Update #1 on IF Progress

          I have been following the IF LeanGains protocol now for nearly 3 weeks.  As I mentioned in my first post about my new diet venture I have had really good results from IF.  However, this week has been very frustrating.  I have gained weight (I weigh more now than I have weighed in YEARS) and am very bloated.  I attribute this to my menstrual cycle, water retention, and being out of town the past two weekends.  After getting good results the first week I started letting extra calories slide a little too much and started over doing it on some days and under eating on others.
          For example, we went hiking on Sunday and realized that I totally skipped my 2nd meal, so I totally under ate. Also, I have not taken a day off from training in 8 days now. I am supposed to have 2 days off.  So another contributing factor could be inflammation from over training and inconsistency in my diet. 

          I feel like the worst thing I can do at this point is to just quit.  My body is either telling me it doesn't like what I am doing or it is just fluctuating from the changes I have made.  I am going to refine the meal plan, buckle down, stick with it for at least another week to give it a fair chance.  Since today is a high carb day I have reduced my fats and increased my carbs.  I did eat breakfast this morning when I was debating on whether or not I should quit.  Turns out I felt horrible after eating.  I felt heavy, slow, tired, and did not feel like interacting with anyone.  This is a huge contrast to how I have been feeling every morning since I had started IF.  So I am going to factor my breakfast into my 3 meals I consume within my 8 hour window and wake up tomorrow and start back up with the 16 hours of fasting followed by 8 hours of eating.  A new day and new opportunity to start over.

          I am not sure exactly what is causing the weight gain.  I wish I could say it was all muscle but my skin folds are up and you can see that I am bloated in my tummy. 
 My current train of thought is that there are many intriguing ways to go about eating but they DO NOT work for every BODY.  We are all different and while some will become shredded from fasting others may not.  I will give it a little bit longer, but I do not want to gain much more body fat.  After all it is bikini season and I am THE BIKINI COMPETITOR so I need to represent this summer!

XOXO,

Abby

To read more about my IF experiment check out:

"Have You Ever Asked Yourself 'What IF?'-Experiments With Intermittent Fasting" 

"What I learned About Intermittent Fasting (IF)"

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