Intermittent Fasting; pro's and con's?

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Sid1988
Sid1988 Posts: 170 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've just started the 16/8 intermittent fasting and i'm just wondering if it is actually beneficial?

I have read 100's of times that eating breakfast is vital for metabolism, but this approach skips out breakfast.

I wont eat between the hours of 7 - 11am or 8 - 12 depending on what time i am home for dinner.

Will i notice a difference?

thanks :)

Replies

  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    The time of day you eat doesn't mean anything to weight loss.
    To successfully lose weight all you have to do is make sure you have a calorie deficit (check out TDEE method: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) and you stick to your calorie goals every day/week.

    Also, breakfast is really important as it stops you from eating an unnecessary big lunch or snacking throughout the morning.

    I don't think this diet will be beneficial to you at all and to be honest diets are NOT beneficial. As soon as you come off the diet, you gain the weight back because you are no longer following the eating plan.

    It's about making a lifestyle change which means changing the way you eat forever. So you need to pick up good, healthy habits that you won't from a fasting diet.
  • delonda1
    delonda1 Posts: 525 Member
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    I've never done it that way I do it 5:2 or 6:1 so either one or two days a week for 24hr periods and I notice a difference. I dont really stall in loss and I feel better.

    Doesnt really aide in weight loss so much though
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    I've just started the 16/8 intermittent fasting and i'm just wondering if it is actually beneficial?

    I have read 100's of times that eating breakfast is vital for metabolism, but this approach skips out breakfast.

    I wont eat between the hours of 7 - 11am or 8 - 12 depending on what time i am home for dinner.

    Will i notice a difference?

    thanks :)

    It will be beneficial if it's something that is easier to adhere to, other than that there isn't anything overly special about it
  • natalie412
    natalie412 Posts: 1,039 Member
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    It will help you if you are not much of a breakfast eater anyway, and if you tend to find yourself running out of calories at the end of the day. Then you will find you calorie goals easier to stick too. If you LOVE breakfast, and not eating it makes you completely pig out for lunch, then it's not for you! I don't do it everyday - sometimes I really do need breakfast, but that is pretty rare.
  • gr8pillock
    gr8pillock Posts: 374 Member
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    If you want to utilize intermittent fasting to the best of its ability, you might want to make your fasting hours later in the day through the night rather than NOT eat when you wake up in the morning.

    And the time of day that you eat DOES affect weight loss. Once you go to sleep for the night, your body shuts down the digestive process. If you eat late in the day, especially right before bed, the food sits in your stomach all night and will not continue to be digested until you wake up, leaving you to weigh more in the morning because the scale is weighing the food you ate for dinner as well as you.

    There are those who go the other route and start eating later, but I find the opposite to work because that way I don't eat right before bed. Going to bed hungry is easier for me than waking up hungry and then denying the intake of food for hours and hours at a time.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    If you want to utilize intermittent fasting to the best of its ability, you might want to make your fasting hours later in the day through the night rather than NOT eat when you wake up in the morning.

    And the time of day that you eat DOES affect weight loss. Once you go to sleep for the night, your body shuts down the digestive process. If you eat late in the day, especially right before bed, the food sits in your stomach all night and will not continue to be digested until you wake up, leaving you to weigh more in the morning because the scale is weighing the food you ate for dinner as well as you.

    There are those who go the other route and start eating later, but I find the opposite to work because that way I don't eat right before bed. Going to bed hungry is easier for me than waking up hungry and then denying the intake of food for hours and hours at a time.

    The body just shuts off it's digestive process when you sleep? fat loss > weight loss
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    If you want to utilize intermittent fasting to the best of its ability, you might want to make your fasting hours later in the day through the night rather than NOT eat when you wake up in the morning.

    And the time of day that you eat DOES affect weight loss. Once you go to sleep for the night, your body shuts down the digestive process. If you eat late in the day, especially right before bed, the food sits in your stomach all night and will not continue to be digested until you wake up, leaving you to weigh more in the morning because the scale is weighing the food you ate for dinner as well as you.

    There are those who go the other route and start eating later, but I find the opposite to work because that way I don't eat right before bed. Going to bed hungry is easier for me than waking up hungry and then denying the intake of food for hours and hours at a time.

    No, your body digests just fine when you are sleeping. There is no medical evidence that supports that time of day for food intake affects weight loss. I eat a third of my calories from 6- bedtime, with my last snack right before I turn off the light. I feel great in the morning.

    Timing of meals is totally individual preference.
  • gr8pillock
    gr8pillock Posts: 374 Member
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    If you want to utilize intermittent fasting to the best of its ability, you might want to make your fasting hours later in the day through the night rather than NOT eat when you wake up in the morning.

