INTERMITTENT FASTING - A LIFESTYLE MAKEOVER

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

Intermittent Fasting might help with your Weight Loss too...

I have just started with My Fitness Pal logging food and calorie counting for 1200 calories a day.

I've also stopped smoking, lowered alcohol intake from my daily glass (or 4) of wine, to just 1 this week and I'm doing 10,000 steps a day for Steptember (sometimes

)

It may sound like I am the motivated type (that has fallen off the band wagon), but I am far from that normally and more of a couch potato - in fact lying in bed working on my computer has been my comfort zone for a long time.

However, I discovered Intermittent Fasting online (see links below) and I have been doing the 16/8 - that's 16 hours no food and 8 hours of eating and it is working miracles! I am also incorporating the Primal eating type lifestyle to a point - more protein, less carbs, lots of veggies, no packaged chemical ridden crap, avoiding sugar apart from some fruit.

Our Primal ancestors probably didn't eat breakfast, let alone 6 meals a day, or take a snack everywhere with them and I've learnt that these type of diets just don't cut it for me. I simply become food obsessed and always hungry.

I have found IF actually does work for me. I am not hungry during the fasting time at all and tend to eat a lot less in the 8 hour window I've allocated myself. Now I do 2 meals rather than 3 and find I don't need anything in between, so taking in a lot less calories overall. I also have motivation to make all of the above lifestyle changes for the first time in many years and energy to get up and moving. And I'm sleeping better as well - insomnia and sleep apnoea has been an ongoing nightmare for me, but maybe the change in overall eating patterns has helped with this.

I am only just on the start of my journey, so I am not sure whether I will have the willpower to keep it up - my willpower with anything is usually non existent. However, I have set myself a goal of 30kgs (66 pounds) to lose by April and right now I am determined to make it happen - hence the blog post to keep me accountable!

I'm only about a week in now and I have already found that eating the IF way has set me free from a life long struggle where I have been eating emotionally - when bored, lonely, depressed, grieving, self-sabotaging relationships - heck even when everything was fine and I was happy I'd still eat. I was never really listening to my body’s own hunger or satiety signals and just eating because I could and because food was readily available. I was not stopping when full - to the point I would go back for second or even third helpings and then feel ill from overeating - but be hungry again in a few hours.

I'm ditching that cycle for good!

Now I only get an empty, growly tummy just before 1pm when my eating window is about to start, the first few days was more often - but I discovered that being hungry didn't mean I had to give in to it. And then the hunger pangs would disappear after a few minutes.

What a great feeling of control and empowerment I have today. And what an unusual feeling that is for me.

I recommend reading up on Intermittent Fasting and giving it a go if you want to lose weight or improve your overall wellbeing - it's proven to be great for a myriad of other health reasons too.

It's free; nobody is making money out of a diet gimmick, pills and protein shakes, or selling you a book - you can google everything you need to know; humans have been doing it for centuries...

Did I mention it costs nothing?

In fact it may save you money, especially if you end up eating less like me and drinking more water - rather than wine

And even if you don't reduce your calorie intake or increase your exercise output your body will still get a few hours of fat burning time, so even the most sedentary couch potato has a chance of success!

Thanks for reading and hope this blog helps others like me

Christina

Some good articles that have helped me understand the benefits of IF:

http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting

http://mamasweeds.com/weight-loss/intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss/

fr33sia12 · September 2016

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Intermittent Fasting might help with your Weight Loss too...

I'm only about a week in now and I have already found that eating the IF way has set me free from a life long struggle where I have been eating emotionally - when bored, lonely, depressed, grieving, self-sabotaging relationships - heck even when everything was fine and I was happy I'd still eat. I was never really listening to my body’s own hunger or satiety signals and just eating because I could and because food was readily available. I was not stopping when full - to the point I would go back for second or even third helpings and then feel ill from overeating - but be hungry again in a few hours.

I'm ditching that cycle for good!

Now I only get an empty, growly tummy just before 1pm when my eating window is about to start, the first few days was more often - but I discovered that being hungry didn't mean I had to give in to it. And then the hunger pangs would disappear after a few minutes.

