Yes, I can understand your confusion.
"But Stevie, you said 6 meals a day is the way to do it..."
I fully believe in the 6 meals a day model. But, I realize that making the time for your meals can be complicated. If you're not married, no kids, have a flexible job schedule, etc, then 6 meals is easy! That was me. No obligations to hold me back from eating when I need to. HOWEVER, this is not a normal life for people. As I've been going back to school, I've realized that eating every 3 hours is becoming a challenge.
I've decided to look into Intermittent Fasting (IF). I was introduced to the concept by Sara Solomon. She's one of the major supporters of IF in the bodybuilding community.
Needless to say, her body is flawless. She actually really funny and silly. She has a down-to-earth quality about her that I really like.
So, IF can vary in how you approach it. Some people do 24 hour fasts/cleanses, and others follow a block schedule of some sort. Sara follows a 16/8 schedule, where she fasts for 16 hours and has an 8 hour eating window. It's helpful to use a portion of those hours sleeping.
One of the positives is that you can create your window of feasting to be anytime that's convenient for you. One of the major drawbacks from 6 meals a day was that my eating schedule didn't always jive with everyone else. I spent a lot of days sitting there with no food while everyone else is eating. It was awkward, but you get used to it and people stop asking you questions about it after awhile.
With IF, you can set it up so that your eating times are near "normal". So, I started Monday and did the 16/8 model. I stopped eating Sunday night at 9 PM and didn't eat my first meal until 1ish. So, I can eat between 1 PM and 9 PM, which covers the most social meals for most people--lunch and dinner.
Your first meal should be after exercise, and it should be a fairly large meal. You still have to hit all your macros though, but feasting days are a little more forgiving. So, I'll post my schedule after I'm done with my first week.
I'm currently on my 24 hour fast that I built into my schedule. Water is allowed, but nothing else. It wasn't hard while I was at work. I can usually dive into something and ignore hunger pains. But, I will say coming home is much harder. I know I'll survive, but I feel like if I caved, this is what I would look like:
EASILY. :)
There's a lot of science behind IF. I'll post some articles at another time.
Oh, and a lady from my worker gave me a sample of some protein powder that she bought. It was really good, actually.
It's flavor is Orange Creamsicle. She got a tip to mix it with orange juice and I loved it! And yes, chopsticks are really good stirrers when your blender balls are dirty.
Well, let's hope that I don't get too many urges with this fast! :)
