Intermittent Fasting

[Anonymous]

Anyone do this? How many hours?What has the benefit been? I realized I do this accidentally. I stop eating around 7pm each day and don’t eat until 9am each day. I’m just not hungry in the mornings. I’d probably be able to go longer.

[Anonymous]

I did 18/6, so stopped eating at 7pm and didn't eat again til after 11. Had some pretty minor (4-5lbs maybe?) weight loss over about 2 months, which I realize is a perfectly healthy and reasonable rate. Other than that, eh.

I still try to avoid eating after dinner and like you don't eat breakfast until after 9-10am, and then it's just a breakfast/protein bar and maybe a little piece of fruit.

[Anonymous]

The benefit is you’re eating less food overall, assuming you don’t stuff yourself when it is time to eat.

[Anonymous]

There are more benefits to fasting than the calorie reduction from a health standpoint. That said, I agree that calorie reduction overall is a key part of why it works for weight loss. I have also found that my appetite has been reduced by fasting over time.

I do the 5:2 fast described in the book eat stop eat and find it is very flexible and works. I also eat a whole (unprocessed) foods diet and eat minimal foods with added sugar.

[Anonymous]

DH does, he eats one meal a day that can be as large as he wants but that's it + no snacking or caloric beverages. He's lost around 40 pounds over 6 months.

I think his success is mostly attributable to getting rid of all the snacking which was his biggest weakness. He'd eat very healthy all day then go off the rails with the late night snacks.

[Anonymous]

OP here. This is interesting! thanks. As I said, I do 14 hours but going to try for 16 hours to see if it makes any difference. Weight loss isn't really my goal, but I could stand to lose 5lbs.


During the "fast" do you have coffee (I need coffee in the morning). I do use a bit of no sugar added almond milk, but I think it needs to be just black, right?

[Anonymous]

There are a MILLION threads on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. This is interesting! thanks. As I said, I do 14 hours but going to try for 16 hours to see if it makes any difference. Weight loss isn't really my goal, but I could stand to lose 5lbs.


During the "fast" do you have coffee (I need coffee in the morning). I do use a bit of no sugar added almond milk, but I think it needs to be just black, right?

I don’t fast every day. I do espresso black on days I am fasting (24 hour fasts dinner to dinner) and have coffee with cream or whole milk other days.

[Anonymous]

With a lot of research, I don't really think the 14 hour would count as IF. I think you need to get to that 16 hours. You can have under 50 calories and it doesn't reset your body, so the milk in coffee is fine.

[Anonymous]

I used to do IF and lost 5 pounds without any other diet changes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to do IF and lost 5 pounds without any other diet changes

That's not that much, considering all that suffering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to do IF and lost 5 pounds without any other diet changes

That's not that much, considering all that suffering.

Here’s the thing about IF, it is not really much suffering at all. We are trained our whole lives to thing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is not really a big deal to skip breakfast and if that maintained my weight where I wanted it , I would do it no problem. That is not enough for me, I don’t gain but I don’t lose beyond a few pounds without tracking calories

Skipping breakfast and lunch twice a week, also not that hard. I am losing weight this way. I don’t count calories but I do generally watch what I eat. I eat whole foods, mostly cooked at home and very little refined carbs or sugars. So far it is working, 17 pounds down over 3 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to do IF and lost 5 pounds without any other diet changes

That's not that much, considering all that suffering.

I've been doing IF since January and it's taken until now to loose 6 lbs. But here's the thing - i could sustain it. It doesn't feel like I'm constantly depriving myself. So I'm sticking with it and OK with the really slow loss.

[Anonymous]

I've lost 18 pounds since February and still eat like shit if I'm being honest. I typically eat for the first time at 1:30 and try to close the eating window by 8. I'm not militant about it. I eat a little earlier on weekends and might have something after 8 once a week. It's very easy for me to do. I feel like it's my natural hunger pattern.