Finally found the answer!
Makatees
Posts: 30 Member
I’ve tried everything I could think of. Pills, shakes, injections, doctors diets, calorie restriction, calorie increase, self hypnosis, WW, dieticians.
I’d lose a few kilos and then gain them right back WHILE STILL FOLLOWING THE DIET TO THE LETTER! Sound familiar?
I’ve discoved intermittent fasting and I really believe this is the way to go for me. I eat whatever I like (not junk but if I want a glass of wine ir a bit of chocolate now and then, I have it) in a 4 to 5 hour window every day and the kilos are dropping off! I can do this forever, it’s so easy and free and I feel great, my skin looks amazing and my clothes are loose!
I’m only using MFP to track my weight and measurements from now on. I was tracking for a while to make sure I’m eating enough but I think I know how much I need now and I’m done with weighing food and tracking everything.
Read the book Delay, Don’t Deny by Gin Stephens. Life changing stuff!
I’d lose a few kilos and then gain them right back WHILE STILL FOLLOWING THE DIET TO THE LETTER! Sound familiar?
I’ve discoved intermittent fasting and I really believe this is the way to go for me. I eat whatever I like (not junk but if I want a glass of wine ir a bit of chocolate now and then, I have it) in a 4 to 5 hour window every day and the kilos are dropping off! I can do this forever, it’s so easy and free and I feel great, my skin looks amazing and my clothes are loose!
I’m only using MFP to track my weight and measurements from now on. I was tracking for a while to make sure I’m eating enough but I think I know how much I need now and I’m done with weighing food and tracking everything.
Read the book Delay, Don’t Deny by Gin Stephens. Life changing stuff!
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Replies
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It's great if it works for you.
Many on MFP have shared how they gained weight and kept it doing an IF schedule before it even became an "in" thing.
It's very easily possible to eat over maintenance in a short window. Unless you make it just so short you can't possibly stuff yourself that fast.0 -
Yep, it’s amazing how everyone is different, what works for one doesn’t always work for another.
I’m just soo grateful that I’ve finally found a solution. I just hope it keeps working for me.
I eat a lot, but good real food and not empty calories, in a 4 to 5 hour period.
I thought I’d be tempted to eat junk food but the opposite is true, strangely enough. The first thing I have when I break my fast is a great big smoothie, with mostly greens.
It’s taken a few weeks to get used to, but I’m adapted to it now and feel pretty good!
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Can I ask what time your 4-5 hour window starts and ends?0
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Learn to love yourself as you are, and be patient, kind and understanding with yourself and the process of losing excess weight.
Answer the following questions: Why do you want to lose the excess weight? What will be different if you lose all the excess weight? What will be the same? Review and update the answers daily for 2 minutes.
Understand the difference in thoughts between your amygdala (lizard brain) and your prefrontal cortex (higher thinking brain). This is extremely important. Don’t move on until you actually understand how to control the negative counterproductive thoughts.
Develop your plan and be 100% committed to it. Commitment is the willingness to be uncomfortable and eliminate all options or obstacles that stand between you and your goals. Make sure your plan is realistic and sustainable. Make sure your plan nourishes and hydrates your body.
Don’t overeat. Learn to listen to your bodies hunger and fullness signals. Every time you want to eat, ask yourself, Am I hungry, and listen for the signal. If it’s physical, eat. If it’s mental, do something else.
Be grateful for each and every moment. Don’t put off something until tomorrow, that you can do today. Each and every moment is precious, make the most of it.
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Can I ask what time your 4-5 hour window starts and ends?
I usually eat lunch at about 2 pm , dinner at about 6.30 and close at 7. Since my last post I have done a few 40 hr fasts here and have lost 7kg in about 3 months and have about 10 to go. Other than that, water and black coffee. I never thought I could go without food for that long but it’s not as hard as I thought! I do make up for it later though. 😋0 -
Do you maintain a deficit in your eating?0
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Satisfiedwithbetter wrote: »Do you maintain a deficit in your eating?
I don’t know tbh. I eat whatever I want when I open my ‘window’. I don’t count calories, I eat until I’m satisfied. I have the odd glass of wine or dessert occasionally.
I’ve lost 8,4 kg or almost 20 lb in 3.5 months! This works! I can’t describe how good I feel.
There are a few Facebook Intermittent fasting groups you can follow. Delay, don’t Deny, is great.
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Satisfiedwithbetter wrote: »Do you maintain a deficit in your eating?
I don’t know tbh. I eat whatever I want when I open my ‘window’. I don’t count calories, I eat until I’m satisfied. I have the odd glass of wine or dessert occasionally.
I’ve lost 8,4 kg or almost 20 lb in 3.5 months! This works! I can’t describe how good I feel.
There are a few Facebook Intermittent fasting groups you can follow. Delay, don’t Deny, is great.
A deficit in your eating means eating less than you burned.
As opposed to eating what you burned.
If you lost weight - you most obviously proved you did have a deficit in your eating.
A diet can mean the way you eat, or the way you eat that causes weight loss.
So you are on a diet.
