Share your IF success stories

Soooooo I did IF for 2 months, OMAD actually and began measuring my waist and was horrified to learn that I was 46inches.

Decided to get my act together after discovering that I couldn't perform 10 (bad form) pushups and I was by far the fattest guy in a recent (at the time) group selfie.

This was May this year.

Ate 2 cans of sardines and a huge salad for my evening meal (roughly 700kcals) and nothing else for the remaining 24 hours and walked 10k steps a day minimum.

Because of my lack of carb intake I shed tons of water in the first week and might have lost like 15lbs. Jeans felt looser every day for a months and before I knew it I went from the top notch on my belt to the bottom one and was looking for a way to punch a hole to make lower ones.

I'd say I went from 46 inches to 32 in 2 months and from there I focused on working out.

I no longer fast but a limited time frame to eat definitely helps restrict calories if you need it.

Like anything, be serious and consistent and you'll make it happen.

Good luck.

I tried fasting with my wife 4 years ago and it was awful. I was hungry, felt awful, headache, tired, etc. It didn't feel like I was doing something healthy for me. I tried a couple different bone broths, one of which made me feel worse. I was always a "calorie is a calorie" believer; I thought the people avoiding bread and carbs were just people who followed the latest fad diet, etc.

In 2021, I was watching a variety of health-related videos on YouTube and many credible sources were touting the benefits of reducing carbohydrates. In addition, Intermittent Fasting was something many recommended.

I hit an all-time high weight of 245 in September 2021 and was ready to try something new.

I focused first on reducing carbohydrates, trying to eliminate processed/refined carbs (bread, pasta, crackers, anything packaged). I didn't worry about carbs in vegetables, but didn't eat a lot of fruit. I drank no fruit juice. I tried focusing on eating food in as natural a state as possible.

I went so far as checking to see if I was in Ketosis and was able to confirm that I was.

Later, I began experimenting with Intermittent Fasting. Surprisingly, it was extremely easy for me while I was in Ketosis / not eating a lot of carbs. It was Night and Day compared to my prior experience. At one point, I made it 44 hours without eating and with no hunger pains. I only ate as I had a work lunch to go to and figured it had been long enough...

Even better, I began to lose weight easier than I ever have in my life. Right before Christmas, I was down to 231. After a brief holiday feast, I got back onto the Keto diet and Intermittent Fasting and was down to 215 by Jan 31 and was in the low 200's by the end of February. Nearly 2 years later, I still am in the low 200's despite gaining a fair amount of muscle over the past year or two--that's my main focus/priority now.

I finally feel like I understand what I should be eating and why. It is sustainable. I do like bread and do eat it on occasion, just not every day like I used to. Instead of having toast in the morning, I skip breakfast and have black coffee. Not feeling like I had to eat to be healthy was freeing to me--I thought I was going to "slow down my metabolism" if I didn't eat every couple hours while trying to lose weight. Now, I know I can go quite a while and still be healthy. I haven't checked to see if I'm in ketosis for a long time and I probably am not most of the time.

Since I only eat two meals, I usually just eat a salad at my desk at work, then eat as much as I want for dinner, focusing on eating a lot of protein.

I focus on eating a lot of protein--I shoot for about a gram per pound of goal body weight. I usually fall short, but shoot for that. I take protein powder if I need a little extra sometimes, but try to avoid that. I try to limit carbs to 50g or less and try to avoid bread and processed carbs, sugar, etc. I try to eat healthy, natural foods within an 8 hour window (typically 9am to 5pm) and Fast for 16 hours.

I plan on trying to lose more fat as I continue gaining muscle. I'm hoping to gradually lose another 20 pounds of fat while gaining as much muscle as I can. My body weight will wind up wherever it winds up, but I'll have less fat and more muscle than I do now and will be healthier for it.

I hope this is helpful to you / others. Good luck! Keep moving forward and don't let Perfect be the Enemy of Good / Better. Don't beat yourself up, at least not all the time. There are times to push yourself through pain and discomfort and perservere, but we must also listen to our bodies and rely on our instincts what is healthy for us. My wife does find it harder to fast in the morning than me, but she's not carrying around the extra fat stores that I am. She's 115 pounds, whereas my Body Fat% is still 25% according to my scale.