I’ve been doing 16:8 IF for several months and it’s been working for me and is just the way I do things now. I’ve lost weight and maintained even over the holidays. I don’t feel like it’s extreme and it’s changed my relationship with food and retrained my hunger. I don’t obsess over calories, food types, timing, etc. I eat from 10-6 and don’t worry too much about what I eat although my choices have been healthier and the amount is less. I recommend it a lot to people!

For some reason if I eat a lot for dinner I am really hungry in the morning. If I have small dinner, I am fine and not really hungry early on the morning. I have no idea how that is. Today I am busy and haven't eaten yet, so now that it is past 2 I decided to eat at 4pm, that will be almost 24 hours. It isn't that hard if you are running around.

People are talking about not eating breakfast as IF - and I'm someone who does IF and doesn't eat breakfast, so I support that. But there are other ways to do it if you are a breakfast person! Instead of not eating breakfast you could not eat dinner. Same number of hours fasting, just at the other end of the day. Also, with the 5:2 method (five days normal eating, two days fasting) your "fast" means eating 500 calories during the 24 hour period. So you can spread those out and have scrambled eggs or yogurt and fruit for breakfast, a bowl of soup for lunch, and stir fried veggies and a small piece of protein for dinner. For some folks that works better. For me, I'd rather just not eat much during the day and then sit down and have a normal dinner with my family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying this. I last ate at 7 p.m. last night and I've been hungry since about 8 a.m., stomach growling. I'm envious of those of you who don't get hungry without breakfast.

I think part of the reason it works for me is that my mornings are super busy. As soon as I sit down I start to feel hungry. But if you can wait a half hour, the hunger goes away.

I donno. I've always been like this. Never really hungry in the morning. And then super hungry for lunch, whether I have had breakfast or not.

If you do need to eat breakfast, can you just move the hours earlier? eat breakfast at 11 and then stop eating by 7?

The hours can be whatever you want. It actually is best if you eat earlier in the day (i.e. breakfast and lunch) for some reason - maybe something to do with cortisol, etc, I forget but I'm sure you can google it - but this doesn't work for most people socially, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

Ok, it's been 2 days of "fasting", aka skipping breakfast. It's amazing...I'm not that hungry at all. I have no cravings. I actually made it to 12:30pm. I am usually starving by 10 if I eat breakfast at 7.

what gives?!?

Apparently breaking your fast - ie breakfast, or your first meal of the day - wakes up the metabolism and then you get hungry. A nutritionist told me I should eat breakfast even though I wasn’t hungry for it. But I tried, and then was ravenous the remainder of the morning. I told her that and she said “yes, eating breakfast will make you hungry.” Her advice was to eat breakfast, making myself hungry, and then manage my weight by eating less. I’ll just skip eating when I’m not hungry, thanks. I end up eating fewer calories overall.

While I'm not a faster, this is me me in general. If I eat breakfast, I'm ravenous for the rest of the day. Breakfast does not help me eat less the rest of the day by any stretch. One size does not fit all.

+2

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying this. I last ate at 7 p.m. last night and I've been hungry since about 8 a.m., stomach growling. I'm envious of those of you who don't get hungry without breakfast.

I think part of the reason it works for me is that my mornings are super busy. As soon as I sit down I start to feel hungry. But if you can wait a half hour, the hunger goes away.

I donno. I've always been like this. Never really hungry in the morning. And then super hungry for lunch, whether I have had breakfast or not.

If you do need to eat breakfast, can you just move the hours earlier? eat breakfast at 11 and then stop eating by 7?

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying this. I last ate at 7 p.m. last night and I've been hungry since about 8 a.m., stomach growling. I'm envious of those of you who don't get hungry without breakfast.

I think part of the reason it works for me is that my mornings are super busy. As soon as I sit down I start to feel hungry. But if you can wait a half hour, the hunger goes away.

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying this. I last ate at 7 p.m. last night and I've been hungry since about 8 a.m., stomach growling. I'm envious of those of you who don't get hungry without breakfast.

If you really want to try it, you should ease into it - if you really are hungry now, I wouldn't force yourself to wait until lunch. Just build up to it if you decide to stick with it. But as a PP said, this isn't necessarily for everyone - maybe your body is different, and you should eat breakfast.

I'm trying this. I last ate at 7 p.m. last night and I've been hungry since about 8 a.m., stomach growling. I'm envious of those of you who don't get hungry without breakfast.

Anonymous wrote:OP again.

I’m still in the experimenting phase. I ate breakfast about 45 mins ago (7:45) and now it’s 8:25 and I feel HUNGRY. Stomach rumbling. I wasn’t this hungry yesterday when I skipped eating!

Just don't overeat today. I love food, and on feast days I sometimes eat too much sugar. If you ignore the hunger pains for another hour, it will go away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

Ok, it's been 2 days of "fasting", aka skipping breakfast. It's amazing...I'm not that hungry at all. I have no cravings. I actually made it to 12:30pm. I am usually starving by 10 if I eat breakfast at 7.

what gives?!?

Apparently breaking your fast - ie breakfast, or your first meal of the day - wakes up the metabolism and then you get hungry. A nutritionist told me I should eat breakfast even though I wasn’t hungry for it. But I tried, and then was ravenous the remainder of the morning. I told her that and she said “yes, eating breakfast will make you hungry.” Her advice was to eat breakfast, making myself hungry, and then manage my weight by eating less. I’ll just skip eating when I’m not hungry, thanks. I end up eating fewer calories overall.

While I'm not a faster, this is me me in general. If I eat breakfast, I'm ravenous for the rest of the day. Breakfast does not help me eat less the rest of the day by any stretch. One size does not fit all.

To all the PPs mentioning nutritionists, dietitians, etc.... isn't there a BIG difference between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist? I'm pretty sure I could go ahead and print some business cards that say I'm a nutritionist with no training, schooling, etc. An RD on the other hand, requires a degree.

OP again.

I’m still in the experimenting phase. I ate breakfast about 45 mins ago (7:45) and now it’s 8:25 and I feel HUNGRY. Stomach rumbling. I wasn’t this hungry yesterday when I skipped eating!

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

Ok, it's been 2 days of "fasting", aka skipping breakfast. It's amazing...I'm not that hungry at all. I have no cravings. I actually made it to 12:30pm. I am usually starving by 10 if I eat breakfast at 7.

what gives?!?

This was exactly my experience. And shock. I think I posted it on your other thread. Glad it was easy for you!

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

Ok, it's been 2 days of "fasting", aka skipping breakfast. It's amazing...I'm not that hungry at all. I have no cravings. I actually made it to 12:30pm. I am usually starving by 10 if I eat breakfast at 7.

what gives?!?

Apparently breaking your fast - ie breakfast, or your first meal of the day - wakes up the metabolism and then you get hungry. A nutritionist told me I should eat breakfast even though I wasn’t hungry for it. But I tried, and then was ravenous the remainder of the morning. I told her that and she said “yes, eating breakfast will make you hungry.” Her advice was to eat breakfast, making myself hungry, and then manage my weight by eating less. I’ll just skip eating when I’m not hungry, thanks. I end up eating fewer calories overall.