Intermittent fasting and losing weight?

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So I've been trying this intermittent fasting for the last 4 days and it's been going pretty well. I've been reading something about it but I still don't understand it completely. If you're trying to lose weight while doing this fasting, do you still need to reduce your calorie intake?
I wanted to try this ''diet''(well I know it's technically not a diet but still) because for the last months my weight has been standing still. From July-December I lost about 14 kilograms. I am now around 80 kilograms(I'm a 20 year old female, 158 cm tall if that makes any difference) but since December my weight has been standing still. I've heard that many people have lost weight while doing the intermittent fasting. I have a few concerns tho. I've usually been eating like 13-1500 calories everyday, my goal on mfp is 1900 tho but I'm always afraid of eating too much. I'm pretty active and I work out 2-4 times a week and walk a lot. I'm afraid that I might be eating too little and that might have slowed down my metabolism. And doesn't fasting make you eat less and therefor slows down your metabolism?
I just wanted to get some advice about this since I'm relatively in this.
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Replies

  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    Whatever way you choose to time your macros does not negate the requirement of a caloric deficit if fat loss is your goal. There is no twilight zone timing where calories don't count; thermodynamics doesn't work that way
  • DaintyWhisper
    DaintyWhisper Posts: 221 Member
    edited March 2018
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    For me, intermittent fasting is just a method to limit my calories so I have more leftover in the evening to enjoy a bigger dinner and dessert. There is no benefit of eating this way besides preference. It helps narrow your eating hours so you are less likely to go over your calories in a day. Since you are trying to lose weight, you still need to stick to your calorie limit. There's really no exception to this. If you're at a stand still with your weight loss, that typically means you are eating at maintenance. The way you are eating now will keep you at this weight unless you eat less calories. Are you weighing all of your food? I'd say you're probably eating more than you think you are if you aren't weighing everything. I'd highly recommend if you're not!

    What is your calorie goal on here? If you want to lose 1 lb a week, it should have you eating at 1350 or so calories. This is the calories before any activity. My advice would be to set your activity level to sedentary and add your exercises/workouts/steps individually. Doing it this way has worked best for me.

    You really have to forget everything you've heard about metabolism. Eating less food or less often isn't going to make your metabolism slow down. It wont make it harder to lose weight. It wont make you have to work harder to lose the same amount of weight as someone else. Focus more critically on your calorie intake and you'll see an improvement. Good luck!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Weight loss is from calorie deficit and not from timing of your calories.
    Say you have an IF eating window of 12:00 - 20:00 daily.
    Now if you ate your first meal at 12:00 one day and the exactly same first meal at 11:55 another day then I'm sure you can see that it's the calories in that meal which are significant and not the precise time of day you eat it.

    If your weight loss has stalled the first thing is to recheck the accuracy of your food logging. Metabolism changes may slow the rate of weight loss (especially if prolonged and high deficit) but isn't going to stop weight loss if you are in a true deficit. You can't create energy out of nothing, you can't keep your energy stores (fat) constant if you have an energy deficit - that would be like the fuel level in your car staying the same even though you are driving places.

    Yes people can and do lose weight doing IF, because it helps them adhere to a deficit. (I'm one of those people!)

    No IF doesn't automatically make you eat less, there's plenty of people who are breakfast skippers who manage to gain weight. What it can do for some people is help you stick to an appropriate calorie goal easier.
  • liljakaren1997
    liljakaren1997 Posts: 22 Member
    edited March 2018
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    Thank you everybody for your replies! Now I have a better understanding. Just to answer some of your questions. I have my activity on mfp set to active and my goal to lose 0,5 kg per week(I'm European, so I use the metric system). I have a garmin watch and I walk between 12-18 thousand steps everyday plus going to the gym 2-4 times a week. I do have a food scale and I weigh my food, but I get food at work and I don't weigh my food there, I just do a rough estimate. About the intermittent fasting, I've read that when you are fasting your body starts using the fat on your body as an energy source, is that just bulls*it then??
    I've been doing weightlifting and I can really see a difference when I look at myself in the mirror, could that have something to do with the weight? Should I maybe just stop thinking about the weight?
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
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    It's not BS. But it's sometimes purposely vague by those who are making money selling the system and their books. (I don't begrudge the selling of their books and all, but I do have a problem with the purposeful avoidance of what the real mechanism of losing fat from your body is). Your body uses what is convenient and ready. Even so, if you eat at a caloric surplus, your body will store fat, even if it burns fat at times through the day. So even diets like keto, which use fat as the primary energy source will not work for weight loss if you eat more calories than you burn.

