Intermittent Fasting Challenge, Week 3

For the past few weeks, I've been trying intermittent fasting on the No Meat Athlete 30-day IF Challenge. In the first week, I did 12:12 (12 hours of fasting/12 hours of eating), and that was a breeze. Too easy. Last week, I did 14:10 (14 hours of fasting/10 hours of eating), and that was still pretty easy. Drinking booze was a challenge, but other than that, I was cool.

This week, I'm doing 16:8 (with two 12:12 flex days), and y'all, this is haaaaaard. Mad respect for anyone who does 16:8 intermittent fasting long-term! On the first day, I attempted to have my eating window run from 11 am-7 pm, and I very quickly realized that would NOT work for me. I'm a big breakfast eater, and I get my runs in early so I like to have immediate post-workout carbs. On that day, I didn't have a run scheduled though. So I did light yoga and made myself wait until 11 am for breakfast. I thought I was going starve to death! I couldn't concentrate on my work. All I could think about was FOOD. At 11 am, I had some Avocado Toast and fruit, and I've never been more excited to eat.

So no go on the 11 am-7 pm routine. The next day, I decided to start eating at 8 am and stop at 4 pm. Much better!! I had my usual post-run White Rice Bowl (this time, it was topped with Herdez guacamole salsa — my new obsession). This is always followed by a protein smoothie with fruit, flax, and walnuts.

The problem with eating from 8 am-4 pm is having dinner in the 3 o'clock hour. Since I'm working from home, this is much better than if I was, say, at the office. But it still sucks to work through dinner. Some days, I'm in Webex meetings during that hour, so I'm scarfing down food while in a meeting. My co-workers are used to seeing me eat, so it's fine. Just not terribly enjoyable. I like to enjoy my meals. 

I'm also having to cram three meals (plus snacks!) into 8 hours because I don't want to lose weight on IF. If you're looking to lose weight, I can see how this 16:8 would be beneficial, but if you're trying to keep your calories up, it means eating non-stop in your eating window. 

This 8 am-4 pm eating window does almost completely alleviate the hunger issue. I do get a slight twinge of hunger before bed at 9 pm, but it's not bad and goes away while I sleep. I wake up feeling good, and I've been enjoying my fasted runs in the morning.

This weekend, I used my two 12:12 days for Friday and Saturday. That made virtual cocktail hours go more smoothly (because I could drink), and it meant I was able to properly fuel for my long run. Here's my Saturday morning pre-run Blueberry Bagel with Almond and Peanut Butters.

My other favorite breakfast (on non-running days) has been Overnight Oats (oats, chia, maple, and almond milk) topped with berries and peanut butter.

I have another week of 16:8 ahead (through the end of April) with one more optional 12:12 day. But at this point, I can't see myself doing this for long-term. I may consider doing 14:10 days fairly often though, and I see no reason not to do 12:12 all the time!