Who's doing IF? (Intermittent fasting)
shiftysheep
Posts: 44 Member
How many people here doing intermittent fasting, I've been doing it for a few weeks now & feel great, Loads of energy, losing body fat & gain muscle. I eat 500 calories below maintenance & eat my exercise calories back.
This is how I do my IF, I have a four hour eating window 1pm till 5pm, then every 3 days I drop a eating window (36 hour fast), I try to do all my workouts in the AM before I break my fast weight & cardio. I also have cheat days but still count my calories & stay within my 500 calorie deficit.
Anyone else out there doing IF? If so how you doing yours?
This is how I do my IF, I have a four hour eating window 1pm till 5pm, then every 3 days I drop a eating window (36 hour fast), I try to do all my workouts in the AM before I break my fast weight & cardio. I also have cheat days but still count my calories & stay within my 500 calorie deficit.
Anyone else out there doing IF? If so how you doing yours?
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Replies
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I have been doing IF regularly since beginning of May. I started out doing one 24 hr fast a week. Now I am doing leangains16/8. I fast about 16 hours and eat within an 8 hr window. Although some days my fast may end a lil sooner or later and sometimes I shorten the window.
GREAT success so far. I am skipping breakfast and never felt better and definately NOT going into starvation mode.
I also throw in a 24 hour fast once or twice a month now instead of weekly.0 -
I'm doing leangains 16/8 with carb and calorie cycling. I'm on a recomp at the moment and I'm liking it.
I eat 3500 cal on lift days and 2000-2500 cal on rest days depending on whether I do heavy exercise or not. My weight has been going down very slowly which is what I want and I'm making progress on my lifts, so everything seems to be working how I want it to.0 -
well, its ramadan and I do not eat breakfast usually, so with the timing I get to eat at 7:45pm and need to get to bed by 9:15pm because I have to be up at 3:30am to at least get a cup of coffee or tea in order to begin the fast again at 4:45am
today is about day 8 with about 20 more to go,
so far: starving hungry early afternoon, mostly because I need to deal with the boredom thing, it is fascinating just how much time I spent eating, preparing food, choosing food,
I cannot nap during the day, pity perhaps,
stomach must have shrunk because portions are really shrinking,
thinking is fuzzy, I am so lucky not to have to work, by the end of the day my husband and I prepare our favorite foods, of course they are not the same things, we work in complete silence,
and then at the magic time I drink my grape crystal light, thanking Allah for my blessings and meditate on those in our world who do not have clean water let alone enough food to make their stomachs hurt even if it is only 700 calories like my dinner tonight,
so yes I intermittently fast during ramadan, I do not have the will outside these special days, and think that fasting is a very good thing especially for those like me who are obese and have no control as yet, but I am here trying to learn how to eat to live rather living just to eat.0 -
I've been doing mine for about a week. Feeling great on my lifts and have dropped about 4 lbs so far. Seems to be shedding fast. Was on low carb for so long and this definitely broke my plateau. I'm doing anywhere from 19/5 to 21/3 daily.0
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After reviewing the topic and discussing with colleagues I have removed the topic lock.
I misread the fasting numbers as a 5 day fast. There are also many users who expressed their desire to help OP with his IF experience and that is wonderful.
Please continue the quality conversation.
My apologies
Cheers,
Scott
MyFitnessPal Staff0 -
This is the reply I was GOING to post before it was locked:
While intermittent fasting itself is not "unsafe or unhealthy", the idea of skipping one day entirely and having a 36 hour fast once a week is a little extreme and not within the IF typical plan.
Typical IF includes an EIGHT hour feeding window every 24 hour period, not 4, for Leangains style...or a 24 hour fasting period for EatStopEat style, but the 24 hours goes from midday to midday, so you never go from the time you wake until the time you go to sleep without eating, ever...you eat an early dinner one day, then do not eat for 24 hours, but eat a big dinner before bed, getting most of your calories in for both of those days.
It has nothing to do with "fasting" as you would commonly think of fasting. You eat your calorie goal every day.
