Hello and welcome to the third day of the June 30 days writing challenge. If you want to know all the details about this specific challenge, have a look at the introductory post. In short, I will be posting every day a short tip, or technique, or opinion, something that you can call a "life hack". Feel free to join the challenge and post your own life hacks. I will do my best to upvote each day at full strength (about $3 at the current STEEM price) 3 posts tagged #challenge30days (leaving a link to your posts in the comments will also help).

Intermittent Fasting

I was pondering if I should write a full article about my intermittent fasting routine, as I am on this pattern for more than 6 months now. But since I already started this 30 days writing challenge on life hacks, I decided to just melt it in.

So, if you didn't read any of the posts I shared about my intermittent fasting routine, for the last 6 months I only eat in a 4 hours window each day, usually between 1PM and 5PM. It's not a diet, as I'm eating anything I want (and, most importantly, as much as I want) in this time window, so it's basically an eating habit. Also, I'm still a vegetarian, not eating meat (or anything that had eyes or a pulse).

This whole intermittent fasting thing started as a complement to my ultra-running training. A year and a half ago I changed my running training to something called "Maffetone method" (just Google it if you want to know more) a training program in which you run extremely slow, in order to get faster. I know it sounds counterintuitively, but it works and, as I said, feel free to Google it.

Part of the reasons this training is good for ultra-running is that it emphasizes the fat metabolism in place of the sugar metabolism. In oder words, you train your body to use more fat. Our sugar stores are way smaller and easier to deplete than our fat stores, and they can also provide less energy. So, if one could enhance his fat metabolism, that will translate in running longer and with less damage. Which is why I actually started it.

As a supplement to this fat burning approach, I also started to get interested in fasting. I can train running slower, ok, but what if I adapt my eating habits too? Maybe that will help, I said to myself. So, ten months ago I decided to give this intermittent fasting a try.

There are basically two ways to do it: skip days entirely, or continue to eat daily but concentrate your meals in a short time window. My training would have been quite difficult if I would have pick the "skip days" method, so I went for shrinking the time window.

I started it with a 30 days experiment, in which I concentrated all the meals in an 8 hours window. I was having breakfast at 10 and then the last meal at 6PM. It went so well, that I didn't even feel like I was fasting. I let another month to pass before stepping it up a little: eating in a 6 hours window. I had breakfast at 10 and then the last meal at 4PM. That proved a bit more difficult, but not excruciatingly difficult. So, after leaving another 30 days for recovery, I started in December last year a 30 days challenge in which I had breakfast at 1PM and the last meal of the day at 5PM.

It went so well that I didn't change this routine for 6 months. And I have no intention whatsoever to change it.

Of course, if there's an emergency, I eat, but there aren't many "emergencies" in a month. Sometimes I can go on with 2-3 weeks of clean intermittent fasting before hitting what I call a "cheat day". Which usually means that I fall for some fries and a beer after 6PM, nothing too extravagant.

Among the benefits of intermittent fasting that I experienced during the last 6 months:

• weight loss (in a healthy way, meaning the internal fat is burned first)
• better sleep patterns
• better focus
• and obviously, much better results on my running

This "life hack" is obviously very complex and it requires drastic changes to your routine, so I wouldn't advise you to follow it, unless you know what you're doing (see the disclaimer below). But even skipping some meals every once in a while may have beneficial effects, at least in my experience.

So, really curious to read about your life hack today. Leave a comment with a link to your post, if possible.

Disclaimer: the information presented in this article is only based on anecdotical evidence and not a pair-reviewed academical study. It isn't, and it cannot be treated as health advice. Please consult with your physician before engaging in any type of diet or eating habit.

Previous Posts In The Challenge

• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Two: The "2 Minutes" Time Management Rule
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day One: Avoid Fighting With A Simple Visualization Technique
• Announcing The June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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