Intermittent fasting.

I’m going to begin intermittent fasting tomorrow. What are the best and worst parts about it. My eating period is probably going to be between 12-8. Any tips on this?
I workout in the mornings before work and am hoping I’m not too hungry and fail at this!
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Replies

  • pierinifitness
    pierinifitness Posts: 2,226 Member
    Great “executive briefing” @lgfrie.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    This
    16:8 intermittent fasting is pretty easy, you won't have a problem.

    seems inconsistent with this
    takes 2-3 weeks to really get used to it, meaning no longer feeling super-hungry outside the eating window
    - can be a PITA to stay with IF if you have a social or work schedule that conflicts with it, for instance what happens when you're out with friends at 11 pm?
    -
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    lgfrie wrote: »

    - "No" means no. As in "no eating after 8 pm" if that's your rule. That means zero calories. Nada. Zip. No creamer in coffee, no sugar in drinks, not one pickle or almond. Make that commitment and really try to stick to it everyday. Learn to overpower your hunger pangs and you'll have acquired a very, very useful dieting skill.
    - You still have to eat a calorie deficit. IF itself will do nothing on its own to hasten your weight loss. That's gonna come solely from eating less food.

    This is probably fine for some people. However enough people have come through here very hungry and not having met the calorie goal because they had to work late that this rule needs to be amendable when life gets in the way. I hate seeing grown adults starting threads begging for permission to eat dinner because it is outside their window.

    The most important part about any way of eating is that the person doing it needs to be in charge of the rules and have some common sense about when to set them aside.

    That is true of any WOE, not just IF, no? Learning when and how to use the Pause key is critical to any diet.
  • Taytaylynn92
    Taytaylynn92 Posts: 230 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I’m going to begin intermittent fasting tomorrow. What are the best and worst parts about it. My eating period is probably going to be between 12-8. Any tips on this?
    I workout in the mornings before work and am hoping I’m not too hungry and fail at this!

    And if IF doesn’t work out for you, why would you consider that failure? There is nothing magical about condensing your eating into a particular window. If it makes it easier to adhere to a calorie deficit - great! If it makes it hard, then there’s no particular advantage to it for weight loss compared to any other plan which helps you eat at a deficit.
    I suppose fail wasn’t the correct word to use.
  • lrsirius
    lrsirius Posts: 328 Member
    Lgfrie covered it pretty well. I do time restrictioned eating (TRE), also 11-7, and workout in the mornings. TRE helped me to get in touch with real hunger versus just bored/habit eating. It’s also takes less for me to feel satiated now and I like not eating close to bedtime. Water is key, if you think you are hungry, drink water and give it 5 minutes, it usually goes away. That said, it pays to be flexible, some days you may need to fuel up and others you may find you have extended the fast without thinking about it. Good luck!
  • RovP6
    RovP6 Posts: 108 Member
    Good luck with your IF journey. All I can really add to the discussion is that IF can work for some people, but not for others. Whilst IF is strictly speaking more of a time restrictive eating window (how can a regular fasting/feeding regime ever be truly intermittent if you do it at the same time every day? ;) ) it is still relatively easy to overeat during that feeding window, especially right at the start when you may well be hungry and facing calorie dense or highly palatable foods. So make sure you also stick to your calorie target for the day as well. Once you get into the habit it becomes easy, but only if it works. The big trick for me is drinking lots of water and black coffee and filling up on veggies. Once you get used to it then the fun really begins as you try to extend the fasting window out towards 24 hours and beyond. Try that once a month when you get going.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    lgfrie wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    lgfrie wrote: »

    - "No" means no. As in "no eating after 8 pm" if that's your rule. That means zero calories. Nada. Zip. No creamer in coffee, no sugar in drinks, not one pickle or almond. Make that commitment and really try to stick to it everyday. Learn to overpower your hunger pangs and you'll have acquired a very, very useful dieting skill.
    - You still have to eat a calorie deficit. IF itself will do nothing on its own to hasten your weight loss. That's gonna come solely from eating less food.

    This is probably fine for some people. However enough people have come through here very hungry and not having met the calorie goal because they had to work late that this rule needs to be amendable when life gets in the way. I hate seeing grown adults starting threads begging for permission to eat dinner because it is outside their window.

    The most important part about any way of eating is that the person doing it needs to be in charge of the rules and have some common sense about when to set them aside.

    That is true of any WOE, not just IF, no? Learning when and how to use the Pause key is critical to any diet.

