I Tried Intermittent Fasting for a Month | Something New

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Hello, friends! I've been trying to keep up my something new project each month throughout quarantine in an effort to develop better habits and work on self improvement - even during this weird time. Especially when it comes to health and work-life balance, my habits were all over the place at the beginning of quarantine, so I've spent the better part of 6 months trying to develop better ones! Enter intermittent fasting.

What is intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is where you fast for a long period of time and only eat within a shorter eating window usually in the hopes of achieving some sort of health benefit. The theory of how intermittent fasting works is that when you fast, your body is in a state of ketosis where you are using the extra fat in your body as energy. Intermittent fasting purports to put our bodies into this state of ketosis and also boasts a ton of other health benefits. Intermittent fasting can be done for days at a time or only within certain hours of the day. Some people choose to fast for 2 days and eat for 4 days, some people choose 20 hours of fasting and a 4 hour eating window, but the most common intermittent fasting routine is 16 hours of fasting and an 8 hour eating window - usually somewhere around 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm

While there is a long history of fasting in humans (e.g., certain religions have been fasting for periods much longer than this throughout history), the research on intermittent fasting specifically is more sparse.

The Science:

Based on what I could find, the TL;DR of the science behind intermittent fasting is that there really aren't enough studies about it for us to understand the full benefits or harms of intermittent fasting. There are studies on rats (not the same as humans) and there are studies on intermittent fasting in small samples of humans for short periods of time, but none of these are truly indicative of what long-term effects intermittent fasting might have on us. Therefore, if you choose to try intermittent fasting, know that it's truly experimental in nature and that the effects that people claim to experience from intermittent fasting might be specific only to that person, so listen to your body and make sure that anything you do is best for you.

Why I wanted to do it:

To reduce bloating and re-establish healthier eating habits.

Pre-quarantine, I wasn't necessarily the perfect eater, but I was busy enough running around on campus that I didn't have the opportunity to sit in my living room and eat 24/7 🙂. Since quarantine, my eating habits have truly been aaaaaaalll over the place. I'm already generally a healthy eater (thank you, mom) BUT I am also 100% one of those people that eats when I'm bored and has very little self control around potato chips and ice cream (it's all about balance right? 😜). The only strategy that usually works for me is getting out of the house to keep my mind busy and banning junk food from my apartment because I know as soon as it enters the apartment, it's as good as gone. So, I wanted to try intermittent fasting to see if I could reset my brain into less snacking, better eating habits, and hopefully less bloating.

The Rules:

There aren't clear guidelines on what to eat during that intermittent fasting period and how long you should fast. This is part of the reason why the evidence behind intermittent fasting is spotty - there are no rules for how to do it, so the effects are inconsistent. I opted for the most common 16:8 fasting rule and fasted for 16 hours with an 8 hour eating window. I am an early bird so I chose an earlier eating window - from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Since there weren't really any hard and fast rules for what you could or could not eat during intermittent fasting and what was supposedly okay to eat during your fasting period, I decided to do what I affectionately called "lazy" intermittent fasting - AKA I let myself drink coffee with creamer in the mornings before my fasting period was over because...let's be honest. I am a nightmare pre-coffee and I wasn't going to put myself (or my partner) through that 🙂

Outfit Details: Sweater: H&M / Necklace: Similar Here and Here / Lipstick: Colour Pop in Bumble (one of my all-time favorite reds!)

My Experience:

Alright, so I tried it for 30 days. What was it like?

• The mornings were tough for a while: Hunger-wise, the mornings were tough for me. For the first 2 weeks, I was pretty hungry by 8:30 or 9:00 but had to wait another 1-2 hours to eat. Full disclosure, I wake up at around 5:30 in the mornings so waiting until 10:30 is a whole 5 hours!

• Your body adjusts: Even though those first couple of weeks were difficult for me, my body started to adjust over time. I'd still be pretty hungry by the time 10:30 rolled around but over time, I was no longer hungry at 8 or 9 and it became easier to wait it out. Eating first thing in the morning has been a longtime habit of mine and it was interesting to see how quickly my body seemed to adjust.

