If you do IF…

[Anonymous]

If you do IF, especially 16:8, what do you eat during your window and have you lost weight? Do you eat whatever you want within reason, or count calories/cut carbs/follow a particular diet. Do you drink alcohol at all and do you ever eat sugar/dessert?

I have been doing IF for probably 6 months and have not lost a single pound. In the past doing Keto has been much more effective for me, so maybe I need to incorporate both? Maybe I am eating too much or not the right foods, but I feel like I always hear about people eating anything they want in their window of eating and dropping a ton of weight.

[Anonymous]

I can’t eat whatever I want. As an example, my DD made homemade gluten free banana cupcakes with coconut based frosting. It’s ‘healthier’ but it is still loaded with carbs and sugar. I ate half the bunch in a week. I’m now bloated puffy and my Autoimmune is starting to flare. Time to dial it back again to IF, combined with no gluten, no sugar, no dairy, no alcohol and limited carbs. It’s the only way I stay slim.

[Anonymous]

During my window, I count calories and carbs. I stick to keto, so I eat very low carb and no sugar. I sometimes drink during the summer, usually a low carb seltzer. I have consistently lost weight over the past 4 months this way and feel so much better! I logged for many weeks at the beginning and now I mostly wing it unless I notice a week with no weight loss. Then I log for a few days to figure out what’s going on.

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of anybody eating whatever they want in their window and still losing weight, OP.

First, at 43 and not tall, I need to make sure I don’t go over 1200 calories if I want to lose a few pounds. I usually accomplish this by having two meals. The first is a quality protein, usually salmon, and a half cup of cooked steel cut oats with milk and some berries. Then for the second meal, I have a salad with vinegar and oil and another protein, usually salmon again or baked chicken breast. And a berry bowl with quark. I am careful to measure these things exactly so that I don’t exceed my calorie threshold.

No, I don’t eat the exact same thing for every day. I also like homemade lentil soup sometimes, or steak or scallops/shrimp for my protein. Etc.

If I’m feeling really run-down, I have been known to have a bigger bowl of oatmeal with a little handful of raisins for my first meal only. This is filling and feels good, and works just the same as long as my total calories intake is under my limit.

I happen to love cardio and will do a forty minute or one hour run on IF days. It feels good and gives me a lot of energy.

I rarely drink alcohol because I am vain about my looks. IF eliminates all desire for junk food, so that’s off the table too.

[Anonymous]

I heard about an alternative to IF. Instead of one 7-8 hour eating window, try 3 30-minute eating windows. Also known as breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Use that fasting mindset between meals. It has been proven that IF isn’t really effective. But people have had great success with it. Most likely because these people were diligent about not eating one morsel of food during that window and then stayed disciplined during their eating window. I was great about fasting, but I wasn’t successful with IF because I was not disciplined during my eating window. It was too easy to grab a few chips or crackers, a piece of candy, or a sugary drink without really giving it any thought. So, think of your between meal times as fasting times without a single morsel of food. I’m going to give it a try.

[Anonymous]

56yr old, post-meno female here.

I try to go 16 hours, usually only make it to 14-15 hours. During my eating window I'm pretty conscious of what I consume, focusing on my protein + veggie consumption. Am I always perfect? no, but I try. I hardly ever eat chips and crackers.Never eat candy. Never drink sugary drinks. My carbs come from veggies, fruit and ezekiel bread. My alcohol consumption is next to nothing. Maybe 4oz of white wine a couple times a month. Also I work out every day.

[Anonymous]

I've been doing 16:8 for 4 months now and haven't lost a single pound. I'm very disappointed. In addition to the fasting, I've cleaned up my diet tremendously and still workout as before. Unfortunately, the only change I've noticed since starting IF is major constipation, which I never had before in my life. I think I'm going to stop the IF so I can hopefully at least stop feeling crappy from the vicious cycle of constipation and then a day of diarrhea when my body can't take the constipation anymore.

[Anonymous]

I do IF and essentially only eat two meals most days—lunch is a simple meal of either oatmeal or toast + protein/fat (avocado, nut butter, nuts, or egg), and dinner is bigger but still focused on plants + protein/fat (I’m also a vegetarian). However, I also like to eat out, so I’ll eat out or make a fun, less healthy dinner two times a week. I’ll also have dessert once or twice a week, and I also like wine and have that a few times a week. I maintain my current desired weight eating this way (120 lb). If I wanted to lose weight, I’d need to cut out a few of those fun dinners and the wine.

With IF, you can’t eat whatever you want— you still have to clean up your diet. I find that never snacking and only focusing on a couple of meals a day makes it far easier to control overeating/bored eating. I think “bored eating” accounts for a lot of weight problems for people.

[Anonymous]

I have done IF for a couple years. I started at 210 and am now at 160. A very muscular 160 but still, I'm not teeny tiny.

