Tim Huffman's Journal, 03 March 2014

It will feel like flying! 

Tim, Your chart is to die for! I wish mine would get such a huge plunge! Good luck with your marathon training! the lighter weight will surely help! Just keep posting, please! you make me want to run again and just looking at your chart now and again gives me a wake up call! 

Thank you Jenfar! I've been working at it pretty hard and feel like I've learned a lot through this challenge. I will keep posting : ) and I like to hear about your adventures so you keep posting too. I like to run, but to be honest I really don't like Marathons or Marathon training. It takes a lot of time as you are aware with the two marathons you have run. I think the reason I do this is for the challenge, the mental and physical challenge that goes along with planning, and finishing the training program (planting waters, setting aside 4 hours for 20 mile runs, etc) and the mental and physical challenge that happens around mile 20 in the race. There is something to be said about climbing that mountain, feeling like there is nothing left in the tank overcoming your mind telling you that you can't and than getting those goose bumps on the back of your neck around mile 23. The runners high kicks in and you feel you are about to complete something special. I have a special memory from the race last year. I found my 3 year old at about mile 13 and was able to stop, pick her up and give her a kiss. I want to do that with her again and my twins this year. I was pumped for the next 6 miles, I feel like it teaches them that they can do anything they want. All they need to do is set a goal, create a plan, timeline and FINISH! 

Yesss! the FINISH is magically and is undescribable! it affects people in different ways and if the experience is positive ad you've trained well, omg, pure elation! 

What is the 16/8? The diets here aren't explained on how to do. I have the night time eating problem, really bad, so I am interested to know what it about? 

Christina, 16/8 is a program I was introduced to by my FS buddies. Basically you have an 8 hour eating window and fast 16 hours daily. I start my eating at around 12PM or 1PM and eat nothing ater 8 or 9. I do get hungry for about a half hour daily but its usually late morning and I'm busy which makes it easy to work through it. It doesn't matter how many meals per day, could be 3 or 4 as long as you keep your calories below your burn. It's been working really good for me.  

Sounds like something that may work for me as well. Does the 16 hours of fasting benefit anything? Does eating like this help one to drop weight? I have been doing, not so great, on the 1200 cals. a day challange and am looking to find something that I won't screw up so easily. I am giving myself a little more time to see if I can adjust to so few cals. Thank you Tim!!! :) 

Christina, I checked out your food calendar. You have to be HUNGRY! Looks like you are working to stay in line with your calorie goal but the snacks are eating up soooo much of your calories and won't give you satisifaction for very long. I've read that Protein diegests slowly so in my mind if I keep my protein up I stay satifified longer. If I eat vegetables which also helps… I've read that a gram of protein for each lb of lean body mass (I've read a lot of things). I eat more than that but understand that's not for everyone. I would recommend starting around 40%protein, 40% Carbs, 20% fats (Calories from). So if your target is 1200 (seems a little low but not sure) 480 of your calories come from Protein, 480 calories come from Carbs and 240 of your calories come from fat. I would recommend starting at 1400 calories while working out for about 3 weeks and see how it looks and adjust from there. 16/8 helps me because my cravings or hunger happens in the morning while I'm busy, my eating window is after 12pm so I squeeze in all my calories in and feel satisfied and sometimes even full. In my mind when I'm hungry I feel I'm burning nice calories (probably in my head) I also try to workout in a fasted state which I feel helps. The program is called Lean Gains, you can google it and read up (keep in mind its a body building deal so you'll have to deal with the photos) I would also recommend reading about Intermittent fasting (Google Intermittent fasting Precision nutrition) Explains results of a weekly fast (I liked this a lot) and Intermittent fasting. Keep after it find something comfortable and you will do great.  

I am gonna check those suggested and will let you know asap. I really want to get into bodybuilding but I have about 50 lbs. of fat that needs to go too. Thanks for the info shows interesting to me. I am up early every morning and get my cravings at night but an usually in bed by 10pm so this may be the thing for me. Didn't do too bad with the challange I entered myself in, ( 1200 cals a day X's 6 weeks )I may change after I read up. Thanks again! 

Tim I have been trying 16/8 this week I like it I am not hungry after 8:00 either. I do break the rules in the morning a bit with my sugar free coffee creamer. I am not eating till after 12:00 trying to keep my protein up. Today wasn't good though I tipped on the carb n fat side:( I can't wait to see how I do on my weigh in day:)  

Sounds great Leoart. I really like it, seems like I have a lot of control, I can even flucuate my calorie intake really not even notice. Let us know how the weigh in goes.  

Tim, I stayed up way passed my bedtime reading everything suggested last night. I really like what I read. I do have a couple questions I'm hoping you can help with like for one, can the 8 hours change? For example, On the weekdays I am up at 6:30 and would start my 8 at 1pm. But on the weekends we sleep in and stay up alittle later, so about 10-11 would be wake up time just sat. and sun., so could I start my 8 at 2pm or 3pm and it still be ok? I also drink sugarfree coffee with creamer, like Leoart here, and wonder if that cheat is ok or not? As, far as calorie intake goes, it didn't really say anything about it. I do need to drop some weight so not sure what my calorie intake should be? Hope I'm not drilling you here, lol... thank you so very much!!! Christina 

Good deal Christina. The same reading was suggested to me through FS. I tried the weekly fast for 4 weeks and had success and now am doing the 16/8. In a nut shell, I think all work, its just a matter of finding what fits best for you. In 16/8 I read somewhere on lean gains that you are supposed to keep your times close (within an hour or so) he feels that your internal hunger clock needs routine I believe. I would suggest just bumping it back an hour on the days you sleep in. Unfortunately the creamer is a no, no during your fast but you can still have coffee and sweeteners. I'm not one to calculate calories but there are a lot of tools that can help. You can google how to calculate my BMR (calories your body burns at rest) and take that number plus your daily activity burn, if you keep a 500 calorie deficit, you will lose 1lb a week (3500 calories = 1 lb). If all that sounds to complicated, I would start at about 1500 calories and workout out, try that for a few weeks (give it a chance) and adjust it from there. You need momentum more than anything in the beginning, a comfortable routine with meal planning and prep along with a good workout routine.