thoughts on intermittent fasting

I practice IF and it works great for me.

I've been doing 16:8 since the end of last year. It works great for me, much to my surprise. MUCH easier to stay under my calorie goal this way.

at the begininng I was scared that I would not like it but after alot of research and testimonies I realized the reason you don't hear alot about this type of life style is there is nothing people can sell you. No bars shakes etc. so of course it is not widely known

LOL! Very true.

I fast once a year for religious reasons. The amount of time varies since there is something I am doing during that fast, and how long it takes determines how long I go without eating meals. The longest was 35 days. I drank only clear liquids and when the sun set I would eat 4 saltine crackers every other day. That was only because I was so hungry! There's no rhyme or reason as to why I chose saltines, but looking back, I probably needed that little bit of sodium. When I finished my studies, my skin was amazing. It was smooth, even, tight. I had my hair back in a bun every day, so I never used a mirror. I didn't even recognize myself. It helped that I lost 30 pounds that month, but I didn't do it for weight loss. Like I said, this an annual fast for faith-based reasons.

Small intermittent fasting can be mentally refreshing. It is entirely possible to take your mind off of it when you focus on something else, forcing your body to utilize stored fat which releases toxins and further cleanses the body. I totally support it.

There were only 2 major reasons why I liked IF at the time (I did it for over 6 months)

1) My teeth got a lot whiter
2) It worked with my schedule --> aka busy all day then eat a bigass meal out with friends.

I would like to start IF soon but I was wondering if during my fast I am aloud to have at least 30 calories in my morning coffee without wrecking the fast? I drink/ need 1/2 cup of coffee in the morning, I only use sugar or splenda and milk.

There are different kinds of IF. Some people choose to go 24 hrs once a week (for instance, eat Saturday night and not again until Sunday night). Others do daily fasting of 16 hours a day (skipping breakfast and only eating lunch and dinner). Others just do it once a month. JUDDD is a program where your "fast" is a day that doesn't exceed 500 calories, every other day. The days in between you don't track and eat what you want. It can be a yo-yo at first, but you adapt after a few weeks. So absolutely you can have some sugar and milk in your morning coffee if you choose to practice IF.

when im cutting like i am now, i eat after i get home from working all day and i train fasted. usually eat from 8pm till 11pm give or take an hour either way

I naturally never eat breakfast (unless I am seriously hungry) but I seem to automatically do a 15:9 ratio. is this considered IF or does the fasting range have to be longer and eating be shorter? I realized that if I don't eat breakfast and eat a late lunch I naturally eat less food that normal. Also being in college I sometimes don't get time to eat or forget too so the ratio is approximate.

I naturally never eat breakfast (unless I am seriously hungry) but I seem to automatically do a 15:9 ratio. is this considered IF or does the fasting range have to be longer and eating be shorter? I realized that if I don't eat breakfast and eat a late lunch I naturally eat less food that normal. Also being in college I sometimes don't get time to eat or forget too so the ratio is approximate.

I think the magic minimum number is 16 or as close as you can get it. I can't recall specifics on the 16:8, but I'm sure someone here knows the answer. I believe 16 is when the body gives up on a glycogen source and turns to stored fat? And it continues to peak at fat burning for another ... 36? hours? You'll have to look in to that.

I don't know what sort of label what I do would be lol.... I have nothing but water as needed after 10pm every nite (unless we r out drinking... Lol ).... Then about lunchtime I do a protein shake, then a snack and or very lite late lunch, and then dinner. Dinner is always the biggest meal in my day

I naturally never eat breakfast (unless I am seriously hungry) but I seem to automatically do a 15:9 ratio. is this considered IF or does the fasting range have to be longer and eating be shorter? I realized that if I don't eat breakfast and eat a late lunch I naturally eat less food that normal. Also being in college I sometimes don't get time to eat or forget too so the ratio is approximate.

I think the magic minimum number is 16 or as close as you can get it. I can't recall specifics on the 16:8, but I'm sure someone here knows the answer. I believe 16 is when the body gives up on a glycogen source and turns to stored fat? And it continues to peak at fat burning for another ... 36? hours? You'll have to look in to that.

Thanks for the answer. I didn't even realize I was doing IF until I came upon here. If anybody could answer me that would be great.

I would just put a warning note out there that it is not some magic fat burning process, it is just a different way of eating and the weight that you will drop will be because of the deficit that it creates.

This is a very important fact to keep in mind. What IF does very well, is make it easy to eat at a deficit. Make no mistake, if you IF and eat at a surplus... you will gain weight.

There are other proposed benefits but I would imagine more studies need to be done to determine there worth.