Intermittent fasting(IF)

[Shik Valentine]

Anyone heard of it? Tried it? Or currently doing it?

http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html

Noticed a couple posts on here just awhile ago that skipping breakfast is bad(Intermittent fasting came to mind). Not trying to start an argument, just figured I would share this with everyone & provide an alternative to eating while trying to lose weight(which honestly, helps keep cravings at bay, & you feel satiated by the end of the day). No, it's not some special/magic diet. It's pretty easy & straight forward after you read the article. It's split into a fasting(16 hours) & feeding(8 hours) windows.

You pretty much get your meals within the feeding window. Be it 1, 2, 4, 6, etc... I'm not really going to get into details, just provide my way of doing it(the guide explains it very well).

Here's my set-up:
I'm currently cutting on 2000-2200 calories(my maintenance is ~2700 calories). My fasting window is between 9pm-1pm the following day. Don't worry, I'm asleep for ~8-10 hours of that fasting state. So that leaves me with ~6-8 hours left, not so bad as long as I keep my self busy. I'm up at 8:00-8:30am, workout is usually from 10:30-11:45am. My first meal of the day is at around 1-2pm(~700-800 calories). I'll have another 2-3 meals by the end of my feeding window, feel satisfied, & hit my calorie/macro requirements(protein, fat, carbs).

Not going to lie, the first few days the hunger pains will be a bit rough, but they will go away. This way of eating will let you eat larger meals, enjoy the food you eat, still being able to stay at a calorie deficit & continue to lose weight. Again, it's not some special/magic diet that is better than regular eating. Just a great alternative.

[Radux]

Huh... I guess I've been doing this all along and didn't know it lol.

I'm just not a breakfast person. I have my 1st meal around noon, another around 4-5 (a hefty snack, I guess?) and then dinner is around 9. I keep at maintenance level for my intake (I'm 5'8" and ~140 lbs) -- pretty easy to maintain.

Nice to have a name for how I eat (outside of eating Paleo) now, though.

[Shik Valentine]

Yeah, I was doing the same thing for a few years, but stumbled upon this site recently. Seeing that I workout in the am, & I can't keep my meals down during that time. This works out great for me

Edit: I have pushed close to 20+ hours of fasting. Not intentionally doing it, I just don't find myself hungry at all. Like right now, I "should" have ate an hour ago. But the hunger isn't there, & no headaches or feelings of weakness.

[Lagwin]

Err yeah...i read the title as intermittent FISTing.
Either way it dosnt sound like a good idea.
As for eating, it really depends on you personally, if you are physically active through out the day then have your three meals a day...if you are not active you could skip a meal but i wouldn't skip breakfast(gets your metabolism going)...possibly skip lunch or atleast a light snack then dinner and nothing in between.

[Radux]

Yeah there have been days where I've just been doing something and never got around to eating. I'll feel hungry and think 'oh I need to eat' but then got distracted and the hunger subsided pretty quickly. It's only ever been a problem if I have a day like I just mentioned (putting in a bear minimum of calories) and then start to do that again (on accident, of course). It's at that point where my blood sugar plummets and I have to stop everything and find a piece of fruit to jump start me before I pass out lol.

I do the same thing, though. I'm a morning workout person (usually put my own work out in before I see clients). I can't have a thing in me or I'll just get so sick.