intermittent fasting

[JLC614]

Is anyone here trying intermittent fasting? I have just been doing the 24 hr fasting 3 days a week for almost a month now. I have not weighed myself yet to see if I have lost any weight yet. I decided I will only weigh myself once a month. I will say that my jeans feel loser around my belly and my energy level is much improved and my mind seems much clearer as well.

I will keep everyone updated if they are interested. My first weigh in will be this Saturday.

[JLC614]

Thank you, I am thinking of moving to biweekly weigh ins instead of monthly so I can make sure I modify my calorie intake/ burn for the best to keep my progress moving as well. I know going forward probably won't be as high numbers but I still want to keep progress moving as best I can. I am also upping my activity

[mickjam]

Good strategies, anxious to see how they work for you.  Always good to tweak until you find the combination of strategies that work for you.  

I was watching some videos by Eric Berg last night, and he mentioned a strategy I liked, which was to spend a bit of time eating only three sane meals per day, no snacking.  This is to help transition into the two meals that accompany IF.  I have found that breaking a fast can be difficult; the urge is to eat more than is necessary.  Sort of a reward that makes no sense, even as I'm doing it.  

So for this week, three meals, no snacks at all.  I'll see how I do, and take it from there.

[TurtleKat]

I start 16:8 fasting a couple of weeks ago in addition to going plant-based (go big or go home, right?) & so far am down about 14 lbs in just 2 weeks. Disclaimer: this should not be alarming because 1) I had just returned from vacation, so a lot of it was probably water retention & 2) I weigh a lot, so I'll be losing quickly for the first little while (yay).

My reasons for going IF are discipline & simplicity. I've sort of been off the rails the last couple years & it's a way to force myself to make intentional & purposeful choices about what I eat since I'm only eating within the 8h window. Also, meal planning was stressing me out & it's far easier to plan for two meals than three. So far it's going great!

I do attribute a lot of the "great"ness to going plant-based as well. I'm eating super clean with tons of fruits & veggies (i.e. not relying on meat substitutes & limiting starchy carbs/sugar) & feel amazing. I haven't ramped up my exercise just yet but am slowly working on getting my conditioning back. From what I understand, IF can help train your body to use fat for fuel if you do fasted workouts regularly. Not shooting for a particular calorie target - eating rather "intuitively" instead - but average around 1600-1700 calories per day & feel like it's plenty. Even being completely sedentary I end up right around 1000 calorie deficit, so once I get more active I'll have to look at ways to up my intake,

Very curious to see how my weight loss levels out over the next couple of weeks after the initial whoosh 🙂

[mickjam]

It sounds from your post that you are doing this every day  Is that right?  If so, quite something!  I think that a 16:8 window is something that can be done far more frequently than a 20:4, especially with a family.  The wondow is so small, it requires a lot of planning, and some weird eating schedules.  A 16:8, just don't eat after supper and skip breakfast, good to go.  Even then 3 times a week is about all I want to go for right now.

I agree on the meat substitutes, thay can often be lab experiments.  Expeller-pressed?  What the hell is that, anyway?  If you cannot possibly make it in your own kitchen, best to stay away.

[TurtleKat]

Yes, it's working out really nicely! I get up & have my coffee or tea (no cream, but usually some Equal or Splenda) & that + water gets me through the morning just fine. Every now & again I'll have a 2nd cup if I'm hungry. I'll eat my lunch 12-1ish, maybe a snack or green smoothie late afternoon, then a nice big dinner around 7ish & I'm good for the night! It has forced me to be disciplined about eliminating "grazing" & bedtime snacking which is super awesome.

For this month only I am doing a longer fast on Wednesdays (for spiritual reasons) but will return to 16:8 those days as well next month. So far I've found it to be very sustainable & practical for me!

I don't have to worry too much about the family - I do still cook full meals for them a few times a week & just don't eat the meat, but my kids are teenagers so they & my husband are fully capable of feeding themselves when they are hungry 🙂 Of course I share my weird healthy food with them whenever they want it lol.

[JLC614]

I am also waiting to see what happens with my weight lose after this first 14 lbs weight lose in the first month but even at slower lose I will be happy. I am not in a rush to make the lose, I want to make it last. IF also has made it easier for me to make better choices when I do eat.

[JLC614]

Did my first biweekly weigh in yesterday and I am down another 6lbs. Still feeling great and my activity level is continuing to climb

[sal09]

yes, I have done it in the past, and if done right, can be incredibly useful for weight loss. For beginners, here are few tips-

1. Go 16/8 it doesn't make a difference vs 18/6

2. Get most of your fasting done through sleeping

3. Eat more protein

if you're having a hard time during the fast, take black coffee, water, go for a walk, find something else to focus on. The hunger will pass and your body will learn that that is not a eating time.

this is a great article on this.

[mickjam]

Awesomely done, congrats!

[JLC614]

2nd biweekly weigh in was this past Saturday and I was down another 4 lbs 🙂

Energy level still great and still keeping my activity still up. Still no hunger issues and eating healthy on my none fasting days has become so much easier and I don't crave the junk anymore.