    To the original post, I've used IF on and off, but not for any "magic". It simply allows me to eat a little bigger in a smaller window. For me it helps me be both satiated and under control of my intake. Nothing more.

  • tammie614
    tammie614 Posts: 48 Member
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    So I've been trying this intermittent fasting for the last 4 days and it's been going pretty well. I've been reading something about it but I still don't understand it completely. If you're trying to lose weight while doing this fasting, do you still need to reduce your calorie intake?
    I wanted to try this ''diet''(well I know it's technically not a diet but still) because for the last months my weight has been standing still. From July-December I lost about 14 kilograms. I am now around 80 kilograms(I'm a 20 year old female, 158 cm tall if that makes any difference) but since December my weight has been standing still. I've heard that many people have lost weight while doing the intermittent fasting. I have a few concerns tho. I've usually been eating like 13-1500 calories everyday, my goal on mfp is 1900 tho but I'm always afraid of eating too much. I'm pretty active and I work out 2-4 times a week and walk a lot. I'm afraid that I might be eating too little and that might have slowed down my metabolism. And doesn't fasting make you eat less and therefor slows down your metabolism?
    I just wanted to get some advice about this since I'm relatively in this.


    i've been doing this since january and i love it. at times, it does become hard but overall its all mental. the ONLY way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit. there is no way around that. i personally like it because it allows you a smaller eating window, which for most helps them be in a cal deficit. i fluctuate my calories based on TD and NTD, naturally i eat less on my NTD that i do on TD but eating "Enough" IS always key. if you do not already i'd suggest getting you some macros and going from there.
  • 1houndgal
    1houndgal Posts: 558 Member
    edited March 2018
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Thank you everybody for your replies! Now I have a better understanding. Just to answer some of your questions. I have my activity on mfp set to active and my goal to lose 0,5 kg per week(I'm European, so I use the metric system). I have a garmin watch and I walk between 12-18 thousand steps everyday plus going to the gym 2-4 times a week. I do have a food scale and I weigh my food, but I get food at work and I don't weigh my food there, I just do a rough estimate. About the intermittent fasting, I've read that when you are fasting your body starts using the fat on your body as an energy source, is that just bulls*it then??
    BS in the sense of a complete exaggeration especially the "starts" part.
    Your body is constantly using fat for energy - it's one of the two primary fuels.
    While you are sitting at your computer the vast majority of your current fuelling is coming from fat - both dietary and stored.
    No tricks are required to make you burn fat, it's a normal part of everyday life.

    Only Suggestions:

    1. Can you find a simple small food scale (not expensive one to weigh your "at work foods"? Something you can keep in your desk, or bag. Better than eye balling your foods.

    2. Can you bring your own food in for "at work meals"?

    Doing 1 or 2 will help you log more accurately. And keep to healthy nourishing food.

    For 3) you can also stick to eating places that you know offer fairly standard measured "out food" choices on days you have to eat lunch you buy.

    These are just suggestions in case you want tighten up your logging.

  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    edited March 2018
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    Thank you everybody for your replies! Now I have a better understanding. Just to answer some of your questions. I have my activity on mfp set to active and my goal to lose 0,5 kg per week(I'm European, so I use the metric system). I have a garmin watch and I walk between 12-18 thousand steps everyday plus going to the gym 2-4 times a week. I do have a food scale and I weigh my food, but I get food at work and I don't weigh my food there, I just do a rough estimate. About the intermittent fasting, I've read that when you are fasting your body starts using the fat on your body as an energy source, is that just bulls*it then??
    I've been doing weightlifting and I can really see a difference when I look at myself in the mirror, could that have something to do with the weight? Should I maybe just stop thinking about the weight?

    I’m glad that the replies have helped! If you’re going to keep eating the work food, you might want to start rounding up your calorie estimates a bit. You might also round down your exercise burn estimates. Either way, stick to whatever you choose to do for a few weeks and see if it helps, then you can reassess.

    To be honest, I don’t really understand the whole “burning fat vs burning carbs” thing. All I know is that I’ve lost 45 pounds just eating the same food as before, only less of it, and with more exercise. All of the studies I’ve seen of specific diets (low fat, low carb, whatever) show very little difference in their success rate. What matters is finding something you can stick with.

