So I’ve been incorporating the alternate-day fasting for a little over 2 weeks now and guess what? My sugar levels are in the normal range!! I’m not exactly in the clear but to have my fasting glucose be right at 100 mg/dl and my post prandial sugar consistently be between 105-130…I think it’s safe to say I finally have my sugar under control and without the aid of medication. Woot! I’d celebrate but I have an early morning workout that needs to be done. G’nite tumblr-ers!
Eating every other day was a challenge at the beginning, but towards the end of the week I guess my body became used to it. The hunger pangs wasn’t as intense and was easily managed. Thursday and Friday turned out to be fasting days just to see how long I can go without feeling completely famished. 2 days is my limit!
I have to tell you, it was hard to overeat on feeding days. You know how they say your eyes are bigger than your stomach? So true. With ADF, my stomach shrank to the point where it gets fuller faster and I get hungry again 7ish hours later.
I like ADF because it controls my sugar. On fasting days when I don’t eat, my sugar is still higher than normal people but is lower than I’m used to. So I’m not worried that my sugar will get extremely low because of not eating. My doctor tells me to eat small and frequent meals to control my sugar, fitness gurus tell me to do so to control my hunger but you know what? ADF allowed me better control for both than eating small frequent meals. When I skip a meal I tend to panic because I was afraid that my sugar will get out of whack or that I’d get so hungry I’d mess up my metabolism or something. Now I’m not so worried. That stress of timing and meal prep is gone, a big perk in my book!
As for my workouts, surprisingly they didn’t suffer from not feeding as much. I actually like working out on a fasted state because I do not have to prep myself beforehand, i.e. wait 30 minutes after I eat to work out. I am worried how I will do during my long runs when the mileage increases, but I think if I bring along some sort of energy supplement I should be fine. I figure, if I’m training for a marathon in a fasted state most of the time, by the time the marathon comes and I load up on food will I do better? Something for me to think about when the marathon comes near.
The best part about alternate-day fasting? Besides having a lot of energy, having my sugar under control (without meds mind you), and having the best sleep I’ve every had this week is that I don’t have to spend as much on food!
