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A 12-Hour Window for a Healthy Weight
- Kiro 12y agoOT but am I the only one who tries to gain weight? I'm on a 500 kcal surplus every day, lifting heavily four times a week.
- cubano 12y agoYou must be under the age of 25 or so. Please believe as you age, gaining weight will get easier and easier.
- mlrtime 12y agoI'm currently trying to gain at age 35, I eat until I can't eat another bite and lift hard 3 days a week. Gaining weight comes slowly.
- hoopism 12y agoDo you drink alcohol? If so, how much?
- Detrus 12y agoStuffing yourself with solid food is indeed a chore. Shakes are an easier way. As is dumping butter and olive oil in your carbs. 1 teaspoon is 100 calories. Funny I was in the same boat for first 2 years of working out, starting bulking with more oils, butters and shakes in addition to my usual 1 cup of carbs per day. Gained plenty of fat. Then got a few injuries in a row, lost intensity in the gym and now have more fat than I want!
- mjlangiii 12y agoOT, yes, but the struggle is real. When I really wanted to gain weight and I was lifting with good intensity I ate over 1000 cal surplus. But as far as wellness I assume that sort of excess is good for gaining muscle quickly but very bad for my long-term health so I doubt I'll eat like that again.
- irishcoffee 12y agoIf you've never seen this before: http://70sbig.com/blog/tag/dave-tate/ http://70sbig.com/blog/tag/dave-tate/
- scott_s 12y agoFocusing on the big lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press) made the biggest difference in my strength gains, and was when I added the most muscle.
- nether 12y agoNo, I'm a hard gainer at age 29. According to my athletic-snack cookbook this means I'm "inefficient" because I waste a lot of energy as heat. I seem to be really hot a lot of the time, I handle cold temps well (as long as I have enough food), sweat like a dog in dry saunas (and do not enjoy them), and every girl I've been with says I'm too warm, so it seems to make sense.
- crazygringo 12y agoGaining muscle is far different from gaining fat. Gaining "weight", regardless of composition, isn't what most people are looking for.
- debacle 12y agoThis has been relatively common knowledge for a few years, at least, and the science behind it is very sound and also makes a lot of evolutionary sense. Fasting has an incredibly good impact on our metabolisms and our overall health, especially for those who are suffering from diabetes. The direct link to the study: http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131%2814%2900498-7 http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131%2814... Has a really good graphic on the impacts. One of the critical things to note here is that the allotment of food to the restricted group and the unrestricted group was the same. Fasting detractors commonly try and create an association between fasting and reduced caloric load, which can be the case, but this study shows that fasting has a different mechanism for weight loss.
- hoopism 12y agoConstrain eating to a 12 hour window? It has to be more nuanced than that... no? I usually skip breakfast (bad, I know) and eat lunch at noon. So does my window stay open till midnight? My expanding waist line is questioning this.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago> I usually skip breakfast (bad, I know) Can you explain why? Research has disproven this notion. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2014/06/04/ajcn.114.089573.abstract http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2014/06/04/ajcn.114.... http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/06/05/skipping-breakfast-may-not-be-so-bad-for-weight-loss-study-finds/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/06/05/skipping...
- hoopism 12y agoI can't... I just believed the hype. EDIT: The links you provided debunk the notion of weight loss being impacted... but health seems to still have some potential links. "The last point that Dhurandhar brings up is an important caveat: There are very good studies that suggest that skipping breakfast does influence our health in other meaningful ways. For instance, it’s well known to affect metabolism, since it forces the body to stay in a fasting state for a longer period of time. Last year, a study found that skipping breakfast was linked to coronary heart disease, presumably because the extra time fasting leads to a rise in a group of factors that together increase heart risk. “Prolonged fasting,” says study author Leah Cahill, “leads to increases in diastolic and systolic blood pressure, blood concentrations of insulin, triglycerides, free fatty acids and LDL-cholesterol, and to decreases in blood concentrations of HDL-cholesterol.”"
