Wednesday, February 25, 2009

How do you use IF?

On Rusty's blog there is a give away for Brad Pilon's new book. His first book "Eat Stop Eat" is one I highly recommend. It's straightforward and easy to apply if you are still not sure about IF.
Dr. Eades is still not a 100% sure, but I believe he has turned the corner recently.
My advice; read up on it, follow a sensible protocol (NO....fasting 20 hours and then having a big mac, large fries, shake and a sundae does not qualify as sensible) and see how it feels for your self.
I know there is lots of quality,detailed and well researched information out there on the subject so check it out. I thought I'd share with you how I incorporate IF into my busy life.

Monday I ate both lunch and dinner at a restaurant (I will post later this week on how to stay on track when dining out). I had a delicious breakfast , greek lunch and mexican dinner. After eating restaurant food, I like to give my body a rest from the ingredients (even though paleo/EF/primal) that I have no control over. I finished eating around 7:30 pm.
Early morning I made my niece and nephews breakfast. Went for a playful run outside, some push ups, balancing, jumping and sprinting. Then I hit the pool (it was somewhat cold) and swam for about 10 minutes and jumped around a bit in the pool. A nice natural work out.

Went to work. Feeling very sharp, I flew through my morning office chaos. For lunch, I left the office and played about 50 minutes of tennis. I was not hungry in the least bit.
Late in the afternoon around 4:30 pm was the first time of the day that my thoughts turned to food. I drank some water and planned dinner in my head.
Home at 6:15 pm I made dinner for my kids and their cousins (7 kids in total). Once they were done I got to cooking for me. As my sister had to eat too, I made a lot of food ;-)
I had 2 large grilled rib eye steaks left over. I cut them into bite size pieces. In compound butter (garlic and herbs) I sauteed some garlic, spring onion, red pepper and a few slices of serrano pepper. Then add the steaks pieces. When they were getting close to done, I added a half a pound a fresh cut up shrimp and another pat of butter. A nice large salad with evoo and balsamic vinegar. To not freak my sister out completely with my protein feast, I made a large dish of yellow tomatoes and mozzarella, fresh basil, evoo and balsamic.




































I believe FAT intake is a huge component of making all this work for you.
I consume large amounts of evoo and organic butter.

How do you apply IF in your life?

9 comments:

s said...

I tried to IF so many times but found it didnt really work well for my body. I have heard that from several other women as well so I think there may be something to that theory!

Anonymous said...

I love IF- it makes me feel light and gives me energy.

I do have a question though- one of the trainers at my Crossfit gym is a fan of IF, but mentioned that on the days we do heavy Olympic lifting that I should refrain from fasting because my body needs the recovery more than a normal met-con workout. How do you feel about this?

I do two 20 hour fasts a week, normally on Wed/Sun, but today's workout is heavy lifting so I'm contemplating switching my fast to tomorrow. Thoughts?

Sarena - I'm a woman and I'm loving it, although it is harder than from what I hear the men who IF say. I have to really stick to my guns and push through the hunger.

-BEE
www.BEELifestyle.com

Anonymous said...

Workdays (AKA 5 days a week) I do not eat until afternoon. Constitutes a daily fast of 15-17 hours. Then on the weekends I eat a big breakfast and eat all day. Works well for me.

The SoG

Marc said...

Hi Sarena,
I'm not sure. I'm assuming that hunter gathers' wives also went through short periods of fasts. Maybe not ;-) But your comments is what is perfectly in line with what I always tell people. Try it for yourself and see if it works for YOU. Only then will you know.

Bee;
I agree with your trainer. Let's say you just tackled and killed a wolly mammoth. ;-) It would have exhuastes you and you would have enjoyed some of the fruits of your labor. Like maybe eating a still beating wolly mammoth heart or something ;-)
Are you hungry after the Oly lifting? I know I get REAL hungry about 45 minutes after heavy lifts.
If so EAT. ;-)

SOG;
Right on man, making it work for you is key. It's what it's all about. "The art of life"
How could it all be one size/system fits all??

Marc

s said...

Its weird cuz it wasnt hunger that was bothering me. got through that and I would have thought that when I was "at that time" it would be worse, but that too wasnt the fact. I just found weight loss wasnt happening and things just werent right!

Anonymous said...

To be honest, I'm not that hungry after lifting- but that's mostly because I don't think I've gotten to the point that my form is so great that I'm totally taxing my muscles out. Normally when we're on days that we're maxing out at 1-3 reps I find the weight to not necessarily be the hardest, but unable to lift any more because of form issues. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, regardless- I'll be eating afterward from now on, and just tweak my IF's accordingly!

Thanks!

-BEE

Marc said...

BEE,
Makes perfect sense.
Also, when the heavy workouts are intense enough, you body doesn't want to eat. So GH can do it's thing. That's why downing protein shakes and gainer drinks right after work out is just not great for your physiology. But about 60-90 minutes after the work out, works well. Do you not even get hungry about 90 minutes afterwards?

Marc

Jeff said...

I do IF by going dinner to dinner(~23 hours) twice a week. Usually Monday and Friday. I add a mini fast by skipping breakfast at least one other day, usually wednesday. I just finished a 23.5 hour fast today. I felt incredible all day long. Tons of energy and super alert and focused. When you are onto "real food" then fasting is not that big a deal. The hunger is there, but not ravenous hunger. I usually time an intense workout during the fast.

I think this is crucial for longevity and body composition. I got my wife into doing it. She does IF by skipping lunch on he workout days. Even the caloric variation from day to day will have benefits, I think.

It is funny, but "word verification" came up as "fulnesso". How ironic is that?

Marc said...

Jeff,
I'm in full agreement.
I think it is KEY.
It makes me feel fantastic. I usually do on 24 hour fast a week and one for 14-16 hours. It's very random.
Like you I got my girlfriend into it also.

Marc