Intermittent Fasting. Yes or No?

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Replies

  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
    These are opinions. These guys would be just as ripped without IF if they adhered to a calorie goal. IF is not magic and has no power to do miraculous things.

    No one is saying anything different than what you are saying. No one is saying "Hey I eat 4,000 calories a day, but IF, so I'm losing 3 lbs a week! It's awesome!" Losing weight (or bulking) is still about calories.

    IF is literally a "when" to eat type thing. It works out for some because of their natural eating habits.

    On most days, I hate breakfast. When I break my fast for the day (whether it's morning or evening), I'm ready to keep eating. If I do it in the morning, I tend to go over my calorie limit. So, for me, losing or maintaining, fasting either daily or a couple of days a week is a great tool.

    I actually used to fast in college after a nice weekend of eating/drinking too much, but kept it hush-hush because of the stigma on fasting. I'm glad fasting is more "mainstream" now and people are more knowledgeable (for the most part) about it.
  • eeejer
    eeejer Posts: 339 Member
    For me the idea of IF makes sense because instead of 3 small meals I get 2 large satisfying ones. I don't care about breakfast, so it works perfectly. Being able to eat large meals is satisfying, you hardly feel like you are "dieting".
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
    but reading about IF doesn't cost people money. I have, and I'm sure many others can say the same, never spent any money with specific regard to IF. I spend money on the food I have to eat but that would happen regardless of when I eat.


    Add myself to the group of people who has never spent a dime on learning about or practicing IF.
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
    excuse my ignorance, I have heard IF bandied about and I am going to look into the 'beginners guide' someone posted(thank you for posting that BTW) but from what I understand I have been doing it for years without even knowing this was a thing. I eat lunch between 11-12 and dinner from 6-7 with a small snack in between. I have literally been doing this everyday for years mostly because I don't get hungry until around 11. Eating breakfast or something too early makes my tummy flip. Maybe I am just an odd ball, lol.

    Same here. I think 16:8 IF works great for people who are naturally not hungry in the morning, and/or find that eating earlier makes them more hungry throughout the day.

    I find if I eat breakfast when I'm not hungry, I still want to at the same amount of food in the afternoon/evening.
  • solska
    solska Posts: 348 Member
    Research on mice shows that even with the same amount of calories mice on if were healthier.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413112001891
  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    eeejer wrote: »
    eeejer wrote: »

    These are opinions. These guys would be just as ripped without IF if they adhered to a calorie goal. IF is not magic and has no power to do miraculous things.

    OK bro. No one ever said it is the only way to do things, it is a popular method of dieting is all. I don't think I mentioned magic. I gave links to free resources because people were saying it costs money.

    lol. someone sounds butthurt.
  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    IF works for some people (and works well) but is a dismal failure for others. There are no universally effective eating regimes, unfortunately.

    In addition, meal timing has NO effect on health or composition

    FIFY
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    edited April 2016
    IF works for some people (and works well) but is a dismal failure for others. There are no universally effective eating regimes, unfortunately.

    In addition, meal timing has NO effect on health or composition

    FIFY

    No, you actually didn't. There is some benefit for the lean trying to get to ultra lean and possibly others.
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  • 6pkdreamer
    6pkdreamer Posts: 180 Member
    It seems like to styles of of fasting is getting tangled up on this thread. Both fasting (loose term open to interpretation by many)
    1/ Intermittent within the DAY- a widow of eating restricted by hours. Eat nothing outside hours window. Could be 8:16 hours eating window say.

    2/ Intermittent fasting within the WEEK-ie typically Michael Mosleys 5:2 (5+2=7days) Fast day only 500 to 600 calories. Fast any 2 days of the week.

    3/ Tradition ancient method- drinking only tea/water possibly high in a mountain on a bed of nails for months. (My idea anyway)

  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
    You certainly do not wake up more toned....

    But I do love IF, I do 16:8 usually 12-8pm
  • elroyalty
    elroyalty Posts: 30 Member
    excuse my ignorance, I have heard IF bandied about and I am going to look into the 'beginners guide' someone posted(thank you for posting that BTW) but from what I understand I have been doing it for years without even knowing this was a thing. I eat lunch between 11-12 and dinner from 6-7 with a small snack in between. I have literally been doing this everyday for years mostly because I don't get hungry until around 11. Eating breakfast or something too early makes my tummy flip. Maybe I am just an odd ball, lol.

