My experience with IF

[Anonymous]

I finally decided to try IF and thought I would share my experience here. 41F, 5’5, started in October 2022. I didn’t make any dietary or fitness changes, I just put myself on a loose schedule of eating only between noon and 6:30 daily. The progress has been slow but remarkably steady. As of today I’m down 21 pounds.

Along the way my portions have become naturally smaller than pre-IF and I don’t snack very often anymore. Most days I eat lunch and dinner and that’s it, which is a FAR cry from my pre-IF days. Somehow my hunger/satiety signals have normalized and I treat food as food. I eat things I enjoy that taste good but I no longer have little binge-y episodes with snacks.

I’m sharing what worked *for me* and I am not claiming this will work for everyone. I tried this particular method because I can’t count calories, macronutrients, points, etc. without it becoming unhealthy *for me*. This seemed to be the best compromise I could find for weight loss and I’m so pleased with the outcome.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t this just skipping breakfast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t this just skipping breakfast?

NP and that is IF.

It’s worked for me in the past, I think because of the inevitable calorie reduction.

[Anonymous]

So you never have evening social plans like dinner with friends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you never have evening social plans like dinner with friends?

When I have evening plans I eat/drink without concern and just get back on schedule the next day

[Anonymous]

It’s funny that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has been drilled into us our entire lives.

GenX

[Anonymous]

Do you work out in the mornings?

I tried this, but j work out in the mornings and found that I struggled to be as aggressive as I would have liked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has been drilled into us our entire lives.

GenX

Well eating in the morning is important for those of us who work out in the morning. Obviously I'm not talking about the style of "breakfast" that's been shoved down our throats (literally) for years, rather it's a protein rich snack - pre workout. This is not a GenX notion, so stop with the ageist mindset and stop blaming your generation on everything that's wrong in the world.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like IF fixed a blood sugar or insulin resistance issue that was giving you lots of cravings between meals. More stable blood sugar = less cravings and hunger between meals.

[Anonymous]

I need to eat in the AM to get things moving, if you know what I mean.

Is there such thing as just skipping lunch?

[Anonymous]

I have been doing it for years but recently read “fast like a girl” and adjust my fasting to my cycle. If you’re a woman.

[Anonymous]

Congrats, OP! That's great progress!

And I don't think the Gen X PP was blaming anyone (except maybe the cereal company lobby) - it's just that when that generation was growing up, we were all taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I think it's well documented at this point that Kellogg's was heavily behind this saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I finally decided to try IF and thought I would share my experience here. 41F, 5’5, started in October 2022. I didn’t make any dietary or fitness changes, I just put myself on a loose schedule of eating only between noon and 6:30 daily. The progress has been slow but remarkably steady. As of today I’m down 21 pounds.

Along the way my portions have become naturally smaller than pre-IF and I don’t snack very often anymore. Most days I eat lunch and dinner and that’s it, which is a FAR cry from my pre-IF days. Somehow my hunger/satiety signals have normalized and I treat food as food. I eat things I enjoy that taste good but I no longer have little binge-y episodes with snacks.

I’m sharing what worked *for me* and I am not claiming this will work for everyone. I tried this particular method because I can’t count calories, macronutrients, points, etc. without it becoming unhealthy *for me*. This seemed to be the best compromise I could find for weight loss and I’m so pleased with the outcome.

What was your starting weight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has been drilled into us our entire lives.

GenX

I had GD when pregnant and they warned me not to ever skip breakfast or have sugary foods for breakfast. The days I did either of those things my glucose was elevated all day long no matter what I ate. So it isn't wrong advice for people with insulin resistance.

[Anonymous]

I've done IF for years and am fat. Never lost a pound that way.