First post. Intermittent fasting vs old fashioned cico
tuftedghostdeer
Posts: 24 Member
I tried Intermittent Fasting (IF) for a solid month and lost 3 pounds within 2 weeks and then was stuck the other 2 weeks. It appealed to me because of the promise of eating what you wanted within a certain window without having to count calories to lose weight.
After getting frustrated with being stuck, I started counting calories. I get to eat throughout the day without starving. I don't get to eat whatever I want whenever I want. I have to be careful. But it's not really that hard of a sacrifice. I'm exercising 30 minutes a day without feeling faint like I did when fasting. And my weight has gone down consistently. No sticking.
Calorie counting it is. Oh, and I eat more fruits and veg because they are low in calories where with IF I barely ate them.
Anyone have similar experiences? Everyone just seems so obsessed with fasting these days. I have tried both low carb and fasting (not at the same time) and I dont think they are for me.
After getting frustrated with being stuck, I started counting calories. I get to eat throughout the day without starving. I don't get to eat whatever I want whenever I want. I have to be careful. But it's not really that hard of a sacrifice. I'm exercising 30 minutes a day without feeling faint like I did when fasting. And my weight has gone down consistently. No sticking.
Calorie counting it is. Oh, and I eat more fruits and veg because they are low in calories where with IF I barely ate them.
Anyone have similar experiences? Everyone just seems so obsessed with fasting these days. I have tried both low carb and fasting (not at the same time) and I dont think they are for me.
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IF is an eating style.
If you want to lose weight you need to burn more than you eat... if you do this eating 6 meals that's fine, if you do it eating 2 meals in an 8 hour window then that's also fine. Whatever works!3 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »I tried Intermittent Fasting (IF) for a solid month and lost 3 pounds within 2 weeks and then was stuck the other 2 weeks. It appealed to me because of the promise of eating what you wanted within a certain window without having to count calories to lose weight.
Not sure where you got that idea, but that's not what IF is about at all. Calories always matter, no matter what time you eat them. I can easily eat my way to a calorie surplus in an 8 hour eating window.
You don't necessarily have to count calories to lose weight - but you do have to consume less calories than you expend, by whatever means that is accomplished. That applies no matter what eating schedule you're on or what your dietary composition is (IIFYM, keto, paleo, veg*an, etc.).
I consider counting calories during weight loss to be the same concept as using a map/navigation aids during a long trip. Sure, I can leave my house headed for some small town in North Dakota without using a map, and eventually I'll find my way there....but it sure would be easier and a lot more efficient if I had an idea where I was actually going and used something to make sure I was on course along the way.9 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »I tried Intermittent Fasting (IF) for a solid month and lost 3 pounds within 2 weeks and then was stuck the other 2 weeks. It appealed to me because of the promise of eating what you wanted within a certain window without having to count calories to lose weight.
Not sure where you got that idea, but that's not what IF is about at all. Calories always matter, no matter what time you eat them. I can easily eat my way to a calorie surplus in an 8 hour eating window.
You don't necessarily have to count calories to lose weight - but you do have to consume less calories than you expend, by whatever means that is accomplished. That applies no matter what eating schedule you're on or what your dietary composition is (IIFYM, keto, paleo, veg*an, etc.).
I consider counting calories during weight loss to be the same concept as using a map/navigation aids during a long trip. Sure, I can leave my house headed for some small town in North Dakota without using a map, and eventually I'll find my way there....but it sure would be easier and a lot more efficient if I had an idea where I was actually going and used something to make sure I was on course along the way.
Delay Dont Deny book0 -
Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.5
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tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.10 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.
She has done so because eating within a shorter time window enabled her to eat fewer calories than she was burning, whether she realised it or not. Science tells us that is how weight loss happens: it's all about energy balance5 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.
Because she was in a calorie deficit4 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.
They don't count calories in the traditional sense of weighing out portions and logging the calories, you are correct about that. But by limiting the eating window, they are still forcing their bodies into a calorie deficit because they simply can't (or don't) consume a high enough amount of calories during that window to gain weight. The calorie energy balance (CICO) is still at play, but it's just different methods to get there. CICO is one of those terms that sometimes gets used interchangeably with calorie counting on this site, so you have to look for context to figure out which one the person means.
