Intermittent Fasting Support Group?

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  • Huskeryogi
    Huskeryogi Posts: 578 Member
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    Bump *

    This really interest's me. Im going to do some research and see if this will work for me... im really struggling to drop any weight and i feel like i have just hit a wall!
    How much weight have you lost from IF over what period of time?

    I've consistently lost 1-2lbs per week since I started on June 22nd. I'm doing the lean gains 16/8 with the occasional 24hour fast thrown in (every other week). I'm down 6 lbs. And that's with a crazy wedding weekend thrown in eating out or someone else's cooking for 4 straight days.

    Thanks :)
    I think im going to give it a go!
    i would most likely fast from 9pm - 1pm the following day making it a 16hour fast with roughly 8 hours of this that i would be sleeping... is that and Ok place to start?

    That's exactly what I do now. I started with a 14 hour fast first (ate between noon and 10) but after a week I upped it to 16. And yes I'm not perfectly rigid. If I get invited to lunch with co-workers at noon sometimes I'll go, or if there's a Sunday family brunch sometimes I eat earlier. But 90-95% of the time I stick to that window.

    On another note I dropped almost 3 lbs for my official weight in this week! I think I was holding onto water last week. I'm down 9 lbs since starting IF and 15 overall!
  • determined2bfit
    determined2bfit Posts: 41 Member
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    Bump for later to read more on this topic!
  • Nic0522
    Nic0522 Posts: 38
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    Hi everyone!

    I'm doing my first 18 hour fast today, with about an hour left and I'm getting a bit lightheaded. I've got a yogurt to break the fast with before I go home from work. I'm going to read back through this thread later as I'm really interested in everyone's experiences.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,248 Member
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    I have never had lightheadedness with fasting, but I suggest drinking more water, lots more. May times the lightheadedness is either because your body is so used to being in the fed state that it need to re-learn what it is to be in the fasted state, or it could be your mental expectation that it will happen. For most people I know, this sensation will go away as your body starts to be used to being in the fasted state again.
  • Firesign
    Firesign Posts: 169 Member
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    Bump... Great info!! Thanks
  • Setapart
    Setapart Posts: 4
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    I sleep so much better doing this. When I wake up, I feel as if I have really slept HARD. I also like not having to feel overly full at night. The hardest for me is the morning hours, as I've never been one to skip breakfast. I had a very carby day so far, so I'm making a huge salad with lots of veggie and protein for my last meal. I did 18.5 hours yesterday, and I'm going for 16-17 hours starting this evening. I'll settle in somewhere around there, I think.
  • Nic0522
    Nic0522 Posts: 38
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    rileysowner - thanks for the input - I am thinking I probably dehydrated myself because I had a terrible headache all last night. And I am not normally prone to headaches. I had about 6 cups of water, which I know is too little, and didn't realize I had to have much much more than that when fasting.

    I'll try again next Friday or Saturday and let you guys know how it went!

    Nicole
  • pork_belly
    pork_belly Posts: 144
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    I'm acclimating well to my IF schedule (19/5). Even with an increase in my walking and some cycling inserted into my routine I'm not feeling starved. I'm into my fourth day now. Weight in won't be until next Friday so I don't know the true impact until then. My diet is still low carb.
  • Alloranx
    Alloranx Posts: 51 Member
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    I started doing every-other-day Intermittent Fasting about 3 weeks ago, at that time not having heard of LeanGains or Eat Stop Eat. I did it based on research I read about its effectiveness in animal studies at lengthening lifespan and improving blood health markers, and also because I noticed one day that I was about 20 lbs over my ideal weight and past 25 BMI. I figured it was worth a try, and I haven't looked back or even lost step since I started. It's very surprising how much easier it is than I though it would be.

    About a week ago I did buy "Eat Stop Eat" as I was doing research so I could defend my new diet to friends and family (veteran dieters, many of them, who are afraid of the dreaded Starvation Mode). Since Mr. Pilon's only caution against doing more than two days a week is that it reduces flexibility in the diet, and I had no problem with that whatsoever, I just continued with my alternating days thing.

