Early Eating Window Instead of Fasting, Anyone?

fasting
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #62

There! I fixed it for you. :grin::grin:

(Chuck) #63

I was fasting from 6pm until noon the next day. I did great with it for almost a year, then I started to get headaches and my blood pressure started to climb back to what it use to be. For about the last 3 weeks I have been eating as my body tells me to eat and even what I need, my blood pressure has gone back down to my normal range and my headaches are gone. Now my normal eating window is from the time I get up until about 5 or 6pm. This still means I am fasting about 14 hours instead of the 17 to 19 hours that I was fasting. My weight went up by 6 pounds for the first week but is back down again. And I have increased the amount of fruit I eat. I still stay completely away from highly processed carbs/food, and fast food. But I have also added back into my diet my wifeā€™s homemade bread, which is made from stone ground grain and not fine ground grain. While my eating window is longer I am finding that I eat about the same or maybe less than I was because I am never feel over hungry anymore. By the last meal I am eating a small portion that is satisfying but not making me feel like I am stuffed. I am also once again not able to finish what is on my plate most times.

#64

That is so interesting. Will have to check my blood pressure but that is usually not a concern for me. My mom is in her 80s and has normal blood pressure. She exercises a lot though because she likes it and always has. I do not exercise nearly as much but have started playing a racquet sport in the last year plus mostly because I like it and my friends play, but it is about three times a week. Headaches are never a problem for me unless I have forgotten to have coffee (I wait until noon to have coffee usually unless I am going on a trip or have something really important to do first thing where I have to be alert).

I am within a lb of my stall weight so we will see what happens next. I did go out to dinner with friends over the weekend. The interesting thing, I really could not eat as much as I wanted, and I ate bread, I had to take half my food home and then my husband ate it the next day, I forgot all about it. Also, my weight did not bounce up the next day the way it normally does when I indulge, very strange

(Chuck) #65

My weight fluctuate about 2 or 3 pounds from day to day, with my average being at about 192 at this time. My doctor says I should weigh I. At 180, my feeling is that as long as I am listening to my bodyā€™s needs, and 90% of the time staying away from highly processed food, fast food, refined flour and sugar my body will settle at its best weight. My goal is simply to be free from prescription drugs. The only reason I weigh myself is because my doctor requires it along with 3 blood pressure monitoring readings a day.

#66

I get very frustrated being told what I should and should not weigh. I once had a pediatrician tell me my 4 month was overweight (they have already graduated college!) The guy was nearing retirement then so I yessed him and did what I wanted. I donā€™t think 192 and 180 are different enough that it matters. I think one person at 192 can look the same as someone weighing 180. It is very individual. My only concern would be if you are gaining rapidly or retaining water due to health reasons

#67

Here is my update since I started last summer.

My eating window is usually from 12 -5 although I will go as late as 6 (finish eating not starting) or earlier than 12 if I need coffee for a trip. I have lost about 25 lbs. I will eat dinner about once every week or two if there is a reason, such as we are celebrating or we got a dinner invitation from someone I like. Then the usual weddings, bar mitzvahs, holidays.

I really do not know if it is because I eat less or because of the shortened window. The only reason I eat less is because I am not that hungry during that window. However I tracked my calories recently and I still usually eat about 1700 and I am a middle aged woman whose only exercise is doubles tennis at a moderate level a couple of times a week.

The lack of an appetite is a problem. Last night I slept poorly and woke up earlier than usual (unrelated, forgot to take melatonin). Was on various websites and saw a really cool recipe for a Keto monte crisco type sandwich. Bookmarked it and would have happily gotten up to make it if it was not 5 AM. I was really hungry but in a manageable way. Now that it is afternoon here, the thought of making it not appealing. Mostly because I am not hungry enough to go through the bother and have afternoon plans I would like to get to. I am not a cook ahead person and there is an excellent chance that if I make something appealing, another family member will eat it before I have a chance to get to it

(Chuck) #68

My eating window is 10am to 6pm as my max window. My normal is 11am to 5pm.

