rkmeyer41 wrote: »

What exactly is considered an IF? I read 16 hours, your thoughts Paul?

Yes people consider the 16/8 to be intermittent fasting and people can make their eating window whatever they want to gain more fasting hours between eating meals. Personally I started out and have always done 23 to 23.5 hrs fasting between my one meal a day so I can't compare that to the 16/8 regiment myself.

CrispyStars3 wrote: »

Fantastic success!! Congratulations! Thank you for sharing.
I agree with a previous poster... recipes, please

Thank you!! I will try to do a better job compiling and including ingredient recipes with the food photos

fdhunt1 wrote: »

Paul:
What motivated you to go down to one meal a day and what was the most influential piece you read about diet & hormones?

When I was younger I was very much into power lifting, taking amino acids, playing sports etc. and if I wanted to lose some body fat back then (about 25-30 years ago now) I would skip meals during the day and I cut out processed foods, and carbs to get away from hidden sugars mostly. And it worked so fast and well back then that, that always stuck in my head over the years. As I gained more weight over the years and not realizing I was insulin resistant I kept going on and off diets and always gained back the weight. Never successfully keeping it off because I didn't know about the insulin resistance and I didn't accept the fact that I was addicted to carbs (sugar). I am 100% aware now of what is going on with my body and metabolism so I am finding it very easy to change the way I think of food (energy supply) and have a whole different outlook on it all now.

I personally have seen a couple people close to me lose close to 100 lbs each both by doing what I am doing so witnessing that got me to start reading more about insulin resistance, how hormones affect fat storage in our bodies, and how we can manipulate our metabolisms by what we consume and how we live. I can't point to any one thing that I read that concreted my views on this. It was more seeing actual people I know live it and be successful with it that got me on my way. I also saw they blood and urine lab results and that was very very eye opening to me.

One of the most common comments I hear from folks that are curious about IF and LCHF way of living is that they think...'man it must be so hard eating that way' In reality it is the easiest way of controlling what goes in your body, satiation feelings, energy balance etc. that I have ever imagined. As I have lived this way now for bit over 6 months I observe others more now from a whole different perspective. I notice the vast majority of people worrying about eating all day long with snacks, and I see how it affects their moods, energy and their objectives during their days. I have zero concerns about any of that. All I have to think about is what kind of flavor I would like to eat that day. Not ever because I'm hungry or "craving" any kind of foods at all. If you could call anything a craving with me now days the closest thing I could say would be that I "crave" nutrition. When I grocery shop it so easy now. I don't buy anything in a can or a box. I make everything myself. Well for packaged food though I do buy Stevia and brown sugar substitute Sukrin Gold but other than that my grocery bill is so cheap now and planning my meals are so easy and much more enjoyable planning very flavor filled nutritious meals.

Seeing immediate results of huge energy increase, fat loss, and most importantly all my health markers improving have kept me motivated and always looking forward with a positive feeling about it all. And I am never obsessed with calories in /calories out. Although I do feel that some people have to be. We are not all the same and insulin resistant people are much more affected by hormones than others. So saying that I am fortunate that my body responds so well with what I am doing. And i can note that every person I know doing this and being strict with it has improved all of their health markers and all have lost amazing amounts of fat. So those are all of the things surrounding the reasons what lead me to where I am and how I will always continue living. The only thing I will be changing in the near future will be my macro levels when I get all the fat off of me. I will then step up my protein intake and calorie intake in order to put on some more lean mass. Just as a personal objective. So far I have retained all of my lean mass and my doctor and dietician say I have very adequate amounts of lean mass for my body frame but I'd just like to see a bit more personally. So I put mini goals on myself and adjust them as I go and it works well for me that way.

Today I am at 89.6 lbs lost so far. 94 lbs is one of my mini goal markers cause that will put me at an even 180 lbs. My next mini goal is at 174 lbs which is where my doctor and dietician predict my body fat % will be at a perfectly normal level so when I get to that point we will be testing my body fat both by calipers and Dexa scan and then go from there.

nvmomketo wrote: »

When you do have a social event people are going to be baffled. They'll see you eating all that food and then look at how you are losing... They'll think you have a tapeworm or something.

Lol totally! That happens a lot on social media with friends and family I put pictures of my meals and they are wondering how I'm losing weight eating great foods and a big serving. Which is cool cause then they ask a lot of questions and that's actually how a few good friends have started to lose weight now too after seeing what's going on with me. A few friends that are Type 2 Diabetics; so it's very nice when they start asking questions about it. Especially when I hear they are lowering their insulin doses because of it and I think they are starting to realize now that they may be able to get off their insulin completely if they keep at it.

rich41n wrote: »

I can't tell you how much of your beginning story mirrors me right now. I started around 300 lbs last year with my numbers high and considered pre-diabetic. I got my diet mostly under control, started a regular excercise program (cardio and strength training), and lost about 30 lbs. That lead to better lab numbers. I started to backslide and have been bouncing back around mid 280s when I started keto about 5 weeks ago. I lasted about 3 weeks and lost 15 lbs (mostly water i'm assuming). Then about 2 weeks ago went on vacation and it all went to hell. Back to 279 now. You're story is really inspirational, thank you for sharing. I need to get my butt in gear! I haven't considered IF but may give it a shot.

-Rich

Hi Rich! Thank you that's great to hear Right on man knowing where you are at and for what reasons things can go sideways is half the battle. Being realistic and honest with your self, like you are, is very important. I'd like to suggest to you that some good research to do would be on 'insulin resistance' and being addicted to sugar (carbs). Some folks are very affected by addiction to carbs and a lot of times it's hard to put that connection to ourselves together. I discovered I have been addicted to them for most of my life. Not saying you are but it may be a possibility for you to consider and look into further. Dopamine receptors in our brains are affected by not just drugs and alcohol but also by foods.

Intermittent fasting has a lot of benefits that have been proven over history but even newer research is underway by lot's of different people around the world who are looking deeper into it. One of the major positive things about it when combining it with trying to lose fat is that if done strictly it can have a huge positive affect on satiation, hunger suppression, making the stomach feel much fuller quicker because the elasticity of the stomach decreases exponentially over time doing time restricted eating, (science proves our stomachs don't technically "shrink". They just get more stretched out or less stretched out but always retain their same biological fibers size/weight wise) But it is when they get so stretched out over time of eating all the time and overeating where that feeling of never being full comes from. I get full so quickly now it still surprises me every day when I eat. It is a great way of controlling overeating tendencies. Other health benefits include raised testosterone and HGH, increased energy, and autophagy in extended fasting. But those things need a lot of reading/research to cover all the info about it. Would be a huge post if I tried to cover it all here.
Two of the main things to make sure you do if you are going to do Keto and/or combine IF with it is to make sure you get in adequate amounts of electrolytes every single day (while not taking in excessive amounts of potassium which can be bad if over consumed) and ensuring you get in adequate amounts of protein in order to retain lean mass while losing the fat.

3 Lbs to go to get to my next mini goal then carrying on to the next goat which will be at 174 lbs. That will put me at 100 lbs lost at that point

Thank you @fdhunt1 !