• Reduces the need to make decisions: As a social scientist, I'm all about the psychology here - and intermittent fasting definitely helped to reduce the amount of decision-making power I needed in the mornings. Studies have shown that your willpower is a limited resource so if you're using that making decisions about when, what, and how much to eat you have less willpower to make other decisions.

• Challenges the assumption that you have to eat three meals a day: Another good thing I experienced from intermittent fasting was that it challenged my assumption that I needed to eat three meals a day. Don't get me wrong, I love eating any chance I can get but I often eat a meal at the "right" time just because I've been taught that I should be eating at that time - not because I'm actually hungry.

• Listen to your body: There were a couple of days during my intermittent fasting period where I woke up with a headache or didn't feel 100%. On those days, I completely ditched fasting and took care of my body first.

• I found it difficult to stick with it: Only being able to eat within an 8 hour window sounds easier than it actually is - especially during non-COVID times. If you're interested at all in socializing and eating/drinking with people outside of your eating window then you have to either break your fast or be the party pooper that doesn't eat. Since I decided to try intermittent fasting during COVID it wasn't as difficult since socializing is limited, but there were certainly still times where I broke my fast in order to have a glass of wine while watching the Bachelor 😂

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So, What Happened?

Well, not a whole lot changed in my body after trying intermittent fasting. This could have been partially because I was doing it "lazily" but I truly felt that a lot of the benefits I experienced from intermittent fasting were more psychological than anything.

• Greater awareness of the things I ate: Because I was doing intermittent fasting, I was more aware of the things I was putting in my body. The process drew awareness to what I was eating so I definitely ate healthier than I normally would have.

• More intuitive eating: I was also listening a lot more to my body when it came to when I was hungry and why I was eating! Because I was intermittent fasting, my brain would do a double take every time I decided I was hungry and realize I was hungry only because I was bored...not because I was actually hungry 😛

• I bloated less: Although nothing about my body really changed (e.g., weight, exercise routine etc), I definitely bloated significantly less than I normally do. I think this was mostly due to the fact that I like to enjoy snacks and a bit of booze in the evenings- which really didn't mix with intermittent fasting! Having an eating period that ended at 6:30 meant I snacked a lot less in the evenings and had to give up a drink I might've normally had at 8 pm ☹️

Will I continue?

Sort of. I'm a creature of habit and I like having a mixed drink while I'm watching my trashy reality TV, okay?! It's the simple things in life haha! The reason I say I'll sort of continue is because intermittent fasting has made me a lot more aware of when I'm actually hungry and when I'm not. Being more aware of my actual hunger cues has made me realize I'm actually not that hungry at 5:30 am - contrary to what my habits might tell me. So, while I won't be adhering strictly to an intermittent fasting schedule, I've tried to stick with eating later in the day when I'm actually hungry and trying to only snack when I'm hungry and not when I'm bored.

Long story short, while I think intermittent fasting was a valuable experiment, I think the primary driver of people seeing actual changes in their body is really driven by reducing their calorie intake because eating in a shorter window of time just means you're going to end up eating less overall.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope this was helpful for you! If you've tried intermittent fasting, leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear what your experience was like!

Notability vs. Goodnotes for Grad Students | What's the Best Notetaking App for Grad School?

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I'm now into my 3rd year of graduate school and honestly think to myself every day - what the heck would I do without my iPad?! BUT my iPad would be nothing without the slew of notetaking apps that have been my daily companions throughout my PhD program.

Here is my current iPad set-up:

My iPad Set-up

• 12.9 inch iPad Pro, 256 GB

• Apple Pencil 2

• Apple Pencil case

• Thin case from Amazon

• Matte screen protector

I've talked about How I use my iPad and what kinds of apps I use as a PhD student, but today I thought I'd do a deep dive on the two most popular note-taking apps, Notability and Goodnotes, and what you can expect out of each of them! I use both Notability and Goodnotes daily, so I think a case can be made for each of them!

