My experience with Intermittent fasting for a year.
I intermittent fast. That does not mean I starve myself. It means, I eat my days worth of food in 1, 2 ,or 3 sittings.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is simply going a period of time without eating (fasting) and then eating your food in a smaller window of time. For example, you stop eating at 8pm or 10pm at night… the next day you wake up and wait 4-6 hours (or more) to consume your calories.
Sleep time + 4-6 or more hours = 16/20 hours of fasting. Time not eating.
Then you eat your food (calories and macros). Time eating.
People basically consume their food in different size (time) windows. But I won’t get that specific.
So why do this?
There are many reasons people do IF. The short answer for me… I love food. It allows me to eat big meals (how I like them) AND easily manage/cut weight... or you can call it strategy. Here’s proof.
Side note
I don’t believe IF is for everyone. I’m not here to convert you. If you are naturally a grazer or struggle to put on weight, intermittent fasting may not be your jam. But for people like me, who have the habit or desire to eat big-crunchy-saucy meals, then intermittent fasting is awesome.
I refer to calories calories in vs. calories out, but I do mean your macros. I do not advise your calories to be made up of pancakes, coke, and donuts. Don’t arm-twist the point I’m making here. Your calories should have an adequate and healthy combination of protein, fats, and carbs that are nutritional for your body. Just drilling the concept.
What I am saying is, intermittent fasting makes it a million times easier to enjoy big meals and lose weight.
I am saying, if you are trying to lose weight, it’s easier to eat two 800 calorie meals a day (+ a bowl of cereal) than it is six 300 calories meals a day.
You need to realize: in order to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume for an extended period of time. It’s doesn’t matter if you eat 6 meals a day or one big ass meal a day, you need to be in a caloric deficit or you will not lose weight. If you are not losing weight, you are consuming more that you burn. Period. I just find intermittent fasting an easier and more enjoyable method to being in a deficit. I credit the success to enjoying it.
So here’s the thing. Desk jobs kill.
Desk job-ers are already at a disadvantage. We burn fewer calories a day than a person with a moderately active day job. As a designer, I sit on my butt all day staring at a computer screen pushing pixels (which I love to do btw). I still care about my health, physic, and longevity—how am I going to be healthy tomorrow if all I do is go to work, sit, come home, and sit… to only burn a measly 2,000 calories in 24 hours.
See…
If I consume food throughout the day without thinking about what I’m eating.
It might look something like:
Breakfast — Banana, Toast w/PB (410 cals)
Snack — Larbar or other snack (210 Cals)
Lunch with co workers (800-1000 calories)
Im already at 1,700 calories for the day and haven’t even had dinner.
Dinner — Pasta, wine, and cheese with wife (700+ calories)
Snack—Bowl of cereal I really want at night (250 calories)
That would land me at 2,570 in 1 day.
That’s 570 calories more than I burn (2,079 calories) a day. In a week, that’s around 1 pound of fat gained... in a year, 52 pounds…you get it. (I’ve gained 30 pound in a year before, it’s really not that hard.)
When Intermittent fasting… (for caloric deficit)
If I add exercise to my day I burn around 2,600–2,700 calories. That means I need to eat less than 2,600 calories to lose weight. How much less will determine the amount or rate I will lose weight. I typically do a 500–800 (moderate to aggressive) calorie deficit depending on my goals. For this example, I’ll use 1,900 calories.
Brian burns 2,600 calories in an entire day, he’s going to eat 1,900 calories today, so that, he’s at a moderate to aggressive 700 calorie deficit.
IF allows me to do this:
Breakfast—Nothing, 0 calories.
Snack—nada, 0 calories
2 or 3pm— Big meal 1— 6 oz of chicken breast, cup of rice, cup of veggies, 2 fried eggs, teriyaki, sriracha, and avocado = 600-800 Calories (depending if I eat the avocado or not)
Maybe I’ll have a greek yogurt ice cream bar (100 calories) on top of that lunch. Seriously.
That still leaves me with 1,100 more calories to consume and still be at a calorie deficit for the day. (1,900 Calories/120–150g of that in protein)
I can then break my 1000 calories into another big meal and my bowl of cereal or other snack later. If I know I’m going out to dinner with friends, I can eat all my 1,000 calories in the shape of a restaurant burger, fries.. or a burger and 2 beers (instead of fries).
I am able to eat 2 or 3 meals including my cereal and still be at a caloric deficit. Now imagine what I can eat at 2,700 calories, when I’m just maintaining my weight. Heavenly.
What makes it enjoyable is that you’re not eating small frequent and dumb meals all day. I find that tiny meals all day leave me more hungry. Instead, I can be flexible with my food and even anticipate big meals.
Fasting comes with other benefits.
I’ve found that during my fast, productivity and focus become laser sharp. As a creative, my brain is constantly thinking about solutions, ideas, and how I’m going to execute to the satisfaction of a client or project. It’s a different kind of tired, one that burns my brain muscles from constant creative churning. While doing IF, this mental flog sort of dissipates and work feels sharp. Another reason why I love to fast.
Thomas DeLauer in this video breakdowns some of the science behind it. Talking about energy levels while fasting and how your body actually becomes more efficient. V interesting.
Hmmm Brian, how should I start?
There are different ways to approach IF, but from my experience I’ve found Greg O’Gallaghers approach to be the most enjoyable.
I don’t create hard window times.
I let my day dictate how I’m going to break up my meals.
I save up my calories for the first half (or longer) of the day so I can be flexible with what I eat.
I aim to be in a constant caloric deficit for the period of time I’m trying to hit my goal.
Enjoy the process.
If you’re curious about how I track activity and food check out How I use my Apple watch and My Fitness Pal app as an extension of myself.
