Time Restricted Feeding {The benefits of intermittent fasting for weight loss and health}

Also known as intermittent fasting, time restricted feeding is by far the easiest way to “diet” without dieting.

Isn’t that the dream for a lot of us.

Turns out, it isn’t a dream at all. It’s an easy to follow routine that can make a HUGE difference in your body.

What is time restricted feeding?

It’s a simple concept.

You limit the amount of hours during the day that you eat or drink anything that can jumpstart your stomach.

For example: eating between 9AM and 7PM is a 10 hour window of food intake. Leaving 14 hours for your body to fast.

The goal is to eat during the daylight hours when you’re supposed to be up and active.

The concept is based on your body’s natural circadian rhythm. The one that links the amount of light in the environment to what your body should be doing.

I guess it goes back to our more prehistoric days, before fire, when the sun regulated what time we did things. Back to the way we were originally designed.

The Benefits of Time Restricted Feeding

Click on the benefits to follow the links to clinical research articles on each one.

• Reduces weight without counting calories
• Regulates Metabolism
• May prevent or reverse chronic disease processes
• May reverse or prevent the worsening of diabetes and high cholesterol

The ones above are the objective scientific benefits. The list below is composed of the subjective benefits that are reported.

• Better sleep
• Reduced bloating, heartburn/indigestion, gas
• Feeling less hungry throughout the day
• No mid afternoon crash
• See further, jump higher, hear sunlight, taste colors…. 🙂

Generally speaking, you’ll be feeling better and more in-tune with your body.

What Is The Optimal Amount of Time to Fast?

According to the Panda Lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (where this research is being conducted). The window of 8 to 12 hours of eating in a day is your best bet.

Personally, I do a 10 hour window. I eat between 8AM and 6 PM and only intake water on the off hours. After doing nothing else other than that, I have lost 2 inches around my midsection and 5 lbs in the past 3 weeks! If anything, I eat a bit worse at the moment. I haven’t watched my caloric intake at all and I haven’t been able to make it to the gym more than 3 times in the last few weeks so losing any weight/inches at all was HUGE surprise.

My skepticism about the validity of this diet is gone.

But don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.

How to Calculate Your Best Fast Times

Your personal lifestyle does need to come into play a little bit with this. If you work from home or have a regular 9-5 job it will be pretty simple to work this into your day. It can get a bit tricky if you work the night shift.

*Remember this is based off of circadian rhythms. If you can’t sleep when it’s dark, you won’t be getting the full benefit.*

The research does suggest that pushing your eating time out in the morning is more beneficial than starting your food clock earlier, even if you’re an early riser. EXAMPLE: If you wakeup at 5 AM every morning you shouldn’t have your food window start at 5:30. This is because more than likely, it won’t be light out yet. Wait until 7:30 or 8.

On the other side, the clock should stop a few hours before bed time. This gives your GI system time to do it’s work, then start to wind down before you go to sleep for the night.

Here Are Few Examples of Time Restricted Feeding Schedules to Choose From

10 Hour: 7AM – 5PM, 8AM – 6PM, 9AM – 7PM

11 Hour: 7AM – 6PM, 8AM – 7PM

12 Hour: 7AM- 7PM

Anything too far out of those ranges put you at risk of eating during dark hours or too close to bed time. You can always choose to shift out of them if you want, but choosing one of the times above will keep you from having to adjust with the season and time changes, when the light and dark hours vary greatly.

Why it Works

Science!! It really is a lot of science.

Time restricted feeding limits caloric intake during/near bedtime. This is beneficial for a few reasons.

1. Our busy lifestyles have us eating almost constantly around the clock. Every few hours we are giving ourselves something through either actual food or liquids. We aren’t made to be constantly bombarded with calories. Our organs need time to process, filter, absorb… Stopping the intake a few hours before sleep gives them that needed time.
2. Limits the available hours to intake excess calories. There isn’t much science involved with this one, its’s just simple logic. If you don’t have the available time to overeat, then it won’t happen.
3. Breaks nighttime feeding/drinking habits. Cutting out that midnight snack or glass of wine before bed will not only greatly reduce your overall caloric intake but it also helps break those little routines we’ve developed over the years.

*SIDE NOTE* If you have ever committed to doing a food journal you know how easy it is to ingest more than you intend to. If you have never done one, I highly recommend it. It is eye opening! Mindless eating happens to all of us.

Think back on your past 24 hours. Can you say exactly how much you’ve taken in? How many fries with lunch? How many ounces of milk in your coffee? How many teaspoons of salt on your chicken?

The little things are what get us every time. Just a handful of nuts. Just 2 sips of soda. Just half a basket of chips and salsa. The calories add up without us even realizing it.

What to Eat with Intermittent Fasting

One of the absolutely best parts about this “diet” is ——> You get to eat the same stuff as before.

For real, the only change you make is to the time you eat, not what you eat.

That isn’t to say that you won’t want to adopt a more wholesome diet. Adding a few vegetables, healthy fats or fruits to the mix certainly couldn’t hurt things.

For more info on this topic, check out the links above and the book The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform Your Health from Morning to Midnight