Intermittent fasting and minimum calories?

OAS5
OAS5 Posts: 376 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been thinking of possibly trying intermittent fasting for a month or 2 now just to knock off this last frustrating 15 pounds which are being stubborn.
I would do something like 7pm to 11:30AM. I couldn't I don't think so it every day, 7 days a week but was thinking of an every other day kinda thing. Again just thinking about it.
I know on MFP if you don't hit 1200 calories for the day as male it gives you a warning that you are too low. Is that a problem for people who fast to hit that number or you just hit it every day anyway?

Replies

  • OAS5
    OAS5 Posts: 376 Member
    Saying someone is eating like an old lady is a bit agressive no?
    Either way, I get it. I just just thought it might be tough to get in all your calories if you only eat 7 or 8 hours in a day. Wondering how others handle it.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2020
    OAS5 wrote: »
    Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.

    Eating 11:30 am to 7 pm is not a particularly small amount of time to eat (if your schedule interferes it might not be a good schedule for you, however). If you think it would be difficult (so much that you think you couldn't get in your cals and could only do it every other day), why do it? For example, I know I could not reach my protein and vegetable goals in one meal a day, and would have trouble hitting reasonable cals unless I ate less healthfully than I like (higher fat, higher carb, lower protein and veg and fiber), so for me that would be a bad approach. Others find it easy for them and thus helpful as a way to control cals and still meet their goals.

    There are multiple kinds of IF. One is really time restricted eating (TRE), and just means eating the cals you otherwise would for your deficit within an eating window. That seems to be what you are talking about.

    Another is eating maintenance on some days and very low (like 20-25% of maintenance) on other days, such as 5-2 (2 days a week are low cal, 5 are maintenance). On those you would be under the minimum when fasting but at maintenance on other days.

    If you want to try IF, I'd recommend trying it but eating the same cals you normally would for your deficit (such as the 2000 you mentioned). You can eat the same number of meals or snacks as now, but just time them differently if you like.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    It might be tough to eat all your allotted calories in an 8 hour window, depending on what you have for an allotment. If you find that happening routinely, so that you are losing weight more quickly than you are aiming for, you'll want to take steps. It's not that hard to add a couple hundred calories - an oz of nuts here, an extra helping of veggies there, is 200 calories. I might go under my target 1400 calories every once in a while but it evens out over the course of a week.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    Here is a non hostile answer to your question (though I didn't think any of the previous replies were hostile).

    I do IF most of the time - probably 26-27 days per month. Noon to 7 pm. No food of any kind after 7 pm. Water or black coffee only.

    I find it very easy to eat all my calories in that 7 hour window. Never had a problem fitting everything in. Push comes to shove, I'll just eat cookies and other delicious junk as 6:55 pm gradually morphs into 7:00 pm, until I'm completely out of calories. It's one of the things I love about IF - those final minutes before the window closes, in which I can eat with abandon, right up to the daily calorie quota, without having to worry about saving calories for a snack later.

    I have no interest in doing OMAD (one meal a day, an extreme form of IF) but if I did, I'm absolutely sure I could eat my full day's calories in an hour, or probably in 15 minutes. On typical dieting calorie quotas of, say, 1500 or 1800, most people could eat those cals in one meal. It's easy. In a more typical 7 1/2 hr window like you're looking at, it'd be a complete non-issue.

    So I don't think you need to have any concern about undereating your calorie goals on IF, at all. On the contrary, the challenge with IF is not undereating, but getting frustrated with the time constraint of IF such that you eat all your cals for the day by, say, 7 pm and then you're hungry and go over on the cals because you need more food. That is the real challenge you should be thinking about, and anticipating.
  • Goingagain
    Goingagain Posts: 30 Member
    I think if your meals are substantial enough filled with enough cals to reach your target you could easily eat them in the window.

    I was trying it for a few months and my loss wasn't any faster, it just helped not going over cal allowance.

    I've actually start eating a breakfast again sooner than IF times and the scale has start to move again for me.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,740 Member
    I can see doing IF if you have issues with snacking, and especially mindless eating at night while watching TV, or if you simply don't like to eat first thing in the morning but have been forcing yourself to eat breakfast because it's supposed to be good for you. OTOH, there can be issues with being so hungry you can't sleep or stuffing yourself to get your calories in, which isn't a really good habit to have. Try it and see if you like it.
  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,204 Member
    I can attest to the fact that it is very very easy to eat 1500 calories in a short period of time. It comes to the type of food you eat.

