Intermittent fasting: sounds bad

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Replies

  • deceived1
    deceived1 Posts: 281 Member
    edited August 2018
    I naturally gravitate towards towards an IF schedule, but not intentionally. I wake up and exercise, and aside from creamer in my coffee, I have no calories until afternoon (I'm not hungry until 12-2PM, depending on the day). Get most of my calories in between 1-9PM on most days. Works for me! I don't feel restricted whatsoever.
  • elsie6hickman
    elsie6hickman Posts: 3,864 Member
    I'm confused by it too. If you are eating breakfast and having a light lunch and then a substantial dinner and consume the same number of calories in a shorter period of time, why does it work? I'm sure it is more involved involved than that. Does it matter what foods you consume and is there a calorie target. I know a lot of people seem to believe it broke though a weight plateau for them.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    It's just a way of timing meals that makes it easier for some people to maintain a calorie deficit. 16:8 (fasting 16 hours, eating in an 8-hour window), 18:6, or 20:4 (approaching one-meal-a-day) are popular splits, as is 5:2 (5 days eating at maintenance, 2 days eating low-calorie to create the desired weekly deficit).

    Why do you think any of the above would be unhealthy, provided one is meeting their nutritional and caloric needs? Have you never skipped breakfast? That's essentially what the least restrictive form of IF amounts to.

    I guess the only one that sounds iffy to me is the 20:4 split. Although come to think of it, I bet our neanderthal ancestors often had to get by with one meal a day or less. I just feel like it seems better to have small meals at a time, helping keep the body fueled but not overloading it at any one time.

    Our body is a wonderful thing. It has evolved several systems of fuel usage and storage. This is why we are so adapted to all kinds of situations. Your body is almost always fueled in normal situations. If food is scarce, it has several kinds of fuel reserves. If food is overabundant, it has several kinds of fuel storage mechanisms. This is why we get to do whatever we want with our food timing and it wouldn't be unhealthy unless we're underfeeding long term or have specific medical abnormalities that are made worse by fasting.
  • walking2running
    walking2running Posts: 140 Member
    Intermittent fasting can be 'bad' or 'good' depending on what you make of it! I use some of the Intermittent fasting strategies on weekends. 1200 calories can only go that far, and on the weekends, I like to indulge a bit more, have some bread and cheese and pizza. IF allows me to enjoy slightly bigger meals by skipping breakfast. Skipping breakfast has always been a "no-no" in my head until IF opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking. I wasn't ruining my metabolism by skipping breakfast? Wow, how liberating.

    Yeah, I don't do the full 5:2 or 18:6, but you can learn the good and throw away the bad from all kinds of fad diets and crazes. I tried 5:2 and it wasn't for me. I have small kids and there's no way I can have the energy to run after them on those fasting days. Didn't work for me and I was hangry and miserable.
  • maggiejo717
    maggiejo717 Posts: 3 Member
    Fasting helped me lose weight and took my mind off of food actually- I only have to plan 2 meals...I don’t eat after 8pm and I wait to eat till after noon, I do drink a lot of water and have a cup of coffee in the morning also. The first couple days I was hungry in the morning so I ate at 10, but after I wasn’t hungry until noon! Try it out :)