Intermittent Fasting Issue & Discussion

[logicallefty]

I have never been a huge breakfast or lunch person. For many years I skipped both meals most days. Then at dinner I ate healthy foods like meat and veggies, very few carbs, and I stayed the same weight for 8 x years. I wasn't loosing because at dinner I was eating TOO MUCH. When I realized that I was almost doing everything correctly for 18:6 intermittent fasting, other than the portion sizes. So a year ago I started decreasing my portions, while still eating the same healthy foods, and I started to loose weight. I am down 60 lbs since the start of 2022. It's been great.

Today, I am still loosing ~1 lb per week and keeping it off. My 6 x hour eating window is 4pm to 10pm, but many days I stop by 7 or 8pm. I have found lately that around 12pm I start to get really weak feeling tired. When I was working from home during the week, I could slip in a nap. Working in an office now, no so easy to do.. I have been pushing through it and not eating until 4pm. But it's getting harder.

My question to you guys is this: Is there anything I can eat during the fasting window (around noon) to tide me over until until my eating window at 4pm? I was thinking maybe I could eat a couple boiled eggs or some nuts at noon to get me by? I haven't done this yet but I have a feeling I am going to have to soon..

Any other suggestions?

Thanks fellas.

LL

Edit: Moving to Health and Fitness from Anything Else (done by accident).

 

[Dr.Suave]

Maybe one of these? I havent tried this particular one but there are different flavors, I like them as breakfast.

 

[BillyPilgrim]

A quick 2 cents - fasting is a great way to cleanse without taking anything abrasive

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Hmm...technically not really.

You could take some MCT Oil which would likely help with feeling weak and provide you some energy while also likely helping to boost fat loss as well.

I do longer fasts twice a week following a 5:2 plan(usually from after dinner on like a Sunday, for example until breakfast on Tuesday morning--like 32-40 hours) and the only thing I will take with calories is MCT Oil. Has had zero effect on fat loss or weight loss other than potentially increasing it and causing the body to go into ketosis faster.

Another option is you could shift your eating window to earlier in the day. Studies have shown that a morning window is more effective in terms of losing weight/fat because the body is more efficient at burning calories in the morning due to its circadian rhythm than it is at night.

This is why there are old sayings "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper". They didn't know the reasoning behind it or the science but they knew from observations this was correct.

 

[BillyPilgrim]

I have never been a huge breakfast or lunch person. For many years I skipped both meals most days. Then at dinner I ate healthy foods like meat and veggies, very few carbs, and I stayed the same weight for 8 x years. I wasn't loosing because at dinner I was eating TOO MUCH. When I realized that I was almost doing everything correctly for 18:6 intermittent fasting, other than the portion sizes. So a year ago I started decreasing my portions, while still eating the same healthy foods, and I started to loose weight. I am down 60 lbs since the start of 2022. It's been great.

Today, I am still loosing ~1 lb per week and keeping it off. My 6 x hour eating window is 4pm to 10pm, but many days I stop by 7 or 8pm. I have found lately that around 12pm I start to get really weak feeling tired. When I was working from home during the week, I could slip in a nap. Working in an office now, no so easy to do.. I have been pushing through it and not eating until 4pm. But it's getting harder.

My question to you guys is this: Is there anything I can eat during the fasting window (around noon) to tide me over until until my eating window at 4pm? I was thinking maybe I could eat a couple boiled eggs or some nuts at noon to get me by? I haven't done this yet but I have a feeling I am going to have to soon..

Any other suggestions?

Thanks fellas.

LL

Edit: Moving to Health and Fitness from Anything Else (done by accident).

Personally speaking, when I fast the combo of weed and coffee makes my body forget I'm hungry. Ymmv.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Personally speaking, when I fast the combo of weed and coffee makes my body forget I'm hungry. Ymmv.

Hmm...well that's better than Wu-Tang...

For crack and weed...the combination makes my eyes bleed...

 

[EyeBRollin]

Oatmeal. Water base. I put a bit of honey, cinnamon, peanut butter, chia seeds, flax seeds, and hemp seeds in mine.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

FWIW, there's nothing magical about what time you eat your food; 3,000 calories is still 3,000 calories - even if you eat it all in 4 hours.

But IF has one of the best success rates for dieters because it is a lifestyle change that can be kept up with even afer the weight is lost. For that reason alone, IF works really well.
I do a modified IF with two 30-50g protein 'pulses', one in the morning (eggs) and one in the afternoon (2x scoop protein shake), then I can slam 12-16oz chicken breast in the evening and not have room for much else. I stole the idea from here.

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Actually that isn't true. New research has shown the body burns calories at a higher rate in the morning due to our Circadian Rhythm and people who use time restricted eating windows will get better results if they eat in the morning and then fast later in the day.

