Intermittent Fasting Please help
cjproietti38
Posts: 8 Member
I wake up at 6:30 AM. I work Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. I then move on to MMA from 5:15-6:30 and sometimes 7:30. I hear that INTERMITTENT FASTING is a great way to lose weight. When and how do I get my meals in? I'm super confused on this whole fasting thing. My macros are:
Calories: 2200
Protein: 192 grams / 35%
Fat: 86 grams / 35%
Carbs: 165 grams / 30%
I weigh 240 lbs
Calories: 2200
Protein: 192 grams / 35%
Fat: 86 grams / 35%
Carbs: 165 grams / 30%
I weigh 240 lbs
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Replies
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Fasting is just narrowing down your meals to a feeding window. 16/8 a la Lean Gains, you fast for 16 hours and feed for 8 hours is the most popular version I think. Since most IF'ers skip breakfast you would basically eat your first meal at lunchtime, maybe have a late afternoon snack and another meal at dinner. The times of the meals depend on when you feel would be the easiest meal to skip. I have mostly seen a feeding window of 1pm - 9pm and a fasting window of 9pm - 1pm.
There is also the Eat Stop Eat method where you fast for 24 hours 1 to 2 times per week. Example would be dinner to dinner or lunch to lunch.
Just remember, fasting will only work if you stay within your calories.8 -
Fat loss is 100% about consistently being in a calorie deficit. IF is simply some people’s preferred way of eating while in a deficit. It does not do anything special for weight loss.10
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I don't consider myself as doing, intermediate fasting however i have breakfast around 7-30 to 8am lunch around 12, perhaps a snack around 3pm dinner from 5pm to 6pm. I don't eat after that, only have something to drink. that's just my routine.1
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I don't do this specifically, but two days a week (or at least one) I eat only 500 calories and no alcohol. The other days I keep to my max calories which is 1350.12
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Fasting is just narrowing down your meals to a feeding window. 16/8 a la Lean Gains, you fast for 16 hours and feed for 8 hours is the most popular version I think. Since most IF'ers skip breakfast you would basically eat your first meal at lunchtime, maybe have a late afternoon snack and another meal at dinner. The times of the meals depend on when you feel would be the easiest meal to skip. I have mostly seen a feeding window of 1pm - 9pm and a fasting window of 9pm - 1pm.
There is also the Eat Stop Eat method where you fast for 24 hours 1 to 2 times per week. Example would be dinner to dinner or lunch to lunch.
Just remember, fasting will only work if you stay within your calories.
To add to this, the eating window approach 16/8 differs from the 24 hours 1 or 2 times a week in that the 16/8 you eat at a deficit every day. The 24 hours 1 or 2 times a week you use those 1 or 2 24 hour periods to establish a deficit and eat at maintenance the other days.1 -
cjproietti38 wrote: »I hear that INTERMITTENT FASTING is a great way to lose weight.
Intermittent fasting is a tool in the toolbox of fat loss strategies. That said, there is nothing inherently special about intermittent fasting.
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I was diagnosed with Diabetes and I went to see a dietitian. She recommended I look at the research by Dr. Jason Fung. He discusses the science behind fasting. I highly recommend reading it. It has helped me considerably. I not only do a 16/8 fasting schedule (I eat 3 meals on those days and sometimes a snack) and do a 24 hour fast twice a week. When I hit a slump with weight loss I will do a 36 fast. Good luck with the weight loss.
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Thank you everyone for replying! I think I'm going to do the 16:8 split and only eat from 12 PM to 8 PM, considering I go to bed at 10:30 PM. I will make sure to stay at a deficit and continue to do my exercises. I will also do some research on Dr. Jason Fung to fully understand the science behind fasting. Thank you for the positive messages and advice! Feel free to add me to your friends list! I'm ready for my weight loss journey and I would love to learn and be inspired by your stories as well!
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I need to get my "woo" count up, so I'll go ahead and post my 6 wk experience w/IF.
I started IF because my wt had rapidly risen from 150 to 160 in just 6 months while eating 1800 cals and burning 300 cals each day rowing.
Didn't want to reduce the cals eaten or increase the cals burned daily, so I decided to give IF a try w/o changing anything else.
