12 to 14 Hour Fasts, Do They Work?

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Replies

  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    Gilligan67 wrote: »
    I have been on what's called a 16/8 fast. On Monday's and Thursday's I do what's called 5/2 where I only eat 600 calories on those days. In between I eat well and exercise a lot. 25 lbs lost in 3.5 months. There are good days and bad days. Try to have a lot more good days than bad. It's not for everyone, but it works for me.

    Good job! That's alot of weight to lose in 3 months!
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    So I have been fasting from 7pm to 7am for the past few weeks and at first it was tough (because I feel the hungriest in the evening).

    I was wondering does anyone fast on here and has it helped or hurt your weight loss goals. And what do you do to beat your evening cravings if you happen to have nighttime munchies lol.

    Comment Below :)

    I guess I fast for 12 hours daily. I eat breakfast at 9-10am and have dinner anywhere from 8-10pm. It's not intentional, just when I get hungry and when I end up going to bed.

    What helps my weight loss, maintenance and or bulk goals is energy balance...
  • DanyellMcGinnis
    DanyellMcGinnis Posts: 315 Member
    I actually can't do it because I'm on medication I have to take with food (if I don't get at least 400 calories with the medication, I get dizzy and don't feel safe driving, etc., as I've experimented with this number a bit) twice a day, which for practical purposes (involving my job and not eating before doing cardio) means at about 7AM and about 8:30-9PM.

    On the plus side, IF is absolutely not necessary for weight management if you can't make it work, and the medication finally has my blood pressure under control. (Losing weight did not help one bit with that.)

    But in general I think it is nice to have a lot of different strategies so people can choose what works for them.
  • divinehipster69
    divinehipster69 Posts: 17 Member
    edited August 2019
    If you don't eat until later in the day, rather than fasting after eating the same day, you won't feel hungry after a certain amount of time. I used to intermittent fast/one meal a day kind of thing. After a few hours of hunger in the morning it goes away. If I ate anything I would actually be hungrier after a while. The longest I've fasted was 3 days. The first day in the morning I was hungriest. After 12 hours I didn't even want food anymore.
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    If you don't eat until later in the day, rather than fasting after eating the same day, you won't feel hungry after a certain amount of time. I used to intermittent fast/one meal a day kind of thing. After a few hours of hunger in the morning it goes away. If I ate anything I would actually be hungrier after a while.

    A friend of mine ate the same way for a while. He said it was actually more difficult if he allowed himself a snack now and then, but not bad at all if he ate/drank nothing. I did OMAD back before it was a thing, and still do IF fairly frequently, but mostly because it's just easier to fit into my schedule.

    I do vastly prefer the fasted workouts in the morning though. Food followed by a workout just leaves me feeling lethargic.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,889 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    So I have been fasting from 7pm to 7am for the past few weeks and at first it was tough (because I feel the hungriest in the evening).

    I was wondering does anyone fast on here and has it helped or hurt your weight loss goals. And what do you do to beat your evening cravings if you happen to have nighttime munchies lol.

    Comment Below :)

    If I don't have a bed time snack I wake up hungry in the middle of the night and that messes up my next day.

    How many pounds do you want to lose total and what weekly weight loss goal did you chose? You many be hungry at night because your calorie deficit is overly aggressive for the amount of weight you want to lose.

    9kjwnia17qv9.jpg

    Or you might not being getting enough of a particular macro that you need to feel full. For me, that is protein (and fiber).

    My calories is 1,240 daily and my goal weight is 120.

    Few more Qs:
    1. How tall are you?
    2. How many pounds until you reach 120?
    3. What weekly weight loss goal did you chose?
  • JusstSara
    JusstSara Posts: 6 Member
    edited August 2019
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    So I have been fasting from 7pm to 7am for the past few weeks and at first it was tough (because I feel the hungriest in the evening).

    I was wondering does anyone fast on here and has it helped or hurt your weight loss goals. And what do you do to beat your evening cravings if you happen to have nighttime munchies lol.

    Comment Below :)

    I've been doing IF protocols for years now and for me personally, I realized that eating at night was due to habit and not actual hunger. After I figured that out it became much easier to 'close the kitchen' after my evening meal and now it feels really weird if I do have to eat at night (social situations etc).
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    LOL. So I've been fasting all this time? I'm in bed for about 10 hours a night, and usually don't eat within an hour or so of bedtime unless I have a ton of calories left. So I naturally don't eat for a 12 hour period. I thought that was just normal to not eat while you sleep...I would never have considered that fasting! I absolutely need to eat my breakfast soon after waking, though. I can't imagine the people who go about their day fasting on an empty stomach. I couldn't function! :D

    P.S. I sound so lazy sleeping half my life away, but I'm actually very physically active during my waking hours... ;)
  • nooboots
    nooboots Posts: 480 Member
    Its just normal isnt it? Its why breakfast is called breakfast, its the meal that breaks the fast.
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    edited August 2019
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    So I have been fasting from 7pm to 7am for the past few weeks and at first it was tough (because I feel the hungriest in the evening).

    I was wondering does anyone fast on here and has it helped or hurt your weight loss goals. And what do you do to beat your evening cravings if you happen to have nighttime munchies lol.

    Comment Below :)

    If I don't have a bed time snack I wake up hungry in the middle of the night and that messes up my next day.

