Intermittent Fasting

Ah - I remember way back when it was called 'no snacking after dinner.'

I'm a late riser and generally take two meals a day somewhere between 10AM and 6PM. The calorie split is usually ~450 and 750 respectively. I drink coffee (2-3 mugs) before 2PM and sometimes have a large mug of hot tea about 30 minutes after dinner.

I rarely if ever feel hungry and since eating this way, my acid reflux/GERD has gone away completely.

I exercise on a rebounder (mini-trampoline) 30 minutes most every day and have lost 30kg/67 lb. since I started eating like this back in May 2020.

5:2 worked well for me for weight loss.

16:8 at maintenance was a PITA and got on my nerves despite breakfast being an optional meal for me. (Not a fan of inflexible rules and restrictions.)

Skipping breakfast when I feel like it is a useful tool to help make corrections to my weight trend.

At all times my weight trend followed my calorie balance.

There is nothing magical about IF. Some people find it an easier way to stick to their calorie limit. I'm one of those people. I've never been a morning person and was making myself eat breakfast because I thought it was "healthy." It was very freeing to realize I didn't need to eat in the morning. A few times per year, I'll have breakfast if it's a provided work thing and I am WAY more hungry the rest of the day on the days I eat it.

I also find that I feel much better with larger meals as opposed to "grazing"/snacking throughout the day. When I tried that I was ravenous all day long and never felt satiated. If I were spending several hundred calories on breakfast, that would really cut into what I could have later in the day, which would make me feel very deprived.

On weekends, I sleep in and if I'm just at home, I make sure I don't start eating before 2 PM. If I'm not dying to eat by then, sometimes I delay it an hour or 2 more. I just find it much easier to tell myself I can have what I want, I just have to wait a little bit, as opposed to wanting more calories in the evening and not being able to have them because I've already "spent" them for the day.

I don't have a strict eating window or anything like that, it's just more of a general mindset for me. On weekdays my eating window tends to be between around 12-8 and on weekends, 2-10, but it's not set in stone. If I were going to brunch of something (pre-covid) on the weekend, I would make it work. It's important to make your plan fit into your life and work for you.