Vacation and IF.

Current Weight AM: 231

My wife and I had a little weekend getaway with no kids for the Memorial Day Weekend.  We normally don't do this, so it was a really nice treat.  It is hard to keep on a "diet," plan when you are on vacation, but I did use Intermittent Fasting (IF), which I think helped some.  If you don't know what IF is, it's not a diet, its a tool that if done correctly with tracking your calories, can be an effective way to burn off fat and keep your lean muscle. Some experts have done research on different IF protocols such as 16/8, where you fast for 16 hours then eat your calories in 8 hours.  There is also 5:2 diet, where you eat normally for 5 days and fast for 2 non-consecutive days where you only ingest 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men.  I have tried both for about 3 months now, and at the moment I enjoy 16/8.  It is usually over 16 hours of fasting for me though, more like 18-20.  I push breakfast out till about 1:00pm, sometimes longer and eat a nice big lunch usually a 3 egg sandwich, which will keep me feeling full till dinner, than I will eat a nice big dinner and my eating window will close until 1pm the next day.  My weight loss has been slow, but I have seen some results in the mirror with this eating style.  I can go long stretches without eating and feel comfortable.  You must stay hydrated while on this fast, mostly nice clean filtered water, this will help hunger pains. Coffee helps me as well and suppresses my appetite till it is time to eat.  You must track your calories though, you cannot just eat anything and everything you want, it will not work!  I use a MyFitnessPal app on my phone to track everything I eat, so that helps a lot. www.Leangains.com  is a website I recommend and explains more about intermittent fasting as well. So far I am happy with how I look, building my muscles and feeling good strong with no injuries.  The thing about weight loss in my experience is that it's slow, with many ups and downs, and it's hard.  I put on this weight over years, so likewise it will take a long time to take it off.  A healthy way to lose weight is 1 to 2 pounds a week, anymore than that and you will lose muscle, which for me, I don't want to do.  I think I will end here:

BE AWESOME!!