Intermittent Fasting
sunshine12870
Posts: 92 Member
Anyone got any - thoughts ? opinions ? experiences ? advice ?.
It's something I'm very interested in giving a shot, but would greatly appreciate any help x
It's something I'm very interested in giving a shot, but would greatly appreciate any help x
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Replies
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I seem to naturally gravitate towards an IF way of eating.... I prefer to skip breakfast first thing, and don't normally get the opportunity to eat until 1ish. I like eating at night more, so it works for me - I can easily have a big dinner and dessert within my cals.
I've eaten this way to lose, maintain and purposefully gain. It's not a magical way to lose weight, but you may find it helps you stick to your calorie goal more easily.8 -
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Doing IF you still have to eat within calories. And any claims how it's healthier or somehow helps with medical problems or something that you might have heard or are going to hear while reading up on it are spurious at best and not supported by rigorous science.
That's really all the advice you need on IF.2 -
Was reading up on fasting, because a coworker of mine does it, and it seems best paired with keto diets--i.e., a great way to lose weight short-term, but not necessarily smart long-term. For a keto diet, you effectively clear carbs and sugars from your diet (you consume so few you might as well be clearing them tbh) so your body starts targeting fats. If you eat protein and fat almost exclusively, your body becomes an expert in breaking fats down, the idea being it will target YOUR fat while it operates in a state referred to as ketosis. Cheat days for people on keto diets REALLY set them back, so a day of fasting after a cheat day is a faster way to get the carbs out of your system and get your body back to targeting fats.
Outside of that, you don't need to fast to "detox," there are no amazing health benefits of fasting, the purpose it serves is really, like others say, to cut calories. If anything, fasting--especially for extended periods--slows your metabolism and puts you in starvation mode, making it harder to lose weight as your body clings to any nutrients it gets. I'm a huge fan of "everything in moderation," aka attempting a balanced diet, for this reason. For me, that means eating the 4-6 small meals a day. For some, it means eating between noon and 8:00 pm. For others, it means eating a couple large meals a day. You do you.
Sidenote: the reason I don't promote keto as a long-term diet is because a diet too rich in protein and fat will inevitably lead to some health issues, like gout or high cholesterol.13 -
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I have been doing OMAD (One Meal A Day) for six days. Previously I was on a several small meals type of diet and dropped two pounds in six weeks and then hovered up and down so the loss wasn't substantial and I was frustrated and was feeling helpless to make that damn scale move. Since my change, I've watched the scale go down about 4 pounds very steadily. This has been my personal experience. I do not follow a keto diet or any kind of restrictive diet. I did cut out sugar and trans fat, which was a positive change that began a month and half ago. There seems to be some real benefits to IF, but it's not for everyone. From what I understand, I am not starving, I'm making my body access it's fat stores. You just have to do the right searches for you and find information that makes sense to you personally because you can find 'evidence' to support any theory. BTW, I feel good. I've been monitoring myself very carefully and am ready to stop if I see or feel anything unhealthy.6
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I am repeating myself, but if you are overweight and otherwise healthy IF can be a useful tool to stay within your calorie goal. Presuming the above, there's no reason not to try it.
You can try skipping or reducing breakfast, keep tracking and see if it helps you stay within program. It might take a few days to get used to it.
You can try a one day clear liquid fast, drinking approx 500 kcals of juice or broth in a day (actually 36hrs, dinner to breakfast). In theory, you could do this once a week, eat at maintenance or slightly below on the other days, and maintain a calorie defecit that way.
Really, you're just finding the most successful way for you to eat within your limits. It's not magic.
My only observation is that it is difficult to pair IF with an exercise program. I'm sure some do.2 -
There are quite a few IF protocols, which one are you interested in? I'm doing 16:8 or 18.6, it just means that I'm eating all my meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) within 6 or 8 hours, and nothing but water, coffee and tea between dinner and breakfast. It's very easy to do. I feel strong and energized, and eating like this has made me less obsessive about food and eating.
My advice would be to experiment, pay attention to how you feel, and stick to whatever eating pattern that feels good and natural to you. No meal schedule is objectively better, or healthier, or allows you to eat more food
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kommodevaran wrote: »There are quite a few IF protocols, which one are you interested in? I'm doing 16:8 or 18.6, it just means that I'm eating all my meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) within 6 or 8 hours, and nothing but water, coffee and tea between dinner and breakfast. It's very easy to do. I feel strong and energized, and eating like this has made me less obsessive about food and eating.
