Skipping Breakfast, Fasting, Training and IIFYM?
I finally think I found what works for ME in terms of nutrition. I have dabbled with a lot of things in nutrition. I tried to eat from a meal plan and be strict. I tried to do Paleo and that just felt like a semi deprivation game. I even tried vegetarian for a while. Problem was that everything I was doing was to either restrict my food intake or to have a “reason” to limit carbs. Call it the CARB phobia !
I was finding myself trying to plan my life, my training and my schedule around food and meal timing. Eat carbs before you workout and right after or you lose your gains. Don’t eat after 6 pm, limit carbs at night… blah blah blah. Sure I feel for this, I think we all do at some point. I did a lot of research and started to really take a look at what my BODY was doing.
I wake up EARLY (3am) I train at 4 am.. Now think of yourself eating at 3:30 am and then training? Right, its silly and I was not performing well. BUT, I was under the misconception that you NEED food and fuel to train hard. So one day I said oh well and hit the gym, for a leg day non the less. I trained and man I TRAINED HARD. I felt good my body responded to it and I didn’t have any lack in energy. All I had was BCAA’s and some pre-workout in my cup! Then I thought about If It Fits Your Macros (IFFYM). You might have heard of this before. It’s the theory that you eat the macros (protein, carbs and fats) throughout the day and as long as you hit those numbers your golden! NOT a magically formula of when you need to eat but in fact, just eat what you want of HIGH nutritional value 80% of the time and enjoy your life !!
So this takes me onto my next experiment of not eating breakfast then WAITING to eat breakfast till about 9 am. So if I go to bed at 9 then eat at 9 thats a 12 hour fast. How did I feel ? Great actually! I don’t have to force food in and I can eat larger meals throughout the day for the times I can eat. So now this comes to the question of performance and “gains”. I have been having a blast in the gym and getting stronger! I am now in control of my meals, my nutrition and NOTHING is off limits.
Here is where the question gets brought up a lot about food intake. I eat my macros throughout the day and I make sure to hit those macros +/- 5 grams. I eat past 6 pm.. goodness I’m still at work till then. I eat and go to bed then wake up, train, and eat around 9 am ! It works for me, for my schedule and for my lifestyle.
The question for you is: what will fit into YOUR life ? Trying to fit something into your life rather than making it a part of your life is the difference to lasting results !!Not many people take the time to dive into their nutrition but I will ensure you that you will have more of an outcome by making a few changes that FIT your LIFE !!!!
Let me help! I offer coaching on macros !
BFIT , B-HEALTHY, B-AMAZING