Intermittent fasting help?

shabaity
shabaity Posts: 792 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm considering giving this a shot and was looking for some help and maybe some ideas to increase caloric intake. First of all I have done something similar before in high school I would roll out of bed about 10 min before I had to leave for school so no time for breakfast at home and I despised school food so I wouldn't eat that either except for maybe a cartoon of milk or my best friend's juice if she didn't want it that day, so my first meal of the day would be at around 2-3 in the afternoon and my last meal would be anywhere from 7 to 10ish depending on whether I was at home that day or at school. Now I know I can't do a 5:2 fast, I accidently went 24-28 hours a few times where I didn't eat because I was caught up in homework or I was really busy at work and I would at about 20 hours in get symptoms of low blood sugar. Well my problem now is I'm trying to eat a bit healthier I'm occasionally having problems hitting my calorie goals eating 6 times a day so any ideas to boost that would be nice. And also some commentary on my fasting time of about 10 pm to 2pm this would give me time to go to my early classes and work out afterwards.Any help would be much appreciated.

Replies

  • shabaity
    shabaity Posts: 792 Member
    Anyone?
  • libwilfgav
    libwilfgav Posts: 2 Member
    First don't even try and work out on a fast day. Get used to only 500 calories in a day by first doing only 3 snacks (approx 150 each) spread out, then dropping to 2 (approx 200-250 each) then drink only water or herb tea (no sugar) all day from waking until say 5pm then have. 4-500 calorie meal. Measure everything and record it on 'MFP . First few times are tough but they get easier, try and plan which days of the week to fast around your activity/ occupation . Not days when you do nothing as boredom is the enemy as is too much work. Give it a go. It works for me. I always try and plan my tea for a fast day so I have all the ingredients and no meeting when I get home, just cook tea.
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    You could search the above "Groups" section. There are several groups dedicated to IF.
  • AlwaysWanderer
    AlwaysWanderer Posts: 641 Member
    First don't even try and work out on a fast day. Get used to only 500 calories in a day by first doing only 3 snacks (approx 150 each) spread out, then dropping to 2 (approx 200-250 each) then drink only water or herb tea (no sugar) all day from waking until say 5pm then have. 4-500 calorie meal. Measure everything and record it on 'MFP . First few times are tough but they get easier, try and plan which days of the week to fast around your activity/ occupation . Not days when you do nothing as boredom is the enemy as is too much work. Give it a go. It works for me. I always try and plan my tea for a fast day so I have all the ingredients and no meeting when I get home, just cook tea.
    I think she means 16:8 fast, which is done every day. 16 hours fast, 8 hour eating window.
    Now, I'm not an expert, but I did quite a lot of reading up about it prior to starting it myself last week. I found it easy on the work days: no breakfast, lunch at 1 o'clock, dinner at 7ish. Not quite so good on the weekend, had a small breakfast both days, only because my husband was having it. Bad influence lol.
    I found that if works better, because i can eat till full, whether i couldn't before. 2 meals a day, with a snack in between.
    Havent tried to work out yet, so cant comment.
  • shabaity
    shabaity Posts: 792 Member
    First don't even try and work out on a fast day. Get used to only 500 calories in a day by first doing only 3 snacks (approx 150 each) spread out, then dropping to 2 (approx 200-250 each) then drink only water or herb tea (no sugar) all day from waking until say 5pm then have. 4-500 calorie meal. Measure everything and record it on 'MFP . First few times are tough but they get easier, try and plan which days of the week to fast around your activity/ occupation . Not days when you do nothing as boredom is the enemy as is too much work. Give it a go. It works for me. I always try and plan my tea for a fast day so I have all the ingredients and no meeting when I get home, just cook tea.
    I think she means 16:8 fast, which is done every day. 16 hours fast, 8 hour eating window.
    Now, I'm not an expert, but I did quite a lot of reading up about it prior to starting it myself last week. I found it easy on the work days: no breakfast, lunch at 1 o'clock, dinner at 7ish. Not quite so good on the weekend, had a small breakfast both days, only because my husband was having it. Bad influence lol.
    I found that if works better, because i can eat till full, whether i couldn't before. 2 meals a day, with a snack in between.
    Havent tried to work out yet, so cant comment.

    This one I've done similar before without even realizing it and honestly those years I was at least at a stable weight. Its I work till 11 or later some nights that's why I'm considering a 10 pm to 2pm daily fast this will give me the time to work out at before I eat I'm already having to get up at 6-6:30 am to get to my 8am classes. And steve089 I'm in class from 8-noonish eating before then isn't a problem so long as I don't bring anything to snack on. With the issues I had with hypoglycemia I had then full day fasts are impossible. I'm just hoping this will make weight loss and later maintenance easier as I've maintained it before.
  • orangesmarties
    orangesmarties Posts: 49 Member
    I'm doing this and I love it! I started doing it more to clear my head of worrying about the next meal than weight loss, but I have never known weight fall off so fast since I was overweight!! Basically my protocol is to have eaten my last meal by 8pm, then fast through to about 4pm, when I eat a healthy breakfast of branflakes, almonds, dairy free yoghurt and dairy free milk. This is then my eating window: between 4 and 8 :) I just eat the two meals and I am FULL! Experts say to work out towards the end of your fast, to burn more of your fat reserves. I prefer to work out first thing, but have been trying both and also twice a day: I would say calories in calories out is the most important, though I do sometimes stretch the window by mistake and exercise around that time. I do get good results this way :) Hope I helped. A 20 hour fast does sound pretty extreme, but you can work up to it if you want, just taking it a day at a time. Plenty of sleep and coffee/green tea go a long way in making it easier, but be careful with caffeine as it can make you light headed from the change in blood pressure. You'll be fine!
  • shabaity
    shabaity Posts: 792 Member
    I can't do a full day fast my blood sugar is too unstable for that I've got a very small window where my blood sugar is stable and 16 hours has always been my limit before there are problems it is what is but this is actually a natural way for me to eat so yeah.

Categories