There is an excellent group for IF followers here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/49-intermittent-fasting
Here you can find knowledgeable people who follow IF and get advice and information on proper usage of this technique.0 -
After reviewing the topic and discussing with colleagues I have removed the topic lock.
I misread the fasting numbers as a 5 day fast. There are also many users who expressed their desire to help OP with his IF experience and that is wonderful.
Please continue the quality conversation.
My apologies
Cheers,
Scott
MyFitnessPal Staff
ok, feel better about that. Because I was mad I was being mistaken for an anorexic!0 -
This is the reply I was GOING to post before it was locked:
While intermittent fasting itself is not "unsafe or unhealthy", the idea of skipping one day entirely and having a 36 hour fast once a week is a little extreme and not within the IF typical plan.
Typical IF includes an EIGHT hour feeding window every 24 hour period, not 4, for Leangains style...or a 24 hour fasting period for EatStopEat style, but the 24 hours goes from midday to midday, so you never go from the time you wake until the time you go to sleep without eating, ever...you eat an early dinner one day, then do not eat for 24 hours, but eat a big dinner before bed, getting most of your calories in for both of those days.
It has nothing to do with "fasting" as you would commonly think of fasting. You eat your calorie goal every day.
There is an excellent group for IF followers here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/49-intermittent-fasting
Here you can find knowledgeable people who follow IF and get advice and information on proper usage of this technique.
Actually Robin, just to clarify a little...you're supposed to have only a moderate dinner on your second day doing the ESE style fasting. This is what maintains your deficit (all of the burden of your weekly deficit falls on 1-3 days, the other days are maintenance days). There are MANY forms though, including what you've mentioned...but per the book I have (don't remember which edition), that's how it's done.
To the OP, I've been IF'ing for about a year now. I absolutely love it, and couldn't imagine any other intake format. I'm doing a modified version of leangains, and am eating about 3000cal between 1pm and 8pm every day.0 -
IFing for >6 months now. Love it. I do 16/8 mostly (LeanGains style diet)... if cutting sometimes do 20/4 or 22/2ish on rest days, since I am only eating like 1800 calories, and it's easier for me to do that as one huge meal. Only downside is trying to eat >3k cals of low-fat food in 8 hours while bulking is challenging. Sometimes I cry a little bit during the last couple hundred calories. :P0
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Hello everyone. I follow a 95% paleo eating lifestyle. I've starting IF'ing properly and have a few questions. Should we train in a FASTED state or could we eat a small protein based meal 2 hrs before training to break the 14+hr fast? I'm doing P90X because I don't have the equipment to do the Big 5 nor can I afford or have time to go to a gym.0
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leangains 16/8 for almost a year
sadly i will be dropping IF when i begin to bulk in less then a month, it is much to difficult to eat 4000 cals in an 8 hour feeding window
leangains > eat stop eat0 -
I do a 16/8. I won't go so far as to call it Leangains as I'm not doing any of the nutrient cycling at this point. I plan to introduce that aspect in the future. Right now I eat between 2700-3000 calories between noon and 8:00 pm. I've been doing this for a couple of months now and really enjoy it. I was never an early morning eater and started eating when I got up because "oh no, your metabolism will stop". When I did a little more research I decided to give this a shot and it's been great. I've been a little lax with it over the past couple of weeks and with my food choices as I'm going through selling/buying a house and there have been some overly stressful unforseen hurdles involved. Once we get all of that settled I'm planning to tighten everything back up and probably drop my calories to a small deficit to burn off a little more fat.0
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For the sake of a dissenting opinion, I did leangains for ~ a month and lost my period along with digestive problems. I wasn't ever feeling hungry or deprived, so I will try again to see if it was coincidental or if I just can't fast. It also might have been the calorie cycling, since I do cardio on "rest" days, I might have just had too much of a deficit 4 days a week to make up for eating at maintenance 3 days. Like I said, maybe coincidental, maybe not, just want people to be careful
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I tried doing the 16/8 when I started out, but it gave me gallstones. I stick to just calorie counting now.0
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I use the (wimpier) 14/10 Leangains rec for women, but I don't pay attention to any of the other Leangains stuff (macro cycling, etc.). The window has really helped me cut down on nighttime noshing.0
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I tried doing the 16/8 when I started out, but it gave me gallstones. I stick to just calorie counting now.
