Intermittent fasting and minimum calories?
OAS5
Posts: 376 Member
I've been thinking of possibly trying intermittent fasting for a month or 2 now just to knock off this last frustrating 15 pounds which are being stubborn.
I would do something like 7pm to 11:30AM. I couldn't I don't think so it every day, 7 days a week but was thinking of an every other day kinda thing. Again just thinking about it.
I know on MFP if you don't hit 1200 calories for the day as male it gives you a warning that you are too low. Is that a problem for people who fast to hit that number or you just hit it every day anyway?
I would do something like 7pm to 11:30AM. I couldn't I don't think so it every day, 7 days a week but was thinking of an every other day kinda thing. Again just thinking about it.
I know on MFP if you don't hit 1200 calories for the day as male it gives you a warning that you are too low. Is that a problem for people who fast to hit that number or you just hit it every day anyway?
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Replies
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Intermittent fasting doesn't mean going under your calories. You just eat your goal calories in a set window of hours.
If you can't hit that minimum, maybe IF isn't for you.
I could eat 1200 calories for breakfast so I never had that problem, but some people do a form of IF that's called OMAD, or One Meal A Day. So the eating window could be as small as an hour.
With that said, I haven't "Completed" the day in years in my food diary. It doesn't really "do" anything other than give you that five week projection and then post to your Home page newsfeed if you have enabled that.9 -
I've been thinking of possibly trying intermittent fasting for a month or 2 now just to knock off this last frustrating 15 pounds which are being stubborn.
I would do something like 7pm to 11:30AM. I couldn't I don't think so it every day, 7 days a week but was thinking of an every other day kinda thing. Again just thinking about it.
I know on MFP if you don't hit 1200 calories for the day as male it gives you a warning that you are too low. Is that a problem for people who fast to hit that number or you just hit it every day anyway?
minimum for a sedentary male is 1500 calories per day...as a male you have no business eating like a toddler or short old lady. IF is just an eating window...it's not about going further under your weight loss calorie target.28 -
What they said. I actually am a short old lady (5'5", 64), and lost most of my weight on more than 1500 daily calories. Nutrition is important. You need calories to get enough of it, not to mention needing calories for their own sake. Severely undereating is as likely to slow your progress (through fatigue/reduced activity) or cause full derailment, as it is to speed progress . . . and it's a health risk. Eat enough. 1200 or less is not enough for any normal-sized male (even a pretty short one).15
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I'm also a sorry old lady and losing while eating 1500-1700 a day. Eat more foodz!9
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Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.6
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Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.
NO one was hostile. You need to check your own self.
Lots of people doing IF, I sort of do it myself. You know, eat three hours after waking, eat again in the afternoon, eat a couple hours before bed. Some people call it breakfast, lunch and dinner.
No matter what eating schedule you do have to do a little planning. Good luck. :flowerforyou:7 -
Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.
That was not at all what your post sounded like, and people were generously concerned that it sounded like you were assuming undereating was a common part of IF. Glad to hear that's not the case, but also not seeing any hostility.
If you do decide to do IF, best of luck. Many people find a limited eating window can help them stick to their calorie goal by controlling their appetite. I'm not sure if that will be the case if you don't do it consistently, but it certainly can't hurt to try.8 -
Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.
There's nothing wrong with IF. It can be a great strategy, for people whom it suits.
Personally, I kind of freak out when I see hints that someone may think it's OK to severely undereat, because that's really dangerous (and sadly it's something we do see here). Anxious internet granny-type that I am, I freak out because, quite sincerely, I like to see other people stay healthy and be successful in their weight management goals.
I'm delighted to hear that you're not really planning to undereat in order to lose those last few pounds! If IF helps you be satisfied at a lowered but sensible calorie level, and lose those last few pounds at a sensibly slow pace, that will be just great. The very occasional day at lower-than-goal calories is not a problem, as long as it's not a routine thing, and especially if it's balanced out by some occasional over-goal days you're equally relaxed about.
Wishing you success in the IF experiment!
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Saying someone is eating like an old lady is a bit agressive no?
Either way, I get it. I just just thought it might be tough to get in all your calories if you only eat 7 or 8 hours in a day. Wondering how others handle it.3 -
Saying someone is eating like an old lady is a bit agressive no?
Either way, I get it. I just just thought it might be tough to get in all your calories if you only eat 7 or 8 hours in a day. Wondering how others handle it.
Is an old lady a bad thing to be?
Yes, it was an aggressive thing to say to a younger male . . . in the interests of wanting him to be healthy. My bad, I guess. :flowerforyou:
BTW: Actual short old lady me? Maintaining for 4+ years now on 2000+ daily calories. Stereotypes can be . . . hmmm.
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Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.
