Finished my first day of IF

FlowerFairy493
FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
in Health and Weight Loss
Yesterday I posted a topic asking about skipping dinner to get rid of my candy cravings at night.

I did it and it worked! I didn't feel discomfort or anything from not eating.

The only weird thing I noticed was the fact that I didn't sleep as good as usual. I was very, AWAKE. I woke up at 00:45 and couldn't sleep again until 2:00am which is unlike me. I always sleep through the night. Is that because of fasting? I drank two cups of coffee last night but I doubt they are the cause because at night I only drink decaf?

Replies

  • 12_oz_Curls
    12_oz_Curls Posts: 140 Member
    Don't skip dinner. it's important. Best bet is to eat a larger lunch or afternoon snack, then fill yourself with dinner, and you won't notice the cravings as much. I am a guilty bedtime feeder. it's a hard habit to break, but a bigger lunch and light dinner does seem to do it.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    Don't skip dinner. it's important. Best bet is to eat a larger lunch or afternoon snack, then fill yourself with dinner, and you won't notice the cravings as much. I am a guilty bedtime feeder. it's a hard habit to break, but a bigger lunch and light dinner does seem to do it.

    Um as I said I did it and it worked as in it took my cravings away. I was asking about the insomnia not the cravings. :-/
  • FatJockSing
    FatJockSing Posts: 164 Member
    Don't skip dinner. it's important. Best bet is to eat a larger lunch or afternoon snack, then fill yourself with dinner, and you won't notice the cravings as much. I am a guilty bedtime feeder. it's a hard habit to break, but a bigger lunch and light dinner does seem to do it.

    Might suit YOU - but isn't a panacea for all . . . . so for sure it is NOT the BEST BET!!!

    MANY people succesfully and healithily implement various forms of IF! Each individual has to find the best solution for THEIR OWN mind and body.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    Bumping because nobody has actually answered my question yet.
  • FatJockSing
    FatJockSing Posts: 164 Member
    .

    The only weird thing I noticed was the fact that I didn't sleep as good as usual. I was very, AWAKE. I woke up at 00:45 and couldn't sleep again until 2:00am which is unlike me. I always sleep through the night. Is that because of fasting? I drank two cups of coffee last night but I doubt they are the cause because at night I only drink decaf?

    Based on one night its impossible to tell. Also Decaf is not totally 100% Caffeine free - and you dont mention whether you usually drink coffee. Zero exposure to 2 Decaffs" maybe enough for some people. You would need to have a lot more data and details to get any sort of reliable and sensible answer. so I suggest you track for a few days and look for trends . . . .
  • junlex123
    junlex123 Posts: 81 Member
    Digesting a decent amount of food does indeed alter your blood chemistry in a number of ways which all contribute to drowsiness.

    Also, placebo effect is powerful, and decaf coffee can still act as a stimulant due to psychological conditioning even though it is not a chemical stimulant.

    Neither issue is impossible to overcome - stick with your current schedule and your body will eventually adjust; or you can just adjust your feeding window to later on in the day.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182

    Also Decaf is not totally 100% Caffeine free - and you dont mention whether you usually drink coffee.

    Sorry about that. Yes I do drink decaf every night. In place of hot chocolate, the warmth helps put me to sleep :)
  • Genetic_Drift
    Genetic_Drift Posts: 12 Member
    If this is just your first day of trying it, it's going to be very difficult to get a feeling as to whether lack of cravings is going to be a consistent thing, and also whether difficulty sleeping is because of it. I'm personally not pro IF so I'm not making any recommendations, but I would expect and have experienced myself that you won't get a good feel for the effects on cravings and sleep from any change to eating habits for at least a few weeks. Just a one day sample doesn't really tell you anything.
  • pattyebricker
    pattyebricker Posts: 149 Member
    I did IF for about 2 months and like you it definitely stopped my night time cravings. However unlike you I slept sooooo much better. Not sure why you didn't sleep, but IMO it wasn't from IF . What type of IF were you doing? I was on 1 meal a day. God bless you don't give up.
    Eta: I also am a night time coffee drinker
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    I did IF for about 2 months and like you it definitely stopped my night time cravings. However unlike you I slept sooooo much better. Not sure why you didn't sleep, but IMO it wasn't from IF . What type of IF were you doing? I was on 1 meal a day. God bless you don't give up.
    Eta: I also am a night time coffee drinker

    I eat all of my calories for the day between 7am-1pm. Then nothing but liquid for the rest of the day. :)
  • short_nerdy_lady
    short_nerdy_lady Posts: 152
    Don't skip dinner. it's important. Best bet is to eat a larger lunch or afternoon snack, then fill yourself with dinner, and you won't notice the cravings as much. I am a guilty bedtime feeder. it's a hard habit to break, but a bigger lunch and light dinner does seem to do it.

    Um as I said I did it and it worked as in it took my cravings away. I was asking about the insomnia not the cravings. :-/

    If you read his reply he was offering another method that helped him but still allowed him to eat supper which may in turn help with the insomnia. Don't knock it before you try it. I've also had success with this.
  • Transforming_me
    Transforming_me Posts: 25

    Also Decaf is not totally 100% Caffeine free - and you dont mention whether you usually drink coffee.

