WWS + Intermittent Fasting

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a certified health care professional and if you have questions or are planning to try this diet, please do it at your own risk and ASK YOUR DOCTOR FIRST about any health concerns. I am not responsible for any issues caused by trying dietary suggestions or restrictions mentioned on this blog that work for me, but may not work for you.

Okay, so this post is probably long overdue, but here I go.

I know that I've ranted about accepting your body. But the truth is this: Like most of the human species, I am a huge hypocrite. I know that I'm not "fat," but I also know that I would feel much better if I lost 10 pounds. I realize how eating disordered that last statement may have sounded, but please don't judge; I'm not doing this because I feel pressure to be thin, or because I don't like myself. I want to lose weight because I love my body and want it to be the best it can be, so that I can wear clothes and don't have to worry about bumps, and, yes, that I can feel more comfortable when I'm in China with all the uber tiny girls. You may think that I'm already "tiny" or "skinny," and I will agree that I am normal weight, but not skinny. In NE Asia, I would be a bit on the chubbier side of things; yes, I fit into a size S in China, but salesgirls still hand me sizes M and L.

I am not asking anybody to agree with my perceptions, and please do not judge my decision. I am aiming to lose weight for my own reasons while keeping a healthy mind and body.

I first heard about Intermittent Fasting, or IF, here. I'm not going to go into specifics, so just click on the link if you don't know what this is.

I've always done better on low calorie diets than nutrient-specific diets i.e Atkins or the "slow carb diet". This is due to the fact that if I can eat anything I want, I won't get any cravings. Of course, my diet still consists of mostly natural and unprocessed foods, but I generally follow an 80-20 approach; pretty much all my regular meals are white wheat/sugar free, but I get to eat dessert.
I have absolutely no problem purely living on broccoli, oatmeal, eggs, fruit, and various other veggies, but I NEED chocolate. Going long-term without being able to eat as much chocolate as I want is just not plausible for me! And why the hell would I want to, if I could eat chocolate and still lose weight?

Pretty much everything is explained in the article, so if you start thinking "metabolism slowing," "stavation mode," or even (god forbid) "anorexic," please actually DO SOME RESEARCH before saying anything.

I find it much easier (just a personal thing, might not work for you) to fast throughout the day, as long as I know there's a nice meal waiting for me at the end of the day, than to have several small meals that actually fuel my appetite instead of dampening it. So my regular day consists of:

• 300 calorie breakfast, usually 3/4 cup of thick-cut oatmeal + 1 tbsp of honey + some cinnamon and vanilla
• fast until 4:30, sometimes I'll have a 200 calorie snack around 2:30 after I get home, but I try to wait until 4:30
• 1000 calorie dinner! Usually 500 cal clean and protein-rich dinner, then 500 cal dessert of a 200 cal cup of "frozen yogurt" (1 cup plain yogurt + 1 tbsp honey + 1 tsp cocoa powder, frozen overnight) and maybe some chocolate.

This makes for a 1300 calorie day- which is a 700 calorie deficit per day for me. I like to do this about 6 days per week, then have a 2000 calorie "cheat day" to boost my leptin levels. I'm exercising 5-6 days per week of either pilates or HIIT. The first week's gone great; no cravings, two reeses cups per day ;p, and lots of green veggies. I hardly feel hungry throughout the day, since my stomach's shrunk in the absence of eating, and I feel full much faster. Some nights I'll just have a 300-400 calorie dinner with a 400 calorie mostly healthy "dessert".

It's a revelation that is pretty amazing- I can literally eat large quantities of sweets and still lose weight while being healthy. Of course, this isn't for everyone, because some people are just hardwired to eat frequently throughout the day. But for me, IF is simple, much easier to stick to than regular diet plans, and allows me to consume my favorite foods without restriction. I am hoping to drop around 10 pounds within 6 months; I'm on a caloric deficit of about 1 lb per week, but due to the fact that I have so much muscle, it's very difficult for me to drop any weight at all. Plus some allowances for the holiday season, 10 pounds in 6 months should be achievable. Remember- I'm only 4'11, so this is about 10% of my entire body mass. Shorter people have a generally harder time losing weight once they're in a healthy BMI because they have more condensed bones and musclature.

