10 Months on IF / Year-Over-Year Bloodwork Results

Thought I'd post here about my progress using IF and provide some personal data points from 3 separate blood work-ups over the past year. Sorry for the flair, closest I could find - progress, but no pic. I'm too old for selfies. I know everyone does it, but I feel weird and self-conscious taking pictures of myself. A brief bit of history. I'm 53, 5'9", been a consistent treadmill runner since 2019, and not using IF, I brought my weight down from 204 in May 2019 to 170 on 1/1/20. For the next few years, my weight pretty consistently stayed somewhere between the upper 160s to around 180. But near the end of 2023, I think as a result of a personal family trauma and, frankly, some laziness, I let my weight creep up. I thought I could out-run my bad eating habits, and in my 50s, that's a big NOPE!By the end of 2023, I was up past 187 and about to need a total wardrobe "adjustment." I'm sure many of you understand what that means. A co-worker told me how they had briefly done IF for about 6 weeks and lost 10 pounds. So I got curious, checked it out, and decided to give it a shot starting on 1/5/24. It worked immediately and amazingly. I started with a 16/8 to 18/6 IF period and after a couple of months, was mostly doing 19/5 to 20/4. I run 6 days a week, usually during lunchtime right before I eat, so I'm completely fasted while working out. When fasting, only drink water and black/green tea.My initial goal was to get back to the upper 160s/low 170s. Even factoring in a 2 week vacation, within 2.5 months, I was already in the upper 160s. So I adjusted my goal to low 160s. About 5 weeks later, I was under 160. Another adjustment downward, another 2 week vacation, and 3 months later I was pushing 150. Started really slimming down, and I kept losing weight, even while I was not trying to lose weight. I've had to expand my eating window to about 18/6 to 17/7 and consciously trying to eat more because I got as low as 141 a couple of weeks ago before getting back up to about 145 today.August 1st, I started training for a half-marathon, so I've ramped my mileage up to about 30-40 miles/week. I've also gotten more serious/consistent with some strength work as well over the summer into fall.That brings me to my bloodwork. September 2023, I had bloodwork done. The main numbers:Lbs: 185Waist: 38BMI: 27.5BP: 112/82Chol: 187LDL: 104HDL: 71Tri: 60Glu: 77Went for my annual physical in June of this year. The numbers:Lbs: 163Waist: 35BMI: 24.5BP: 110/86TC: 171LDL: 95HDL: 67Tri: 44Glu: 79Today, had another bloodwork screening at work, a little over a year from the first one:Lbs: 145Waist: 32BMI: 21BP: 118/82TC: 143LDL: 40HDL: 75Tri: 143Glu: 64Consistently better numbers across the board. The only outlier is my triglycerides today, but I think I can expain that - my HM is Sunday and I've been ramping up my carb intake. A little googling suggests you can get high triglycerides with normal cholesterol if you have a high carb diet. So, that probably explains it - just a timing issue with my race this weekend.Anyway, hope these data points are helpful for others looking into IF. It's been a game-changer, but I've also put in the work on the treadmill and with the weights. Working out fasted has been awesome, I'm rarely if ever hungry, I'm disciplined enough to know when I can't eat and to stick to it, and I eat in moderation but don't restrict myself. On vacation, I eat what I want, when I want, and then jump right back into IF when I'm home. It's been easy to run a calorie deficit with the running mileage I'm putting in. In fact, I'm still trying to find that balance to get to a maintenance weight. After this weekend, I think I'm going to start training for a marathon in the spring. via /r/intermittentfasting https://ift.tt/V5Pmwsb https://ift.tt/6ihKWk9