Intermittent Fasting: It's Not Hell on Earth

For the last week, I've been doing what's called "intermittent fasting". Intermittent fasting is when you make an effort to go through a substantial part of the day without food. Essentially, you try to spend as little time in an 'eating window' as possible.

Hugh Jackman, as part of his training to 'become' the Wolverine, followed an intermittent fasting program (although he was following a high protein, low fat, low carb approach). He would eat from about 10am until about 6pm, and nothing until 10am the following day. He would also work out fasted (meaning, work out before he had anything to eat).

I have always been a major breakfast person. Let's face it—I loved to eat. But since I've switched my body over to using fat as fuel instead of carbs, I've been quite happy to skip breakfast.

So, here it is. For the last week, or thereabouts, I've been eating either only up until lunch, or until an early dinner time. Then I stop. This means I consume my calories in huge chunks rather than spread out over the day. Oddly enough, I'm essentially never hungry anymore. I'd like to think it's because my body's using the fuel it's carrying around instead of bugging me to put more sugar in the tank (isn't putting sugar in the tank what people used to do to wreck the engine of someone they despised?).

Mango Lassi: The Perfect Post-workout Shake?

I'm following a calorie cycling approach with this weight loss journey. I lift weights three times a week, in the mornings. On those days, I eat over 60g of carbs and try to approach a 70% calories from fat balance, eating a total of about 1700 to 1900 calories. On off days, I eat between 800 to 1000 calories (a huge deficit) and keep my carbohydrate count to less than 50g.

Part of my rationale behind this is that on workout days, my metabolism is somewhat boosted from a workout, and my muscle glycogen is somewhat depleted. If I put some extra calories in, and make sure that I get a fair amount of carbohydrate in there, I should be able to give myself some extra fuel to run on and top up the glycogen tank for the next round.

Today's carb boost was a mango lassi.

Mangoes are delicious. You could equally do this with any other frozen fruit (except cranberries, which is what I had on hand and it sounds revolting).

High-fat Mango Lassi

1c frozen mango
1c 10% fat yogurt
1c half & half cream

Blend. Drink.

644 calories, 49g fat, 33g carbohydrates (8g fiber), 21g protein, 100mg sodium

Flavour Your Fuel

A great idea from CC (and one so simple I'm ashamed it never occurred to me) for your morning coffee: try flavouring it with baking extracts.

Vanilla and almond are particularly nice—just a few drops and your coffee goes from beany to baked goods, without the sugar and carbs.

Top that off with a generous serving of full fat whipping cream (no sugar added), or just table cream or half and half, and you're good to go.

Welcome to Yum Yum Fat

This is a blog about fat. It's about eating fat, it's about being fat, and it's about how eating fat will ultimately make us less fat.

If you don't believe it will work, go over to eatingacademy.com and have a read.

There are many diet websites out there—many times many. This is one primarily for the authors to collaborate and co-inspire. We hope it might eventually inspire others to try eating differently than society may have taught you. I firmly believe my diet made me fat, and it's only through dietary change that I can be less fat. Ironically, that dietary change involves eating more fat—SO MUCH fat, in fact, that the body switches from burning carbohydrates as a primary fuel to burning fat as primary fuel.

And with that: May the fat be with you!