My advice would be to experiment, pay attention to how you feel, and stick to whatever eating pattern that feels good and natural to you. No meal schedule is objectively better, or healthier, or allows you to eat more food
I was thinking of doing either the 16:8 or 24hrs twice a week. Tho maybe 24hrs is too much0 -
sunshine12870 wrote: »Anyone got any - thoughts ? opinions ? experiences ? advice ?.
It's something I'm very interested in giving a shot, but would greatly appreciate any help x
I do it. I love it. It's a great way to organize my eating habits. And there are a million different ways to do it, depending on what best fits your personality and how you organize your life.
IME, doing something like 16:8 is easier if it's done full time instead of onsie-twosie here and there. But this is firmly in YMMV territory.
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The main reason for following a fasting diet (of which there are lots of versions) is to improve regulation of insulin levels by balancing times of feeding and fasting. Insulin is an anabolic hormone which promotes the storage of nutrients (including fat). When levels of insulin are high,
like they are following a meal , we are not able to burn fat. Fasting for extended periods allows our insulin levels to drop, resulting in periods where we are able to use our body’s fat stores as energy. Fasting can therefore be beneficial for weight loss and for preventing insulin resistance; which is a key component of many health conditions.
intermittent fasting meals plan
The figures below demonstrate how our eating patterns influence our insulin levels, and as a result our ability to burn fat.
http://www.makeahealthybody.tk/2017/05/intermittent-fasting-meals-plan.html4 -
at 1200 cal/day I find eating 2 real meals a lot more pleasurable than 3 miniscule ones. I still have coffee in the am. I also have found that my ability to go without food has improved--when I started I was eating every 2-3 hours--a little hit of something or coffee. Now 16/8 is easy, i've done 20/4 and I am considering either 5:2 or alternate day fasting.1
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I like IF because it does control my calories. Without it I tend to overeat or always go over. Trying to get used to skipping breakfast though, and just having coffee.1
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sunshine12870 wrote: »Anyone got any - thoughts ? opinions ? experiences ? advice ?.
It's something I'm very interested in giving a shot, but would greatly appreciate any help x
I do it. I love it. It's a great way to organize my eating habits. And there are a million different ways to do it, depending on what best fits your personality and how you organize your life.
IME, doing something like 16:8 is easier if it's done full time instead of onsie-twosie here and there. But this is firmly in YMMV territory.
When you say 16:8 full time...do you mean doing that every single day of the week ?0 -
sunshine12870 wrote: »sunshine12870 wrote: »Anyone got any - thoughts ? opinions ? experiences ? advice ?.
It's something I'm very interested in giving a shot, but would greatly appreciate any help x
I do it. I love it. It's a great way to organize my eating habits. And there are a million different ways to do it, depending on what best fits your personality and how you organize your life.
IME, doing something like 16:8 is easier if it's done full time instead of onsie-twosie here and there. But this is firmly in YMMV territory.
When you say 16:8 full time...do you mean doing that every single day of the week ?
Yep - everyday! I personally prefer 18:6, but it's all just personal preference at that point.0 -
I love IF. Almost feel weird the days I don't do it now. And you don't have to bring 10 diff meals to work or wherever.0
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I go a little further doing 36/12. It makes people upset, but it is my routine and it works for me and my dr. approves so I just let any negativity about it go in one ear and out the other. It is intermittent fasting, just over the course of two days.
It goes by many other names alternate day fasting (adf), every other day, JUDDD, eat stop eat. Whatever you call it, doesn't matter. It is just a tool that helps me to control my calorie intake. I can't do 1200 a day, it makes me hangry, but eating like a normal person every other day I can do and stick with long term.
Now, don't get me wrong, it is not a complete fast. During the 36 hours I will have something tiny. A protein shake, a very small meal like a couple hundred calories, or an egg or two. I have done the full fast with nothing but zero calorie drinks and it is difficult but doable. I find for me personally that something tiny works best. I use the juddd calculator as a guide and so far am down over 40# since I started at the beginning of march.
Op, you just need to experiment and find what works best for you. Finding something that you can do long term that puts you in a deficit is the key. What works for others may or may not be what you want to do. All you can do is try it and see.
Good luck
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Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and opinions, all very helpful.
I have now done the 16:8 twice in the week, found it very easy but not sure if there is any benefit to doing a 16:8 twice a week or if that particular one has to be an every day thing.
