INTERMITTENT FASTING?

Has anyone ever tried this?

Replies

  • hcumplido
    hcumplido Posts: 15 Member
    That's how I end up eating naturally. I eat a big breakfast around 10 or 11(when I feel hunger pangs), then lunch/dinner at 3ish, and a small bite around 5. So there is a 15 or 16 hour fast between my evening snack and my next day's breakfast.
  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
    Not strictly. I lose with normal foods, eating when I am hungry and being in a deficit.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
    I fast 2 days a week, and I have been successful with it. It's not magic though, it's just creating a larger caloric deficit on 2 days instead of a smaller deficit across 7. It gives me the flexibility to have a few wines with my steak on a Friday night, I feel less worried about dieting allll the time.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Six days a week I eat 18:6 . . . .
    . . eating at 6:00 pm and then a protein snack later before midnight.
    It suits my natural rhythm.
  • Artemiris
    Artemiris Posts: 189 Member
    I do 18:6, I start eating at 11 a.m.

    It's great, I don't feel hungry the rest of the day. The only problem is that I have been on 1200 calories, recently I added 200 (because it motivates me to walk at least 10km a day), but til now I haven't been able to eat 1400 cal on a 6 hours window.

    On monday I start 5:2.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Yep. I did 5:2 for quite a while, and recently just switched to 16:8. It's been working out very well for me.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited September 2015
    I maintain well on 16:8. It's harder for me to have a meaningful deficit to lose weight on that schedule, though
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    As you can see, there are different methods to IF. I don't really intentionally do it, but I do skip breakfast. Meal timing is irrelevant (as would be eating less on two days), it's all going to be personal preference. Try it out and see if it works for you. It's just a tool for maintaining a calorie deficit.
  • pfresh88
    pfresh88 Posts: 3 Member
    Read up on the lean gains guide/ carb backloading. If you are a body builder then intermittent fasting works incredibly well in personal experience. If you are an average sedentary individual, i couldn't tell you if it works well or not. At the end of day its all about total calories and insulin levels.
  • Azuriaz
    Azuriaz Posts: 785 Member
    Not full 36+ hour fasts on a regular basis. Messes up my digestion and sleep patterns. Just when I think I'll actually feel better if I do. I also tend to eat one big meal a day most days and rarely another meal when I'm on low carb. It just naturally happens. Convenient! Less cooking/reheating, less dishes!
  • prettywingss04
    prettywingss04 Posts: 29 Member
    k does anyone have any advice/articles about having insulin levels work in your favour if you don't want to do IF? i snack too often to have IF work for me.
  • Azuriaz
    Azuriaz Posts: 785 Member
    k does anyone have any advice/articles about having insulin levels work in your favour if you don't want to do IF? i snack too often to have IF work for me.

    I could list you a half dozen, but if you use google scholar you can find out more on your own. Abstracts are generally free.

    Yuck. I hate promoting google, but there it is, at least until some group comes up with an alternative and enough people go with it.
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
    Couldn't do it at my age.
  • prettywingss04
    prettywingss04 Posts: 29 Member
    Azuriaz wrote: »
    k does anyone have any advice/articles about having insulin levels work in your favour if you don't want to do IF? i snack too often to have IF work for me.

    I could list you a half dozen, but if you use google scholar you can find out more on your own. Abstracts are generally free.

    Yuck. I hate promoting google, but there it is, at least until some group comes up with an alternative and enough people go with it.

    yea I've read a few on bodybuilding and a few other sites, but I'm not getting the information I'm looking for. the consensus I'm getting is eat less carbs, but i want something more specific as in .. eating (complex carbs) after workout, or (simple carbs) during x amount of time.. i was hoping someone had a better explanation or a reputable article to read
  • prettywingss04
    prettywingss04 Posts: 29 Member
    Azuriaz wrote: »
    k does anyone have any advice/articles about having insulin levels work in your favour if you don't want to do IF? i snack too often to have IF work for me.

    I could list you a half dozen, but if you use google scholar you can find out more on your own. Abstracts are generally free.

    Yuck. I hate promoting google, but there it is, at least until some group comes up with an alternative and enough people go with it.

    just realized u mentioned google scholar, I've actually just used google, i will try google scholar, makes more sense lol thanks!
  • Azuriaz
    Azuriaz Posts: 785 Member
    Azuriaz wrote: »
    k does anyone have any advice/articles about having insulin levels work in your favour if you don't want to do IF? i snack too often to have IF work for me.

