the second month, was to incorporate a fasting day in the week, Wednesday for some reason came to mind I guess as its slap in the middle of the work week ‘Hump Day’ became ‘Fast Day’
This was altogether another level and initially, I wasn’t sure it was something I could honestly maintain, my intake of coffee jumped, as I fought to suppress my appetite. However, I was so determined to make this work and with sheer bloody-mindedness again pushed through the mental barrier (beat yourself first) which really is the key to making any change in your life.
So for the second month, I had 4 fasting days (one per week) as well as keeping to the time restricted eating, the weight loss continued as the previous month and I shed another 16 pounds, I felt totally rejuvenated and healthier than I had for many many months, there is a definite hike up in sense of general wellbeing and I found my energy levels rising, mornings were a pleasure again.
Heading into month 3, I wanted to raise the bar and as I had lost the weight I had gained following the operations in the previous 2 months. This month was to try to build up to the 72 hours now purely for health benefits (see why 72 hours) more than pushing further weight loss, which obviously had been the main reason in the beginning of adopting the diet.
After a couple of months adapting your diet, your body seems to adjust to further changes far easier (well from a personal point of view) the hard part was now behind me and I wanted to explore the full potential of the health benefits.
The 72 Hour Fast 