Eating 11:30 am to 7 pm is not a particularly small amount of time to eat (if your schedule interferes it might not be a good schedule for you, however). If you think it would be difficult (so much that you think you couldn't get in your cals and could only do it every other day), why do it? For example, I know I could not reach my protein and vegetable goals in one meal a day, and would have trouble hitting reasonable cals unless I ate less healthfully than I like (higher fat, higher carb, lower protein and veg and fiber), so for me that would be a bad approach. Others find it easy for them and thus helpful as a way to control cals and still meet their goals.
There are multiple kinds of IF. One is really time restricted eating (TRE), and just means eating the cals you otherwise would for your deficit within an eating window. That seems to be what you are talking about.
Another is eating maintenance on some days and very low (like 20-25% of maintenance) on other days, such as 5-2 (2 days a week are low cal, 5 are maintenance). On those you would be under the minimum when fasting but at maintenance on other days.
If you want to try IF, I'd recommend trying it but eating the same cals you normally would for your deficit (such as the 2000 you mentioned). You can eat the same number of meals or snacks as now, but just time them differently if you like.3 -
It might be tough to eat all your allotted calories in an 8 hour window, depending on what you have for an allotment. If you find that happening routinely, so that you are losing weight more quickly than you are aiming for, you'll want to take steps. It's not that hard to add a couple hundred calories - an oz of nuts here, an extra helping of veggies there, is 200 calories. I might go under my target 1400 calories every once in a while but it evens out over the course of a week.2
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Here is a non hostile answer to your question (though I didn't think any of the previous replies were hostile).
I do IF most of the time - probably 26-27 days per month. Noon to 7 pm. No food of any kind after 7 pm. Water or black coffee only.
I find it very easy to eat all my calories in that 7 hour window. Never had a problem fitting everything in. Push comes to shove, I'll just eat cookies and other delicious junk as 6:55 pm gradually morphs into 7:00 pm, until I'm completely out of calories. It's one of the things I love about IF - those final minutes before the window closes, in which I can eat with abandon, right up to the daily calorie quota, without having to worry about saving calories for a snack later.
I have no interest in doing OMAD (one meal a day, an extreme form of IF) but if I did, I'm absolutely sure I could eat my full day's calories in an hour, or probably in 15 minutes. On typical dieting calorie quotas of, say, 1500 or 1800, most people could eat those cals in one meal. It's easy. In a more typical 7 1/2 hr window like you're looking at, it'd be a complete non-issue.
So I don't think you need to have any concern about undereating your calorie goals on IF, at all. On the contrary, the challenge with IF is not undereating, but getting frustrated with the time constraint of IF such that you eat all your cals for the day by, say, 7 pm and then you're hungry and go over on the cals because you need more food. That is the real challenge you should be thinking about, and anticipating.4 -
I think if your meals are substantial enough filled with enough cals to reach your target you could easily eat them in the window.
I was trying it for a few months and my loss wasn't any faster, it just helped not going over cal allowance.
I've actually start eating a breakfast again sooner than IF times and the scale has start to move again for me.2 -
The calorie target stays the same for IF as it does for an unlimited window. You might take some time to consider why you’d like to try IF. What benefit do you expect? My sister tried it because once she eats breakfast she tends to start wanting to snack the rest of the day and she was exceeding her calorie target. She found it helpful at times in avoiding the Do-Nuts brought in in the break room table, etc. But there were some days she was struggling with hunger and felt more likely to binge if she didn’t allow herself to be flexible and eat earlier on some days. It helped her be more mindful of her eating. But she didn’t find it sustainable for her. I think it’s an interesting strategy. For me, I am the type of personality that placing extra restrictions just makes me more likely to rebel. I would be sad. I tend do better on small mini-meals throughout the day.6
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What they said. I actually am a short old lady (5'5", 64), and lost most of my weight on more than 1500 daily calories. Nutrition is important. You need calories to get enough of it, not to mention needing calories for their own sake. Severely undereating is as likely to slow your progress (through fatigue/reduced activity) or cause full derailment, as it is to speed progress . . . and it's a health risk. Eat enough. 1200 or less is not enough for any normal-sized male (even a pretty short one).
I agree with all of this except your description of 5'5" as short for a woman. In the U.S. the average height for a woman is 5'4" or maybe just under 5'4". Globally the average seems to be a bit lower. Don't let the fashion and clothing industry distort your view of what average height is. Models at 5'10" are well out in tail of the distribution curve.7 -
Guys I don't eat 1200 calories a day, I'm over 2,000 a day. I was just saying that if you have less time to eat you might run into that problem. It might be hard sometimes to get up to your normal calorie count. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking anymore IF questions on here. People kinda get hostile about it or at least annoyed at these kinds of questions.
