Intermittent Fasting

terri092990

I’m new to intermittent fasting and am looking for tips. I’m doing the 14:10 and am wondering if I should also be tracking food during the eating hours. Also, do you focus on protein, fruit, veggies etc? Also, what has worked for you? Looking forward to any suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

Terri

AnnPT77

Admission up front: I didn't IF to lose weight, or to maintain. I have nothing against IF, though. It can be a good choice for those whom it suits.

Even with IF, in order to lose weight, a person needs to eat fewer calories than they burn. If that were not true - if IF automatically and inherently triggered weight loss - people would need to give up IF when they reach goal weight, in order to stop losing. Some people maintain fine with an IF eating schedule.

Some people find that limiting their eating hours automagically reduces their calorie intake, so they can succeed at weight loss without calorie counting alongside. But not everyone has that experience: Some can readily fit excess calories into a shorter eating window and gain on the IF schedule.

If you track your calories, you'll know where you stand. If you find you're easily eating in a calorie deficit on the IF schedule without much extra effort, you may be able to stop calorie counting, or at least take a break from it until your weight loss stalls out for a month or so. If you find you'd still tend to over-eat even on a IF schedule, then calorie counting will help you with weight loss.

Myself, like I said, I didn't limit eating hours at all. I just counted calories, and stayed within goal (on average). That worked fine for me.

P.S. Some people don't like the term "intermittent fasting" for the kind of schedule you're talking about, thinking it should be used only for cases where people (say) stop eating entirely some days. Those people prefer the term "Time Restricted Eating (TRE)" for the kind of schedule you've mentioned. Personally, I don't care what term you use as long as we know what talking about, and you've been quite clear. But you might get some quibbles or alternative terminology from others.

Best wishes for success with IF!

hockeychick1962

I use a 16:8 intermittent fast. I try to get in 5 servings of produce and 6 cups of water/tea early in the day. I check my calories because even eating only eight hours I can cram in way too many calories and not enough things like protein and fiber.

mtaratoot

Welcome to the community!

You are very wise to recognize that time-restricted eating is no magic bullet. You still have to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat. I could totally eat more than my allowed calories in eight ours.

I'm doing 16:8 too. I sleep eight hours, and I only eat when I'm awake. Clearly I also have to log and use the tools here to make sure I stay close to my target plus or minus a little bit to be in maintenance or be in deficit when losing.

The other thing you probably already know is that you also have to STICK TO IT! If it turns out that time-restricted eating doesn't work for you, you can still succeed if you use the tools here. I think you'll do it.

neanderthin

TRF has nothing to do with what you eat or how much you eat, only with when you eat. Yeah, TRF is a type of fasting and is misinterpreted by most people thinking it's a way to lose weight and when it doesn't help someone, then it's a fail, doesn't work or it's some kind of pseudoscience, but that's simply not understanding what TRF is or actually informing themselves as to what the science actually says, even some medical professionals don't know what it's really all about. The phrase was termed in 2016 by Dr Panda, a clue for anyone wanting to know where it all started and partake in any research, most people don't but if your a nutritional geek, you might find it interesting otherwise I hope if your doing it for weight lose which for some people does facilitate weight loss for a number of different reasons, then the more power to you.