Tracking Intermittent Fasting (IF) Diet on MFP

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DesertStormKenn
DesertStormKenn Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am interested as to how to setup MFP to track calories while on IF routine. Can anyone assist and/or advise?

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    IF is not a diet, it's several meal setups. You could look at average per week, if you are doing 5:2 or fasts of 24 hours or more. If you're eating similarly every day, just use MFP like normal (after all, eating every day is quite normal).
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    IF is just a schedule for eating... what you eat, how many calories, etc etc is entirely up to you and outside the scope of IF.

    If you mean how to set up your diary for IF, go to Settings > Diary Settings and scroll down to Meal Names - you can rename those/create whatever you want there.
  • JMcGee2018
    JMcGee2018 Posts: 275 Member
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    I do IF, and the only difference in my MFP use compared to others is that I don't log a breakfast. IF is about the timing of you meals/when you eat, and doesn't affect anything like macros or CICO, although it makes it easier for me to adhere to a lower calorie limit.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Here are a couple IF groups with lots of info.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/49-intermittent-fasting

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    You can customize your meal titles and how many meal sections there are.

    I currently just have: "3pm-7pm", and "Supplements", as I'm doing 20:4.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    What kind of IF are you interested in? If it's the kind where you have low day and high days, simply don't close your diary on low days. If it's the kind where you have an eating window, you could customize your meal names and use time frames instead.
  • xhunter561
    xhunter561 Posts: 77 Member
    edited March 2018
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    i used to either set it up with different meal plans but* depending on what schedule i was using i'd only use one meal block label like 4 pm IF, 8 pm IF, 2 am IF, ect. now i just mark it in the notes. it's just what works for you. but i agree with most if its the same every day just label it like normal like meal one, two, ect.
  • DesertStormKenn
    DesertStormKenn Posts: 8 Member
    edited August 2018
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    xhunter561, I would like help setting up at 16/8 plan on MFP. Could you assist? I am looking to lose weight. I've been on IF 16/8 protocol since April 2018 and I've lost 22 lbs but I have been dabbling and not been very consistent. I can only imagine if I could track closely and how much I could lose. I also am weight training to keep muscle.
  • DesertStormKenn
    DesertStormKenn Posts: 8 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    What kind of IF are you interested in? If it's the kind where you have low day and high days, simply don't close your diary on low days. If it's the kind where you have an eating window, you could customize your meal names and use time frames instead.

    I am presently doing the 16/8 protocol, 7 days a week. I fast 8pm to 12pm and eat 12pm to 8pm. I hope that makes sense.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    DesertStormKenn wrote: »
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    What kind of IF are you interested in? If it's the kind where you have low day and high days, simply don't close your diary on low days. If it's the kind where you have an eating window, you could customize your meal names and use time frames instead.

    I am presently doing the 16/8 protocol, 7 days a week. I fast 8pm to 12pm and eat 12pm to 8pm. I hope that makes sense.

    There's nothing really to set up then. What exactly are trying to change in your food diary?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,080 Member
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    DesertStormKenn wrote: »
    xhunter561, I would like help setting up at 16/8 plan on MFP. Could you assist? I am looking to lose weight. I've been on IF 16/8 protocol since April 2018 and I've lost 22 lbs but I have been dabbling and not been very consistent. I can only imagine if I could track closely and how much I could lose. I also am weight training to keep muscle.

    Intermittent fasting is a method of eating all your day's foods within a certain amount of time.

    That's it.

    Nothing more to it. No magical fat burning. No magical O'clocks for the food . No "set up." Calories calories calories for weight loss.

    Eat whatever you want, in your time frame. Or outside your time frame. Doesn't matter. Calories.

    To lose weight, that amount of food needs to be an amount of food that is fewer calories than your body uses throughout the day.

    That's it.

    Eat what you want within calories and lose weight.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,080 Member
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    Not sure if clear.

    :wink:

    I have been eating 16/8 for most of my life. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner between the hours of X o'clock and X o'clock. Just so happens it's in an approximate eight hour time frame.

  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited August 2018
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    Just log what you eat, there's nothing to it. If you want, you can go into settings and change your meal names if you don't like that one says "breakfast".
  • aaronjohnson7355
    aaronjohnson7355 Posts: 1 Member
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    Just go to Home, then settings, and then you can change your meal names to times. Here is an example. wat0gk353v1z.png
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    DesertStormKenn wrote: »
    xhunter561, I would like help setting up at 16/8 plan on MFP. Could you assist? I am looking to lose weight. I've been on IF 16/8 protocol since April 2018 and I've lost 22 lbs but I have been dabbling and not been very consistent. I can only imagine if I could track closely and how much I could lose. I also am weight training to keep muscle.
    To lose weight, you just have to eat less - but for real, consistently, and for a long time. You can eat less of whatever you want, and eat whenever you want. Because nobody that is overweight, really want to eat less, and you have to eat less for real, consistently, and for a long time, and all eating decisions are ultimately yours anyway, do not let others "set up" a plan for you. Because that is what makes you confused and resentful and rebellious, and because one of the big reasons for being overweight or not losing weight is easy access to any delicious food you could want, at any time, anywhere, and comfort eating is an easy way to ease emotions temporarily, and if you eat more than planned, you will not lose weight. Seriously, it's that simple and straightforward and logical, and your choice is between setting yourself up for success or setting yourself up for failure.
  • SarahLascelles1
    SarahLascelles1 Posts: 95 Member
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    On premium you can set different targets for different days
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    SarahLascelles1 wrote: »
    On premium you can set different targets for different days
    Adding confusion is not really helpful for someone who struggles with the basic principles. IMO.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    DesertStormKenn wrote: »
    xhunter561, I would like help setting up at 16/8 plan on MFP. Could you assist? I am looking to lose weight. I've been on IF 16/8 protocol since April 2018 and I've lost 22 lbs but I have been dabbling and not been very consistent. I can only imagine if I could track closely and how much I could lose. I also am weight training to keep muscle.

    Just checking to make sure your goals are realistic - unless you still have more than 75 pounds to lose, a pound a week is an excellent rate of loss.

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