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Nutrition Time Restricted Feeding (TRF)

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Matt Piercy

Matt Piercy

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I learned from a program with Dr. Rhonda Patrick about a form of intermittent fasting called Time restricted feeding. It's simple, you eat all your meals in a 9 to 12 hour window. This includes caffiene. As soon as anything has to be processed by your liver the clock starts. It's supposed to work with the natural circadian rhythm of your body.

They say you can eat whatever you want, but I think most people would choose what they ate with some common sense. I struggle with my weight (I always have). This system of eating is very practical for me. It should fit easily into my life.

Has anyone else tried this or any form of intermittent fasting?
 
Hello,

@Matt Piercy
Matt Piercy said:
Has anyone else tried this or any form of intermittent fasting?
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I tried 2 types of IF : 16/8 and and 20/4 frame. The first one matches better my schedule but results were more or less the same on me. It maintains a kind of "optimal weight" meaning I can stay lean, but I have a lot of energy.

It seems that 16/8 and "your" 12/9 - 12/12 permit to eat the same thing.

Do you know the difference between the two ? I find all fasting frame interesting anyway, because I am far comfortable while fasting than eating "normally" !

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
I am familiar with Satchin Panda's work. Very interesting and I look forward to see how his human studies play out. Here is a different take on a similar issue (caloric restriction) that proposes to offer the same benefits through similar pathways:

Monkeys on diets are healthier, but their longevity is still up for debate

There is an interesting take away from this article. The two studies are not really conflicting. They are different. One group got a healthier diet (mostly natural foods) and the other lots of sugar. What they find should not be a surprise. The group that ate the sugar heavy Western diet saw some health and longevity benefits from calorie restriction. The group that ate a healthy diet did not see any survival benefits. Perhaps the calorie restriction reversed some of the damage done by the Western diet. In the healthy diet group, there may have been no damage to reverse. I'll bet that a similar effects plays out with intermittent fasting (less benefit from those who are already eating healthy).

Basically, if you eat a healthy diet, you probably do not need to resort to any unusual diet tricks to be healthy. I continue to believe that a focus on food quality is most important (eating a wide variety of nutrient dense whole foods and avoiding processed junk). Simple but not always easy.
 
Hello,

mprevost said:
Basically, if you eat a healthy diet, you probably do not need to resort to any unusual diet tricks to be healthy
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The reverse is also true, IMO.

I am used to eat a quite healthy diet and fasting. To be honest, this is almost my first expenditure. Each time I eat something which has not the same quality, I tend to have a very bad digestion, being tired, and so on.

However, it seems that my global resistance (to fatigue, to illness) is better than my colleagues (for e.g.) who pay far less attention to their diet.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
I can definitely tell the difference between healthy meals and junk. Almost immediately. One will make me tired and sluggish while the other one will energize me (if I don't overt eat).

The main thing that interested me in this style of eating is inflamation reduction, my history of gut issues, and just the general improvement in blood makers. Also, I don't really get hungry in the mornings and when I do it's much easier to control than at night.

I felt it out a little last week and got serious about it yesterday. I started eating at 10 Am and was done a little before 8 PM. Yesterday was easy, today was pretty uncomfortable. I had to start eating at 9:30. I couldn't concentrate and I was ravenous. I'm assuming there will be an adjustment period.

I'm not going to worry too much about what I eat. I just want to get used to the time restrictions first. My diet has improved much over the last year anyway. I get allot of rice, veg, and meat. Although I will eat moderate/junk. It's a small percent of what it used to be. Once I get a handle on the restriction I'll put more emphasis on quality.

Could a moderator move this thread to the nutrition section for me? I don't want to delete it now that the conversation has started.
 
Hello,

I enjoy fasting with pretty low carbs. Almost all of them comes from vegetables. I add some fruits (let say 2 or 3 max). It gets the job done to maitain me lean while avoiding to feel tired or hungry.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Matt Piercy said:
Once I get a handle on the restriction I'll put more emphasis on quality.
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Matt, I would say flip this around and say, "Once I get a handle on quality, I'll be able to implement the restriction." Because restriction is much easier when you're eating the right foods. You said yourself that you can tell the difference in how you feel between healthy meals and junk.

Once I realized there was a lot more of an effect to "bad" food it became easier to resist. I used to think having a donut (when some well-meaning person brings them to the break room at work) meant a hit of an extra 300 calories. Now I know it's not only the calories, but it will make me feel sluggish and sleepy in the next few hours, it will make me more likely to overeat 6-8 hours later, and it will even make me more likely to want junk the next day - or even two days later! HUGE impact from one bad choice. Take careful notes on the effects of what you eat and you may notice the same. This in itself can be very motivating to clean things up.
 
I usually have a junk/cheat day on the weekend when I get home. What I have been noticing is I'm way more irritable and grumpy as well as the s***ty feeling and lethargic.
 