I may now next week try 24hrs fasting see how that goes and if I'm ok with that maybe do that twice a week0 -
sunshine12870 wrote: »Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and opinions, all very helpful.
I have now done the 16:8 twice in the week, found it very easy but not sure if there is any benefit to doing a 16:8 twice a week or if that particular one has to be an every day thing.
I may now next week try 24hrs fasting see how that goes and if I'm ok with that maybe do that twice a week
16:8 is meant to be every day (missing a few here and there is not a big deal) but I don't think doing it 2x a week is going to generate any benefits. If you do the 24 hr fast, I've only seen those recommended 1x week. Twice a week might be a bit much.3 -
I started doing IF without even knowing it was a thing. I just started a new job, so I couldn't find the time to eat a proper lunch (and I have always skipped breakfast any way). This had me stretching out my fasting time to 20 hours instead of my usual 12.
I have noticed that it has helped in keeping my calorie intake in line immensely and as a result, I have dropped 10+ pounds in the last month (and that's taking into account the fact that it took me 1.5 years to lose the first 40 pounds).
So, I say that it has been quite beneficial to my weight loss journey overall.2 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I seem to naturally gravitate towards an IF way of eating.... I prefer to skip breakfast first thing, and don't normally get the opportunity to eat until 1ish. I like eating at night more, so it works for me - I can easily have a big dinner and dessert within my cals.
I've eaten this way to lose, maintain and purposefully gain. It's not a magical way to lose weight, but you may find it helps you stick to your calorie goal more easily.
Pretty much this. IF makes my day's schedule so much easier and saves time. I do 18 hours fast, 6 hour eat window. I don't start eating until I've done my fasted cardio and get home from the gym/work at 6pm because I love to stay up late and eat late dinners. I don't have to pack breakfast or lunch before work so it saves time in the morning as well.
I have mixed feelings on the benefit of it beyond that. The first time I tried IF, I lost the weight at the same rate as when I quit IF and started eating normally throughout the day in small meals. But recently (years later), my body had gotten used to eating at a deficit throughout the day and stopped giving me the hunger/empty feeling that I once had and losing weight has become a lot more difficult. I just switched over to IF for the hell of it, and found that I finally have the empty feeling in my stomach again and it feels great. Started losing weight as well as having an easy routine, so I can't complain.0 -
I found IF back in 2012 through leangains and I love it, I naturally don't want to eat breakfast anyhow, and I prefer a more substantial meal than the popular "mini meals" that a lot of people followed back then. So I do 16/8 everyday. Usually stop eating at 6pm and pick back up around 10 am, depends on the day and what I am doing though in how my day will go.0
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For twice a week, there's 5:2, where you eat at maintenance five days a week and around 500 calories (or 20-25% of maintenance) on 2 days.0
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StarvingDiva wrote: »I found IF back in 2012 through leangains and I love it, I naturally don't want to eat breakfast anyhow, and I prefer a more substantial meal than the popular "mini meals" that a lot of people followed back then. So I do 16/8 everyday. Usually stop eating at 6pm and pick back up around 10 am, depends on the day and what I am doing though in how my day will go.
I'm with you. I discovered leangains in January and the progress already is incredible. So nice to not have to worry about breakfast or all the snacking in between!1 -
I do it about 2 times a week. I just stop eating around 2:00 and then eat breakfast the next day.0
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Not sure it will help with weight loss in the short term, but studies have shown that intermittent (two non-consecutive days per week) can help with brain function and ward off the brain deposits associated with altzheimers. http://www.johnshopkinshealthreview.com/issues/spring-summer-2016/articles/are-there-any-proven-benefits-to-fasting0
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The only reason why IF works for me is because I grew up skipping breakfast. So its a lot easier for me to eat after 12 than before. I usually eat after 1 so that I can end at 9 since I eat more at night than throughout the day.
All my life I have heard that skipping breakfast contributed to weight gain when really it's CICO. Thank God for IF because everytime I tried to eat breakfast to lose weight, it just made me crave more food. IF keeps my appetite in check for some strange reason.
*shrugs*2 -
I'm a fan and have been doing it for years, I don't eat until 12-1pm almost everyday, I never was a breakfast person and always ate too much in the evenings, so this works for me because I have SOOO much more self control during the day, and I wasn't really hungry anyway. I also feel more focused and enjoy the feeling of a little hunger everyday. most of my fasting is done in my sleep, nice to sleep through that3
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