16:8 IF Diet - No results after 3 weeks

Wow, thank you very much for all the helpful replies guys! The consensus here is pretty obvious. I've probably been a bit naive in thinking that I will lose weight no matter what, but of course if I am overeating without properly realising then that's the problem right there. I should point out that one or the main reasons I went for a food intolerance checkup was because of the real bad headaches I tend to get mid afternoon. The only way to get rid of them is sleep. I also feel very lethargic most of the time so if anything chlorella and sea kelp will hopefully give me a boost of some kind.

I was hooked up to a machine called a Dach machine or something? Basically it pass a 5hz electrical signal through your body and outputs to the Dach(?) machine which gives you a reading between 0 and 100. The supplements were suggested to me due to the readings. I'd never heard of sea kelp or chlorella before hand to be honest. One thing I will do though is take at least one probiotic capsule per day to boost the immune system.

Starting now, I will record everything I eat and see how things go. After all, I'm on the best website in the world for calorie counting!

One more question, do you guys eat your workout calories? Cheers!

Like I've said elsewhere, these machine tests are worthless.

http://www.foodallergy.org/diagnosis-testing/unproven-testing
http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/9/2/198.pdf

I am big into eating when you're hungry because I PERSONALLY feel that for MYSELF forcing myself to eat X amount of meals a day (even if I'm not hungry) is just as an unhealthy relationship with food as it was when I snacked mindlessly and over indulged on everything just because it was there. I also realized .. I had NO idea what being hungry really felt like. Sure I would get a twinge in my stomach if a couple of hours went by without eating .. but was this habit/head hunger because I ate several small meals all day long at around the same time and my brain was like 'hey .. you aren't eating and it's X time. Get going!' Also food is so readily available at every corner that anytime we get even the slightest bit of a craving or a pang (regardless of whether it's actual hunger or not) most people will pull out a snack, go to a convenience store for a snack, or dash through the drive thru because it's fast and easy. It's okay to wait .. it's okay to feel a bit of hunger.

I did a week where for 2 days (not consecutive days) I went for as long as I could without eating. I was aiming for 24 hours (from dinner the night before to the same time the next day) but was going to eat if I felt any sort of super pain. I lasted 24 hours by drinking a lot of water and I finally felt was hunger felt like. I wasn't in super pain but it was uncomfortable because I (and I'm sure a lot of people at high weights) are used to shoveling food in our mouths every few hours. After that week I started to pay more attention and compare that feeling I had with what I was feeling at the moment. It led me to not realizing that i was doing IF on some days. I could eat dinner at 9pm the night before and then not eat until 1pm or later the next day just because I wasn't truly hungry.

I now follow 5:2 eating style where I try to eat as normally as I can while keeping my calories in mind (I don't want to go over but I find that I am not even getting near the calories recommended for me which is 1900. I get between 1200-1600 and am satisfied all day without feeling hunger) for 5 days out of the week and then 2 days of the week I go from dinner the night before to dinner that day (it's much easier to 'fast' for me knowing I get to eat a good sized meal, in my case 500-600 calories, for dinner). This works for me for many reasons. Benefits that I've noticed already in the few weeks I've been doing this is that I get 2 days a week where I feel actual hunger and it keeps me in check for my normal eating days, If I end up going out and over indulge I am still at a deficit for calories and that helps me mentally because I don't beat myself up over indulging, and being strict on myself for those 2 days a week has really helped me be able to control any cravings I get (as in I can tell myself no and then plan out the craving for another day so I can work around my calories, or even just saying no because I don't feel like I need it and taking control over what I eat instead of the food controlling me).

TLDR: Experiment on what works for you. If that is IF, 5:2, 16:8, calorie counting, IIFYM .. you get the point. Not everyone is right, and not everyone is wrong. Some things work for some people, some things don't work for some people just because it works for you doesn't make it the best but the same just because it doesn't work for you doesn't make it stupid. Why can't we all respect what someone is doing for themselves (unless it's super dangerous of course) and wish them well?

OP: I'm glad you did experiments to figure out why IF wasn't working for you. I just recently read something where people who weren't getting results were calculating their intake wrong and were over eating but started to blame the IF instead of taking a look at themselves and how they were working it. Good luck to you!

Only when people realize Martin's an idiot.

Because you believe so??

Wow, you actually wrote out a full sentence. It's a miracle.

LOL!

My TDEE is a rather generous 2,494 calories per day. My 24hr period is usually 7pm to 7pm as this seems to work better; especially for the fasting days. I try to eat between 500-600 calories on these days and to be honest, it has been fairly easy so far. Another important lesson I've learned is that I don't eat my excercise calories. I don't even bother logging them anymore. Since making these changes this have been going well so far!

If you are following the TDEE method then you are eating your exercise calories.
You wouldn't then log the calorie amounts burned as you should already have included your exercise calories in your TDEE calculation.

Don't confuse the two methods.

"My body has learned what hunger is. Most people eat when they are bored, thirsty, or when the clock tells them it is time to eat when in reality our bodies dont need to eat that often"

I eat when I'm hungry, I drink when I'm dry.