Thoughts or experience with Intermittent fasting?
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christinev297 wrote: »Fluffy, what are your stats, daily calories etc
I'm currently 185lbs
Have lost 25lbs in 4mths
This is all there in my graph, of course.
I'm 5"3 and 44 years old. My daily calories are based on what I weigh, so they change daily. I use the following formula in a spreadsheet to tell me how many calories I can eat that day:
=if(D128="","",IF(iseven(day(B128)),((10*D128)+(6.25*'front end'!$C$4)-(5*'front end'!$C$5)-161)*1.5*0.25,((10*D128)+(6.25*'front end'!$C$4)-(5*'front end'!$C$5)-161)*1.5*1.25))
This takes my height ('front end'!$C$4), age (front end'!$C$5) and activity factor (1.5) into account and works out my TDEE when I add my weight to it. It then gives me a hungry day calories total (TDEE*0.25) if the date is even, or a feast day calorie total or (TDEE*1.25) if the date is odd.
Today my calorie limit is 2742. Yesterday is was 550. It changes every single day.
You can lose 2.2lbs a week as you have done, and it's probably a borderline safe rate of weight loss, but if you choose to lose it a bit slower you'll be retaining more muscle. This is stuff you will have read in all those books there.0 -
WalkingAlong wrote: »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.
Yeah, Pilon's _Eat Stop Eat_ is about the same as 5:2 but way earlier. And he got his start from Martin Berkhan's leangains, as far as I know.
Mosley's whole deal is having a popular TV show, which lead to his follow-up book going over big.
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My tdee is 1642.
I changed down to 1550 a couple of weeks ago to make a bit of wiggle room for not spot on calorie counting.
I'm 42.0 -
So at 1642 you'd be eating 410 on your down days and 2052 on your up days.0
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I lost weight in the past doing 5:2 and i loved it. It helped me figure out what real hunger is
i tried 16:8 but didnt get results...eating in an 8 hour window but i didnt see any benefit.0 -
Hey fluffy- Where do you get the 125% of TDEE on up days from? I forget a lot but it seems like Johnson says to eat TDEE on up days and Mosley and Varady say to eat ad libitum (how much you feel satisfied on)? Or is that Mosley who says to aim for 125%? I read his first so might be forgetting details.fluffyasacat wrote: »So at 1642 you'd be eating 410 on your down days and 2052 on your up days.
Wow, christine, that's fast weight loss. I only lost about 5-6 lbs. in 12 weeks. But like I said I didn't restrict or even count on my up days. When I did restrict them to TDEE (the first 3 weeks or so) I lost about a pound a week.
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christineja wrote: »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!
If I understand it correctly you limit yourself to 500 calories in one 24 hour period, right? It doesn't have to be a calendar day, though, does it? The reason I ask is because it seems to me that your fasting period really began after the last thing you ate yesterday, not necessarily at midnight. For example, if you ate dinner last night at 6PM, the 24 hour fasting period began then, includes the time you're sleeping, then it ends at 6PM tonight. As a result, you could still eat dinner tonight with your family.
I'm not suggesting that you should try it this way, but I was just wondering if this is allowed on your plan.
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There are all kinds of ways but the way I read the three books, it isn't "500 calories from 6pm one night to 6pm the next". It's 500 calories within a waking day. So if you eat last at 10pm and breakfast at 8am, your 500 calorie fast would actually be covering 34 hours.
Re. dinner with the family... I eventually would save 350-400 of my 500 calories for dinner on the nights I cooked and would just eat small portions. And if I ate 600-700 over the day, I didn't stress out. That's probably another reason I lost so slowly.0 -
sabrinalynn777 wrote: »@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.
oh yeah. i have a only one friend whom i can talk about this with and who is also doing a fast as well. anyone else, they freak out and give me that look of "bless your heart" disappointment LOL.
IMO it takes a lot more to mess up your metabolism than this. the human body is one of the most complex machines on earth and i find it hard to believe IF messes anything up (unless of course you're starving yourself...).
and i understand your worry about not losing weight but as long as you're not stupid on the normal-eating days--stupid equaling pigging out to your heart's consent--you have nothing to worry about. take me for instance: i last fasted on thursday, and then ate around 1700-2000 calories on friday and saturday (also exercising on both days) and only gained a pound when i weighed myself sunday morning. then yesterday, i had a few mimosas and didn't really watch how much i ate and gained a couple more at my weigh-in this morning. in my terms, that would be counted as being stupid LOL but i knew what drinking 3 mimosas and a few servings of tater tots and pasta would get me so i know i have to face the consequences. however if i just kept with only eating around 1700 calories, i might still only be at that one pound difference which would be considered normal if not below average of normal weight fluctuation.0 -
Been doing it for about 1.5yrs now. Every 2nd day with 0calories. Simples. I eat what I want the other days.... and really do.....
Plenty of energy. Not hungry on the off days. In fact if I didn't HAVE to eat I would not. I see no need for food other than to keep my body alive.0 -
<--Need I say more. Fat loss has never been easier.0
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I used to do it, too hungry to try it anymore0
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I started the 5:2 eating protocol in August 2012 and found it really easy and effective. I'm one of those people that finds it far easier to be very determined for short periods rather than the long, slow, boring everyday deficit which has sapped my willpower in the past.
Lost my weight steadily and have been maintaining since January 2013, first on 5:2 but switched to 6:1 as I found that gives me a very natural feeling calorie allowance for the 6 days.
