Great!!! Day two went great for me - opened my window at 3:30 and closed it at 6:30. I plan to push it even later today as I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I will be checking back later. Peace - Jill

I have such trouble with erythritol. I just can't bake with it, I *really* notice the cooling effect. Even in small amounts.

I started doing IF back in September (I think it was) when Dr. Eades did his first posts on it. I didn't last all that long, but I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. Health! I should have been concentrating on the weight loss benefits. This time I'm doing it strictly to lose weight. I'm at that point in my weight loss journey that my natural intake on low-carb (whether very low carb or maintenance carbs) is high enough that I no longer lose. I need an edge to reduce my calories a little. Not much, just a little. So, I'm experimenting with a little intermittent fasting. Nothing major, just cutting out a meal or two. Yesterday I didn't eat until about 2pm. I'll try for the same today. It's not a huge difference, but I'm a grazer type of eater and I usually eat breakfast at 9am, have a snack at 11:30, eat lunch at 1:00, you get the idea. I figure I can cut out a few hundred calories by not starting the grazing until later in the day.

Do you mean Metabolic Cooling? I have not heard of that from a "tol".


Today is our Work Luncheon, and my Wife's little Gala thing after work but I doubt if I will exceed 1800/cals although it will be a little carbier than normal.

I finished off the snow tree late last night but I really want to see the inflateables.

Not sure why mfg's are keeping wraps on it-- it must be a competition thing, even Whole Earth Market doesn't carry it.
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I got some help yesterday delaying my eating window-- I went to the dentist

The lamb ribs I just bought were a little tough, the Dutch Oven method is better than baking them in foil. The chicken was just chicken, but the fried pork belly was delicious

No, erythritol has a "cooling" effect in it's taste. I don't know how to describe it except that it's kind of like that taste from a breath mint or something. I baked some low-carb cookies with it the other night. I even used 1/2 erythritol & 1/2 Splenda which is supposed to mitigate the effect. While warm, the cookies were fine, the effect wasn't noticeable, but then, after the cookies cooled, the effect was really strong. It really distracted from my enjoyment of the cookies.

I've found a health food store locally that sells it, the NOW brand, but it's pricey, they charge $12.99 CAD for it!

Ottowa, your snow tree looks very pretty!

Today's my Friday--I'm going to go into work a little bit later as both my daughter and granddaughter are once again home sick--(I am so fortunate to have a strong constitution, I just rarely get sick) so I am helping them out, they're going to the doctor later.

So my planned salad may not happen, it depends if I get out to the store. I'm not going to work until after my window would close so I don't want to wait until then to eat. I do have more chicken in the fridge so that's probably what it will be with something else, which is fine.

I hope everyone here is staying healthy....

Ruth

Lunch update---I was sent out for food, so am now eating a wonderful chicken club salad--hooray, it really is what I wanted today. I had an egg/cheese omelette to break my fast and now this salad, and that will be it for today, with only about 20 carbs it's a good day for me!

It's absolutely pouring here again, but my tummy and body are so happy, and I've built up to 2 miles on my bike so my legs are getting firmer....now if the scale would just budge a little, it would be like a present to myself!!

Ruth

Hello Val, have you used xylitol too? I haven't, but people say it has the 'cooling' effect as well, but none of the metabolic advantages of erythritol. And yet xylitol has been widely available here for many years in health food stores- very expensive. I've always wondered why the retailers here went with xylitol rather than erythritol. You'd think the people who buy xylitol would much prefer erythritol. Maybe the lower sweetness factor did it?

There is a remarkable prebiotic called 'inulin' (also available online) that boasts some pretty interesting food texturizing/ mouth (creamy) feel properties as well. One of its many claims to fame in my book is that it takes the edge off two of erythritol's disadvantages - the cooling aftertaste, and its tendency to form crystals in baked food. OTOH I quite like the cooling effect now, but it was a bit odd at first. Why don't you get hold of some polydextrose to combine with the erythritol as a food texturizer sweet cofactor in baked stuff? You will definitely have to use some intense non calorific sweetener as well. Polydextrose isn't sweet at all.

Why did the health benefits of IF not continue to inspire you when you first tried it?. I do find the subtle body comp improvements I've experienced gratifying, but I'd have to say my only motivation in adopting this dietary approach is health. I'm a grazer too. Whenever I start eating I'll be unable to stop low carb grazing for the rest of the day. Since I don't break my fast till 6pm now with no effort- after a year it just feels completely 'right', it's a huge amount of food that I no longer consume. It makes me so fascinated about that whole 'futile cycling' of excess calories that some people seem to do effortlessly. I must be a pretty impressive futile cycler. Unfortunately being so doesn't seem to prevent excess calories overloading your metabolism in terms of accelerating degenerative disease. I'm pretty sure I came within a hair's breadth of developing diabetes - from simply consuming way too much food- even though I never gained 'excess' bodyfat.

