Intermittent Fasting

jocelynwiedman
jocelynwiedman Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Any success stories out there who have successfully lost weight and realized the benefits of intermittent fasting?

Replies

  • mary3717
    mary3717 Posts: 1 Member
    I started after reading the benefits and here is one from Harvard
    https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156
  • TrueGrit732
    TrueGrit732 Posts: 52 Member
    chandraminick wrote: »
    I have been doing keto and IF for four months. Lost 38 pounds. It works.

    38 lbs!! 👏🏿👏🏿
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    edited December 2019
    mary3717 wrote: »
    I started after reading the benefits and here is one from Harvard
    https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156

    You read a blog on Harvard's website. Good luck.

    Edit to add: Did you read this article? I just did. What benefits? At least read the last paragraph.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    rileysowner wrote: »
    There is nothing magical about Intermittent Fasting. As long as that pattern of eating helps you to adhere to a calorie deficit you will find success in losing weight with it. I used and Eat Stop Eat approach for a number of years and lost weight, but it was because that pattern of eating worked for me at the time. Now with a different job, that pattern of eating doesn't work for me any longer. Hopefully, it will work for you and help you adhere to a calorie deficit.

    Same way of thinking here. I never was a great breakfast eater and due to work commitments my first meal was usually around 11 a.m. In order to lose weight, I also tried over the years everything from 3 main meals with 4 snacks in between per day to one meal a day. Since I joined MFP 635 days ago I was able to see my daily calorie distribution better. I feel my daily best when going for a good walk early in the morning. A light breakfast at around 11 to 12 a.m., a small snack around 3 p.m. and the main meal before 7 p.m. Maybe I am lucky - generally I don't like or need snacks. My trigger food has always been loaves and loaves of bread, so that's the only food item I am very, very careful with. Most of my carbs are from fruits / vegetables / dairy products and over time my % carbs/fat/protein has changed from 20 / 45 / 35 % to just about 33 / 33 / 33 %. So far I have lost 48 kg / over 100 pounds and a lot more to go. (Is not eating anything for about 16 hours a day actually called "intermittent fasting"?)
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    My sister and her dd are going to start IF but it's not anything I've heard of before. You eat normal healthy(not crazy indulging or anything) for 5-6 days a week then day 6-7 you have between 600-1000 calories.
    Does anyone do it that way?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    neugebauer52 wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    There is nothing magical about Intermittent Fasting. As long as that pattern of eating helps you to adhere to a calorie deficit you will find success in losing weight with it. I used and Eat Stop Eat approach for a number of years and lost weight, but it was because that pattern of eating worked for me at the time. Now with a different job, that pattern of eating doesn't work for me any longer. Hopefully, it will work for you and help you adhere to a calorie deficit.

    Same way of thinking here. I never was a great breakfast eater and due to work commitments my first meal was usually around 11 a.m. In order to lose weight, I also tried over the years everything from 3 main meals with 4 snacks in between per day to one meal a day. Since I joined MFP 635 days ago I was able to see my daily calorie distribution better. I feel my daily best when going for a good walk early in the morning. A light breakfast at around 11 to 12 a.m., a small snack around 3 p.m. and the main meal before 7 p.m. Maybe I am lucky - generally I don't like or need snacks. My trigger food has always been loaves and loaves of bread, so that's the only food item I am very, very careful with. Most of my carbs are from fruits / vegetables / dairy products and over time my % carbs/fat/protein has changed from 20 / 45 / 35 % to just about 33 / 33 / 33 %. So far I have lost 48 kg / over 100 pounds and a lot more to go. (Is not eating anything for about 16 hours a day actually called "intermittent fasting"?)

    To answer the final question--weirdly, yes, that seems to be the current trend.

    I also dislike snacking, and am happy eating 3 times a day most days (I often eat 2 bigger meals on the weekends), but I find it odd, and not true to my experience, that it would matter whether I ate these within a smaller window or more spread out (as works best for my schedule).

    I find that I kind of naturally tend to eat best and feel best when I eat some kind of breakfast after working out in the morning (I usually run around 4-6 miles), which means breakfast at around 7 these days. Then lunch mid-day, and dinner quite late (around 8:30). When I was losing I was doing an even more spread out version of this (6:30, noon, 9), and easily lost the 90 lbs I wanted to, ending with a BMI in the middle of the healthy range.

    So my firm belief is that people should focus on whatever schedule is easiest for them to maintain and feel good on (for me, it was important to have breakfast after a somewhat vigorous workout, which is how I liked to start the day, and to eat a home-cooked dinner at home, which meant eating an early dinner was impossible, and plus the timing of my dinner meant I never felt like evening snacking). I don't think my schedule is right for anyone else unless they also just come to it naturally, and I think people like different amounts of eating, some like breakfast some do not, etc., but I seriously doubt that eating all my meals in a 16 hour window (which would have caused other problems for me) would have somehow improved my weight loss (and my health was good throughout).