I hardly ever ate breakfast anyway, so doing 16:8 wasn't a problem, except to consciously avoid eating any late night snacks b4 going to bed.
In a very short time, I was able to easily reduce my eating period to just 5-6 hrs and do 19:5 or 18:6 IF instead, generally eating only between 12-6pm.
In these past 6 wks, I have lost the 10# from 160 to 150 gross wt and dropped my trend wt from 159 to 152. I am still eating 1800 and burning 300 cals/day.
The only thing that changed is doing 16:8 to 19:5 IF and burning the 300 cals daily by rowing during my fasting period b4 eating anything.
So, while there is apparently no scientific proof yet available that IF does anything other than limit when you eat and how much you can eat in that time, my experience is that doing IF is the only thing that can be singled out as the cause of my recent wt loss.
So, "woo" this post if you like, but unless you have actually tried doing IF in this way, you may be dismissing something of value that may be of use to you and/or others to achieve the wt loss (or control) than you or others may need and desire.
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Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.14
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pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.10 -
I need to get my "woo" count up, so I'll go ahead and post my 6 wk experience w/IF.
I started IF because my wt had rapidly risen from 150 to 160 in just 6 months while eating 1800 cals and burning 300 cals each day rowing.
Didn't want to reduce the cals eaten or increase the cals burned daily, so I decided to give IF a try w/o changing anything else.
I hardly ever ate breakfast anyway, so doing 16:8 wasn't a problem, except to consciously avoid eating any late night snacks b4 going to bed.
In a very short time, I was able to easily reduce my eating period to just 5-6 hrs and do 19:5 or 18:6 IF instead, generally eating only between 12-6pm.
In these past 6 wks, I have lost the 10# from 160 to 150 gross wt and dropped my trend wt from 159 to 152. I am still eating 1800 and burning 300 cals/day.
The only thing that changed is doing 16:8 to 19:5 IF and burning the 300 cals daily by rowing during my fasting period b4 eating anything.
So, while there is apparently no scientific proof yet available that IF does anything other than limit when you eat and how much you can eat in that time, my experience is that doing IF is the only thing that can be singled out as the cause of my recent wt loss.
So, "woo" this post if you like, but unless you have actually tried doing IF in this way, you may be dismissing something of value that may be of use to you and/or others to achieve the wt loss (or control) than you or others may need and desire.
In a few weeks I will have been meticulously tracking my results for a year. In that year I have not eaten breakfast one single time and I have almost always stayed within what the internet kids are calling 18:6 or, as I call it, eating normally for me. I have consistently lost my weight at around 3500 calories per pound. My deficit tracks very closely to the resulting weight loss.
So to recap you are a IF miracle in your 6 weeks and 10 pounds while I remain ever human in my 48 weeks and the 117 pounds I have lost in that time.
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When you have a lot of weight to chisel off, it falls off more impressively with discipline so good for you for your three digit weight loss, that’s a lot.
The OP dropped ten lean lbs. and that’s tougher. One of these days, you might have a better appreciation for the accomplishment.12 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.
Why don’t you tell us more about your experience or lack of it so we can learn something, much like we did from the OP’s sharing?
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I don't believe the OP said how many lbs he or she has lost.
Personally, I've done a large weight loss and I've lost "lean lbs" and I don't find either inherently easier or harder. It depends.
But in any case, you missed the point of Novus's comment, I believe, which was that he hasn't found that IFing changed his TDEE or allowed for unexpected and unaccounted for weight loss. I expect that's the norm (I've IF'ed, as the kids call it, at times, and it hasn't seemed to make a difference in how much total I could eat). I think limiting the times one eats can make it easier not to overeat (and I think that same applies when one focuses less on the window and more on simply eating only at designated meal times).
Others find other things help more.
OP is going to try eating from noon to 8 and hopefully that works well for him, but if he instead decides that he prefers eating breakfast (as well as dinner), that's not a bad thing either.5 -
So I've run into a bit of a problem. I just found out that classes will be going till 8:15 PM or 9:00 PM every night. I need to go to bed at 10:30 PM in order to wake up at 6:30 PM for work. Would 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM be bad because that would make me eat an hour before bed? I ask this because 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM would be the only way for me to get a meal in after MMA. I'm in a pickle
It's also rough that I'm waking up at 6:30 AM and not eating till 1:30 PM... is that a normal and healthy waiting period? 2 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.
