Intermittent Fasting advice

I've done IF in one form or another for around 5 years now and it doesn't do anything magical for fat burning. It works well for some people because it helps them with their calorie adherence (makes it easier for them to hit their calorie targets/deficits).

When you eat is not important. Being in a calorie deficit is. I do 16:8 because if I eat breakfast, I won't remain in a calorie deficit. I will be hungry for the rest of the day, and I'll go over my calories by about 300-500. So I don't start eating until 2pm. If breakfast didn't make me more hungry, I wouldn't do IF. So it's irrelevant. It doesn't put you in "fat burning mode". You lose fat simply by being in a calorie deficit. IF is just one tool you can use to help you be in that calorie deficit.

I toyed with the idea of IF, but decided it wasn't for me. I'm a hangry kind of person. This girl's gotta eat. DONGER NEED FOOD!

Hubby on the other hand, LOVES to eat lots of food at once, so it works great for him, and he doesn't get his panties in a bunch if he skips a meal. He can "forget" to eat until dinnertime sometimes!

Our rates of weight loss, however, are consistent with the calorie deficit we set and have nothing to do with when we eat our calories.

If IF works for you, AWESOME. Do that! If not, it's not required to be 100% successful at weight loss.

Calorie deficits are what lead to weight loss. The only way intermittent fasting will help you lose weight is if it helps you stick to a calorie deficit.

Have you put your stats into MFP? How many calories did it recommend that you eat? I would recommend you follow MFP's suggestions rather than just trying to do what your friend does. Men generally need more calories than women, so what keeps your friend fit may not help with your own weight loss.

Other than that, intermittent fasting can be helpful for weight loss. For me, my calorie goal is 1200 calories per day, and fasting in the morning helps me stick to that goal. However, it only works for me because my calorie goal is appropriate and I stick to it. If your TDEE is 1500, which might be the case for a sedentary woman at your height, if you eat 1700 calories a day, you'll gain weight regardless of whether you try intermittent fasting or not.

So my advice is to calculate your TDEE or find out how many calories MFP recommends that you eat and stick with that. Once you know what calorie goal will help you lose weight, you can see if intermittent fasting makes it easier to eat that number of calories.

IF on it's own doesn't affect weight loss. It's still calorie-in, calorie-out. However, I find that it works well for me for weight loss purposes. If I eat breakfast, I am hungry again at noon. If I don't eat breakfast, I am still hungry at noon but I have more calories I can eat.

I eat 1300 cals, and I divide them between 2 meals. Usually 500 for lunch and 800 for dinner - I like having a big satisfying dinner.

I tried one-meal-a-day IF and it didn't work for me. I would fast until dinner time, then I'd get home ravenous and binge on junk food. And end up with a stomach ache from eating so much.

So 2 meals a day works perfectly for me.

I started doing daily IF back in December to help shed the last couple of pounds until I hit my goal weight because I had hit a plateau and wanted to change things up. Since then I've lost about 14 pounds +/- because I'm maintaining now. I love it because I tend to feel more satisfied with the volume I eat rather than frequency of eating. I spend way less time counting every single calorie now because I know I have more to work with within my eating time. Also, like another user said, if I eat breakfast I am constantly hungry throughout the day whereas now that I am used to IF I don't struggle with the hunger pains.

But like everyone has said, a calorie deficit is what helps you lose weight, regardless of how you do it. It's all about finding what works for you!

YvetteK2015 wrote: »

When you eat is not important. Being in a calorie deficit is. I do 16:8 because if I eat breakfast, I won't remain in a calorie deficit. I will be hungry for the rest of the day, and I'll go over my calories by about 300-500. So I don't start eating until 2pm. If breakfast didn't make me more hungry, I wouldn't do IF. So it's irrelevant. It doesn't put you in "fat burning mode". You lose fat simply by being in a calorie deficit. IF is just one tool you can use to help you be in that calorie deficit.

I'm the same. I eat between 2-3 pm. If I ate earlier, it would be much harder to stay within my calories. I started in October. So glad I did. Enjoy bigger meals.

It worked for me to satisfy my binge cravings, simply because I got to eat larger meals. On top of that, intermittent fasting taught me to eat only when I'm hungry.

But that's about all it does. It's just another strategy like every other diet out there.

It doesn't burn fat any faster, but as others have said it provides an easy way to have an overall calorie deficit and not feel like you are depriving yourself of foods you like (to some degree), for extended periods of time. The key is when you do eat(Feed days), do not feel like you have to make up for the missed meals and overeat or you will not accomplish anything.

Btw, I do a 2hr eating window and get roughly 1500 to 1800 calories in. Some days I'm fine with 1200. It makes calorie deficits way easier to maintain and exercising in a fasted state helps burn the fat even quicker.

IF is not a magical solution. I've done IF for at least 5 years, it helps me keep calories in check, but on itself IF doesn't do anything for weight loss if you're not on a deficit.