How is IF different then anorexia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

There is a theory that we have trained our bodies to be fed on these "schedules" (such as eating breakfast first thing in the morning) as opposed to simply eating when hungry. Americans don't just eat when they're hungry, so what some doctors who promote IF claim is that if you start out by "restricting" yourself to a different schedule (like 16:8), your hormones will regulate themselves and you will naturally want to eat on that kind of schedule. I am not a doctor so I cannot speak to the validity of that, but I also have PCOS which causes insulin resistance, and I have found that eating just lunch and dinner means I am so much less hungry overall. I eat normal sized meals with normal portions, and I'm more satisfied. For years, I would try to do small, frequent meals, starting with breakfast to jumpstart my metabolism and a) it never worked for me and b) it meant I was pretty much always hungry/never full.

I understand that if you don't fully understand why someone would try IF you could label it as problematic, but I actually found that for me personally, small meals were more problematic and lead to much worse behaviors, things like cheat meals. So my point is that the "rules" of IF are no different than the "rules" of having a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those are just made up labels based on societal norms. It doesn't mean that they are better (or worse) for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

Why are you being so obtuse? Creating rules does not mean someone is eating disordered. Those of us who are overweight have lots of “rules,” e.g. drink only water, measure everything, and don’t eat directly out of the container. We can’t just “eat when we’re hungry,” because our hunger and satiety hormones don’t always work properly. Intermittent fasting works well for some of us, and makes us much MORE healthy than other eating plans.

I get that it’s not healthy for you and for lots of others who have eating disorders or food issues. But don’t assume that all of us are struggling with the same problems.

[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.

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.

I have read the research and was speaking from personal experience. IF disrupted my cycle, caused the worst cystic acne I’ve ever experienced, and insomnia. The research points to these issues as well. It may work for some folks but like everything else, your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

+1
It's the rigidity around eating. Definitely a disordered thought process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

+1
It's the rigidity around eating. Definitely a disordered thought process.

If you are prone to eating disorders, any kind of plan around food is going to be disordered. Even someone who has completely "recovered" is going to have a hard time with food and diets as evidenced by the OP. For other people it's not even an issue. It's like how most people can drink alcohol without becoming alcoholics, but some people cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

There is a theory that we have trained our bodies to be fed on these "schedules" (such as eating breakfast first thing in the morning) as opposed to simply eating when hungry. Americans don't just eat when they're hungry, so what some doctors who promote IF claim is that if you start out by "restricting" yourself to a different schedule (like 16:8), your hormones will regulate themselves and you will naturally want to eat on that kind of schedule. I am not a doctor so I cannot speak to the validity of that, but I also have PCOS which causes insulin resistance, and I have found that eating just lunch and dinner means I am so much less hungry overall. I eat normal sized meals with normal portions, and I'm more satisfied. For years, I would try to do small, frequent meals, starting with breakfast to jumpstart my metabolism and a) it never worked for me and b) it meant I was pretty much always hungry/never full.

I understand that if you don't fully understand why someone would try IF you could label it as problematic, but I actually found that for me personally, small meals were more problematic and lead to much worse behaviors, things like cheat meals. So my point is that the "rules" of IF are no different than the "rules" of having a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those are just made up labels based on societal norms. It doesn't mean that they are better (or worse) for you.

This has been my experience as well. Americans are programmed that “breakfast is the most important meal” and to eat all day. For a while diet advice was many small meals...and I gained weight that way. If I have breakfast at 8, I’m often hungry again at 10:30, but I am not as hungry if I just wait until noon to eat. It’s like once I flip that switch, I start wanting more food. IF has really helped me with that.