Same here. My weight loss track exactly with calories when trended over time. Been doing it on and off for more than 10 years. Still waiting for the "miracle" results.4 -
pierinifitness wrote: »When you have a lot of weight to chisel off, it falls off more impressively with discipline so good for you for your three digit weight loss, that’s a lot.
The OP dropped ten lean lbs. and that’s tougher. One of these days, you might have a better appreciation for the accomplishment.
So you would contend that his CICO remained exactly the same and he dropped 10 pounds of fat by only practitioning IF? This is the kind of thing that confuses people who just want to live better lives. The N in N=1 can easily mean nonsense.8 -
cjproietti38 wrote: »So I've run into a bit of a problem. I just found out that classes will be going till 8:15 PM or 9:00 PM every night. I need to go to bed at 10:30 PM in order to wake up at 6:30 PM for work. Would 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM be bad because that would make me eat an hour before bed? I ask this because 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM would be the only way for me to get a meal in after MMA. I'm in a pickle It's also rough that I'm waking up at 6:30 AM and not eating till 1:30 PM... is that a normal and healthy waiting period?
There are no real rules or good/bad. The question I would have is would eating that late interfere with sleep? The 6:30 to 1:30 time from waking to eating is not in and of itself a problem. I do that frequently.
But if you are having difficulty with it, you might want to rethink it. Despite some of the claims of benefit with weight loss here for IF independent of calories, that has never been proven by research so far. Weight loss still comes down to calories in vs. calories out, despite the n=1 claims.6 -
pierinifitness wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.
Why don’t you tell us more about your experience or lack of it so we can learn something, much like we did from the OP’s sharing?
Why did you say "lack"? I usually eat one meal a day, sometimes two depending on if I feel a little peckish. I have been eating this way for a few months now.
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cjproietti38 wrote: »So I've run into a bit of a problem. I just found out that classes will be going till 8:15 PM or 9:00 PM every night. I need to go to bed at 10:30 PM in order to wake up at 6:30 PM for work. Would 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM be bad because that would make me eat an hour before bed? I ask this because 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM would be the only way for me to get a meal in after MMA. I'm in a pickle It's also rough that I'm waking up at 6:30 AM and not eating till 1:30 PM... is that a normal and healthy waiting period?
It can be. You could try and see how it goes. Some have trouble eating right before bed and some do not.
Personally, I have a schedule somewhat similar to yours, which is why I don't "IF" during Mon through Thursday. I run or do weights before work most mornings, and like having a meal of some kind after that. And I also like having dinner at home, and that means I'm eating both early and late. Friday is usually my rest day so I skip breakfast, and on the weekends I work out later and eat dinner earlier. That's a fine schedule too, but there is nothing wrong with not eating until 1:30 pm if you find you enjoy it and the late dinner is not interfering with your sleep.4 -
pierinifitness wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.
Why don’t you tell us more about your experience or lack of it so we can learn something, much like we did from the OP’s sharing?
You feel that there is something to be learned from individual anecdotes. But anecdotes =/= proof. There are way too many uncontrolled variables to draw any conclusions for n=1 anecdotes. They are just that, anecdotes. Not facts. For every anecdotal claim of some magic benefit from IF, there are many others, from people who have done it for long periods, that experienced nothing of the sort.
Personally, I'll put stock in an abundance of study data that shows similar conclusions and the studies so far have yet to show a metabolic advantage for IF. Some animal studies are interesting and indicate further study in humans should be conducted. But, a large percentage of the time, benefits in animal studies don't prove in humans.
I will wait until there is more conclusive evidence to make any larger claims about my IF than it helps me control calories. I don't find anecdotes from random people on an internet forum meets any standard of credible evidence I would trust.8 -
cjproietti38 wrote: »So I've run into a bit of a problem. I just found out that classes will be going till 8:15 PM or 9:00 PM every night. I need to go to bed at 10:30 PM in order to wake up at 6:30 PM for work. Would 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM be bad because that would make me eat an hour before bed? I ask this because 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM would be the only way for me to get a meal in after MMA. I'm in a pickle It's also rough that I'm waking up at 6:30 AM and not eating till 1:30 PM... is that a normal and healthy waiting period?
