Intermittent Fasting - how to get started?

bethhhpx
bethhhpx Posts: 5 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey all!

I would like to try IF but am unsure where to even start. I work out at 5am and work starts at 7.45am - 5pm. I am usually so hungry after the gym so I'm not sure if I would be really tired not having food (I dont like coffee) in the morning? Can anyone give me hints/tips on how to work out the eating window AND if it is maintainable whilst exercising so early in the morning?

Many thanks :)

Replies

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    What kind of intermittent fasting are you interesting in and what are you trying to achieve with it? Are you wanting to do it to be able to have larger meals while dieting? If you are so hungry in the morning, time restricted feeding type as conventionally done may not be for you. If you're okay eating your calories earlier in the day and having your last meal early (say, 1-2 pm) it could work, but doesn't look flexible if you usually get together with family or friends for evening meals.

    An alternative would be have breakfast, skip lunch, and have dinner. One more option is not exactly fasting, but budgeting calories for meals differently. For example, you could budget half of your calories for dinner and the rest for all other meals and snacks.
  • bigianmma
    bigianmma Posts: 24 Member
    I've always done the 16:8 and lost around 6.5 stone (90lb) doing it with regular exercise over the course of about 18 months.

    All I do is eat normally throughout the day and have my last meal at 6pm, I then fast (but drink water and coffee with a very small amount of milk) until 10am the next morning when I have a hearty breakfast and eat normally until 6pm again. As 8 of those fasting hours is when you'll be asleep, its only 4 hours each side of the fast that i'm awake.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    edited February 2018
    I do a 20:4 IF and I can't do that long of a fast if I work out in the morning. I can do that if I work out after the fast. I eat a small spoon of coconut oil before I workout or some argo corn starch (100kcal) and that is all I need to do a 900kcal run after fasting for 20-hrs. I've lost 58-lbs.

    If you don't want to change your workout schedule tell after the fast, you could keep your schedule and after the workout, eat a small spoon of the coconut oil. It will satisfy you and you should be able to make to lunch doing that. I sometimes will take the coconut oil during my fast to get me through and it doesn't set me off eating even after fasting a long time like snacking on anything else would. Good luck.

    I worry about eating coconut oil but I just got my blood panel results back and my tryglicerides were 71, LDL 118, and HDL 60, total cholesterol was 190 so I'm doing fine it looks like.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    If you're really hungry in the morning, honestly IF is probably not for you. It's more suited for people who love a big dinner and are typically not very hungry in the morning.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    If you're really hungry in the morning, honestly IF is probably not for you. It's more suited for people who love a big dinner and are typically not very hungry in the morning.

    I do a 20:4 IF and I always feel hungry when I wake up. I just drink a big glass of water and it goes away! I don't get very hungry tell two or so in the afternoon at the soonest and I deal with it for the next couple of hours. Before I did this IF schedule, I was always a big breakfast eater (and lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack ...etc eater also)!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I think it will be easier if you figure out some WHYs, and then the HOWs tend to fall into place by themselves. Like, instead of asking "how to become a vegan" - "stop eating animal products" - you ask yourself why you would want to do that - for ethical reasons, to save money, don't like meat, milk and eggs? It's the same with intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is just a collection of arbitrary meal patterns (or "windows") that somehow have deserved to be called "protocols". Eat when it's most convenient for YOU. You will probably have to be a little hungry now and then and want to eat a little more now and then, and that is completely normal and you just have to tolerate it.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    I would pack a breakfast and eat it directly after working out but what you eat is just as important as timing. Balance complex high fiber carbs with protein and fat so as to stay with you after working out.
    Fast for 12,13,14 hours and go into dinner and see how that goes with your schedule. Adjust as you go along!

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