Today I'm looking at my second week of IF, following the 16:8 (ish) eating pattern.

​Background: My daily calorie goal is around 1650 calories, and I aim for a 30c/30f/40p macro split.

10:00am: I'm hungry, but I get the impression that it's more because I habitually wake up and eat than actually needing food.

13:45pm: Dinner will start soon and I'm READY to eat, but it's not urgent....

10:00am: Saturday is a work day which starts late. Today I'm grateful of that as I wake up HUNGRY. Again. I'd hoped that yesterday marked a change in my habitual expectation for food but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have my morning coffee and go about my daily business.

4:15pm: Well. That was unexpected. Once I got past that initial feeling of hunger, I quickly forgot about being hungry and got on with my day, which was pretty busy today! I end up breaking my fast in between a series of chores and lessons, more because I wanted to break the fast than it being a necessity. I don't particularly like having to squeeze a HUGE amount of calories into a really small time frame and under-eating isn't an option for me if I want to survive the next 16 hours without wanting to eat a person. As it is, today is a HANGRY sort of day....

8:30pm: I'm VERY hungry by the time dinner rolls around, having only eaten a small meal to keep the hunger at bay for the past 4 hours. The past two days, both starting late, have been very easy to extend the fasting period past 16 hours.

​Day 1: 
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-1-i-told-you-i-need-supervision

Day 2:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-2-what-if-i-lick-this

Day 3:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-3-you-wanna-piece-of-me-punk

Day 4:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-4-its-e-day

Day 5: 
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-5-the-hunger-abates

10:00am: Friday is my day off, so I slept in late today. I'm not hungry when I wake, nor do I have any inclination to eat out of habit. I have my morning coffee and start going about the daily tasks that I have to take care of today.

12:00am: Still no signs of the hunger...

2:55pm: I'm feeling rather English as I wait because I'm early for an appointment ( a)I'm NEVER early for anything and b) it feels that a lot of people around these parts share my sentiments on being on time ;) ). I'm still not hungry, but I've packed a BCAA mix ready for my trip to the gym after I'm finished here.

3:25pm: In the gym. I'm still not hungry, rather I am PUMPED. I've had my BCAA mix before coming into the gym and I'm ready to go. It's my first day back to the gym since the flare up and while I'm being careful with my shoulder, I'm also ready to BRING it. I PB with a 160kg leg press, following with a nice set of work on my adductors/abductors and then the bits of my abs that won't recruit my traps. I'm pleasantly surprised that the fasting doesn't seem to have had any effect on my workout, I've worked as hard (possibly harder) than usual and haven't felt fatigued.

4:45pm: Just finishing in the supermarket and now I'm HUNGRY.

5:00pm: After popping to the mall I break my fast with a breakfast bar. I am SO hungry (GYM HUNGRY).

6:30pm: I've eaten a series of small things and am ready to have my dinner!

​8:00pm: PIZZA!!

​Day 1: 
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-1-i-told-you-i-need-supervision

Day 2:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-2-what-if-i-lick-this

Day 3:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-3-you-wanna-piece-of-me-punk

Day 4:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-4-its-e-day

7:00am: I might just nibble the end of Furface's tail....I'm sure she won't mind. I've woken up hungry again, but prepare for work quickly so don't have time to think about it.

9:00am: I wasn't particularly hungry during the drive in, but I am again now. Still, my classes are waiting so it probably won't last long.

10:30am: omg I have to go and have this EMG done later. I'm scared....

10:35am: Wow, that wasn't a thought about food...

11:45am: Ooooh, FOOD time in 15 minutes. Fab.

1:10pm: Yum. I have to eat quickly today as I'm leaving early for this exam. Today's meal was Gnocci, it is GORGEOUS. I'm a peculiarity here since I usually eat so slowly and it's a shame I won't get to chew and savour every morsel today.

7:00pm: I haven't thought much about food, what with finding my way to Salerno's clinic, being repeatedly shocked and having needles stuck into my muscles but now food is ready, so am I.... ;)

Day 1: 
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-1-i-told-you-i-need-supervision

Day 2:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-2-what-if-i-lick-this

Day 3:
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-3-you-wanna-piece-of-me-punk

7:00am: Wake up starving and start to wonder whether this is a plausible way to eat for the rest of my life. Think about eating Pupface, who is now moaning to come out and play.

8:00am-8:45am: YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME, PUNK? YO. YO. MOVE. OOOOOH, I SEE YA NOW YEAH IN THE FAST LANE...

11:00am: Somewhere between 9:00am and now, I have stopped feeling hungry at all.

1:00pm: Ah, yum, FOOD!!

4:15pm: No snack needed.

