Hi guys, good to be back here today. Work got the better part of me yesterday, so I was too tired to write. It also happened to have been my birthday, so thanks for all the birthday wishes and messages. This is probably one of my most fulfilling birthdays ever, as I feel like I have achieved a major milestone in my short lifetime. When I started on this weight loss journey, I never thought there will be so many other associated benefits that come with it. I am so happy I did this! At my new age, I genuinely feel  accomplished about a cause! Who would have thought I will one day be the one sharing my experience about losing weight? Wonders will never end! LOL!

In my last post, I wrote an epistle about Minding your food! It was a pretty long article, but I felt I had to give the extensive background as to why it is almost inevitable that you would have to cut down on some food items which we routinely eat without paying attention to the negative effects of their consumption. I talked about cutting a lot of high carbohydrate based foods, processed and refined sugars, sodas, alcohol, fatty foods among other things. If you missed it, please read it here.

Today, I want to share on timing of food intake. I learnt from reading a lot and talking to all sorts of experts, qualified and self-professed, about weight loss regimens and steps. Some of the advice I got included:

1. Don’t skip breakfast
2. Eat one major meal a day
3. Don’t eat after 6pm (Some said 7pm)
4. Eat frequently but in small quantities
5. Eat a big breakfast, then snack for the rest of the day
6. Eat only when hungry
7. Intermittent fasting

I am sure you have heard some of these as you tried different approaches to losing weight.Truth is, I tried some, and overtime I have experimented with others. At the beginning, I focused on two main steps: Eat one major meal (remember I already cut out heavy starch-based meals and reduced quantity of food intake) and Don’t eat after 6pm. My one major meal a day would be any of these – a salad, moin-moin, a piece of chicken (big piece of chicken, not whole though), small portion of mixed beans. I could then snack on light fruits later in the day, but will not eat after 6 pm. Usually, after 6 pm if I got hungry, I would drink tea or a lot of water. Usually, it helped that I worked out after work, so most times, I was thirsty, and tired, drank water and slept pretty early! After a few weeks, I introduced intermittent fasting like church type fasting (dinner to dinner), where I didn’t eat the whole day until after 6pm. But I broke my fast, not with a big bowl of rice or poundo, but light foods like beans or two slices of bread and eggs sunny side up.I would fast for three to five days, and return to my routine eat-a-meal-a-day approach which I did for another few weeks. I personally didn’t try and currently do not eat frequently in small quantities throughout the day and strongly advise against it. I find it easier to control the number of times I eat than the quantities I eat each time as eating frequently can be an excuse to eat much more than the total calories required for the whole day.

Presently, I have introduced eating breakfast twice a week usually before 10am so as to boost my metabolism in the mornings, and then limit the rest of my intake for the day to just fruits. On days when I skip breakfast, then I eat an apple or grapes and have a light lunch throughout the day. One thing I definitely maintained from the beginning of this journey till date is not eating at night. I avoid eating at night, and there is some evidence to support not eating at night and weight loss. Read study. I think the possible explanation for why this works is that by limiting the intake of food after 6/7pm at night, you effectively reduce the intake of additional calories which you ordinarily would have consumed, and which can create excess calories than your body needs, which eventually gets converted to fat storage. Secondly, at night time, your metabolism slows down significantly and your body does not use up as much energy as it does in the daytime, thereby increasing the conversion of excess carbs to fat. However, please note that this alone as a strategy is not sufficient to lose weight. It’s important to increase your energy burn rate throughout the day, and decrease your food intake which leads to an energy deficit so that your muscles continue to deplete fat storage all through (including at night).

That said, a lot of these are my own defined methods. The bottom line is to ensure that you maintain a healthy control over what you consume, and if not eating after hours will help you further control your intake, why not take the step?  You also need to make up your mind to take this as a lifestyle and not a short term weight loss strategy. It has to be for the long haul. A major benefit I have experienced from cutting out my late meals is a flatter tummy. I love that feeling of waking up in the morning, and my tummy is sunken…..totally amazing! Feels like 21 again, (unfortunately sweet 16 is a bit too far). Maybe in my case, most of the tummy fat was accumulating at night, I don’t know, but I am super happy to be able to button my shirts with ease and spot a flat tummy after so long (Omo sexy!) …..If not eating after hours helped bring sexy back, then I’m definitely sticking with the plan! Ciao bella!