I apologize in advance for the amount of linkage that follows, but here's the deal... I'm confused. More than that, I'm frustrated with all of the contradictions I've come across in the past few weeks.
Would someone please help me wade through the BS so I can put together a plan that WORKS?!
Weight Watchers. Body For Life. Leangains. CrossFit. The Abs Diet. BodyRock.TV. The Dukan Diet. The Atkins Diet. The 17 Day Diet. Bubba's Guide To Weight Loss Through Noodling. Whatever the f*** you call your program, can someone please explain to me why there are over 356 MILLION sites that are trying to tell me their plan is better than the rest?
Full disclosure: I'm a Weight Watcher. I've been on WW for over a year now, and I've found it to be incredible in helping me layout a solid weight loss foundation. The biggest help, BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS, was the food tracker. Putting in all the foods I used to eat and seeing just how many points I was consuming was the most eye opening experience I've ever had on a weight loss journey (and I've been on many!). That being said, I understand why Weight Watchers works, because I've seen in work in my life.
All this frustration has come to a head because I've been reading up on Intermittent Fasting or IF (Leangains, for example). The easiest way to explain IF is that you have an 8-10 hour window where you can eat and a 14-16 hour window of fasting (including sleep). During the fasting period, you are allowed water, tea, black coffee (no sugar, minimal cream if needed), and some BCAAs (branched chain amino acids).
Of course, that is an extremely condensed version. Read up on IF for yourself. At any rate, I spent 3 days poring over IF articles and reading stories from real (as in non-trainers) people who do IF. 3 days of reading managed to debunk everything I've ever learned about weight loss.
One of the biggest parts of IF is to skip breakfast.
Come again? Skip breakfast? But it's the most important meal of the day, they say! People that eat breakfast are more likely to be thinner than those who don't, they say! Eating breakfast kickstarts your metabolism, they say! WHAT THE F*** DO YOU MEAN SKIP BREAKFAST?! I found myself yelling at my computer screen. At this point, I stopped doing research, calmed down, talked it over with a friend who is just starting IF, and let all the info just simmer for a while.
Fast forward to today, where someone showed me this video. If you make it through the whole thing, the part that made IF click for me was around the 3:40 mark and the 4:50 mark. If you've read through Leangains, the creator says that there's no scientific evidence that eating 6 small meals a day actually boosts your metabolism. Really, now? Janko sigh...
Look, all this information is enough to make your head explode. Here's what I know for sure...
- There is no such thing as spot toning. Your body loses fat where it damn well pleases.
- To lose weight, the cornerstone is you've got to BURN more than you TAKE IN.
- Meal delivery plans do you a disservice because they don't teach you how to eat in the real world.
- Not all calories are created equal.
So why, all of a sudden, has IF hit my radar? Well, I blame Madhurita, for starters. She introduced me to the concept, which piqued my curiosity. At any rate, I have been working out and not seeing any scale movement lately. Before you say anything, I know I shouldn't focus on the scale, but I can't help it. I want the number to go down, but I'm not about to screw up my entire system to see that happen. Forgive my tone, but I'm in the middle of a full on case of diet rage.
I looked into IF because I'm looking to do something different. A big part of the weight loss process is body shock. I've found BodyRock.TV routines incredibly helpful in this regard because I'm doing moves that I've never done before, which is something my body doesn't have time to get used to. After new workouts, I notice that I hurt in places that I hadn't hurt after the previous one. A good hurt, though ;)
I'm also not one to just jump into something just to see what happens. It's hard enough to survive a weight loss plateau. I won't set myself up to fail by trying a program that is not sustainable.
So please, someone...ANYONE... have you tried IF? Have you tried something totally different? What works for y'all? I'm using a lifeline here to open up a conversation on weight loss that works. I would love to hear from y'all!
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