There seems to be widespread view, particularly in low carbing circles, that not tending to gain bodyfat by eating 'excess' fat calories without the storage inducing carbohydrate somehow makes eating excess fat healthy. I think this is manifestly wrong. IF for me has turned out to be an amazing process of discovery of just how few calories I can consume and maintain excellent body comp. It might make 'recreational' calories less likely to end up on your thighs, but as one of the moderators of the 'Performance Menu' forum put it: 'Thin folks don't really get away with consuming excess calories either. The damage just isn't as visible'. Which is probably why so many 'easy gainer' fat people are actually way healthier than 'naturally thin' overeaters like me. Low carbing is definitely healthier than high unprocessed carbs, IMHO, but it is only half the answer to optimum health.

Stuart

I'll look into erythritol when I'm in the States - shipping usually adds a ton to get it to Canada.

I haven't been strictly IFing for the last couple of days. I had all my end of term papers due on one day, so I just kind of ate LC whenever I wanted. I noticed that I was able to go much longer - 15,16,17 hours - without being hungry. Today, for example, I only felt hungry at 3pm. I like the freedom of this. I'll be flying tomorrow (fingers crossed, Montreal is currently getting even more buried in snow). On other flights, I'd be scouring airports for peanuts or cheesesticks to eat something. Now I'm hoping it'll be much easier to just not eat if there's nothing around.

Ottawa, pretty tree!

Canadians, the Low Carb Grocery carries Erythritol for 11.99. They ship across Canada and their customer service is amazing. You can also get polydextrose that's sweetened, and it is great in baked goods - it's called Poly-d Fiber Plus, contains polydextrose and sucralose. A good mix with Erythritol. Haven't tried inulin, but sounds appealing - creamy mouthfeel, mmmmm.

I'm all over the map today - had meetings all afternoon that I knew would go late, so I ate brekkie (chili at 11am!) and am going to have a nice steak now, at 7pm. So not much IFing today but hey, gotta be flexible. Maybe I'll try not eating til 7pm tomorrow, like the every other day method.

Love the snow tree Ottawa!

I love the Low Carb Grocery, I've ordered from them often, and dropped in twice, though it's a bit of a hike from where I am. I have the polyD actually, can't remember if it's the polyD with sweetener or not. My local health food store sells inulin as well, I haven't tried it with baking, just with protein shakes.

Heh, I was going to try xylitol (which is sitting in my pantry as well) next time, but now I'm thinking it might not be any better. I'm actually thinking of trying to work out how to do small batch baking, where I make just enough to eat at one sitting in which case the cooling effect isn't as bad, eating the baked good while it's warm.

Back to IF, I held out until 3pm today. I was happy with that. Even with eating regularly, I usually snacked around 4 - 4:30 or was famished at 6:00 when I got home from work. If I can fast until 4:30pm, have a snack before I leave work and then eat my dinner around 7pm, that's perfect. Even if I eat a bit more and have a late night snack I should have a lower calorie day than I would with all of that and breakfast & lunch as well.

Total: 1114 IF: 19/5
Fat: 67
Carbs: 72 -25 = 47
Fiber: 25
Protein: 81

Not very hungry today and poor pickings at both social outings.

Wayward,
"Canadians, the Low Carb Grocery carries Erythritol for 11.99."
Thanks for the tip. That is cheaper than I pay locally and I order a few times a year to get some bread and a few cooking items.

Costco carries the Inulin in a large container for 17.99.

Eaten between 7:00 - 8:30 pm

Large garden salad w/parmesan, ranch, and 4 oz diced ham, dill pickle spear, 1 slice provolone, 10 lil smokie links, cup of LC greek yogurt, 2 pc Russel Stover Net Carb candy

Total: 1235
Fat: 83 746 63%
Carbs: 47 108 9% (net 27)
Fiber: 20 0 0%
Protein: 84 338 28%

glad you're doing well! i'm better now that i know about the sugar alcohol, and laying off the processed meat. i'm pretty swollen today (puffy face), and i think it's because of the bars. so i think it will take a couple days to really get back on an even keel. thanks again for the advice. the only thing i did that was questionable was my coffee with splenda. only calories i had during fast. but, i think in the long run it will make this a WOL that i can live with long term. i am also going to reduce my window, since i don't feel like i'm actually fasting much with five hours. so tomorrow i will try 2-5. what is you're window, Jill? tell me how you're doing and what you're eating, if you're open to share : ) thanks, and hope to hear from you soon. ciao ciao!
msalicia

It continues to be busy, busy plus here. Thank goodness for IF. Trying to plan and fit in interesting LC meals 3x a day along with all the holiday and work madness would be a nightmare. Was a little light on the calories last night cause it was cold here and I decided to have 2 bowls of chicken veggie soup I had made back in November and frozen just for a cold night. Made up for it tonight with a lovely huge ribeye steak, sauteed peppers and summer squash with butter.
The plane inflatable should be going up tommorow night. AND I bought this 10 buck mini digital camera that appears simple enough for me to figure out how to use (used the cellphone camera for Art the turkey and had to email the picture all over the place to make the whole thing work).
Ottawa: I love the snow tree. I had never heard of or seen one before. It must have taken alot of work, but it is beautiful.
Now, I think I'll lay down (loved the steak but it was very filling) and actually read the directions for how to operate that digital camera.
Take care all.