Thoughts or experience with Intermittent fasting?
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I am doing daily 20 hour fasts, which means I eat all my daily cals in a four hr period. I still log everything to make sure I stay in deficit.0
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IF doesn't mean nothing but water. Though many IF protocols use 'modified fasts' when referring to the fast days. The books on IF don't call it calorie cycling though you can call it whatever you want.Works here. Need to track on non-fast days. It got me down from 103kg to under 88 now. Helped me break the 90kg barrier where I had been stuck for a year. It's just another way of CICO. It does two important things. It helps you understand and get better at accepting genuine hunger. It also means that you can eat at maintenance level 4-6 days per week. And @cindytw - it's just terminonlogy. You're right, technically it should be called Intermittent VLCD - but doesn't have the same ring :-)
So what the folks here with the 500 calories REALLY mean is calorie cycling, NOT IF. IF means NOTHING but water. Calorie cycling is a whole different thing with other reasoning for it.0 -
I fast for 16 hours a day and only eat during an 8 hour window. During the fast (8 hours of which I'm sleeping, I take only unsweetened beverages.
I'm still relatively new to it, but I have had an unexpected benefit. I no longer have the urge to snack (or binge eat) because during my eating window I'm full and outside of that window I don't want to break the fast and ruin the benefits of it.0 -
@C4rtr4t and Christine, so for you guys the under 500 calorie days have been helping. I have been fasting some days and other days eating under 500. The rest of the days I eat anywhere for 1000 to maybe 1500 calories. I exercise most days. I have been getting criticism from the few people I've talked to about it in my life. The "you need to eat every day" stuff. I have lost weight since I started, and it has really jump started my weight loss because I was stuck for a while.
The reason I'm asking is because I go back to worrying that I am messing up my metabolism or something like that. And sometimes after I've fasted or had under 500 calorie days, I'm afraid to eat because I worry I will just gain the weight back, I've been getting more anxiety about that lately. So sometimes maybe I fast 2 or 3 days in a row. And that makes me worry more. I've really been wanting people to talk to about this. Wondering if other people have the same feelings. And also some reassurance that it isn't the case. It is easy to find information about fasting online, but personal testimonies mean a lot more.
And I do want to be healthy about it, from the sounds of what everyone is saying, it has been working for a lot of you. Some days I feel tired and other days I don't. I'm also wondering how many days a week it is best to do this. Is every other day too extreme to do regularly? I'm looking to change my lifestyle, not just diet.
...@Cindytw... I don't really understand why terminology matters all that much.. I just want to know what is working for people.
@kcd1961, do you do the under 500 calories days? Is that what you are saying? How much weight have you lost because of it?
@Medilia, do you fast 14 hours every day? Like do you just have 1 meal a day?
@fluffyasacat, That's awesome! I don't know some of the things you are saying... but that's okay. I'm new to all this stuff. I've gone from about 230 to 205. I was stuck around 215 for a long time, since I started fasting I've lost another 10lbs. But like I said up there, I want to make sure I do it right before I get too deep into it because I want this to be a long term life style change not just a diet.
@ everyone else, pretty much all the stuff I've said. I'm glad to hear that you've all had good results with whatever fasting you've tried. I am def going to stick with it. Only water days are harder for me than the less than 500 calorie days. But I could end up doing either. Maybe doing both isn't such a bad thing? I dunno. But I really appreciate everyone's input, thank you.0 -
I use the 8/16 rule. I eat from 10am until 6pm. It works for me.0
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I believe author Dr. Michael Mosley was the first to use the phrase "intermittent fasting" and he used the adjective intermittent because he was still ingesting 500 calories or less. Otherwise it'd just be fasting. To the OP, I got his book at the library after hearing him on NPR, it gives some interesting info.
I love IF but find it hard to do, mainly because I have 3 other people in my house that I cook for, and it's a bumer to cook and then not eat any of it. I try to IF on days I'm really busy, and then serve a dinner I wouldn't eat anyway, and then have my husband clean the kitchen so I'm not tempted to snack on leftovers. For my own dinner I'll make a huge pot of vegetable soup, when it was warmer I'd make an enormous salad.
It's an easy way to create a calorie deficit because it's such a no-brainer: you eat less than 500 one day. But IME you have to plan to do it--I pick a busy day, stay away from the couch/tv, etc. Good luck!0 -
Sabrina it takes alot longer than a few days of eating low calories here and there to mess up your metabolism. It takes many many months of constantly under eating.
Just make sure to stick close to your tdee on up days and you'll be good.
I haven't told anyone other than my hubby that I'm doing this. He was sceptical at first, but has shut up now that he sees I've lost weight
I have tried just about every diet under the sun over the last 3 years. Some don't work, others are too restrictive and I fail.