#69

How long have you been doing this? Are you as hungry at 2PM as you were at 7PM before you started this? I am not.

Is this for weight loss or A1C

(Chuck) #70

This is mostly weight control, not necessarily weight loss and I am not a diabetic

#71

Was listening to a podcast recently and the person was advocating that IF is the same as caloric restriction and the reason it works is because you eat less in the window. Then she went on to say, eat early because you are much more insulin sensitive early in the day. I thought these two messages contradictory since if you are eating the same amount of calories, what difference does it make when?

Something clicked with that, while I do not agree that IF is the same as caloric restriction, if I am much more insulin sensitive early, then that may be why I am not as hungry. Insulin is down so fat is being released to meet my caloric needs at 8AM in a way it is not at 10PM

#72

I often eat a caloric surplus on IF so itā€™s not true for meā€¦ When I do IF and miraculously lose fat then yes. I still donā€™t say itā€™s the same for everyoneā€¦ The human body is just too complex for that.
But indeed, IF tends to lower the food intake and that helps with fat-loss. I am sure itā€™s the most common scenario for people losing fat on IF (well they must be in a deficit to lose fat, there is no way around that but it doesnā€™t say how much they eat compared to times they donā€™t lose fat).

Maybe they was all for earlier eating for some other reason and not fat-lossā€¦? Or maybe earlier eating means a bigger deficit according to them for some reason?

I donā€™t think it makes a difference to me but if I eat early (like, at noon), you can bet I will overeat on any woe. And I hate eating when I am very satiated anyway. Early eating is for people who gets hungry then or canā€™t eat enough otherwise or they have some other good reason.

I just wonder why so many people are hungry in the morning then, no matter how metabolically healthy they areā€¦ Some people just get hungry in the morning, no matter what. I never did on any diet. And I suppose some people have it differently on different diets and energy intake.

(Joey) #73

At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, I wouldnā€™t think oneā€™s insulin sensitivity (or resistance) changes throughout the day. Itā€™s oneā€™s serum insulin level that changes, not how sensitive our tissues are to it from hour to hour.

Consistent with comments above, I believe those who promote an earlier eating window (vs later in the day) cite the presumption that (1) youā€™d be exploiting the natural dawn effect of elevated insulin (a response to the gluconeogenesis that helps wake us up) and (2) itā€™s better to sleep on an emptier stomach.

(I suspect #1 is mostly wishful thinking. Reasoning: Our bodies produce enough glucose to help wake us up ā€¦ which prompts an insulin response. That level of insulin is required to bring the serum glucose back down ā€¦ and eating isnā€™t helpful in this effort, it only makes the body produce even more insulin. But I have no science upon which to base this suspicion.)

#74

Not for everyone, probably and I can have plenty of fasted hours at bedtime even if I donā€™t eat until 4-5pm (my goal, not like I often manage)ā€¦ My eating window simply gets smaller then. But if I have too much time between eating and sleep (and with an early start, I would have unless I just ate all day, not a good idea), I get hungry and my sleep is the absolutely worst when going to bed hungry. I am surely not alone with that.

I wonder how well-fasted people should be when going to bedā€¦ Probably individual, the food matters etc. I never had any problems with eating just before bedtime (I have other reasons to avoid that) and some people apparently do late dinner OMAD, it sounds unusual, surely not for most people (but even OMAD isnā€™t for most people) though indeed, a big meal helps a lot with sleeping afterwards, at least itā€™s the case for me. It works even during the day when I have some lack of sleep. I donā€™t easily nap except after a decent meal when my energy gets a significant drop.
Of course if someone has the opposite experience (food interferes with sleep), they shouldnā€™t eat before bed for whatever hours.

(Joey) #75

Same. Youā€™re not alone :wink:

(Ethan) #76

I guess everybody is different. For me, my eating window is 9 PM - 11 PM and I usually go to bed around 2 am. Iā€™m never the least bit hungry at any time of day.