Anonymous wrote:My whole life. I did not realize it was a thing until about 2021. I've always naturally fasted 7 -9 hours from my last meal. I've been pretty much same weight since highschool (gained 15 lbs each pregnancy and lost it all first
postpartum week) and I'm 45 now.

I usually have dinner at 6pm and then eat "breakfast" around 11-1pm.

Most people call that sleeping and skipping breakfast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been intermittent fasting for about four years now. I started during peri-menopause when I had really bad symptoms, including what felt like early onset dementia. I also reduced inflammatory (for me) foods, and limited carbs by not eating grains. I eat a very whole foods, vegetable heavy and protein heavy diet with things like salmon, olive oil, broccoli, chicken, etc. I generally just have dinner, but I'm flexible, on both the diet and the timing around family and celebration (so I would go out to a lunch, but not have dinner, or just a light snack). My weight is normal and I feel great. The fasting without lowering carbs was undoable for me, but where I am now is really sustainable (and my cognition is much, much improved).

Not OP but I really want to know more about this! How long did it take for your symptoms to improve? Do you think your diet or your eating schedule helped the most or was it a combination ? Do you not eat any grains at all? What kind of carbs do you eat? Sorry for the ambush but I’m trying to do the Galveston diet which is basically what you’re describing (it’s for peri/menopause symptoms) and I am struggling with it and wondering if I can still get some improvement with half-assing things.

My symptoms were better within two weeks when I really did it. I was hoping that for me that I wouldn't have to make as dramatic changes as I ended up making. For example, I discovered that things didn't really improve for me when I continued to get Starbucks with tons and tons of soy milk (which was really sweet). I would get a venti of that several times a day (also not good financially). I finally went to black coffee. When I got really strict with absolutely no sugar, and longer windows, it was pretty quick. I would say that all of my carbs come from vegetables, which I do not restrict at all. I guess a little from nuts and seeds. I'm at about 40-50 grams of carbs a day (I don't really track that, but that's my guess). It looks like the Galveston diet is like Whole30, but with whole grains? I was experimenting with things from Whole30, Dale Bresden, and Jason Fung. I think they key takeaway for me is that 1) you need to reduce your insulin resistance, and 2) you need to remove things that are inflammatory for you. For number 1, I think that is really individual specific. For some people just a six hour eating window will accomplish that. Others will need to reduce the window and carbohydrates.

The Starbucks thing is probably the soy which messes with estrogen at a time when hormones are already changing and a mess.

On a related note, I did IF for years and lost weight and loved it. But when I hit peri menopause, I think it was messing with my hormones and causing me to gain weight. I read “fast like a girl” and timed my fasting to my cycle and that helped. Now I still do but have decreased my fasting. My last cycle was 29 days with a 13 day luteal phase and some progesterone supplementation.

55 now and have been doing intermittent fasting (before it was a thing) since 20 yrs old. When younger I ate once a day..so 23 hour fast. I now eat at least twice a day (mid mid-morning and afternoon). I do not eat after 5:00 pm. (Night eating would interrupt my sleep). I lift heavier weights 2 times a week and lighter weights 1-2 times a week. Use kettlebell swings as HITT periodically. For cardio I at least walk 3 miles a day. Some days I swim and kick about 1 mile instead. Take infrared saunas periodically along with cold showers. Eat clean 90% of the time by eating Whole Foods (1 ingredient foods and lots of protein). I do like IPA beers and sometimes wine and dark chocolate. This is my lifestyle and my normal as I have been doing this for so long. 5’9” 125lbs…same weight for last 30 yrs (do have smaller bones) and feel fantastic. Long and lean!

I've been fasting for nearly 9 years on the recommendation of my oncologist. I love eating & haven't changed my diet, just the times I eat. My window is 5:00-11:00 PM to eat, and I fast the other 18 hours. It's not the least bit difficult for me after all these years. I'm at a healthy weight, but that was never the concern.

About 6 years...skipping breakfast has not been a problem at all although I do miss my donuts. I eat between 4 and 8 mostly. Get rid of the carb cravings and you won't be as hungry. Good luck you can do it. Americans, in general, eat way too much. You're not going to starve.