Many have had success with IF causing them to eat less. Some have reduced the window to 2 hrs in order to not count and still eat less.
Because any bigger of a window they were able to eat enough to not lose weight.
Many with the fad nature of IF have discovered they have done it for years without even being intentional about it, just the schedule they ate in for years.
And they gained fat weight during those years.
So it can help if you are smart about it, like any diet.
Sadly like any diet if it doesn't help you adhere and sustain a calorie deficit - you won't lose weight.0 -
IMHO, Diets have been so counterproductive to permanent weight loss. I believe a shift away from the diet mentality is necessary to achieve your best weight or your lowest livable weight for the rest of your life! IF can be a lifestyle change rather than a diet, but it doesn’t by itself address the mental issues, circumstances and emotions that make life so messy and complex at times. Whatever you do, make it enjoyable, realistic and sustainable!3
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Satisfiedwithbetter wrote: »Do you maintain a deficit in your eating?
I don’t know tbh. I eat whatever I want when I open my ‘window’. I don’t count calories, I eat until I’m satisfied. I have the odd glass of wine or dessert occasionally.
I’ve lost 8,4 kg or almost 20 lb in 3.5 months! This works! I can’t describe how good I feel.
There are a few Facebook Intermittent fasting groups you can follow. Delay, don’t Deny, is great.
A deficit in your eating means eating less than you burned.
As opposed to eating what you burned.
If you lost weight - you most obviously proved you did have a deficit in your eating.
A diet can mean the way you eat, or the way you eat that causes weight loss.
So you are on a diet.
Many have had success with IF causing them to eat less. Some have reduced the window to 2 hrs in order to not count and still eat less.
Because any bigger of a window they were able to eat enough to not lose weight.
Many with the fad nature of IF have discovered they have done it for years without even being intentional about it, just the schedule they ate in for years.
And they gained fat weight during those years.
So it can help if you are smart about it, like any diet.
Sadly like any diet if it doesn't help you adhere and sustain a calorie deficit - you won't lose weight.
Absolutely, many people don’t lose weight on IF for many reasons and many gain so it has to be done right. Nothing but water and black coffee/tea, not even stevia during the fast.
All I know is that I have tried WW, Isagenics, raw vegan, doctors diets, nutritionists, zero carb, weighing and logging every morsel over the last 20 years and I was so over it. I would lose 3 kg and then gain it while still following the program to the letter. It feels to me that I am free of the angst of food. Logging everything is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
The book The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung explains the science of what happens in the body while fasting. The main focus is to keep the body from producing insulin during the fasting period. I won’t go into all the detail, so anyone who is interested, check out his book.
Autophagy is another benefit of fasting, which I have experienced first hand:
My skin has become so soft and all the little bumps on my upper arms have disappeared.
Acid reflux gone. I couldn’t sleep on my right side for years, else I’d wake up with a mouthful of stomach acid.
Plantar fasciitis gone. I’ve had this for about 6 yrs.
All of this has happened in 3.5 months. Coincidence?
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Those are great results.
The autophagy hasn't been able to be proved in any studies yet, rat studies showing some positives but not even completely there.
I know losing 20 lbs and time off stressful workouts (which are usually 2 recommended remedies) could easy explain Plantar fasciitis improvement - and if you started running again you'd likely discover it's not as healed as you might think, but pain being gone is huge in every day life.
And how much did you change your diet as to what you eat this time around?
You'd have to run some personal experiments over time with what you eat being spread throughout the day to confirm if it's the food eaten or the eating timing being a factor for like skin improvements.
Indeed not eating as often helps stomach recover better for any issues people have, like acid reflux.
Gotta emphasis though - doing IF right (sort of a lose meaningless description like "eating clean") has no bearing on losing weight with it.
Eating less than you burn absolutely does, as with any style of eating.
The improvement in insulin sensitivity for those starting to have issues is pretty good result - but then again studies (and people's results) have shown merely losing fat weight causes those improvements too, including blood pressure.
The mental game of not needing to log is big too - big enough so many diets will provide your food now so you don't have to worry about it. I think those prepackaged kits where you cook it will start becoming popular in same way - known amount, cooked fresh though, no shopping needed.
Gotta say regarding Fung though - he doesn't actually explain any science beyond some basics of human physiology that is well understood - and then he moves off into unproven land that many other Dr's and scientist disagree with because it's just not seen.
He's in essence making the same claims as many of those other diets you listed - meaning unsubstantiated and full of promises that may or may not pan out for people depending on how well they adhere to it.
So in that case it's a matter of being right back to any diet (or way of eating) needing to be sustainable and adherable to provide weight loss, and the many benefits that are a result of that and potentially eating more mindful and better.
If IF allows that for someone great.
If it doesn't then it didn't work for them, not that they did it wrong.
Interesting study I'd have to look up that just over a majority of those asked to merely log their sodium intake for a couple weeks, for a Dr to decide what reason for high blood pressure might be, must have changed their eating habits because the high blood pressure was gone on after the 2 weeks return.
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@Makatees Those are some great results! Your actions are very important! Commit to them, align your thoughts and feelings, and your results will manifest themselves.1
