Do you get TOO used to Fasting?

newbies
fasting
(What The Fast?!) #1

Hi all! So I’ve been doing IF for the past week or so - in the morning I’ll have a BPC with maybe 1/2 T coconut or MCT and 1/2 T of butter (so okay, not exactly true IF, but it works for me for now).

Then, I eat 2 larger meals for lunch and dinner, usually around 700-800 calories each. (No I’m not preaching CICO, don’t worry, I just track everything so I have data to reference).

Today, I woke up hungrier than usual so I decided to have breakfast. I figured - okay, I’ll eat 3 meals today so I probably shouldn’t have a larger meal like I do on IF days. So, I made a regular sized breakfast for me (4 pieces of bacon with an egg and some avocado, around 350-400 cals) and found myself hungry (maybe just snacky) 2 hours later.

My question - am I getting my body used to eating larger meals, so that I won’t feel full unless I eat a larger meal (like on my IF days)? Another way to ask this - am I setting myself up to always feel the need to have a large meal, and if so, does that mean I’ll have to do IF all the time?

Moving on - since I was hungry, I had a snack (which I usually avoid) that brought my cals up to around 700 for the day and now I feel full. So maybe I’ll just eat a larger lunch than usual and fast until tomorrow? I’m strength training tonight so that could work.

(James storie) #2

I find that if I eat in the morning I have to eat a large meal. If I eat just a little, I eat all day! I’m hardly ever hungry in the mornings anyway. Come to think of it, I’m hardly ever hungry at all! I have to fast for days before I feal real hunger! On day 1-2, my head can play games though.

(What The Fast?!) #3

Do you have a decent amount of body fat?

(James storie) #4

I’m within 20-30 pounds of my goal weight, maybe less. I’ve lost around 50 pounds so far. The hardest part of this whole journey has been learning what true hunger feels like! Growing up big kind of screws you up!

(James storie) #5

I’m leaner now than I’ve ever been in my life, still plenty of fasting fuel!

(What The Fast?!) #6

That’s awesome. :slight_smile: When you fast, are you doing straight water fasts?

(James storie) #7

Just water and black coffee, salt if I feel like I need it. Magnesium supplement as well, but I do that every day.

#8

I’ve found what you said to be true for me as well. Part of why IF worked well for me in the first place is that I’m a big eater anyway, so the daily shortened eating window was a convenient way to manage my intake.
Now several years in, ya, having breakfast usually means it’s going to be a day of more food than usual. But it doesn’t happen too often so I figure it’s just a leptin reset :wink:

#9

I usually eat 1 or 2 meals a day. The timing may vary with how I’m feeling. Some days it’s a late breakfast and an early dinner other days it might be lunch and dinner. I don’t feel like my meal size is bigger than normal volume-wise, but I seem to target between 1200 to 1650 calories a day–although I don’t track every single day now. Now, if I want a snack, I eat it close to one of my mealtimes. (All of this adjusted over time of course based on what I learned here and other places.) I tracked daily for about 3 months and now track a day or two every now and then just to make sure my macros are on track. I often feel like I’m stalling, but still manage to lose something each month. I would say eat when you’re hungry yet as least often as possible. If that’s 3 meals a day (vs the 5 or 6 that was drilled into our brains before), don’t sweat it.

(What The Fast?!) #10

Would love anyone else’s experiences or thoughts on this - going from IF back to regular eating.