[Anonymous]

So, training your body to not be hungry anymore is what folks with eating disorders do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

There is a theory that we have trained our bodies to be fed on these "schedules" (such as eating breakfast first thing in the morning) as opposed to simply eating when hungry. Americans don't just eat when they're hungry, so what some doctors who promote IF claim is that if you start out by "restricting" yourself to a different schedule (like 16:8), your hormones will regulate themselves and you will naturally want to eat on that kind of schedule. I am not a doctor so I cannot speak to the validity of that, but I also have PCOS which causes insulin resistance, and I have found that eating just lunch and dinner means I am so much less hungry overall. I eat normal sized meals with normal portions, and I'm more satisfied. For years, I would try to do small, frequent meals, starting with breakfast to jumpstart my metabolism and a) it never worked for me and b) it meant I was pretty much always hungry/never full.

I understand that if you don't fully understand why someone would try IF you could label it as problematic, but I actually found that for me personally, small meals were more problematic and lead to much worse behaviors, things like cheat meals. So my point is that the "rules" of IF are no different than the "rules" of having a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those are just made up labels based on societal norms. It doesn't mean that they are better (or worse) for you.

You guys are missing the point though. People who are not disordered don't even use terms like "cheat meals" or think of eating as something that necessitates 'rules.'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, training your body to not be hungry anymore is what folks with eating disorders do

What exactly are you suggesting? Eat unlimited amounts of whatever we want? It’s about finding a balance of what makes us happy with what we’re eating versus our size. For me, IF has helped with that.
It’s unhealthy to eat whenever and whatever for the majority of people...being obese has health consequences too. It’s all about find balance that is sustainable and not on either extreme of obesity or disordered eating.

[Anonymous]

OP ~ if you have concerns, don't do it. You need to learn how to be your best self. Focus on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

I couldn't care less if people skip breakfast. It's creating rules around it that strikes me as problematic. If you're not hungry for breakfast, then don't eat it. But I don't buy for a second that everyone, or even most people doing IF are just naturally not hungry. If they were, they wouldn't need to label their eating with anything. They'd just eat when they're hungry. That's not IF.

There is a theory that we have trained our bodies to be fed on these "schedules" (such as eating breakfast first thing in the morning) as opposed to simply eating when hungry. Americans don't just eat when they're hungry, so what some doctors who promote IF claim is that if you start out by "restricting" yourself to a different schedule (like 16:8), your hormones will regulate themselves and you will naturally want to eat on that kind of schedule. I am not a doctor so I cannot speak to the validity of that, but I also have PCOS which causes insulin resistance, and I have found that eating just lunch and dinner means I am so much less hungry overall. I eat normal sized meals with normal portions, and I'm more satisfied. For years, I would try to do small, frequent meals, starting with breakfast to jumpstart my metabolism and a) it never worked for me and b) it meant I was pretty much always hungry/never full.

I understand that if you don't fully understand why someone would try IF you could label it as problematic, but I actually found that for me personally, small meals were more problematic and lead to much worse behaviors, things like cheat meals. So my point is that the "rules" of IF are no different than the "rules" of having a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those are just made up labels based on societal norms. It doesn't mean that they are better (or worse) for you.

You guys are missing the point though. People who are not disordered don't even use terms like "cheat meals" or think of eating as something that necessitates 'rules.'

I don’t think anyone is missing the point. Everyone has rules about eating whether you verbalize it or not. How often do you feed your family? Do they just graze all day long? Do you eat chocolate ice cream for breakfast? Why not? Societal rules?
IF may get verbalized more because it’s somewhat out of the ordinary not to eat breakfast. I’ve done it for over a year and honestly don’t even think of it unless someone asks. Do it long enough and it’s just how you do it and not a rule.

[Anonymous]

Yes- everyone has rules. But if the rules are ‘don’t eat’ that’s a disorder

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP ~ if you have concerns, don't do it. You need to learn how to be your best self. Focus on that.

Op here- it’s not for me. I eat good things when I’m hungry. My step daughter wants us to adopt this for her approach to eating. I actually asked because I wanted folks to show me how it was different. I want to not project my issues on to her.
I ordered the obesity code & will read it.

[Anonymous]

** should add after therapy I can finally say I eat good things when I’m hungry. Wether it’s 6am, 10am, or 1 hour after lunch