Nobody was hostile...the only calories you mentioned in your OP was 1200. IF can be a good calorie control protocol, but if it causes one to regularly under eat severely, it wouldn't be an appropriate protocol. There is also nothing magical about it in regards to losing those last stubborn Lbs.6 -
I can see doing IF if you have issues with snacking, and especially mindless eating at night while watching TV, or if you simply don't like to eat first thing in the morning but have been forcing yourself to eat breakfast because it's supposed to be good for you. OTOH, there can be issues with being so hungry you can't sleep or stuffing yourself to get your calories in, which isn't a really good habit to have. Try it and see if you like it.
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I can attest to the fact that it is very very easy to eat 1500 calories in a short period of time. It comes to the type of food you eat.
Yesterday in the space of 1hr I consumed around about 1000 calories, all in calorie sense foods like icecream, chocolate, biscuits etc.
I did IF for a month in January, and no i never had an issue getting my intake. I just enjoyed it bunched together rather than spaced out lol3 -
I think you might want to read up on IF a little more . What you’re mentioning, in part, sounds like 16:8–where you have an 8-hour window in which you eat.
It sounds like you’re confusing IF with just plain fasting. IF isn’t about denying your body the food it needs (or about withholding food for religious reasons), it’s a tool that helps people maintain a calorie deficit.4 -
Why do you think IF, assuming the same calorie intake, is going to help with the last 15 lbs?
Have you taken any diet breaks (a 10-14 day period of eating at maintenance cals, not a free for all) during your weight loss? https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/3 -
I’ll make this easy (I think anyway). 400x3=1200! In 8 hours no problem for me or most (I would think). And IF the other 16. I’m not an IF’r so... But I did do 1200 calories and sometimes slightly less (and something slightly more) for a few months while losing 83 lbs in 8 months. Kept a close check on nutrition levels every day. Worked for me and hit my target dead on. Good luck! If it works for you do it and if not find what does and you’ll get there.2
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I've done some sort of IF since 2013. I've never had trouble eating my 1600-ish calories, and have in fact still had trouble at times limiting calories even within a "window".
At the point I'm at now, I'd probably have trouble with OMAD. 16:8 works fine for me. YMMV.3 -
I am on day 259 today of IF with an 8 hour window. Today just logged 60 pounds lost. Two pounds away from my goal. I eat 1400 - 1500 calories in that time without any problem. I thought it would be harder to do because breakfast was always my favorite meal of the day. Now I dont even notice. Good luck.8
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Godswordministries wrote: »I am on day 259 today of IF with an 8 hour window. Today just logged 60 pounds lost. Two pounds away from my goal. I eat 1400 - 1500 calories in that time without any problem. I thought it would be harder to do because breakfast was always my favorite meal of the day. Now I dont even notice. Good luck.
Similar situation here. Day 268 of IF, used to do an 8 hr window, now 7 hrs. 69 lbs lost, 1750 calories per day. My appetite outside the eating window is all but non-existent at this point. It's been unexpectedly easy for me to stay in the IF groove & I intend to stick with IF after I get to my goal weight.4 -
I'm on day 38 of a 17:7 IF pattern and I'm loving it. No more urge to snack in the evenings and if I fancy eating earlier the next day I just stop eating earlier the day before. My appetite has really decreased although I do try to eat my daily calorie goal. I plan to eat this way for life.2
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What they said. I actually am a short old lady (5'5", 64), and lost most of my weight on more than 1500 daily calories. Nutrition is important. You need calories to get enough of it, not to mention needing calories for their own sake. Severely undereating is as likely to slow your progress (through fatigue/reduced activity) or cause full derailment, as it is to speed progress . . . and it's a health risk. Eat enough. 1200 or less is not enough for any normal-sized male (even a pretty short one).
If 5'5" is short what am I at 4'10" lol1 -
I usually eat from 2pm to 8pm so a 6 hour window. I find it helpful simply because once I start to eat I just want to keep eating. I am a tall middle aged lady with a tested slow metabolism but I don’t have any issue at all hitting my calories. And there are lots of days that my husband makes a delicious supper and I fly right past that number. I like this Schedule and it works for me. I think it is just all about figuring out what works the best for you. 0
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bbeyer1792 wrote: »What they said. I actually am a short old lady (5'5", 64), and lost most of my weight on more than 1500 daily calories. Nutrition is important. You need calories to get enough of it, not to mention needing calories for their own sake. Severely undereating is as likely to slow your progress (through fatigue/reduced activity) or cause full derailment, as it is to speed progress . . . and it's a health risk. Eat enough. 1200 or less is not enough for any normal-sized male (even a pretty short one).
If 5'5" is short what am I at 4'10" lol
Short. 😉
At 5'5", I'm an average-ish height woman, but a short person. OP is male (according to his profile), so the latter is the context.
No insult intended. 🙂0 -
I'm there OP of this thread and I did intermittent fasting for about 2 months and I liked it but ended it. No reason really, just ended it. I have regular plain Greek yogurt in the morning. High protein and only 90 calories. I may go back at some point but not right now.0
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