Are There Benefits to Intermittent Fasting? (NY Times article)

"The most effective diet is the one you can stick to while still living your best life."

The article gives good advice, and how IF works is of less interest than whether or not it works for you.

I am doing 5:2 and am having the most success I have ever had, sticking with it since July and losing in excess of 15kg so far (I did not start weighing until September). It works for me, as the article says, because I only have to really restrict what I eat every 3rd day (I in fact have settled into a 2:1 regime) and for me that has meant no binging, which is where having to restrict every day ALWAYS takes me in the end.

I am happy I am losing weight and I am happy I can still eat decent sized meals more days than not.

And finally it also means I am not frightened that Christmas dinner will knock my diet off course as I will simply fast on the day before and then again on the day after, and then continuing with the usual routine.

rumbaimom wrote: »

IF is working well for me with 18:6 or 20:4 schedule. Helps me not obsess about each calorie I consume. I absolutely have dropped in cravings and appetite which helps you stay in your calorie deficit. The loss isn’t super fast for me, just about 2 lbs a week. But I’m dropping sizes and enjoying my workouts more. It’s a nice fit for me.

2 lbs per week is pretty fast...

For those interested in IF, there is an article in the New England Journal of Medicine titled "Effects of Intermittant Fasting on Health, Aging and Disease". The article was updated on December, 26, 2019 at NEJM.org. The authors, de Cabo and Mattson, are researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The article outlines a number of interesting benefits noted in humans in areas such as improved stress resistance at the cellular level, better glucose and blood pressure regulation, improvements in memory, improvements in endurance training and reduction in abdominal fat.

I came away from the article convinced that there are significant health benefits beyond weight management to consider. With that said, I also understand that the primary motivation for many of us here is to understand whether or not IF is the right approach for weight loss efforts.

SlayLikeAWarrior wrote: »

IF works...I have been doing 18:7 and I am in fasted state during my workouts.

Is squeezing 25 hours into a day a benefit of IF?

sijomial wrote: »

SlayLikeAWarrior wrote: »

IF works...I have been doing 18:7 and I am in fasted state during my workouts.

Is squeezing 25 hours into a day a benefit of IF?

"They've done studies you know, 60% of the time, it works every time..."
–The Anchorman

I have been doing IF 16:8 for a month and am really liking it. On 1200 cal per day it gives me more room to eat bigger meals. Before this I was eating a lot for breakfast and snacks, now I just push through the morning and eat a big salad at noon and feel great!