Intermittent fasting

For many people IF makes it easier to stick to a calorie deficit because you are limiting the amount of time that you eat all your calories. You still have to be at a calorie deficit to lose weight, but it's a technique for ease and sustainability of a calorie deficit.

I think the longer fasting windows are more challenging for sure for me...I have done an 18:6 (so 18 hours fast and six hours feeding window) and found that challenging. I now do a 14:10 so I eat three meals a day however I am just eating less. Personally I find the 14:10 way easier (so I stop eating at 5:30 p.m. and have breakfast at 7:30ish - and by stop eating I will have nothing but water and or plain tea)

FOr me it is easier eating less for dinner now because I know I can have breakfast as opposed to when I was skipping breakfast. I would tend to eat more for dinner because I knew I would not be eating until lunchtime next day so to me it all evens out now and is more practical for me. I do love breakfast so not having it was challenging. However between end of March 2018 and mid August 2018 I lost 25 lbs doing the 18:6. I have about 8 lbs left to lose and the scale is still moving for me just by eating less.

IF though really taught me structure and I like that fact that I can easily go 14 hours without eating (some of that sleeping time obviously) so I am a fan of IF and I still do it but as stated I do 14:10 instead of the standard 16:8.

I do it but, only because it is easier to stay in calorie deficit for me that way. If u dont stay in calorie deficit u might not lose as much or as quickly or at all.

I eat in an 8 hour window. I don't call it IF. I call it my life.

If you believe that it would benefit you in some way to eat within a certain window of time, then do it. We all have to figure out what works for us.

Good luck!

I just started doing this. Get the app called zero right when you stop eating you let the app know and it starts your fast time and you press end when you start to eat again. of course my eating window isn’t perfect everyday due to school and work. But typically I eat lunch at 12 or 12:30ish then dinner at 5-6 and a snack before 8. when your eating window ends drink lots of water I woke up with I woke up with bad headaches the first few days!

Been doing the 8 hr window (11 am - 7 pm) for 5 months, with good results. I eat to an exact calorie limit as provided to me by the MFP goals tool. IF makes it easy for me to hit that target with 2 full sized meals (lunch and dinner) and a snack in between. Nothing goes in my mouth besides water or black coffee outside the eating window. I used to have a terrible problem with completely undisciplined nighttime binging - not anymore. I have no hunger pangs or interest in food outside the eating window anymore. IF has really been an amazing tool for me. 50 lbs lost, still going strong. I plan to stay with IF loooong after I reach my target weight, maybe forever.

I used to do moderate intermittent fasting naturally when I was in my 20s and 30s. Didn't do it every day, but several days in a week. Didn't do snacks or drink coffee in those days. So, basically, a few days a week I had supper at 6 or 7 p.m. and simply wasn't hungry till 11 a.m. and if I was busy I couldn't be bothered to stop and eat. So I would get in 14-20 hours of fasting pretty easily. And of course I was young and very active and it wasn't hard to stay slim. I tried to do IF recently and at 65 years old found it very difficult to keep my energy up with a fast of approximately 16 hours. Gave it up after three weeks. I'm having better luck now with counting calories. Still adjusting my diet (just started a week ago) but it looks really doable. In fact, I think I am beginning to feel better and better as I tinker.

mbfrom91024 wrote: »

I have found that IF works best in the context of low carb or keto. Once you are fat adapted hunger is much lees of a problem, since you are literally wearing a bunch of calories that are now available. My routine is 18/6 and then 5/2 on top of that. I have been doing this for about 15 months, went from 275 to 180 (I'm 6'2" and 66 years old).

Eh, I eat in a shorter window a couple or three times a week often and occasionally do a longer fast (for religious reasons or just because my day worked out that way) and hunger is not an issue, yet I don't do low carb or keto. I think keto helps some with hunger issues but many who do it assume wrongly that others who don't have extreme hunger or need to eat constantly, and that's just not so. Most who IF are likely not eating a low carb diet. (We all can burn our body fat, that's how everyone -- including those not doing keto -- eating at a deficit loses fat. And no, keto is not more muscle sparing -- you actually need a bit more protein if doing low carb to preserve muscle.)

mbfrom91024 wrote: »

I have found that IF works best in the context of low carb or keto. Once you are fat adapted hunger is much lees of a problem, since you are literally wearing a bunch of calories that are now available. My routine is 18/6 and then 5/2 on top of that. I have been doing this for about 15 months, went from 275 to 180 (I'm 6'2" and 66 years old).

IF only works with a calorie deficit that you obviously created with your low carb add-on. You have done extremely well.

Just so you know some people, myself included, do not find fat controls our hunger as well. I mention this so that you will know that low carb is not universally satisfying to everyone nor is it necessary to use our fat suits for energy.