How I Lost 5 lbs with 18/6 Intermittent Fasting

In this blog post, I'll be going over how I lost 5 lbs using a method called 18/6 intermittent fasting.

What Is 18/6 Intermittent Fasting?

18/6 intermittent fasting is an eating schedule. You have designated times when you are allowed to consume calories. This is called an eating window. In 18/6, your eating window is for 6 hours. You choose when to have your eating window and the hours have to be consecutive.

Personally, I chose from noon to 6 p.m. It allows you to have both lunch and dinner, as well as some snacks in between.

For the rest of the hours of the day (18 hours) you are to consume nothing that has calories. So you can have water, unsweetened tea, plain coffee without anything added, etc. No low calories foods or drinks.

Did You Track Calories?

During this experiment, I didn't track my calories. I just ate whatever I wanted and what I craved during the 6 hour eating window. Some people do track their calories or count carbs while on this type of eating schedule.

Intermittent fasting schedules only tell you when to eat, not how to eat. You are allowed to eat any number of foods and amounts of foods that you want during your eating window. How you eat is all up to you. Intermittent fasting only tells you when to eat.

What Results Did I Notice?

Within in the first few days, I noticed a pretty big reduction in water weight. My bloated stomach was much flatter and my puffy face was smaller. My clothes were also fitting better.

In one month, I lost 5 lbs from eating on this schedule. I didn't track calories, I didn't restrict any foods. My diet was honestly pretty unhealthy the whole time. I just stayed on schedule with my eating.

That's some pretty good results, especially for not tracking what I ate. It's actually pretty easy to overeat while on this type of eating schedule. Depending on how much you can eat, you may have to track your food intake. Use a calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need to be eating every day for weight loss. There are apps that help you track your calories if you need to do so.

I personally hate having to track everything I eat. I feel like it can turn into a chore or an obsession, but that's just my personal feelings about it. Some people do enjoy tracking and it doesn't bother them.

Who Shouldn't Do 18/6 Intermittent Fasting?

If you have certain conditions, please check with a qualified doctor before starting any weight loss plan, including this one.

How To Reduce Calories For Weight Loss

Calorie counting is one of the top methods used by people to lose weight. In this post, we will be discussing small ways that you can reduce your caloric intake. Small changes lead to big results and that's what we are focusing on in this post.

Switch To Low Calorie Drinks

One place where you can start is by looking at the things you drink all day. Do you drink sodas that are filled with sugar and carbs? Do you drink coffee with cream and sugar? It's time to switch these items out for lower calorie alternatives. You can easily cut your calories by 500 per day just by changing what you drink.

I personally like to only drink water. I understand that some people are very much addicted to fizzy drinks and caffeine, so only drinking water may not be an option for you. If you love soda and just can't go without it, try Zevia. Zevia is soda that is sweetened naturally with stevia. You can get your soda fix without feeling guilty and save some calories while you're at it.

If you absolutely have to have coffee, try using powdered stevia instead of granulated sugar as a sweetener. As for cream, you could try a splash of unsweetened almond milk. It has very few calories and will give you the same creamy goodness that you love.

Snack Better

Too much snacking on certain foods can really help you rack up the calories. Excess snacking could be the reason you are unable to lose weight. It's so easy to grab a bag of chips and eat 4 servings before you even realize it. That's enough to throw your diet off.

Choosing fruit and vegetables for snacks can help you take in fewer calories. These foods provide nutrients and fiber which will fill you up, and they have less calories than chips and cookies. Of course, they don't taste as good and are definitely not as appealing.

If you really can't let go of the chips and other high calorie snacks, make a rule that you can only eat one serving at a time. Actually measure out the serving and only eat that amount.

To help prevent a diet derail, you can plan out cheat days where you get to snack and eat all you want. Don't have them too often though, or it will defeat the purpose. If you tell yourself, "Just wait until the cheat day," all the strict rules become a little bit more bearable.

Meal Replacement

A popular way for dieters to reduce calories is to replace 1 meal per day with a meal replacement shake or bar. These are shakes that have lots of vitamins and nutrients. You will be replacing the whole meal with a shake or bar, so make sure you don't eat anything extra for that meal. You can replace any meal you want to. Most people replace breakfast, but it's whatever works best for you.

Stores online and in your area provide many different options for shakes and bars that taste great.

Condiments

One area that people don't often think about is condiments. These are your dipping sauces that you use throughout the day to make your food taste better such as mustard, mayo, ketchup, salad dressing, etc.

A good rule is to get rid of the creamy and cheesy condiments. Only use condiments that are lower calorie. Salsa is a great low calorie option. Vinegarettes are good for your salads. Ketchup and BBQ are lower calorie than ranch as a dipping sauce. Check the calories of your sauces and be mindful of how much you are eating.

7 Day Abs Workout Challenge

Abs are very much coveted in the fitness world and everyone wants them. They say abs are made in the kitchen, and that is true, but you can also do some exercises to help tone and flatten your stomach. If you want a flatter stomach, I have created a 7 day abs challenge that can help you reach that goal.

The following is my 7 day abs workout challenge that will flatten your stomach and tighten your ab muscles. This works the upper, lower, and middle abs so that you can get a smaller waist line.

It starts out easy with just 10 of each exercise and increases gradually over the week. At the end of the week, you will be able to do 30 of each exercise. This builds up your strength and endurance, and gives you a flatter stomach as well.

You should notice small changes at the end of the week. Your stomach may be flatter and pants may be more loose around the midsection. If you want even bigger changes, you should continue for at least 6 weeks.

I assume everyone knows what crunches and sit ups are, but if you need a refresher on proper form, use Youtube as a guide. There are many videos available that can show you those two exercises and how to do them both properly and safely.

Swimmers may not be as common as the other two exercises, so I'm going to explain a bit about that. Swimmers target your lower belly "pooch" area. You should lay flat on your back and place your hands underneath your butt. Lift one leg at a time and alternate legs. You will look like you are kicking your feet, or swimming. Some people call them flutter kicks.

If you need to see a visual representation of this exercise, check out this video.

I hope you find good results with this abs challenge. If nothing else, I hope your stomach is just a little bit flatter than before.