Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

sciencedaily.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 204 posts

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#121

Post by weddpros »

jedberg wrote: post #5

I tried IF for a while. I lost a couple pounds and then plateaued. What I realized is that the main thing it was doing was preventing me from snacking at night. I didn't really eat any more than normal during the eating period, I just didn't eat my usual outside of it. So exactly in line with the study. It just didn't do much for me weight-loss-wise. I was already skipping breakfast most days, so waiting until lunch…

"I'm usually up until 1-2am": maybe a lack of good quality sleep is your real problem? Bad sleep has been correlated to weight gain

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#122

Post by nikkwong »

Interesting read! It's also worth noting that circadian rhythm based eating habits (i.e. timing meals in the morning, or at least the bulk of one's caloric intake earlier in the day), are important for more than just weight loss. They reduce levels of inflammation in the body, improve insulin response, improve glucose tolerance, the list goes on and on. Humans evolved to eat when they are at peak-awareness/wakefulness: in the morning/early-day. If one's trying to optimize for peak performance/health/longevity, they should in the AM rather than PM.

Personally I only eat one meal a day, stopping all calorie consumption by 11am. I'm in the 2nd day of a 3 day fast; it's definitely an exercise in discipline, but so worth doing. Fasting's stress on the body invokes a "survival of the fittest" response on the cellular level; in which under performing cells are cleaned out. Some news out of USC has stated that a 72 hour fast leads to an "entire reset of your immune system" [0]. Pretty interesting stuff for health-conscientious folks.

[0] https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regene...

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#123

Post by brandonmenc »

Since everyone is chiming in with anecdotal weight loss experiences via faddish diets, I'll chime in with mine following "conventional" diet wisdom.

40 years old, 170 lbs down to 135 lbs, slow and steady just by eating a conventionally healthy low fat diet and adhering to CICO.

No wacky meal timings. No eating/avoiding an entire macronutrient to excess. Most calories came from whole grains, whey, and fish, and I made sure my belly was full most of the time with vegetables.

I drank wine nearly every day, and popped a square of Dove chocolate for dessert most meals. I even ate fast food a couple times a month.

Hunger pains and exhausting days in the gym? You bet. But it wasn't difficult, and I still got to eat my favorite foods - just less of them.

CICO works. Studies like this are interesting, but almost certainly just tweaking the margins for most people.

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#124

Post by StavrosK »

asark wrote: post #119
StavrosK wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't have any problem sticking with my normal 60kg weight until I got over 35 or so, now I'm up to 70kg Yeah, I put on 10 kg as well once I hit 33. I don't know what happened, everything I've read said your metabolism doesn't slow down until much later, but I exercise more and eat less than I used to, yet I put on a bunch of weight that I can't easily lose. I'd love to figure out why that is, but I can't find a…

> Yeah, I put on 10 kg as well once I hit 33. I don't know what happened, everything I've read said your metabolism doesn't slow down until much later I remained trim eating 4000ish calories a day of junk food from about age 15 to age 22 or so. Attempted to crash diet to a strict 1400 calories a day to make my comes-and-goes six-pack a bit more permanent. Kept it up for about two months. Nothing (more or less) happen…

Jeez, that sucks. Did you go back to 4000 calories when you stopped? 1400 calories don't sound too terrible, I wonder what happened.

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#125

Post by xbdobd »

yurishimo wrote: post #46

I’ll add one more anecdote to the mix here. Been doing intermittent fasting and extended fasting since February and I’m down 75 pounds in that time. I used to snore like crazy, probably had sleep apnea but was too afraid to go get tested since my grandmother died from becoming dependent on the machine and her lungs failed. Now I don’t snore at all. My wife sleeps better, I sleep better; win win! I haven’t exercised a…

A 7 day fast is pretty intense. I’ve only gone 24 hr (super easy)

How much of your ability to do that is because of previously stored fat (that you'll eventually burn out?)

How much recharge time do you allow yourself?

Food gives you nutrients aside from calories. Given your frequent fasts, how do you ensure that a 7 day fast won’t deplete them?

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#126

Post by tootie »

yurishimo wrote: post #46

I’ll add one more anecdote to the mix here. Been doing intermittent fasting and extended fasting since February and I’m down 75 pounds in that time. I used to snore like crazy, probably had sleep apnea but was too afraid to go get tested since my grandmother died from becoming dependent on the machine and her lungs failed. Now I don’t snore at all. My wife sleeps better, I sleep better; win win! I haven’t exercised a…

I did it for a little over a month and gained a smidge. Felt really hungry half the day too. YMMV.

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#127

Post by naasking »

brandonmenc wrote: post #123

Since everyone is chiming in with anecdotal weight loss experiences via faddish diets, I'll chime in with mine following "conventional" diet wisdom. 40 years old, 170 lbs down to 135 lbs, slow and steady just by eating a conventionally healthy low fat diet and adhering to CICO. No wacky meal timings. No eating/avoiding an entire macronutrient to excess. Most calories came from whole grains, whey, and fish, and I made…

CICO works certainly, but the advantage of IF is that it makes adherence to CICO easier. You're effectively cutting ingestion opportunities to 1/3 of what they normally are. It's hard to eat 2/3 of your calories in ouch a short time frame.

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#128

Post by robertc2017 »

fifnir wrote: post #61
betenoire wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hunger is just another feeling Exactly! I've done intermittent fasting for many many years, it works for me. I've told people, "You know how a workout 'hurts so good'? Learn to think that way about hunger/cravings. Consider it the same way you would consider a workout pain, as progress not punishment".

I can think, I can wait, I can fast.

Wise, Sid

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#129

Post by freddie_mercury »

zmmmmm wrote: post #40
_raoulcousins wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this specific to engineers? I noticed this in college classes across disciplines. A lot of the time that someone raised their hand, it was to share an anecdote and not a question.

I find it honestly surprising that I see it so much on HN. You have a group of people who largely identify themselves as being rational, objective, intelligent people - datascientists, engineers, etc. - who stereotypically I would think to be naturally sceptical and want to examine evidence closely. But it's absolutely true, the minute some scientific study is posted there are 50 people writing comments that they bel…

My favourite version of this is when a scientific study comes out and you get lots of posts from people saying, effectively, I disagree with science based on my feelings. The difference between anti-vaxxers or creationists and the average HN poster isn't as big as many pretend it is, I think.

Re: Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

#130

Post by toss1 »

lisper wrote: post #98
betenoire wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hunger is just another feeling Exactly! I've done intermittent fasting for many many years, it works for me. I've told people, "You know how a workout 'hurts so good'? Learn to think that way about hunger/cravings. Consider it the same way you would consider a workout pain, as progress not punishment".

> "You know how a workout 'hurts so good'? Learn to think that way about hunger/cravings. Consider it the same way you would consider a workout pain, as progress not punishment". Another way to look at it that I've found effective: think of food cravings as an adversarial agent. Your body is blackmailing you: if you give me food, I'll make this craving go away. Trick is, the food you're probably craving -- chips, sod…

Blackmail indeed, although it may be a different phenomena; consider:

You need a laundry list of nutrients, and if your body is short of any one of them, it'll crave something that might have it. If it has it in insufficient density, it won't care that it needs to also get an extra 500 Kcal along for the ride - it needs to satisfy each item on the list.

I've seen this behavior in both cats and people -- feed them better quality food, and their cravings & weight go down as the full set of nutrients is found in fewer calories.

(Different topic, also very big on intermittent fasting, ensuring that there are frequent periods where the body recovers energy from fat stores)

Post reply on HN