Intermittent fasting

Hi I've just completed my first week of this. I gave it a go after seeing a success story on here.
I do a 16/8 window.
My eating time is between 12-8pm my calories are roughly 1450.
In my first week I've lost 4lb.
I drink tea and water running up to the 12 when I can start eating and find I'm never hungry.
I did quite a bit of reading on this and couldn't believe some of the health benefits to doing this.
It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it suits me fine.

I have been doing IF since December. Due to personal/family and work issues I had a rocky start. But I've been pretty determined since the middle of May and have been doing well with it since then.

My plan is fasting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I do roughly 36 hours at a time (from dinner Sunday to breakfast Tuesday, for example.) Most people in the IF community would see that as an extreme start to doing IF. But I'm attempting this for diabetes management and it's the plan Dr. Fung (google him, if you're interested) uses with his patients.

Here are my tips. YMMV.

-Make it work for you. In the beginning I tried doing the bone broth thing and I now have a Pavlovian nausea to any type of broth. Even plain ol' chicken broth. It's just not for me. Every diet group seems to develop a fundamentalist attitude about the "rules" for doing that diet "right." So I'm sure hard-core IFers would burn me at the stake for saying you can successfully do IF without it. But, based on my experience, YOU CAN. All you really need to do is make sure you're getting enough electrolytes so you avoid cramps, feeling weak, getting sick, etc. I do just fine on tea with a little no-salt added as well as Powerade Zero - another thing that would horrrrrify hard core IFers. "Artificial sweeteners?! YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! YOU MORON!" But you know what? My bg readings are going in the right direction, I'm able to stick to the fast, and I'm losing weight. So I'm seeing the results I want and I don't care what other IFers think of my approach. It's working for me. So they can buzz off.

-Have a plan for what to do if you are going to "ruin" your fast. If you don't, you'll end up eating things you wouldn't have eaten otherwise. I keep cheese, jerky, hard boiled eggs, and sugar free jello on hand so that if I can't take it anymore I can at least eat low carb. If you're not doing keto or low carb in addition to the IF, then pick "relief" items that work in your nutrition goals.

-Don't give up. I had a really rocky start because of external things. But also because I have digestive issues that made fasting really hard to adapt to. I was sooooo siiiiiick in the beginning. But my body eventually adjusted and I learned ways to manage my digestive issues and it's doable now. It can take time to get used to this whole fasting thing.

Great posts here and thread. I am a 5:2 faster, which means I eat 500 calories twice a week. I do that on Mondays and Thursdays. Since March I am down 25 pounds. I tend to eat between 12pm and 8pm. I have absolutely no issue missing breakfast. Not hungry at all. Coffee fills me up and then I drink a lot of green tea and water on my Fast Days.
Since starting Fasts, I find that they are really not hard and I am less hungry. My body does not crave food, like I thought it would. On a typical fast day I drink coffee in the AM then I eat lunch around 12:15pm or so. I could eat it later but during the work week I like the company of my coworkers. I work out at the gym doing cardio on the tread mill six days a week, (after work during the work week). I eat dinner by 8:00pm.
On non Fast Days I tend to keep my calorie count low because I am trying to move the pounds off.
To keep the weight loss moving a little faster, I am considering doing away with breakfast and doing more of an IF.
Right now I have a yogurt and banana on non Fast Days.
Again, thanks for a great thread. Very inspiring.