I am the pp and I want to say just as a note to anyone who might be reading these stories, that tales like mine and the pp can be easy to write off like 'they made ENORMOUS DRAMATIC LIFE CHANGES THAT IS TOO HARD' but the FIRST change I made was just eating 11-7. The first month I did it I was like, at the fridge at 10:59 and in the kitchen finding stuff to shove in my mouth at 6:59.

But I stuck with that and then I just added little things here and there (a little exercise, not putting sugar in my coffee etc).

No one change felt like I was doing anything dramatically different. But I kept doing things that made me feel better, and now, four years later yes it is clear that I needed to make incredibly dramatic changes but I also know there is no way I could have made those changes all at once.

My journey to health, and I think this is true for others, is like a snowball rolling down a hill, getting it started was tough and it was small but as I have kept with it and tweaked here and there its gotten bigger and bigger almost naturally without me even thinking about it anymore. Living this way is just...my life now, just part of who I am.

But I cannot stress enough to you that the me of four years ago (and even more so the me of 10 years ago) would believe that my life today was a completely unreachable pipe dream that was an absurd goal for her to have. THAT me did it with the goal of losing 10 pounds. And every time I made a milestone I set another VERY manageable one and again, a lot of changes just started to happen naturally because my cravings changed and what my body wanted changed.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been doing it about two years. I typically fast from 7 pm-11 am. I drink black coffee and water and workout fasted. If I have a day where I might feel a little run down, am sick or get nauseous (very rare) I will eat. I just listen to my body. I do it for a few reasons but mainly to avoid before bed snacking and autophagy. I have a very surface level understanding of it but I guess it gives your cells a chance to repair and cleanup.

This is me, but I think I'm at more like 4 years now. I lost about 50 pounds in the first couple of years and got out of the obese (started out in morbidly obese) category. My chronic heartburn is gone (took prilosec for a decade before). I also started a robust exercise routine around the same time so its hard to parse out exactly what is responsible for all of my changes but I believe 100% that the fasting is responsible for the weight loss and the weight loss is responsible for a lot of the health improvements. I am 38 and I think honestly I am healthier than I have been in my entire life.

I just don't think about eating before 11 or after 7. If I am going out to dinner with my husband or friends or something (something that happens maybe 1/2 times a month) then I don't worry about it and eat late. I will say that the timing of this means that I basically kind of stopped drinking alcohol. I will occasionally have a glass of wine with dinner but drinking too much ensures I'll be hungry after 9 and honestly sobering up while awake is unpleasant so I just don't drink in excess. I have turned into a really cheap date haha because now when I do go out I struggle to drink even 2 drinks without starting to feel bad. This has REALLY illustrated to me just how bad alcohol is for me because it really does feel like a poison! It throws me off for 2/3 days if I drink too much.

But like other posters my window is officially 11-7 but I will not infrequently go to anywhere from 12-2 before eating. And I generally stop eating after dinner so if we have a late dinner I'm not stressing if I take my last bite at 7:15, but conversely I might be 'done' eating at 6 if we eat early.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been intermittent fasting for about four years now. I started during peri-menopause when I had really bad symptoms, including what felt like early onset dementia. I also reduced inflammatory (for me) foods, and limited carbs by not eating grains. I eat a very whole foods, vegetable heavy and protein heavy diet with things like salmon, olive oil, broccoli, chicken, etc. I generally just have dinner, but I'm flexible, on both the diet and the timing around family and celebration (so I would go out to a lunch, but not have dinner, or just a light snack). My weight is normal and I feel great. The fasting without lowering carbs was undoable for me, but where I am now is really sustainable (and my cognition is much, much improved).

Not OP but I really want to know more about this! How long did it take for your symptoms to improve? Do you think your diet or your eating schedule helped the most or was it a combination ? Do you not eat any grains at all? What kind of carbs do you eat? Sorry for the ambush but I’m trying to do the Galveston diet which is basically what you’re describing (it’s for peri/menopause symptoms) and I am struggling with it and wondering if I can still get some improvement with half-assing things.

