[spoiler title=’Click for video transcript’ style=’default’ collapse_link=’true’]Will intermittent fasting cause my body to be in a never-ending state of hunger? Great question. So most people when they hear about intermittent fasting they think I’m gonna be hungry all the time, and it’s a question I had too like how can you go so long between meals? and won’t you feel hungry constantly? and I wanted to know how long will this take for me to adapt to or do you ever even adapt to it the assumption is because we’ve always eaten you know three meals a day or six meals a day or whatever it is we’ve been eating that way for such a long time that it must take a really really long time to get used to a new way of eating but my experience has proved different and I’ve also read a lot of other stories of people who do intermittent fasting and their experiences and I’ve also talked to some people who have started to do intermittent fasting as well and they’ve all kind of had similar experiences so today I’m gonna share those with you so one thing this weight loss journey has taught me is that our bodies are capable of so much more than what we think they are capable of we are highly adaptable so back in 2014 I was running three miles every day and I was just kind of vaguely worried that maybe that was too extreme you know and so I I read a book called Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and that really shifted my paradigm on what our bodies are capable of adapting to and the book is a really cool book I highly recommend you read it but the big two things that I learned were there’s ultramarathoning which is much more extreme than even marathoning which most people think is pretty extreme in and of itself so for example he talks about the Badwater ultramarathon which is a hundred and thirty five miles long and it’s right through Death Valley so that’s really extreme and people do it and survive and then even more incredible than that he talks about the Tarahumara Indians who run routinely run over 200 miles in just like two days they they’re constantly running basically and so there are some amazing things that our bodies are capable of so then when it came to intermittent fasting I realized like you know our bodies really are capable of more we give them credit for so I have found that for me personally I adapt fairly quickly to a new eating pattern so for example you know if I were to go on vacation and just started eating you know three meals a day even though I’m used to eating one meal a day it’ll only take a day or two before I’m you know getting hungry three times a day wanting to eat conversely I can switch right back within like a day or two if I’ve been eating three meals a day because I’ve been on vacation when I get back from vacation it’s very easy to go back to fasting even small little things with my eating I’ve noticed can become habit really quickly for example you know my husband and I started eating popcorn when I was in maintenance mode and I realized that like after just one day of doing that I was craving popcorn it was like I was hungry for popcorn the very next night so it’s very easy to get into an eating pattern whether it’s positive or negative and you know also I take one day off from intermittent fasting Sunday’s are my day off so on Monday that’s like the one day where I do feel hunger during the day just on and off it’s not a constant state of hunger but I will feel you know hungry at those times that I ate the day before and what I’ve realized is I’m really not feeling hunger I’m just feeling the habit and I’ve talked to other people who do this and they kind of have the same experiences of once they you know kind of change their pattern then it’s like the very next day they feel that same pattern emerging so there are two options when you’re deciding to in a minute fast you could either go gradual or you could go drastic and I would say that probably if you if you go really drastic you should allow for about a week or two for your body to really adapt and it’s probably gonna be pretty you know trying probably more mentally rather than physically you might have nausea and things like that however I didn’t go from eating you know three to six meals a day down to eating one like I do now it was a very gradual change for me because that’s how I felt comfortable doing it I just kind of pushed my window up further and further like hour by hour until I was eventually doing you know one meal a day I did a whole video about you know how to make intermittent fasting easier so you can check that out if you’re needing some guidance on that it really depends on your personality whether you want to be drastic with this or whether you want to go gradual I would suggest just whatever you think work for you some people like making drastic changes and then other people just prefer to kind of make micro changes which is what I have found for me is the most effective way to make a change so to wrap up remember your body is amazing and highly adaptable realize that a lot of times what you’re feeling is just the habit not an actual hunger and remember if you’re having trouble and it just feels way too hard instead you know take a step back and try the gradual method you know just try going from you know maybe like an eight hour fast up to you know maybe a nine hour fast and then ten and when you get used to that bump it up to eleven until you are starting to notice some good results so I’m curious do you practice intermittent fasting and if you do how long did it take you to adapt okay thanks for watching be sure to LIKE comment and subscribe and be sure to check out my video five ways to make intermittent fasting easier if you’re needing a little help [/spoiler]
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Key Things To Remember
- Our bodies are highly adaptable
- Many times we’re feeling habit, not hunger
- If it feels too hard, try moving your fasting time up gradually instead of drastically
Be sure to check out my video about how to make intermittent fasting easier here: 5 Tips To Make Intermittent Fasting Easier