Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss: How I lost 45-lbs in 4 months the easy way

Last Updated on March 15, 2021 by Latrice

The easy way?

Yes, the easy way.

It seems I lost the most weight when I didn’t know what intermittent fasting was. I just followed the advice to not go to bed on a full stomach.

The weight seemed to fall right off of me. So much so that one morning I got up, stretched my arms to the sky, and my waste beads slid right off. I was shooketh.

Below I detailed how I got to the size I am at right now using an intermittent fasting routine that was relatively easy and didn’t take much thought to follow.

I’m also going to share the foods I believe made it easy to intermittent fast. And I’m someone that used to be a really hungry person.

Like, needed to eat every few hours and will cuss out inanimate objects if I didn’t, type of hungry. It was rough.

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Learned how to eat like a human

Seriously, there’s something liberating about learning how to eat like humans are supposed to eat.

It took me years of trying all types of diets before I realized the “secret sauce,” so to speak, was to just focus on eating real, nutrient-dense, clean foods.

Is it still called paleo? I haven’t heard anyone say “paleo” in a while. lol

I’ve been paleo for almost 8 years and going paleo took away plenty of confusion for me.

Foods that come from the earth or have spent their lives living off the earth (eating grass or other animals for example) are the foods that humans are supposed to eat.

All of these newer foods have created the obesity epidemic we’re currently dealing with in addition to the heavy use of sugar, inflammation-causing industrial oils, and soy.

Figuring out how to eat clean, nutrient-dense foods helped me then figure out how to eat when I need to lose weight.

I also cleared up my eczema, regained my monthly cycle that’s like clockwork now, and I improved my digestive system.

Here are a couple of my favorite books that have taught me the truth about modern foods, the problems with the standard American diet, and what to do to live a healthier life.

• Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes – This was the first book I read about what was wrong with the food industry, how the government came up with its idea of what was healthy eating, and how simple it actually is to eat healthy. I have to say it isn’t always easy to eat healthy, but it’s much simpler than we have been led to believe.
• Eat the Yolks by Liz Wolfe – I listened to the audible and Liz had me cracking up. She’s funny. And hella informative. Eat the Yolks debunks a lot of misinformation we’ve been force-fed about what is healthy eating including egg white omelets.

More posts on learning to eat like a human

• 3 surprisingly best foods for weight loss, appetite control, and sugar cravings
• How to lose 100+ lbs with a simple and satisfying diet
• 10 weight loss tips for women that work from my 75-lbs weight loss transformation

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Transitioned into a Keto for weight loss diet, did not nose-dive

If you’re someone that knows you get hungrier than most, do yourself a favor and ease into a lower-carb, paleo, ketogenic-ish diet.

Don’t nose dive. Give your body time to adjust to getting less carbs. From experience, it makes it easier to stick to.

Transitioning into this lifestyle made it more of a lifestyle than a diet, which made it easier to stick to. I’ve nose-dived into SEVERAL diets with little to no luck. I’ve been eating paleo for over 7 years now. Longer period of time and better results.

To transition, I spent a few weeks eating your basic paleo diet.

This included sweet potatoes, fruits, paleo-friendly baked treats, dates, and any food that isn’t man-made. I also limited snacking and got to a point where I could comfortably eat 3 meals a day.

Once the cravings were under control, I was learning to trust my appetite and was ready to turn the weight loss up a notch, I cut out sweet potatoes, fruits, paleo-friendly flours, dates, nuts, any super sweet fruits, and starchy vegetables.

I watched protein to make sure I was eating enough calories and loaded up on dark, leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables.

My appetite was in check and it was easier to go without eating for longer periods of time because I honestly wasn’t hungry.

And this is still the case. I still do not need to eat as often as I used to eat before going low-carb.

Currently, there are some days where I do just fine on one meal. Or I don’t eat a second meal until 6 to 8 hours later. Not hungry.

I used to eat every few hours.

Truly liberating for someone that ate like me.

More posts on transitioning

• How to become fat-adapted to burn fat without torturing yourself with sugar withdrawals
• How to simply lose weight if you weigh 200-lbs or more
• 20 keto meal prep ideas for starting intermittent fasting

Stopped eating a few hours or more before bedtime to effortlessly intermittent fast

I’ve been picking up out here in these health and wellness streets that eating right before bed is cool to do again.

Especially in the intermittent fasting convos where people are eating their last meals as late as 9 pm.

When I first heard that, I gasped. Kid you not.

Compared to eating close to bedtime, I’ve experienced the easiest weight loss when I stopped eating between 3 to 4 pm and was in bed by 9 pm.

I’ve also heard that most repair goes on while sleeping and if the body is digesting food while you’re sleeping, it won’t use that time to rejuvenate and repair.

So I’ve heard. And it worked for me. I shrunk all while intermittent fasting during my sleep.

The following morning I would eat my first meal by 9 am. That gave me about 17 hours of fasting. With most of it done while I was sleeping.

