When you eat slightly less calories, you feel way lighter in your stomach.
I already tested last summer that my body performs better when on an empty stomach or just on the edge of it.
Ideally, training 3 hours after the last light meal was was gave me the best results.
When trying to train for instance 1 to 2 hours after a light meal, I strongly underperform. That's logical of course as my body is using a lot of its energy in digestive processes and there is only a fraction of energy left for moving the body and training.
By the way, when training for more than 30 min when starting on an empty stomach, what worked best for me is to eat a tiny bit while training - I give my body some nutrients every half an hour so that some energy comes in...
what do I eat? I drink liquid with 2 tea spoons of flour or some VERY light smoothie diluted even more.
I might have a few dried raisins or a small piece of banana or apple.
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Back to hunger signals and getting used to them.
We are still far from starvation signals, ok? ;)
What I am talking about is the feelings that you get when light hunger kicks in 2-4 hours after you last light meal.
These are soft hunger signals 10-20% intensity.
Now, you notice that rather than entering into panic mode and getting something to eat, you can feel this hunger and enjoy the lightness associated with it.
Playing with that edge and feelings is actually a fun thing. I am exploring that since I started this new program.
Remember that so far, the ONLY change I am making to my diet is light smoothies in the morning.
This means that I lower by half the calorie intake I have in the morning and get used to slight hunger signals + energy levels.
Everything else in my nutrition patterns stay the same.
This is VERY far from entering into an intense fasting period.
That's NOT what I am doing.
I am simply testing the very edge and the first feelings associated with slightly lower calorie intake.
So far my body's muscle mass is VERY similar to when I started.
I might have lost a bit of body fat in the mid section area.
Weight might be 2 to 4 pounds lighter to when I started.
The rest of my meals are now stable and I no longer overeat in the evening to compensate for lower morning calorie intake.
I am now used to this delicious light smoothie tastes. I slightly change the ingredients every day... what goes in it? Banana, spinach, orange, tomato, celery, ginger, salt, apple, carrot, etc + 2 tea spoons of whole flour for a bit of extra carbs. I blend all that with about a litter of water.
These ingredients are the same as what I used before but quantities are cut by 2/3.