Trying To Understand Intermittent Fasting

kschwab0203
kschwab0203 Posts: 610 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm thinking of giving this a go and just need some clarification on this intermittent fasting...

As I am understanding it, if I ate dinner at 6:00 p.m. yesterday then I must not eat anything else until 10:00 a.m. today (16hrs), correct???

Has anyone had any success with this?

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,260 Member
    Just so we are clear, intermittent fasting is an eating schedule. You will not lose weight on IF unless you are eating in a deficit.

    If you are following a 16:8 schedule, that means that you fast for 16 hours and eat within the following 8 hour period. If you eat between 6 pm and 2 am (8 hour window) you then fast from 2 am to 6 pm (16 hour window.)
  • Pierre_is_a_cat
    Pierre_is_a_cat Posts: 89 Member
    edited October 2016
    Hi there -- I hope I can help. I am no expert but I have been following IF for the last 6~8 weeks, perhaps even longer and I absolutely love it. :) You're right, by the way, with your fasting period. In case it helps, the general wisdom seems to be that you can have up to 50 calories during your fastng period -- so if you want to have some soy milk with your tea or coffee you can. :)

    In terms of my own experience, I fast from 12.30pm until 6am. It suits me better to have breakfast and lunch, and sleep on an empty stomach. I find it works for me because I have food in my tummy for my morning at work, and then again for my afternoon at work. I come home and do my workout (resistance bands) and then usually go to bed. I am an early to bed, early to rise kind of person.

    One of the things I love about IF is how simple it is. I am now in the habit where I don't eat at night, it's just a routine now. Once upon a time I would snack at night, it was often my downfall...this has taken care of all that. :) I have lost around 20kg (44lb) in the last year to 18 months. Although I have only practised IF for the last couple of months I have seen some really great results for comparatively little effort.

    Anyway, I hope that helps you. I am sure there will be lots of great advice from people who knows what they're talking about. I really don't know the technicalities of the lifestyle, I'm just giving it my best shot and so far it's working.

    Good luck! xx
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Just so we are clear, intermittent fasting is an eating schedule. You will not lose weight on IF unless you are eating in a deficit.

    If you are following a 16:8 schedule, that means that you fast for 16 hours and eat within the following 8 hour period. If you eat between 6 pm and 2 am (8 hour window) you then fast from 2 am to 6 pm (16 hour window.)

    Reiterating this.

    I follow a loose IF plan and haven't lost anything this entire year because I'm not in a deficit; weekend gluttony kicks me into maintenance, therefore I lose nada. When I was in a deficit consistently and followed IF, I lost 28 pounds.
  • Pierre_is_a_cat
    Pierre_is_a_cat Posts: 89 Member
    Yeah, I totally agree with the peeps on the calorie deficit thing. :) Obviously no point in going crazy with the calories during your window. :)

    Don't let it put you off though, it's a really great way to train yourself not to punctuate the entire day with food. :)
  • kschwab0203
    kschwab0203 Posts: 610 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Just so we are clear, intermittent fasting is an eating schedule. You will not lose weight on IF unless you are eating in a deficit.

    If you are following a 16:8 schedule, that means that you fast for 16 hours and eat within the following 8 hour period. If you eat between 6 pm and 2 am (8 hour window) you then fast from 2 am to 6 pm (16 hour window.)


    I am eating at or less than my 1450 calories per day. Well, minus my bad weekend which I am over and moving on.

    Also, how do you know what your maintenance calories are? I am new to this and still trying to understand it all.
  • Pierre_is_a_cat
    Pierre_is_a_cat Posts: 89 Member
    If It Fits Your Macros (http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) is a pretty cool website which will give you that kind of information. I think general sentiment is it's a little more accurate than MFP.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,731 Member
    I just naturally eat this way anyway.

    I need to have a couple big meals a day, and it helps me adhere to my calorie goals if I eat two large-ish meals instead of allowing snacking.

    I have morning coffee, then three hours later a morning meal. Then five to seven hours later, dinner. I go to bed early (8/9) and am up early (4/5). If I get a lot of exercise or I'm particularly busy, I'll have a small midday snack or dessert after dinner. I've been eating like this for many years. It's the only thing that works for me to stay on target.
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    kschwab0203 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Just so we are clear, intermittent fasting is an eating schedule. You will not lose weight on IF unless you are eating in a deficit.

    If you are following a 16:8 schedule, that means that you fast for 16 hours and eat within the following 8 hour period. If you eat between 6 pm and 2 am (8 hour window) you then fast from 2 am to 6 pm (16 hour window.)


    I am eating at or less than my 1450 calories per day. Well, minus my bad weekend which I am over and moving on.

    Also, how do you know what your maintenance calories are? I am new to this and still trying to understand it all.

    No website can give you exact numbers...but can give you a starting point. maintenance depends on your activity level. If you exercise, your maintenance is higher than if you don't. maintenance is the calorie allotment where you neither gain or lose weight.

