How I Drink Craft Beer and Still Lose Weight - Part 2

              I have read tons of literature to understand the practice of intermittent fasting. Simply put, it is skipping breakfast. One of the hardest things to do. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is a principle drilled in since my early childhood. Breakfast food is my favorite kind - waking up to some OJ and having things like pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, top it all off with some syrup, bam! But the likely truth I have found is...you do not need breakfast nor does your body really want breakfast. Breakfast as part of the standard “three meals a day” paradigm is a relatively newer idea in human civilization. Before agriculture and refrigeration, we simply needed to hunt and gather. Our mind and body is millions of years old, and designed to survive in conditions where breakfast is not guaranteed. Our ancestors may have stored food or had some around in the morning at times, but then there could be days where they did not have anything. The body flourishes working according to how it was originally designed, which is not eating so much and so often. Looking at to the improved energy, vitality, and increased weight loss I experienced, I can say I am a living testament to this theory on metabolism.

               Even if you can summon yourself to try cutting breakfast out entirely, going immediately from eating breakfast normally to not having it all can be stressful on your mind and body. The first day I tried, I felt like a zombie. I gathered myself back together and formed a new strategy. I would move breakfast time up by 15-30 minutes each morning. My body could not tell the difference. 15 minutes is nothing. Going from having breakfast at 7 AM to 7:15 AM, then to 7:30 AM, and so on I was able to trick myself into having breakfast later and later. If I had trouble adapting to the new time, I would even keep the same breakfast time for another day and try again tomorrow, moving to even smaller increments. Within a few weeks, my first meal was around noon. Adopting this strategy made the transition infinitely more easy and the payoff was huge. I would eat just about anything at noon and not gain a pound.

           Ideally, by cutting breakfast you are working to create a 6 hour time-frame for eating. This also means no eating late. Eating too late involves potentially taking in a large amount of calories too late in the day for your body to burn off, ending up in fat storage  I have grown accustomed to doing 12 PM to 6 PM. I typically have 1 or 2 high calorie meals within this time and do not feel deprived. Eating this way fired up my metabolism so much, I managed to shave off an impressive amount of pounds with employing this regimen alone, eating what I wanted and of course, enjoying some craft beer. 

           The best thing about intermittent fasting is just about anyone can do it. It does not cost anything and actually has saved me money when cutting out a meal a day. It has left more money for the best craft beer! There are no complex programs, books to read, or expensive supplies to buy.  Another great thing is that you do not need to be fully committed all at once. Try a day or a week and see what feels right. You might not even have to change what you eat, but changing what time you do has a huge impact.

The results will depend on how much you commit, but a lot of people have experienced some results from using this practice even minimally. What’s even more important is taking it slow. The slower and more balanced you remain during the process, the more long-term and effective the results you will achieve.

If you try fasting and find it’s just not for you, this was only one of my methods along my weight loss journey, since then it's gotten a lot more interesting. Stay tuned!