I'd love to try IF when I'm no longer nursing. I tried it for a few weeks and loved it, but it caused my milk supply to tank in the day and I'd rather be hungry than deal with a cranky baby lol...
Gotta be honest, I nursed for 18months and I really think it caused my weight gain. Firstly it made ravenous in the first few months, it made me crave carbs - namely sugar. I never ever had a sweet tooth before nursing and I found myself with a new sugar addiction. I would wake up in the middle of the night wanting cookies. After the initial weightloss attributed to nursing I kept eating and started gaining.
Having lived 35yrs without any dependency to sugar I can safely vouch that a sugar addiction is a beast, I can't imagine having to deal with a lifelong sugar addiction and it's made militant about not giving my toddler ANY SUGAR AT ALL.
I can say for myself that IF has helped me in 2 major ways... First I used to eat pretty much whenever I wanted and because of my schedule that use to be late at night... So I have been able to break that habit by sticking to my eating "window" and in the process it has enabled me to become comfortable with those hunger pangs that I would always experience later in the evening... Where I would always think that I "needed" some sort of "treat" after dinner or some sort of snack before bed... Now, I just have some tea and skip those calories.... And also to my surprise I've found that those hunger pangs pass in about 15 to 20 minutes and I'm fine and also an added benefit is I sleep so much better now as well... and I was never a regular breakfast eater, so I was basically already skipping that meal and dealing with some hunger in the mid to late morning is actually a lot easier than I thought... even with up to about an hour of working out thrown in while still "fasting".... Which leads me to IF's other major benefit for me.... When I do eat I am truly hungry and really looking forward to my meal and it allows me to have a really nice and substantial lunch and dinner.... especially, dinner which I get to enjoy with my family and something that I really look forward to...
So by eating less often I've found that going without food for 14 to 16 hours or even a bit longer really isn't so bad, that hunger pangs come and go and that they are pretty easy to learn how to manage with a little bit of distraction... And I can still eat nice size meals that I enjoy and fine truly satisfing...
Last edited by TripSwitch; 06-06-2013 at 04:58 PM.
[With IF] you can eat 1000+ calories in one sitting, which will fill even the hungriest.
Oh really?
Much as I like to eat large quantities, I'm not drawn to IF because (for me) not feeling hungry takes precedence over feeling comfortably full. If I'm hungry, I have trouble concentrating and I get irritable. Not pretty. Also, I enjoy having my eating spread out over the course of the day, even though the quantities leave something to be desired.
F.
Last edited by freelancemomma; 06-06-2013 at 11:12 PM.
I gained weight while nursing my first... Nursing seriously makes me ravenous.
Nursing #2 now, and I am quite hungry most of the time, even though I am eating really healthy foods and 1600-1800 calories.
Even though I'm still hungry, after the first couple of weeks I became more used to the feeling. I feel less deprived and more in control. (btw, the nursling is doing awesome and still growing great)
I gained weight while nursing my first... Nursing seriously makes me ravenous.
Nursing #2 now, and I am quite hungry most of the time, even though I am eating really healthy foods and 1600-1800 calories.
Even though I'm still hungry, after the first couple of weeks I became more used to the feeling. I feel less deprived and more in control. (btw, the nursling is doing awesome and still growing great)
I'm impressed! I *cannot* get below 2000 even when I try, it's just insane. He's 7 months now and I'm 127lbs. I guess his constant feeding creates quite a maintenance level.
I'm impressed! I *cannot* get below 2000 even when I try, it's just insane. He's 7 months now and I'm 127lbs. I guess his constant feeding creates quite a maintenance level.
(Nursing my 12 month old) When I'm on plan for the day I keep my calories below 1700, but some days are just an all out struggle! I've felt like I'm starving lately, I wonder if my LO is going through a growth spurt?
Yes, but at least for me it took years and I still can't do that skinny person thing where they are "too full" to finish and they forget the cookies in the kitchen. I do eat less now, but it has to be a conscious choice every time even after more than 4 years.
Great question wannabeskinny. It's been useful to me to keep a pack of gum handy for when I feel hungry but can't eat. I really appreciated all these suggestions ladies!
"YI still can't do that skinny person thing where they are "too full" to finish and they forget the cookies in the kitchen."
This cracked me up! I have a few girlfriends and family members who are "sooooo fuuuullll" after a quarter plate of food...For SOME reason it annoys me. lol.
I am not an "eat small meals throughout the day" kind of person. IF does allow me to eat that one large meal most days and while the meal is not *as* large if went unchecked, it's normally enough to satisfy me.
In terms of getting used to less food, there have been days over the years where I just eat as much as I can. While such intake is still way over my caloric allowance, it's not as high as I once was able. So, you do get used to eating less food in that way. Yay, I guess?
For me, it depends on the composition of the meal. I could eat (and still can) several burgers. But I can go to a burger joint and order a burger and not be inclined to order another one. However, if there's a whole pizza pie, I can't just eat a couple of slices and leave the rest of the pie in the box. Same principle applies to cake.
I think I understand the general principle of IF, I think it's personally too risky to do it right now that I'm doing "well" on my program.
But one thing I have changed is that I delay breakfast quite a bit. I'm up by 6am and get my coffee on. Unfortunately I can't exercise because we are in a small apartment and the baby is a really light sleeper so it's quiet time. I push breakfast back to 10 or sometimes 11am, and many times I've even skipped breakfast and had lunch at 1pm. I seem to be fine with delaying breakfast and it really does help bring my calories down. I'm going 12-16hrs between dinner and breakfast/lunch and my body seems ok with that. Is that IF?
It's been useful to me to keep a pack of gum handy for when I feel hungry but can't eat. I really appreciated all these suggestions ladies!