- rcavezza 12y agoI believe eating breakfast is an indicator of a healthy lifestyle. Eating breakfast doesn't make you healthier, lose more weight, or exercise more, but the type of person who eats breakfast is more likely to exercise and eat healthier meals throughout the day. This link mentions a few studies that "show the healthiness of breakfast". Instead of forcing people to eat breakfast or not eat breakfast, it studies about 4,000 people and their daily habits. Some anecdotal takeaways is that people who eat breakfast are more likely to exercise, and women who eat breakfast typically eat less calories in a day. http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-eat-breakfast http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-eat-breakfast
- kyasui 12y agoMany people have found success using similar methods popularized by Martin Berkhan’s Leangains or Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat. So anecdotally, efficacy isn't just limited to Rats (although I don't know the state of controlled studies in humans). It’s interesting watching these intermittent fasting styles grow from niche body building communities to general population. It seems to be a great heuristic based way of keeping overall food intake under control.
- TelmoMenezes 12y agoFor what it's worth, I've tried several approaches to lose weight and the one that works for me is intermittent fasting. I was never obese or anything, just a bit overweight. I usually only eat dinner. Between about 20 and midnight I allow myself to eat whatever I want. This just fits my personality, I find it easier to skip meals knowing that later I'll be free to have whatever I want than constantly watching what I eat. I suspect most diets work, the trick is to find one that you can live with in the long run. This probably has to do more with personality than biochemistry.
- kyasui 12y agoAgreed, the best diet is the one you can adhere to over the long term. Here is a great series comparing dieting approaches: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/comparing-the-diets-part-1.html/ http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/comparing-the-diet...
- Lewton 12y agoIs it really a surprise to anyone that if you restrict almost any of the variables of diet, you can make a study showing it'll lead to weightloss? >Precisely how a time-based eating pattern staved off weight gain and illness is not fully understood Really? It's not fully understood how, if you give less time to eat, you'll eat less? It's not like mouse-stomachs are infinitely big
- _sentient 12y agoI believe the caloric intake was the same across all diets.
- cicero 12y agoEven if the same amount is eaten, it differs depending on if it's in a time-restricted window or spread throughout the day. That is not intuitive and indeed goes counter to the prevailing advice of eating many small meals throughout the day.
- Lewton 12y agoThanks for pointing that out. Still, it makes sense to me that excess input energy in the short term will leave to 'wasted' energy. Ie less calories taken in I'm not convinced that the system wouldn't adapt over a longer time period to allow for higher throughput removing the effect
- eitally 12y agoHow does this work for people who regularly burn 500-1000 calories in a workout (bikers, swimmers, runners, skiers, etc)? I'm genuinely curious, not so much from a weight loss perspective but from a mortality/longevity point of view.
- debacle 12y agoIt can help prevent diabetes and is theorized to assist in slowing down aging (through HGH secretion). Longer fasts are theorized to help stave off cancer to some extent, but I don't believe those ideas are backed up by hard science yet.
- eitally 12y agoHow does this work for people who regularly burn 500-1000 calories in a workout (bikers, swimmers, runners, skiers, etc)? I'm genuinely curious, not so much from a weight loss perspective but from a mortality/longevity point of view.
- cubano 12y agoIt's just calories in vs. calories burned, nothing more nothing less. Why does everyone make it more complicated than this? Of course not consuming calories for half the day (does sleep count or not? I couldn't tell from the article), as compared to those who do, helps you not gain weight.
- getsat 12y agoPeople think they are special snowflakes whose bodies aren't bound by the laws of thermodynamics. They'd rather focus on trendy microoptimizations (like "eating vegetables before rice", and other non-sense) than diligently tracking caloric intake.
