Creating eating habits that work best for you can be challenging if you’ve been reading so many articles about diets and weight loss. You’ve most likely also have seen success stories of people or photos on social media who lost weight because of drastic measures.

I mentioned in my previous article that instead of thinking about losing weight the fastest way, you should focus on developing an action plan to function well and effectively. Remember that being out of balance can sabotage your weight management goals. You might be disregarding the most important aspects of your daily life that are needed to achieve balance so you can accomplish your goals for the day. These include incorporating exercise, eating a balanced meal, enjoying your meals with the whole family, and living life freely and generally without being too preoccupied with thoughts about dieting and food.

Recent studies show that meal timing can affect one’s health condition and weight loss results. But can fasting work for you? To maintain long-term energy and weight management, we consider how your eating time affects your goals, exercise performance, and program sustainability. Here are the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to the timing of meals.

Prioritize your energy level and consider your lifestyle

I eat dinner between 7 to 7:30 pm, sleep between 9 to 10 pm and wake up between 4 to 5 am daily.

I teach my 9 am workouts (moderate to high-intensity core and strength classes) six days a week. I already get hungry before 7 am, so I eat a light breakfast before my first client at 7 am. It’s usually as egg and piece of multigrain bread or a portion of home-cooked multigrain chia pancake. The breakfast gives me enough energy during my mid-morning workouts.

On Sundays, I wake up at 5 am, and I work out on an empty stomach before 7 am to run, so I eat my breakfast between 8 to 8:30 am. Breakfast is essential for me to function well on my mid-morning workouts and to last the whole day successfully.

Your breakfast time would always depend on your sleep, wake-up, and workout time. You can have a different schedule for sleep, exercise, and eating because everything depends on your lifestyle.

I believe that your energy level should be prioritized to progress and achieve your desired fitness and health goals. To achieve this, you must carefully consider your sleep and food intake (timing, quantity, and quality).

Waking up early and working out in the morning requires proper meal timing. A light breakfast one to two hours before your workout can give you enough energy to push your workouts harder, regulate your appetite throughout the day, and recover effectively.

If you’ve been experiencing dizziness, high heart rate, mood swings, and weakness during and after your exercise sessions, this could mean something significant about your eating patterns. You might want to include a light breakfast one to two hours before your workout.

Engaging in a moderate to intense workout in the morning might dictate a lot about your way of eating for the whole day. Aside from muscle recovery, eating a complete snack or lunch post-workout consisting of protein, carbs, and fat (such as a sandwich or brown rice meal with vegetables and viand) is important. It is so you can avoid hunger pangs and intense cravings and regulate the amount of food you will have for the rest of the day.

Gradually integrate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle when needed

Studies show that a 12-hour fasting window is beneficial to one’s health and weight management goals. It allows your body to process the calories efficiently and can help you avoid extra calories from mindless munching and late-night eating.

If you are a night owl, you sleep between 11 pm to 1 am, and you wake up late (between 8 to 10 am), and you prefer late morning, afternoon, or evening workouts then your first meal (late breakfast or brunch) can be adjusted on a later time (between 9 to 12 noon) as well.

I have observed that my clients who wake up late can stick to intermittent fasting better with a shorter eating window of less than 12 hours than the early birds. It is because they eat their first meal at a later time and can eat their last meal at 8 pm.

There are things to consider when doing intermittent fasting with a shorter eating window (less than 12 hours)

• Consider your health condition. It is better to consult your doctor before drastic lifestyle changes, such as extreme caloric restriction or fasting. Fasting for a prolonged period can be dangerous for children, people who have diabetes, pregnant women, and eating disorders.
• Ensure that you have sufficient sleep and rest to last the shorter eating wind without compromising your energy level.
• Plan in advance when it comes to your eating. Always make healthy foods available at home. These include vegetables, fruits, whole grains (rice, bread, pasta, noodles), protein (seafood, lean meat, chicken, egg, tofu, beans), low-fat dairy products, and healthy fats (avocado, nuts, and seeds). Eliminate high-calorie and processed foods at home (out of sight, out of mind) such as pastries, chips, sausage, soft drinks, butter, and alcohol.
• Continue to practice eating in moderation so your stomach won’t get used to eating a vast amount of food every meal. You can still eat three meals during a smaller eating window (Two main meals and one snack or two main meals and two light snacks).
• Strategically schedule your workouts so you can get a good pre-workout and post-workout snack or meal that are important to your energy level and recovery.
• Stop your fasting lifestyle if it already negatively affects your moods, mental state, physical energy, and health condition.

Be flexible and listen to your body

You need to focus on developing weight control and energy management skills while considering everything in moderation. Being too preoccupied with rules on fasting might sabotage your efforts.

Balanced eating plays a big role in building your muscles and improving your metabolism, So listen to your body. Do not be too strict or obsessive about your intermittent meal timing, significantly if your energy level is affected. Be flexible when adjusting your meal timings depending on your schedule, activities, and energy level.

You can eat earlier than your planned eating schedule when your body calls for food already, like situations when you experience weakness, dizziness, or mental breakdown. If you are trying to lose weight, as long as you are within the calorie recommendations, you can still achieve your weight loss goals.

Extreme hunger pangs due to fasting can greatly affect your eating behavior. You can over-eat during meals within your eating window because of intense hunger. When it comes to choosing healthier foods, your decision-making skills might be affected – just eating whatever is available or choosing high-calorie foods such as fast foods, sweets, and junk foods to satisfy your hunger.

The most important consideration: proper meal timing should always be integrated with the right amount and quality of food intake and movement to achieve your weight management goals.

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