This is just my take on the matter; if you have any thoughts or experience with IF, comment and let me know!

BTW I'll have the cardio kickboxing workout posted next week, plus maybe a "day of eats" post.

Things I'm grateful for: YOLO post

This is my first ever You Only Live Once post!!! In these posts I'll be discussing the deeper aspects of happiness that can be reached by a 15 year-old. If anything, it should be insightful for both my dear readers and myself to what exactly I do with all that time I seem to think I have.

You know those days that just go so blegh, and you feel like absolute horseshit being stomped on by the world? No real disasters happen, but a bunch of stupid little things just make you feel terrible and frusturated. I have one about once a month, though usually in the winter right after the holiday season. I could list out every single little catastrophe that happened today using my impassioned supply of oxymorons. I could rant about how fat I feel and then make up with myself again (through the blessed mediums of chocolate and online shopping).

"Life is lived in moments."

I'm not sure where exactly I heard this phrase, or maybe I just made it up and convinced myself someone famous said it to add legitamency. Either way, it's one of my favorite quotes. I challenge myself to maxmize the moments- which we're not aware of unless we're in it. "Living in the moment," to me, is to appreciate that exact second for what it is. The good and the bad.
But to focus on negative questions I either already know or never will know the answer to, is not fun. So whenever questions like "Why am I not naturally super skinny like friend X," or "why can't I get an A without trying so hard," pop up, I just focus on more positive things. I focus on things that make me happy.

So here are a list of things I take for granted: (Material and otherwise)
Note- I try to appreciate them, but it's impossible to do that every single second of the day. I'd be lying to myself if I say I don't take things for granted most of the time.

*My Steinway & Sons grand piano
*My loving, generous parents who have taken in stride the fact of my mulish, awkward, temperamental existence.
*The stability of my life and family
*My family's and my own health
*The fact I was born here in the U.S and thus actually with a chance of a social life (not that I'm making the most of it right now)
*Chocolate
*The acceptance and general trust of my family. No curfew, no stereotypical weight judging or strictness.
*My mom's cooking
*The actual shape of my legs; I like that I have defined ankles rather than the straight weird shape some people have
*My abs
*Having acne-free, clear skin
*Double eyelids
*Great hands
*Music
*Chopin
*My father being able to provide for us so well

The list goes on and on. But those are probably the things I can list off of the top of my head right now, in no particular order.

What are some of your feelings on YOLO??

Friday the 13th

Check out the sexilicious jewelry I'm rockin':

They were given to me by a little boy at the church I tutor at on Tuesday nights. (I'm not Christian, but who could say no?)
It's a program solely maintained by a very kind couple, to help kids that are less fortunate than I am with their schoolwork, and I definitely enjoy the feeling I actually did something meaningful and contributed to this world. Call it suburban girl's guilt, whatever, but I am grateful every day for the opportunities I was born into and my parents have worked hard to provide me with.

Now that I've said something that isn't totally nonsensical and doesn't make me sound like a spoiled brat...

Proceed with the announcement:
I've gotten an Academic Letter this year for maintaining an A- average or higher; my grades aren't where I exactly want them to be right now (yes in stereotypical asian fashion, I don't consider an A- an A, and anything below that is worthy of a total hair-pulling freak-out session) but I'm still pretty psyched about the acknowledgement of my efforts.
Not that this makes up for walking around in a zombielike state all year due to a vicious cycle of too much caffeine and not enough sleep.
But I can't complain (too late) : I've already pledged my sleep, social life, and sanity, to the Ivy Leagues.
Anyways, just thought I'd try to convince y'all that eating chocolate, working out, and taking pictures  of grapes aren't all I do in life.

Since it's Friday and I don't have any after-school activities today, I did a 30 minute pilates strength routine

and then knocked out 55 minutes of cardio kickboxing.
Planning on heading over to my friend M's house tonight for some "profound pizza."
I won't actually be eating any pizza though since mom made dumplings and I just couldn't hold out...

The specks in it are from the whole wheat flour my mom uses; she uses 1/2 AP and 1/2 whole wheat for the dough.

Happy Friday the 13th y'all!