How often do you eat for a 5 hour feed window?

[Derek Weaver]

Hi,
I'm fairly new to IF, but really enjoy it. I have worked my way up to a 19 hour fast with a 5 hour feed, but I'm not sure how often I should eat during that 5 hours. I'm 5'6", 155 lbs. +/- 10%bf and am taking in about 1gram of protein/ lb. of lean mass (minimum 130 gr./day). Do you all spread out the food intake?

I typically like to break my fast with something like a spinach salad with 4-6 oz. of chicken and go from there. However, depending on schedule sometimes I will break the fast with a shake comprised of whey protein, 1.5 cups of mixed frozen berries and a handful of almonds on the side.

I am probably somewhere are 85% paleo with my food choices (whey being the most obvious non-paleo choice).

As for activity, I follow either the PM WOD, or CF or something along the lines as well as boxing 3x/week on average, sometimes more.

Any suggestions on frequency of eating and whether or not I'm getting enough food would be appreciated. by the way, I am for about 2400 cals/day

[Troy Archie]

I usually have 1-2 meals depending if I train or not. If I do only have one meal I usually end up pecking away at something like nuts or a lettuce wrap.

[Chris Forbis]

Some days I will do only one meal. On those, I break the fast with a 1/4 cup of almonds, 1 tbsp of ACV in 8 oz. of water 15 minutes later, and a big, fatty meal 15 min. after that. If I try to break the fast straight-off with the fatty meal I have, um... gastrointestinal issues.

On days with a 5 hour window, I'll do two big meals. One at the start of the window and another at the close. I really dislike grazing. I much prefer big, calorie-dense meals.

[Derek Weaver]

Thanks for the replies. I have been eating maybe 3 meals as I have a tough time getting ~1200 calories down at a time. After 19 hours of fasting my meals feel gigantic, which I guess they should considering they're about 3x's bigger than my old Zone meals.

[Ale Dileo]

i usually have three meals in a 4 hours window. Break the fast with a big salad and lean meat (and extra-virgin olive oil of course) and finish with a egg-fruit-based paleo dessert. If not satisfied add some nuts or a piece of 100% cocoa black chocholate.

[Scott Kustes]

I usually have two big meals and some snacks. I break the fast with a nut-based snack, probably a couple hundred calories. About a half hour later, I have a humongo salad with sardines, olive oil, and vinegar. A couple hours later, I have dinner, which might be 4 chicken thighs and some sauteed onions and kale or something similar....lots of meat, vegetables, and fat. I finish the night off with more nuts and such or a few squares of 99% Lindt chocolate. Sometimes I have a glass of wine or two or a beer with it all.

[Derek Weaver]

Just wondering, and I guess hijacking my own thread, but has anyone tried more of an evolutionary fitness approach?

From what I gather having read the Art Devany article is that it's much like Paleo, you eat what you want, and occasionally fast a bit to keep things very random.

I'm thinking of switching it up a bit as my metcon performance has taken a bit of a dive (IF has been great during power/strength based WOD's, but I am a CF'er and take part in several combat sports) and maintaining metcon is very important to me. Maybe more of an intermittent-intermittent fasting approach from what Devany's article says.