5 Reasons I Love Intermittent Fasting With Macro Tracking

5 Reasons I Love Intermittent Fasting With Macro Tracking

I've been following an Intermittent Fasting plan for many years and with great success. I love how I feel and look when following this way of eating. It has transformed how I eat and has taken away a lot of stress when it comes to sticking with a diet. Now, I in no way, feel that it's the only reason why I've gotten results, and I'll explain why.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Very simply, it's choosing a window of time, during a 24-hour cycle, to avoid eating any food. There are a certain number of hours that you eat, and certain hours of the day that you don't eat.

Now, there are many different styles of intermittent, but I feel you need to pick and conform to the time that works best for you and you only. You decide how many hours you go without eating. If it doesn't feel right to you, you won't stick with it.

Many feel that allowing the body to fast will aid in burning more fat, keep your energy levels higher, rid you of brain fog, and so on. You can look at the many different opinions of others, but I like to keep things simple. Overcomplicating anything only leads to confusion and frustration.

I choose to eat at noon and finish eating at 11:00 pm. I'm fasting for thirteen hours a day, mostly while I'm sleeping. This works for me, and may not be suitable for you, but that's the beauty in Intermittent Fasting. You need to set it up how you see it fit your daily life.

Why do I choose this window of time? Very simply put, it's when I'm by myself the most. I tend to get hungry when I see others eat. It's funny how I feel completely fine until I smell or see food, then I feel an instant urgency to eat. I have no cravings when I'm alone, working, and keeping my mind busy with my business. It's the evenings that I feel the most hungry, and quite frankly, our family enjoys spending time together having meals. It's our thing.

My style of dieting is macro tracking. I fell in love with macro tracking a few years ago, after many years of restrictive dieting, and a horrible stage of endless binge eating. Macro tracking came into my life at the right time. I used to be a fitness competitor, endlessly dieting and exercising, trying to stay ultra-lean and stage-ready. I'd step off the stage and begin eating everything in sight. I'd then sign up for another competition, and jump right back on a super restrictive diet. It was an endless cycle, and as much as I'm grateful for being a fitness competitor, I regret the way I was so harsh on my body and my metabolism.

I then came across a coach that introduced me to macro tracking. At first, I thought they were insane. There was no way I could eat the foods I actually loved, and keep my lean, muscular body. I was used to living on grilled chicken, veggies and oatmeal, and one treat a week. Eating anything outside of this was scary and bizarre to me, but I was tired of the binge cycle and the isolation this restrictive diet brought to my life. I knew I had to make a change.

After a few months of trying and failing at macro tracking, I finally settled into the method and quickly fell in love. Much to my surprise, my body was changing and changing for the better. I was adding more lean muscles, my abs were becoming more defined, and I felt better. I was pleasantly surprised and grateful as I now had a way to eat out with my family and not be guilt-ridden for not sticking with my diet. Macro dieting allowed me the freedom to eat a variety of foods that I enjoyed.

Ok, you're probably wondering what this has to do with Intermittent Fasting. Well, I found a glitch in the macro tracking that didn't work for me. I began a bad habit of hoarding all my macros throughout the day, and found myself frantically eating, late at night, to hit all of my daily macros. Why was I doing this? I was living in fear of feeling hungry again. I was so tired of feeling malnourished, and I was burnt out on being hardcore with my diet. I wanted to save my macros, so if hunger hit, I'd have them available to eat and not go over my daily allowance.

I was worried about not eating during the day because, at the time, I thought it was wrong not to eat six small meals throughout the day. So I ended up spending way to much time, trying to find a way to get my macros to work while eating throughout my entire day. I had to learn a balance and rhythm to make this new way of dieting work. I was determined to make it work because eating all these new foods was so exciting to me, and I loved the results I was seeing. Here's where I found Intermittent Fasting.

I learned that it was ok not to eat from the time you get up, and you had to stop eating by 7:00 pm. That was all I knew. That is what I had believed for years. I had been taught that you lose muscle mass when you don't eat when you wake up. I thought my metabolism would slow down if I didn't feed it upon waking. Reading and learning the way the body works during fasting was fascinating. I can't say I wholeheartedly believe all the opinions of fasting, but I was willing to give it a try.

After years of living on six meals a day, it was a culture shock to eat bigger meals, but fewer meals a day. I was determined to make it work, and here is why I fell in love with marrying Intermittent Fasting and Macro Tracking together:

LESS PREPPING

By eliminating six small meals a day, I was able to eat three bigger meals; therefore, I prepped less. Having six meals a day required me to have many different food staples on hand, ready to eat continuously throughout the day, making life a lot easier.

LESS THOUGHT

I'm a real creature of habit, so I ate the exact same thing, day after day. However, many refuse to eat the same thing every day. If this is you, then intermittent fasting will lessen the endless energy you have to put towards finding things to eat from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. Figuring out three meals a day is much easier than six, trust me!

