After following a unique rule-breaking diet, I am glad I did
This past month I decided to challenge myself and my body. I decided to follow a different way of eating to see if I could get my body to change and let go of some stubborn belly fat. I simply wanted to see if a different approach to eating could help me lose some fat in my stomach as this was stomach fat that may have been putting me at risk for heart disease. This was a challenge that meant me changing my eating habits and I knew that this might be hard for me. The food dier plan that I decided to follow for a month is called Always Eat After 7 PM and you can read more about this book by Joel Marion, a fitness expert, HERE.
Don't mess with my food
As many of you know I love exercising and I love completing exercise challenges but I am not a person who goes on a diet. I love eating and snacking so having to change my food plan is not something that I would do. I already have food restrictions with a dairy allergy so I am reluctant to change the way I eat. I decided to follow the Always Eat After 7 PM diet because it was a Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet that already matched my healthy eating food plan so I had confidence that I could stick with this diet that did not feel like a diet to me. This diet book allowed me to enjoy huge dinners, desserts, and indulgent snacks and promised that I would burn fat overnight. The only thing that I had to do with my healthy food intake was paying attention to the time I was eating and focus on eating protein and carbs with every meal. That's right, I was allowed to eat carbs, and for some that does not make sense as we’ve been traditionally taught to avoid carbs, have an early dinner, and never eat before bed. But the fact is, the latest scientific research shows us this earlier model is not the most ideal.
Was the Always Eat After 7 PM challenge successful?
Let me first explain to you my reasons why this girl who my friends think is the model for a healthy body chose to follow a diet/meal plan. You can read about Why I Chose To Follow The Always Eat After 7 PM Book Challenge HERE. This past article explains why I chose to go on a diet when I don't look like I need to lose weight. You can also see The Goals That I Set For My Always Eat After 7 PM Challenge HERE.
I do think that the past month has been successful for me in helping me to focus on eating differently so I could start burning fat in my core area. I admit that the fasting part was tough for me as I like my bedtime snacks and I like eating breakfast. So I needed the willpower to curb my hunger for the recommended 12-16 hours as I wanted my body to increase my metabolism. That meant that I had to watch the clock and have my bedtime snack earlier by 2 hours and not eat anything in the morning before I went running. I was able to do a 13 hour fast from 9 PM to 10 AM and I was surprised that I was able to do that food fasting. I think running in the morning may have increased my ketosis as I was starving by 10 AM, 30 minutes after I went running.
The most challenging times to curb hunger are just before bed and in the morning. By following the Always Eat After 7PM program, you have the most willpower to stay on the diet because you are eating during the hours when you are most hungry. This also puts you into both intermittent fasting increasing testosterone and your metabolism, while putting you into ketosis.
A little stomach growling was a good thing
The intermittent fasting that I did helped me to listen more to my body when it came to eating. In the past, I would eat out of boredom instead of being hungry. So a little bit of my stomach growling in the morning made me think before reaching for a snack. Even though my past snacking habits were with healthy food, it was not helping me lose my stomach weight. I realized that I was snacking too much and that was affecting me eating healthy balanced meals. Less snacking made it easier for me to follow this simple weight loss program.
Bestselling author, Joel Marion, is a fitness expert and nutritionist debunking the myths underlying traditional dieting and offers a simple, highly effective weight loss program
Moving my workspace helped
Another thing that helped me succeed in burning fat in my abdominal area was relocating my office to a different part of my house. Working at home has its downfalls as it allowed me to eat too many snacks. I was working on my computer in the living room and I had view of the kitchen all day. So I decided to do my work upstairs in my bedroom during this body changing challenge and that helped me to stop eating so many snacks. I only went downstairs for my scheduled meals. In the morning, I brought up my coffee and a large bottle of water so I had no need to go downstairs.
I did my best to follow the meal plans
I did my best to follow the meal plans in the Eat After 7 PM book and Joel made that simple with the food variety that I was able to eat. I liked that the book had nutritionally balanced meals that allowed fruit. I was thankful for the off-plan cheat meals that I chose to do on the weekends as all food plans need cheat meals. The cheat meals made it easier to follow the diet plan.
So how do I look
One of my goals was to see how I looked in a dress that I wore to my daughter's wedding, five years ago. So I reminded myself of that goal often as I wanted to see if my stomach looked different in this dress. Since I really did not have my weight to lose and I also don't have a scale, I knew that trying on the dress would be the best indicator of my success with the Eat After 7 PM Book challenge since my inability to lose weight in my stomach was the main reason I started to follow this book.
So here is the before and after photos. Pay attention to my stomach area as the other parts of my body like my arms, I have been successful toning with weight lifting. My core and belly areas of my body have always been problem areas for me and no amount of exercise has helped me lose that fat and weight. I think that I have lost some inches from around my middle section.
