question for those who IF

[425lisamarie]

So i'm wondering about breakfast. "the most important meal of the day." I always have just made myself eat but then it seems i spiral in to this hungry all the time thing, but the last 3 mornings i had my cup of coffee with coconut milk and cinnamon, and I wasn't hungry till after the kids got up, fed, showered, probably later morning, then I ate. I was satisfied, ate slightly more than usual for breakfast and wasnt' hungry until almost dinner. On a day I go to the gym or something I have a power packed snack wether I feel really hungry or not, but on a day that is resting and with family I'm just eating when hungry.

So is this fine? I don't really "get" the IF thing, if it's purposeful, or you just go with the flow of being hungry? I have a TERRIBLE night time snacking thing, like I do it so out of habbit and because it's been engraved in to me that you must not starve your body while sleeping. I really want to give this up so i was thinking of starting that tonight wether I'm hungry or not after dinner

[crunchy_mama]

Well, I didn't start it on purpose. I started noticing I wasn't hungry in the am and noticed I felt better when I waited to eat. Then a lightbulb finally went off(after I let go of the CW that we have to eat 6x a day) that this is like that IF that I had read about. So, I just started stretching that out and really focusing on my hungry- was it real or was I just eating because I thought I should or was bored. I also noticed like you the more I ate in the am the more hunger I had later in the day, especially if it was higher carb fare. The idea is to give your body and digestive system a rest. Plus there are just lots of other benefits, like the benefits we get by calorie restriction, which are pretty widely known (and not unlike the long lived Japanese who make it a practice to never stuff themselves but IIRC eat until about 70% fullness). I seem to be going towards an alternate day fasting regime- then trying to keep my eating in a 5-6 hr window, but there are lots of ways to do it. I say start w/ what feels natural and go from there.

check out:
robbwolf.com (tons of good stuff here!!)
thedailyapple.com (of course you know that one)
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/i...better-health/
http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2010...ttent-fasting/
http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/155/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler49.htm

[425lisamarie]

Thanks!! I didn't really know the "terms" or the marks daily apple thing with the "primal" eating/living, but after hearing about it I thought "hmmm, this is what I sort of do and FEELS the most natural," but still trying to go with the conventional fitness community advice .