I lost 14 pounds in October—more than 7 percent of my beginning body weight. I did through intermittent fasting.

The term intermittent fasting is a catch-all, referring to all sorts of plans and schedules to stop eating for varying lengths of time.  Mine looked like this:

On Day 1 (it was a Sunday) I resolved to eat only from 6 am to 6 pm.  I would then stop eating for 36 hours, until 6 am on Day 3 (a Tuesday).  I would then, again, eat only in the next 12 hours, from 6 am to 6 pm.  And then stop again for the next 36 hours.

So it was a series of 48-hour cycles.  There were 15 of them in the month, beginning October 1 and ending on October 30.  October 31 was an “eat day.”  It was also Halloween but I avoided consuming any candy.  I bought Skittles for the kids.  I hate Skittles.

I mentioned my fasting plan to no one until nearly the end of the month.  Didn’t want to go around boasting about my newfound discipline and then fall off the wagon.

But I did not fall off.  And on November 1—a “post-eat day,” my weight was down by 13.9 pounds.  My fasting blood glucose levels, which I measure occasionally, had improved dramatically.

When I do discuss the plan, people usually ask whether the hunger is hard to handle.  My answer:  The first few times, it was difficult.  Toward the end, the desire to eat was tolerable to non-existent.  On certain eat days, I’d get up at 6 without a great desire to eat anything.

I’ve decided to continue fasting at least until December.  Today is November 3, and the second fasting day of the month. We’ll see how I manage to handle Thanksgiving.