What a great feeling of control and empowerment I have today. And what an unusual feeling that is for me.

I recommend reading up on Intermittent Fasting and giving it a go if you want to lose weight or improve your overall wellbeing - it's proven to be great for a myriad of other health reasons too.

It's free; nobody is making money out of a diet gimmick, pills and protein shakes, or selling you a book - you can google everything you need to know; humans have been doing it for centuries...

Did I mention it costs nothing?

In fact it may save you money, especially if you end up eating less like me and drinking more water - rather than wine

And even if you don't reduce your calorie intake or increase your exercise output your body will still get a few hours of fat burning time, so even the most sedentary couch potato has a chance of success!

It's great that you've found something that works for you and if you like it then I'd say stick with it. Of course it may not work for everyone and all the benefits you mention I get from healthy eating, eating less calories than I burn and exercising without fasting. Oh and it's free too!

As you say you've only been doing it a week so maybe see how you're doing in a few months and let us know the results and if you can stick with it.

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Our Primal ancestors probably didn't eat breakfast, let alone 6 meals a day, or take a snack everywhere with them

I don't think our Primal ancestors worked jobs like us, had fridges etc to store food or an abundance of shops to buy food so maybe that's why they didn't eat like we do now.

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

And even if you don't reduce your calorie intake or increase your exercise output your body will still get a few hours of fat burning time, so even the most sedentary couch potato has a chance of success!

I'm also interested to know what you mean by this statement. Your body burns fat whether you're fasting or not and you have to be in a calorie deficit to burn fat.

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

Thanks, for your feedback.

In regards to food being so available these days I totally agree - however my new mantra is "just because it's there doesn't mean I have to eat it!"

You sound like you are a lot more motivated than me

Does eating healthily, with less calories than you burn and exercising regularly all come naturally to you? Did you also start off where I am now? Or have you always had a good relationship with what goes in your mouth and with keeping fit?

Those things do not come naturally to me at all unfortunately - especially the exercise part

You are right though, it should be pretty simple if you follow that formula.

It will be interesting to see how I progress with Intermittent Fasting and whether I stick to it. So far so good and I'm feeling better for it already, but I am also eating better and actually doing a bit of exercise now too!

I am loving counting calories on this website - it really opens my eyes to what's not been working for me. All this researching has been great too, as I can now see everything from a more holistic view of where I was going wrong.

I actually thought I was a 'healthy' eater - takeaways and sugary foods only on rare occasions, lots of salads and veggies, vogels bread - not white, trim milk - not fat, eating in - not out etc. However I wasn't aware, or maybe just in denial

of how a lot of the 'good' foods and the seemingly small things I add to them, along with the all day grazing and sometimes nibbles and cheese platters with drinks before dinner - have all been adding up. My friends all seem to eat the same, if not more than me, and are all slim and trim. But the fact is they are probably only over-indulging when we see each other and then go back home to their exercise and diet regimes and active jobs.

My couch potato comment is badly worded - I wonder if I can edit it? Some of it came from my reading a heap of websites on the benefits of IF and how intermittent fasting may make you eat fewer meals (as in my case) and unless I overcompensate by eating much more during my 2 meals, I will end up taking in fewer calories. So I may not always be actively reducing my calorie intake, but with IF I am always passively reducing it

Below is an extract from one website that made sense to me and explains the 'fat burning' from fasting:

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
To understand how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss we first need to understand the difference between the fed state and the fasted state.

Your body is in the fed state when it is digesting and absorbing food. Typically, the fed state starts when you begin eating and lasts for three to five hours as your body digests and absorbs the food you just ate. When you are in the fed state, it’s very hard for your body to burn fat because your insulin levels are high.

After that timespan, your body goes into what is known as the post–absorptive state, which is just a fancy way of saying that your body isn’t processing a meal. The post–absorptive state lasts until 8 to 12 hours after your last meal, which is when you enter the fasted state. It is much easier for your body to burn fat in the fasted state because your insulin levels are low.

