How is IF different then anorexia?

[Anonymous]

I actually find it more shocking that people are so uncomfortable with something as simple as skipping breakfast. Is it completely unfathomable to you that some people just don't get as hungry in between meals? It does not matter if you are eating small, frequent meals or larger, less frequent meals. If you are taking in the right amount of calories and nutrients, you're good to go. It is amazing to me that people want to label that disordered. Are you assuming that people doing IF are severely restricting calories or something?

[Anonymous]

I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF is just an eating schedule and anorexia is an actual condition. saying IF and anorexia is the same is like saying working a four day compressed schedule is the same as not working at all.

You can still overeat and gain weight while on IF but anorexia, by definition, means you are under-eating/not absorbing.

Ugh- I’m not saying, I’m asking.
Both seem highly restrictive & based on compulsions. It’s not that big of a leap.

Ah - see what you misunderstand is that IF is not based on compulsions! I have zero compulsion to skip breakfast, or limit my calories to 500 two times a week. It doesn't feel good, it doesn't give me any intrinsic motivation. But I have to maintain an earlier weight loss, and after doing some experimentation and reading IF seems like the best shot. I do it because it works to keep me at a healthy weight (for me that means slightly overwieght - I can't seem to get into the "healthy" BMI) when nothing else does.

[Anonymous]

Anorexia is a serious mental heath disorder. Fasting for health/wellness/spirituality has been done since the beginning of time (see Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc).

Most people wash their hands for health and safety reasons. Some people with a mental health disorder wash their hands compusivley.

Compulsive behavior resulting from mental disease is completely different from a voluntary behavior to improve health or wellness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

You have a BMI of 22. That's pretty skinny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

You have a BMI of 22. That's pretty skinny.

Edited to add: What size are you? I have the same BMI (although I'm 5'4'') and I'm a size 2.

[Anonymous]

I think it really depends on what your mentality around food is.

My husband and I started IF in April - him for weight loss reasons and me to support him. I ended up modifying my approach to include a breakfast smoothie when I leave for work because I was having some stomach problems with the 16:8 routine.

For us, functionally what it means is that DH doesn't eat breakfast and we collectively do not eat after we finish dinner. We both committed to slightly smaller portions as well, which was more of a right-sizing of our eating habits than any kind of conscious calorie restricting. Other than the timing and reducing portions a bit, we are not eating differently than we were before. No one is cutting carbs or eating keto or anything like that. We're not even counting calories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

You have a BMI of 22. That's pretty skinny.

Edited to add: What size are you? I have the same BMI (although I'm 5'4'') and I'm a size 2.

I’m top heavy, with a larger stomach and chest, but thin limbs. It’s just where my body tends to store fat and I have to be very thin to have smallish waist. I’m a size 6-8 depending on the brand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

You have a BMI of 22. That's pretty skinny.

Edited to add: What size are you? I have the same BMI (although I'm 5'4'') and I'm a size 2.

NP. I have the same BMI. Look at a chart; it's normal, not "skinny". The problem is that there are just so many overweight adults now that having a normal weight appears exceptional.
(and not sure why it matters, but I am a size 6-8 in tops, 10-12 in bottoms. I'm pear shaped. I haven't seen a 2 since I was a 5' 7" 115 teen. That was skinny, though probably not abnormal for a teen in the 80's.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

If you have read the research on fasting (and there is a lot of it out there), you would realize that fasting and caloric restriction have very different metabolic effects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s fine if you are overweight and need to lose a few, but there’s a ton of disordered eaters on this board who are obsessed with being “lean” and I’m sure they use it to stay that way. Personally I don’t think IF is great for women. It’s more suited to male hormones. I think many women have dieted, restricted, and exercised to exhaustion and have forgotten that we need to be a little gentler on ourselves. These things will crash your metabolism and make weight management very difficult. I’m a normal sized woman, 5’7 and 140lbs with a good amount of muscle but also some flab, and it’s fine. I care more about functionality and health than fitting into a size 2. When I stopped caring about my weight (tossed my scale) and ate every day to fullness while maintaining a diet full of meat, dairy, carbs and tons of fruits and veggies I didn’t gain anything and actually have a lot more energy. I just focus on limiting junk and make sure to eat mostly real, unprocessed food 85% of the time.

You have a BMI of 22. That's pretty skinny.

Edited to add: What size are you? I have the same BMI (although I'm 5'4'') and I'm a size 2.

NP. I have the same BMI. Look at a chart; it's normal, not "skinny". The problem is that there are just so many overweight adults now that having a normal weight appears exceptional.
(and not sure why it matters, but I am a size 6-8 in tops, 10-12 in bottoms. I'm pear shaped. I haven't seen a 2 since I was a 5' 7" 115 teen. That was skinny, though probably not abnormal for a teen in the 80's.)

PP here. So interesting. Just goes to show the range of ways people store fat.

I'm 127 lbs, 5'4''. My measurements are roughly 31-27-36, so I do store a bit more fat in my thighs. I'm solidly a size 2. When I was in college I was the same height, but was 110 lbs and was a size 0.

[Anonymous]

Just like most can drink alcohol but alcoholics can’t.

I would say IF is healthy for most but people with eating disorders shouldn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anorexia is a serious mental heath disorder. Fasting for health/wellness/spirituality has been done since the beginning of time (see Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc).

Most people wash their hands for health and safety reasons. Some people with a mental health disorder wash their hands compusivley.

Compulsive behavior resulting from mental disease is completely different from a voluntary behavior to improve health or wellness.

The religious ascetics may have been spiritual but they also had eating disorders, among other things.

[Anonymous]

My aim is not to due from not eating and I eat plenty on days I don't do IF. It was a normal feeding pattern for humans for a much longer time period than how we eat today. It is a recent development to eat 3 meals a day.

[Anonymous]

Overweight people who try IF for weight management are not going to suddenly become anorexics. If anything, they will give up on IF and continue to struggle with weight loss.