Notability ($8.99)

Notability is a note-taking app that, for me, primarily functions as a PDF reader with a crazy sophisticated note-taking component attached to it. You can write, draw, highlight, insert a post-it note, type text, add an image, or even insert audio as you are taking notes. Although you can certainly use it without the PDF reading component and just use it as a blank page to take notes, I think notability is most powerful when you're using it with lecture slides or an article that you need to read for class.

Of all the apps on my iPad, for my PhD, I use notability the most by a landslide. I started using it at the beginning of my grad school career to download all of my readings so I could highlight, write, annotate etc all over the PDFs and not have to print out a mountain of paper every single week. Even though I'm no longer taking classes as a dissertator, I'm still reading tons of papers for my own research so notability is an app I use daily!

Organization: One of the key differences between notability and goodnotes is the way notes are organized. Notability is organized in more of a traditional "computer-y" style. You can organize your notes by subject, then group those subjects into dividers, and color code them to your heart's content! I have to admit that this isn't my favorite organization style. I don't find it very intuitive and it feels less like taking notes in a notebook and more like a collection of computer files. This is why I treat notability more as a PDF reader where it houses my library of annotated articles and books.

Use Cases:

• Reading and annotating articles: This is the most obvious use case, but it should not be underestimated! I've been in grad school seminars where other students have printed out all of the readings and highlighted and written on paper. While there's nothing wrong with this, it's time-consuming, isn't great for the planet, and isn't easily accessible if you want to search for a certain note from your readings. For me, buying an iPad just to take notes on academic readings has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.

• Taking notes and recording audio during classes: I think this is truly where I fell in love with Notability. You can also download lecture slides and take notes on them in real-time during lecture. On top of that, you can also record audio and take notes at the same time. Notability's audio feature has allowed me to record entire lectures via audio and it syncs with my written notes to show me at what point in the audio I took which notes.

• Document scanning and taking notes on books: Depending on your field of study, you might be reading entire books for your classes rather than journal articles. I read a mix of both for my research and notability has been a game-changer in this area because I can check out books from the library, use the document scanning feature on Notability to scan important pages, and then annotate them without destroying a precious library book :)

Where Notability Wins: Notability definitely wins when it comes to being able to annotate. There's truly no comparison. The one thing that is common to nearly all grad school experiences is that you are constantly reading A LOT - and when you're reading hundreds upon hundreds of pages of research content each week, being able to highlight and write all over your readings is truly a godsend. Plus, I feel like the longer I've had it, the more uses I seem to find for it!

Goodnotes ($7.99)

Goodnotes is the most common note-taking app pitted against Notability - and while they have many similar functions, Goodnotes' organization system is slightly different than Notability's which means it may be better for you if you are someone who prefers to have things organized by notebook rather than by file. With Goonotes, you can also upload files, annotate files, insert images, etc. In essence, Goodnotes can do everything that Notability can do, but is organized slightly differently which can make a huge difference if you are someone (like me!) who has very strong preferences for how things are organized!

Organization: I have always been an avid notebook, planner, and journal user so I find that Goodnotes is a much better replacement for that due to its notebook based organization system. In Goodnotes, you can actually create a notebook OR a document and then you can nest those notebooks or documents within folders. While the document storing on Goodnotes is fine, it is definitely more catered to the notebook system because you can create a cover for each notebook that is visible when you open the folder. In addition to that, Goodnotes offers a whole host of built-in templates like different notebook paper, graph paper, and planner pages.

Use Cases:

• Planner: I have been an avid planner addict for years and purchasing Goodnotes, it has become the home of my digital planner where I use daily, weekly, and monthly spreads to plan out my teaching, research, and dissertation-related responsibilities. I love having a digital planner because you can pick templates that work best for you and switch between templates if you have a busier vs. more relaxed day.

• Goal Setting: Like I said... I am a big planner nerd 😅 so I've gotten into the habit of doing all of these goal setting worksheets and planning goals at a weekly and monthly level. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but Goodnotes has always been the home for my goal-setting planner because I can collect different goal setting templates and fill them out all in one place!

• Notebook - Like I mentioned before, Goodnotes has essentially eliminated the need for all of the notebooks I had floating around my home before! If there are any thoughts or to do's I want to jot down quickly, I'll jot them in a catchall notebook on Goodnotes so I can re-visit and even search for them later.