Even tho they didn't know why because they didn't know the science behind it, the old saying "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" rings true .

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Are you informed of how many calories the differential is? It's a rounding error worth of difference. Feel free to prove me wrong, but Layne Norton has spoken multiple times on this and the data always points in the same direction - that the time of eating is effectively irrelevant. At least by comparison to more important factors like generating a deficit, exercise, sleep, hormones, thermic effect of food, etc. (not ordered).

The problem with looking at things in a vacuum is that it is never ONE thing or another that leads to the greatest success and highest efficiency, it is stacking efficiencies on top of each other and their synergies with each other that lead to better results.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I'm surprised you couldn't lose weight by IM fasting. Did you ever try full OMAD?

As far as your question, no, eating a snack sort of defeats the purpose. You could use stimulants of course, low dose white kratom and nicotine are great appetite suppressants. As another poster suggested, MCT oil could work too.

Maybe focus on trying OMAD and choosing high quality meals that are harder to over-indulge on? Like steak, omelettes, etc. A 1lb steak isn't actually too many calories and it's far more filling than the equivalent in a bag of chips, for instance.

Also, lose*

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I'm surprised you couldn't lose weight by IM fasting. Did you ever try full OMAD?

As far as your question, no, eating a snack sort of defeats the purpose. You could use stimulants of course, low dose white kratom and nicotine are great appetite suppressants. As another poster suggested, MCT oil could work too.

Maybe focus on trying OMAD and choosing high quality meals that are harder to over-indulge on? Like steak, omelettes, etc. A 1lb steak isn't actually too many calories and it's far more filling than the equivalent in a bag of chips, for instance.

Also, lose*

Ehh...personally the best success I have had is to follow a 5:2 program. Where you simply do full fasts for 2 days and then eat normally the other 5.

OMAD is simply not going to be enough food for anyone who is eating things that are nutrient dense. You just can't get enough calories in one meal. If you are eating processed crap, then sure...it's easy to eat enough in a single meal.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Ehh...personally the best success I have had is to follow a 5:2 program. Where you simply do full fasts for 2 days and then eat normally the other 5.

OMAD is simply not going to be enough food for anyone who is eating things that are nutrient dense. You just can't get enough calories in one meal. If you are eating processed crap, then sure...it's easy to eat enough in a single meal.

OMAD is doable if you eat calorically dense foods like ground beef, butter, cheese, etc.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

OMAD is doable if you eat calorically dense foods like ground beef, butter, cheese, etc.

Not worth it IMO. Those will help with macros but not with nutrition. Missing out on veggies, fruits etc

 

[EyeBRollin]

OMAD is doable if you eat calorically dense foods like ground beef, butter, cheese, etc.

Not worth it for health reasons. Don’t go blasting those foods in one big binge. You’re better off just eating three balanced healthy meals.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I don't do OMAD myself but it's a good way to get into a routine of regular fasting. And if you're trying to actually lose weight it's great for that when you eat healthy instead.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

my dude, the time of day at which you eat has very little to do with how many calories are burned. VERY little.

If memory serves, it could burn maybe 100calories extra by eating in the morning. Do this for 35 days and you may have lost 1lb.

You continue to think the body exists in a vacuum but it does not.

 

[EyeBRollin]

I don't do OMAD myself but it's a good way to get into a routine of regular fasting. And if you're trying to actually lose weight it's great for that when you eat healthy instead.

Losing weight is a psychological battle. Calories in vs. calories out is the formula. However makes the math work out will work.

I am of the opinion that deprivation is counterproductive psychologically and fasting would fall under deprivation for the majority of people. Find a way to cut the calories without depriving a person of what they want to eat.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Is there anything I can eat during the fasting window (around noon) to tide me over until until my eating window at 4pm?

I find that honey in black coffee, sometimes over ice, has a hunger satiating effect, which is counter intuitive since it's a sugar. You can probably find real honey at a farmers market. Everything at the store is fake, even the Amish/Mennonite stuff.

 

[Hamurabimbi]

IF worked for me. I’m basically a OMD now.

 

[Kotaix]

I've been doing IF for about 3 months now and have dropped from 155-ish down to 146 and it has gotten rid of the stubborn belly fat that I couldn't lose even when I was exercising my ass off.

I do 11am to 7pm as an interval and snacks during the day don't really seem to have any effect on making me increase weight. I do snack if I get really famished and it's usually nuts, coconut slivers or pork rinds. Coconut in particular has a ton of energy when it comes to energy available per quantity consumed.

IF really is amazing beyond weight loss and fat burning. I haven't felt this healthy in a long time.