You could make your window 1:30pm - 9:30pm if you wanted. Keep this in mind, IF is supposed to be a tool to make dieting less, not more complicated. It is quite possible that it may not be for you.5 -
Thanks for the great advice again, everyone! I'm going to try this 1:30 PM - 9:30 PM IF and see how I feel. I'll commit to it and report back on August 12th to say how it's treating me. This will help me find out if IF is right for me. I'm ready for my weight loss and fitness journey!6
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cjproietti38 wrote: »Thanks for the great advice again, everyone! I'm going to try this 1:30 PM - 9:30 PM IF and see how I feel. I'll commit to it and report back on August 12th to say how it's treating me. This will help me find out if IF is right for me. I'm ready for my weight loss and fitness journey!
If it works for you and you can adapt to it, great! If not, just remember that lots of people have lost weight without IF. There is no magic to it and it is not a requirement. It is just a tool and not the most appropriate one in all circumstances.7 -
cjproietti38 wrote: »Thanks for the great advice again, everyone! I'm going to try this 1:30 PM - 9:30 PM IF and see how I feel. I'll commit to it and report back on August 12th to say how it's treating me. This will help me find out if IF is right for me. I'm ready for my weight loss and fitness journey!
Just to add, eating before bed is only problematic if it effects your sleep. I can eat before bed but my wife can not, very individual. The fasting part is tough but if you decide to do it you will get used to it.6 -
pierinifitness wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.
Why don’t you tell us more about your experience or lack of it so we can learn something, much like we did from the OP’s sharing?
You feel that there is something to be learned from individual anecdotes. But anecdotes =/= proof. There are way too many uncontrolled variables to draw any conclusions for n=1 anecdotes. They are just that, anecdotes. Not facts. For every anecdotal claim of some magic benefit from IF, there are many others, from people who have done it for long periods, that experienced nothing of the sort.
Personally, I'll put stock in an abundance of study data that shows similar conclusions and the studies so far have yet to show a metabolic advantage for IF. Some animal studies are interesting and indicate further study in humans should be conducted. But, a large percentage of the time, benefits in animal studies don't prove in humans.
I will wait until there is more conclusive evidence to make any larger claims about my IF than it helps me control calories. I don't find anecdotes from random people on an internet forum meets any standard of credible evidence I would trust.
Thanks for telling me what you're going to do. Yes I do believe there are lessons to be learned from what other people have done but I have to temper that sharing with my own experiences and research studies. Some of what other people share aligns with my own n=1 experiences and I find it interesting. Others, for example, don't align such as those who have practiced IF and gained weight. This, for me, is hard to imagine because I haven't experienced it.
The OP's share was interesting and his n=1 results are his/her to enjoy, not to be dismissed by those who haven't experienced similar results. The sum of a bunch of n=1 experiences is more than n=1.
If you're not taking note of your own n=1 experiences in the gym or in other aspects of your fitness, health and wellness, chances are your missing something valuable.
Interesting is that those who want to rain on the IF parade seem to be those who haven't experienced benefits or have gained weight following it. This is understandable.
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pierinifitness wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »pierinifitness wrote: »Thanks for sharing @sgt1372, you sre one of many who have an n=1 experience with IF that gives you more knowledge snd insight than the naysayers. Me too. Keep up the good work and thanks again for sharing.
I do IF too, I am still waiting for that experience. Keep marching on.
Why don’t you tell us more about your experience or lack of it so we can learn something, much like we did from the OP’s sharing?
You feel that there is something to be learned from individual anecdotes. But anecdotes =/= proof. There are way too many uncontrolled variables to draw any conclusions for n=1 anecdotes. They are just that, anecdotes. Not facts. For every anecdotal claim of some magic benefit from IF, there are many others, from people who have done it for long periods, that experienced nothing of the sort.
Personally, I'll put stock in an abundance of study data that shows similar conclusions and the studies so far have yet to show a metabolic advantage for IF. Some animal studies are interesting and indicate further study in humans should be conducted. But, a large percentage of the time, benefits in animal studies don't prove in humans.