I know that the Always Eat After 7 PM Book Challenge helped me gain some healthier eating habits and eating my bedtime snack earlier helped me to go to bed at an earlier time. That then helped me to get more sleep which made it easier to get out of bed in the morning to get my exercise done. The morning exercise then helped me focus better on my writing. I am not sure if I lost any weight as I have not weighed myself for over a year as I don't own a scale. I refuse to let that number on a scale define me. I recently received a health insight device that is very similar to the one at my gym. This health device measures things like body fat and muscle mass. So I was able to see that my visceral fat score went down three points, which is a huge win for me. Visceral fat is the unhealthy fat around your organs and my score was high last January when I had a healthy analysis at my gym. So this meal plan helped me get my visceral fat to a healthy level. My overall fat ratio is still high according to FitTrack scale. So I will continue following the Always Eat After 7PM meal plan to see if I can get my fat ratio to a healthy level.
Here is another photo. As you can see, my middle section still needs some work but lowering my visceral fat score after one month and seeing my stomach more tone from the before photo, is all the motivation that I need to stay on this diet plan. The meal plan is easy for me to follow and I enjoy the food that I am allowed to eat so it does not feel like a diet to me. This challenge is going to be a lifestyle change for me and I am excited to know that maybe I will finally lose the baby fat from my belly.
Always Eat After 7 PM: The Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet That Lets You Enjoy Huge Dinners, Desserts, and Indulgent Snacks—While Burning Fat Overnight by Joel Marion is now available to purchase.
This post is brought to you by our sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. The opinions expressed below are my own.
29 comments:
You do look awesome! I'm glad you found something that helps. I can't fast for long or else I get cranky.
I think that once you get used to do an intermittent fasting your body adapts to it. You are going to see better results you are showing good results now. I know this is just the first results I know you're going to share more.
I can see the difference for sure. You definitely look more toned and your results look great.
I'm glad to hear the last month has been good for you! It's so nice to find an approach that works!
This takes a lot of dedication and commitment and you look really happy.
So happy you found a plan that works for you. You look really great.
Sounds like this program has been working for you. Good job for committing to it and reaping the benefits.
Sounds like you enjoyed this! I read so many success stories, I'm intrigued by the program.
don't forget to do some exercise and gym / yoga / zumba. it'll help a lot with your diet.
I'm also reading this book and glad to hear that your experience with this diet has also yielded some great results. You look great in the after photo, keep up the good work!
Sounds like a really amazing diet program! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Great idea to move your workspace away from the constant snack view! I'm so glad this worked out for you. I'm enjoying this book and method.
I am thinking of doing IF. I hope I can survive the schedule.
Sounds like you had a great experience! I have enjoyed reading the book and following the diet myself! :)
Very interesting. It sounds like you got on well with this.
I've read a good reviews about this book in the last few days. Thanks for sharing your story. I'd love to give it a try!
You looked great for your daughter's wedding. I'm inspired to give the book a read for myself.
My boyfriend has done intermittent fasting before and says that it helps him to tone up. I am always hungry though haha. You look great well done for sticking to it!
You look fabulous! Hardwork pays off!
xoxo
Lovely
http://mynameislovely.com
This book is much helpful and amazing to read..I am loving this book..Thanks for sharing your experience it is a sort of inspiration for ever reader...
Well done! I've been really happy with this diet plan and my results as well! I'm going to keep it up!!
I am somehow not able to convince myself that Intermittent fasting is good for me! I do portion control and eat in small portions frequently. But can never imagine starving for 16 hours!
I'm in the same boat as you, I'm an IBS sufferer and I hate changing my diet in case it makes me really ill.
This is the second article I've read about the Eat after 7 diet! Maybe I;ll give a shot. Maybe it'll help me get rid of this mid-section. This is Tonya from OneSavingSista
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This seems like a really great program, and I've seen quite a few people getting some really great results! I definitely want to try this out myself.
I see a lot of people joining the program and each is happy so far. It does sound very interesting
I don't like to use a scale and prefer to go by how I feel and look overall. I've got some stubborn belly fat and need to try out this method myself!
I am on my weight loss journey and I agree that combined exercise and a healthy diet is important.
It does not have to be 1000 steps or anything like that. Start with small things such as walking in the park. From there, build momentum and improve daily. Weight loss should be enjoyable and rewarding at the end. Also, small habits such as keeping fruit in the fridge and healthy snacks such as roasted almonds could give you a huge payoff in the long term.
One other thing that can help is starting a diet journey with a written plan and a journal. You want to come up with a system that you can follow and adjust based on your situation. I keep a list of exercises, progress and food recipes that help me with my diet.
I love tea! I keep a bunch of tea recipes in my journal. I benefited from the Red tea detox program. It has a bunch of ingredients that help to reduce hunger and production of stress hormones. It helps me to cut my binge eating habit that I have tried to get rid of since forever.
Personally I follow the all in one guide from fatlosshabbit.com, they have the best Red tea detox recipes plus all the exercises and diet plan necessary to give you results in just 14 days. I hope this helps you and good luck in your weight loss journey.
You look great.I have heard so many things about this plan. I am glad it is working!
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