    And the time of day that you eat DOES affect weight loss. Once you go to sleep for the night, your body shuts down the digestive process. If you eat late in the day, especially right before bed, the food sits in your stomach all night and will not continue to be digested until you wake up, leaving you to weigh more in the morning because the scale is weighing the food you ate for dinner as well as you.

    There are those who go the other route and start eating later, but I find the opposite to work because that way I don't eat right before bed. Going to bed hungry is easier for me than waking up hungry and then denying the intake of food for hours and hours at a time.

    The body just shuts off it's digestive process when you sleep? fat loss > weight loss


    Comparing fat loss to weight wasn't the question, just the affects of fasting.
  • traceyjcumming
    traceyjcumming Posts: 1
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    Been on this for two weeks and so far found it okay - I eat breakfast before 7.30am then eat my tea around 5.30pm using my 500 calories between the two - other than water or diluting juice this is all I have - so far lost 3.5lb. My sister is also doing it and in 3 weeks she has lost 5.5lb
  • _SABOTEUR_
    _SABOTEUR_ Posts: 6,833 Member
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    It will be beneficial if it's something that is easier to adhere to, other than that there isn't anything overly special about it

    ^This.

    It works for me if I am eating too much because I'm the type of person where I can eat a meal and then graze for hours afterwards. Like I cow, but cream cakes instead of grass. :laugh:
  • nas061
    nas061 Posts: 256 Member
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    Once you go to sleep for the night, your body shuts down the digestive process. If you eat late in the day, especially right before bed, the food sits in your stomach all night and will not continue to be digested until you wake up

    Nonsense!
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    You probably noticed that most of these replies say about the opposite of what the leangains site says. :wink: I've been considering it myself but I don't think it works well with my schedule and my preference to eat all day long. hahaha! Honestly, I'd give it a try for a few weeks and see if you notice a difference. I think the leangains site lays out the potential pros pretty well. I guess all of these people are giving you the possible cons. Good luck! :smile:
  • Gettinyoung
    Gettinyoung Posts: 39
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    I watched a documentary on intermittent fasting...various schedules. The benefit is more to bring down certain blood chemistry to possibly help you to live longer and stay healthy as you age. Weight loss can happen because it has been observed that on the non-fasting days, one doesn't eat as much as was originally thought, so overall calories are less. As far as the time of day to eat? Didn't seem to matter. I may give the 5:2 schedule a try myself. It's not so much a weight loss "diet" but is meant to become a way of life.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    I've been practicing intermittent fasting for about 3 months. I usually do 18/6 or 20/4 and do a 24 hour fast once a week. It works well for me.

    Pros (for me)
    I have been losing weight consistently. (I've only been on MFP for 5 weeks but have been doing this for months with good results).
    Fits in my crazy schedule.
    Makes it easy to stay within calorie goals.
    Feel better (more energetic, etc...)
    Has been shown to have positive effects on HGH, insulin sensitivity, fat oxidation, etc...
    I naturally tend towards a fasting lifestyle so it is an easy schedule to keep.
    Can have bigger meals. Fits well into social life (fasting until dinner out is an easy way to go out and stay within calories)
    Not going to bed hungry.
    I feel better working out fasted and it gives me more time to workout than just first thing in the morning (I'm not really a morning person)

    Cons
    I didn't feel great the first week. I upped my protein and this went away.
    None really.

    It is a lifestyle more than a diet. It has worked really well for me. Check out one of the intermittent fasting groups.

    Edit to add: Check out "Eat, Stop, Eat" or leangains.com, etc...
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    I've just started the 16/8 intermittent fasting and i'm just wondering if it is actually beneficial?

    I have read 100's of times that eating breakfast is vital for metabolism, but this approach skips out breakfast.

    I wont eat between the hours of 7 - 11am or 8 - 12 depending on what time i am home for dinner.

    Will i notice a difference?

    thanks :)

    I've been doing 16/8 since November, and it's been working well for me. I'm not sure about the fat/weight loss benefits as compared to eating all day or however you may want to eat, but it is helping me lose more weight because it's helping me keep calories in check. I have noticed that on days when I do happen to eat in the mornings, I tend to want to eat more throughout the day. A lot of this is mental, although I feel like some is physical. Whatever the reason, IF is working well for me.

    I eat lunch around noon, a snack if needed, then dinner around 6 p.m. and a snack/dessert in the evening if I need/want it. My DH has been doing most of the cooking, so it works well because he tends to cook higher calorie meals. Plus, on days like yesterday where we went to an Oscar party with lots of food, I was able to eat my normal lunch, normal snack and have plenty of calories available to indulge in moderation without going hungry all day or going over on calories.

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