A 6-Day Eating Twice a Day Experiment
Early Time Restricted Eating (or Intermittent Fasting) put to the test.
What is Time Restricted Eating?
It simply means eating daily within a time limited window usually from 8 to 12 hours. You question your eating habits not looking at WHAT you are eating, but WHEN your are eating. I covered this approach in details in two previous articles: “What did I learn from two years of practicing Time Restricted Eating?” and “The inconvenient truth about Time Restricted Eating”.
For this experiment, I go one step further by skipping a meal to simplify it and more specifically to avoid having to count hours during your eating window . So from three meals a day, during this experiment you will eat twice a day.
What is early TRE?
During this experiment, the idea is try to synchronize with the circadian rhythm by being active and eat during the day. Ideally you would start your day moving outside (walking, swimming, cycling, running, doing yoga/pilates…) before your breakfast. Your breakfast can happen bit later than usual. Your lunch may as well happen a little later than usual. Evening is free time to work, read, rest, relax… no extra cooking, washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen.
How to plan your 6-Day Experiment?
Select a week without too much social obligations. You can keep exercising and working as normal during this experiment. Prepare your experiment with a day of intermittent fasting (10 or 12 hours) but without changing your usual number of meals. Try to avoid drinking alcohol during the experiment, alcohol increases hunger and appetite. Normal “hunger” may kick-in around your usual meal times, drink water or go for a walk. Prepare your next breakfast the day before to avoid starving in the mornings or running out of ideas and rushing to junk food or snacks. Your breakfast gives the tone of your day. Focus on colors, fresh ingredients and quality food. Lunch can remain as usual. Just remember to stay well hydrated, so drink more water or infusions in the afternoons and evenings.
I hope that you will enjoy your four days of eating twice a day. If yes, Congrats! Ideally don’t rush back to old habits yet, have a day of intermittent fasting with a larger eating window (10 or 12 hours) before going back to your “normal” eating habits.
If you want to repeat this experiment, I would suggest to add a day of “rest” (the Saturday on this schedule) without any time constraint. The weekend being more social, it is also good to have some loser rules. Enjoy your weekend, family and friends without constraints. The more convenient and easy is an experiment, the more chances you give yourself to stick to it and repeat it in the future.
Frequent questions on Eating twice a Day and Time Restricted Eating
Feedbacks welcome
If you try this experiment, I would love to hear your feedback in comments or on the Instagram POST on Eating Twice a Day during the Lockdown. I initially try this out during the first lockdown in France (Mid March to Mid May 2020).
It’s not a diet, it is a lifestyle…
You are what you do DAILY… chose wisely. If you would like to adopt a plant-based lifestyle, you can read “Mindful Eating Plan made easy”.
