My goal was to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. That might of seem unrealistic, but I’ve never dieted before. I knew if I cut out carbs and sugar, I had to lose some weight. Plus the extra 10 pounds I was carrying around were just not normal for me. Combining a couple vacations with summer graduation parties I was eating everything in site. I would weigh myself every day, and watch the scale move up and up. After the vacations and parties, I tried to cut down on eating the junk food. I assumed I would drop that excess poundage I had gained. That just wasn’t happening, and I decided to diet for the first time in my life. To be honest, I’m doing much better than I thought I would. I’m also feeling energetic at times when I’m usually whipped. This includes just 5 hours of sleep and over 70 hours of work in a week. I’m still searching for the perfect balance of healthy food and exercise. My 20-minute workout routines have not changed. I am seeing a difference in my body after dropping 8 pounds in 2 weeks. I also did a 20 hour fast last Sunday. Reading about the benefits of doing intermittent fasting, I decided to give it a try. On this slow carb diet I am allowed one cheat day. So I decided to do the fast, the day following the cheat day. My last meal on cheat day was at 7:00 p.m. I woke up the next day had a cup of coffee then went to work. I brought my normal smoothie and some chicken breast and brocolli for lunch. I figured if started to feel ill or decided screw this fasting stuff and needed to eat my food will be at the ready. Another reason I picked this particular day was I would be working by myself most of the day. In the past when I was hungry, it was almost guareented I’d be grumpy. So the less people I would see during the work day the better. I had no food from 7;00 pm Saturday evening till 3:00 pm Sunday afternoon. The last couple hours were getting hard. I had no energy and was accomplishing little. I decided to have my smoothie on the drive home from work. The rest of the day I had dinner and felt pretty good. That night was not the greatest night of sleep. When my alarm went off at 1:30 am to go to work I thought I would feel like shit. Yes I get up most days that early if I’m working a 12 hour shift. The surprising thing was I felt full of energy when I got out of bed. It was totally mind blowing because that energy lasted most of the day. I felt light on my feet, the feeling I’ve only had after doing a great yoga session. I googled “getting energy from fasting” and found this to be a lot of people experiance after fasting. Learning that the constant up and down cylcle of blood sugar thoughout the day stresses our metabolism. This results in lower energy levels and mental performance. The improvements in energy levels and cognitive performance, are what most people (myself included) cite as the most dramatic positive impacts of intermittent fasting. I plan on doing it again this weekend. This whole concept is a total change for me. I’m from the old school line of thinking that eating every couple of hours helps to increase your metabolism and energy levels. The way I felt after my fast blows my old theory out of the water. Another reason we can never be afraid of trying new things and making changes for the better.