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Intermittent Fasting - Is it a good idea?
Replies
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I like IF but it just doesn't work for me when I work out in the mornings. I'm not going to get up at 5am, work out, and have nothing to eat until noonish. Just isn't going to happen. If I don't work out in the mornings, skipping breakfast is wonderful. Interesting to read about the adverse effects it can have on women though. (Well, female rats anyway) Never had any issues with fertility or my cycles though.4
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I read that IF can help guys better regulate hormones and also that it can help guys retain muscle mass while losing weight, assuming all else stays the same. I'm a 28 year old athletic 285 pound guy looking to loose some excess fat around my stomach. I'm experimenting with a low carb, restricted calorie, natural foods diet, with IF during the week, but allowing myself a cheat day on the weekend.
I was encouraged today to see that while I typically hover around 285 pounds, today I weighed about 274 pounds. I was shocked because I've been hovering around 285 pounds for awhile now, and that means I technically lost about 11 pounds in about a week. I can't say its IF alone causing this, and personally don't think its the main driver. I did low carb last week and calorie restriction, had three days of cheat meals this past weekend, and then did IF for two days this week with low carb and calorie restriction, and I've had some intense workouts over the past few days. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, but the hunger might force me to break the IF routine. If I give up IF, I definitely won't give up low carb, natural eating and trying to restrict calories, except for cheat days.5 -
I like IF but it just doesn't work for me when I work out in the mornings. I'm not going to get up at 5am, work out, and have nothing to eat until noonish. Just isn't going to happen. If I don't work out in the mornings, skipping breakfast is wonderful. Interesting to read about the adverse effects it can have on women though. (Well, female rats anyway) Never had any issues with fertility or my cycles though.
Yeah, I caught that part about women but since I'm old (62). I don't care about infertility, lol. I'm going to try it. Skipped breakfast this morning and had a bit larger lunch and was fine. In fact I'm not running to the kitchen at work looking for a snack today so that's a step in the right direction. Hard to tell just from a day. I'll definately check back in a couple weeks with my progress for anyone who's curious. Sounds to me like lots of folks have already been doing this for a while and I'm just slow getting out of the gate.9 -
cmriverside wrote: »I'd much rather have two biggish meals than a bunch of little ones. I do get hungry midday, but I know I'm getting enough food so I have to work through that. Little meals frustrate me.
IF works for me for that reason. I'll have 800 calories in the morning, a couple hundred midday, and 800-1000 a couple hours before bed.
I'd much rather have 3 decent-sized meals than a bunch of little ones (grazing would make me miserable and I dislike snacking), which is why I tend to break meals up into 3 generally similarly-sized ones (breakfast is a bit smaller than dinner when I'm not on a deficit).
On days when I plan to have a larger dinner (restaurant plans), I commonly skip breakfast and have an early lunch instead, so 2 meals.
I think this gives me benefits pretty similar to the ones people who like IF experience from IF even though quite often I am far from an IF schedule (I eat before I go to work, so before 7, and I cook dinner after I come home, which means I often eat dinner around 9).
I think meal schedules tend to be personal and about what works for people, so especially for those who don't feel hungry in the morning IF can be a great plan. Since I like breakfast and like cooking and eating dinner at home, it doesn't work for me, but I get the appeal as I think it's not that different from my preference for not snacking.4 -
cheryldumais wrote: »I like IF but it just doesn't work for me when I work out in the mornings. I'm not going to get up at 5am, work out, and have nothing to eat until noonish. Just isn't going to happen. If I don't work out in the mornings, skipping breakfast is wonderful. Interesting to read about the adverse effects it can have on women though. (Well, female rats anyway) Never had any issues with fertility or my cycles though.
Yeah, I caught that part about women but since I'm old (62). I don't care about infertility, lol. I'm going to try it. Skipped breakfast this morning and had a bit larger lunch and was fine. In fact I'm not running to the kitchen at work looking for a snack today so that's a step in the right direction. Hard to tell just from a day. I'll definately check back in a couple weeks with my progress for anyone who's curious. Sounds to me like lots of folks have already been doing this for a while and I'm just slow getting out of the gate.