From here on in, I had no hunger issues - stopping to eat a banana at around 6pm....

Day 1
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-1-i-told-you-i-need-supervision

Day 2
http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-2-what-if-i-lick-this

STARVING.

So.

Hungry.

9:30 am: If I lick my phone do you think it has enough food residue on it to break the fast...?

10:15am: I think my stomach is eating itself.

11:07am: Why does my planner smell so good...?

11:25am: It smells of....cinnamon?

11:31am: Or is it hot cross buns?

11:45am:

*caught sniffing said planner by student* 

....

"it smells good"

"ooookay"

"I'm hungry....so hungry..."

*nervous laughter*

12:30pm: Oh. There's something sticky and sweet smelling on it....if I lick it....

12:31pm: Nope.

12:45pm: Almost there.

1:09pm: Food Glorious food, I'M anxious to try it, three banquets a day, MY favourite diet.

3:55pm: SO. HUNGRY....

Day 1
​http://www.diaryofapoleaddict.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-day-1-i-told-you-i-need-supervision

This doesn't seem like such a great idea. Who the HELL let me make my own decisions again!!

​Hungry. SO. HUNGRY...

11:00am: When I open my hangbag to retrieve my phone, I find a half eaten bun that I'd stashed in there on Thursday.

Hmm. Still looks good...

12:15: After rummaging around in the bottom of my bag for a pen, I found two licorice allsorts, covered in lint, dog hair and something suspiciously sticky and brown...

1:00pm: couldn't come soon enough.

After the fast was broken the afternoon was bearable. I made it to my in-car snack (4:15pm) with no trouble, but thereafter the GATES OF HELL had opened.

I might never make it...

"I am just going outside and may be some time..."

​In my infinite wisdom, I have decided to try Intermittent Fasting. After reading about this eating pattern in depth, I realised that it's not only about the "fast all day" approach, and that actually it resembles my normal eating patterns fairly closely - only I never leave myself long enough to begin the "fasting" phase.

I've left some links below with the sources I have read/watched which informed my decision.

So, without further ado...

I've decided to try a month of IF, and for my own sanity have decided to document this first week.....

Stay tuned to see how it goes...

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk
https://authoritynutrition.com/intermittent-fasting-guide/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting
https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/
​http://www.bodybuilding.com/content/intermittent-fasting-science-and-supplementation.html

A couple of weeks ago I started noticing that the injury in my shoulder was resurfacing. It started innocently enough, with some tingly numbness that's been fairly common for me ever since the original injury.

Nothing too bad.

Then, suddenly it hit me like a tonne of bricks. Pain that stabbed me in the middle of the night, numbness and tingling throughout the day. Being unable to grip the sheets on the bed first thing in the morning and a new development to add to the fun, the sensation of my hand being held in a slow-burning fire.

Such fun.

I immediately stopped training and did my best to rest the offending area and with this comes the most important realisation I've made in a long time. Possibly one of the top five realisations in the course of my life.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been stuck in a cycle of feeling very sorry for myself, with a "why does this shit always happen when I get going" mindset. "Why me?". "I'm NEVER going to lose this weight. It's pointless."

I felt like I was getting nowhere and it was all worthless, spiriling into a chasm of self-pity when I realised that I was getting nowhere because I'd simply stopped moving.

I have an all or nothing personality, which I have affectionately dubbed my "binary" personality. Either I work out 6 times a week, eat close to perfectly and become slightly obsessive or I sit around in my PJs eating chocolate watching TV. I'm either ON, or I am OFF. There is no scale.

I have next to no experience of being in an "in-between" state. My entire life has been ditacted by this characteristic. Either I WILL do something, or I won't. Sometimes this has served me very well - when I agree to do something, I do it. And I do it properly. I don't use the word "try". I wholeheartedly adopt Yoda's wisdom "do or do not, there is no try". I flinch when people tell me they will "try" to do something, and often they'll hear something like "well, will you or won't you?".

Sometimes this is a GREAT trait to have. Sometimes it makes me a bit of a jerk and sometimes it has lead me into a hodgepodge of bad decisions. Like everything it has it's pros and cons.

When it comes to being injured though.

"If I can't workout, why bother?".

Oooops.

Being injured sucks, but it doesn't have to mean everything comes to a screaming halt. 

Fitness is like taking wedding vows: "in sickness and in health, I will love and honour you all of the days of my life".

My 'binary personality' has led me into a situation where I am only been able to cope with things when I am in health. 100% effort. Everything working, but this can't always be the case.

This is where my journey truely starts: learning how to give 100% when I'm not at 100%. I think this will be one of the largest challenges I ever face.