Which IF diet gives the best results and why?

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JAT74
JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been doing the 5:2 diet for a few weeks now and find this method is doable for me because the fact I eat 500 calories 2 days a week means I can eat more on the other days and therefore don't feel so deprived. I haven't lost much weight by doing this though, so am now trying to add other IF methods to this such as doing 16:8 in addition to 5:2 ie. skipping breakfast most days if I can manage that while training daily too (ie. if I feel I have the energy).

Some people also swear by doing 24 hour fasts from time to time too, ie. eating once a day and then fasting until the same time the following day and I've also seen people talk about having a 19 hour fast followed by a 5 hour eating window etc.

I can only assume that the reason some of these other forms of IF work is because of the period of fasting, or the fact that there are less hours for you to eat within therefore you will naturally be eating less calories or does someone else have a more scientific explanation?

Personally I want to stick with 5:2, though if I can find another way to speed up my weight loss without reducing calories on non-fast days too much then I'd love to hear about it.

The other point for me is that there are some weeks when I can't fit in a 2 day fast so was wondering if it would be at all beneficial to simply fast for 20-24 hours such as before an evening eating or drinking more than normal.

Replies

  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    They work because they're in a calorie deficit. If you just eat as much as you were before just in less time, you wouldn't lose anything.
    It doesn't matter if you create that from barely eating anything on 1-2 days per week and eating around maintenance the others or if you have a slight deficit on every day.

    Personally I'm doing 16:8, not because I like IF or anything, it's just the way I always eat since years ago long before I knew IF existed. I didn't lose weight until I ate less calories.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    There is no best. One may work better for someone else because it just fits them better. Don't try to speed things up faster than they are going.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    IF of any kind is an eating style, not a weight loss tool. weight loss comes from the calorie deficit only.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    The best version of IF is the one that you can stick to most. As others have said, all you need is a calorie deficit, doesn't matter how you achieve it. If you have weeks where you can't do the fast days, then you can have a small deficit everyday, or just take a week out and don't aim to lose weight that week.
  • kikichewie
    kikichewie Posts: 276 Member
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    Sounds to me like you are staring down a very slippery slope. If it works for you, stick with it and be patient. More is not always better.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Ok, thanks for the input so far. In my case Kikichewie it's not a case of more being better but something would be nice! I've been using MFP daily since 5th January and in month 1 I lost around 5lbs which was the initial water weight I lost plus a couple of extra pounds from counting calories and eating at a deficit.

    The 2nd month I barely lost at all ie. only around 2lbs in total in the month and I started doing 5:2 IF halfway through the month.

    In March and the first half of April I've lost a total of 1lb and last week only managed 1 fast day and have gained back 1.5lbs so I'm not very happy.

    Since 5th January my daily/weekly deficit has been similar whether doing 5:2 or not. I've worked out that my total calorie intake ie. calories eaten, not net calories has been 1300-1500 total except last week when my daily total/average was 1700. This obviously meant that on non fast days I was eating more and fast days it was 550 calories. Before 5:2 my daily calorie intake was consistently between 1300 & 1500.

    I have been exercising daily 7 days a week since 5th January too with about 1-2 days off maximum in all that time. I burn off a minimum of 300 per day through exercise but a lot of days it's more than that.

    I know I could increase my deficit by reducing the number of calories I'm eating on my non-fast days but I was just wondering if there was a better way without resorting to that but it sounds like the answer is 'no'.

  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Personally I want to stick with 5:2, though if I can find another way to speed up my weight loss without reducing calories on non-fast days too much then I'd love to hear about it.

    Regardless of the style or method of fasting you choose fat will always and forever be lost at the rate of 3500 calorie per pound.
    You can take a week to create that deficit or a year. It will result in the same thing.
    There are 2 ways to create a deficit, eat less food and burn more calories. Those are the only 2 options we have.
    If you do not want to further restrict calories then burn more is your option.
    So if "faster" you want, and I would reword that to burn the most calorie per hour, I suggest a strength training program and Some form of high intensity cardio to maximize your calorie burn. 600 calorie per hour cardio burns will also get you in awesome shape, so it is a win win !
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,416 Member
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    What works is whatever you can maintain as a *habit*. 16:8 works well for me, because that's my natural inclination. They say that 14:10 works better for women, and I end up needing to do that some days, because if I skip lunch, I am frequently too full at dinner to get enough calories. Even doing 16:8, I have to count calories, but for the most part, I need to do so to make sure that I don't need to eat MORE. (If you look in my food log I have a lot of days where I'm under by about 250 calories, which I then try to make up the next day with a 14:10 day...)

    In the end, all of the IF stuff works because you are creating a caloric deficit.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    I understand how it works Elizabeth, but in my case I think the problem I'm having is the numbers for me personally ie. what the online calculators tell me to eat in order to lose weight are way out ie. far too high. This has resulted in me eating a little too much or on some days a few hundred calories too much so I am not losing what I have been hoping to. I therefore need to reduce calories one way or another. Like you've said, I think that 16:8 on top of doing 5:2 is probably the way forward for me if I can get into the habit of doing that. This is because it allows me to skip a meal, though with the amount of training I'm doing I'm not sure how easy it will be to do every day due to energy levels.

