One thing that is amazing about intermittent fasting to me is that it SOUNDS rigid and restricting – but it’s quite the opposite! Flexibility is a wonderful part of this lifestyle. As you can see in my review, I hit my goal (or completed the fast) 83% of the time.
If I was early in my fasting journey, not hitting the goal each day would be frustrating. I thought it was imperative to get my daily goal of 18 hours every. single. day.
Embracing the Freedom to Choose
Why did I have this day I was shy of the 18 hours? I was meeting a friend for lunch that day. This is abnormal; I generally eat my OMAD at dinner. However, once I realized that I could have my OMAD at ANY time at a day and the hours would even themselves out, it became less of a “must do” do get 18 hours. I understood having a Dinner OMAD (typical), then lunch OMAD (atypical) would mean that when I returned to my typical Dinner OMAD, I would usually have a nice long fast in between the lunch and the dinner OMADs. With this in mind, I realized that allowing my self to flex my window would 1) eventually average out with an extra long fast and 2) give me “freedom” to prioritize whatever was important to me in that day. I don’t really worry… maybe it’ll be a week of OMAD at dinner, or I could have 5 dinner OMADs, a lunch and a breakfast. It’s okay whichever way!
Now this day that I broke my fast shy of 18 hours, I meant to only have lunch. It was a delicious meal at a local Kalamazoo restaurant. In fact, I closed my eating window and called it a day…. However, this was also my son’s first game of baseball for the season. On top of that, he had 2 at bats and 2 hits!! He was so proud 🥹 and of course I was too. He wanted to celebrate with Ice Cream at Culver’s. I did plan to remain fasting. However, I asked him if it was important to eat with him and he said “you don’t have to” and I said, “I’ll let you pick” because I could tell he wanted it to be an entire family affair. And he said “YES!”.
Fasting Fits MY Life
If you think I am going to skip celebrating something like this, just to maintain perfect week you’re crazy! (Context, we’ve been convincing him to play baseball the past couple years. He doesn’t like the attention/all eyes on him, but loves sports. So the fact that he signed up & HIT!! was a big deal!!) Being present with my family is so important to me.
And truth be told, there are plenty of times I decide to fast while my family is eating. Not every single thing feels so important to break my norm. But this was. So my OMAD turned into a 17 hour fast with about an 8 hour eating window. And for those super curious, I hadn’t ate in hours since the lunch – so I didn’t want to have ice cream immediately. Instead, I got a butterburger 🤤 and then had the ice cream.
To be clear, I could not (and do not) make these deviations often. However, because I am disciplined regularly in my fasting hours, I am not worried that the occasional shift will undo the benefit of my normal OMAD schedule.
Exact Hours
Now below you’ll see my exact hours & times for when I started and stopped each fast. Please understand, this is not a program I am challenging you to follow. Instead, it’s an illustration of flexibility. I love OMAD and Intermittent Fasting, but want to be clear – my schedule and perfect hours are based on my personal preferences, life circumstances and even the schedules on my children’s activities week-to-week. So please, learn from my flexibility, get motivation from “seeing it” in action. But please find the schedule and hours that work for you!
Zero App
I track my fasts on the Zero App. That’s also where I get my summary & screen shots. I love it, it’s user friendly, I have a long history that I don’t want to give up — so to be honest, I haven’t done any work to check out others and compare. Instead, it worked well for me and I wanted to stick with it.
I love it so much so that I am a brand ambassador with them. I have a special link that offers you $30 off a Zero Plus Membership. With the Plus you can have access to more tracking tools (like your food and water intake). I don’t use Plus, but I know it could give the extra tools some of you may be desiring!
There are two ways you can sign-up:
- Directly through this website. BEST VALUE at $39.99 Annual Subscription.
- Start with a Free 7 Day Trail on the App (If you continue, the annual subscription is $69.99)
Q&A?
Is there something you’d like me to potentially discuss in these weekly overviews? Or a specific question about this week? Leave them below!