When you’re in the fasted state your body can burn fat that has been inaccessible during the fed state.

Because we don’t enter the fasted state until 12 hours after our last meal, it’s rare that our bodies are in this fat burning state. This is one of the reasons why many people who start intermittent fasting will lose fat without changing what they eat, how much they eat, or how often they exercise. Fasting puts your body in a fat burning state that you rarely make it to during a normal eating schedule.

Read More Here: http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting

anl90 · September 2016

I honestly feel like this would be a great option for my fiancé, who can easily go a long time without eating. I feel like the only downside would be trying to eat - ALL DA FOOD - in that given timeframe, thus still overeating. I just know how I work, and I know that is what I would do. But I totally see the benefits of this!

mike_milligan90 · September 2016

I love IF I'm with you man reading your post was like my life. I got a wedding in Mexico in April so I gotta get my life together. Started doing 16/8 a couple weeks ago and it's crazy how fast it works, and it makes me feel energized and focused.

I'm 230 now with a goal of 190 by April lets do this!

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

Yay Mike thats great! Mine is also a wedding in April - jeepers too scared to think about fitting into a wedding dress right now but I'm feeling pretty determined

And an190 you may be surprised at how your appetite decreases and you don't need that third meal and snacks. I find that if I also stick to the 1200 calories on the counter I am not hungry or overindulging. Some people do 18 - 20 hours and just have one meal with all the calories at once - and many others aren't counting cals at all and just eat what they would normally have - but do so in the 8 hour period rather than the normal 12-15 hours society has programmed us to eat in. You've got to go to know

ladriajackson1991 · September 2016

Can you still drink water during the 16 hrs

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

PS Mike - you are 104.32Kgs and I am now 103.40kgs - you want to drop to the equivalent of 86kgs by April (which is good for a guy) and I would like to be in the low 70's - being tall and broad thats a good weight for me. So YES lets DO THIS!

a45cal · September 2016

I'm happy if you've found something that works for you, OP, and I hope it continues to. But since you've only been doing intermittent fasting for about a week, I thought it was probably worth making you aware that there's research that suggests that it can cause hormonal imbalances in women over the longer term. The idea seems to be that female bodies can be more sensitive to the feeling that they're being "starved" when they go for a long time without food, and trigger effects like the loss of menstruation (similar to what women with Anorexia Nervosa often experience).

The most prominent study appears to be with rats (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23382817), but it's a topic I've heard discussed multiple times now with regards to humans. A quick Google search gives me a lot of hits for "modified" intermittent fasting for women to try to avoid negative effects, which mainly seems to consist of limiting the number of days fasting per week.

I'm not an expert on the issue by any means, but I thought I should give you the heads up in case it becomes relevant to you.

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

Thanks for that info and yes I've read a fair bit on that too and it seems its definitely not for everyone. I think younger woman and those able to have children would want to be careful for sure, but if it ages me in that way 10 years too soon, I don't think that would be the worse thing. It feels very natural and easy, but I will be monitoring it. I am hoping it will help with my high cholesterol problems too.

tigerblue · September 2016

I am keeping a loose 14:10 protocol most days, and it is wonderful to be able to eat enough in my eating window to be full, rather than trying to stretch my small calorie allowance across 15 hours or so! Without IF I was hungry all the time. Now most mornings I don't get hungry til after 11!

RodaRose · September 2016

Here is a group http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/49-intermittent-fasting

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

This is another website that is interesting http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/

I wonder whether it's because I am 'fat-adapted' rather than existing on sugar that I can fast so easily. I have noticed now that when eating bread or a meal that is high in hidden sugars that I get really 'hangry' again within hours. Last night I was out for dinner and chose fresh pan fried fish of the day and it turned up with mushroom rice risotto and fries, which of course I couldn't leave to waste

Maybe I shouldn't be fasting 16/8 everyday but I'm really enjoying it. I will look at that group thank you RodaRose and see what others say.

girlinahat · September 2016

I'm not an IF person but one thing I agree with you on is how easy it actually is once you start to WAIT for a mealtime.

