Intermittent Fasting experience

flumi_f · March 2016

Will be ending my third year on 5:2 soon. It is a way of life for me. After losing 29kg in about 18mth, I have more or less maintained since then. Because I'm short, the low days offer a little more wiggling room on the other days as my TDEE is only about 1600 before exercise. It also get's rid of any retained water after an indulgent weekend for example. And I like that alot.

5:2 is not for everyone, but if my mind plays along, two fast days a week are easier for me than daily restriction. I prefer it to 16:8, because I don't want to skip breakfast everday for the simple reason, I LIKE BREAKFAST! ;-) On fast days or when I know, dinner will be cal intense, I actually do 16:8.

@VeryKatie - I don't think your period problems were only due to 5:2. I lost my period about 8mths into weightloss with 5:2. After maintaining for about 6-8mths while continuing with 5:2 (higher cals on non fast days) it came back with the same regularity I had before losing weight. At the beginning I also thought the fasting was messing up my cycle, but now I believe it was due to the weightloss in general and had nothing to do with the cal cycling. Just my opinion though....

VeryKatie · March 2016

flumi_f wrote: »

Will be ending my third year on 5:2 soon. It is a way of life for me. After losing 29kg in about 18mth, I have more or less maintained since then. Because I'm short, the low days offer a little more wiggling room on the other days as my TDEE is only about 1600 before exercise. It also get's rid of any retained water after an indulgent weekend for example. And I like that alot.

5:2 is not for everyone, but if my mind plays along, two fast days a week are easier for me than daily restriction. I prefer it to 16:8, because I don't want to skip breakfast everday for the simple reason, I LIKE BREAKFAST! ;-) On fast days or when I know, dinner will be cal intense, I actually do 16:8.

@VeryKatie - I don't think your period problems were only due to 5:2. I lost my period about 8mths into weightloss with 5:2. After maintaining for about 6-8mths while continuing with 5:2 (higher cals on non fast days) it came back with the same regularity I had before losing weight. At the beginning I also thought the fasting was messing up my cycle, but now I believe it was due to the weightloss in general and had nothing to do with the cal cycling. Just my opinion though....

The thing is though, I didn't have problems when on Weight Watchers, and they had me at 1100 calories a day (and once I found out I left). I've tried 5:2 a second time and the same thing happened. I don't know why, but it did. That being said, I really don't know. It's not something my doctor at the time cared too much about. But it was something I wanted to mention, just in case. And to clarify, I didn't lose my period. I had my period for 1 year straight nonstop...

flumi_f · March 2016

@VeryKatie - Ah, I got it. :-) Strangely interesting, how differently bodies react. I also think, it is important to mention the good, the bad and the ugly about different ways of eating. ;-) It does sound, like your body didn't 'like' it. Mine does. And as you say, if it works it works, if it doesn't it doesn't.
Important is that you know your body and how it reacts. My irregularity didn't bother me as I'm 46. If of course I had constant bleeding....that would be a whole different ball game.

srujana_kanneganti · March 2016

I like it. I like having a huge meal at the end of the day. And not eating in the morning keeps me from grazing all day. I felt more focused and energized.

Only problem was I had a hard time getting my protein goal within the short window. (16:8)
Now I just have protein powder in the mornings and it similarly doesn't affect my appetite

Also, I noticed I had very painful ttom cramps when I was doing 2 months 16;8 IF... Which was weird..not sure if it's correlative though.

Sumiblue · March 2016

I do 16:8 daily since Oct 1. I went from 130-116 lbs. lost a lot of fat but I was lifting weights 4x week, too. I'm maintaining now but still doing IF.

JennieRay74 · March 2016

I've tried it and it definitely works, but it's hard. The problem is once you have a day where you eat a lot more, it's hard to go back to eating next to nothing. Your stomach expands. On the fasting days, try espresso in the morning, lean protein and salad for lunch, steamed veggies and tea for dinner. Replace your usual late night snacking with attari tea and a handful of blueberries if you are still hungry - attari tea tastes like fruit and has no calories or sugar. Good luck!

evivahealth · March 2016

I do 17:7(ish) because that's what fits my schedule. I'm not too rigid about it - some days I go to yoga classes and can't eat dinner until after 7pm. Usually though I try to stop eating at about 6:30-7pm and will start eating the next day around 12-12:30pm. I'm not too strict with the timing and I also drink coffee and tea with milk in it during my "fast".

I've found it has made a huge difference to my weight loss. I had plateaued for a while at the end of last year but since starting IF about 6 weeks ago, I've lost 3kg (or about 6lb). For the sake of comparison, I lost 5kg in 12 months last year.

I think the thing I have enjoyed the most is being able to eat two big meals that actually fill me right up. I can also eat things that had previously been off the menu because they were too high cal - bigger portions of meat, or adding a bunch of nuts and seeds to yoghurt etc. Not a huge difference but I've really enjoyed it compared to the barren wasteland of 1300 cals spread over 5-6 meals!

StealthHealth · March 2016

I have followed 5:2 for weight loss and currently follow a 10:14 (more relaxed version of 8:16) nearly every day. I still track calories and pay close attention to macros.

I occasionally, intentionally drop out of IF for social reasons (or just because I feel like it).

Have you been able to stick with it? - Yes, I've been on some form of fasting regime for years now.

Are you losing weight and noticing other health benefits? - I consider IF to be a tool in my eating/exercising toolkit but not one solely for weight loss, I use it when losing, gaining and maintaining. Other health benefits? Difficult to say. The health benefits associated with fasting (and there are several) not the type of health benefits that you can easily feel or easily measure (you can't for example feel an increase in autophagy).

How much have you lost over what time period? - I've lost what I wold have expected to have based on my CICO. What IF does when I'm losing is it helps me to stay compliant. I like big meals and IF lets me have that when on restricted calories.

mstammie02 · March 2016

I have been doing 16:8 for 1 week now and have lost 7 lbs. One lb a day exactly. My eating window is from 1pm to 9pm. My calories are set to 1600 but I don't meet it because I skip breakfast. Also I'm doing low carb high fat so I'm not hungry before lunch. I am going to stick it out and see what the possibilities are.

feisty_bucket · March 2016

sunnyeuphoria wrote: »

Have you been able to stick with it?

Yep. Been doing IF for about a year and a half now.

What protocol are you following?

Mostly full-day stuff, either 6:1, 5:2 or ADF depending. I'm generally in recomp and maintenance but sometimes I try just a straight extra cut. I prefer to bunch up my eating in small windows (4-6 hrs are ideal) but that's not a big priority.

Are you losing weight and noticing other health benefits? How much have you lost over what time period?

I did 5:2 last year for about a month and a half and lost about 15 lbs and then have been staying around there. I overeat on lifting days and eat at maintenance or less on rest days.

Health benefits: dunno, but I'm 45 and don't have any health problems AFAIK (and I get checked up yearly). Blood work is great. High-fat macros too, for, five? years? A while now.

Intermittent Fasting experience

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