There's an interesting concept out there that I've been trying out due to Unicity's Transformation program that I've been doing called 4-4-12.
You only eat 3 times per day.
Now, as someone who for the past decade has eaten 4-6 small meals and snacks in a day this has been a particular challenge.
For example:
9 am: breakfast
1 pm: lunch
5 or 6 pm: dinner
No snacks.
The idea is, your body is burning the food you ate for about the first 2 hours and then transitions into 'fat burning mode' for the next 2+ hours before your next meal.
This concept is similar to, although not quite as extreme as the ever popular intermittent fasting concept that has hit the health scene.
Transitioning to this new regimen has been a bit of a challenge because my body is like a clock. I get hungry about every 2-3 hours.
Which is exactly the point-- according to Abel James, in his book The Wild Diet and on his blog, Fat Burning Man, we have literally trained our bodies to be hungry every 2-3 hours by eating so often. Which I have found to be true in my own case.
I'm not convinced this practice is for everyone. Especially since I have really struggled with it - not just being hungry, but actually experiencing dizziness or a shakiness due to not eating. So I did some reading and found that while intermittent fasting is extremely popular and effective for men, it might not be the best for women. Stefani Ruper on her blog www.paleoforwomen.com says that 'women's metabolisms suffer from Intermittent Fasting'. You can read up on her study here.
Often in a time crunch, I will do a cardio HIIT - where I run at a normal pace for about a minute and then sprint as fast as I can for a minute for 12 minutes. Killer!
While 4-4-12 is not technically IF - I've found that when I eat every 4 hours, I often eat dinner around 5 pm and then do not have breakfast until 9 or 10 am the next morning - which, can be up to 17 hours of without food. Interestingly, I don't struggle much with not eating after dinner - it's not snacking before dinner. Some days are definitely easier than others due to exercise and my cycle, etc. Again, my approach after stressing about it, is to not stress about it . . . If I'm feeling shaky one day due to not eating, I will definitely eat.
More Tips to put your body in Fat Burning Mode:
1. Exercise before you eat
2. Weight lift
3. Do a cardio HIIT (high intensity interval training)
Let me know what you think of Intermittent Fasting or the concept of 4-4-12 and if you've ever tried it.
Happy Sunday everyone!