• Scrapbook/bulletin board: In my free time I enjoy doing crafts or DIY projects and I've found Goodnotes to be the perfect fit for planning out those projects. For example, I'm currently loving making my own polymer clay earrings and to plan this project out, I've collected photos of my favorite designs and put them all together in a scrapbook style Goodnotes notebook where I take inspiration from my favorite designs and make them my own.

• Doodles, illustrations, coloring: I also find that Goodnotes is a great place for me to collect simple coloring pages and create simple doodles and illustrations. It's definitely no Procreate, but if I'm just designing my own sticker for my planner - it does the trick!

Where Goodnotes Wins: More flexibility and as a notebook replacement. If you're looking for a true notebook replacement, Goodnotes is where it's at. You can choose notebook paper templates that work best for you and replace just about any type of paper based notebook in a way that is easy to understand and user friendly. It also has a lot more flexibility when it comes to how you want to organize your notebooks - which allows for a more free flowing, creative application.

The Lowdown on Both: Syncing & Cost

The downside is that they both cost money - something that isn't true of all notetakings apps- and I know that with the low stipends given to most grad students, an expensive app may not be in the cards. The good news for both Goodnotes and Notability is that they are one-time purchases (not subscriptions) so once you buy it, it's yours to keep. The bad news is that if you want it to sync across your different devices (e.g., your Mac) you will need to buy the Mac version of the app. If you buy the iPad version of Goodnotes or Notability, you can automatically download it to your iPhone, but if you want it to sync to your Mac, it requires a separate Mac app.

I wrestled with buying the Mac app in addition to both iPad apps but in the end, I think it was well worth it. I use both apps daily and when I'm writing notes on my iPad but then want to switch to typing up a summary on my laptop, it's nice to be able to swing around to my laptop and have it available there as well. For me, paying for both the iPad and Mac versions of both apps has been WELL worth it because of how much headache and trouble they've saved me.

Another downside I wanted to point out for both apps is that syncing your notes across both apps is not always a seamless process. I have had issues with both apps not syncing and needing to troubleshoot the apps by updating them, deleting them, redownloading them, forcing it to sync over and over again - you know the drill. 80% of the time the syncs work well, but that remaining 20% of the time is frustrating AF. If you choose only to have the apps on your iPad though - which is still GREAT - then you'll never run into this problem 😝

It's common for students to either use Notability OR Goodnotes - but not necessarily both. I use both apps but for slightly different purposes and have found that both apps bring a whole lot of value to my PhD and personal life. Whichever notetaking app you choose, I think, largely depends on how you plan on using the app and what your personal notetaking style is like. I hope this deep dive was helpful! If you have any other questions, drop me a comment below and I'd be happy to help!

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Lash Extensions vs. Lash Lifts ~ Which one is right for you?

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Hello, friends! I thought I'd wrap up my lash experience blog posts with a comparison of lash extensions and lash lifts. I've been on the lash lift train for the last year or so but before that, I was a regular lash extension-er for 2 years. If you're curious about the process for each - check out my full review of each ( Lash Extension Review, Lash Lift Review. ) but if you're debating between the two and curious about how they compare - today, I'm going to break it down for you, so let's dive in! 🙂

The Application Process

Lash Lifts: Lifts tend to be a lot shorter than lash extensions and usually last anywhere from 20-45 minutes depending on how fast-acting the perm solution is.

While the whole process is faster, the experience of getting a lash lift is a little less pleasant than getting extensions. Generally, lash lifts meant to be painless and as comfortable as possible, but there is more room for error that might cause discomfort.

To get your lashes lift, the lash technician has to essentially glue your lashes onto a template and then apply perm solution to get your lashes to stay in place. Gluing the lashes is generally fine - maybe a little tugging here and there - but the perming part can sting a lot if the solution gets too close your eye (or god forbid - IN your eye).

Lash Extensions: Usually takes somewhere between an hour and two hours for a full set. Yep. You read that correctly. TWO hours. In order to give you a full set of lash extensions, the lash technician has to carefully place an extension on each of your natural lashes - it's a meticulous, time-consuming process.