One of the bonuses I found is that it supported a very heavy exercise schedule very effectively - none of that creeping fatigue you get when training hard on a constant deficit.0 -
Wait a minute...How is consuming 500 calories FASTING?? In my definition IF means not eating anything for a specified period of time. NOT cutting calories for a specified period of time. If you are scheduled to have a medical test FASTING that means NOTHING but water for the stated time.
Your definition is peculiar to you. Fasting can mean a restriction as well total abstinence.
Lent springs to mind as the other end of the spectrum from nil by mouth.
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There are some people who swear by it, but I'm not one of them. I'm not a big fan of fasting and only because I know that when I go to actually eat, I'll go WAY overboard. It's one of those "know thyself" things. I'd rather have several small "meals/snacks" than a few bigger meals.0
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fluffyasacat wrote: »So at 1642 you'd be eating 410 on your down days and 2052 on your up days.
Boy I'd struggle eating that much, unless I went back to eating high calorie junk, which made me overweight to begin with. My weight loss is going slow enough eating the calories I'm at now!
Only a few more kgs left, then I'll go to 6:1 or 5:2
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sabrinalynn777 wrote: »@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.
oh yeah. i have a only one friend whom i can talk about this with and who is also doing a fast as well. anyone else, they freak out and give me that look of "bless your heart" disappointment LOL.
IMO it takes a lot more to mess up your metabolism than this. the human body is one of the most complex machines on earth and i find it hard to believe IF messes anything up (unless of course you're starving yourself...).
and i understand your worry about not losing weight but as long as you're not stupid on the normal-eating days--stupid equaling pigging out to your heart's consent--you have nothing to worry about. take me for instance: i last fasted on thursday, and then ate around 1700-2000 calories on friday and saturday (also exercising on both days) and only gained a pound when i weighed myself sunday morning. then yesterday, i had a few mimosas and didn't really watch how much i ate and gained a couple more at my weigh-in this morning. in my terms, that would be counted as being stupid LOL but i knew what drinking 3 mimosas and a few servings of tater tots and pasta would get me so i know i have to face the consequences. however if i just kept with only eating around 1700 calories, i might still only be at that one pound difference which would be considered normal if not below average of normal weight fluctuation.
I'm glad I made this thread. It has given me a lot of perspective. And I shouldn't feel so guilty if sometimes on my eating days I do go a little over 1500. I've managed to not binge, or even really feel the need to. I was always worried about that. But if I eat slow and drink a lot of water, I feel full. It is discouraging to get down to something, then just go and gain the 3 or 4 pounds right back within a few days >_<. It was happening to me a lot before I started trying to fast.
I think I can really just stick with what I have been doing and feel comfortable.
Some days I want to fast and have no food, but if I give in and eat a salad or a banana or something its not something to get upset about.
And if I do eat closer to 2000 calories on one of my eating days, that is okay too, as long as I don't make it a habit.
I think I will try to every other day IF...
Doing 2/5 is hard for me because I end up wanting to fast 2 or 3 days in a row because I feel like I've already eaten too much the last few days. And when I do that I get tired and can't exercise and then I worry about what I am doing to my body. Every other day will be less stressful for me and it seems to be healthy.
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@Trueray, What kind of fasting do you do?
You look like you exercise a lot also. I do exercise off and on throughout the day... push ups, planking, squats, free weights, various aerobics and biking. I want to run, but I am currently not a gym member and it is too cold here.0 -
WalkingAlong wrote: »
Hey fluffy- Where do you get the 125% of TDEE on up days from? I forget a lot but it seems like Johnson says to eat TDEE on up days and Mosley and Varady say to eat ad libitum (how much you feel satisfied on)? Or is that Mosley who says to aim for 125%? I read his first so might be forgetting details.fluffyasacat wrote: »So at 1642 you'd be eating 410 on your down days and 2052 on your up days.
Wow, christine, that's fast weight loss. I only lost about 5-6 lbs. in 12 weeks. But like I said I didn't restrict or even count on my up days. When I did restrict them to TDEE (the first 3 weeks or so) I lost about a pound a week.
hehe to me it's going slow!
I count calories every day, but I don't weigh food, so no doubt I'm eating over my tdee??
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WalkingAlong wrote: »
Hey fluffy- Where do you get the 125% of TDEE on up days from? I forget a lot but it seems like Johnson says to eat TDEE on up days and Mosley and Varady say to eat ad libitum (how much you feel satisfied on)? Or is that Mosley who says to aim for 125%? I read his first so might be forgetting details.fluffyasacat wrote: »So at 1642 you'd be eating 410 on your down days and 2052 on your up days.
@WalkingAlong I've loaned my Varady to a friend so I can't check up, but I believe she told her participants that if you're at 25% on your down day you can have up to 175% on your up day to break even on TDEE. She then accounts for a deficit by suggesting 125%, but found in practice that most of her participants never exceeded 110%.
I think having an down day of <25% then having an up day of <100% annoys me more than is reasonable because for me it takes the thing that makes it achievable and even enjoyable and turns it back into one of those fussy punishing deprivation diets my mother was a fan of through the 70s. Grapefruit and a diuretic, anyone?christinev297 wrote: »Boy I'd struggle eating that much, unless I went back to eating high calorie junk, which made me overweight to begin with. My weight loss is going slow enough eating the calories I'm at now!
You think 2000 calories of healthy food is a struggle and 2.2lbs a week is slow. I don't think I have anything else to tell you which would help.
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