    I've been getting good results so far. Lost about 10 lbs, and insofar as I can tell from my inexpert use of a fat caliper, almost all of that has been body fat, and my lean mass has stayed about the same (doing mostly body weight exercises to keep up muscle). The caliper measurements have a lot of variance when taken by an amateur like me, but the trend still seems significant, and the visual results are encouraging as well.

    I plan to step down to a once or twice a week fast once I reach my goal just to maintain good health for the long term. Hopefully it all pans out!
  • OnMyWay2STay
    OnMyWay2STay Posts: 144 Member
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    I was about to post a new topic myself when I was this. I fast once a month for religious reasons. I chuckled when I got a note from myfitnesspal that I needed to consume at least 1,200 calories each day.

    My question is slightly different, but maybe someone can help me out. Given that I will certainly continue to fast about once or twice a month for 24 hours at a time, consuming water only during the summer and nothing at all during the winter, how can I time this with what I eat before or after to get the best weight loss/health benefit?
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    I started doing every-other-day Intermittent Fasting about 3 weeks ago, at that time not having heard of LeanGains or Eat Stop Eat. I did it based on research I read about its effectiveness in animal studies at lengthening lifespan and improving blood health markers, and also because I noticed one day that I was about 20 lbs over my ideal weight and past 25 BMI. I figured it was worth a try, and I haven't looked back or even lost step since I started. It's very surprising how much easier it is than I though it would be.

    About a week ago I did buy "Eat Stop Eat" as I was doing research so I could defend my new diet to friends and family (veteran dieters, many of them, who are afraid of the dreaded Starvation Mode). Since Mr. Pilon's only caution against doing more than two days a week is that it reduces flexibility in the diet, and I had no problem with that whatsoever, I just continued with my alternating days thing.

    I've been getting good results so far. Lost about 10 lbs, and insofar as I can tell from my inexpert use of a fat caliper, almost all of that has been body fat, and my lean mass has stayed about the same (doing mostly body weight exercises to keep up muscle). The caliper measurements have a lot of variance when taken by an amateur like me, but the trend still seems significant, and the visual results are encouraging as well.

    I plan to step down to a once or twice a week fast once I reach my goal just to maintain good health for the long term. Hopefully it all pans out!

    Good results for a short time period!

    Another benefit of IF for me which I thought of today. I am unsure if I will be able to fit in my workout this arvo because of various other stuff going on. Coming up to the time that I would be working out, I will have taken in 1100cals for the day. If I can workout, then I get to feast on pretty much whatever to get an additional 80g protein minimum and about 1500cals. If I don't workout, then I still aim for my 80g of protein but 1000 cals max (hence a "cleaner" food choice would be required)

    Things like this make it good and flexible for me.
  • mormas
    mormas Posts: 188 Member
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    Hi,

    I'm interested in IF and have subconsiously done it for years by not eating breakfast. There is so much info on the net that I am a bit mind boggled, and was wondering if someone could look at my plan (below) to see if I got my head around it, and offer any tips.

    My goal is weight / fat loss at this point, but I will be looking to add more strength training soon.

    My plan is to complete 16/8 (eating window between noon and 8pm) five days a week
    Am I correct in thinking during this 'eating window' I eat the calories allocated to me via MFP
    I complete Cardio for about an hour a day, which I normally compete either just before my eating window opens, or about 4pm, so I should be able to eat following my workout.

    Any advise appreciated
  • Huskeryogi
    Huskeryogi Posts: 578 Member
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    My plan is to complete 16/8 (eating window between noon and 8pm) five days a week
    Am I correct in thinking during this 'eating window' I eat the calories allocated to me via MFP
    I complete Cardio for about an hour a day, which I normally compete either just before my eating window opens, or about 4pm, so I should be able to eat following my workout.

    Any advise appreciated

    Sounds like a very similiar plan to what I do. I only do cardio 5 days/week and I stick to my eating window even on weekends unless there's an event (I had brunch with my family on Sunday).