    How many pounds do you want to lose total and what weekly weight loss goal did you chose? You many be hungry at night because your calorie deficit is overly aggressive for the amount of weight you want to lose.

    9kjwnia17qv9.jpg

    Or you might not being getting enough of a particular macro that you need to feel full. For me, that is protein (and fiber).

    My calories is 1,240 daily and my goal weight is 120.

    Few more Qs:
    1. How tall are you?
    2. How many pounds until you reach 120?
    3. What weekly weight loss goal did you chose?

    I'm 5 foot 4

    Currently I'm 148 on a good day I'm 145 lol

    And my goal is to lose 2 pounds a week
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/intermittent-fasting/

    Dropout rates ranged from 0-65%. When comparing dropout rates between the fasting groups and continuous calorie restriction groups, no significant differences were found. Overall, the review did not find that intermittent fasting had a low dropout rate, and therefore was not necessarily easier to follow than other weight loss approaches.
    When examining the 12 clinical trials that compared the fasting group with the continuous calorie restriction group, there was no significant difference in weight loss amounts or body composition changes.
    Ten trials that investigated changes in appetite did not show an overall increase in appetite in the intermittent fasting groups despite significant weight loss and decreases in leptin hormone levels (a hormone that suppresses appetite).


    A randomized controlled trial that followed 100 obese individuals for one year did not find intermittent fasting to be more effective than daily calorie restriction. [6] For the 6-month weight loss phase, subjects were either placed on an alternating day fast (alternating days of one meal of 25% of baseline calories versus 125% of baseline calories divided over three meals) or daily calorie restriction (75% of baseline calories divided over three meals) following the American Heart Association guidelines. After 6 months, calorie levels were increased by 25% in both groups with a goal of weight maintenance. Participant characteristics of the groups were similar; mostly women and generally healthy. The trial examined weight changes, compliance rates, and cardiovascular risk factors. Their findings when comparing the two groups:

    No significant differences in weight loss, weight regain, or body composition (e.g., fat mass, lean mass).
    No significant differences in blood pressure, heart rate, fasting glucose, and fasting insulin. At 12 months, although there were no differences in total cholesterol and triglycerides, the alternate-day fasting group showed significantly increased LDL cholesterol levels. The authors did not comment on a possible cause.
    The dropout rate was higher in the alternate-day fasting group (38%) than in the daily calorie restriction group (29%). Interestingly, those in the fasting group actually ate less food than prescribed on non-fasting days though they ate more food than prescribed on fasting days.



    Facts not YouTube heroes.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    So I have been fasting from 7pm to 7am for the past few weeks and at first it was tough (because I feel the hungriest in the evening).

    I was wondering does anyone fast on here and has it helped or hurt your weight loss goals. And what do you do to beat your evening cravings if you happen to have nighttime munchies lol.

    Comment Below :)

    If I don't have a bed time snack I wake up hungry in the middle of the night and that messes up my next day.

    How many pounds do you want to lose total and what weekly weight loss goal did you chose? You many be hungry at night because your calorie deficit is overly aggressive for the amount of weight you want to lose.

    9kjwnia17qv9.jpg

    Or you might not being getting enough of a particular macro that you need to feel full. For me, that is protein (and fiber).

    My calories is 1,240 daily and my goal weight is 120.

    Few more Qs:
    1. How tall are you?
    2. How many pounds until you reach 120?
    3. What weekly weight loss goal did you chose?

    I'm 5 foot 4

    Currently I'm 148 on a good day I'm 145 lol

    And my goal is to lose 2 pounds a week

    This is a very aggressive pace of weight loss for your stats. You are hovering just around the healthy BMI range for your height, which starts at 145. 1 pound per week may be possible for you; 0.5 lb/week would be a safe and reasonable pace.
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    So I have been fasting from 7pm to 7am for the past few weeks and at first it was tough (because I feel the hungriest in the evening).

    I was wondering does anyone fast on here and has it helped or hurt your weight loss goals. And what do you do to beat your evening cravings if you happen to have nighttime munchies lol.

    Comment Below :)

    If I don't have a bed time snack I wake up hungry in the middle of the night and that messes up my next day.

    How many pounds do you want to lose total and what weekly weight loss goal did you chose? You many be hungry at night because your calorie deficit is overly aggressive for the amount of weight you want to lose.

    9kjwnia17qv9.jpg

    Or you might not being getting enough of a particular macro that you need to feel full. For me, that is protein (and fiber).

    My calories is 1,240 daily and my goal weight is 120.

    Few more Qs:
    1. How tall are you?
    2. How many pounds until you reach 120?
    3. What weekly weight loss goal did you chose?

    I'm 5 foot 4

    Currently I'm 148 on a good day I'm 145 lol

    And my goal is to lose 2 pounds a week

    This is a very aggressive pace of weight loss for your stats. You are hovering just around the healthy BMI range for your height, which starts at 145. 1 pound per week may be possible for you; 0.5 lb/week would be a safe and reasonable pace.

    That's true...but 1,240 calories keeps me in check and its pretty helpful too
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Another one of those newfangled ideas. Most of our ancestors were incredibly lucky if they could get one square meal a day on average. CICO is the answer - that's how I got fat to start with.