TRE+WFPB+Pn80%

It’s that time of year when lots of people are resolving to lose weight, and the first question often is which diet to follow. Whole30? Paleo? Vegan? A weighty dilemma, to be sure (see what I did there?). Diets typically involve restricting whole categories of food—carbohydrates or fats, usually—which can turn eating into a minefield of temptation, regret, and over-eating on binge—I mean cheat—days.

Time-restricted eating (TRE), a form of intermittent fasting that takes into account our body’s circadian rhythms, is an eating pattern not diet. The main feature of a TRE pattern is eating within a window of time (4-10 hours) that has been shown to help people manage energy (food) intake. A study done in 2015 showed that the eating duration (time from first bite to last) in approximately 50% of the subjects in the study was more than 15 hours per day, meaning there was lots of opportunity for extra calories to sneak into the diet. If you take a look at your own eating habits, you’ll probably find an extended eating duration too, a recipe for over-eating. TRE can be a great way to decrease overall caloric intake without feeling deprived or confused by a complicated diet plan. In fact, that same 2015 study showed that participants were able to lose weight (4% of body weight) while still eating the same number of calories, simply by eating within their self-selected eating window.

I’ve been practicing TRE over the last five months, and I’ve found it both effective at helping me lose weight and easily integrated into my life. For me, the easiest way to practice TRE is the 16:8 method, in which I fast for 16 hours (overnight and into the morning) and then eat within an 8-hour window of time during the day and early evening. Some people also successfully use the 14:10 method, which has the advantage of having a longer, 10-hour eating window.

Because this is an eating pattern and not a diet, TRE allows you to be more flexible in how you implement it in your life. Working out in the morning? Shift your eating window and keep it moving. Can’t seem to quit your favorite food? 8-hour window not jiving with your schedule? Use the longer 10-hour eating window. There’s also no requirement to limit specific foods or categories of foods to see a benefit. Of course, as with any eating pattern, especially one where you have a net calorie decrease, you need to be mindful that the calories you are eating are high-quality so that you are getting all the appropriate nutrients in your diet to fuel your body. Practicing TRE when you’re eating a diet of calorie-dense, nutrient-deficient processed food is not going to positively impact your overall health and won’t help you lose weight either.

In my personal experience, combining TRE with a commitment to eating a mostly whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet and eating to 80% full, a principle taught by Precision Nutrition, the company through which I received my nutrition coaching certification, is very effective. Eating a whole food plant-based diet is pretty self-explanatory; eating to 80% full might not be as familiar to you, but it’s an easy concept to implement. It does take a little practice, especially if you’re a person who isn’t particularly aware of hunger cues until you’re ravenous, or doesn’t notice satiety cues until you’re stuffed. Eating to 80% means there’s still room in your stomach for more, but you don’t have hunger pangs. Learning to consistently eat this way requires that you slow down enough to pay attention to how your body feels before, during, and after you eat. Once you practice slowing down and tuning into your body, you can then determine what real hunger, or 0% full, feels like (sustained hunger pangs); and what 150% full feels like (really stuffed). From there, you can figure out what 80% full feels like.

This principle of eating to 80% full, combined with time-restricted eating and eating healthfully has helped me effortlessly lose ten pounds over the last 5 months, despite lots of travel, holidays, family meals, parties, and not working out recently due to an injured knee. The key point I want to stress is that I’ve lost the weight without feeling deprived or anxious about sticking to a strict diet. In fact, when I stepped on the scale after the New Year, I was pleasantly surprised at the number I saw—I could have sworn that I ate and drank all the things during the holiday season.

The best thing about TRE is that it’s flexible: if there’s a day my body is telling me it needs more food, I’ll eat more during my 8-hour window; if my schedule is a bit crazy, I’ll switch to the 14:10 method and go back to the 16:8 model the next day; and if I want to eat a burger and fries or dessert every now and again, I’ll do it without guilt. I quickly adjusted to this eating style and at this point 5 months later, it’s pretty effortless. All in all, I consider this a successful experiment and a way of eating that I’ll continue, particularly as research is beginning to show real health benefits such as better insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control, as well as positive immune system and gut health effects.

If you’re interested in exploring how to incorporate TRE into your life, or if you’re interested in working with a health coach to improve your eating habits or overall health and wellness, let’s chat! Connect with me for a free 30-minute health and wellness consultation to discuss how coaching can help you implement and stick to an eating plan that will move you forward.

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