    But I do stick to the calories allocated by MFP. The only difference for me is that I look at calorie intake from a weekly basis. Daily MFP allocates 1550 cal/daily w/o exercise. If I know I have something fun/food oriented coming up on Saturday, on Wednesday and Thursday I might only eat 1200 calories. That usually puts me 800 calories under my MFP goal for those days so I have some room to play with on Saturday.

    I mostly do my cardio around 5:30 when I get home from work. I would prefer to do it in the morning in a fasted state, but I haven't been able to get myself up to do that yet.
  • pork_belly
    pork_belly Posts: 144
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    I normally don't weigh in until Friday but I decided to take a look just in case I need to make adjustments. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in 5 days I've lost 3 lbs. I haven't felt starving and other than my first day I didn't feel like I ate a lot more than I normally do. In fact, I now am eating less than when I wasn't on IF. Not only did I lose 3 lbs but I also went down one percent in bodyfat. Looking forward to my official weigh in on Friday.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    To reiterate, if you are planning on doing IF LG style, one of the main contributing factors is resistance training and lifting heavy. You intake more cals on this day than you do on your rest days. Or conversely, you could intake similar calories and create your deficit through your cardio exercise on this day.

    e.g.
    Mon: train 2000cals exercise cals -200 net 1800
    Tue: 1400cals gross and no exercise or 2000cals gross and -600 from cardio to net 1400. (high intensity cardio will impact recovery so be aware of this)

    http://www.leangains.com/2008/06/sure-fire-fat-loss.html
  • stroken96
    stroken96 Posts: 436 Member
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    So this IF is fasting when and how?
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    So this IF is fasting when and how?

    did you read anything?
  • theresamommyof4
    theresamommyof4 Posts: 206 Member
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    Okay, I'm just now getting started on IF. I haven't bought the books, I've just read the research, and I'm ready to kick it into high gear... but I have some questions. I'll tell you guys what I'm doing, and you tell me where I'm going wrong.

    I decided to do the 24 hours on, 24 hours off. I start my fast at about 1:30pm and fast until the following day at 1:30 pm. Then eat from 1:30pm until about 8:00 at night, then wake up and eat until 1:30 and start my fast again. My question is this.... should I treat that "feeding"period as 1 day and eat only my 1500 calories, spread out between that afternoon, evening and next morning), or should I try to cram in those calories (the full 1500) that afternoon and evening, and then cram them in again the next morning for a total of 3,000 calories during my eating hours?

    My mind is so programed to be TERRIFIED of starvation mode, that I feel like I need to get in those calories, but seriously there's not a snowballs chance that I can eat that much comfortably.

    The first day I started the fast (Saturday), I ate oatmeal with peanut butter and blueberries for beakfast, then ate a veggie burger on a whole wheat sandwhich thin and a grapefruit for lunch (a little over 600 calories) Started my fast at 1:30. Fasted 24 hours with some cardio thrown in and drank lots of water. Sunday at 1:30pm, I broke my fast with a cup of whole wheat pasta, a couple of sauteed chicken tenders and sauteed zucchini (with olive oil), then ate snacks and a low carb dinner for a total of 1200 calories. Then this morning, I woke up, ate my normal oatmeal with peanut butter and berries, had snacks and ate another veggie burger for lunch for a total of 1,006 calories today. So in a 24 hour period, I've eaten over 2200 calories, and I could have done less because I was FULL before I started my fast... uncomfortably so.

    I started my second 24 hour fast today at 1:30 and I'll end the fast at 1:30 pm tomorrow.

    So am I eating enough calories? Do I need to eat less or more? Are 24 hour fasts, 3 or 4 x's a week too much, or it that a healthy goal?

    Thanks in advance for the help!
  • CALIECAT
    CALIECAT Posts: 12,530 Member
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    Bump
  • pork_belly
    pork_belly Posts: 144
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    I'm doing the Fast-5 fast with low-carb (a la Atkins) for feeding.

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