Fasting and restricted meal periods

[pinkfoot]

Need some input from you lovely lot, please.

I've been reading quite a bit on here of late and notice that several of the more active members mention fasting for 14 hours or there about, am I right in the way I'm reading this?

The other thing I've read is not eating too late - I'm trying to not eat after 1730, but some days my shifts mean that isn't possible. I'm doing this to try and give my body time to digest food before bed. Is this another good thing?

Thanks as always for any advice.

Kev

 

[MrsA2]

Yes, the longer you can leave the periods between eating the better.
But don't force it, you will find as your body changes that it becomes easier and more natural

 

[Mbaker]

Well done for digesting workable information to try to fit into your schedule. Assuming you are eating low carb you might settle eventually on two meals a day. A first meal you might want to have been fasted for the 14 - 16 hours, and your second as you say around 17.30 (mine today was at 15.52).

 

[pinkfoot]

Well done for digesting workable information to try to fit into your schedule. Assuming you are eating low carb you might settle eventually on two meals a day. A first meal you might want to have been fasted for the 14 - 16 hours, and your second as you say around 17.30 (mine today was at 15.52).

Again, the issue is time. Some days my shifts can be 0330-0500 starts. But hey, it's all about the pre-planning and getting things right. I do enjoy my cheesy egg muffins in a morning!!

 

[Bluetit1802]

We have always eaten late in this house. Normal time about 7pm, but we are retired and do not have to get up at the crack of dawn. My overnight fast is about 14 hours, but during my early days on this mystery tour I skipped breakfast anyway apart from a mug of either tea with a dash of milk or coffee with cream and didn't eat until about 1pm. Now, my breakfast is one soft boiled egg and a mug of tea. Next meal still 1pm.

It must be hard on different work patterns, but still possible to have a long fast before and after going to bed., whatever time it is.

 

[ianf0ster]

@pinkfoot When considering time restricted eating or moving to 2 or 2 meal per day, its important to find something that works for you and your circumstances .
Some just postpone breakfast a few hours to make for a 14 hr fat or more. Some eat breakfast and lunch only, thus extending the fast from the other side.
But as with carbs, only do what your body finds comfortable.
I didn't start skipping breakfast until I was confident that I was fully 'fat adapted'.

I realised that I had been eating breakfast just because I was used to eating breakfast rather than doing it because I was actually hungry. By that time my HbA1C was already back inside the pre-diabetic range (without medication) and I was feely good on my low carb way of eating. So it was a simple step to try waiting until I was hungry before eating - which generally turned out to be between 14:00 and 16:00
But this doesn't fit in very well on weekdays, so I eat 2 meals per day with lunch at 12:30 on weekdays, but only one meal per day at around 15:00 on weekends.

 

[bulkbiker]

Over time I've tended towards a 18:6 eating regime usually having a light meal at around 3-4 pm with main meal at 7 pm and finishing eating by 8 with final coffee of the day.
The rest of the day I usually just have coffee (mainly) or tea (less so) with double cream so nothing solid until mid afternoon. Seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[Johosephat]

Anecdotally, I tend to have a small lunch between 12:00-14:00, and dinner around 19:00. I have black decaf coffee in the morning and water/no added sugar squash throughout the day aside from a can of sugar free irn bru after lunch and dinner. Things seems to be going in the right direction and I don't miss breakfast.

 

[Mbaker]

Again, the issue is time. Some days my shifts can be 0330-0500 starts. But hey, it's all about the pre-planning and getting things right. I do enjoy my cheesy egg muffins in a morning!!

It's about doing the best you can do, nothing is perfect. My best friend does shift work and he had a visceral fat issue. We discussed a few pointers, he made some adjustments and was able to go from 9 to 6.

 

[Resurgam]

I found that eating at 12 hour intervals meant my BG level did not keep on climbing until I ate at lunchtime.
When I was taking Metformin I could not - dared not - leave the house after taking the tablet so I was not eating until noon. Once I decided to stop taking them I had a meter and decided to check various things.
Eating just 10gm of carbs in the morning as part of a meal, followed by coffee, my levels then stayed steady all day, I could go out or stay at home and was not hungry - my Hba1c went from 91 to 47 so I could not really hope for better - but then my Hba1c went down to 41 so I thought - job done.

 

[pinkfoot]

Folks..

My sincere apologies for not replying sooner, life, work and a 40 foot mast for my Ham Radio antenna has kept me busy...
Thanks for all the info, I am settling into a 16/8 fast/meals sort of thing at the moment and it is going well. Fasts are reading 5.0-5.3, Post prands are 1.5 above pre prands.. All is looking good.
Thanks as always for your brilliant info and help.

Kev