I rarely snack, and if I'm hungry I know that me next mealtime (breakfast lunch or dinner) isn't that far away and I can hold out until then. I'm not strict with timings, just holding out until I can have a proper meal that satisfies me. Work variability can mean my breakfast shifts from 10.30am to 2pm. And that's fine, there is hunger but it won't kill to wait.

EvgeniZyntx · September 2016

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Thanks, for your feedback.

In regards to food being so available these days I totally agree - however my new mantra is "just because it's there doesn't mean I have to eat it!"

You sound like you are a lot more motivated than me Does eating healthily, with less calories than you burn and exercising regularly all come naturally to you? Did you also start off where I am now? Or have you always had a good relationship with what goes in your mouth and with keeping fit?

Those things do not come naturally to me at all unfortunately - especially the exercise part

You are right though, it should be pretty simple if you follow that formula.

It will be interesting to see how I progress with Intermittent Fasting and whether I stick to it. So far so good and I'm feeling better for it already, but I am also eating better and actually doing a bit of exercise now too!

I am loving counting calories on this website - it really opens my eyes to what's not been working for me. All this researching has been great too, as I can now see everything from a more holistic view of where I was going wrong.

I actually thought I was a 'healthy' eater - takeaways and sugary foods only on rare occasions, lots of salads and veggies, vogels bread - not white, trim milk - not fat, eating in - not out etc. However I wasn't aware, or maybe just in denial of how a lot of the 'good' foods and the seemingly small things I add to them, along with the all day grazing and sometimes nibbles and cheese platters with drinks before dinner - have all been adding up. My friends all seem to eat the same, if not more than me, and are all slim and trim. But the fact is they are probably only over-indulging when we see each other and then go back home to their exercise and diet regimes and active jobs.

My couch potato comment is badly worded - I wonder if I can edit it? Some of it came from my reading a heap of websites on the benefits of IF and how intermittent fasting may make you eat fewer meals (as in my case) and unless I overcompensate by eating much more during my 2 meals, I will end up taking in fewer calories. So I may not always be actively reducing my calorie intake, but with IF I am always passively reducing it

Below is an extract from one website that made sense to me and explains the 'fat burning' from fasting:

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
To understand how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss we first need to understand the difference between the fed state and the fasted state.

Your body is in the fed state when it is digesting and absorbing food. Typically, the fed state starts when you begin eating and lasts for three to five hours as your body digests and absorbs the food you just ate. When you are in the fed state, it’s very hard for your body to burn fat because your insulin levels are high.

After that timespan, your body goes into what is known as the post–absorptive state, which is just a fancy way of saying that your body isn’t processing a meal. The post–absorptive state lasts until 8 to 12 hours after your last meal, which is when you enter the fasted state. It is much easier for your body to burn fat in the fasted state because your insulin levels are low.

When you’re in the fasted state your body can burn fat that has been inaccessible during the fed state.

Because we don’t enter the fasted state until 12 hours after our last meal, it’s rare that our bodies are in this fat burning state. This is one of the reasons why many people who start intermittent fasting will lose fat without changing what they eat, how much they eat, or how often they exercise. Fasting puts your body in a fat burning state that you rarely make it to during a normal eating schedule.

Read More Here: http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting

Nope. That's mumbo jumbo.

If you eat 1300 calories spread out over 10 meals or only eat 1300 calories in one meal a day you'll burn the same amount of fat.

Intermittent fasting may help some people with hunger signaling, calorie control, satiety, etc... and if that works for you great! But let's keep it real and stop with the fat burning pseudo science stuff that just doesn't pan out when tested.

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

Wow EvgeniZyntx you have posted 24256 comments on this site.There you go - at least there's something in this world that can be measured and quantified.

Are you qualified yourself to call James Clear's fasted state fat burning information mumbo jumbo? It was my understanding from reading a number of websites on the matter that this information comes from scientific facts and tests - but I will check it out as we all know you can't believe everything you read on the net.

