🍽️ Wk 10&11: Fasting window + holidays

Hi friends,

Apologies for my absence last week. Managing my 9-5 job and this 90 day challenge has been quite the balancing act, and I’m working on my time management.

This week’s newsletter touches on the past two weeks which focused on:

1. Fasting window - moving up our fasting window (8am-1pm) to deepen sleep

2. Thanksgiving - navigating blueprint while with family for the holidays

If either interests you, please read on!

In case you’re new (welcome!) - my friend Jesse and I are embarking on a 90 day Blueprint challenge (learn more here) where we eat all blueprint meals, workout 7 days/week, and aim to get a 100% sleep score each night.

Let’s starting with fasting.

Early on in the Blueprint challenge we received a few comments stating that if we were going to do the protocol 100%, we should move up our fasting window to optimize sleep (Bryan Johnson finishes eating at 11am for this reason).

It didn’t make sense to do this at the time because we already were navigating so many changes (new food, new exercise, new sleep schedule), but now that we’re 70 something days into the challenge it was time to test it out.

Here’s what I previously did (~1.7k calorie diet):

🌙 Previous schedule

• 6:00am - 12:00pm / no food, fasting

• 12:00 pm / first meal, nutty pudding with dark chocolate

• 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm / second meal, super veggie with toppings

This is already a pretty good schedule since it allows my body 4-4.5 hours to digest before going to bed (9-9:30pm bed time), which is more than the recommended 3 hours. But why not try something new?

Here’s how I adjusted:

☀️ Current schedule

• 9:00 am - 10:00 am / first meal, nutty pudding with dark chocolate

• 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm / second meal, super veggie with toppings

• 3:00 pm - bedtime / no meal, fasting

We shifted earlier by an hour each day in attempts to make this a gradual shift.

🗻 Obstacles + results

• Biggest obstacle: the adjustment period - the hardest part was waiting for my body to adjust to the new eating schedule. After eating on a schedule for a while, the body knows to release certain hunger hormones (ghrelin) to prepare the body to eat. It took a few days before my body stopped growling around 4/5pm. It’s two weeks later and I now feel adjusted to the new schedule.

ghrelin increases before meals

• Results - my restorative sleep (which is a combination of deep (SWS) sleep + REM sleep) increased by 12% over the course of one week. Those are pretty shocking results and indicate ending eating early made a big difference.

This brings me to the next part, applying these BP principles in social settings.

🦃 Thanksgiving - Blueprint on hard mode

So how do I follow Blueprint and eat at odd hours while with family?

This week put me to the test. A few noticeable hurdles:

• Eating when no one else is - It’s a bit funny to be eating dinner at 3pm when no one else is. I aimed to not make this a big deal, since I would still sit and enjoy time with family later for 5/6pm dinner (even though I wouldn’t be eating).

• Eating different food from family - In the mornings I ate with family, but instead of Thanksgiving leftovers I had nutty pudding. This felt a bit odd, but Blueprint is a bit odd, so I didn’t put too much thought into it. I intentionally tried not to think too much and just enjoy time with my family.

• Awkward feelings - This just comes with the territory. There were multiple times at dinner where it just felt awkward to have an empty plate in front of me. I did my best to embrace this oddness and just roll with it. I kept telling myself that it is just one Thanksgiving and that it was worth ‘seeing what happens.’

How do you stick to healthful routines through the holidays? I’d love to hear from you and know what works best for you.

With love,
Sierra

🎬 My Latest Videos

💪 I Tried Bryan Johnson’s Blueprint for 90 Days [Day 54-70]. This week we go into detail about moving up our fasting window (deep sleep, yay!) and, with Jesse gone for the week in Hawaii, how we still buddy up from afar. Check out the fun here.

💥 Atomic Wins

What small change did you make this week to improve your health? Share your atomic win here (e.g. eating veggies, taking a walk). I’d love to give you a shoutout in the next vlog and celebrate together.

Thank you!