- hcal 12y agoThe laws of thermodynamics are not limited to the total calories consumed and calories burned during intentional exercise. Many variables matter. We know that humans are not capable of converting 100% of food's available energy. What if your body is less capable of breaking down certain types of food right after you wake up? what if consuming a large portion of your daily diet in once overwhelms your body's ability to digest it. Science may have solved those specific questions, but pretending that the complex bag of chemical reactions in the human digestive tract is entirely governed by two simple summation variable seems naive. Please forgive any formatting errors. I'm typing this on a tiny little phone
- getsat 12y agoIf you assume (incorrectly, as science has proven) that the human body can metabolize 100% of the energy it consumes, your worst case scenario is your caloric intake. In practice, since you're not receiving 100% of that energy, you're actually better off. Figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and add your estimated calorie expenditure and consume fewer calories than that. The fact that not all those calories are actually used by the body makes it even easier to stay below your daily energy requirements. Thanks for the reply
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- grandalf 12y agoI think it's more of a function of how much time elapses between dinner and bedtime.
- abandonliberty 12y agoAn increasing body of evidence is supporting intermittent fasting in humans helping with weight and health indicators. http://www.livescience.com/48888-intermittent-fasting-benefits-weight-loss.html http://www.livescience.com/48888-intermittent-fasting-benefi...
- kazinator 12y ago"Increasing body of evidence" is even better than "Dr. Panda" in the article. :)
- Rainymood 12y agoWhat works for me: skip breakfast, skip lunch, eat a large dinner with a lot of protein (fish/meats/eggs) and green vegetables. After dinner I can pretty much eat whatever I want left / can afford to eat. Works for me.
- idofxeno 12y agoThis should be a pretty good place to start IMO: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debun...
- indralukmana 12y agoI am doing one of the fasting systems in islam. I have been doing it for around two month. What i am experiencing in observing this are mainly good things, which are: - I can controll my eating habits into a good systematic way, in sahoor and iftar. Before I would eat regardless of time or my hunger level, it is just difficult for me to moderate myself. - My state of mind seems improved quite a lot. I am more aware of my self, my being, my hunger, and many other aspects in my life. - I can taste food a lot more better, before I would just stuff anything as long as it is there. After I got used to the fasting, I am more selective of what I eat and enjoy each bite with great gratefulness. Of course there are several times that are difficult for me when I am doing it. But they are far out weighted by the better things. This is based on my own experiences and they may differ with other people's.
- stronglikedan 12y agoI've tried all kinds of diets, including time restricted eating, I've eventually failed at all of them for various reasons, or succeeded, but was unable to enjoy keeping the lifestyle. Enter the portion control diet. This is the only diet that I've been successful with, and I've been doing it for just over a year now. The reason I'm able to sustain it, is because I can eat whatever I want. For example, I eat ice cream every night if I want, but only a scoop, and when I go out to eat, I split my entree and take half home. The only caveat is that I try my best not to eat processed food; if I can't make it at home with whole ingredients, then I will likely not eat it. I can now look at a plate of food an know exactly how much will fill me up (this took a while). So, even when I don't leave the table feeling full, I know I'll feel satisfied within 15 minutes. I used to love the feeling of being overstuffed, but now I just feel sick when I overeat, and I don't enjoy it. I've lost over 30 lbs in the past year using the portion control method. It's not a lot, but it's a healthy reduction, and one that I know I can sustain. I know everyone is different when it comes to dieting, both mentally and physically, but I just wanted to share my experience with the most successful diet I've ever undertaken. I hope someone else can benefit from my anecdote.
- gmarx 12y agoI don't want to discourage you so much as warn you; I too have spent a lifetime dieting and have lost and gained back weight many times. All working diets feel like you to maintain them for ever during what I call "the momentum phase". Your brain is amazing at slowly making diets cease to work over time. That said, portion control and calorie counting are components of a working weight loss plan and one should be extremely skeptical of diets like the "eat only before midnight diet". I have never been a night snacker and managed to get morbidly obese just fine without it.