If you want info on how to dissolve and rid yourself of gallstones let me know. It's not what you think...no pills to pop or powder to take. Take a look at the link below:
http://books.google.com/books?id=rdcZpgEATiYC&lpg=PA52&ots=iolM8920MM&dq=Alkaline diet and gallstones&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q=Alkaline diet and gallstones&f=false0 -
I did IF for 2 months, with exercise and healthy diet otherwise and lost some of my last stubborn 15 lbs, 10 to be exact. Have maintained the loss for a few months and I plan on starting again soon for the last 5. I think it is good to cycle.0
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Hello I do IF too , mainly if I go over my carbs on day one (1200) , on day two I would have half of my carbs (600) and on day three nothing but water .0
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I tried doing the 16/8 when I started out, but it gave me gallstones. I stick to just calorie counting now.
If you want info on how to dissolve and rid yourself of gallstones let me know. It's not what you think...no pills to pop or powder to take. Take a look at the link below:
http://books.google.com/books?id=rdcZpgEATiYC&lpg=PA52&ots=iolM8920MM&dq=Alkaline diet and gallstones&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q=Alkaline diet and gallstones&f=false
Luckily, they were tiny so they passed on their own. But thanks.0 -
As someone who had to be admitted for treatment for anorexia, it boggles my mind the people that do 24+ hour fasts and claim, "I'm not going into starvation mode." Yes. You are. I specifically used to go 1-3 days fasting then eat small meals on the off days. This, I was told (you know, by doctors and nutritionists) was incredibly dangerous. You feel great past a certain point because your ADRENAL glands are kicking in. This IF with the 8 hour window seems fine, but the people going longer and claiming, "I'm not going into starvation mode"? Just because you feel "fine" or "great" doesn't mean your body's not paying!0
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As someone who had to be admitted for treatment for anorexia, it boggles my mind the people that do 24+ hour fasts and claim, "I'm not going into starvation mode." Yes. You are. I specifically used to go 1-3 days fasting then eat small meals on the off days. This, I was told (you know, by doctors and nutritionists) was incredibly dangerous. You feel great past a certain point because your ADRENAL glands are kicking in. This IF with the 8 hour window seems fine, but the people going longer and claiming, "I'm not going into starvation mode"? Just because you feel "fine" or "great" doesn't mean your body's not paying!
A few clarifications.
You will go into starvation mode if you are chronically not getting your average necessary caloric intake on say...a weekly basis...for weeks on end. Your body takes as many as 72hrs to even begin to negatively respond to a lack of food. Prior to that, some claim there is a metabolic increase. This may or may not be true, but there IS proof that it takes 72hrs for a metabolic decrease.
However!
IF you fast for greater than 24hrs (not recommended by ANY intermittent fasting protocol I'm aware of), AND you don't make up for the calories you missed during that fasting period (meaning to get within a reasonable dficit), you can...and eventually certainly WILL harm your body.
What specifically made YOUR circumstance dangerous, was the small meals on off days. You very simply were not getting enough calories to support your body. Not eating for a period of time, then overeating for a period of time...is actually a natural thing for our bodies. Not eating for a period of time, then undereating for a period of time...isn't.
:flowerforyou:
ETA - The adrenal response is RIGHT ON TARGET. This is one of the things that makes IF so powerful for body recomposition and fat loss. It's up to the user to fast responsibly.0 -
As someone who had to be admitted for treatment for anorexia, it boggles my mind the people that do 24+ hour fasts and claim, "I'm not going into starvation mode." Yes. You are. I specifically used to go 1-3 days fasting then eat small meals on the off days. This, I was told (you know, by doctors and nutritionists) was incredibly dangerous. You feel great past a certain point because your ADRENAL glands are kicking in. This IF with the 8 hour window seems fine, but the people going longer and claiming, "I'm not going into starvation mode"? Just because you feel "fine" or "great" doesn't mean your body's not paying!
A few clarifications.
