Intermittent Fasting: What Is It?

Mar13
by Dr. Marctagon™ on March 13, 2013 at 1:26 pm
Posted In: #FitMinusFat, Flexitarian Life

Intermittent Fasting

 

What is Intermittent Fasting or IF? You may have heard or read the term at some time or another and are wondering what the hell it is? I know I had been. I fast weekly typically anyway but didn’t know that term was what was used to describe it and various other ways of fasting.

My research led me to the Internets and I found a few interesting resources that explore it in detail. The first was a website called The IF Life and page on their site called Intermittent Fasting 101.

The definition and benefits of IF as laid out by the site are as follows:

What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?

For those that may not be familiar to the term, intermittent fasting is just taking “intermittent” times of fasting (no food) and working them into your lifestyle. This can be either daily or a couple times a week (will get into that more below).

From what I have read/learned from years of independent research on reduced calorie intake (CR) and IF (**studies listed at end), the conclusions are that using short-term calorie restriction/fastingmay be effective when it comes to:

  • Reducing blood glucose and insulin levels (improving the state of the overall glucose metabolism)
  • Increasing fatty acid oxidation with increased FFAs (through increasing lipolysis hormones GH, glucagon and adrenaline)
  • Sparing and preserving muscle tissue (lean mass)
  • Increasing various health factors (lower inflammation, lower blood pressure, reduced oxidative stress, increased protection against neuro-degenerative diseases, and more)
  • Keeping the metabolism strong/healthy (as eating more meals does not “speed up” your metabolism)

There are also a multitude of lifestyle benefits such as not being a slave to eating all day long (like modern “diets” seem to preach), having more natural daily energy/focus, and even just learning how to enjoy eatingonce again (with good foods and friends).

Overall it can be a simple eating lifestyle that can not only help you lose weight, but more importantly let you relax and provide relief from obsessing about food or “diets” all day.

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I’m Leaving the Internet

Feb11
by Dr. Marctagon™ on February 11, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Posted In: Doc Speaks Life
The Internet

True?

Okay, now that I’ve gotten your attention, let me explain. The title is indeed true. I am leaving the Internet……but not forever, for approximately 6.5 weeks. I’ve chosen the Internet as my Lenten sacrifice this year.

Now this post is not a religious post. I don’t plan to go into detail about what Lent is or what my religious beliefs are and I don’t want to hear about what you think Lent is either. That’s a different topic for a different post.

I’ve told a handful of people about it and I usually get one of a few reactions.

1. “Wow…why?”

2. “I couldn’t do it.”

3.  ”Good luck.”

I’ve had a few other responses but those are the main ones.

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Doc’s Log #3: DietBet Results, Insanity, and Measurements

Feb07
by Dr. Marctagon™ on February 7, 2013 at 9:00 am
Posted In: #FitMinusFat

diet, bet, insanity, measurements, exercise, cardio,

Hey everyone!

Before we get into today’s log, I wanted to let you know about the  weight loss/fitness Facebook group that my good friend, Amoure, and I co-manage called “Losing is Winning”. It’s basically a place for us to talk about our struggles, triumphs, questions, answers, share articles, etc. So come on check it out.

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Doc’s Log #2: Challenges Upon Challenges/Superbowl Sunday

Feb01
by Dr. Marctagon™ on February 1, 2013 at 8:00 am
Posted In: #FitMinusFat

Notepad

Good evening all! It is slightly after midnight and I’m sitting here thinking about the future. Not the distant future but the next few months of it. I have a lot going on but I won’t go into detail right now while I’m still sorting it out but as it happens, I will definitely keep you in the know.

But I will let you in on some things happening in the right now….

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Doc’s Log #1 (Redux): DietBet, Freeze Your Ass Dash and more…

Jan29
by Dr. Marctagon™ on January 29, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Posted In: #FitMinusFat

Doc's Log

Good afternoon everyone!

Here is my first official Doc’s Log of the new year…I decided to redo it as #1 because it’s a new year, first entry and I was only one log in anyway so why not start anew (hence the Redux)?

Well, the year has gotten off to a pretty good start. On Jan 7th, I started a DietBet. What is a DietBet you ask? I’ll tell you. DietBet is a website where everyone that is part of the game pays a pre determined wager to be part of the bet. In my game, it was $10. The sum total of every wagers makes the pot. You submit your weigh-in beforehand ( verified via picture with a secret word given only to you to verify your identity that you submit to the site but no one in the game sees it). Your goal is to lose 4% of your body weight. The bet lasts 28 days or 4 weeks. At the end of the time, you submit your final weigh-in. All players who have reached their goal of 4% or more weight lost split the pot at the end of the game. I chose to keep the wager small to gauge interest so it was only $10. By start day, we had a group of 21 people for a pot of $210.

I’m proud to say I’ve reached my 4%. The goal for me was 12.8 pounds and I’m officially down 13.2. Unfortunately this is all me playing catch up because I gained 27 pounds since Thanksgiving ballooning from 292-ish up to just under 320 by New Year’s Day. That’s okay though, it’s in the past and I’m working on it as we speak.

My workouts haven’t been consistent but my diet has been pretty on point. I’ve kept 90% of my cheating to #CheatMealFriday so that’s been good. I’ve only averaged about 2 workouts a week unfortunately. Winter definitely places a damper on motivation, I tell you. The reluctance to leave a warm house go out in the cold air is HIGH.

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