I imagine for some people, the limited eating window can be helpful, particularly if counting calories causes other issues for them (like obsessing over counts or not being able to enjoy eating because of anxiety over the calorie count), and if they don't overeat in that window. The approach could be problematic for people who are volume eaters, or those that are consuming high calorie foods, because it would be easy to go over their calorie count.5 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.
All IF does is make it easier for some people to stay within the calories needed to lose because they end up eating fewer calories during that window. The fact people lose weight means they are in a calorie deficit, period. Doesn't matter how it happened.3 -
A following doesn't mean anything. Dictators have huge followings too. In fact having a huge Facebook following would be a MASSIVE red flag to me.
Your body uses energy (calories) in order to function. To keep your body functioning you consume food for energy (calories). If you supply your body with more energy (calories) than you use on average then your body will store that energy (calories) as fat. If you consume less energy (calories) than you use your body will draw on it's fat reserves to continue to function.
When you eat those calories and where those calories come from don't matter when it comes to weight loss. It's nothing but biological accounting.
For some people IF will let them naturally consume a calorie deficit without counting calories but that doesn't mean they're NOT eating in a calorie deficit, they just don't know they are. Others are easily able to go into a calorie surplus on IF and will 100% gain weight.
IF isn't magic. It's not special or some miracle. It's just an eating pattern that some people find is suitable to help them control their caloric intake.5 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.
It works for some people because they end up eating less calories within the shorter eating window without counting. They feel more full because they eat all their calories in a shorter amount of time and simply don't get too hungry in their fasting window.
About two years ago I decided to try skipping breakfast as I was never hungry in the AM and ended up basically doing 16:8. I still logged my food and hit my calorie goal, but I liked being able to eat more during my eating window because I wasn't wasting calories in the AM when I didn't have an appetite. Then a few months ago I started waking up hungry. After a couple of weeks of struggling with it, I decided to start eating breakfast again and have been back to a more traditional eating schedule. The same amount of calories is keeping me in maintenance, but I'm eating from 9AM - 9PM instead of 12PM-8PM.
Often people who don't count calories feel like they are eating more than they used to, but they are really just more satisfied. And a FB following doesn't mean squat. Lots of people think they've found some magic secret, when what they've really found is the best way for them personally to stay in a calorie deficit. But since they don't consistently log, they don't see it in the numbers. :drinker:3 -
I agree. IF was not for me. Just pointing out the book and the following in case anyone wanted to look it up and see the beliefs since others were commenting about not knowing where I came up with that concept.1
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All weight loss works because of CICO. Whether you count calories and log them, do IF, follow a particular way of eating like keto, the weight loss comes from creating a calorie deficit for yourself.
The author and his/her followers are still creating a calorie deficit by eating within a certain window. They may not be specifically counting calories but the calories still count for weight loss as part of CICO.3 -
tuftedghostdeer wrote: »tinovillaro wrote: »Wrong approach to IF. CICO still applies.
Not according to the book Delay Dont Deny...author has a facebook group with tens of thousands of followers. They dont count calories, eat what they want, only worry about eating window. I left the group because it wasnt for me. But author has a huge following and promotes fasting without fussing with calories. She's lost 80 pounds and kept it off.
There are plenty of fraudulent charlatans with tens of thousands (or more) of followers. That says nothing about their methods or credibility, just says there are a lot of gullible people desperately seeking a shortcut or “magic pill” for weight loss.
The fact is, if you eat more calories than you expend, you will not lose weight. No matter what time you eat them, and no matter what any crackpot trying to peddle their books or supplements says.
And CICO isn’t a diet/WOE. It’s an acronym for “calories in, calories out”, which refers to the physical law of energy balance. Any diet which results in weight loss is CICO, no matter what catchy marketing tag somebody tries to slap on it.3 -
Yes, see my above agreement response.1
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