In-Depth Details for Making Time-Restricted Eating For Your Schedule
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A traditional Time Restricted Eating (TRE) strategy has you fast in the beginning of the day and feed or eat in the latter part of the day. While this strategy works well for a lot of people, skipping breakfast for many is not an ideal way to start off the day. Sometimes this is due to social conflicts such as company meetings in the mornings, or families bonding over breakfast. Luckily, because of the flexibility of Time Restricted Eating, there is an easy work around for those who want to have breakfast but also get the benefits of this Time Restricted Eating strategy. Here is the solution.
In a typical Time Restricted Eating strategy, you have a 12-16 hour fasting window where you skip breakfast and a mid morning snack, as well as caloric drinks. Then between 10am and 12pm you break your fast with your first meal. After you break your fast, you have an 8 hour window of time to consume your normal meals + a snack if it fits in with your fat loss meal plan type.
Your Feeding Window
For those who want to still have breakfast, your Time Restricted Eating Plan is some what reversed compared to the traditional version. For example, let’s say you have breakfast around 8am before work with your family, a friend, or co-workers. You take your first bite of food and have now just started your feeding window, which is 8 hours long. Within the feeding window you are aiming to eat according to the meal sheet. Now, because Time Restricted Eating is a flexible strategy, their is no shame in trying to follow every recommendation to a tee.
For example, let’s say you have a plan to bring lunch to work the next day but a few co-workers want to go out to lunch. You really want to go, but you packed your lunch. We want you to feel good about ditching what you brought for lunch that day and going to lunch with your co-workers.
A big part of overall health is your social health. Being the person who brings their lunch and foregoes having lunch with your co-workers can cause social stress and make sticking to a healthy plan much harder.
We want you to have the flexibility to saving your packed lunch for another day and enjoying time with your co-workers outside of work. Does this mean you should throw caution to the wind and order the fattiest food on the menu? No! We want you to still aim to chose healthy options while out to eat. In fact, you can still follow the basic guidelines of our meal plan at any restaurant!
Now that we have talked about your feeding window and how it starts earlier in the day, let’s talk about your fasting window.
A Word About Caffeine And How It Fits Into Your Plan
Because your feeding window is open during the morning and early afternoon hours, you have the ability to add cream or sugar to your caffeinated drink of choice. In a more traditional Time Restricted Eating Plan, cream and sugar, or anything adding calories to your liquids, is not allowed. With that being said, remember to be conservative with how much cream and sugar you put in your drink. Only use as much as you need. When it comes to having caffeine in the morning regardless of fasting or feeding windows, make sure you finish drinking it before 11am.
Fasting Window
From 4pm until 7am the next morning, you will not eat any food and only consume water and/or water with apple cider vinegar. This means you will be skipping dinner as oppose to breakfast in a traditional Time Restricted Eating plan. Be sure to notice that caffeine is not allowed in the afternoon as it will keep you up past the time you should start getting ready to go to bed.
Good quality sleep is another part of fat burning and not getting enough sleep can hinder your fat burning goal. Not only that, but lack of sleep has been shown to disrupt the natural sleep/wake cycle causing your body to store calories regardless of how well you eat. Along with Time Restricted Eating, getting high quality sleep is a great one-two punch for a fat burning lifestyle!
For a lot of people, skipping dinner leads to feeling better in the morning, and so this strategy is flexible for those who experience that. For some, skipping dinner is less in line with their lifestyle and so skipping breakfast works better long term. Regardless of which strategy you use, Time Restricted Eating is a very flexible eating plan that can be adjusted based on your lifestyle.
Time Restricted Eating and Workouts
Knowing how to structure your time restricted eating around your workouts is crucial to the sustainability of your fat burning goals. There are two basic methods we teach at Fit for Life Gym: The morning/lunch workout structure and the evening workout structure.
How to Use Time Restricted Eating If You Workout in the Morning/Lunch
Here is a sample of how to structure your TRE around your workout
4am - Wake, drink 10oz of water
5am - Workout fasted
9am - Break fast with first meal (Feeding window open)
12-1pm - Eat meal two based on meal sheet
6pm - Eat meal three based on meal sheet (Feeding window closed)
8pm-9am - Fasting
How to Use Time Restricted Eating If You Workout in the Evening
Here is a sample of how to structure your TRE around your workout in the evening
4am - Wake, drink 10oz of water (lemon optional)
**Fasting Until First meal around 12-1pm**
12-1pm Break fast. Have meal one based on the meal sheet
4:30/5:30pm - Workout
7:30/8:00pm -Have second meal/ End feeding window
8pm-12pm - Fasting
In-Depth Nutrition Guidance
While you can certainly lose a ton of body fat using our extreme fat loss meal plan, sometimes more explanation and detailed guidance is needed.
Both Tim and I are certified nutrition coaches who can help make your journey to a healthier body simplified beyond just the meal sheet. Some times all it takes is a single 30-minute nutrition coaching session to nail even the most confusing topics. Put your mind at ease and schedule one today! See the front desk for scheduling a time to meet with Tim or I.
Shane Hubbard
NASM-CPT, PN1, HLC 2