    Camo - thanks for the advice but in my case at the moment I can't do much else to burn more, and even if I could the extra burns would be minimal. Most days I walk between 8000 & 18000 steps and on top of that I usually do 2 beachbody workouts either P90X3 plus T25 or I do only one of these workouts if my step count has been particularly high that day. If I don't get may steps in on a particular day I do cardio on the gym machines instead for 30-40 minutes plus my beachbody workout. There have been very few days in the last 3.5 months where I have do no exercise at all and the number of days off I've had can be counted on the fingers of one hand in that time period.
  • angela233Z
    angela233Z Posts: 312 Member
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    JAT74 - i have had the same experience as you. I have done 5:2 and like the easiness of the plan, but feel the weight loss was slow for me.
    I ended up also counting calories on non-fast days to increase the loss.

    no advice - just wanted to let you know my experience.
    Hope you find a way to increase your loss

    Angela
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Thanks Angela, nice to know I'm not alone. I have been counting calories on non-fast days since I started 5:2 but it's obviously not been good enough because I am not losing so I need to eat less than I have been. I am going to start with 1400 and go down from there is I still don't lose. I am definitely going to try and increase the fast so I don't eat for 18 hours overnight as this should help with appetite and allow me to stick to eating 1400 or less on my non-fast days.
  • lynndot1
    lynndot1 Posts: 114 Member
    edited April 2015
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    If you're accurately counting calories, do you know what your overall weekly deficit is? To lose 1lb/week you'd need to have a deficit of 3,500 calories, or about 500 per day. For 0.5lbs/week, which is about what I do, you need to average 250/day or about 1700 per week...so just look at your overall totals and see what you're at. It could be despite the 500 calorie days your average deficit is still too low over an entire week.

    I don't like fasting, but some people do enjoy it. I get really cranky and nauseous if I miss a meal (esp breakfast), so the idea of a 24 hour fast sounds like torture! Haha. But it depends on the person. If you think losing on a 5:2 approach is better than a more traditional CICO method then go for it. Just remember that weight loss is a lifelong change - when you get to maintenance, what are you going to do? Continue to do 5:2 but with more calories? Just eat x amount per day? Just something to keep in mind.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
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    I don't do 5:2, I do Leangains 18:6. It works great for me. Ultimately though, it still comes down to calories in versus calories out. You still have to accurately track your intake.

    IF is not some magic pill that will make you lose weight. The reason I do it is I don't mind missing breakfast and that allows me to have larger meals later in the day. I still have a caloric goal at the end of the day but now I eat it in a smaller window.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Lynn thanks for the advice, my normal weekly deficit is about 4000, maybe a bit more and I haven't been losing at all for weeks. Last week I gained 1.5lbs and my deficit was less just for that week as I was away for a couple of days and was out for a friends birthday but it was around 2500 calories still as I burned off loads through exercise on those 2 days.

    That's how I know the figures are incorrect for me and the calculators are telling me my TDEE and BRM are too high. I'm definitely accurately logging as I'm meticulous about this and in terms of calorie burns I usually underestimate them when I log so that can't be the problem either.

    I agree that a 24 hour fast would be hard, that's why I think I'll stick with 18 hours as I know I can manage that and I'll soon get used to doing it more often. I've always believed the philosophy which says you have to have breakfast but I know that's not the case and I am can go without it most of the time.

    Long term, if I ever get to maintenance I'll do 6:1 and eat the same on the other days or I might decide to keep doing 5:2 and increase my calories on the other days, which might work out better for me. I work from home so I find fast days quite easy if I pre-log what I'm going to eat and try not to go out so that I'm tempted to eat anything else.

    I like the idea of an eating window if it helps me to eat less as psychologically I can handle eating 300 + calories less per day if I don't have to take that away from lunch or my snacks/evening meal and skipping breakfast therefore seems the logical answer.

  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited April 2015
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    If your TDEE is so far off calculations that it falls THAT far beyond the norm, something is likely going on medically with you.

    The answer is not to keep eating less and less and exercising more and more, and it's troubling how you seem to be on a slippery slope of doing just that and how eager you seem to be to do it.

    This isn't the first thread you've started like this. It's a bit concerning.
  • galaxyeyed
    galaxyeyed Posts: 98 Member
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    If CICO worked for you before you did IF, and you've found IF isnt working, why are you still doing IF? I'm confused.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Mama peach I think you may be on another planet or obviously not listening. Nothing is medically wrong with me as I've had tests for this. I know the figures are not correct due to experimenting with numbers over the course of weeks and months. It's hardly worrying to try and find a way to lose weight if weight loss has stalled. I'm hardly saying that I'm eating 800 calories a day, only that I think I need to reduce my daily intake in order to start shifting weight again and at no stage did I say I was exercising 'more and more'.

    Catieraney CICO only worried for the first month and I out the first 5lbs weight loss at that time down to the fact I went from almost zero exercise to exercising daily combined with eating a bit less and definitely eating less carbs which could have lead to water weight being lost mostly.

    Since then my weight loss has been minuscule ie. I had lost 3.5 lbs since end of January but I've now gained at least a pound of that back.

    Each person needs to find what works for them and that's what I'm trying to do while at the same time asking around to see if anyone else has methods they can suggest which help further.

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