Best time of day for IF fasting window

fasting
(Tangos Wanted) #1

I have been on Keto 3 months now and down 30lbs. My eating window was from 2-6pm and I changed it to 10am-2pm. I noticed my ketone blood readings are not as high, could the change in time have anything to do with it? What would be the ideal time of day for IF? The only reason I changed was because I wanted to be able to consume calories before my workout to help with boosts in the gym. I don’t eat a full meal, I just have a protein shake before I workout to break the fast and than eat a meal right after. Please critique.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #2

There really is no universal ideal in a sense; it’s what works best for you and what you feel you can manage best. Ketone levels in many people, are lower in the morning and get higher as the day progresses. For me, I usually register lower in the morning, I’m highest around 3pm and after an intense workout, they drop again.

I workout at night after work (typically), so my window is usually 12-4 or sometimes 1-5. I do this so I can eat all my meals before the gym, though I usually eat TMAD and the 2nd meal is usually the smaller of the 2 for gym purposes.

(Allie) #3

The best time is whatever fits with your lifestyle. Early suits me best as I like having evenings free for other things (gym & animal care) and sleep better without eating.

Blood ketone readings don’t dictate your level of success.

(Ellen) #4

Whenever is best for you, I’ve never been hungry in the mornings so have a later eating window.

(Brennan) #5

Lower ketone readings could indicate your body is better adapted to ketones and creating and using them more efficiently now.

(Jane) #6

Agree that ketone readings aren’t particularly important other than to confirm you are in ketosis or if you are EF’ing and want to calculate a Boz or GKI ratio.

Now insulin is important and I read where there is a study that shows the earlier in the day you IF the lower your blood glucose response and by inference - insulin since we can’t measure insulin at home yet. Sorry - I don’t have a link to the study.

(traci simpson) #7

During the week my window is from 12-6, although this is really hard to do if I’m not organized and have everything ready. I don’t get home from work until around 5:15 OR 5:30 so eating before 6 if I have to get to the store or run errands is impossible at times. On the weekend, I switch it up to whatever, whenever. It’s usually OMAD Saturday and Sunday.