    Then again, people are different in lots of ways, as I've always been so-so on most bread and it's about the last thing I'd accidentally overeat! (with the exception of naan if I could dip it in curry, a rare enough thing). ;-) I ate very little even before I decided to lose weight.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    My sister and her dd are going to start IF but it's not anything I've heard of before. You eat normal healthy(not crazy indulging or anything) for 5-6 days a week then day 6-7 you have between 600-1000 calories.
    Does anyone do it that way?

    There are multiple types of IF. One is 5-2, where you eat maintenance cals on 5 days and then about 20-25% of maintenance on 2. Usually the 2 are not consecutive, though, so this may be a different take on that.

    A friend of mine lost vanity weight (post 2 pregnancies) and now maintains using 5-2 and loves it, but she has never really been overweight. She doesn't count cals at all on the 5 days and eats 500-800 on the 2 days, and finds it easier than having to think about cals on all days. I would be worried about her method for someone who had been obese (as I think it would be easy to really overdo on the 5 days) or someone prone to starve and binge cycles (and for that reason I don't think super low cals on 2 days in a row seems great (1000, maybe, depending on size, 600, dunno), but depends on the person, I suppose).
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    My sister and her dd are going to start IF but it's not anything I've heard of before. You eat normal healthy(not crazy indulging or anything) for 5-6 days a week then day 6-7 you have between 600-1000 calories.
    Does anyone do it that way?

    I kind of did it that way, only close to goal when things get down to the wire the leaner I get. I will maintain for 2-3 days, eat ultra low two days (for me that is 1000-1200 cals) then in a surplus 2-3 days. So it is kind of a butchered version of 5:2. Then to maintain I just increase the cals on the low days.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    Anything works as long as your calories in are fewer than your calories out. I basically eat one giant meal per day..
  • mrianwills
    mrianwills Posts: 2 Member
    I'm not sure if there's anything magical about it or not, but I know it works for me just based on my personality (I love to eat) so it's much easier for me to reduce calories by only eating in a certain window.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    5:2 IF made adherence to a suitable calorie deficit easier for me and I successfully lost my excess weight.

    16:8 IF made adherence harder and felt more restrictive for the same calorie allowance.
    But reinforced I find breakfast first thing a very optional meal and also reinforced I dislike arbitrary restrictions around eating.


    Beyond adherence factors most of the touted "benefits" are either wishful thinking, driven by marketing or bad science. Try it if you fancy it, you might like it and/or you might learn something about yourself.

    (Caveat - there are some groups of people that should avoid IF eating patterns.)
  • TrueGrit732
    TrueGrit732 Posts: 52 Member
    jocelynwiedman wrote: »
    Any success stories out there who have successfully lost weight and realized the benefits of intermittent fasting?

    I'm on day 2...I'll let you know.
  • Luckee_me
    Luckee_me Posts: 1,425 Member
    Hi,
    I can only speak for myself here, but I started IF 20:4 on October 1, 2019. I’ve lost 80 pounds. I fully recognize that it’s all CICO, but the IF lifestyle has gotten me away from that always thinking about food and six small meals mentality. I usually have a late lunch and an early dinner with my calories evenly distributed between the two.
    If anyone needs some friends on their FL that are also doing IF please feel free to drop me a FR.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,374 Member
    edited April 2020
    dewd2 wrote: »
    mary3717 wrote: »
    I started after reading the benefits and here is one from Harvard
    https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156

    You read a blog on Harvard's website. Good luck.

    Edit to add: Did you read this article? I just did. What benefits? At least read the last paragraph.

    I read the first three paragraphs in the blog (including the following two) and that was enough for me to completely discount the entire blog:

    "IF as a weight loss approach has been around in various forms for ages, but was highly popularized in 2012 by BBC broadcast journalist Dr. Michael Mosley’s TV documentary Eat Fast, Live Longer and book The Fast Diet, followed by journalist Kate Harrison’s book The 5:2 Diet based on her own experience, and subsequently by Dr. Jason Fung’s 2016 bestseller The Obesity Code. IF generated a steady positive buzz as anecdotes of its effectiveness proliferated.

    As a lifestyle-leaning research doctor, I needed to understand the science. The Obesity Code seemed the most evidence-based summary resource, and I loved it. Fung successfully combines plenty of research, his clinical experience, and sensible nutrition advice, and also addresses the socioeconomic forces conspiring to make us fat. He is very clear that we should eat more fruits and veggies, fiber, healthy protein, and fats, and avoid sugar, refined grains, processed foods, and for God’s sake, stop snacking. Check, check, check, I agree. The only part that was still questionable in my mind was the intermittent fasting part."

    Saying that Fung's 'The Obesity Code' is science made me laugh out load!

    eta for spelling

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