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Meal timing strategies appear to lower appetite, improve fat burning

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

#151
post #13

To add my strictly anecdotal experience: I recently started to diet for the first time ever. Never really needed it, but getting older, I noticed my weight steadily increasing despite regular exercise and finally decided to change. I always skipped breakfast, but I became a bit more strict about timing and snacking at night in order to align with IF. Switched my diet to a lazy keto (basically adkins) diet - still don…

I’m down nearly 30lbs in 3 months through intermittent fasting. Here’s my M-F routine : 7am: weigh myself, text results to my father Breakfast: Nothing, but I drink a flat white just because I want to. Midday: large bowl of plain unsweetened Greek yoghurt (no additions, which is key - the addition of fruit or other things is what sets off my sugar-loving monkey brain to go seek more). This is low carb yet filling and…

I am fascinated (honestly, not sarcastically) by the line "7am: weigh myself, text results to my father".

I've never seen that strategy, but... wow. I'd imagine the accountability that creates is pretty serious.

I had a good run with IF but have backslid. I had a routine similar to yours but maybe stricter (I was making weight for a weight-class sport so had to move quicker).

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

#152
Here's a weight loss tip I've used with some degree of success: exercise portion control by using smaller dinner plates at home and chew the food on the plate longer (like 30s). The rationale is that the sensation of feeling full takes about 20 minutes to kick in and so by practicing the above you end up eating less over time and as a result lose weight. There is also a possibility your body will make better use of the food this way as there are enzymes in your mouth that help with digestion.

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

#153
post #13

To add my strictly anecdotal experience: I recently started to diet for the first time ever. Never really needed it, but getting older, I noticed my weight steadily increasing despite regular exercise and finally decided to change. I always skipped breakfast, but I became a bit more strict about timing and snacking at night in order to align with IF. Switched my diet to a lazy keto (basically adkins) diet - still don…

How do you get under 25g of carbs without counting calories? Almost anything edible has some carbs in it. Even with all being low carb 25g is very easy to attain unless you are very strictly tracking macros.

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

#154

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 keep reading mixed reviews about intermittent fasting. One study says it lowers the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, because your blood sugar level is pretty low during the fast. The next study says this actually increases the risk, because your blood sugar spikes when you break the fast. This quickly becomes confusing.

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

#155
post #130
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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 bet…

I've no idea about how cravings work in general, but when I have a craving for two pizzas it's absolutely nothing to do with nutrients. I think you're probably correct for some subset of people/situations, but there's also a whole set of people who are effectively addicted to food and the cravings are almost 0% to do with not having the correct nutrients.

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

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can work for people who don't really need a lot of weight loss. Obese people are too deeply conditioned, their brains are wired differently and their bodies probably not responding on the hormonal level the same way as yours. To them it's a bit like suggesting a drug addict to just enjoy the withdrawal crisis. According to this research: "a substantial fraction of obese individuals exhibit an imbalance between a…

I guess. I'm a big dude, and I find it a lot easier to fast than to eat carefully on a more typical schedule. Part of it is definitely just acclimating to the sensation of food cravings (and also learning to distinguish that feeling from "hunger"), but also, if I don't eat regularly, I tend not to crave food in the first place. I can pretty sustainably stay on an 18 hour fast schedule without breaking.

Given that you're a "big dude" (aka overweight?) I assume you are that way by choice given your comments about how you can control your appetite?

I'm a bit of a fat bastard myself and I think what I've come to realise is that for a huge segment of the population eating just works fine and they can adjust diet to tweak this or that relatively easily. For the rest (like me), my relationship with food is broken and stuff like IF or keto or whatever are patches to deal with that underlying brokenness. It always works for a while, but it always go to shit eventually.

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

#157
post #97
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well done, 75 lbs (or 5 stone, 5 pounds in real money) is incredible.

Note for UK people: this is 5.35714 stone, or 5 stone and 2.27 kg.

"UK people" use SI units, it's mostly the old who use imperial.

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

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cut my soda intake from a few a day to nil a day and replaced them with water. Within a few months I had lost 30 lbs. Cutting soda intake makes a big difference. It's not the magic bullet since I've stalled at my current weight but 30 lbs is a big difference given the small change.

I know I'd be at 250lbs if I still drank soda. I used to pound 3-6 mountain dew bottles a day at the computer (that's 12-20oz per bottle). I stopped and water is delicious and satisfying now. I drink small amounts impulsively now, it's like a fixation. Water is the most delicious healthy thing I consume and thank god for that.

Do you drink fancy water, or just tap?

(I replace my fancy beer cravings with fancy water)

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

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can work for people who don't really need a lot of weight loss. Obese people are too deeply conditioned, their brains are wired differently and their bodies probably not responding on the hormonal level the same way as yours. To them it's a bit like suggesting a drug addict to just enjoy the withdrawal crisis. According to this research: "a substantial fraction of obese individuals exhibit an imbalance between a…

Yeah but they hint at the reason > Certain foods, particularly those rich in sugars and fat, are potent rewards [23] that promote eating (even in the absence of an energetic requirement) If the subjects are used to carb- and sugar-heavy diet, the hormonal spikes will be very stressful on the body. They also mention fat-heavy foods, but I suspect they are referring to foods high on both fat+sugars, not a green salad w…

Anecdotal, but one of the things I noticed when I switched to keto for a while was a drastic change in my relationship to sugar. After cutting out sugar entirely, I noticed that water didn't taste bitter anymore, something I'd always attributed to the hard water supply. Coffee is also wildly different now, and I can drink teas without any sugar, which confuses folks when I eat out. (In my part of Texas, iced sweet tea is so popular it's basically the default beverage.)

It's so strange. My whole life I hadn't given sodas a second thought, but that reward signal is strong. I don't think I ever want to go back.

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

#160
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love (and I mean LOOOOOOVEEEEE ) food, eating and feeling full or even overfed. So doing straight multi-day fasting is extremely hard for me, psychologically / motivationally. However, I'm quite lucky in that I don't really get hungry very soon, if I don't eat. It's quite a weird effect; if I eat in the morning, I'll be hungry throughout the day, but if I skip breakfast (or even lunch), I'll only get hungry towards…

I'm exactly like you (except I hate the feeling of being overfed). I don't need to eat for 4-5 hours after I wake up, but if I do eat something when I wake up, I'll be hungry very soon afterwards. I've actually had fights with my dietician who insisted I eat breakfast as soon as I wake up, and wouldn't hear any of my links to published research, or even arguments of "if I'm not hungry, why eat extra calories that wil…

It can be more than just hunger. I don’t typically get hungry until 12-1 so historically do not eat in the am. However I noticed how much more irritable I was in the morning, which is always chalked up to not being a morning person. Now I try to eat a tiny bit, the massive AM mood swings have gone away
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