I tried 22/2 Intermittent Fasting For 1 Week (OMAD)

I did a similar article not long ago about 20/4 intermittent fasting and people really enjoyed it, so I'm following up with my results from doing 22/2 intermittent fasting for 1 week.

Comparing 20/4 and 22/2 Intermittent Fasting

During 20/4 intermittent fasting, you have a 4 hour eating window followed by a 20 hour fasting window. So, of course, 22/2 is just extending your fast for 2 more hours and having only 2 hours of eating time.

I don't eat the for the full 2 hours. I break my fast with some food and eat until I'm satisfied. Then later on I will have some more snacks. It usually ends up being one main meal with 2-3 different snacks and then I'm done eating.

Hunger

Just like with 20/4 intermittent fasting, I was getting hungry right around the 17 hour mark. I still had 5 more hours to go before I could eat. At the 22 hour point when I would break my fast, I was often very hungry and ready to eat a lot.

Oftentimes this hunger is psychological, so if you keep your mind off of food, then you do a lot better. Also having zero calorie drinks (that don't contain fake sugar) help quite a bit with that.

Calories

During the week that I did 22/2 intermittent fasting, I didn't count calories. I just ate what I wanted to and however much I felt like I needed to eat. I really hate to count calories. It's so frustrating to count and measure every morsel that goes into your mouth. But if you are someone who enjoys it, that's fine.

There were no dietary restrictions at all. I just ate whatever was around. It's important to note that if you're going to do intermittent fasting, you probably should have adequate food around for when you complete your fast, as you will be hungry and probably won't feel like shopping.

How Much Weight Did I Lose?

For 1 week I lost a total of 3.5 lbs. I was pretty happy with that. A lot of bloating went with it. I noticed the inches were going away. Clothes were fitting better, face was more defined.

During my week of 20/4 IF, I lost 2 lbs, so that gives you an idea of how much more effective 22/2 IF can be. I lost 1.5 pounds more from extending my fast by 2 hours and only eating for 2 hours. It makes sense because I am probably consuming less calories.

It's very interesting to see the difference this can make. I got way more benefits just from that small change. It's also very motivating.

I felt more energy and felt better in general, despite the hunger. The hunger is definitely hard, but it's worth it to feel better and lose weight. Intermittent fasting has so many health benefits.

How I Lost 20 Pounds By Walking

In this post, I will be discussing how I lost 20 pounds just by walking. I didn't do anything else such as changing my diet. All I did was add walking to my life. So let's get started.

Do You Need Special Equipment?

I didn't use any special equipment at all. Some people like to spruce up their walking by adding small dumbbells, a waist trainer, or doing lunges during their walk.

I didn't do any of that stuff. All I did was walk. I didn't even buy new shoes or exercise clothes, although it may benefit you to buy some new running shoes if your current ones are worn out.

I really invested no money in it at all. I wore clothing that I already had, shoes I already owned, and no extra equipment.

How Often Did You Walk?

Every single day of the week.

The only times I would skip a day is if it rained non-stop to the point where there was no way that I could walk, because I always walked outside. I didn't have a way to walk indoors.

For those who have a treadmill, rain shouldn't be an issue. You could easily walk every day.

I made time for walking, even on the busiest days. I made sure that even if I was tired, I still walked. You gotta commit to it if you want to get anything out of it.

Did You Change Your Diet?

My diet stayed the same as it was before. All I did was start walking. At one point, I began actually eating an extra snack during the day, but that didn't cause me to gain weight at all. I continued losing.

I didn't do any other exercises for the most part. There were a few times that I tried something different, but I didn't like it so I just went back to walking.

How Long Did You Walk?

I walked for 30 minutes every time, but 30 minutes is not a magic number. I just picked it because it felt right. You could walk for 45 minutes or an hour if you feel like you need a little more.

You can also start out with 20 minutes and work your way up if you want to. For some people, 30 minutes may be too hard especially if you are not used to any extra activity. Some people may only be able to do 10 minutes at first.

Go at your own pace and increase the time as you are able to.

How Long Did It Take To Lose The Weight?

The first 15 pounds came off pretty quickly, within 3 months. The other 5 pounds was a lot slower. It took about a year to lose that.

I believe the last 5 pounds took so long because I was already skinny as it was. As everyone says the last 5-10 pounds is hard to get off and that's very true.

The reason is because as you lose weight, your metabolism decreases because you weigh less. Smaller people need less food. So since your metabolism decreased, it takes longer to get the weight off unless you do something drastic.

In my case, I wasn't doing anything drastic at all. I was just walking for weight loss. It was simple, easy, and fit into my schedule.

I believe that anyone can lose weight with walking as long as they are doing it every day and staying consistent. I hope this article inspires you to get out there and start walking.

Bringing a friend can help you not be as bored. Walking can get boring without someone to talk to. You can also bring a dog, but bear in mind that some dogs can't handle all of that activity and it wears them down. High energy dogs are the best ones to take walking with you.

4 Weight Loss Mistakes To Avoid

It's easy to make mistakes when trying to lose weight. I've been there, done that, actually a few times. I'm going to be talking about common weight loss mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Condiments Have Calories

If you are counting calories, but you don't check the calories in condiments, you are making a huge mistake. Ranch dressing could easily put you over your daily limit. Ketchup has calories too, as well as mayonnaise. Start looking.

You should measure out your condiments and make sure that they fit into your daily calorie limit. You will start to notice that some condiments have a lot less calories than others. Checking the calories will teach you which ones have higher calories, so in the future you will know to limit those.

Hard Exercise

A pretty big mistake that many people make is starting an exercise routine that they absolutely hate. Why is this a mistake?

Well statistics show that when you hate your workout, you are more likely to quit doing it sooner rather than later. Why would you want to spend your free time doing something you hate?

Those that enjoy their exercise routine actually end up losing more weight. That is because they keep it up in the long term.

So try out salsa dancing, tennis, swimming, and walking the dog. Do something fun that you like doing at least 4 times per week. It's as simple as that.

Diet Coke

Look, there are arguments about diet coke on both sides. I'm not here to argue with anyone, but I just don't believe in diet coke for weight loss. Studies are mixed on the possible negative effects. My advice is to just stay away from it.

You don't need it. It perpetuates an addiction to caffeine, which you could knock out by eliminating it. Drink water instead, and dress up your water so that it tastes better. Then, maybe, you won't want that diet coke anymore.

Cutting diet coke could possibly get rid of some of your food cravings. How about that?

Cutting Out Fat

So, we see this a lot in the diet community. They want to go on these low fat diets. I don't believe fat is the biggest problem to look at when it comes to the food we eat. The real problem is sugar.

Sugar is in everything. If you really want to cut some weight, then cut out sugar from your diet completely.

There are certain kinds of fats that you should avoid, but there are also many good fats. When you go on a low fat diet, you cut out both the good and bad fats. We need certain fats in order to have a good functioning body. That's why they are called "essential fatty acids".

These are healthy fats like omega 3, which can reduce inflammation in the body.

So these are the weight loss mistakes that I encourage you to avoid. I hope this article has helped someone out there.