For years I was carrying a little belly with me, annoyingly hanging over my jeans when I was sitting down.
I tried to cover it up with loose t-shirts and jumpers but in every photo I saw of me I spotted it again.
Can you relate?
It really annoyed me, and then I made friends with it, deciding it is part of me, I just have it and will never be able to get rid of it.
I’ve been eating healthy for ages, so it wasn’t that, I did try to restrict my calories but that didn’t help either long term,
So nothing seemed to work
Did you know that losing weight is not only about food but also much more about balancing your hormones?
Your hormones work like an orchestra, if one of the musicians is out of tune the melody just doesn’t sound right.
When you see for example;
Insulin is responsible to store fat, so when your insulin is high, you wouldn’t lose weight.
Thyroid hormones are responsible for speeding up your metabolism, so low thyroid function will slow it down making it hard to lose weight.
Cortisol is a hormone, which increases with too much stress, raises your blood pressure and slows down your metabolism.
And that is only to name a few.
Did you know that woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease increases post-menopausal!
The main reason is increased belly fat (intra-abdominal, visceral fat)
through high insulin levels, increases LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
So pretty bad news for us and our love for chocolate and cake!
But then I heard about fasting.
Yes, fasting, it’s nothing new, as we know our ancestors did it for ages and it is used in different religions since the beginning of time.
For me it was always a no go, something for others but not me, I do love my food so why would I starve myself all day long!
But this time when I heard about it I heard something different, something that really impressed me, and that was that it has amazing health benefits and helps my body to do what it knows to do best, to heal itself!
It’s also not at all about starving yourself, as food is always available.
You don’t deprive yourself, you just making a conscious choice of having a break. It is all about fasting and feasting.
In the time you eat, you can have plenty of food, but be aware, it works better and makes more sense of when you eat and that you eat healthily!
After not eating for around 24h your body starts to run out of glycogen (sugar) and you start to burn fat for energy production.
Before that, something amazing is happening, too; have you heard about autophagy?
Well, autophagy is a process where your body starts to clean itself of all bad unwanted proteins like viruses, fungi and bacteria.
Studies have found that intermitted fasting (16 hour fast followed by 8 hour feast) have already amazing health benefits and are able to improve your metabolic health, reduce inflammation, helping to prevent against coronary heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes and oxidative stress which we of course love as it means our skin starts to look more radiant.
It will help reduce your excess skin and the carb belly is a thing of the past!
What’s not to like!
Now fasting you think, still not that easy!
I will be thinking about food all the time!
Well, with that in mind it was really helpful for me to see how I psychologically work.
Understanding where my experience is coming from every given moment and that I don’t need to act on thought!
So now I can sit in front of my computer thinking I want to get some food between my teeth right now, but I don’t need to act on it as I know that it will pass and in the next moment I will think about something different.
Only then when I see it as an issue and I don’t want to “think” about it I need to act on it, I need to give in, then I will feel better!
But will I?
As I can see it as a thought, it is fresh air, I don’t need to act.
How many thought’s do we have per second?
I think it is between 4 and 8, imagine how I would act on each and every thought …..I would be in big trouble!
When I think about the amazing process happening insight of me in the time I don’t eat I decided I wait just a bit longer not to interfere.
A good idea is to maybe go out be busy so you don’t even think about eating, that really helps in the beginning.
So good luck and just know I am here if you need me as together it is often easier to start your journey on your way to better health!