My first fast experience

(David) #1

So, yesterday was Sunday, and after a leisurely start to the day getting up at 10:30, I pottered around the house doing chores and drinking lots of water with ACV. I kept pushing off eating anything as my body wasn’t trying to tell me I was hungry, only my mind.

By about 4pm I realised I was a bit past this mythical 18- hour mark, and still going fine, so out of curiosity I carried on just drinking water. I got to 18:45, so well over 21 hours since eating anything at all. I wasn’t particularly hungry, I think I ate something out of boredom.

So, I had:-

  • 95g Beef medallion
  • cheese sandwich
  • 1/2 tsp bacon nectar out of curiosity of the taste on its own.

followed by a snack later of a cheese sandwich with a smearing of bacon nectar as a sauce.

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This morning, after getting to work (8am - I had a grumbly tummy for about 5 minutes on the drive in - which I never ever have usually) I had an Avocado for breakfast followed by 2 boiled eggs and a piece of bacon cheddar, then at 10:25 I had another boiled egg. Right now it’s 12:05 and about the time that for the last 22 months I would be tucking into a 12oz cup of Tomato soup from the sandwich van (16g carbs)

Sidenote: my old breakfast would have consisted of a breakfast bacon and omelette barm (34g carbs), and either a latte or cappuccino (16g or 11g carbs). Or some muesli if I fancied being old school ‘healthy’

My question (or one of) is should I eat more, such as eat the lunch box I prepared :-

(stilton, bacon cheddar, carbzone low-carb bread, and boiled eggs, oh, and a small tub (50g) of bacon nectar :wink: just for a bit of dressing), or just snack each time I feel a grumbly tummy? I am concerned that I am doing calorie restriction and making my body think that it needs to go into starvation mode.

I think I was thinking I was still hungry after I finished eating last night, but then my stomach settled down. A good lesson learned for me there I think. It appears I stop getting hungry after I stop eating. I will experiment more with that.

Should I try an IF 18:6 window ?

I really don’t know what to try for the best.

#2

I’ll say that when I first started experimenting with IF, I ended up dropping my total and average calories significantly (I use MFP to track so I know that for a fact) and in the end realized that I need to eat more outside that window because I hurt my metabolism and only now in the process of “recovery”.

I now think of IF as fast/feast or fast/refeed just to emphasize that it’s about taking a break from eating and then getting plenty of nutrition for the rebuilding after the fast.

(David) #3

So you’re saying eat the same amount of calories (ish) but during fewer hours of the day?

(Guardian of the bacon) #4

Exactly. Shortening up your feeding window means you will be creating insulin for a shorter period of the day. The more time your body can spend at reduced insulin load, the more time it has to burn fat for energy.

(Larry Lustig) #5

IF or, as I like to call it ELO (“Eating Less Often”) is not per se about caloric reduction. I do expect it has that effect – both while you’re doing it and in terms of lowering appetite long-term – but the theory is that you’re reducing basal insulin load by giving insulin time between periods in which you need to make it.

(David) #6

Aah, this makes sense to me and explains why some days, when I seemingly eat a lot, I lose more weight. It could be done to the times I ate.

Thanks for the explanation.

(David) #7

Aaah. OK. It’s all becoming clearer now.

Thanks for your reply.

(David) #8

So if I’m going to try an IF, say 18:6, and I choose 13:30pm to 19:30pm as my feeding window, that way I can eat lunch at work, and dinner if I get home quick, what could I use to keep me going when I’m feeling hungry or an energy lull? Bone broth, Bouillon, coconut oil, a spoon of bacon nectar? That sort of thing?

#9

I’ve used those as well as a drink with ACV and salt - sometimes including Frank’s Buffalo sauce to spice it up a little more.

(David) #10

I’m drinking sparkling spring water with ACV in. At least 1.5 or 2 litre a day.

In water? Really? Well, colour-me intrigued.

#11

What is bacon nectar? I tried googling it, but still not sure. Do you mean bacon grease?

#12

Yep, “bacon nectar” is bacon grease, but said reverently inside one’s head! :angel:

#14

:+1:

(David) #15

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(David) #16

Well, my first 2 days of IFing have resulted in me putting on nearly 1 Kg.

Admittedly I did have some (maybe a bit too much) milk yesterday because it was due to go off and I love drinking milk.

Ooh, just noticed my calories (I don’t usually count those) were only 1,023 yesterday, and 1,576 the day before.

I might have missed entering something into MFP, what with also logging in a diary, so I’ll have to be more religious about logging everything.

I made myself a KC (Keto coffee - I’m going to respect the BPC trademark) with some double cream in, to help me through this morning after noticing that I was a little hungrier earlier yesterday morning.

I also need to increase my bacon intake, I’ve cut back on that (unintentionally) over the last week. I feel another batch of three dozen rashers of bacon cheddar being cooked tonight :wink:

(Bella Tricks) #17

Thank you. Great explanation