Whitezombiegirl · September 2016

Id love to try IF but my blood sugar is so unstable (hypoglycaemic). I eat at least once an hour- something small. There is no way I could ever cut out sweets either. I do eat more or less paleo- so no grains for me, which helps my IBS.

My husband eats once a day and then its a large meal. I can't eat much in one go- I end up feeling far too full and sick.

I do think there are health benefits to IF- but maybe its just not for me.

amusedmonkey · September 2016

Fasted state does exist, but it's more of a majoring in minors issues. Sure, you burn more fat fasted, but the overall calorie burn is similar. Think of it as pool of the same calories, if you fast it's like you are borrowing calories from a future allowance, if you don't fast you are dipping into that allowance somewhat directly via ready to burn carbs. In the end, at rest you are burning predominantly fat either way.

I use intermittent fasting because it's a great tool to regulate calories that I find useful. I would rather not base it on speculations about how ancestors ate because you can't really tell how they ate and even in the examples you can, it's not representative of all the different areas, seasons and calorie availability. Most likely, if there was food left in the morning people ate. They also most likely snacked around all day on random berries and bugs as they foraged and hunted when they were available (I know we did when we used to go into the forest for the best part of the day to forage for wild berries and mushrooms, even though, as a strict habit, we had 3 square meals and no snacks in between). They most likely made the best out of most situations to adapt and survive. It's best not get too attached to fleeting and speculative concepts when weight loss can be much simpler by focusing on building basic steady habits that don't fluctuate with your enthusiasm about a topic.

Again, I'm not knocking IF'ing as it can be very useful for some, including me. It's just a word of advice from someone who has been a good while around. Topic-specific enthusiasm will only take you as far as it manages to hold your attention and focus.

I like to make dieting as simple as possible. Everything belongs to one of two groups: things that make dieting easier for me, and things that don't. The why's and the how's don't matter, they're just fun to read (with a grain of salt) and feed my curiosity. The main focus is finding things that can more easily be turned into sustainable habits to eventually take willpower out of the equation and replace it with basic awareness without relying on interests, motivation, determination, and other unstable resources.

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

Thank you.

I'm only just starting to get awareness of what works for me - lets hope I can also turn that into sustainable habits.

I love getting other opinions and perspectives on everything - being a Libran I'm always searching for the balance and other 'side' to what I read, so it was a really interesting read and I agree about the foraging too. I still don't really get the fasting fat burning thing, but will keep researching.

And anyway I guess as someone else said at least I am using IF for hunger signalling, calorie control and satiety if nothing else.

Have you also struggled with obesity? If you have you will understand my excitement about finding something that will finally kick start me into a healthier place. I have to thank IF for that at least and also for bringing me here to MFP

amusedmonkey · September 2016

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Thank you.

I'm only just starting to get awareness of what works for me - lets hope I can also turn that into sustainable habits.

I love getting other opinions and perspectives on everything - being a Libran I'm always searching for the balance and other 'side' to what I read, so it was a really interesting read and I agree about the foraging too. I still don't really get the fasting fat burning thing, but will keep researching.

And anyway I guess as someone else said at least I am using IF for hunger signalling, calorie control and satiety if nothing else.

Have you also struggled with obesity? If you have you will understand my excitement about finding something that will finally kick start me into a healthier place. I have to thank IF for that at least and also for bringing me here to MFP

I have been morbidly obese for a years before I decided to diet. There is nothing wrong with being excited about something that works! I was pretty excited about finding IF as a tool that allows me to control my calories more easily in some situations (mostly the every other day diet style of IF'ing). It definitely is in my "makes dieting easier" pile. It doesn't have special magical properties, though, and it does not work for everyone. It's one of many things that work for me, but not the only thing, and not in all situations. It also doesn't need some drawn out scientific sounding explanation to convince me that it's useful because I've seen it work first hand. See how it goes for you! Some tools can be life-changing in the sense of "why haven't I tried this before?", but keep in mind that in the end it all comes down to calories and if something stops working temporarily it's okay to switch strategies. There are many ways to create a calorie deficit.