Anna, you are 100% correct but if I try to do that I guarantee it won't work. I know that sounds defeatist and weak. My poor eating habits have been taught me since childhood. The only time that I had good condition and a good physic was in the Army. My entire adult life I've battled with this, and I just got fatter and fatter. I finally peaked out at 305lbs (I'm 5' 8").

What finally started turning this ship around is that I got a new job in 2012 This job has a health incentive that pays for gym memberships. I figured I'd take advantage. I quickly fell in love with a powerlifting style of training. I got much stronger, but I was still fat and unhealthy.

Finally, I ended up in the hospital for a couple weeks for gut issues. I won't get into the details, but is sucked. Finally, I realized my diet was killing me. You would think I would have made a sudden change, but the addiction (and it was/is) strong. However the little tweaks started happening. Packing a lunch instead of buying it at the gas station, cut back and finally quit energy drinks, added fruit, then added vegetables, now rice, being able to say no to sweets (about half the time). The time restricted eating would be one more step, and then even less junk, etc. I also replaced powerlifting with kettlebell (I absolutely love them).

I'm to the point now that my body set point is 265lbs and my gut issues have all but disappeared. I have no idea how much of that weight loss was fat, but it was allot. I've put on allot of muscle through this period of time. I went through this whole monolog to make the point that my only real changes have been slow tweaks of adding good habits and slowly reducing and replacing bad ones. I think this path is the best for me
 
Absolutely, Matt, I agree you are headed in the right direction. Those are some powerful changes you've made. Keep making the little tweaks! I am always doing that myself, I started from 50%/50%, half-healthy half-unhealthy and have worked my way to maybe 85% healthy. Always a work in progress. I would just say maybe expand your view of how the food affects you as that has been a revelation for me, that it's not just the next few hours, it's as much as the next few days. And the good choices can be just as powerful as the bad. So with this time restriction, maybe notice which days it is easier to follow, and that might tell you something about the food you ate the day before and how that's working for you.

How's the kettlebell training going, by the way?
 
I will, I think the journal idea is great. I think I'll pen some notes tomorrow. I've had a 50/50 day (meetings). Dinner will be good.

Kettlebell training is going well. I did some 32k C&P's this morning and I'm getting read to do my swings now. I'm going all the way down to 16k for my swings and doing continuous reps for time. Starting with 2 min strait (1 min l/r). It's humbling
 
Hi Matt. Sometimes it is simpler to think about adding in stuff, rather than removing stuff. For example, I would make it a priority to really increase my fiber intake. Higher fiber intake is linked to lower inflammation. As it turns out, the bacteria in the gut ferment the fiber and use it to produce short chain fatty acids. The short chain fatty acids are used by the gut goblet cells to produce mucus. A healthy mucus layer protects your gut from bacteria. Bacterial exposure to your bloodstream through the gut is a major source of inflammation. Higher fiber intake can help to prevent that by maintaining a healthy mucus layer. This could be as simple as a big bowl of oat bran for breakfast, plus some added fruits and veggies during the day. Or if you are doing a time restricted eating window, just get it in during your feeding window. If you can tolerate legumes, they have a ton of fiber as well.

Sounds like you are off to a good start.
 
I would like to emphasize the "quality" part of food. I have been doing many IF protocols (16/8 & 18/6 lean gains, 20/4 warrior's diet with undereating, Fast5, yesterday tried 48h water fast etc) and have to admit that changing feeding window size without changing the quality of food works... At least for a couple of weeks. Than your weight and fat loss go into plateau. So, in long term it is much better to pay attention to eat healthy - if you can handle this than intermittent fasting will only amplifiy the effects.
 
Hello,

damogari said:
changing feeding window size without changing the quality of food works... At least for a couple of weeks. Than your weight and fat loss go into plateau
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That is true. IF on a 16/8 frame maintain my weight at 63. I do not feel tired, I have energy, etc... It is my plateau. However, if I ruck or so, I can lose a little, about 1 or 2. I take them back in 2 or 3 days while eating even on an IF frame.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
mprevost said:
For example, I would make it a priority to really increase my fiber intake. Higher fiber intake is linked to lower inflammation.
Click to expand...

Over the post few months I've added more fiber than I've ever added in my diet, but it still false short of recommendations. About 3 weeks ago I started making these huge pots of rice. I add meat or nuts, allot of broccli, and I rotate other veg in and out. I switched from white bread to bread containing at least 3g of fiber 2 or 3 months ago (I actually prefer it now). I also switched from sugary peanut butter to natural peanut butter around the same time. The whole family likes the natural peanut butter, and that suprised me.

My wife has phyllium husk here at the house. I was taking it for a while, but it's nasty. I put a little protien powder in it, which helps allot. I should start drinking a glass of that a night, again.
 
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