62 IS NOT OLD llol....Ok that's out of my system but I would think @snickerscharlie may have a good word or two.
My personal perspective is that if any WoE is not going to negatively impact you for medical reasons, there's no real reason to not try it if you're curious. If you don't like it, change back.5 -
IF has a lot of benefits aside from weight loss. Well that’s what I’ve read anyway. Personally I just find it easier to eat in an 8 hour window. I’m never hungry in the morning so skipping breakfast is easy for me. But IF is not magic. You still have to maintain a deficit to get results.3
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I find it interesting that for a lot of people IF=skipping breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day so when I IF I stop eating by 4, so I skip dinner and the eat-all-the-sweet-snacks-before-bed danger zone. Fasting between 4pm and 7ish the next morning works best for me. I love that I can feel very full midday, make sure I get all my nutrition and cals in, and then forget about food for the rest of the day. I have more time too now that I'm only prepping and cleaning basically 2 meals a day.7
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Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »I find it interesting that for a lot of people IF=skipping breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day so when I IF I stop eating by 4, so I skip dinner and the eat-all-the-sweet-snacks-before-bed danger zone. Fasting between 4pm and 7ish the next morning works best for me. I love that I can feel very full midday, make sure I get all my nutrition and cals in, and then forget about food for the rest of the day. I have more time too now that I'm only prepping and cleaning basically 2 meals a day.
I often skip dinner. You are good.0 -
I think it works for some, but not all. It might work for me, but I know it isn’t sustainable because I’m a food addict and being that hungry just doesn’t work well for me.3
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@Hungry_Shopgirl I work out in the evenings so skipping dinner is not an option for me.0
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@cemetree - I have been doing IF for about 5 years now and it had the opposite effect on me. I’m muuuuch less hungry now whereas before I was hungry all the time while eating more.
I usually eat around 1pm and stop eating around 10pm. I don’t limit myself to 2 meals. I may also have some snacks. But, I’m never hungry outside my window. Just food for thought.1 -
Nah not for me. Food is fuel1
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I've read many of the benefits of IF come from letting the liver etc complete their cycle of digestion/elimination, clearing the decks so the body has a clean sheet to start again, rather than constantly being reset to start by constant snacking. I don't remember the duration of the cycle, I don't think I'm not far out putting it at 6 hours. So as long as one does not have midnight feasts and may be clears 8 to 12 hours "over night", of not eating, one can also achieve benefits. Primarily do what is right for you, in this no one else matters14
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I ran no dinner for a while during losing weight. I eventually found it wasn't particularly helpful, and after back and forth with the research analysis on it, I felt I'd rather getting in more meals in day to get that little bit of protein synthesis going on. I'm not sure that it makes a difference to preserving or gaining muscle, but I'm very confident it won't hurt it, so I err on that side.2
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IF has an insane amount of health benefits if done correctly. Plus it helps keep your calories down.24
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lukejoycePT wrote: »IF has an insane amount of health benefits if done correctly. Plus it helps keep your calories down.
Not necessarily - IF is my natural eating pattern and I have lost weight, gained weight and maintained weight eating that way... it all comes down to calories in the end.9 -
I always feel that if it's not a sustainable thing, it's probably not worth doing. Int fasting is one of those I feel that you're (probably) not going to do 1, 5, 10+ years for now. I also believe it's all based on calories in and eating less for your desired outcome, not really based on fasting or not fasting for a few hours.3
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lukejoycePT wrote: »IF has an insane amount of health benefits if done correctly. Plus it helps keep your calories down.
Not necessarily - IF is my natural eating pattern and I have lost weight, gained weight and maintained weight eating that way... it all comes down to calories in the end.
of course, i agree but i merely meant that if you are tracking calories that by not eating for the fasting window allows for the calories to be consumed later meaning it makes its easier to stick within a calorie goal.4 -
cheryldumais wrote: »Thought this was well written and wanted to hear others' thoughts on it.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide#benefits
That is a great article on the subject.
Doing one's own n=1 trial is the only way I know to answer that question for each person.10 -
I have done the 5/2 diet in the past, and it worked for me. In fact, I'm going to start doing it again. I like the feeling of being hungry all day- makes me feel appreciative of all that I have been given. Some people are hungry every day, so for me it's also a spiritual thing. I also don't drink wine on the 2 fasting days, and I love wine. I eat no more than 500 calories on these days. Sometimes I go a little over on my normal days (I get 1350 calories) so it evens out.5
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