StealthHealth · September 2016

amusedmonkey wrote: »

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Thank you.

I'm only just starting to get awareness of what works for me - lets hope I can also turn that into sustainable habits.

I love getting other opinions and perspectives on everything - being a Libran I'm always searching for the balance and other 'side' to what I read, so it was a really interesting read and I agree about the foraging too. I still don't really get the fasting fat burning thing, but will keep researching.

And anyway I guess as someone else said at least I am using IF for hunger signalling, calorie control and satiety if nothing else.

Have you also struggled with obesity? If you have you will understand my excitement about finding something that will finally kick start me into a healthier place. I have to thank IF for that at least and also for bringing me here to MFP

I have been morbidly obese for a years before I decided to diet. There is nothing wrong with being excited about something that works! I was pretty excited about finding IF as a tool that allows me to control my calories more easily in some situations (mostly the every other day diet style of IF'ing). It definitely is in my "makes dieting easier" pile. It doesn't have special magical properties, though, and it does not work for everyone. It's one of many things that work for me, but not the only thing, and not in all situations. It also doesn't need some drawn out scientific sounding explanation to convince me that it's useful because I've seen it work first hand. See how it goes for you! Some tools can be life-changing in the sense of "why haven't I tried this before?", but keep in mind that in the end it all comes down to calories and if something stops working temporarily it's okay to switch strategies. There are many ways to create a calorie deficit.

I love this post and attitude!

I like to think of having a bag of dietary tools (of which IF is one - I'm a big fan but agree with the sentiment that it's just a way of managing calories) that I can use for time to time as the situation dictates.

ChristinaOne21 · September 2016

I took the weekend off Intermittent Fasting as a few people suggested and wow it was tough keeping the calories down!

frankiesgirlie · September 2016

I've been an intermittent faster for about 35 years. I came to practice it organically because I noticed in high school if I ate breakfast I had trouble staying awake during my first two classes, so I first stopped eating breakfast, then later stopped eating lunch. My family thought of me as a skinny big eater because I was thin but ate a big dinner, and then snacked while watching tv.

I didn't have a name for it back then but later in life (around 2000,I think) someone told me they read a book that was about how I ate.
It was "the warrior diet" by Ori Hofmekler.

I read it, and I'm not sure if his science or premise is correct, but it's how I've always eaten.
I've never been overweight as far as BMI, but have yo yoed up and down 15 or so lbs. at 5'9".
I'm currently at about 150 with a goal of 140ish.

I do believe that I lose weight with it for 2 reasons. It gives me more energy during my daily fast, I do a daily 16:8, and therefore I move more in general and workout more. Plus, the compacted time frame makes a deficit easier.

The times I have gained back the weight has still been about not watching my calories though, not some "magical" IF science. At least that's what I believe.

It does make it easier for me to eat at a deficit, but I don't know if it effects my weight loss in any other way other than calorie goal compliance.

I had a problem with sleep earlier this year and was sleeping no more than 2-3 hours per night and I found it impossible to fast at that time.
But now that my sleep is back to normal Im back on IF and am working on losing the last 10 lbs with it.

It's not for everybody, that's for sure.
But if it seems to be working for you I encourage you to continue OP.

I never had any kind of problems with it, but I've read that some woman do.

Good luck to you!

frankiesgirlie · September 2016

I just read your other posts OP.

Taking days off from IF wouldn't work for me.
As a matter of fact, the days that I do take off from my fast, which is rarely, I go WAY over on calories. Just confirms to me that it's the way I'm meant to eat.

feisty_bucket · September 2016

Pretty cool blog article referring to a good study. My apologies if it's posted here before:
http://suppversity.blogspot.ca/2016/09/true-alternate-day-fast-beats-classic.html

OP is talking about 16:8, "leangains" style IF, which is cool. I've been doing IF (24-hour) for all my calorie-restriction stuff for the past two years and like it a lot. Check the groups on here if you haven't already, as they have lots of specific discussion.

