How to lose weight. Create a daily Feast and Fast cycle
When I started thinking about turning my weight gain dynamic into a weight loss dynamic I decided I would like to have a feast and fast every day. As humans, we’re built to require both feast and fast to the point that the feast sets you up for the fast that sets you up for the feast. I won’t bore you with the technical details. There are many. The research though becomes pretty clear. We have thrived for millennia on feasts and fasts. So, a pattern you find with many who have good health and a good waistline is that they have a healthy attitude toward feast and fast. They use both to get the best results.
Don’t believe me. Lets work through an example. Do any of you generally have amazing health by the end of this Christmas holiday season of indulgence? If you do then you’re lucky. I never used to, and most I talked to felt sluggish and bloated.
These days, I actually feel pretty good. I used to binge like everyone else and I was kind of surprised how bad I felt after a week or two of constant eating. I usually feel pretty good, but during the holiday season having so much rich food in such a short period overloaded my system. It just felt backed up as though it were still processing the food I had eaten. In fact, I think that’s exactly what used to happen. My body simply had too much energy flowing through it and got bogged down, which happens to any system that is overloaded.
So why not make it all work for you? That’s my point here. Once I began to use feast and fast in my daily routine, I had fun throughout the holiday season. I look forward to the fasting part of the day as much as the feast.
Outside the holidays, my typical work day involves both feast and fast. Dinner generally being the feast, sometimes it’s lunch, often it’s from lunch to dinner, then maybe a snack later, you guessed it, I like to eat :-). The fast starting at work in the morning, before playing tennis at lunch, and occasionally skipping breakfast. Work is obvious but running so hard during tennis is quite an extreme fast that I use to rebalance my body. Force it to need the feast that is about to come.
The fasts remind my body to use food properly and clear out anything left over, setting me up for the feast. The fast sets my taste buds and other senses up for the feast and also gives me a nice guilt-free experience.
Of course that’s a typical day, so what can I do during the holidays? I’m not playing tennis right now because I’m letting my body recover from a few injuries. We’re having a roast for dinner, so that’s the feast sorted, right now I’ve gone out to Costas for a little me time. I looked after our little one this morning and we’re potty training so I’ve earned my rest. I’m just trying Costas spiced apple drink while writing and reading. Just quiet time. It’s a beautiful day so far and when I take cali, our dog, out I may go a little further than just down the road. Yep, I know what you’re thinking but this counts as a fast. I know it’s not a full on hunger strike but it’s more about the principle of not eating. Letting your body get by on its own resources. If you don’t then it gets lazy n only functions when you constantly feed it.
The idea is to have periods in your day where you enjoy a feast and a fast. Both will be small and both will help make your day complete. If you are never more than a few hours from a feast then the fasts become really enjoyable. I really start to look forward to them. They make the food taste better and make sure my body needs the food I give it.
Fasts also prepare my body for the hustle and bustle of normal life. Those times when you need a drink or some food but there isn’t any around. If you’ve prepared your body like this you will find it handles the situation well because it’s well trained in sparing water, energy and whatever else it needs.
The important thing is to keep these things short. It’s just a small thing you can do each day.
So tell me, what is your day like today? And what will you do today to fit in a feast and a fast?
