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The diet seems to consist of a combo of things:
- low fat/protein/cals
- time between meals to lower blood sugar
- less meals
I realize it’s probably a combo of all of these things that makes it successful but I’m wondering if having more meals (like 3 or 4 vs 2 large) and a 14+ hour fast between dinner and the first meal is “enough”. Is that the “thing” to be a little loose on rather than the other two?
Curious!
You can definitely do 3 or 4 meals on LE. No one ever said it had to be two. It's just you don't want to be snacking all day long. For example, on LE you could have a meal at 8am, then noon, then 4pm, then if you like maybe a small meal around 7. That would still give you a 13 hour fast. Eating your meals 3-4 hours apart is not snacking and would give your blood sugar time to go down before your next meal.
I eat 3 times per day (sometimes 4th small snack/meal when I need it) and my schedule is very close to what ks said - Lately I've been eating around 8:30, 12:30 and 5/5:30 (yes - we eat dinner crazy early like we're old people haha!!). I try not to eat after 5:30/6 so that I have a 14-15 hour fast between last meal of the day and first meal next day. Sometimes I'll cheat on that by having like, 2 crackers in the evening to keep my tummy from grumbling all night! :) I've done 2 meals a few times but I personally find it way too hard - I'm too hungry and miserable. I also find it harder to get in even the lower the limits for calories, fat, and protein in only 2 meals per day without feeling like I'm gorging during those two meals... It feels easier to spread it all out over 3 meals than 2. I also think it's easier to stop eating early in the evening and fast through the night so that I can eat breakfast as I'm just naturally a breakfast person.
Obviously I don't know if what I'm doing will "work" in terms of my girl sway as I'm not pregnant yet (I've been swaying for 10 months & had 2 m/c), but that's just how I've done things to stay sane :) For me I find the "no snacking"/limiting times per day of eating has been harder than staying within the calorie/fat/protein limits.
We don't have the data to ask the question you have asked in the body of your post. We just don't know and it very well may vary by the individual anyway.
Now, if you're asking what underlying mechanisms make the diet work we believe it's a combination of eating more vegetable based protein and fat, eating fewer cals/pro/fat overalll, eating somewhat less nutrients overall, and keeping blood sugar on the low side (and by this I do not mean always having measurably low blood sugar, but more that your body has to burn off stores of fat to keep your blood sugar in normal range, since your body doesn't like low blood sugar and will always take steps to keep it in normal range).
:agree: it is still wayyyy different, even if you're eating 4 meals a day, than the kind of all day eating many of us boy moms do. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ksmom