20/4 fasting and inconsistent hunger signals each day

#1

Hi everybody, I’ve been reading tons about this and I’m conflicted about something.

I’ve been doing 20/4 fasting for a whole week now, and I love it. The first 5 days I was full the entire time, and it was just so easy. The past couple days I have been getting hungry about 3 hours after I finish my eating window which is so weird because I have just stuffed myself with my entire day’s worth of food. So my only logical conclusion is that I’m not eating enough in that eating window. Yet… it seemed to be enough for the first 5 days. I normally don’t track what I’m eating, but for the past week I have been, in order to figure out a pattern in what my body is getting and responding to. I wanted to know “how much” is the right amount my body requires and that language to me is (gasp) calories. So it feels like about 1400 calories was right for me, until yesterday and today.

For the past year I’ve been listening to my body and eating when I’m hungry, but now I’m scared to eat more in that eating window cuz it’s already a lot, and hard to do (I feel stuffed with my last bite).

Or is my body saying it isn’t cut out for 20/4? :thinking: Maybe I just need to have a bigger eating window?

Some basic info about me in case it helps : F, 39y, 5’3-5’4, 127 lbs average (b/c fluctuation,blah)… so technically I am in maintenance (my goal was 130lbs).
Edited to add: I am very close to zero carb, and the only artificial sweetener I use is erythritol or Monk fruit, which in the past have never seemed to have an effect on me.

WWYD?

#2

You may need to eat more healthy fat. Perhaps a fat bomb after you eat your one meal. Also leave about 200 calories for the fat bomb and eat it right after your one meal. See if it helps.

#3

I think I just might. It’s so scary to eat more!

(Carl Keller) #4

I would take a break from 20/4 a few days out of the week and see if an ocassional feasting day will reset your hunger. This worked really well for me when I was doing OMAD.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #5

Can I assume you’re eating two meals in your window? One at the beginning of the four hours and one towards the end? As @Jdpainter suggested I would make sure your eating enough fat to carry you through. You can try what I do and keep mixing up your eating schedule. Some days OMAD, TMAD and 3 meals now and then. Maybe throw a 24 hrs fast in for good measure. Keep your body confused and eat when you need it. I never have a plan until I see how it’s going. :cowboy_hat_face:

#6

I agree with Carl. Change things up. Your body will adapt to what you are doing. Try a feast day or two and then go back to IF. Maybe try a fast. I haven’t been doing Keto too long but I’ve already noticed I do better by changing things up. Yesterday I feasted and scale was half pound lower this morning, today I did OMAD. The podcast with Megan Ramos on Keto Dudes was really good info. I don’t have a plan for tomorrow, just wake up and see what my body says.

#7

Just realized I agree with David as well :grinning:

#8

updating myself for later

Today I did a 5.5 eating window instead of 4, because I got hungry at the end of the 5.5 hours. I thought maybe I would just eat all day and not do a window but first I want to try just extending my window. On my second to last bite, I felt really full but I wasn’t gonna leave just one bite. So I ate it and felt like I was gonna barf if that bite had been any bigger at all. That wasn’t my plan, but that’s how I ended up feeling on that last bite.

Since I’m still tracking temporarily just to get an idea of what my body wants, I reserved room in my “plan” to have some HWC in coffee if I get hungry later by chance, but at the moment I can’t imagine that will be. :joy: And if I’m even hungrier and end up eating more than my “plan” then I will listen to my body, but the past couple days the HWC (tbsp) was enough.

#9

I think that is an excellent suggestion. Keep your body awake by changing things up with different fasting times. I have been doing an OMAD schedule, but once in awhile when friends want to get together for a meal, I go for it. I never feel deprived and my body keeps doing just fine. I always stay under 20g for my carbo intake but may go over my fat macros or my protein macros from time to time.

#10

I’m curious to hear more about this… care to elaborate? When I’m doing OMAD through the week, on my weekends I have a more liberal window (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and try to reset to OMAD during the week.

Do you have a post on your experience ‘resetting’ hunger I could read?

(Carl Keller) #11

What seemed to help me push my hunger reset button was feasting for a few days per week. I wasn’t necessarily gorging myself but I pushed my normal limits. I was pretty much eating two good sized meals per day when I feasted. Where this seemed to benefit me was when I would do OMAD the day after a feast. It seemed much easier since hunger wasn’t politely tapping me on the shoulder, every 15 minutes.

My belief is that patterns lead to involuntary adaptation. Maybe your body will ration its energy as it begins to anticipate low calorie day after low calorie day or maybe it will increase your hunger to encourage you to eat more. IMO, the occasional feasting reassures our body that famine is not a threat.