Daily Intermittent faster, here! (Good lord, that's a mouthful.)

I've eaten 2 meals pretty much every day of the week for nearly a year. My energy levels have been consistent for the majority of this time, even throughout the occasional long-term (40-hour) fast. More recently, however, I had a significant lifestyle change: work.

I started work about a month back and my sleep immediately started to suffer. It turns out my body needs a minimum of 7 hours to maintain energy throughout the day, while anything less (especially for multiple nights in a row) has me crashing by early afternoon. Now that I've forced myself into bed earlier and started grabbing 7 or 8 hours more consistently, though, I'm back to where I was: happy, not super hungry, and energetic well into the evening.

Food for thought!

BONUS: Yep. Definitely doable. And you'll have the immense pleasure of two big meals, which is a perk like few others.

Bonus answer: YES. I have trouble NOT eating more calories than I need in even just my two meals. People that can't eat 1.5 pounds of meat in a sitting might not agree?

As far as the energy crash... YES this has happened to me. I fixed it in two ways:

1: I make the lunch meal a bit smaller than I would like. I eat 1000kcal or less in that meal. Any bigger makes me sleepy.
2: I make lunch relatively low carb.

This solves the issue in two directions. Eating a huge amount at once definitely leads to more processing by the stomach and less blood for cognitive function in my experience. In addition, the lower-carb nature of the meal means I have less of a 2pm sugar crash.

If I STILL need something to get me through the 2pm-3pm hour, I generally drink a non-caffinated tea or coffee. I find that eliminates any latent hunger and makes me feel more alert.

I do 2 meals per day: lunch and dinner. The first month or so I’d feel pretty hungry and kind of slow in that last 1-2 hours before eating my first meal. Nowadays I do not, though. I think it’s simply a matter of adjusting?

In between meals I get kind of low energy, as far as I like to just chill out and have my work done by then, etc. Still though I train jitsu in the evening (in between meals) and I perform well in there. I find it’s a mental game: if I have no training and no to-dos that day then I’ll feel lazy and semi low energy and just lay around and chill out, run errands yknow. But if I know I train that day I feel good and ready to roll no worries.

I sleep 8-9 hours daily so I don’t think I have sleep issues. I don’t know much re cortisol but I have to think that going 16 hours with no food must cause cortisol release to some extent, no? I just don’t care. I think the benefits of the fast outweigh anything cortisol-related.

Bonus: you can get enough calories with one, two, or three or whatever meals in your window.

I do 16/8 IF daily, which usually translates to 2 meals a day, and sometimes 3. I rarely snack, and when I do because of hunger / low energy I take it as sign from my body that I did not supply it enough during my last meal.

I love J. Stanton's "Eat Like Predator, Not Like Prey" stance - http://www.gnolls.org/1141/eat-like-a-predator-not-like-prey-paleo-in-six-easy-steps-a-motivational-guide/.

When I eat, I eat big meals with as good a source of protein as I can get, and the add good fats for taste, and starchy carbs on days I work out.

BONUS - no problem gaining weight - put on about 10 pounds of muscle. Checkout leangains.com for a great protocol for fasting to improve your muscle gain, fat loss goals.

BONUS ANSWER: Yes.

On my work out days I typically consume 2 x 2000 calorie meals, which is enough calories for me to put on weight.

Also if you have an 8hr feeding window you can have 3 meals, have one when you break your fast, one 4 hours later and another 4 hours later, just before you start your fast.

I do the 2 meal a day thing about 3 days per week right now. If my energy drops and I sense hunger I immediately make a full meal and just assume my energy needs are higher for that day (I'm still breastfeeding though, and my seeking more calories seems to be attached to a 6th sense regarding my sons growth spurts, I've stopped questioning that feeling because it has been right every time).

I know what you mean about low energy vs. stomach rumbling hunger with both being cured by eating though. I experience the low energy without classic hunger signs when I meet my fat requirements before I meet my protein and veggie needs. I know this is going to sound weird, but I find that making sure to include at least a small amount of "high Pranic energy" (for lack of a better term) really fresh, like right out of the garden parsley or leafy green seems to erase that feeling.

If you want to gain IF isn't that great. Maybe if you don't restrict and eat highly rewarding food it could work.

Bonus question answer: Yes

I am LC-VLC, I naturally IF as I listen to my body. I can go 48 hours + sometimes. I never crash. I work at a physically demanding job outside and I work circles around the guys 1/2 my age lol (I am 46 btw)

i work rotating shifts and have been lc IF for the past six weeks hoping to improve my energy levels during my evening shifts. it works well since i don't need to adjust the meal times with each shift change.

i am still working on fat loss and find it really easy to not eat enough. i don't have an energy crash, but my sleep suffers.

the only time i don't do well is the days i purposefully add more carbs. the cravings are hard to ignore and feel a lot like low energy.