Question about IF

gettingto65

Hi everyone

I am currently eating healthily and exercising but am intrigued by the method of intermittent fasting. More specifically, 16:8 moving towards 20:4 etc.

My question is, a lot of articles and blogs I read say 'no need to count calories' or similar, but how can you lose weight if you're not in a caloric deficit? I understand it may be hard to fit say 1500 calories into a four hour eating window, but still - calorie counting to a certain extent would be required? I get how 5:2 works - your weekly net calories is lessened by two very low cal days. But if you aim for say 1500 cals on a 16:8 day, how is this better than 1500 cals on a normal non-fast day?

Also I know there are other health benefits to fasting which is why I am interested, I'm asking more specifically about weight loss as so many people use it purely for that.

Thank you in advance!

snickerscharlie

gettingto65 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I am currently eating healthily and exercising but am intrigued by the method of intermittent fasting. More specifically, 16:8 moving towards 20:4 etc.

My question is, a lot of articles and blogs I read say 'no need to count calories' or similar, but how can you lose weight if you're not in a caloric deficit? I understand it may be hard to fit say 1500 calories into a four hour eating window, but still - calorie counting to a certain extent would be required? I get how 5:2 works - your weekly net calories is lessened by two very low cal days. But if you aim for say 1500 cals on a 16:8 day, how is this better than 1500 cals on a normal non-fast day?

Also I know there are other health benefits to fasting which is why I am interested, I'm asking more specifically about weight loss as so many people use it purely for that.

Thank you in advance!

Meal timing is irrelevant to weight loss. Therefore, you *do* still have to manage your caloric intake if you do IF. Overeating in a small window of time will have you gaining weight just as quickly as if you spread that excess out over the whole day.

I do 16:8. I don't eat breakfast, and have my first meal of the day around 1 or 2 pm. Never was one to be hungry first thing in the morning. Skipping breakfast (other than my cup of coffee) allows me to have a good lunch and dinner, and also leaves room for a few evening snacks, which is when I do prefer to eat.

IF is just a means in which to manage calorie intake, which simply boils down to personal preference. No magic in it.

TeaBea

For some people the small eating window allows them to lose weight without counting, but that's not going to be the case for everyone. I don't think there is a lot of hard evidence (yet) for added health benefits. But if this "timing" helps you manage calories (with or without counting) that's great.

Here's a link to the group here....lots of info there
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/49-intermittent-fasting

inertiastrength

I could smash 3500 calories in one sitting so just because you limit yourself to 4 hours I highly don't recommend not counting. In fact, I would think it's even more important because you may be binge prone with such a small window

YvetteK2015

^^^

I do 16:8. I find that if I eat ANYTHING for breakfast (besides putting some milk in my coffee - and I still count those calories) I will be hungry all day long. Like my hunger will be insatiable all day. Therefore, I won't eat my first meal until around 1:30 - 2:00pm. This allows me to eat a nice late lunch, and a nice dinner, and I can fit a snack in there, which is usually sugar free jello. If I started eating in the morning, my lunch and dinner would be tiny and I would really feel deprived. I still have to stay in my calorie limit, but it's easier for me to do so doing IF.

inertiastrength

YvetteK2015 wrote: »

^^^

I do 16:8. I find that if I eat ANYTHING for breakfast (besides putting some milk in my coffee - and I still count those calories) I will be hungry all day long. Like my hunger will be insatiable all day. Therefore, I won't eat my first meal until around 1:30 - 2:00pm. This allows me to eat a nice late lunch, and a nice dinner, and I can fit a snack in there, which is usually sugar free jello. If I started eating in the morning, my lunch and dinner would be tiny and I would really feel deprived. I still have to stay in my calorie limit, but it's easier for me to do so doing IF.

This is pretty much exactly what I do

StealthHealth

I use IF, I calorie count.

Without counting calories I could easily eat way more than my maintenance calories (let alone calories to lose weight) in my eating window. To prove this, I've run bulks whilst using IF.

I'll also add that I have a co-worker who is a long term 5:2 faster - he doesn't calorie count (IDK how he knows he's hitting his 600 per day). He has said that recently he has slipped into gaining weight because he is compensating for his low cal (fast) days with more food on his free eating days.

TxTiffani

I've also been doing 16:8. I'm a small 5'0 with 30-40lbs to lose and trying to stick to 1200 cals/day. Eating most of my cals 12-8pm (I drink tea with unsweet almond milk or coffee with cashew milk 25cals in the a.m.) helps me to stick to my calories:) I'm less hungry eating 12-8 than I am eating all day long;)