Intermittent Fasting...Anyone experiencing success

SallyaStewart11

I just read a great blog post in which they explained a little about intermittent fasting. It seems I have naturally been inclined to do this most of my life without having a name put to it. I have never been a big breakfast eater. I do not snack between meals or raid the refrigerator late at night. I typically eat an early lunch, around 11:00 am, then an early dinner around 5:30pm. I usually am really hungry by dinner time. But once I eat dinner I am usually set for the entire night. I don't get hungry later. Growing up, I was skinny. But I was always told "You really should eat breakfast because you need to start your metabolism... If you wait until lunch to eat, your metabolism hasn't been working half of the day." So I have always thought that this has contributed somewhat to my weight gain as I got older. (Along with PCOS and not drinking enough water and drinking WAY to much Dr. Pepper instead.)

When I started MFP back in January, I prepared myself for being hungry due to a lower calorie intake. I even bought carrots and a few 100 calorie snacks to have just in case I got hungry in between my smaller meals...they went to waste. I never touched them--never needed them.

Now I am hearing it is a good thing to drink water as needed for 17 hours a day (I'm thinking 6pm to 11am) and eating during a 7 hour window (11am to 6pm). The poster I read said this was time they lost the weight faster--when they followed the intermittent fasting.

So, I would love to hear more information about intermittent fasting from my fellow MFPers who have experienced success with it or have some good information to share about it. I'd also like to know the duration of how long you do it--for a week or month at a time, or is it an everyday schedule...etc.

Thanks so much!

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I've been doing 20/4 for about a year now and I like it. There's actually an IF board on here, too: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/66-intermittent-fasting

ItsCasey

Well, the metabolism thing is garbage. If you're alive, your metabolism is up and running, period.

But IF isn't a weight loss miracle. A calorie deficit is what causes weight loss. IF allegedly provides some hormonal benefits that help regulate hunger and insulin response, and there are other general health benefits that are believed to result from fasting.

But the key is really your lifestyle preferences. It is is easier for me to stick to my calorie and macro goals by fasting all day and eating one huge meal in the evenings after I train. I like to eat big meals, and I especially like dessert. With IF, I can eat 1600+ calories at one time, which is enough for me to have steak, chocolate, ice cream, peanut butter, and cookies, all in one meal. I couldn't do that if I ate several smaller meals during the day.

If you find fasting to be really difficult, then IF is not going to help you lose weight because you won't be able to stick to it. But if it feels like a natural eating pattern to you, you'll likely have some success with it, provided you maintain a deficit.

flumi_f

I'm doing 5:2, 2 days a week I limit my intake to 500 cals, rest of the week I'm eating close to my Tdee. Because I only eat lunch and dinner on those days, I have 2 days with a 17h fast before and often after my fast meals, depending if i eat breakfastthe next morning or not.

This plus cardio and strength training have resulted in 4kg per month. I'm in the 3rd month and still losing at this speed.

Doesn't work for everyone, but it does for me. There's a 5:2 group on mfp with lots of infos.

Cherry_T

It`s good stuff! I avoid doing it too often, though.

happieharpie

I've been doing this faithfully for over 3 months, and for me, it's the way to go. I have 2 cups of coffee with stevia and reduced fat 1/2 and 1/2 in the morning, sugar free herb tea at noon, and a meal of veggies, a whole egg and egg whites, nuts, and mixed berries at night. I have several restaurants where I enjoy eating out.
I feel better than I've felt in 10 years. AND I've lost 24.6 pounds, which is 10% of my original body weight. My very few "slips" were still well within my daily allowance, but have only happened a couple times since I began.
I consider IF to be one of my tools.

toutmonpossible

I often do IF in a loose manner, usually not eating until the late morning or early afternoon. Earlier this year, I did a program called Fast 5. (19 hours fasting/ 5 hour eating window) It ended up being too extreme for me, but I did lose weight and a lot of people like it. In addition to the links at the site below, there's a Facebook group with people who are pretty friendly.

http://www.fast-5.com/

If you don't mind fasting, IF is extremely easy.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Amerielle

I recently realized that there is a name for what I do naturally...16/8 fasting. I am NOT a breakfast eater and can happily go about my day and not eat lunch until 1 or so, have a nice big dinner than maybe a snack in the evening and that's it. Once I decided to ignore the whole "must eat breakfast" and "six small meals is better" garbage, my weight loss and maintenance journey has been so easy!

I like not wasting my calories on a breakfast I didn't want anyway and can enjoy big "fill me up" meals.

giveMEbeauty

Bump

jayrudq

Aside from the health benefits (if your body isn't using energy to digest food, it is diverting that energy towards other functions creating better health) I too find it suits my lifestyle and hunger patterns better. And it also controls my appetite. I don't believe the it is as simple as calories in and calories out and this is just caloric deficiency. I believe it has a regulatory effect that has had a positive outcome on my weight loss. I normally eat 16:8 and increasing that to 18:6 is pretty easy. And for weight loss, adding the two days of 500 calories has also been fairly easy for me.

Good Luck.

stt43

I did it for a few months, going from an 8 hour eating window down to a 2 or 3 hour eating window, and I lost about 30lbs. However, at the same time I was also exercising and watching what I ate to make sure I was burning off more calories than I was taking in. So, the intermittent fasting may have done nothing at all, and I may have lost the same weight in the same time just from the exercise and calorie/macro counting, or the intermittent fasting may have made the whole process more effective, I'll never know.
I stopped it a little while back because I ended up getting too hungry in the evenings before bed and cheating, and this was becoming such a regular thing that intermittent fasting stopped being beneficial to me. Since then my weight loss has slowed/stopped, but I wouldn't have thought that's entirely down to stopping IF, and may have nothing to do with the IF at all.
I would say definitely try IF, if it works and you can stick to it then do it, if it isn't for you then don't.

giveMEbeauty

TOPIC: 16:8 fast

giveMEbeauty
Joined Jun 2013
Posts: 74
July 11, 2013 10:54 am
Trying the 16/8 fasts today. Does anyone else do this and had good weight loss results ?
EditReport PostQuoteReply

Cherry_T

I know how you feel. I only regret not doing it during my teenage years.

moniqte

I m doing IF for almost 3 weeks, eating from 6am to 12am in 6 hours eating window, so far i lost 5kg-6kg. for me it appeared with a lot of benefits of IF. i don't go hungry NEVER, i never have sugar cravings, in this 3 weeks i haven't ate any sugary food, i feel pumped with energy and wanna start workout very soon. I think IF is very beneficial but still need to make sure ur in calorie deficit, eat whole food to get essential vitamins, drink lots of water.

simplydelish2

My take is that it's a lot of fuss about nothing. If you are operating at a calorie deficit you are going to lose weight - regardless of when those calories are eaten. I've tried the 16/8 version and didn't see any difference on the scale or the way I felt. For me I thought about food more - as in when can I start eating - than I wanted to. I prefer to eat when I'm hungry and not on a schedule.

With that said, try it if you are interested. It's not going to hurt you and your body may react in a positive manner.

Good luck!