How It All Started Pt. 5 Weight Loss, Intermittent Fasting, The 8 Hour diet
What is it- Intermittent Fasting is basically eating all of your meals inside of an 8-hour window. So ideally you would skip breakfast, eat your first meal at 12pm, eat again at some point, work out in the afternoon/evening and eat again at 8. Thus your body is fasting for 16 hours.
Why? – According to studies and real life examples your body handles food much more efficiently when you don’t start eating till the middle of the day. Fasting throughout the morning (supposedly) keeps your body in more of a “fat-burning” zone. It’s not about cutting calories, so whatever you eat on a daily basis – you will still eat that same amount of food (just inside of an 8 hour window)
My Experience - I was extremely skeptical about this because typically “not eating” is “not good for you.” The usual “Starvation” diet usually leads to muscle loss and expedited weight gain once you go back to eating like “normal.” But this was different. I played with eating windows – I did 10-6, 11-7, and 12-8. I did it every day for a week, sometimes 3 times a week, sometimes once a week. I was really trying to see did it make sense to do this.
The Positives- Yes it works. Specifically on my non-weightlifting days where I just do cardio in the morning. Typically I would get up at 6, do an hour “walking” on the treadmill, I would get a hunger pain around 11, but I would hold off eating the first meal ‘till 12. It seems doing to cardio “fasted” and skipping breakfast really forces your body to pull from that stored fat for energy. What I liked about skipping breakfast was that once I ate my first meal at 12 – I really was never extremely hungry through the rest of the day. I wasn’t hurting for food-lol
The Negatives – When I tried 10-6 or 11-7; I usually sleep terrible. Either I was going to the bathroom too much (not enough “recent” food intake to hold on to the water in my body) or I just kept waking up (though I didn’t feel hungry, my body was looking for food, this is a common side effect.) So for that reason I always ate my last meal at 8 or even 9pm. Also, it didn’t seem to make sense to do this after my morning weightlifting sessions. Because I work out pretty hard – my body “needs” food as soon as I finish. Waiting till 12 was not optimal.
Summary – This is not something you should do every day and it’s not something you should do if you’re looking to build muscle. But if you can stand to skip breakfast a few times a week and make lunch your first meal; than go ahead give it a shot.
Again: I am not a doctor, personal trainer, health guru, nutrientalist, dietician, or mastermind. In the grand scheme of things – I’m a nobody; a regular guy who figured out what works for me and maybe it will work for you. We are all made different with different metabolisms, genders, birth dates, different genetic/medical histories, and different body types. You have to make/learn what works for you.
Eat to live not live to eat folks
K