Intermittent Fasting- 16:8

I tried it, green tea helped get me through the hunger spurts. Taking BCAA's will help I've heard but Idk

That's the beauty of IF, it's 16 hours so you metabolism is not affected. It takes much longer than you think to kill your metabolism

I like the idea of IF. I don't know that I could get all of my calories eaten in an 8 hour period though! lol..hmmmmm. To OP, I don't think it would harm you with doing P90X though at all. It's not like you would be trying to do a hardcore workout after eating only 500 calories during the day.

bump to see responses...I'm intrigued!

I've been working on reducing to an eight hour window recently. It was really hard initially to eat enough calories by the end of the window, but I'm starting to be able to get there by eating frequent [healthy] snacks in addition to breakfast and lunch. I personally much prefer breakfast and lunch to lunch and dinner, so my eight hour window is 8 to 4 or 9 to 5 depending on when I get going in the morning.

There's an IF group on mfp that will help you out

Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for several different plans:

-alternate day IF-every other day restricting calories, to fasting levels, and then every other day eating normal amounts of calories
-5:2 IF-two low calorie fasting days a week, with 5 normal calorie days the rest of the week
-eating windows, usually 5 or 8 hour windows.

I did alternate day intermittent fasting and loved it-lost the weight and now have a much healthier relationship with food. Now that I'm in maintenance I just do one IF day a week and will always do it, for the health benefits

I feel Breakfast is necessary because body is starving the whole night....metabolism may slow down if body is deprived of food for a very long time IMO.

The body does not go into starvation mode after 7-9 hours of sleeping-that's utter nonsense. Please do some research on how metabolism actually works and IF-there's many health benefits associated with it. The whole 'breakfast is needed to jump start metabolism' has been thoroughly debunked.

bump... I I have been steadily gaining weight for some time while trying so hard to eat the "right way". I just looked back at my weigh ins through the last 2 years and I could not believe the difference. I am going back to just having something to drink in the morning and saving calories till later in the day. Interested in IF. I don't know where I have been, but I have just heard of this and didn't know there was an actual movement about it, so will be following this to see more.

I am on day 3 of my IF plan. I read a bunch on it and it seems reasonable and more importantly - doable. I get up at 5:00 am, so am assigning 11:00-7:00 as my eating hours. So far so good! Yesterday I was so focused on eating healthy during my eating hours that for the first time in a long time, I met my protein goals.

I did IF and liked it, I stopped a short time ago and am considering doing it a few times a month, perhaps even 1 day a week but not every day. There is a group here that has people doing several variations including 16/8 that might be a good resource for you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/66-intermittent-fasting

I am on day 5 of 16:8. It's not as difficult as I thought it would be. It really is just 'mind over matter'. Also, I have discovered the difference in feeling 'bored hungry' and 'hungry'. I plan to stick to it for a full 6 weeks and then decide if this will be a lifestyle change or if I need to modify for my personal needs.

It is very hard to wrap your head around NOT eating within the first hour of waking up! It goes against all the nutrition logic that I previously knew.

I am not reducing my calories at ALL. I just eat them during an 8 hour window.

Good Luck to ALL! :flowerforyou:

I have been following a 16:8 approach for about a month or two now accompanied with weight training for recomp and lean mass gain, very similar to what is outlined at leangains. I used to love eating breakfast everyday because I love milky cereal and toast. Now I just prefer to not eat until about 2pm and finish getting my calories in by 10pm. I hold to this very closely during the work week, but allow for exceptions on the weekend if social situations call for it. That usually still means no "breakfast." I've found that extending my overnight fast is not difficult at all. I used to get starving while I was at work when I ate breakfast, and then starving toward the end of the day in anticipation of dinner. Now when 2pm rolls around, I know I am hungry, but I don't have that distracting starving feeling that I used to know so well. I have a lunch (technically it's a breakfast), which more than holds me over until I get around to eating dinner, which is typically after 7:30. I am incorporating 3 weight training sessions a week after work. On the days I train, I add about 500-600 calories to my dinner (after workout). The other days I keep right about at maintenance. That provides for a slight surplus for the week, which is in line for my goal of gaining some body weight (as muscle).

Blabber blabber... anyhow, I love this approach. I do keep track of my calories because it is important for me to get enough for the day, but not too many. It's refreshing not to be held down by the traditional (and false) fitness dogma that you're supposed to eat 6+ meals a day, always eat breakfast in the morning, and never eat past 8, otherwise your metabolism will magically crash to zero. I also have a huge appetite, so it is nice to be able to eat big when I do eat. And eating when I am actually hungry is so much more satisfying. I'd absolutely recommend you try it if you haven't.

I am doing 18:6 for 4 days now. On Monday I did a 36-hr fast just to try and see how my body would react.

I must say drinking lots of water is helping a lot with my water weight. Dropped 3lbs since Monday. And I love the fact that I can have all my 1200 calories in one meal if I wanted too. My eating window is 3pm-9pm mainly because I like working out at lunch time. I don't feel like I am starving at all or low on energy. I think it really is an ideal lifestyle for people who are not into breakfast/dinner.

I think the whole 'no eating after 7pm' is a form a intermittent fasting anyway. I eat breakfast around 8am and dinner by 6pm. I try not to eat anything after. It seems to work well for me. I'm thinking of trying to shorten that window, have breakfast later in the morning, when I'm actually hungry, which is usually around 9 or 10am.

I do 16:8 and it works perfectly for me. I had tried 5:2 previously but I found that triggered my bingeing really badly. Since I have been doing 16:8 I haven't binged or had any cravings at all.
I eat between 11am and 7pm....roughly, sometimes I go longer, it just depends on how I feel.