Hey guys! I started my 16:8 intermittent fasting 3 days ago because I gained quite a lot of weight over the past 4 years, even though I am actually quite active.
I am 1.78M tall and weighed 82.5 KG when I started on monday. My main reason to start was because last year I started climbing and realized that I would need to drop some weight in order to get better at it and climb longer tours.
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So far my experience has been nothing but positive. In those 3 days I have not experienced any noticable hunger when I was fasting, altough I actually reduced the portions that I am eating in those 8 hours. I finally for the first time in a long time feel actual hunger when I want to eat food, but did not experience any headaches or dizzines because of it.
I did not change my diet, which means that I am still eating a lot of suggary products and drink my chocolate milk. I guess the main difference now is that I actually consume a lot less sweet products because I also do not experience these cravings for suggary items anymore. When I am eating a fruit or a sweet its because I actually want to eat this specific thing, not because I crave something sweet.
Also for some reason over the last days I did not get this feeling of boredom anymore where you would go downstairs to grab a snack simply because your brain feels like it. Due to that without me even forcing myself to do so, I only eat 1-2 meals a day without any real snacks in between.
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However I did not find that I had more mental clarity over the last couple of days which other people are often describing when intermittent fasting. I did weigh myself this morning just as I did at the beginning and the scale showed 81.3 KG. Obviously in those 3 days I probably have not lost this much weight, but instead there are also other factors that come into play here. But for starters it is for sure going in the right direction.
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My only problem is that I want to keep up doing this indefinitely if I can, but I only have one more month before the next semester at Uni starts. And while it is okay for me to have a rumbling stomach at home, I do not want other students to be distracted by it in class. Anyone knows what the best course of action for this would be?
A friend of mine drinks psyllium husk in low amounts and they say it helps calm their stomach noise. Be sure to drink it with lots of water. (Warning: try it at home first to see how it affects your bathroom schedule).
My stomach starts to growl whenever I’m 16 to 20 hours in my fast. I drink water and it helps a bit. I’m usually at work at this time and they know I do IF so I just say excuse my tummy or make light of it “tummy wants yummy.”
When my stomach starts making digestion noises, and all your student cohort will make these noises, too, I tighten my transverse abs and it cuts it off mid gurgle. It’s sort of funny. That’s “pulling your belly button to your spine.”
I really would not worry about people potentially hearing you rumble. No one cares.