    Good job with the weight lifting - I’ve started a program recently too and it’s so much fun! You might be retaining some water in your muscles, but you probably haven’t built enough new muscle to cancel out fat loss if you were actually eating at a deficit - gaining muscle is a lot harder than people think, especially for women. But if you’re happy with how your body looks and feels, and you don’t have specific health need to lose weight, there’s nothing wrong with focusing on fitness over weight loss.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Thank you everybody for your replies! Now I have a better understanding. Just to answer some of your questions. I have my activity on mfp set to active and my goal to lose 0,5 kg per week(I'm European, so I use the metric system). I have a garmin watch and I walk between 12-18 thousand steps everyday plus going to the gym 2-4 times a week. I do have a food scale and I weigh my food, but I get food at work and I don't weigh my food there, I just do a rough estimate. About the intermittent fasting, I've read that when you are fasting your body starts using the fat on your body as an energy source, is that just bulls*it then??
    I've been doing weightlifting and I can really see a difference when I look at myself in the mirror, could that have something to do with the weight? Should I maybe just stop thinking about the weight?

    Your body is constantly cycling between fat storage and fat oxidation...you have a net fat loss when you consume fewer calories (energy) than your body needs. Basically, your body fat is your backup generator and it kicks on when inadequate energy is coming in.
  • angmarie28
    angmarie28 Posts: 2,811 Member
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    I do IF because once I start eating, I tend to be hungry the rest of the day until dinner and tend to eat more, so I dont start eating til noon, and usually eat the last time about 7, but I allow myself to eat until 8, so only eating for 7-8 hours a day helps me keep my calorie count lower and allows me to eat bigger meals. Its much easier for me to stick to 1400 calories in an 8 hour time frame than it is in a 12-16 hour time frame.
  • liljakaren1997
    liljakaren1997 Posts: 22 Member
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    1houndgal wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Thank you everybody for your replies! Now I have a better understanding. Just to answer some of your questions. I have my activity on mfp set to active and my goal to lose 0,5 kg per week(I'm European, so I use the metric system). I have a garmin watch and I walk between 12-18 thousand steps everyday plus going to the gym 2-4 times a week. I do have a food scale and I weigh my food, but I get food at work and I don't weigh my food there, I just do a rough estimate. About the intermittent fasting, I've read that when you are fasting your body starts using the fat on your body as an energy source, is that just bulls*it then??
    BS in the sense of a complete exaggeration especially the "starts" part.
    Your body is constantly using fat for energy - it's one of the two primary fuels.
    While you are sitting at your computer the vast majority of your current fuelling is coming from fat - both dietary and stored.
    No tricks are required to make you burn fat, it's a normal part of everyday life.

    Only Suggestions:

    1. Can you find a simple small food scale (not expensive one to weigh your "at work foods"? Something you can keep in your desk, or bag. Better than eye balling your foods.

    2. Can you bring your own food in for "at work meals"?

    Doing 1 or 2 will help you log more accurately. And keep to healthy nourishing food.

    For 3) you can also stick to eating places that you know offer fairly standard measured "out food" choices on days you have to eat lunch you buy.

    These are just suggestions in case you want tighten up your logging.

    I've thought about bringing a scale to work, but I just fear that people will judge me for it.... I've already paid for the food for this month so I kinda wanna use the money. I also prefer getting warm food during lunch and then I can just have a yogurt and bread or something for dinner because I'm very lazy when it comes to cooking myself. I'm very confused about how many calories I should eat, should I eat more when I exercise? Like today I was working out for like 2 and half hours, should I eat more? Ugh this is so confusing.
  • liljakaren1997
    liljakaren1997 Posts: 22 Member
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    amlelas68 wrote: »
    I do a fast once a week usually on Sundays to boost my metabolism.

    And does it really boost the metabolism? Ugh this is so confusing, you hear different things and you never know what to believe.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    amlelas68 wrote: »
    I do a fast once a week usually on Sundays to boost my metabolism.

    And does it really boost the metabolism? Ugh this is so confusing, you hear different things and you never know what to believe.

    No. You cannot boost your metabolism. That isn't a thing.

    Your metabolism is what it is.
  • liljakaren1997
    liljakaren1997 Posts: 22 Member
    Options
    amlelas68 wrote: »
    I do a fast once a week usually on Sundays to boost my metabolism.

    And does it really boost the metabolism? Ugh this is so confusing, you hear different things and you never know what to believe.

    No. You cannot boost your metabolism. That isn't a thing.

    Your metabolism is what it is.

    Really? Then why are people talking about that eating too little slows down your metabolism?
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    Options
    amlelas68 wrote: »
    I do a fast once a week usually on Sundays to boost my metabolism.

    And does it really boost the metabolism? Ugh this is so confusing, you hear different things and you never know what to believe.

    No. You cannot boost your metabolism. That isn't a thing.

    Your metabolism is what it is.

    Really? Then why are people talking about that eating too little slows down your metabolism?

    Because they fell for some sort of marketing diet woo.