You will go into starvation mode if you are chronically not getting your average necessary caloric intake on say...a weekly basis...for weeks on end. Your body takes as many as 72hrs to even begin to negatively respond to a lack of food. Prior to that, some claim there is a metabolic increase. This may or may not be true, but there IS proof that it takes 72hrs for a metabolic decrease.
However!
IF you fast for greater than 24hrs (not recommended by ANY intermittent fasting protocol I'm aware of), AND you don't make up for the calories you missed during that fasting period (meaning to get within a reasonable dficit), you can...and eventually certainly WILL harm your body.
What specifically made YOUR circumstance dangerous, was the small meals on off days. You very simply were not getting enough calories to support your body. Not eating for a period of time, then overeating for a period of time...is actually a natural thing for our bodies. Not eating for a period of time, then undereating for a period of time...isn't.
:flowerforyou:
ETA - The adrenal response is RIGHT ON TARGET. This is one of the things that makes IF so powerful for body recomposition and fat loss. It's up to the user to fast responsibly.
What he said. I was going to respond, but he said is very well. Eat Stop Eat is one or two 24 hour fasts a week. If you eat normally, that is at maintenance the other days that gives a reasonable deficit. No one that I have read called that pattern of eating you mentioned Intermittent Fasting.
Having said that, for a person who has had an eating disorder, IF is not for you. It would be much too easy to go back to disordered eating.
To the OP, I have been doing ESE for more than 1.5 years with some stretches where I don't do it. It seems to work well for me and allows for freedom I would not have with other eating patterns.0 -
I've lost a majority of my weight by IF, I incorporate it and 16/8 or fast 2x a week for 24 hours. I've had no adverse effects. There's nothing like eating coming off a fast, everything tastes sensational! I'm convinced this will be a way of life for me.0
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Glad there's so many people on a style of IF.
To people who have had eating disorders, as has already been mentioned, maybe this isn't for you.
When I break my fast I just inhale food! As Jamochadive said "everything tastes sensational!"
& what Crisanderson2 said was spot on "What specifically made YOUR circumstance dangerous, was the small meals on off days. You very simply were not getting enough calories to support your body. Not eating for a period of time, then overeating for a period of time...is actually a natural thing for our bodies", I can assure anybody who is worried about my 36 hour fast, I have a reasonable deficit & making gains, as well as cutting body fat.0 -
I'm aiming to do two 24 hour fasts. Do i need to eat at my TDEE on non fast days to prevent a larger deficit?0
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I'm aiming to do two 24 hour fasts. Do i need to eat at my TDEE on non fast days to prevent a larger deficit?0
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That is up to you.I'm aiming to do two 24 hour fasts. Do i need to eat at my TDEE on non fast days to prevent a larger deficit?0 -
Ok thanks. Maybe I need to put this question another way. Would eating less than my TDEE have negative effects!?0
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Ok thanks. Maybe I need to put this question another way. Would eating less than my TDEE have negative effects!?
It would probably make sense to look at your deficit over an entire week and adjust your intake based on that.0 -
Ok thanks. Maybe I need to put this question another way. Would eating less than my TDEE have negative effects!?
It would probably make sense to look at your deficit over an entire week and adjust your intake based on that.
This.
When I used to do ESE (what you're doing), I did three fasted days. My assumed TDEE was roughly 2800cal (this was actually not accurate...substantially low...but that's not the relevant part). What I did, was took the daily number, multiplied it by 7 (days of the week) for 19600cal, and then subtracted 20% (my preferred overall deficit) or 3920cal. This gave me an overall target caloric intake of 15680cal. As I said, I was fasting for three days a week, rather than two. So I made a determination of what would consititute a reasonable, filling dinner for my fasted days (roughly 1000cal was my choice), multiplied it by 3 (number of fasting days), then subtracted that from my target intake of 15680cal, for a total of 12680cal remaining. I then divided that total by the remaining days of the week (4), for a total daily target of 3170cal on my non fasted days.
Now, you can break that up however you like. 2 fasted days, more food on your fasted days (which creates a lesser balance of food on your non fasting days)...etc. The idea is, find your TDEE in total calories for the week, then apply a healthy, reasonable deficit...and finally divide those calories up as you see fit.
Hope that helps!0
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