Tip: I've concluded, for me, it's much easier to do the zero-calorie style on a fasting day (as opposed to the fats-only or 600-calorie variants). Eating anything seems to wake up the hunger, and probably screws up the autophagy process.

Anyways, thanks for posting.

tech_kitten · September 2016

I have found IF to be a great method for me to stop eating just to eat. When I would eat breakfast, there would always be an offer of food at lunch, and an expectation at dinner, and skipping breakfast and delaying lunch helps keep my calories lower, and typically, I crave healthier foods because my body tells me it NEEDS something instead of WANTS. The only time I crave something I just want is when I overeat sugary/carby junk, and my brain says YUM! MORE! It is still a struggle for me, but IF makes it way easier than trying to willpower my way through dinner when I've already consumed all of my daily allotted calories.

GaleHawkins · September 2016

Whitezombiegirl wrote: »

Id love to try IF but my blood sugar is so unstable (hypoglycaemic). I eat at least once an hour- something small. There is no way I could ever cut out sweets either. I do eat more or less paleo- so no grains for me, which helps my IBS.

My husband eats once a day and then its a large meal. I can't eat much in one go- I end up feeling far too full and sick.

I do think there are health benefits to IF- but maybe its just not for me.

@Whitezombiegirl while I expect IF will work for most everyone however you are wise to fix any hypoglycaemic concerns first. I finally figured out losing weight was not going to happen in my case until I got my underlying health issues fixed that were leading to my obesity. Obesity is never the initial cause of overeating. We have to find the initial cause of eating wrong or we will will just yo yo weight wise. I did that for 40 years but have maintained at 200 for the last 18 months pigging out daily eating 2500 calories on the right macro.

Two years ago I thought there was no way I could ever cut out sweets but when looking my premature death risks with teenage kids at home I did cut out sweets two years ago and my premature death risks have dropped like a big rock. Humans can do all things physically/mentally possible with the right motivation. I would like to live to see grandkids and even great grandkids.

You are on a good track by being on MFP already. Best of success. Important things seldom are easy.

CasperNaegle · September 2016

This is an interesting read on the subject. http://easacademy.org/trainer-resources/article/intermittent-fasting
I think you will find that so long as you're in a caloric deficit you will lose weight and the methods including IF make really no difference scientifically to that. However if it works for you and gives you a way to manage your calories, go for it.

psuLemon · September 2016

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Wow EvgeniZyntx you have posted 24256 comments on this site.There you go - at least there's something in this world that can be measured and quantified.

Are you qualified yourself to call James Clear's fasted state fat burning information mumbo jumbo? It was my understanding from reading a number of websites on the matter that this information comes from scientific facts and tests - but I will check it out as we all know you can't believe everything you read on the net.

Not sure I would call it mumbo jumbo, as it's an effective tool for fat loss, but it's no more effective than any other diet that can help you maintain a diet.

I actually suspect that EvgeniZyntx is more qualified than James Clears. Based on education level alone, EvgeniZyntx would win (PhD vs Bachelors + MBA).

I am glad that you found something that you enjoy, but EvgeniZyntx is right in the manor that if calories are equal, whether it's 2 meals or 6 meals, weight loss will be equal. IF is a great tool for creating a deficit; smaller eating window can reduce the amount of calories consumed, but it will not increase fat loss if calories are equal. Suggesting that if you hit 1200 calories by eating throughout the day vs eating 1200 calories in a small window, there won't be any fat loss. Overall, meal frequency is more about person adherence, than it is fat burning: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985.

I tried 16:8 for a small time period and I just couldn't sustain it. I personally enjoy 3 large meals a day more. I also found it more difficult to get the amount of protein I need in such a short period of time. Something that is very important during weight loss; increasing protein during weight loss helps your body retain it's muscle mass. This combined with a moderate deficit and resistance based training will help you get a leaner body. Aggressive weight loss, low levels of protein and no resistance training can increases the amount of muscle you lose. This in turn can lower your metabolic rate, can make it harder to be lean/defined and can make it harder to sustain long term (muscle is tied to all metabolic funtions in terms of calorie expenditure)

lthames0810 · September 2016

I first stumbled onto IF in an article about whether one could fend off Alzheimer's disease in part with dietary changes. The theory was that Alz was associated with insulin resistance in the brain and that IF improved insulin resistance, so maybe it could prevent cognitive decline. I have no idea if this theory is bunk or not and I have no ability or desire to defend it.

