Any ladies doing IF (intermittent fasting)?

five05

Hi I started doing IF a few weeks ago and I just wanted to share my experience plus I'd like connect with other IFers.

Skipping breakfast seems to work perfectly for me. I work out in the morning 3-4times a week but I don’t feel that hungry. Depending on how I feel, I either have a light snack afterwards and then have a pretty big meal a few hours later. I stop eating around 7-8pm but strangely enough, I don’t have cravings until the next day.

I wouldn’t say I’m losing weight effortlessly but it sure feels a lot better now that I’m not worrying about every single thing I eat and feeling hungry all the time. It’s so relaxing haha. I never realized how much time I usually spend thinking about what to eat every day. Now I just eat when i have to and dont freak out when my stomach is empty for a few hours. It sure feels good to be free

I have been reading a lot of negative posts about women doing IF because it didnt work for them. And I just wanted to know if there were other people who have been experiencing positive results like me. Or am I just weird?

On a side note, I work out on an empty stomach in the morning(which also seems to be controversial..l) and Ive been experiencing the weirdest thing ever. After I'm done with 30mins of HIIT, I feel slightly nauseous but then, I get started with my weight training routine and slowly my head clears off and I feel a surge of energy.... Gotta say its the weirdest thing ever. Has anyone ever experienced something like this?

HapThompson

I'm doing IF and it is totally working for me.

I started after hearing about the Horizons Documentary on British TV, and was interested because I have always done a version of that without ever meaning to. I have never eaten breakfast - I am just not ready to eat when I first get up, and some days I am too busy or completely forget to eat lunch so the days when I only ate one meal for the day compensated for the days when I ate over the amount of calories I should. I wasn't losing weight but I didn't gain it either, just stayed within the same 10 lbs or so.

When I heard about the IF / 5:2 / 16:8 diets I realised that this sort of fasting was something I could totally fit into my normal way of life without having to feel like I was on a diet too much, and that would be sustainable as a lifestyle change. I have always been ok with my weight until now, and never wanted to diet because I enjoy food and struggled to find a diet that I considered a realisable long term change. I have honestly never tried to diet before, this is my very first time.

What I do is "fast" on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and in those days I try to keep my calorie consumption below 500 calories, which I eat in one meal in the evening. On those days I will have fasted for 24 hours from the previous day. On Thursdays and Sundays I will probably eat two meals, but try to keep them within a certain number of calories so i'm not eating very low calorie stuff, but being aware of what I eat. On Tuesdays (my day off) and Saturdays, I eat what I like (within reason). This works for me because it means I can still go out for dinner or order pizza or whatever so I don't feel like i'm depriving myself, and being hungry for a couple of days is not a big deal because I was often feeling like that anyway!

I can't tell you how much weight i've lost since i've been doing this as i've not weighed myself, but I started in earnest on 24th September, and as of yesterday (6th Nov) had lost 4" off my bust, 2" off my waist, and have gone down almost two dress sizes. Everything I wear normally feels loose or far too big and people are seriously commenting on my weight loss, especially if they haven't seen me for a couple of weeks. I tried on a skirt yesterday that I last wore when I was 23 (i'm 33 now) and it fits fine.

I read several articles about women and IF and one of the things said was that it would probably work for you as a woman if it fitted into your normal lifestyle anyway, and that is completely true for me. It kind of feels a bit like cheating really because it is so easy to do for me (at the moment...)!

Good luck with your IF plan, I hope it goes really well. I think like a lot of things, dieting is personal so if something works for you, go with it.

katwal87

I have been doing 16/8 for a couple of weeks now (fast from 8 at night til midday the next day) and can't believe how easy I find it.
I had always been the type that would get up and eat breakfast right away, my mum is hypoglycemic and from a very young age it was conditioned into me that if I didn't eat in the morning I would get low blood sugar and faint like my mum.
How wrong that was!
I feel just fine, I don't even begin to feel hungry until about 11am anyway! I also workout fasted and haven't had any bad effects.

pullipgirl

I follow 11am breakfast 3 pm lunch and 6pm dinner and I don't eat anything at all after 7pm. If I do eat after 7 then i just delay my breakfast the next day or skip it and eat a bigger lunch. I had good results following this plan.

grahamjohnson1

I have done fasting before and the IDF format feels really good to me. Because of my weird work schedule, my eating period is from about 3PM to 9PM so I guess that puts me at an 18/6 schedule. For me, this just feels way more natural and I really like it! Sometmes on the weekends I'll drop back into a conventional eating plan and I never seem to have the same energy.

I've also done a few extended water fasts, one for 3 days (religious) and one for 8 days (medically supervised) and trippy things happen. Fasting is cool but you definitely need to know what you're getting into and have a doctor know what you're doing/help you.

happycauseIride

I have done some IF, too. I don't mind if anyone one wants to friend request me.

A couple months ago I did the 5:2 plan, but what I found is those 500 calorie days left me too physically drained to work out the next morning so I had to stop. But I was losing quickly then. Now I'm working in a few 16:8 days by skipping breakfast. I work out on an empty stomach every day and have since I started. Today I skipped breakfast and won't eat until lunch time. It works for me.

I kind of play it by ear and do what my body is telling me it wants. I've started a C25K running program so I am working out more these days so I am hungrier. So if I am hungry after working out I will make a protein smoothie for breakfast and/or a banana or something, but I keep it small. I drink lots of water and then eat lunch and supper.

I also have found that I do better staying at just three meals a day instead of snacking. I might have an apple mid afternoon or something, but for the most part I try to just do lunch and supper and be done.