Going to try intermittent fasting - anyone want to join me?

gma38059

so, using intermittent fasting and low carb (net carbs 25 or less per day), I'm down 17 lbs. I kind of fell off the wagon when the quarantine started because I bought more for my kids & grands than for my diet and carbs were more than I should have gotten. Back on track and down 2 lbs this week so far. I'd like to see 2 - 3 lbs per week, but that may be ambitious.

How is everyone else coning along?

yirara

Hun, I don't know if you realize it but you're following one diet fad after another: unrealistic weight loss goals, IF, very low carb. Yes, some people prefer to eat low carb, or do IF. But it's not a magic weightloss method. The only thing that leads to weight loss is eating less calories than your body needs. So please slow down, sit down for a moment, breathe and then look for proper sources of information. Or just listen to the people here who have tons of experience.

joyanna2016

I've been doing IF for the first time ever about 4 months now. I like it a lot. Let me offer one word of advice. Usually during my fast time I dont struggle with hunger too much. The times when I notice that I struggle is when ive consumed more sugar/carbs during my last eating period. So my advice to a beginner is watch the sugars and you won't struggle with hunger. Good luck!!

sashimimaniac

IF helps me deal with unnecessary snacking and it does have other health benefits too if done right. i’m definitely a proponent.

ccrdragon

sashimimaniac wrote: »

IF helps me deal with unnecessary snacking and it does have other health benefits too if done right. i’m definitely a proponent.

Such as (and how does one do it 'right'?)...

Don't get me wrong, I do IF daily since I do much better if I don't eat breakfast and I have eaten this way most of my life, but the only benefit I know of is control over my calorie intake.

Diatonic12

@gma38059 I have no desire to rain on your parade but how about tracking all of your data points with MFP right out of the chute.
Start here.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

After you have your sea legs you can make some additional tweaks as you're tooling along. You need the basics under your belt. Don't mind me, I'm just going to shoot it to you straight from the hips and lips. I am a leader on a private thread. It was the largest Intermittent Fasting group at one time with over 7500 members.

Do you know how many found long term success and permanent weight stability with intermittent fasting? I have no idea because I haven't heard back from any of them. This thread is 9 years old. I can count the active members on one hand. It's called TRE. Time Restricted Eating which is simply eating all of my meals within a window of time.

I don't fast at all. No fasting. No every other day fasting. No 5:2 fasting. No fasting whatsoever. I track my data points eating the recommended amount of calories with MFP. @gma38059 Do you know how many people have tried to overcompensate with intermittent fasting to improve a poor relationship with food only to find themselves starting over and over and over again. We simply haven't got the time but I'm here to tell you that it's not worth it.

I hear from newbies on a regular basis asking me if this the Intermittent Fasting thread. There's nothing on the title to indicate that it is now so I have no idea why they continue to ask if it's the Intermittent Fasting group. I'm not going to lead anyone down another pathway to a deadend road with food and rebound weight gain with friends.

Listen to @lgfrie. Most people can only lose 2-3 lbs of fat in a month's time. Then you're going to find yourself with diminishing returns losing more of your muscle mass and finding yourself with loose hanging skin. There are oodles of threads about that. Yoyo dieting with wild swings UP and down with weight contribute to loose skin and digging yourself into a much deeper into a hole with food. Don't go there.

Start with basics. Track your data points and just settle into a solid routine. Edge your way down slowly. You'll have a much better chance of actually getting there and staying there. Long term stability with weight. That's my overall goal.

sashimimaniac

@ccrdragon anecdotally speaking, I would say that IF helped clear up my skin a little and I observed that one of my friend’s liver spots lightened noticeably after going on IF for a few months. Both of us did nothing else differently except starting IF.

There are lots of websites that list out the health benefits like:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting

However, not everyone will find IF their cup of tea, especially women:
https://www.marksdailyapple.com/women-and-intermittent-fasting/

Which leads us to doing it right. My biggest concern is with people who dive into it - some people jump right into one meal a day or doggedly persist with fasting when they are feeling faint. Even a 16 hour fast can be challenging for some. When I started in December, I couldn’t stick with 16 hours and ended up doing 12, then 13, etc till i made it up to 16 hours on an almost daily basis. Acclimatising to my new way of eating took a month. Your body does need time to adjust.