But, having encountered this way of eating for the first time, I decided to try it out and see if I could do it. I found that it was easy and solved some problems I had been having with hunger.

I continue to do it, but on the day after a very long bike ride or after a night of poor sleep I feel especially hungry early in the day, so I follow a more conventional eating schedule on those days.

Hornsby · September 2016

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

ChristinaOne21 wrote: »

Thanks, for your feedback.

In regards to food being so available these days I totally agree - however my new mantra is "just because it's there doesn't mean I have to eat it!"

You sound like you are a lot more motivated than me Does eating healthily, with less calories than you burn and exercising regularly all come naturally to you? Did you also start off where I am now? Or have you always had a good relationship with what goes in your mouth and with keeping fit?

Those things do not come naturally to me at all unfortunately - especially the exercise part

You are right though, it should be pretty simple if you follow that formula.

It will be interesting to see how I progress with Intermittent Fasting and whether I stick to it. So far so good and I'm feeling better for it already, but I am also eating better and actually doing a bit of exercise now too!

I am loving counting calories on this website - it really opens my eyes to what's not been working for me. All this researching has been great too, as I can now see everything from a more holistic view of where I was going wrong.

I actually thought I was a 'healthy' eater - takeaways and sugary foods only on rare occasions, lots of salads and veggies, vogels bread - not white, trim milk - not fat, eating in - not out etc. However I wasn't aware, or maybe just in denial of how a lot of the 'good' foods and the seemingly small things I add to them, along with the all day grazing and sometimes nibbles and cheese platters with drinks before dinner - have all been adding up. My friends all seem to eat the same, if not more than me, and are all slim and trim. But the fact is they are probably only over-indulging when we see each other and then go back home to their exercise and diet regimes and active jobs.

My couch potato comment is badly worded - I wonder if I can edit it? Some of it came from my reading a heap of websites on the benefits of IF and how intermittent fasting may make you eat fewer meals (as in my case) and unless I overcompensate by eating much more during my 2 meals, I will end up taking in fewer calories. So I may not always be actively reducing my calorie intake, but with IF I am always passively reducing it

Below is an extract from one website that made sense to me and explains the 'fat burning' from fasting:

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
To understand how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss we first need to understand the difference between the fed state and the fasted state.

Your body is in the fed state when it is digesting and absorbing food. Typically, the fed state starts when you begin eating and lasts for three to five hours as your body digests and absorbs the food you just ate. When you are in the fed state, it’s very hard for your body to burn fat because your insulin levels are high.

After that timespan, your body goes into what is known as the post–absorptive state, which is just a fancy way of saying that your body isn’t processing a meal. The post–absorptive state lasts until 8 to 12 hours after your last meal, which is when you enter the fasted state. It is much easier for your body to burn fat in the fasted state because your insulin levels are low.

When you’re in the fasted state your body can burn fat that has been inaccessible during the fed state.

Because we don’t enter the fasted state until 12 hours after our last meal, it’s rare that our bodies are in this fat burning state. This is one of the reasons why many people who start intermittent fasting will lose fat without changing what they eat, how much they eat, or how often they exercise. Fasting puts your body in a fat burning state that you rarely make it to during a normal eating schedule.

Read More Here: http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting

Nope. That's mumbo jumbo.

If you eat 1300 calories spread out over 10 meals or only eat 1300 calories in one meal a day you'll burn the same amount of fat.

Intermittent fasting may help some people with hunger signaling, calorie control, satiety, etc... and if that works for you great! But let's keep it real and stop with the fat burning pseudo science stuff that just doesn't pan out when tested.

On the money ^^^

INTERMITTENT FASTING - A LIFESTYLE MAKEOVER

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