    True but that is not how you worded it... :wink:
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    Danp wrote: »
    The only issue I have with IF is that some people seem to make themselves miserable just to stick rigidly to their IF schedule. To the point of not eating when they're hungry and avoiding or at least not participating in events, social occasions, etc just so they can maintain their 'IF' status.

    IF can make eating in a calorie deficit much easier for some people but it also needs to be approached with some flexibility and rationality. As long as the overall calories consumed remains the same then eating outside your calorie window will not in anyway negatively impact your weight loss progress.

    By this I mean, lets say 1800cal between 12pm and 8pm.

    Today you woke up really hungry. Eating a couple of pieces of toast worth 200 calories then the rest of the 1600cal during your eating window will provide the exact same weight loss results.

    Or, tonight you'll be going out to a late dinner and extending your eating window to 9:30pm instead of 8pm. As long as the calories remain the same this will not in any way change your results.

    So if it works for you by all means use this tool to achieve the required calorie intake but please, understand that being flexible so that IF fits your life is, I think, a much better approach than trying to make your life fit IF.

    This I agree with 100%.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    I’m going to begin intermittent fasting tomorrow. What are the best and worst parts about it. My eating period is probably going to be between 12-8. Any tips on this?
    I workout in the mornings before work and am hoping I’m not too hungry and fail at this!

    There is no harm in trying. If it works...then great. If it doesn't then you haven't failed...it just didn't work so try something else. It is about you and not anyone else. Don't feel as if you can't adjust some of those rules that some unknown person says that you have to follow. Our WOE including the scheduling of when we eat should fit our lives and we should receive some benefits from those rules that we have set for ourselves.

    At the end of the day however you choose to eat should move you toward those goals that you have set for yourself.
  • denjan333
    denjan333 Posts: 158 Member
    I don’t do IF but if you like science and want some good info on this, I recommend listening to the Season 6 Episode 3 podcast of Science Vs. It’s called “Fasting Diets: What’s the Skinny”. They provide references for their findings, including links to studies and research papers.
  • Florida_Superstar
    Florida_Superstar Posts: 194 Member
    I did 16:8 for 2 years and liked it/thought it was easy to stick with. Due to my calorie deficit I got very lean, and after 2 years IF started to not work for me. I felt very depleted in the gym and became obsessed with when I could eat again. I was thinking about food constantly but stuck to the program anyway--too rigid about the eating window as others mentioned. So basically it worked for me for awhile but eventually did not. I'd say give it a try if it fits your schedule, but listen to your body and change as needed.
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    I believe there is a tendency to recommend 14:10 for women, particularly if they find themselves having issues on 16:8 or even longer fasting windows.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    Just realized that yesterday was the one year anniversary of resurrecting IF in my current fitness, health and wellness journey. I began on September 15, 2018 and have practiced this lifestyle EVERY DAY since then.

    I began my current fitness, health and wellness journey last August 31, 2018 and the morning BW scale readings weren’t budging despite eating a controlled about 1,800 calories a day. I even gained a couple lbs. but this was likely water weight. Frustrated, I jumped on the IF pony based on favorable experiences in the past with the first one being 9 years earlier during Lent 2009.

    I currently target 18:6 but am flexible because I can “afford” it. Recently, while on vacation, I had several 14:10 days. Some might not call 14:10 IF but I do because of a lifestyle mindset I maintained on those days.

    My current 7-day average is a fasting period of 17 hours 18 minutes. I’ve been running more lately and find this affects my real hunger.

    Have been using the Zero Fasting app for 197 consecutive days since first using it.

    What are the fruits of my EVERY DAY IF lifestyle?

    A consistent 40 lbs. lighter than when I began and a firm morning BW on the low side of my 5-lb. ideal weight range that is firmly “stuck” like Super Glue.

    Congratulations on this success in your health and wellness. I like your reference to lent fasting, it makes sense to me. For me, staying to three meals a day and no snacks was helpful when I was younger. I did that along with adding in walking rather than taking the car during the work week and kept my weight in the healthy range for years without ever having to count calories. Weight gain came to me later in life. So now I'm returning to a modified version of what I did then. fasting for between 15 to 19 hours, I haven't seen a need for diet breaks. 15 hours without food allows me to have brunch, dinner and supper within a 9 hour window occasionally. Sometimes this is for family reasons. The main thing for me has been that I don't have any trouble keeping within a calorie allowance and my constant snacking habits are gone.