satchel2008 wrote: »

Weigh in day Friday
PW: 229
CW: 228
Comments: been very sick this week even had to miss work yesterday hoping I get better soon

@satchel2008 Sorry to hear that you're sick, hoping for a speedy recovery!

DebJB30 wrote: »

I really like the idea of this mini challenge, but I keep forgetting to post. I’m not finished with my steps or my dinner for tonight- hopefully I’ll remember to post later.

@DebJB30 You can set a reminder on your phone or post in the morning first thing, a lot of people do that.

Happy Monday! Let's make this week even better than last week!!

DebJB30 wrote: »

I'm curious how you get enough healthy calories to eat in 5 hours. I had a hard time getting a minimum of 1000 calories to eat in an 8 hour window, with work and life happening. Remembering to eat before 8pm, when I wasn't always hungry for another meal was one of the hardest things. In a 5 hour window, I'd feel like all I did was eat. I guess if your window falls in the evening, that makes it easier. I guess maybe I never did it long enough to get adjusted to the schedule.

@DebJB30 There's a healthy debate on whether or not there is truly a "healthy amount of intake" and the variation from person to person is huge, and it depends on a lot of factors. Another thing to consider is the nutrition side of this. If you're trying to cut fat from your diet (something I recommend strongly against as research has shown time and time again our bodies and hormones need fat intake at least in some capacity) then yes, you are going to find it hard to take in "enough" calories. Not sure the diet plan you are trying to follow but I follow a Ketogenic diet, while limiting carbs, it does encourage taking in at least 60% of your intake in fat, which makes it a lot easier to get over the current suggested amount of intake because fat is more calorie dense. Keto isn't necessary to do intermittent fasting at all and you are absolutely able to do it while keeping your normal diet, whatever that looks like for you. You will likely just have to plan your choices more carefully if you're trying to hit a certain number, for example that 1200 calorie mark that everyone seems to attached to--which never worked for me, not once over my journey and not now either. That number may be different for you as well, something I encourage you to experiment with as well.

Also, your body does adjust. I'll refrain from cluttering up this already long message with science and terms, however it's important to realize that the reason we tend to feel hungry isn't actual hunger but instead a hunger hormone that's been trained to eat at certain times of the day, we actually trained our bodies to get hungry at certain times and that hormone that controls it basically remembers what time it is and tells you it's time to eat, when you may or may not be hungry and the best way to retrain it is to stick to your schedule. If 8pm rolls around and you don't feel hungry, don't eat. When your window opens up in the morning or afternoon or whenever it opens, feel free to eat then, you may or may not be hungry then....and if you're not hungry don't eat but DO force yourself to stick to the schedule that you set, and eventually your body will adjust and you will start feeling hungry at those times, and if it's easier, ease into it, start by delaying breakfast by an hour....and after this gets easier, take away another hour....eventually you'll adjust, and it really doesn't take long to do. And you can schedule your 8 hour window whenever it works best for you with work and life....I am naturally not hungry in the morning and I started there with that.

Another thing to consider that's really starting to blow up the idea that we need to meet a minimum is ADF (or Alternate Day Fasting) which is what I'm doing right now. The is currently doing more research going into why this works so well and why there are so many benefits that people are seeing from it...and when you consider that you're not eating for 36 hours out of every 48 hours, it's hard to imagine that you're taking in what has been recommended for so many years, which sort of makes you wonder about a lot of the recommendations in the health and weight loss space. I'm in no way suggesting that everyone run out and only eat every other day, I'm simply saying that there are options and no one way to do anything.