    Sorry about that. Yes I do drink decaf every night. In place of hot chocolate, the warmth helps put me to sleep :)
    s

    I think that your lack of sleep probably had to do with your stomach just having coffee in your stomach, normally our stomachs are used to digesting at night and we often sleep better (due to carbs) on a fuller stomach- not disgustingly full, but full enough. Also, exactly to this point listed above, decaf is not really DECAF. I hope this helps :)
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    Don't skip dinner. it's important. Best bet is to eat a larger lunch or afternoon snack, then fill yourself with dinner, and you won't notice the cravings as much. I am a guilty bedtime feeder. it's a hard habit to break, but a bigger lunch and light dinner does seem to do it.

    Um as I said I did it and it worked as in it took my cravings away. I was asking about the insomnia not the cravings. :-/

    If you read his reply he was offering another method that helped him but still allowed him to eat supper which may in turn help with the insomnia. Don't knock it before you try it. I've also had success with this.

    I get crazy cravings when I eat snacks in the afternoon and as soon as I start eating dinner I can't stop eating. I blow up my whole day at that time of the day. This is the exact reason why started skipping it. I said that in my OP. He might not notice his cravings much, but that is the exact situation in which mine is strongest.
  • AllieLosingIt
    AllieLosingIt Posts: 150 Member
    I think the lack of sleep was definitely related, not because of the actual fasting, but because it seemed to take the cravings away and that probably meant you went to bed excited because your experiment worked.

    I'm not sure if that made sense because I've yet to have caffeine this morning.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    I think the lack of sleep was definitely related, not because of the actual fasting, but because it seemed to take the cravings away and that probably meant you went to bed excited because your experiment worked.

    I'm not sure if that made sense because I've yet to have caffeine this morning.

    Hehe yeah it does make sense don't worry. Some of the other suggestions do as well. :drinker: coffee for you? It's not decaf I promise... :wink:
  • Laurenloveswaffles
    Laurenloveswaffles Posts: 535 Member
    I think it was the coffee and excitement, not the fact that you skipped dinner.

    I follow IF, bu I eat most of my calories at night to stop the cravings. Meal timing has no effect on weight loss. So if skipping dinner works for you, then keep it up :drinker:
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Some people can't sleep well when they're hungry, some can't sleep well when they're full.
  • Orion782
    Orion782 Posts: 391
    I'm not a dietician, but I've been practicing IF for about 2 years now and here's what my hypothesis is...

    IF significantly alters your insulin levels; over the course of a few days it will stabilize your insulin levels and that's what makes it easier to adjust to the fasting windows without significant hunger pangs. When your body is experiencing an insulin fluctuation, that's usually what triggers a craving and/or feeding response. Obviously food intake has a pronounced effect on your insulin response, especially when just starting the IF regimen. Once your body adapts, it becomes less insulin responsive.

    I believe that your first day of skipping dinner triggered an insulin crash that your body was not accustomed to, hence the wakefulness you experienced. Your body has been conditioned to process most of its fuel at night, so you probably had run out of "fuel" which jacked up your circadian rythym.

    Again, this is just my theory but after a few days, your body will adapt. My fasting window is normally from ~6pm - 11am, and I found that the most hunger I would experience was in the morning for the first 3-4 days. After I powered through it, things went back to normal.

    Good luck!
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    Some people can't sleep well when they're hungry, some can't sleep well when they're full.

    This. Personally I have to eat most of my calories at night. I cannot sleep when I'm hungry. Keep at what you're doing for a week or 2 and see if you level out.
  • entropy83
    entropy83 Posts: 172 Member
    I agree- it is too early to tell but I found this article was referenced previously, if you find that it is a continuing issues for you. I found this article extremely interesting because it highlights some possible sex differences in the benefit of IF.

    http://www.paleoforwomen.com/shattering-the-myth-of-fasting-for-women-a-review-of-female-specific-responses-to-fasting-in-the-literature/
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    I'm not a dietician, but I've been practicing IF for about 2 years now and here's what my hypothesis is...

    IF significantly alters your insulin levels; over the course of a few days it will stabilize your insulin levels and that's what makes it easier to adjust to the fasting windows without significant hunger pangs. When your body is experiencing an insulin fluctuation, that's usually what triggers a craving and/or feeding response. Obviously food intake has a pronounced effect on your insulin response, especially when just starting the IF regimen. Once your body adapts, it becomes less insulin responsive.

    I believe that your first day of skipping dinner triggered an insulin crash that your body was not accustomed to, hence the wakefulness you experienced. Your body has been conditioned to process most of its fuel at night, so you probably had run out of "fuel" which jacked up your circadian rythym.

    Again, this is just my theory but after a few days, your body will adapt. My fasting window is normally from ~6pm - 11am, and I found that the most hunger I would experience was in the morning for the first 3-4 days. After I powered through it, things went back to normal.

    Good luck!

    I love science :drinker:
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    You can't really judge by one night. You never know what happened, it may have been random or you may just be adjusting to the change of schedule. Give it a few days and see how it goes. I don't remember having any sleep problems when I did it. You're probably over-excited :)

    If your whole first week is the same, allow yourself a snack containing a banana and a warm cup of milk right before going to bed. Even have it when you are already in bed and lights are to be turned off so you aren't tempted to get up and snack. Bananas are known for aiding relaxation and milk is a mild sedative that would help you sleep through the night.

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