While we, as humans, don't hibernate, we tend to put on some pounds during the winter. I don't think personally that there's some sort of evolutionary process that has programmed us to do so, I just think it's the less inclination for movement due to cold weather (talking about areas that are cold during the winter).
After coming from an ankle injury right into winter, I experienced some of this. Following IF eating habits most always makes me mentally perform better, but this post is more in regards to body composition.
It's not weight that someone else would have noticed, I wasn't really noticably chubbier, but I myself could tell. I had become more 'soft'**.
Now, I had gone through periods where I was holding diet fairly well and partaking in fasting. But, because I'm going mainly off of memory, I can't attest to the comlete accuracy of what I remember.
My biggest problem, though, was allowing my diet to slip, mainly food quality, and at times even the self-control to hold a fast.
I'd eventually fix my habits, at least for a little, but usually slip back. This cycle and time lapse makes it even harder for me to tell what was going on precisely.
I do remember that at times, I felt like I looked satisfactory by standards compared to what I remembered of myself pre-injury, maybe only a little less than preferred.
I think I remember, though may just be my mind telling me this, the times of fasting I'd at least start to become 'less soft'.
And so, with the minimally precise time corrolations, and rarely holding good eating habits for at least more than a week, I can probably attribute a lot of my undesired look to that.
This is not a vain post, however. This has sparked my interest now that the weather's getting nice and I'm being much more active. During the winter there was one time where I went for about 2 and a half weeks before I slipped, and during that time I was satisfied with my current body composition, but it was still not comparable to how I'm looking now that I'm getting more activity (and eating habits decent, I somewhat have either foot on both sides of the fence right now, instead of hopping back and forth).
This is where the meat of my question is:
Now what has seemed to be true, as I remember said by Charlie, probably Chris, and mentioned on theiflife.com: body composition is 80%(of course general figure) diet.
While purely fixing food sources and IF (usually) definitely affected body composition, I am a little bit confused. As of now my eating is only fair, but activity level increased; but my body comp. is more favorable than with less activity but good eating habits.
Again, this isn't a vain post, I'm asking because I want to make sure I know the truth so I can pass on the correct info.
Is this really true? Is eating only great food sources, and possibly later on the attempt at IF, going to generally be enough to affect the body composition of someone who comes to me for help?
Of course activity will help, but to my knowledge the diet is more important, and I tell them that.
Blah, I'm at a loss here and not entirely sure what else to say, so I hope I've got my information and question across.
Also, a pre-thanks for everyone who helps contribute to this topic.
** I'm assuming this to be a higher concentration of adipose tissue, which seems to most often be the reason people feel "less defined". Perhaps there could be other reasons for this, and my concern with the fat aspect is completely off. In that case, I'd LOVE to read about other causes of feeling 'soft', so please try and inform me on that (at least send me a link or two so I can further understand it).
