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I'm trying to limit my caloric intake by condensing my eating window. I know that the purpose of IF is not to restrict calories so much as condense the time taken to ingest them, but I've found that I am rarely inclined to increase my meal size at the end of a fast, so it's been effective.

The only problem I'm having is that I get pretty bored with just a cup of black coffee or plain tea between when I get up each day at 6am and when I eat at 12pm.

I want to continue with a 16/8 fasting program for at least a couple of months to see how my body adapts, but I've been reading about both the Warrior Diet and Bulletproof Coffee.

The Warrior Diet, unscientific and anecdotal though it is, seems to have mislabeled itself. Hofmekler doesn't advocate one meal a day following a "water fast" as much he recommends making it a "protein fast," saving the day's intake of meat and cooked vegetables for the last meal of the day. Earlier in the day, he suggests raw fruits and vegetables for "enzyme benefit and lack of digestive weight.

In addition to reading Hofmekler, I was also reading about Bulletproof Coffee. While I have a hard time imagining how anyone ingest an 16oz containing 100grams total of butter and MCT oils, I do enjoy a pat of Kerrygold or a tablespoon or two of coconut oil blended into coffee now and again. I would like to do this more often, but my coffee intake is usually in the morning during my fasting period.

To bring this all back round to my original point, have any of you experienced any gains/drawbacks from consuming healthy lipids during the first part of the day, instead of a complete water fast?

I hope this makes sense; I would love to hear some other perspectives.

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4 Answers

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When you get bored and eat, are you being active, or are you sitting around?

If you're doing some form of rest and you get bored, the solution isn't food, it's activity. I think rest and hunger go hand in hand, like activity and loss of appetite.

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 I think the questioner is saying that he is "bored with black coffee or plain tea" rather than being "bored and looking for something to eat as entertainment". – FED at LiveCaveman.com Jun 9 at 23:56
I'm not eating mindlessly out of boredom, I am bored with the choices left too my by a water fast. I like to get creative in the kitchen, which includes coffee preparation when I'm in the mood. A fasting schedule is easy for me; I never snack. It's the repetition of water/tea/coffee that just gets old. – Steven Jun 10 at 11:22
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The short answer is "yes" as I do have some experience with consuming lipids+coffee in the context of daily fasting.

I am currently doing the following:

Wake up ~9am

10am French pressed coffee (~2 standard cups, strong brewed) with 1-2 tbsp of grass-fed butter or ghee or organic coconut oil (equivalent of 100-200 calories)

11am Water with splash of grapefruit juice + 15gms BCAA + ionic zinc + magnesium

30-60min exercise (either compound lifts, running, parkour/mov nat, kettlebells, etc.)

Noon - first meal of the day (generous portion of meat, nuts, fruit, maybe coconut water)

5pm - second meal of the day (generous portion of meat, fresh and cooked vegetables, some starch from sweet potato or rice)

6pm - 30-60 min light activity (skill work, general goofing around)

11pm - water with splash of grapefruit juice and 10gms glutamine

midnight - sleep

The results so far (about two weeks in) have been about 1-2lbs weight loss each week with a concomitant decline in bodyfat. I'm also experiencing and increased desire to move/exercise and my sleep quality has improved. It is worth noting that I am not under a lot of life-stress in general and that during the "fast" I have not experienced physiological hunger. The lipids+coffee have fallen within the 8-hour "feeding window" so I am still technically "fasting" for the remaining 16 hours of the day.

However, I am definitely not consuming the quantity of fat that is prescribed in the bulletproof coffee recipe. The idea of having some coffee with my butter is not so appealing, but when the ratio is flipped (mostly coffee with a little butter blended in a blender) I find the results quite delicious (especially with a nice dash of cinnamon!)

I have been following a Paleo/Primal type of diet for over a year and after an initial period of weight loss, I found that I could quite easily put on weight even with 100% adherence. (I don't count calories, but I do think calories count.) After one year I ended up at the exact same weight and bodyfat percentage as I had been "pre-paleo" and so this current plan of paleo/primal foods + food/exercise logging + IF is focused on creating improved body composition (currently ~12-13% bodyfat at ~190lbs goal ~7-8% bodyfat at ~180lbs).

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That looks like a great routine. I just added BCAAs to my routine last week and I'm really liking them. I get the ON BCAA unflavored powder and swish it in my mouth with water (same with glutamine). Is the grapefruit juice to cut the taste, or is there some other reason for it? You're natural build looks somewhere along the lines of Daniel Craig,though this may be inaccurate b/c it's hard to tell from the pics on your site. Good luck getting to sub 10%! – foreveryoung Jun 11 at 16:51
*your, not you're. – foreveryoung Jun 11 at 16:51
Also, how do you like glutamine? It's pretty much my favorite supplement. I think it makes the 1% difference when 1% is noticeable. – foreveryoung Jun 11 at 16:55
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 Definitely a big fan of glutamine. It's one of the few "supplements" that is actually worth taking. The pure BCAA powder is quite bitter, so I use the little bit of grapefruit juice to mask the flavor as I chug it down. I have been having great workouts with this routine and feel like my strength and endurance are as good as if not better than they were when I was having full pre-workout meals. I was able to get down to about 8-9% bodyfat with strict Paleo (Loren Cordain style) last year, but I was hungry all the time and my sex drive was ruined. I bulked up with a Sisson-esque diet... – FED at LiveCaveman.com Jun 12 at 22:11
but even when I was really low carb/no carb and all "primal" eating ad libitum made it impossible for me to cut back down. I dropped about 5 lbs just by food logging and becoming more aware of portions, but the past couple weeks of IF have made an even bigger difference and I feel like it is pretty easy to do (no hunger issues) and I'll see the proof of whether it works on the scale, with the body comp, and in the pictures I'm taking along the way. – FED at LiveCaveman.com Jun 12 at 22:13
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I do IF (18/6), consuming only water and black coffee during my fasting period.

Yeah, it can be boring. It was for me when I first started. And that was because I was used to mindless snacking all the time, and not being able to do it anymore went against old habits. Getting used to the behavioral change to not-snacking brought up a lot of resistance at first, and that manifested as boredom and the desire to consume something that wasn't coffee or water. But rather tan seek out more variety I just recognized the boredom for what it was, kept on with coffee and water, and eventually I stopped being bored--these days, I don't even think about it at all.

Frankly, I don't think the limited variety of non-caloric fluids you're consuming are behind your feelings of boredom. I'm inclined to think your old habits are making a lot of noise as you create new ones, and the noise sounds an awful lot like "I'm bored." This is perfectly normal. So maybe consider giving it a while longer and getting through the boredom before changing things up?

That said, I haven't tried the Warrior Diet because I had the aforementioned mindless snacking problem and only complete abstention from food for most of my day was going to kill it. If you don't have a similar problem, it could very well be worth a shot.

As for bulletproof coffee, I tried it--and thought it was vile. If I really need to, I can slug a shotglass full of MCT oil and eat a slice of butter straight from my fingers, then clear the oily slick in my mouth by drinking my coffee. But putting those fats directly into my coffee? Ick! And for me, I don't see that it offer much of an advantage, given that I don't have any real hunger during the fasting period.

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Abstentions from food isn't the problem for me; my whole body works better when I keep my meals down to two or fewer a day. I just hate monotony. Mornings used to be my time to make coconut milk/coffee combos with spices, so I guess that it really does just comedown to my adjusting to new habits. – Steven Jun 10 at 11:26
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do sumthing, clean the house, mow the lawn, do some shopping, go for a jog, do some reserch

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