I generally eat between 12-7. I don't really edit what I eat in my window, I could likely lose the rest of the weight if I did! I generally have two meals and maybe an afternoon snack. I work out a lot so sometimes I get hungry. I don't drink often but if we're going out to dinner or I had a stressful day I'll have a glass of wine.

I know most people wouldn't consider this COMPLETE SUCCESS but I went from stage two obese to stable 'overweight' and that is a giant victory in my book! Shooting for attainable for the rest of my life! So basically probably depends on what your current weight and goal weight are to answer this question.

Agree that IF removes a LOT of bored eating and so all by itself can do wonders for someone with really awful eating habits. But if you're just trying to lose that last five pounds its unlikely to do all the work for you.

[Anonymous]

16:8 is too long of a window. I mean most peop'le only eat lunch and dinner? It doesn't even sound like "fasting" at all, just regular eating. I mean if you eat lunch at noon, dinner at 6pm, you could still be eating until 8pm!

I eat from 2pm- 6pm (sometimes 7pm if dinner is late). It's a much shorter time. I've always eaten good, balanced meals, my weight gain was from pregnancy. But I'm sure if you tried you could still eat 2k calories in 4 hours. On this diet, however, I've lost 1lb a week. I'm never super hungry and I'm not losing too quickly. 43lbs down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard about an alternative to IF. Instead of one 7-8 hour eating window, try 3 30-minute eating windows. Also known as breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Use that fasting mindset between meals. It has been proven that IF isn’t really effective. But people have had great success with it. Most likely because these people were diligent about not eating one morsel of food during that window and then stayed disciplined during their eating window. I was great about fasting, but I wasn’t successful with IF because I was not disciplined during my eating window. It was too easy to grab a few chips or crackers, a piece of candy, or a sugary drink without really giving it any thought. So, think of your between meal times as fasting times without a single morsel of food. I’m going to give it a try.

I’m going to try this. I did IF for awhile but haven’t been able to stick with it. I think my problem is snacks, not my meals. Thanks for this idea.

[Anonymous]

In Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece - they basically practice IF without realizing it.

It's not that hard if you just listen to your body and stop eating when you're no longer hungry - which is different from stopping when you're "full". People in those countries (and others I didn't list) don't wake up and shove their faces full of pancakes, waffles, and Frappachinos. They have a small cup of coffee with whole milk and a small roll or croissant maybe. Lunch is their largest meal but even then it's not a grotesque amount of food. Then dinner is a small piece of protein and side salad with olive oil and salt. maybe only a bowl of soup. Then that's it! they never walk back into the kitchen till the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard about an alternative to IF. Instead of one 7-8 hour eating window, try 3 30-minute eating windows. Also known as breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Use that fasting mindset between meals. It has been proven that IF isn’t really effective. But people have had great success with it. Most likely because these people were diligent about not eating one morsel of food during that window and then stayed disciplined during their eating window. I was great about fasting, but I wasn’t successful with IF because I was not disciplined during my eating window. It was too easy to grab a few chips or crackers, a piece of candy, or a sugary drink without really giving it any thought. So, think of your between meal times as fasting times without a single morsel of food. I’m going to give it a try.

I’m going to try this. I did IF for awhile but haven’t been able to stick with it. I think my problem is snacks, not my meals. Thanks for this idea.

I'm currently doing 16/8 and eat whatever I want and am maintaining my weight. But I don't expect that to last forever. I like this meal-window approach, too, because timing fasts is easier for me than calorie counting or restriction dieting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece - they basically practice IF without realizing it.

It's not that hard if you just listen to your body and stop eating when you're no longer hungry - which is different from stopping when you're "full". People in those countries (and others I didn't list) don't wake up and shove their faces full of pancakes, waffles, and Frappachinos. They have a small cup of coffee with whole milk and a small roll or croissant maybe. Lunch is their largest meal but even then it's not a grotesque amount of food. Then dinner is a small piece of protein and side salad with olive oil and salt. maybe only a bowl of soup. Then that's it! they never walk back into the kitchen till the next day.

I guess tapas are just a myth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have done IF for a couple years. I started at 210 and am now at 160. A very muscular 160 but still, I'm not teeny tiny.

I generally eat between 12-7. I don't really edit what I eat in my window, I could likely lose the rest of the weight if I did! I generally have two meals and maybe an afternoon snack. I work out a lot so sometimes I get hungry. I don't drink often but if we're going out to dinner or I had a stressful day I'll have a glass of wine.

I know most people wouldn't consider this COMPLETE SUCCESS but I went from stage two obese to stable 'overweight' and that is a giant victory in my book! Shooting for attainable for the rest of my life! So basically probably depends on what your current weight and goal weight are to answer this question.

Agree that IF removes a LOT of bored eating and so all by itself can do wonders for someone with really awful eating habits. But if you're just trying to lose that last five pounds its unlikely to do all the work for you.

NP here.

Just wanted to say that I do think it’s a success! Good for you, PP.