    Yesterday in the space of 1hr I consumed around about 1000 calories, all in calorie sense foods like icecream, chocolate, biscuits etc.

    I did IF for a month in January, and no i never had an issue getting my intake. I just enjoyed it bunched together rather than spaced out lol
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    I think you might want to read up on IF a little more . What you’re mentioning, in part, sounds like 16:8–where you have an 8-hour window in which you eat.

    It sounds like you’re confusing IF with just plain fasting. IF isn’t about denying your body the food it needs (or about withholding food for religious reasons), it’s a tool that helps people maintain a calorie deficit.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    Why do you think IF, assuming the same calorie intake, is going to help with the last 15 lbs?

    Have you taken any diet breaks (a 10-14 day period of eating at maintenance cals, not a free for all) during your weight loss? https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
  • kcmcbee
    kcmcbee Posts: 179 Member
    I’ll make this easy (I think anyway). 400x3=1200! In 8 hours no problem for me or most (I would think). And IF the other 16. I’m not an IF’r so... But I did do 1200 calories and sometimes slightly less (and something slightly more) for a few months while losing 83 lbs in 8 months. Kept a close check on nutrition levels every day. Worked for me and hit my target dead on. Good luck! If it works for you do it and if not find what does and you’ll get there.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
    I've done some sort of IF since 2013. I've never had trouble eating my 1600-ish calories, and have in fact still had trouble at times limiting calories even within a "window".

    At the point I'm at now, I'd probably have trouble with OMAD. 16:8 works fine for me. YMMV.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    Godswordministries wrote: »
    I am on day 259 today of IF with an 8 hour window. Today just logged 60 pounds lost. Two pounds away from my goal. I eat 1400 - 1500 calories in that time without any problem. I thought it would be harder to do because breakfast was always my favorite meal of the day. Now I dont even notice. Good luck.

    Similar situation here. Day 268 of IF, used to do an 8 hr window, now 7 hrs. 69 lbs lost, 1750 calories per day. My appetite outside the eating window is all but non-existent at this point. It's been unexpectedly easy for me to stay in the IF groove & I intend to stick with IF after I get to my goal weight.
  • babysaffy
    babysaffy Posts: 232 Member
    I'm on day 38 of a 17:7 IF pattern and I'm loving it. No more urge to snack in the evenings and if I fancy eating earlier the next day I just stop eating earlier the day before. My appetite has really decreased although I do try to eat my daily calorie goal. I plan to eat this way for life.
  • bbeyer1792
    bbeyer1792 Posts: 18 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    What they said. I actually am a short old lady (5'5", 64), and lost most of my weight on more than 1500 daily calories. Nutrition is important. You need calories to get enough of it, not to mention needing calories for their own sake. Severely undereating is as likely to slow your progress (through fatigue/reduced activity) or cause full derailment, as it is to speed progress . . . and it's a health risk. Eat enough. 1200 or less is not enough for any normal-sized male (even a pretty short one).

    If 5'5" is short what am I at 4'10" lol
  • justMbailey
    justMbailey Posts: 8 Member
    I usually eat from 2pm to 8pm so a 6 hour window. I find it helpful simply because once I start to eat I just want to keep eating. I am a tall middle aged lady with a tested slow metabolism but I don’t have any issue at all hitting my calories. And there are lots of days that my husband makes a delicious supper and I fly right past that number :). I like this Schedule and it works for me. I think it is just all about figuring out what works the best for you.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,162 Member
    bbeyer1792 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    What they said. I actually am a short old lady (5'5", 64), and lost most of my weight on more than 1500 daily calories. Nutrition is important. You need calories to get enough of it, not to mention needing calories for their own sake. Severely undereating is as likely to slow your progress (through fatigue/reduced activity) or cause full derailment, as it is to speed progress . . . and it's a health risk. Eat enough. 1200 or less is not enough for any normal-sized male (even a pretty short one).

    If 5'5" is short what am I at 4'10" lol

    Short. 😉

    At 5'5", I'm an average-ish height woman, but a short person. OP is male (according to his profile), so the latter is the context.

    No insult intended. 🙂
  • OAS5
    OAS5 Posts: 376 Member
    I'm there OP of this thread and I did intermittent fasting for about 2 months and I liked it but ended it. No reason really, just ended it. I have regular plain Greek yogurt in the morning. High protein and only 90 calories. I may go back at some point but not right now.

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