There is a LPT right now about the importance of lunch and not working through lunch. I’m curious what IF thinks about that.
I work through lunch nearly every day and have for years. I find it helps me stay fasting because I’m still focused on a task and thoughts/cravings are less likely to slip in. The LPT talks about the lack of lunch making you more irritable and less energetic. I’ve never felt that to be true for me. How about you?
Lunch for me is all about shutting down (not working OR eating). When you have lunch, the afternoon lethargy rolls in because of the huge insulin spike. As far as irritability (being hangry) that goes away with consistent fasting. If you have fat to burn, lunch is NOT important.
I try to schedule my feeding window so I can eat when I’m on my lunch. If my lunch happens to fall outside of my feeding window then I use my lunch break to “shut down” from work for a bit. Take a walk, watch YouTube or TikTok, play a game on my phone, etc.
I don’t have a lunch hour as such. On days I fast through lunch I find I’m more productive as I’m not stopping to eat or thinking about when I can fit in a meal.
Interestingly I rarely notice the time I’d normally eat and usually look up a couple of hours later.
I can come and go as I see fit so I always make sure to go outside and get some sin/natural light. Even when I’m eating I usually eat at my desk.
I used to get super irritable when I didn’t eat. This stoped when I switched to a whole food diet and cut out junky stuff. I glanced at the LPT link. I don’t feel I need lunch to be more productive and my job isn’t one that times your bathroom breaks so I don’t feel I need to make sure I get my away time. If your job gives you a lunch hour and it’s a use or lose thing then you should absolutely take it. You don’t have to eat though.
Literally without reading through that thread at all, “lunch is the most important meal of the day” sounds about like “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” which means neither is that necessary. If you’re feeling just fine without either, keep calm and carry on.
I work through lunch every day, mostly out of necessity. If I don’t do that work at lunch it has to be done during my “personal time” in the evening. I’m grumpier if I have to work in the evening than if I got my work done during the workday!
I have, however, been breaking my 18:6 fast at “lunch” and eating a small snack while working. That gets me thru to the larger dinner once I get home.
I have a flexible schedule so I always take lunch, I just do it outside of normal lunch hours. Being able to get stuff done in the slow down when others are eating is nice. My hours have “lunch” built in so I do always take the break even if I’m not eating, the mental zone out time is nice.
Now that I’m used to fasting I haven’t really felt hangry or tired around normal lunch. I do get a bit annoyed when a meeting gets shifted into my eating window, but I think that’s just the last minute nature of it.
I don’t eat lunch, but I don’t work through lunch either, it’s important that I get a little downtime during a long, busy shift. I go out for a walk if the weather is nice, if it’s not, I sit in my car and play on my phone.