Thanks for all of your great comments on my post about trying out Intermittent Fasting! I appreciate your perspectives, and I completely agree that IF is not for everyone…in fact, I’m not actually recommending it to anyone yet. I’m just testing it out on myself!
Alison (who is my bloggie-neighbor) wrote a post about her own experience with IF a few months ago—and she also has a lot of really great references in her post, so I highly recommend checking it out!
I suppose I’ll share my experience so far, and then after this just write about it intermittently (that’s fitting, don’t you think?).
I actually started cutting down my eating time on Friday, but was eating early in the day instead of later. On Monday, I flipped it to afternoon/evening eating (so I had a snack on Sunday night to fill in the gap). As a result, technically, Fri, Sat, and Sun were prep days, and day 1 was Monday.
It was super easy on the weekend—I was in yoga teacher training all day, and had eaten a filling protein-rich breakfast.
On Monday, it wasn’t much of a problem to wait till 1pm to eat (and I worked out at noon). I had two cups of coffee in the morning with organic half and half (2 tbsp in each cup). I had plenty of energy for my workout, but only did 30 minutes of Ugi and sandbag exercises. I also took a walk that day.
On Tuesday, I had to wellness coach from 7:30-11:30 in Rochester so I was gone till about 1pm (I stopped at the grocery store). I was feeling kind of nauseous then, but I’m pretty sure that was from dehydration. I didn’t feel hungry at all. I did want to eat a horse once I began eating my lunch though—so I consciously slowed down. I didn’t work out before eating, but I did afterwards and that felt fine too.
Today, I wanted to eat as soon as I woke up at 6am, but it wasn’t hunger…just appetite. I had a cup of coffee and wanted to chew my arm off. Luckily (?) my Internet was acting up so I went to Starbucks to work for 3 hours…and magically when I was in a place where there was no food I would even consider eating, my appetite disappeared. I had a grande coffee with half and half though. At lunch time, I went home, ate first, and then went to the gym (I just didn’t want to wait till afterwards to eat—even though my plan was to wait). I’ll just say that it’s a good thing I had class tonight, because I’m pretty sure I would not have lost my appetite all evening. Once at school though, it disappeared (there’s no food there).
Overall, I feel pretty good. I have not checked my body fat or hydration yet (I feel like I only want to do that once a week). But my weight has fluctuated up and down up to four pounds over a three-four day span…just like it always does. I’m still in my “normal” range. My calorie intake is the same as it usually is, I’m just condensing the time in which I eat from 12 hours (or more) down to 4-8 hours (depending on the day).
I feel like I have some re-training of my appetite hormones to do, and I need to drink more water in the first half of the day and cut the coffee down. I think I’ll do it gradually since I’m not trying to restrict myself or make myself crazy.
I tried making a mac and cheese dish out of kelp noodles today…and it was a big fail! I just threw it all out, and ate salad with chicken instead. I’m trying to eat my “carb-y food” right before or after my workout (ideally after, but so far I’m not doing awesome on that). Note: my carb intake is pretty low–in my prior experiments I’ve learned to keep it that way so I can function at my best (clear skin is a benefit of that for me too!).
I’m loving this experiment—it’s fun, and if nothing else, it is an awareness tool! I’m tracking my intake in Sparkpeople, so over time maybe I’ll post some of the reports—but they’re not totally relevent to this since it’s really about time and not macronutrient intake. I’ll try and do a WIAW for next week and add times though, just to show you that I’m still eating like a normal person (or a normal person who doesn’t eat grains or much sugar).
Side note:
Supplements: Ultra Source of Life Multivitamin, SunChlorella, Vit D, Dr. Mercola’s Krill Oil
My goals for tomorrow:
- Only one cup of coffee (I don’t really want to do this one so I might not if it feels restrictive)
- Work out before I eat
- Drink 20oz water in morning before workout
- Make tomorrow’s ratio of fast:eat be 20:4
- Keep my fat intake below 100g and my protein above 100g (this is unrelated to the IF, but it’s still a goal. Remind me sometime to talk about the research I’m reading regarding saturated fat and hormone balance)
Does your appetite come and go based on the availability of food? Your busy-ness?
Do you have any fitness or nutrition goals that you’re working on right now?
Do you take supplements? What and why?
glad you are feeling okay on this!
On another note…I can’t find kelp noodles anywhere and have been searching for over a year!
Hmmmm. Very interesting. Most of the research that I’ve read says that not eating breakfast correlates with lower life span and higher weight. Of course, there could be any number of other things influencing that (for example, the fact that most people who skip breakfast are not eating mindfully…and you’re skipping breakfast for a different reason altogether). Not trying to be negative…just curious and thinking aloud. It sounds like it’s a very positive learning experience for you. As always, I look forward to reading more!
i loved reading your report, lisa! the best is that you are experimenting on yourself. reminds me of the doctor (lionel somebody??) who took mega doses of vitamin c and recorded what happened. glad you have ideas of what you want to do but are willing to go with the flow (coffee!!). i;m interested to read more, so i hope you’ll share again (intermittently is a good plan!).
i take vitamin c, vitamin d, glucosamine and calcium supplements.
i have never tried kelp noodles – better luck next time!
working at starbucks – > the best part IS the eavesdropping!
