Finishing up 2 weeks of Intermittent Fasting (IF). IF is a method of eating where you eat during a fixed 8-hour time period and fast the other 16 hours of the day. You can chose any 8-hour stretch, I chose 11am-7pm since it was close to the way I was naturally eating.
Benefits of IF (Dr. Mercola) are:
Normalizing your insulin and leptin sensitivity - an important factor in creating optimal health
Increased Human Growth Hormone (HGH) production. " HGH plays an important role in maintaining health, fitness and longevity, including promotion of muscle growth, and boosting fat loss by revving up your metabolism."
Normalizing ghrelin levels - also known as "the hunger hormone" - this helps to reduce sugar cravings.
Lowering triglyceride levels - Preserving memory functioning and learning
My personal experience pretty much validates everything written above. By the 3rd day of IF my appetite was severely diminished, almost non-existent. I didn't even realize it but as the days flew by I was eating less and less. After 2 weeks of IF I had to tell myself what I tell a lot of people who contact me about their diet, I was under-eating! I knew I was under-eating because by the 10th day of IF I started waking up in the middle of the night with moderate to severe hunger! One thing is for sure, if I am hungry in the middle of the night it means I am not eating enough during the day. I believe it is a good thing to feel hunger on a regular basis but not if it disrupts my sleep. I've always had a good appetite and never had to worry about under-eating, it was over-eating that I struggled with. I was surprised to find myself having to force down food just so I could get at least 2000 calories a day of nutrient dense foods. I think my daily intake got as low as 1500-1800 calories which is way too low for my lean bodyweight and is counter to my main training goal which is to constantly get stronger.
Interesting thing is that I think I actually gained muscle and lost fat while practicing IF with a reduced calorie load! I don't weigh myself very regularly but I am currently 160 lbs and I believe leaner than I have been in my entire life. I was hovering around 152-155 in the weeks following the 2 weeks of IF but am not totally sure of my weight from that time period. I do remember weighing myself about a month ago and I was worried that I would drop below 155. If I am 160 after 2 weeks of IF something very interesting must of happened within my body. I do think there is something to the idea that IF improves HGH production, I can think of no other reason why I didn't lose weight and strength while unintentionally eating a reduced calorie load.
If you are going to practice IF as a method of weight loss it is very important to know when you are going to eat and stick to that schedule. If you are eating 11am -7pm like I did it is important to get that first meal in at 11am sharp and eat that last meal at 7pm sharp as well. You should try to get at least 2 more meals in during the 8-hour eating period even if they are just moderately sized snacks although a full sized meal is best. I think it is a bad idea to eat only at 11am and 7pm, this can easily lead to over-eating when it comes time to eat which is what we are trying to conquer when practicing IF. You don't need to perfectly schedule your meals but a good schedule looks like this:
11am - Meal #1 - make this a full-sized meal, with a fatty/protein source as the base of the meal
1-2pm Meal #2 - full meal or snack.
4-5pm Meal #3 - full meal or snack
7pm Meal #4 full-sized meal, the bigger the better. Again focusing on nutrient dense foods.
I am going to continue practicing IF, it seems like a natural way to eat for me. I am going to go off of the 50/50 meat and vegetable diet. My health has improved greatly after doing a month of 50/50 but such a low carbohydrate intake is killing my appetite and the last thing I want to do is find myself eating any less than I was during the end period of IF. I am going to start adding in safe-starches to my diet, about 300-400 calories a day of rice or potatoes.
Summarizing, I recommend IF for people who are
1) overweight
2) dealing with insulin/leptin related health isses
3) overcoming sugar addiction
I can not recommend IF for anybody who has under-eating issues. IF severely affects your appetite and if an under-eater finds themselves hungry in the middle of the night they should wake up and eat! The last thing I want is an under-eater to find themselves eating even less. If you are as lean as you want and have your sugar-cravings under control it is probably best to stick with a traditional eating schedule, simply eating when hungry works great.
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/28/intermittent-fasting-health-benefits.aspx
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