Intermittent fasting

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  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I never knew that LCHF meant Scotsman.
  • jordan_bowden
    jordan_bowden Posts: 90 Member
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    jordan_bowden wrote: »
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    jordan_bowden wrote: »
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    jordan_bowden wrote: »
    I generally stay under 800 calories a day, occasionally I reach 1000 but not often. I know it's really disgusting but I do gym and exercise several times during the week as well. How much would you recommend reducing my intake by then ?

    What's disgusting? I'm genuinely curious because when I read all your posts in this thread, I felt concerned about the possibility of some disordered eating behaviors. I don't know you, so obviously I may be completely wrong. It just sounds to me like you're super restrictive, with the amount you eat, what you eat, and when you eat.

    I don't really struggle with sticking to my fasting, I just don't have much of an appetite and even on days that I do have higher caloric intake, I still battle to consume that much purely because I can't eat that much food (800 is the average in general)

    But what were you saying is disgusting? That you don't eat a lot, or that 1000 calories is disgusting because it is a lot? I'm not just trying to harp on this question. I'd like to offer more of my input, but I want to understand better first.

    Sometimes I just feel really unwell when I eat around 1000 calories and I feel rather disgusting physically. I gain weight really easily though, so if I have eaten high calories in a day that exceeds my calorie burn, I tend to gain. I really want to get out of the cycle of gaining on "normal" eating days while still doing some fasting, I just can't think what else to do :(

    Ok, so I used to feel this way too, not quite with as few calories as you eat, but I had little appetite and felt stuffed without eating hardly anything. Now that I've gotten to a place where I have a healthier understanding of weight loss and fitness, I can see that my lack of appetite was a manifestation of the way I thought about food and weight loss.

    My advice to you - and it sounds so simple but can be so amazingly difficult - is to trust the process. Figure out what your maintenance calories are (I guarantee it's over 800-1000 calories unless you're super extra short or something), and try eating there for a while. You might see a bit of a weight increase at first because you've been eating so little, but it should even out - and once you see how much you can eat without gaining, you might start to trust it. I used to stick to around 1200 calories, but now I eat around 2000 without gaining. That's not to say your needs will be the same as mine; it's just an example of how far off my understanding was.

    You can't gain weight eating so little. What you're probably seeing when you eat a little more is water weight. It takes 3500 excess calories to gain a legitimate pound (of fat or muscle). Weight can fluctuate as much as five pounds day to day, so you're not going to see the same numbers every day. It just doesn't work that way.

    I hope you can figure this out. I've found life is so much better with a healthier attitude toward food and exercise.

    Thank you all so much for your advice, I do so appreciate it! :) It will be taken into action for sure, this has encouraged me greatly to step out of my comfort zone quite a bit
  • sarcasticarse
    sarcasticarse Posts: 59 Member
    jordan_bowden wrote: »
    So I've been intermittent fasting for several months now and not seeing results anymore. I started of doing 24 hour fasts (Wednesdays and Sundays) and it basically evolved from there. I am now fasting 16/8 on a daily basis, (sometimes a few hours longer) in addition to the 24 hours twice a week. I shuffle the times I break my fasts, in order to prevent adaptation but I still don't see results?? Does anybody have any ideas as to why this may be ?

    Hi Jordan, I have also been doing a form of IF and it is working great! I Feel Great I have a lot of extra energy and the pounds are melting off. The Best thing is I have no cravings and do not feel hungry.
  • ahanson01
    ahanson01 Posts: 3 Member
    Jordan, the problem is that your body has figured out what you are doing and has accounted for it. I have been doing a VLCD and IF for 4 months. On the "fat loss" phase, I was comsuming 600-700 calories a day. I lost 30 lbs very easily. The last 10 have been a struggle. I've found out, through my own research and trials, that my body has just adjusted to this VLCD or IF way of living. I am increasing both my calories and my workouts to adjust to a normal, more sustainable lifestyle.

    The VLCD is for people who have a significant amount of weight to lose and should be monitored by a doctor. Based on the stats you've provided, you are where you need to be weight-wise. If you are trying to build muscle, the IF can work...but you need to increase your calorie intake drastically.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    ahanson01 wrote: »
    Jordan, the problem is that your body has figured out what you are doing and has accounted for it. I have been doing a VLCD and IF for 4 months. On the "fat loss" phase, I was comsuming 600-700 calories a day. I lost 30 lbs very easily. The last 10 have been a struggle. I've found out, through my own research and trials, that my body has just adjusted to this VLCD or IF way of living. I am increasing both my calories and my workouts to adjust to a normal, more sustainable lifestyle.

    The VLCD is for people who have a significant amount of weight to lose and should be monitored by a doctor. Based on the stats you've provided, you are where you need to be weight-wise. If you are trying to build muscle, the IF can work...but you need to increase your calorie intake drastically.

    600 calories for 4 months is pretty low. Was this medically supervised?
  • FitMommy_91
    FitMommy_91 Posts: 23 Member
    jordan_bowden wrote: »
    I generally stay under 800 calories a day, occasionally I reach 1000 but not often. I know it's really disgusting but I do gym and exercise several times during the week as well. How much would you recommend reducing my intake by then ?

    Not professionally speaking but I would eat more calories, eating in such a deficit can wreck your metabolism. The point of fasting is not to put you in a severe calorie deficit but rather to eat a healthy amount of calories in a shorter window than your body is use to. Fasting is used to extend the amount of time your body is in a fat burning state to maximize fat loss.

  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    FitMommy_91 wrote: »
    jordan_bowden wrote: »
    I generally stay under 800 calories a day, occasionally I reach 1000 but not often. I know it's really disgusting but I do gym and exercise several times during the week as well. How much would you recommend reducing my intake by then ?

    Not professionally speaking but I would eat more calories, eating in such a deficit can wreck your metabolism. The point of fasting is not to put you in a severe calorie deficit but rather to eat a healthy amount of calories in a shorter window than your body is use to. Fasting is used to extend the amount of time your body is in a fat burning state to maximize fat loss.

    I agree that they should eat more. However, it is incredibly hard to cause permanent metabolic damage, the point of fasting is to make adherence to your diet easier and your understanding of a "fat burning state" is not quite right.
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