    Me too. I think the most helpful part of the whole if thing or movement or whatever is that it helped me realize there was nothing wrong at all with my natural eating pattern. When I started cutting calories I switch to many small meals a day because that's what most of the advice tells you to do. And that eating a lot close to bedtime would just make you fat. Or that not eating breakfast would put your body in Starvation mode or slow your metabolism. I found that I was miserable on many small meals a day and ended up hungry all the time even though I was eating all the time. So I found out about intermittent fasting after trying to find out if eating more for a smaller period of time when actually end up making me fat. It seems that is absolutely fine to do so I switch back to a very small lunch or none at all somewhere between noon and 2 o'clock and then a really big lovely satisfying dinner and maybe a snack later with just coffee and water in between. Feel great. Lost the weight. And would recommend it to anyone who naturally it that way. I guess the upside is Don't force your body to do it if it makes you feel bad but if that's how you eat keep it up you might feel great while losing weight instead of miserable trying to force yourself into a diet pattern that doesn't work for you.
  • JayRuby84
    JayRuby84 Posts: 557 Member
    I feel like I'm losing my mind a little. Falling back into eating disorder waters. It makes it hard for me to eat a healthy enough number of calories and the waiting until noon feels like "restricting" food in a more self punishing way. I'm prone to this kind of issue and am having a flare up so to speak. I dropped 7 pounds pretty quickly and am maybe 10 pounds away from my goal weight. I love that I'm finally seeing the weight loss I've been needing, but I'm scared.
  • shabaity
    shabaity Posts: 792 Member
    I'm a natural IF eater my biggest problem with it right now is lining it up with mma training and school classes. I want to break fast at 2 pm but I'm in class from 1 ish until 4 ish and mma training is over around 9, so yeah working out current kinks maybe some milk I can drink at noon worked well in high school.
  • wsrep
    wsrep Posts: 20 Member
    IF 16:8 works for me cause I always skip breakfast.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    6pkdreamer wrote: »
    It seems like to styles of of fasting is getting tangled up on this thread. Both fasting (loose term open to interpretation by many)
    1/ Intermittent within the DAY- a widow of eating restricted by hours. Eat nothing outside hours window. Could be 8:16 hours eating window say.

    2/ Intermittent fasting within the WEEK-ie typically Michael Mosleys 5:2 (5+2=7days) Fast day only 500 to 600 calories. Fast any 2 days of the week.

    3/ Tradition ancient method- drinking only tea/water possibly high in a mountain on a bed of nails for months. (My idea anyway)

    This, and thank you!

    I thought IF was 5:2.

    Not this window business that's just putting a fancy name to personal meal timing preference.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    6pkdreamer wrote: »
    It seems like to styles of of fasting is getting tangled up on this thread. Both fasting (loose term open to interpretation by many)
    1/ Intermittent within the DAY- a widow of eating restricted by hours. Eat nothing outside hours window. Could be 8:16 hours eating window say.

    2/ Intermittent fasting within the WEEK-ie typically Michael Mosleys 5:2 (5+2=7days) Fast day only 500 to 600 calories. Fast any 2 days of the week.

    3/ Tradition ancient method- drinking only tea/water possibly high in a mountain on a bed of nails for months. (My idea anyway)

    This, and thank you!

    I thought IF was 5:2.

    Not this window business that's just putting a fancy name to personal meal timing preference.

    No. 5:2 is from the 5:2 Diet and is just one method of IF that originated in the UK, then spread out as it gained popularity. It is not THE basis of intermittent fasting, just one form of it. Daily IF isn't just a fancy name about meal timing preference; is a legitimate form of IF that has its benefits.
  • Dvdgzz
    Dvdgzz Posts: 437 Member
    I do it most of the time when dieting. Helps me control calories.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    IF works for some people (and works well) but is a dismal failure for others. There are no universally effective eating regimes, unfortunately.

    In addition, meal timing has NO effect on health or composition

    FIFY

    Well, actually, no.

    In contest preparation, for example, meal timing makes a significant difference, hence 'little' rather than 'none'.

    Wouldn't that be mostly for water weight and not actual body composition though?
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    I don't personally count water to body composition simply because it's so variable even between different times of the same day.