I will wait until there is more conclusive evidence to make any larger claims about my IF than it helps me control calories. I don't find anecdotes from random people on an internet forum meets any standard of credible evidence I would trust.
Thanks for telling me what you're going to do. Yes I do believe there are lessons to be learned from what other people have done but I have to temper that sharing with my own experiences and research studies. Some of what other people share aligns with my own n=1 experiences and I find it interesting. Others, for example, don't align such as those who have practiced IF and gained weight. This, for me, is hard to imagine because I haven't experienced it.
The OP's share was interesting and his n=1 results are his/her to enjoy, not to be dismissed by those who haven't experienced similar results. The sum of a bunch of n=1 experiences is more than n=1.
If you're not taking note of your own n=1 experiences in the gym or in other aspects of your fitness, health and wellness, chances are your missing something valuable.
Interesting is that those who want to rain on the IF parade seem to be those who haven't experienced benefits or have gained weight following it. This is understandable.
Nobody is raining on the "IF" parade. To say that is both inaccurate and, quite honestly, inflammatory rhetoric that seems designed to invalidate the viewpoint of those who see it differently than you. It can be a valid tool. Some are skeptical of speculative claims and find it irresponsible to promote them.
BTW, the plural of anecdote is not facts. It is anecdotes. Anecdotes are not facts.8 -
pierinifitness wrote: »
Interesting is that those who want to rain on the IF parade seem to be those who haven't experienced benefits or have gained weight following it. This is understandable.
That's weird. I see posts all the time in threads like this who say they lost weight while following an IF schedule, but didn't notice any of the additional "n=1 proven only" benefits.
Why are people who counter your n=1 with their different n=1 "raining on the IF parade"? Isn't the fact that different people have different experiences with a strategy part of the value of asking for personal anecdotes?
Isn't the possibility that people who experience extra benefits are attributing results to IF that really arise from a different behavior, just as valuable as the possibility that people who don't experience the extra benefits are doing it wrong or missing something?cjproietti38 wrote: »Thanks for the great advice again, everyone! I'm going to try this 1:30 PM - 9:30 PM IF and see how I feel. I'll commit to it and report back on August 12th to say how it's treating me. This will help me find out if IF is right for me. I'm ready for my weight loss and fitness journey!
If eating at 9:30 doesn't work for you, you could always make your window earlier. While many people who IF do so because delaying eating during the day helps control their appetite, others actually do better eating in the earlier part of the day and "closing the kitchen" in the PM. You might also find that you are fine eating for less than 8 hours a day. Or you might just decide to eat when you eat and not worry about it Whatever gets you to the right calorie level comfortably. Good luck! 7 -
Very insightful kimny. It does seem that some select anecdotes to believe only when they align with one's personal bias. If they don't align with the personal bias, they are gaslighted and called things like "raining on the parade".pierinifitness wrote: »
Interesting is that those who want to rain on the IF parade seem to be those who haven't experienced benefits or have gained weight following it. This is understandable.
That's weird. I see posts all the time in threads like this who say they lost weight while following an IF schedule, but didn't notice any of the additional "n=1 proven only" benefits.
Why are people who counter your n=1 with their different n=1 "raining on the IF parade"? Isn't the fact that different people have different experiences with a strategy part of the value of asking for personal anecdotes?
Isn't the possibility that people who experience extra benefits are attributing results to IF that really arise from a different behavior, just as valuable as the possibility that people who don't experience the extra benefits are doing it wrong or missing something?cjproietti38 wrote: »Thanks for the great advice again, everyone! I'm going to try this 1:30 PM - 9:30 PM IF and see how I feel. I'll commit to it and report back on August 12th to say how it's treating me. This will help me find out if IF is right for me. I'm ready for my weight loss and fitness journey!
If eating at 9:30 doesn't work for you, you could always make your window earlier. While many people who IF do so because delaying eating during the day helps control their appetite, others actually do better eating in the earlier part of the day and "closing the kitchen" in the PM. You might also find that you are fine eating for less than 8 hours a day. Or you might just decide to eat when you eat and not worry about it Whatever gets you to the right calorie level comfortably. Good luck!
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