Email me your address and I’ll mail you some!
How interesting!! Looking forward to further updates!
Oh, gosh, Lisa. I am taking ridiculous amounts of supplements and would LOVE to cut back, since it leaves me penniless! Dr. Cate makes it sound like I can, but I’m afraif to give up some of the supps I take because I have a family health history of certain diseases.
My “must haves” are bioidentical estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, plus natural thyroid and, most recently, Cytomel. I am in menopause and my hormones had tanked, making losing fat and gaining muscle next to impossible.
I am frequently experimenting with new supps, probably because I second guess myself. Since I have osteoporosis, I take a variety of bone supps–Wellness Resources Daily Bone Xcel, Bone and Joint Helper and Dr. Mercola’s Vitamin K2.
Because my dad had AD, I take Memory Caps (and Brain Tabs, too, when I can afford them) from Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa.
I take a variety of Dr. Mercola’s krill oils–sometimes the Krill Oil for Women (if so, I don’t take supplementary black currant oil, borage oil or EPO) or his Krill IQ (which contains PS).
I take 5-HTP to help boost mood and regulate my appetite.
I know there are more, but you’re probably bored already. 🙂
Lisa, You’ve gotten Maria and I so interested in intermittent fasting. After chatting about it, we’re going to start it this weekend, officially on Monday, and start with a 16hr fast and go from there!
Thanks again for sharing all your lovely adventures!
This is all very interesting to me. Last week when I got my juicer I played around with juice fasting for parts of the day vs eating and had some curious results ranging from weakness to that euphoric feeling you speak of. I want to play around with it some more, but I had a stomach virus last week that killed my appetite for most things, including fresh juice. I’m working my way back into my appetite this week. 🙂
I can’t wait to hear about your research regarding saturated fats and hormone balance. Please don’t forget to fill us in!! You really have my sister and I interested in this IF.
i love that you’re doing this and documenting it here! so interesting to read. i don’t really take any supplements, only because i was taking a women’s daily and i think it made me breakout.
i love this update. It is SO HARD to distinguish between appetite and hunger when we have no clue what real hunger is anymore. I am working on that. I usually end up eating somewhere at 10:30am truly hungry. But youre right about hydration too. Sheesh, so much to take in. Keep us posted!
p.s.
the only sauce I have that words well with kelp noodles is a nut sauce or tahini. I totally would have failed the mac and cheese too.
Lisa, just a reminder regarding the coffee while I think of it. I have been really successful these past two weeks drinking just one cup of coffee and then switching to Dandy Blend. I add the organic half ‘n half and it really is a fine substitute.
I love reading about this! I find that a lot of times I do have an appetite, but not exactly hungry. When I am busy or not around food, I eat way less! When I am at work and am just sitting there thinking about when I can eat next … I definitely eat way more! I am really seriously thinking about trying intermittent fasting though!
Interesting! I’d never heard of IF before. Like you say, I get hungrier when I CAN have foods. And coffee helps me not eat–I think it’s a nice ‘distraction’ when I know I should be waiting for mealtime.
And the little guy in Starbucks is so cute! =)
My appetite absolutely comes and goes based on avalibility of food! type of food! stress! busy factor! all of that =) I’m a boredom induced snacker and blogging USED to curb that. But I didn’t read food blogs at first, I read design blogs… now I read mostly foodie blogs. and darlilng, i’m always starving! I love these appetite updates so keep em coming! I feel like we’re in the same boat so many times and I love learning from and relating to you! mwah1
yup—gotta do that. I’m falling into the “too much coffee” trap.
I have discovered that if I’m busy and not around food, I don’t get hungry. I do think being around it all the time will lead to mindless eating. Food is such a habit.
This seems like a great idea! It seems like it’s going well for you, and I’m so glad hear it. 😉
i love following your experiment. Its crazy what you can find out about urself and ur body when you do a fast like that. I have had lots of stomach problems in india the last months and will try macrobiotic “fast” or “diet” to find my balance again.
I do take supplements for skin,hair and nails by Dr. Boehm (has a lot of zinc, biotin, iron, vitamin d…) and love my green grass pills and powders. I try to keep my body alkaline. do u take supplements? i could not drink coffee when doing IF I think it would make me go totally crazy.
I just found your blog and this is the first post I’m reading – I also do the IF thing, but I’ve been doing it so long, I don’t even really think about it.
I drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day, then switch to tea. I’m also drinking about 50 ounces of water on top of that, so I’m well hydrated! I usually don’t eat until around 2 and eat my last snack around 10. It has worked for me for a long time, and I think I was just eating in the morning out of habit and because I thought I was “supposed to”.
Thanks for your comment! I’m really finding that it works best for me—I’ve had a few people put it down because “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” and all…but I do best without it! Do you put anything in your coffee or drink it black? Also, do you plan your carb intake around (after) working out? I can’t seem to be consistent about that so far!