    Most people "find" that number through weeks of trial and error and accurate logging of both calories consumed and exercise logged
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    kschwab0203 wrote: »
    I'm thinking of giving this a go and just need some clarification on this intermittent fasting...

    As I am understanding it, if I ate dinner at 6:00 p.m. yesterday then I must not eat anything else until 10:00 a.m. today (16hrs), correct???

    Has anyone had any success with this?

    Here's a group for it: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/49-intermittent-fasting

    (I haven't done it, but keep thinking about it.)

    There are different kinds of IF, so the first thing is to pick the protocol you are following. One version (the first one I heard about) is 5:2, where you eat maintenance on 5 days and around 25% of maintenance (or 500 or 800 calories, people do it different ways) on the other two. There's also alternate day fasting which is similar except it's every other day and you don't track on the off days, with the idea that people naturally tend to eat only a little more than maintenance when they do it. I'm sure some do it and track.

    Then there are the kinds that you are talking about, where you have an eating window. There are a variety of eating windows, like 20:4 (you eat within 4 hours of the day) and 16:8 (you eat within 8 hours).

    16:8 is a pretty common one since for many it basically just boils down to delaying the first meal of the day. It doesn't matter what the times are (you could also eat early and then stop and not eat an evening meal if that's easier. The way you are discussing the window would be 8 hours, from 10 am to 6 pm (this would mean finishing dinner by 6). I would find it quite easy to eat as many calories as I ever do in that window, especially if I had food available, so you'd want to track too, probably. Many find it makes it easier to control how much they eat or makes them less hungry. As I find I don't think about food at times I'm not used to eating, normally, I can see why it would work.
  • Pierre_is_a_cat
    Pierre_is_a_cat Posts: 89 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I would find it quite easy to eat as many calories as I ever do in that window, especially if I had food available, so you'd want to track too, probably. Many find it makes it easier to control how much they eat or makes them less hungry.

    I second this!! Track your calories for sure. Don't be sucked into the 'But I didn't eat breakfast!' trap. :) Super easy to eat to maintenance and beyond in 6 hours.

  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    There is no fat loss benefits to IF except for the fact that it gives you less hours to eat. A calorie deficit is what causes the weight loss.
  • vertices
    vertices Posts: 1 Member
    I understand not everyone can do this but I've had the most success with keeping my macros (carbs, fat, protein) in a ratio of 35%, 30%, 35% respectively. Maintain an HONEST deficit, I eat about 1700 a day as a 6' tall 187lb male working out 4-6 times per week (but other than that I'm at a desk). Always practice IF with a ratio of 16:8, and workout first thing in the morning while fasted (I do the std 6pm to 10am fast, start workout at 6:30am). I've cut at least 30lbs of fat doing this in 3 months and have been adding lean muscle. Don't cheat, if you must cheat once in a while, limit it to a somewhat sensible cheat meal as opposed to a cheat day and try to make up and plan for it. Drink a ton of water, nothing but water (or sparkling water). I also cut out all alcohol other than allowing some 1 night a week if we are going out. Been great for me. Good luck.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    It works great for me. My advice would be to choose the window that works best for you and most importantly stay within your calorie allotment--it's entirely possible to eat too many calories in those 8 hours.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    I started 9 days ago. I don't think there is a magic bullet for weight loss, but it has definitely helped me to stay within my calorie allotment. I finish dinner at 9:30 pm and generally don't eat again until 2:45 pm the next day. I get a little hungry in the morning, but it passes. Afternoon, my appetite is pretty much gone for a while. I noticed that a small "snack" of veggies and nuts to break my fast holds me a while. Then I have a couple of egg salads and dinner. Made a big difference for me with keeping a calorie deficit and it helped my cravings too.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,487 Member
    Didn't I just see where you were having low blood sugar issues on your other thread (i posted there)? Are you sure this is the way you want to go with changing the timing of your food?
  • kschwab0203
    kschwab0203 Posts: 610 Member
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Didn't I just see where you were having low blood sugar issues on your other thread (i posted there)? Are you sure this is the way you want to go with changing the timing of your food?

    Yes, I did post about low blood sugar issues. However, this 16:8 intermittent fasting is not much different than I normally eat. I've just had to push my dinner up about an hour.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,487 Member
    edited October 2016
    kschwab0203 wrote: »
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Didn't I just see where you were having low blood sugar issues on your other thread (i posted there)? Are you sure this is the way you want to go with changing the timing of your food?

    Yes, I did post about low blood sugar issues. However, this 16:8 intermittent fasting is not much different than I normally eat. I've just had to push my dinner up about an hour.

    I was concerned a little bit. :)

    This fasting protocol really is just an eating schedule. You really won't drop weight any faster or better doing this. It can help with a lot of things as it relates to how you eat and when you eat (appetite control, satiety, etc..), but the calorie deficit no matter the timing of food is still the same..

    I hope you get the blood sugar worked out.. It has and still happens to me from time to time and usually its on a weekend when I am off "my schedule" for "breaking fast" or perhaps I cut my calories a little too much the day before accompanied by later eating as well.
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