If you're getting a fill where some of your lashes have fallen out and only part of your set needs to be refilled, then the process is shorter depending on how many extensions need to be replaced.

The good news is that the process is generally pretty comfortable. It generally just feels like someone is moving your eyelashes around and you get to close your eyes and relax for a couple hours. I maaaay have fallen asleep during several of my lash extension fills in the past 😅

with Lash Extensions

with Lash Extensions

The Lashes

Lash Lifts: A more subtle, but buildable look. Since lash lifts work with your natural lashes, it's essentially just allowing you to skip the lash curling step of your routine.

Lash Extensions: A lot more dramatic! You can get lash extensions that are less dramatic but generally, lash extensions tend to be a lot more obvious than lash lifts.

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Comfort

Lash Lifts: Hands down, lash lifts are much more comfortable than lash extensions because they're essentially your own lashes - just curled! In my experience, I haven't had to alter any of my everyday activities in order to accommodate my lifted lashes.

Lash Extensions: I've had really up and down experiences with uncomfortable extensions. Some would start to weigh down my lashes and get stuck on my eyeball (ack - sorry!) and I'd have to pull them out before they started stabbing my eye! My understanding now is that lash extensions aren't supposed to do that - but it's certainly still a risk you run.

with a Lash Lift

with a Lash Lift

Longevity

Lash Lifts: Similar to lash extensions, most lash places recommend that you avoid getting your lashes wet for at least 24-48 hours. Outside of that though, there aren't any direct guidelines for taking care of your lash lift because once the perm sets, the shape of your lashes is good to go.

Most lash places also say that lash lifts last between 6-8 weeks. For lash lifts, however, there's no filling process, so you simply get a lift and as the weeks go by, your lashes slowly go back to being straight or fall out naturally.

In my experience, most of my lashes are usually straight again by week 5 but for lash health reasons, I'll usually wait until the 6 week mark to get them lifted again.

Lash Extensions: Most lash places recommend that you do not get your extensions wet for 24-48 hours and that you avoid picking or pulling at them too much. Generally, you should also avoid wearing too much eye makeup around the area because taking off that makeup usually involve a lot of swiping and tugging that might affect the longevity of the lashes.

While most lash places say that a full set lasts somewhere between 6-8 weeks and recommend a lash fill once you hit the 2-3 week mark - in my experience, by the time I hit week 2, usually about half of my lashes are already gone and by week 4 there are really only a couple of lashes hanging on by a thread. I tend to sleep on my side and will wear a little bit of eye makeup with my lash extensions so both of these factors probably contribute to my lashes falling apart more easily.

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Cost

Lash Lifts: Lash lifts are a bit more affordable than lash extensions and usually go for $50-$100 per lift where you only need to get them re-lifted every 6-8 weeks. Some places do offer a lash tint that can add to your cost but might be worth it if you can't be bothered to wear mascara and want an easy one and done process.

Lash Extensions: Varies a lot based on the lash place but can range from $75 to $200-$300 for a full set. Fills are usually prorated (could be anywhere for $40-$150) based on when you get them and how many of the lashes you're missing.

with Lash Extensions

with a Lash Lift

Choose Lash Extensions if:

• You don't use a ton of make-up and want no-fuss situation where you can just wake up and run out the door.

• You sleep on your back! (I'm told that if you sleep on your side or your stomach you lose a lot more extensions - I am a chronic side sleeper)

• You have a highly photographed or one-time big event [vacation, wedding, etc] where you want a more dramatic look for a shorter period of time 🙂

Choose Lash Lifts if:

• You want to save a bit of money

• You rub your eyes a lot!

• You want to be able to wear eye makeup regularly (especially mascara)

• You have stick straight lashes that are long! (e.g., if you use a lash serum)

If you want a more in-depth review of both the lash lift and lash extension process check out my previous reviews below. Drop me a comment if you have any other questions about the lash extension or lash lift process and thanks so much for stopping by! ♥️

My Monolid Lash Extension Experience

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My Lash Lift Experience

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