More posts on starting intermittent fasting

• Intermittent fasting – 5 simple tips for painlessly getting started
• How to choose the best intermittent fasting method for you
• How to intermittent fast on keto for weight loss: how I lost a total of 75-lbs after trying “everything”
• How to lose weight in a week: 5 simple steps I’ve used to lose 10 pounds in a week

What I did NOT eat

Here’s a list of things I stopped eating. These are the foods I got rid of when I learned how to eat in a way that better served my needs.

I’ve also included a food list for transitioning to clean eating and intermittent fasting with a transitioning plan in my FREE Quick Weight Loss and Intermittent Fasting cheatsheets and worksheets.

This FREE bundle also includes worksheets that help you plan your health and wellness goals and healthy meals.

More posts on what NOT to eat

• 33 healthy real foods I avoided to lose 45 lbs

What did I eat

While transitioning 

These foods made it super easy to stick to clean eating while I was overcoming sugar withdrawals and working through cravings.

They helped my body heal and helped me get to a point where I could trust my appetite.

I also still lost weight.

If you’ve also had challenges with sticking to a clean diet, find yourself feeling addicted to foods and have a tendency to binge eat if you slip off of a super strict routine, give this list a try.

It’s a list of real foods with most of them being Paleo approved. I say “most” because I’ve seen some Paleo sites say dairy isn’t Paleo, while others say raw dairy is.

From my experience, raw dairy (in moderation) is great when transitioning, but not so great when taking your weight loss transformation to another level. Like, when I hit a plateau, dairy was the first to go.

• Chicken
• Beef
• Turkey
• Pork
• Eggs
• Healthy fats
• Raw milk, raw milk cheeses
• All types of fruits and vegetables
• Raw nuts and raw nut butters
• Keto and paleo-friendly flours and packaged foods

While focusing on fat loss

What I noticed while sticking to the foods listed below was a decrease in appetite and an ability to fast for longer periods of time.

I even got to a point where I could not finish my prepped meals. I was simply too full.

From my experience and online research, these foods do not raise insulin as high as starchy vegetables, substitute flours like almond and coconut, or Paleo-friendly sweeteners like Agave or coconut nectar.

• Beef
• Turkey
• Eggs
• Chicken
• Healthy fats
• Cooked dark leafy greens
• Low-carb fruits and vegetables

Check out my latest post where I share the keto diet meals I put together that has helped me lose 45 pounds. This post can help you put together your own meals.

More posts on what to eat that make intermittent fasting easier

• 15 grab-n-go keto breakfast recipes that are deliciously guilt-free
• 20 keto brunch recipes for you and your just-as-bougie pals
• 10 keto recipes that make awesome weight loss dinners

Working out

I worked out fasted early in the mornings and continue to do so.

My workouts consisted of a 10 minute warm-up of light cardio, weight lifting, and then a 20 minute HIIT cardio session to finish. Oh, and I stretch afterward.

Give yourself time to adapt to intermittent fasting before starting a workout routine. If your body isn’t adapted to burning fat and fasting, working out can be a pain in the ass. Especially if you try to workout fasted.

Working out increases your appetite. Fasting increases your appetite (duh).

Stacking hungry on top of hungry will make intermittent fasting way harder than it has to be. Trust.

Instead of going ham at the gym during your first week of intermittent fasting, try giving yourself a solid two to three weeks of intermittent fasting before you start a heavy workout.

I believe walking and yoga is fine, but lifting and hard cardio can be a challenge when new to fasting.

But do what feels best to your body.

As someone that used to be a very hungry person, I gave myself two weeks before working out at the gym.

(Even as someone that’s eaten paleo a majority of the time.)

I knew I was good to workout because I felt energized after my workout and I didn’t get tired during.

Roundup

I ended up losing 45 lbs in 4 months by eating foods that kept my insulin relatively low – shortening the amount of time it took my insulin to get low enough for my body to burn fat – and doing a majority of my intermittent fasting while I was sleep.

Before living a Paleo lifestyle, I had tried what seemed like EVERYTHING to lose weight. A weight loss journey that started when I was 15-years-old and 245 pounds.

I’ve juice fasted on juices I made myself, I ate a raw foods diet, I was a vegan, I was a vegetarian, I did the master cleanse, I tried eating one grapefruit a day, I did a blood type diet, I did a liver cleanse, and even did a fat flush diet.

Nothing has worked for fat loss, appetite control, and keeping cravings in check like intermittent fasting and eating real foods meant for humans that don’t raise insulin too high nor trigger cravings.

Weekly Intermittent Fasting on Keto Weight Loss Results

• Week 1 | 8-lbs lost
• Week 2 | 8-lbs lost – 16-lbs total lost in 2 weeks

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DISCLAIMER: This strategy and these tips I am sharing with you because it has worked wonders for me. I’ve gathered them after spending YEARS trying all types of diets and doing lots of research. I am not a dietitian, nutritionist, nor a medical professional. As always, please check with a professional before starting a new health and wellness routine. ESPECIALLY, if you’re on medications or have health complications.

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