This is the only way of eating that I have lost weight on, and in a relatively easy way! I plan on fasting in one way or another for the rest of my life
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You can also do a zero calorie fast. But the studies suggest a negligible weight loss difference between 0 and those following the 500 calories0
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Sabrina- To ease your mind I recommend you read the books on it by Krista Varady, Michael Mosley and James Johnson. Also, lowcarbfriends has a JUDDD subforum that is very supportive and active, with many success stories.
I did alternate 500 calorie days with ad libitum days for 12 weeks recently. I don't think it messed up my metabolism. I think it was a good experience. I get bored and want to try new things, plus it was time for a diet break, so I'm maintaining (hopefully) for the rest of the month. I'll go back to it sometime.
The first time I heard of IF was from Brad Pilon, maybe 8 years ago? I think his plan pre-dated Mosley's by quite a while.0 -
Highly recommend the books. These are the ones I have. Dr johnsons book goes more into the science behind fasting.
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Ha! Mosley's book "Fast Exercise" was actually really good, too.0
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WalkingAlong wrote: »Ha! Mosley's book "Fast Exercise" was actually really good, too.
I'll consider getting that one when I start exercising
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christinev297 wrote: »I fast every second day. On up days I have 1550 calories or a little bit under. On fast days it's up to 500 calories.sabrinalynn777 wrote: »I have been fasting some days and other days eating under 500. The rest of the days I eat anywhere for 1000 to maybe 1500 calories.
You're respectively averaging 1050 and 750 calories a day. This isn't intermittent fasting or EOD. You're eating so far under your TDEE that you're stripping muscle off your body almost every day. You are on a fast AND a diet. @christinev297 considering all the reading you're doing I'm shocked to see you recommending this - an eating disorder with a cover of IF. Every day I argue with dude bros on here about IF! I try to help them understand it's moderate and healthy... and then there's you undereating and claiming you're eating the way I do? No. Just no.0 -
@sabrinalynn777 on "Fast" days - I aim for 600 calories (gross). On "Non-Fast Days (NFD) I eat around maintenance [2100+{Exercise/2}] - It got me from 103kg to 91 without monitoring. I got "stuck" at 91-92 - until I started monitoring, and since then I have dropped from 92kg >> Under 88.0
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If I did JUDDD by the book he'd have me eating 1650 on 'up days' and 330 on 'down days', so an average of under 1000 (barely). I didn't really log my 'up days' after the first couple weeks and went way over my maintenance but if I was like Varady's average study participant and ate 110% of my maintenance on 'feast days' and 500 on 'fast days', I'd be averaging under 1200 then, too. Barely, though. I think the numbers can just get that low when you're over 40, female and close to or in 'normal' BMI.fluffyasacat wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »I fast every second day. On up days I have 1550 calories or a little bit under. On fast days it's up to 500 calories.sabrinalynn777 wrote: »I have been fasting some days and other days eating under 500. The rest of the days I eat anywhere for 1000 to maybe 1500 calories.
You're respectively averaging 1050 and 750 calories a day. This isn't intermittent fasting or EOD. You're eating so far under your TDEE that you're stripping muscle off your body almost every day. You are on a fast AND a diet. @christinev297 considering all the reading you're doing I'm shocked to see you recommending this - an eating disorder with a cover of IF. Every day I argue with dude bros on here about IF! I try to help them understand it's moderate and healthy... and then there's you undereating and claiming you're eating the way I do? No. Just no.
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fluffyasacat wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »I fast every second day. On up days I have 1550 calories or a little bit under. On fast days it's up to 500 calories.sabrinalynn777 wrote: »I have been fasting some days and other days eating under 500. The rest of the days I eat anywhere for 1000 to maybe 1500 calories.
You're respectively averaging 1050 and 750 calories a day. This isn't intermittent fasting or EOD. You're eating so far under your TDEE that you're stripping muscle off your body almost every day. You are on a fast AND a diet. @christinev297 considering all the reading you're doing I'm shocked to see you recommending this - an eating disorder with a cover of IF. Every day I argue with dude bros on here about IF! I try to help them understand it's moderate and healthy... and then there's you undereating and claiming you're eating the way I do? No. Just no.
so what would you suggest I do fluffyasacat? ?
It's taken me 2mths to lose 9kgs, with 4kgs left to go. I'm 5"8 and currently 66kgs
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In American:
I'm 145lbs
Have lost 19lbs in 2mths
Have 8lbs left to lose
5"8
Fluffy, what are your stats, daily calories etc1 -
...And yes the JUDDD system had me eating less than I am now. No way I could do it!
I've only been carrying a bit of extra weight the last couple years. Never had a problem with food, I love it! And definitely never had an eating disorder 0 -
christinev297 wrote: »so what would you suggest I do fluffyasacat? ?
What's your TDEE? I'd look at eating at or over that on your up days.0
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