- stronglikedan 12y agoThanks for the warning. I feel that I'm out of "the momentum phase", because I've never maintained a diet for over a year, until now. However, I realize that I may be deluding myself on that point. I think that the key to my success is eliminating all but portion control. I don't count calories, or anything else that would make more work for me. All of those things are the things that would make my diet cease to work over time. Now I eat whatever I want, but keep processed foods to an absolute minimum. Growing up, my nickname used to be "Trashcan", because I would finish everything on my plate, and then eat whatever my dining partners didn't from their plate. I still do, but I take it as leftovers, and eat it for breakfast or lunch the next day. I used to relish being stuffed to the point where I couldn't move. I still very occasionally overeat, but now it's more of a sick feeling that I despise.
- aquark 12y agoI wonder how they managed to keep the calorie intake the same for each group as mentioned in the study? Either the mice self-regulated this, and the shorter window mice learned to eat more when it was available or there was a fixed amount of food available then the window seems less relevant unless they tracked when the food was gone for the day.
- edgyswingset 12y agoThis discussion has shown that, if anything, the only thing we can rely on is that our bodies are incredibly complex. There does not appear, at least to me, any consistently correct way to do things when diet and exercise are concerned. All of this is why I prefer to just stick with the basics: - Real, unprocessed food - Calories from food, not drinks - Consistently getting up and out of the chair - Sleeping when I'm tired - Waking up when I'm not tired - Exercising regularly I'm happy, healthy, and energetic. I'll let scientists keep working on the hard stuff without stressing too many details.
- samolang 12y agoThere may not be a consistently correct way to optimize health, but there is a consistently correct principle when it comes to weight loss. Consumer fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight (even if those calories come from processed foods: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/ http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/).
- logfromblammo 12y ago...unless your body responds to a reduction in caloric intake by burning fewer calories. If you employ a caloric restriction diet, you must do something to keep your metabolism from down-regulating, by whatever means that works for you. Otherwise, you will get stuck at a weight-loss plateau that is probably well above your goal weight, and further restricting calories from there might just worsen your situation. You can't push on a string. Don't consume fewer calories than you burn; burn more calories than you consume. It's a fine hair to split, but be aware that they are not two independently controllable variables.
- samolang 12y ago> If you employ a caloric restriction diet, you must do something to keep your metabolism from down-regulating No you don't. You will always burn calories by simply existing. You can get no exercise and still lose weight simply by cutting calories. Cutting 100 calories from your daily diet may be matched one-to-one with metabolism decreases, but I guarantee that if you cut 1,000 calories from your daily diet you will lose weight.
- ipince 12y agoHow does this reconcile the advice that eating more often (say, 6 times a day) but with smaller portions helps increase metabolic rate and thus helps with weight loss?
- johndavi 12y agoI think that's just conventional wisdom/wishful-thinking propagated forward (like so much dietary advice): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985 (cited in http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/health/23really.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/health/23really.html).
- ThomPete 12y agoI have recently changed my way of living loosing 40 pounds in 4 months. The number one factor is exercise and holding back on carbs. I actually feel better not eating carbs (but I do miss my pasta and my bread which i only eat occasinally) A family of four we cook all our meals ourselves completely from scratch unless we go out for dinner that also helps me control what I am getting. I drink wine and drinks when I want to, try to keep my lunches to fish and dinners to meat and veggies. But I would say exercise is the most important of everything I am doing.
- tremblaylive 12y ago"This article appeared in the January 18, 2015 issue of The New York Times Magazine." Future past tense?
- shittyanalogy 12y agoCool, another useless diet article: "Scientists, like mothers, have long suspected that midnight snacking is inadvisable." "began experimenting with the eating patterns of laboratory mice" "Precisely how a time-based eating pattern staved off weight gain and illness is not fully understood" "To date, Dr. Panda’s studies have been conducted with only mice"