My symptoms were better within two weeks when I really did it. I was hoping that for me that I wouldn't have to make as dramatic changes as I ended up making. For example, I discovered that things didn't really improve for me when I continued to get Starbucks with tons and tons of soy milk (which was really sweet). I would get a venti of that several times a day (also not good financially). I finally went to black coffee. When I got really strict with absolutely no sugar, and longer windows, it was pretty quick. I would say that all of my carbs come from vegetables, which I do not restrict at all. I guess a little from nuts and seeds. I'm at about 40-50 grams of carbs a day (I don't really track that, but that's my guess). It looks like the Galveston diet is like Whole30, but with whole grains? I was experimenting with things from Whole30, Dale Bresden, and Jason Fung. I think they key takeaway for me is that 1) you need to reduce your insulin resistance, and 2) you need to remove things that are inflammatory for you. For number 1, I think that is really individual specific. For some people just a six hour eating window will accomplish that. Others will need to reduce the window and carbohydrates.

Anonymous wrote:I have been intermittent fasting for about four years now. I started during peri-menopause when I had really bad symptoms, including what felt like early onset dementia. I also reduced inflammatory (for me) foods, and limited carbs by not eating grains. I eat a very whole foods, vegetable heavy and protein heavy diet with things like salmon, olive oil, broccoli, chicken, etc. I generally just have dinner, but I'm flexible, on both the diet and the timing around family and celebration (so I would go out to a lunch, but not have dinner, or just a light snack). My weight is normal and I feel great. The fasting without lowering carbs was undoable for me, but where I am now is really sustainable (and my cognition is much, much improved).

Not OP but I really want to know more about this! How long did it take for your symptoms to improve? Do you think your diet or your eating schedule helped the most or was it a combination ? Do you not eat any grains at all? What kind of carbs do you eat? Sorry for the ambush but I’m trying to do the Galveston diet which is basically what you’re describing (it’s for peri/menopause symptoms) and I am struggling with it and wondering if I can still get some improvement with half-assing things.

I have been intermittent fasting for about four years now. I started during peri-menopause when I had really bad symptoms, including what felt like early onset dementia. I also reduced inflammatory (for me) foods, and limited carbs by not eating grains. I eat a very whole foods, vegetable heavy and protein heavy diet with things like salmon, olive oil, broccoli, chicken, etc. I generally just have dinner, but I'm flexible, on both the diet and the timing around family and celebration (so I would go out to a lunch, but not have dinner, or just a light snack). My weight is normal and I feel great. The fasting without lowering carbs was undoable for me, but where I am now is really sustainable (and my cognition is much, much improved).

I’ve been doing it about two years. I typically fast from 7 pm-11 am. I drink black coffee and water and workout fasted. If I have a day where I might feel a little run down, am sick or get nauseous (very rare) I will eat. I just listen to my body. I do it for a few reasons but mainly to avoid before bed snacking and autophagy. I have a very surface level understanding of it but I guess it gives your cells a chance to repair and cleanup.

Anonymous wrote:My whole life. I did not realize it was a thing until about 2021. I've always naturally fasted 7 -9 hours from my last meal. I've been pretty much same weight since highschool (gained 15 lbs each pregnancy and lost it all first
postpartum week) and I'm 45 now.

I usually have dinner at 6pm and then eat "breakfast" around 11-1pm.

Me too, sort of. When I was about 20 (so twenty years ago) I was really struggling with heartburn and someone suggested that I stop eating past 7PM. I did that and felt amazing, and I discovered that I felt best when I eat my first meal around 10AM and my last around 6PM. I have more energy and I think I sleep better when I'm not sleeping on a full stomach. And no heartburn, obviously. I have never been strict about it but I do feel better eating like this. I never like saying I do intermittent fasting because it sounds trendy but I guess I do.

My whole life. I did not realize it was a thing until about 2021. I've always naturally fasted 7 -9 hours from my last meal. I've been pretty much same weight since highschool (gained 15 lbs each pregnancy and lost it all first
postpartum week) and I'm 45 now.

I usually have dinner at 6pm and then eat "breakfast" around 11-1pm.

I practice intermittent fasting. I usually fast from dinner until the afternoon the next day (2 or 3 the next day, sometimes 5 pm). When both my husband and I worked outside the house I sometimes fasted 36-48 hours. Not often, but sometimes.

It helped me two ways. One, keeping from eating too much. Once I start eating in a day, it is all over -- I'm all into eating.

Second, we have a history of cancer in my family, and fasting promotes autophagy - I would like to do longer fasts again, but my family is really set against it. I don't want my kids to worry.

I do make sure that I am well hydrated. Water, tea, coffee.

How long have you been doing it for, and what are the positives and negatives that you have noticed health wise?