How important is "when" you eat as opposed to "what" you eat

(Dan) #1

I have been using this forum a lot lately and its been great. One thing that I see is common is people who say they eat one meal a day, maybe two. My question; if I do prefer to spread out my food per day, as I always have pre-keto, is that ok? I generally have a fathead bagel at 6am, almonds at 930, 4 egg omlette at noon, a beef burger patty at 2, meat and cheese roll ups at 4 and then a dinner based around chicken or salmon at 7.

My question is, is this ok? I see so many people talking about one meal a day, but even those who don’t IF seem to not spread their food out.

As long as I am hitting calorie, protein, carb and fat marcos each day, does it matter if I am spreading my food out like this? I did just finish a 36 hour fast, which was surprisingly easy and rewarding, but I do think that most days in the week I would prefer to eat like this.

(Ellen) #2

Hi Dan, every time you eat you’ll be raising your insulin, your best bet would be to try and eat more for your actual meals rather than snacking so much. Once you get fat adapted you’ll probably notice a reduction in appetite and might then start extending your non-eating time, but there’s many on here that still eat 3 times a day.

(Janelle) #3

I have no studies to quote but my own doc says no more than 3 times a day due to the fact that you are likely spiking your blood sugar/insulin each time you eat.

(Bob M) #4

I stalled on a diet like that, likely because I was stimulating insulin all day. I then started intermittent fasting and restarted weight loss.

On the other hand, if this is working for you now, keep doing it. When it ceases to work, then look into reducing the number of times you eat per day.

(Brian) #5

Wow, Dan, you have a lot going on there.

For me, I don’t feel so good when I try to eat that often. Never did, even before keto. If I were to eat a decent sized hamburger at 2:00 and that was actually a satisfying meal, there is no way I’d want more food at 4:00, and then to eat a full meal again at 7:00, I’d be miserable. Actually doing that would probably have me fasting for a day afterward, not because of any guilty feeling of any kind, but rather because I would feel bloated and feel like I needed the time to let my body deal with the food that I’d already eaten.

I love being fat adapted. I just did a 24 hour fast, just lemon water, a few days ago and I felt great. (I know, that’s not a long fast for some of you.) But the hunger monster? Gone. Didn’t exist. That is soooooooo liberating!

Hopefully, as you continue eating keto, your need to eat so often will fade away. Appetites can change pretty dramatically in the beginning months of keto, all the way from “I can’t get enough to eat” to “I can’t eat, I’m not hungry”. That happened to me early on.

Lots of good advice given already so not much I can really add. Good luck!

(bulkbiker) #6

Depends if you are coming from a Type 2 diabetes / overweight start or a regular" just want to eat keto" place.
If the former then not eating so often is better.
If not and it seems to be working for you then fine.

(Carl Keller) #7

If weight loss is your goal, the key is insulin. The longer insulin stays inactive, the more likely your body is likely to let go of fat. It’s much more efficient to increase your meal sizes instead of eating every two hours.

I understand you may still have a carb-based mentality and your hunger hormones are still on a 6 meal a day schedule, but that can quickly change by keeping carbs low, eating moderate protein and fat to satiety.

Also much of what we perceive as hunger is really a force of habit. We are accustomed to eating at certain times and this habit can be difficult to break. Just ask yourself: “Am I actually hungry or is the clock just telling me I should eat?”.

(Dan) #8

Excellent replies. I don’t see any reason why I can’t combine my intake into 2 meals per day.

I have been on keto for about 1 1/4 months and I think my 6x a day habit is more just that; a habit. That is how I ate pre-keto, and its not like I was overeating or eating unhealthy, I just seem to do better when I keep myself in the perfect state of “not full, not hungry.” But like I said, I don’t see any reason I cant make all of this 2 meals, potentially one at noon, one at 7pm, and keep up a 16/8 IF schedule.

(Dan) #9

im obviously no expert since I am new to this, but a 24 hour fast is nothing to scoff at! nice job; one thing I found is that after the first 24, the rest becomes much easier, so you can prob do 36 easy next time if you choose to. I just did 36 and could have done more but I didn’t want to push it on my first fast, but next time ill go 48 and then see how that goes and go from there.

Really enjoying all of these new things I have been learning.

(Mark Rhodes) #10

You seem to get this. Why don’t you just keep going for another 6-8 weeks. Let the body adjust. THEN make some changes like limiting snacks ( grazing). As I recall that was my experience.

I would limit keto-treats especially if you are eating them alone, 2 hours after the meal. I found this detrimental and if I do have a keto-treat now I have it with the meal…not as a meal.

(Pete A) #11

I eat 3 big meals a day, at 10, 2 and 6. Occassional snacking, but not often.

When I go outside these times I can get a little out of sorts!

(Cindy) #12

That’s probably because you were eating carbs. Since carbs spike blood sugar and insulin, people tend to have “crashes” a lot, too. A roller coaster of energy. With keto, you won’t feel those ups and downs, but more of a sustained energy.

(John) #13

Dr. Fung has a blog post on “When to eat”

https://idmprogram.com/a-short-primer-on-how-to-lose-weight/

#14

I don’t do fasting, just haven’t got around to it. Didn’t want to shock my system too much. I worked in the medical industry for 10 years and other complex systems so I know the value of taking it one step at a time.

The most important thing with keto is the 20g carb rule. It is also the second most important thing. And the third …

After that you can pretty well swindle your way through the rest. Protein between blah and blah. Fat yeah whatever … it all works out.

I’ve been done by hidden carbs lately, as I’ve said for about the 15th time, sorry to regulars. But it is real and they really do kick you out of keto land (for a few days).

So I’m thinking, yeah, exactly what’s in that “fathead bagel”? Or that “burger patty”, if it’s homemade then great, known ingredience but if factory produced I’d seriously suspect sugar and wheat. I’m not paranoid, it’s just all those hidden fructose molecules chasing me.

Otherwise chicken, salmon, almonds, cheese, all sound great …

Hang in there.

#15

Good advice!

(Dan) #16

all homemade, no carbs :grinning:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #17

Hi Dan, I used to eat like you did, 4-5 mini meals instead of a couple of larger meals. This was a doctor recommended WOE back in the day when I was eating carbs and on a renal diet (I was a cheater because it’s nearly impossible to live on it!) after kidney cancer/removal and years on dialysis before my transplant. The transplant enabled me to go keto which is not possible on dialysis. My eating habits have changed drastically since going keto. TMAD most recently. But my meals are separated by 8-10 hours now and I am considering squeezing that to a smaller eating window but I am not ready yet. Still losing weight with things as they are, but I think I want to accelerate the weight loss soon.