I would definitely recommend IF because decision making became easier. Too often, in the past, I would find myself in front of my fridge at midnight, thinking, “Just a handful of jelly beans won’t hurt, right?” Then, I end up eating the whole family sized bag. Now, the kitchen is off-limits at about 6pm. If I’m watching The Witcher, it’s just him and me and no Cheetos between us. If I’m hungry before bedtime, I’ve learnt to deal with it or if I’m REALLY hungry and can’t sleep, I’ll have a little something. Yes, I’ll break the fast! No big deal because I’m on point most of the time. The best thing is that “a little something” really is that because my appetite is no longer as big as it once was.

Hope that clarifies some of my points

mmapags

sashimimaniac wrote: »

There are lots of websites that list out the health benefits like:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting

Honestly, the 10 benefits listed in that article are almost all speculative and/ or corollary and not born out by the science to date. It's mostly clickbait. Many of the benefits they are listing have been suggested in animal studies. Very few animal studies prove in humans. Below is a good scholarly analysis of the research to this point:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/intermittent-fasting/

What we know today as fact, IF combined with an energy restricted diet helps people reduce weight body fat. But no differently than any other form of energy restriction. From the review above:

A randomized controlled trial that followed 100 obese individuals for one year did not find intermittent fasting to be more effective than daily calorie restriction.

So, IF is just a tool to help aid in calorie restriction. There also seems to be corollary evidence for blunting hunger in some people and strong indicators for increasing insulin sensitivity. The research is an interesting area and more research is indicated for other benefits like autophagy. There have not been high participant, well controlled studies with human subjects to date. The author includes live links to the studies he used for proof sources and almost all are animal studies with a few low participant human studies.

The rest is speculative. Eg. IF "may be" good for X. I have employed IF for many years, first for weight loss and now weight maintenance. I am a proponent if it fits one's lifestyle and preferences. But articles like the one you posted are plain irresponsible in my view.

I would also suggest that sites like Healthline are not to be taken seriously as sources of scientific information. On a source like PubMed you can find the actual studies and see for yourself as opposed to some article writer cherry picking and shading the data for the purpose of the article.

Conclusions from the Harvard review above:

Although certain benefits of caloric restriction have been demonstrated in animal studies, similar benefits of intermittent fasting in humans have not been observed. It is unclear that intermittent fasting is superior to other weight loss methods in regards to amount of weight loss, biological changes, compliance rates, and decreased appetite. Certain people who typically eat one or two meals a day or do not eat for long stretches of time may show better compliance with this type of regimen.

More high-quality studies including randomized controlled trials with follow-up of greater than one year are needed to show a direct effect and the possible benefits of intermittent fasting. Strong recommendations on intermittent fasting for weight loss cannot be made at this time.

Bottom line: Current nothing to support all these far flung benefits. More study needed. The rest comes down to preference and compliance. As one who has practiced IF long term, I hope many of the additional benefits prove out. But we are not there yet.

gma38059

As of today, down a total of 20 lbs in spite of the quarantine... I will say, the IF wasn't as much of a help as I'd hoped. I was already almost doing that anyways with my schedule. I have stayed with low carb, but use the NET carb approach. That has worked when I can stay with it. This quarantine did make that a bit harder.

Started this journey: 233.4 lbs
Today: 212.4 lbs

The biggest thing I've noticed is that I'm no longer staying bloated - I may be a little carb sensitive because when I eat breads I get extremely bloated. When I back off on the carbs, I'm really gassy for a couple of days, but appear to lose several pounds (size) without losing hardly any weight.

How is everyone else making it? Quarantine life didn't get me - got one of those essential jobs in the OEM for electric grid components, so I didn't have to go stir crazy and find things to occupy me to stay out of the fridge!

gma38059

yay! I broke the 210 mark a week ago. Still doing the IF, but also low net carbs and it's working.