How Intermittent Fasting Helped Me Be A Calmer And More Productive Person
It won’t kill you if you go a little longer without eating.
“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: ‘Is this the condition that I feared?’” ―Seneca
I was the type of person who would be in a terrible mood if I went too long without eating. People close to me have seen that. I would lose patience quickly and wouldn’t be able to think clearly, which didn’t allow me to work well. The only thing I could think about was food.
I was also neurotic with food because I thought that if I went without eating for a long time, I would lose the muscles that I worked for so long. I’ve heard stories of bodybuilders who woke up in the middle of the night to make a liquid meal so they wouldn’t go too long without eating. I never got to that point, but as soon as I woke up, I ate something, and during the day, I ate 6 to 7 meals. I started studying nutrition and training and learned that none of that was necessary to have muscles and a healthy life.
Intermittent fasting is one of the world’s most popular health and fitness trends. People use it mainly intending to lose weight, although studies have shown that it also has positive effects on the body and brain and may even help us live longer. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. The most popular protocol is 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating.
How I started
“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” ― Michael Jordan
I never thought that I was going to be able to follow the intermittent fasting protocol. I remember when a friend of mine told me that she was doing it and enjoying it. She suggested that I tried, but my answer was that I would never be able to go this long without eating. Amazing how I had a negative mindset at the moment about the topic. A few months later, however, I decided to try.
My first attempt at intermittent fasting was when I started doing fasted cardio as soon as I woke up. I read about some of its benefits for losing weight and wanted to put it into practice. As you are more than 8 hours without eating, your body will try to prioritize using fat as energy. At that time, I was overweight as I have not been taking care of myself properly because I was focusing too much on work as I am an entrepreneur.
I started doing 30 minutes of fasted cardio, and I remember that halfway I was already starving. I usually didn’t wake up hungry, which was good. However, there were times that I woke up hungry, and that made the fasted cardio much worse to complete. As soon as I got back home, I had my first meal so I could concentrate again and go to work.
How I improved
“People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” ― Samuel Johnson
As I said earlier, I had the thought that I would lose muscle if I stay without food for long hours. As I learned that that wasn’t true, I started to reframe my thoughts about food. Every time I felt hungry during my fasted cardio, I started talking to myself that I didn’t need food to keep going. My body wasn’t used to be without eating for long periods, so when that happened, it started to call my attention so that I would eat something.
I decided that I should try doing some other activities after finishing the fasted cardio. I started by reading for 30 minutes after coming back home. It was hard when I started. I was taking more time than my usual to read as I was teaching something new to my body, but I kept going. I just needed to keep reminding myself that it was possible to do so. Eventually, I was reading at my full speed again.
After a while, I decided that I would start working with no food too. Again, I was slow at the beginning, but I knew it was part of the process. As my goal was to fast for 16 hours and I was doing my last meal at 8 PM, my first meal should happen at 10 AM. I needed to work with no food until that time. It didn’t take me much to be able to do that with no suffering.
Being calmer
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.” ―Epictetus
Stoicism is a philosophy founded in Athens in the early 3rd century BC designed to make us more resilient, happier, and wiser. For the past couple of years, I have been studying the works of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus, who are the three great Stoic philosophers. Those studies helped me be a calmer person, leading me to better results for my company and life.
I wasn’t always a calm person, though, especially with food. I used to be very stressed when I started my first company, which negatively impacted my performance. As I started doing intermittent fasting, I began to talk to myself every time I felt hungry. I could choose to be angry or choose to be calm and keep doing what I was doing. This self-talk helped me be more in control of my thoughts.
As I learned that I don’t need to be eating all the time to perform well, I started to be calmer with myself. One of the things that I hated the most about attending a conference, for example, was to be with no food for long hours. Nowadays, when I attend a conference, I know that it will be difficult for me to eat and that I should focus on what I have control over instead of stressing about not eating.
Being more productive
“If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” ― Russian proverb
I am a morning person, but I am not that productive right after the sunrise. I learned that the best type of tasks for me to perform in the morning are mechanical ones. It usually takes some hours for my brain to fully wake up and for me to be able to perform tasks that I need to think about more deeply. I once did a test where every hour of the day, I should grade my productivity. By doing that, I learned that my peak of productivity is right after lunch.
As I started fasting for 16 hours consistently, I noticed a boost in my productivity in the morning. My brain wasn’t worried about food, so I could concentrate whenever there was in front of me. It takes about 30 minutes for my brain to wake up now. When I come back from the fasted cardio, I take a shower and am ready to rock. I still prefer doing more mechanical tasks in the morning, but I feel that I can get much done faster.
Nowadays, I have a much better morning routine. I wake up at 6 AM, do a fasted cardio, take a cold shower, read for at least 30 minutes, then start working. I also understand when I am more productive during the day, and I organized my tasks around that. Doing all that helped me perform my duties calmly and more productively.
Final thoughts
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” ― Stephen Hawking
Fasting has been a practice throughout human evolution. Ancient hunter-gatherers didn’t have supermarkets, refrigerators, or food available year-round. The human being did not have food right when they woke up, and it was necessary to go hunting to find some. However, sometimes they couldn’t find anything to eat. As a result, humans evolved to be able to function without food for extended periods.
Another thing that I changed with intermittent fasting was the number of daily meals I have. From 6 to 7 meals, today I have between 3 to 4 meals per day. However, this does not mean that I am eating less than before. In terms of calories, I still consume practically the same thing but in fewer meals. My last meal is usually at 8 PM and my first meal at 10 AM, as I go to the gym at noon.
Even though I don’t fast for 16 hours every day, I feel that I am less slave to food nowadays. I don’t waste time complaining about being hungry as I used to do. Apart from the positive effects for the body shown by studies, the intermittent fast can help you gain power over your thoughts, thus being a calmer and more productive person.
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