IF is one of the most effective weapons available to lose weight. It’s perfect if you are stuck at a weight-loss plateau despite “doing everything right”. What is IF? IF is intermittent fasting. It means exactly what it sounds like… not eating, during a specified time interval. I started a week ago because I had hopes it would help curb my evening snack attacks and you know what, it did! There are many other variants of intermittent fasting, but I tried the 16:8 method (16 hours of not eating, 8 hours of eating during a day). It's actually pretty easy. I wake up in the morning and hydrate. I drink my water until noon (you can also have black coffee), at noon, I have lunch followed by my snack, more water, my iced coffee and than usually eat dinner by 5:30, have one last snack at 7:15 and at 8pm no more food. I fill my water cup and thats it until the next day at noon. I have not even wanted late night snacks. Weekends were a little harder because hubby is up later and he snacks but I hung tough. You can do a 16:8 fast as often as you like. For example twice a week, or on weekdays only… or every single day. The more often you do it, the more effective it is. Intermittent fasting is not the same thing as obsessively counting calories and starving yourself 24-7, i.e. “caloric restriction as primary” (CRaP) diets. Starving yourself is a recipe for misery and failure.

Intermittent fasting is about eating all that your body needs… while still allowing it to sometimes briefly rest from constant feeding.
During a fast you can’t eat, but you should definitely drink. Water is the drink of choice, but coffee and tea are also great options. Anything you drink should ideally be zero calories. But it may be acceptable to cheat by adding a small amount of milk in your coffee or tea – if you absolutely need it to enjoy your drink.
In fact, intermittent fasting is not really a diet at all!

It is based on the idea that undergoing a short fast allows the body to directly burn fat rather than the food consume throughout the day. In the ‘none fast’ duration, you can consume your normal diet with the flexibility to “treat yourself” rather than forcing diet restriction.

You still want to aim to eat healthily. IF is not for pregnant woman, woman who are breast feeding or those on insulin unless you talk it over with your doctor. I find after this week, I have more energy, I sleep better, I drink more water, I don't think about food constantly, I don't wake up hungry and when I weigh this week I am in hopes the scale will be happy. Even if it's not I plan on continuing the IF plan. Let me know if you have questions and if you want to do this challenge along with me.