YOU DON'T FEEL HUNGRY

So many ask me how I go all day without eating. Well, I don't — only a small window from when I wake up until lunchtime. I simply drink lots of water, take my morning multivitamins (which fill me up), and I drink a few cups of hot tea. I'm not a coffee drinker, but if you are, coffee will be your best friend with intermittent fasting. Caffeine curbs the appetite and increases your energy level. I find I naturally have more energy, not consuming breakfast, which I realized quickly that my morning breakfast left me feeling heavy and tired.

GREAT WHEN YOU'RE BUSY

I used to spend so much time throughout the day thinking about what I'm going to eat next, what time I'm going to eat, prepping my food and then sitting down to eat. Most days, I felt like the only thing I got accomplished was eating. Intermittent fasting has given me back my time during the day to focus on my workouts, my work, and other daily chores without my focus being on consuming my macros. I don't think about being hungry because I'm to busy doing what I need to do. It's been a total game-changer for my daily routine.

I LOOK FORWARD TO MY EATING TIME

When you're intermittent fasting, you're well aware of the window of time you have to eat, so you actually look forward to eating. You eat with purpose, not just aimlessly putting food in your mouth. You cherish your time you have to eat. The best part is, you're hungry, not bored. Most of us eat out of boredom, and I was probably the most guilty of this. Having a small window to eat in, you no longer sit around, mindlessly munching on everything in sight.

NO MORE GOING TO BED HUNGRY

I don't know about you, but I love to watch Netflix before I go to bed. However, this would lead to me overeating every day. I would eat perfectly all day, then nighttime would come, and as I would binge watch something on Netflix, I'd consume an entire bag of chips, purely out of boredom. Every morning, I'd wake up, guilt-ridden that I blew my whole diet the day before because of the chips or pretzels. Intermittent fasting has been a lifesaver with this issue. I eat up until I go to bed, so as I'm watching Netflix, I'm still reaching my macros. No more munchies!

I FEEL BETTER

I played around with many different ways of dieting, and I have to say, intermittent fasting has me feeling better than I ever thought I could. I worried, in the beginning, that I would sit around all day starving. I stressed about losing muscle mass. I worried that I didn't have the willpower to stick with it. I was pleasantly surprised by how intermittent fasting felt when I began. I felt better. I had more energy. My body started looking leaner and cut, and I loved not having to worry about carrying my food with me everywhere I went. Not once did I feel starved or deprived.

TIPS FOR TO HELP START YOU WITH INTERMITTENT FASTING:

Exercise--be sure to get your workouts in daily.

Consistency--the more consistent you are sticking with your fasting window, the more you'll see and feel the results.

Track--you have to track your food to be sure you're meeting your macro goals daily.

Caffeine--consume caffeine to curb your appetite. Just be sure you're not adding high-calorie sweeteners and creamers to your tea and coffee.

Schedule--find the right window of time to eat, and stick with it.

Water--when you begin feeling hungry, grab a bottle of water. Many times we think we're hungry when we're actually dehydrated. Fill up on water throughout your fasting window.

I love the freedom intermittent fasting, and macro tracking has given to me when it comes to eating. I'm no longer consumed with what I'm going to eat, where I'm going to eat, how I'm going to eat when I'm busy. I lived the hard, restrictive diet life, and honestly, when I look back at it now, I have no idea how I did it or why I did it. I was living a life of frustration and obsession. I isolated myself from others so I could stick with my plan.

I was afraid to give up control of what I thought was working; in fear, I would blow my entire progress. My only wish now is that I wouldn't set that fear aside, years ago, and tried intermittent fasting and macro tracking. I'd be so much further ahead with my fitness, but we all have to learn what we need when the time is right.

I love my new way of eating. I enjoy the foods I had once thought I could never have. I have fun creating new recipes that I can enjoy with my entire family, without isolating myself to my Tupperware container, eating cold chicken and broccoli while watching my loved ones eating a delicious meal. I allow myself daily sweet treats — something I would've never done before.

Intermittent fasting and macro tracking have given me my life back. It's scary in the beginning, but I can promise you, with an open mind and a willingness to try, you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised at how much easier your life is, when trying to stick with a diet, fasting is. You need to be wise with the time frame you select for yourself, and there are no wrong ways about doing it. However you decide to do it, you must be consistent and track your macros.

Water and caffeine will be your best friend. Don't fall prey to the hunger pangs. Grab that water and keep moving forward. Your body doesn't need to be continuously fed. It knows how to function without food for a while. Your body does require hydration, so keep that in mind. You'll find little tips and tricks along the way, and your body will quickly adjust to your new way of eating. I can only tell you, from my experience, I wish I would've been doing this from the start.

If you need some fun, simple ways to keep you on track and inspired, please sign up below to be on the inside loop of tricks and tools to fast track you to all of your goals. I'd love to be a guiding light on your path too greatness.

Aimee Schwinabart is the founder of The Purely Fit—online workouts, nutrition, and fitness coaching that actually work! She specializes in short (super effective) daily workouts combined with customized nutrition plans to help real people shed excess fat to reveal toned, lean muscles. The Purely Fit approach to looking and feeling great prioritizes small, steady, super efficient workouts and nutrition upgrades to help you stay with it once and for all!