    I could list you a half dozen, but if you use google scholar you can find out more on your own. Abstracts are generally free.

    Yuck. I hate promoting google, but there it is, at least until some group comes up with an alternative and enough people go with it.

    yea I've read a few on bodybuilding and a few other sites, but I'm not getting the information I'm looking for. the consensus I'm getting is eat less carbs, but i want something more specific as in .. eating (complex carbs) after workout, or (simple carbs) during x amount of time.. i was hoping someone had a better explanation or a reputable article to read

    That's why google scholar is your friend. I find adding .edu to my searches also often turns up better results.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    I tried it for a day - so not sure if I'm a reliable source! But if you have a big appetite (like me!) 'IF' may be a little too intense. I recall starting the IF on a 500 calorie day and by around 3PM that afternoon, I was nursing a HUGE headache and I was very, very shaky and moody! I've seen it work really well for some people however, so it really depends on how you get on with it :)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited September 2015
    I tried it for a day - so not sure if I'm a reliable source! But if you have a big appetite (like me!) 'IF' may be a little too intense. I recall starting the IF on a 500 calorie day and by around 3PM that afternoon, I was nursing a HUGE headache and I was very, very shaky and moody! I've seen it work really well for some people however, so it really depends on how you get on with it :)

    that's the initial reaction for some people, yes (me included), but once you've done 3-4 days of fasting it becomes much easier in that front.

    I've lost most of my weight doing every other day fasting, eating 600 on fast day and maintenance on feast day. I keep switching in and out to change routine, but it works. Something about following a predictable 48 hour pattern makes your body get used to eating that way and after a while you are barely hungry on fast days but don't feel the need to overeat on feast days. It's just another way to schedule your calories. Nothing magical, although it does feel like magic.
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    I've lost most of my weight doing every other day fasting, eating 600 on fast day and maintenance on feast day. I keep switching in and out to change routine, but it works. Something about following a predictable 48 hour pattern makes your body get used to eating that way and after a while you are barely hungry on fast days but don't feel the need to overeat on feast days. It's just another way to schedule your calories. Nothing magical, although it does feel like magic.

    Yeah, thumbs-up for Alternate Day Fasting.

    I lost 15 pounds last fall doing Mosley's 5:2 and that was cool. Now that I'm more experienced with different variants of fasting though, I'd go straight for ADF if I wanted to lose weight. It's the most effective thing I've seen/experienced.
  • mbanks123
    mbanks123 Posts: 117 Member
    I fast 2 days a week, and I have been successful with it. It's not magic though, it's just creating a larger caloric deficit on 2 days instead of a smaller deficit across 7. It gives me the flexibility to have a few wines with my steak on a Friday night, I feel less worried about dieting allll the time.

    Couldn't agree more with this. Love the 5:2 diet
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  • jameskirk9235
    jameskirk9235 Posts: 1 Member
    Has anyone ever tried this?

    I have followed an intermittent fasting diet over the past two years. It has been extremely effective for me, both in physical transformation and mental wellbeing. If you want me to go into more detail, get in touch. It's really easy to be honest and the hunger you'll experience is by no means a hardship. I've shredded fat but maintained or even increased muscle. Can't recommend trying in enough!
  • bclarke1990
    bclarke1990 Posts: 287 Member
    Helped me out a lot. I stopped thinking about my meals and food all the time and just had a big feast every day after my cardio @ 3~pm then got some veggies/chicken in around 7-8, repeat.
  • hapa11
    hapa11 Posts: 182 Member
    Yes, skipping breakfast is not too hard for me. Eating between noon and 6 allows me to have a full meal at 3 or 4, when I used to blow it. It has made all the difference.
  • jld1975
    jld1975 Posts: 18 Member
    I did 18:6 about 6 weeks. I had some weird hormone fluctuations and ended up gaining 10lbs. I didn't log anything (which was what drew me to the plan) but the real issue was that I had trouble stopping eating during the window. I would break the fast with a filling, healthy, high fat and moderate protein meal, and then not stop eating until bed and sometimes I would feel hungry in bed, with a really gnawing hunger. So, back to calorie counting. It took me a month to lose the 10lbs (I think some of it was water/cortisol related) by calorie counting again. It works for some people and is worth a try, but didn't work for me.