Most of us fall into relatively set eating patterns. We most likely eat breakfast around the same time each day, lunch at a set time during the work day, dinner once we are back home, and maybe some more food before bed. There is more or less a constant intake of food from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep. You have most likely been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (in fact, I told you that a few weeks ago in a column I wrote). You have most likely also been told that eating consistently throughout the day will ramp your metabolism up and keep your body in “fat burning mode” (this one is less true).
One strategy which falls under the category of “Intermittent Fasting” which has gained a good deal of traction recently is the practice of shrinking one’s eating window on a daily basis. Essentially, this means you are either in a period of eating or fasting. The most common of these shrunken eating windows is a 6 hour feeding period every day, followed by 18 hours until your next eating period begins. There are three main benefits to this eating protocol, which I will outline below.
Decreased Caloric Intake (Fat Loss)
Although there are many ways in which we can lose body fat, the easiest and most irrefutable is the fact that we need to operate in a calorie deficit to lose weight. Our overall intake of energy needs to be less than our overall output of energy. There are factors beyond our control that impact this, such as speed of metabolism, age, gender, etc., however, we always can control how much food we put in our body.
It is not uncommon for the foods we eat with the highest density of calories and lowest density of nutrients (we call these “empty calories”) to be consumed early in the morning and late at night. Bagels, ice cream, snack foods, alcohol, are just a few of the high calorie foods that could be wreaking havoc on our calorie balance. Shrinking the eating window down to, say, 1-7PM or a similar window cuts those foods out completely, and allows for us to get into a calorie deficit, which is how we ultimately lose weight and burn fat.
Mental and Physical Discipline
Well known former Navy SEAL and current author/motivational speaker Jocko Willink has a saying which he turned into a book title: Discipline = Freedom. The argument is that if we are able to push ourselves to do what we know we should do, we will ultimately free ourselves of the pull from various things that harm our discipline.
Fasting is a great way to defeat the resisting force. It is much easier to say yes to the cookie your coworker offers you if you are in the midst of a string of constant eating. However, if you know that even one nibble of that cookie will break the fast you have committed multiple hours to already, it is easier to default back to your discipline and turn down that cookie. This is a variation of the Sunk Cost Fallacy working to your advantage.
Furthermore, if Intermittent Fasting is a practice you choose to enact daily, it serves as a constant test of discipline, and a way to be working on it consistently. Muscles we never use grow weak over time, it’s called atrophy. If our discipline is never put to the test, it too will atrophy. On the other hand, muscles we use often grow strong, and so too will your discipline if it is regularly put to the test. This will extend beyond simply nutrition, and help you take control over other facets of your life as well.
Life Extension
Recent studies have shown that fasting is the only dietary intervention which actually increases life expectancy. There are a number of reasons for this, but the fact of the matter is that this practice can put years back on your life more effectively than any other way you could manipulate your diet.
Which sets me up to throw a little motivation your way. We are only ever given one body. Perhaps in the future prosthetics will get to the level that we can replace a kidney if we treat ours poorly, or get a new pancreas if we abuse ours with sugar, but in the world we live in that is not yet a reality. From the day we are born to the day we die, the body we are given is ours to keep. The amazing part is that we are able to mold and shape this body based on decisions we make on a day to day level. Big decisions and massive changes from a dietary standpoint almost never work. What works instead is to analyze each individual decision you make on a granular level. Look at the food you are about to eat before you eat it; does that food contribute to your overall goal? Will you make yourself better by eating this food? If you are able to answer yes again and again to the food you eat, you will string together a long combination of good decisions which will bring you tumbling headfirst to the goal you set for yourself.
You are only given one body, make the decision to treat it with respect, and make sure you present the best version of yourself to the world every day.
If you read this and you are itching to learn more before next week’s column (I definitely would not blame you), feel free to peruse CompeteBlog.com, where I have been posting my content before this column came along.
Dean Adams YFS, Pn1
Strength and Nutrition Coach
508-733-0899
COMPETE Strength and Conditioning
576 Pleasant St. Norwood
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