[snemay]

Hi JLC,

Congratulations on your weight loss journey!

I'm so very excited to see this thread. I've bin doing a lot of research on IF and started my 16:8 fasting from last week. Good to see individuals already on IF and succeeding 🙂

Hopefully I can post my success stats here soon 🙂 Wish me luck!

xoxo

[Daves_Not_Here]

Hey @JLC614 - checking in with you (I hope you see this).  How has it been going, and are you continuing to see good results and high energy?

[JLC614]

I am still seeing good results, I am still losing about 4 lbs every two weeks and my energy has stayed high and my head clear. No cravings or hunger problems on my fasting days and still a decrease in cravings for the unhealthy foods on non fasting foods. I am down a total of 30+ since August and just had a check up at my doctors and everything is looking great and she is very happy as well

[mickjam]

You're still doing 24 hour fasts, I assume?  I have a couple of questions, please:

1) On fasting days, do you consume broth or something else like that?

2) On non-fasting days, you mentioned a lowering of cravings.  Do you try to go low-carb on those days?

Thanks, and congrats on the numbers.  Very awesome!

[JLC614]

Yes I ams till doing 24 hour fasts but understand that it means I go from dinner to dinner without eating. So I do eat a meal every day but no I do not consume broth or anything else throughout the day.

My non-fasting days I do try and eat healthy but do not necessarily focus on low carbs but I do try to keep an eye on carbs, proteins and fats. I am not a big bread person which helps a lot with the carbs and I also really like vegetables which also helps. 

[ronwagn]

I have had good results using intermittent fasting. I try to only eat if I really need to. Not when it would feel good or because my wife is eating. I judge need by what I know I have eaten and how long I have waited. I will go up to 18 hours without eating. At least 12 after going to sleep the previous night. Will usually have one small meal first and a larger meal later but not after 7:30 PM. 

The intermittent fasting helps me keep my stomach capacity smaller by allowing it to shrink. The second meal is large enough to make me feel full enough to be comfortable for at least 12 hours but is still smaller than what I used to eat. 

[SwimmingJulie]

Hello all! I’m new to Fitbit and have thought I’d like to try 5:2 IF. I was wondering if any of you still recommend it at this point (about a year later after the first post) and if you have any tips from you perspective now. Also wondering how maintenance works if anyone is at that point. Thanks! 🙂

[Dominique]

@SwimmingJulie: the main success factor of a diet is adherence: are you going to be able to stick to the approach to eating you selected? We’re all different, so what may work for someone may not work for you. The only way to find out what works for you is to try it.

There’s nothing special or magical to the 5:2 diet: if it works for weight loss, it’s by putting you in a caloric deficit. Any other approach that would result in the same deficit and be equally sustainable for you would work in the same way.

I tried IF (though not the 5:2 variant) a few years back, but found it wasn’t for me. In fact, I’m now doing the exact opposite, eating 4-5 smaller meals. One benefit I did see in IF is there’s a lot less dish washing to do .

[Daves_Not_Here]

---

@SwimmingJulie wrote:

Hello all! I’m new to Fitbit and have thought I’d like to try 5:2 IF. ...

@SwimmingJulie - welcome!  I'm about 10 months into Keto and much newer to intermittent and extended fasting (IF and EF).  As such, I don't have a lot of solid personal experience with it, but I can say that it is delivering on it's promises for me:

• Allows me to easily regain ketosis after a sugar/carb binge
• Saves time and money shopping, cooking, eating, and cleaning up 
• Greatly reduces the intensity and frequency of hunger cravings
• Eliminates the fatigue that follows meals - energy and mood is much more consistent

Most importantly, it broke my dysfunctional relationship with food -- in the past, I "had" to eat at certain times, lest I become "hangry" and distracted by my hunger.  If I missed lunch, I'd be a ravenous basket-case by dinner, and very likely to overeat.  I really struggled with evening snacking.  Fast forward to now, where meals are completely optional and it takes almost no willpower not to snack. 

You can see I'm bullish on fasting's effects on me, and I believe there are likely other health benefits.  So, I'd highly recommend trying the 5:2 regimen to see if it works for you.  My only concern is that it may be too "gentle" to break the hunger cycle I described above - if the days you eat 500 calories are real knuckle-biters requiring lots of willpower for you to sustain, then you may wish to try something like 16:8 wherein you limit feeding within an 8 hour window (typically by skipping breakfast).

As to maintenance, I've tried to repeat the behavior to forge a new habit, so I've eliminated breakfast and eat 1-2 meals per day.  I view it as a permanent lifestyle change I will sustain until I discover some good reason not to.

[igot2run]

Thanks for your insights on IF. 

I have been doing a VLC diet with IF for a couple of months and have seen great results. 

Once you get over the mental hurdle that we don't need to eat every 4 hours, as indicated by the food industry, it becomes a piece of cake.

I do 20/4 on weekdays and I'm more liberal on weekends doing 16/8 to allow for  a lite lunch and dinner.

So far I've lost 5% of body fat and close to 20lbs, now approching my goal weight.

I use the LIFE app by LifeOmic (free at the Apple App Store) to track fasts and keep motivation.