I do this often, it is my lifestyle. I often just dont eat until lunch or dinner in order to have a bigger meal. It doesnt melt more fat in my opinion. It is only suitable in combination with low carb cos otherwise you will be too hungry.

As above, do it if it fits your lifestyle and if it will make your diet easier for you, but I don't think there's any benefit over eating the same amount of calories spread over lots of meals and snacks. Totally personal preference. x

I'm doing a 24-hour fasting now but seeing how easy it is (only 3 hours left) I'll directly try with 36 hours.

I've been intentionally doing intermittent fasting for 3 months now and haven't looked back. Like you, I was pretty much doing 16:8 before I started committing to IF just because of my schedule. Usually I'll eat throughout the 8 hour period (usually stick to around 1200-1400 since I'm trying to lose atm) but even if I eat above my calorie goal I've been losing weight

sophie9492015 wrote: »

Is there really a difference between fasting and just eating low calories if you still eat the same calories?

Yes, in the sense that it is much much easier for some people to consume fewer calories by fasting. If they ate all day they would go over their calorie limit.

I do Intermittent Fasting (IF) formally sometimes, but also informally by not eating until noon or afterward.

I am starting with 16:8 - but would like to work to 20:4

I don't think of it so much as fasting as recognizing that after 6 p.m., I'm not going to make good food choices. I tend to finish my eating for the day around 6 p.m., and then have breakfast at around 7 a.m.

I hope this doesn't sound disrespectful, but whenever I visited my in-laws in Florida, we went to the early bird special at 4: 30 and they went to bed around 8 p.m. and then got up at 5 p.m. DH and I just went along with this (though we didn't go to bed at 8 p.m.) So, maybe I'm not so much fasting, as I am an early adopter of more senior citizen habits!

i prefer to fast rather than spread calories out but fasting is not suitable for everyone. If you want to know more look at thefastdiet.co.uk it has the science of why fasting is good for your body and tells you how to try intermittent fasting.

I’ve been intermittent fasting for 4 1/2 years. I do the 5/2 way though.... Monday’s and Thursday’s limit calories to 500. This works for me, though I find my body has become used to it now, so it does nothing for weight loss.... it did in the beginning. I do however feel greater mental clarity on fast days. I’m contemplating trying 16/8 as welll....

I sometimes fast when I feel like I'm fixating too much on food, depriving myself and feeling unsatisfied. I've gone as many as 4+ days on just water, but more for spiritual reasons than weight-loss. I wouldn't recommend it on a regular basis, because your body goes into conservation mode after a couple days and it won't help you burn the reserves you have. But if I'm going to do a regular light-calorie day, like the 2 in the 5/2, I always start early to make sure I'm not letting my metabolism hit the snooze button from the night before rather than skipping breakfast entirely.

Fun fact: all you need to start your metabolism in the morning is 7 almonds. Not enough to be a meal that makes you hungry when it's gone, but just enough to start the day!

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I don't call it fasting but I guess so- I skip breakfast often because I get busy or the idea of food makes me a little sick. I'll go about 16 or so hours between dinner/dessert and the next day's lunch. If I do small meals or graze, i end up overeating.

Fasting does the exact opposite you what you want it to unfortunately.

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/is_fasting_healthy

It slows your metabolism. I tried it for 48 hours and gained 2.5 pounds throughout the next week.