Intermittent Fasting - Tips?

[Markola]

A few thoughts - as I've been doing IF for about 2 years. An 8 hour feeding period with 16 hours of fasting works for me (I stop eating at 8:00 pm and commence at noon the following day). I've lost about 15 pounds and been able to maintain my current weight with regular, moderate exercise - I walk about 4 miles/day and stretch every day. It helps me in the morning to add a fat to my morning coffee - I use a tablespoon of MCT oil. During my feeding period, I eat whatever I want (within reason) and as much as I want. I'm rarely hungry during the 16 hour fasting period. My BP is down, blood sugar levels are good and cholesterol is good.

Check out Dr. Eric Berg's videos on Youtube - he has some very informative stuff that I referenced when I started down this path. Very easy to understand and very helpful.

Nice. That sounds very doable to me, and 10-15 lbs off would be about all I’d want to lose from 197 at 6’2”. I’d probably just call it the Skip Breakfast Plan though [emoji67]*[emoji505]

 

[caninelover]

Nice. That sounds very doable to me, and 10-15 lbs off would be about all I’d want to lose from 197 at 6’2”. I’d probably just call it the Skip Breakfast Plan though [emoji67]*[emoji505]

That is pretty much what I do right now - skip breakfast, eat an early lunch at 11 am, maybe a small snack around 2 or 3 pm, then dinner around 6 or 6:30 pm with SO. Nothing after 7 pm except water or maybe some chamomile tea (plain with no honey).

Some people would skip dinner and eat breakfast and lunch. And some people would eat breakfast at 8 am, lunch at noon, and a small dinner at 3. So different combinations are possible.

 

[ER2B]

For now, by the time we both finish up w*rk the earliest dinnertime possible is 6 pm, so 6:30-7pm by the time we finish eating. It isn't convenient to do a large mid-day meal during the workday as we have limited time to prepare it and we like to have our main meal (currently dinner) together. After we both FIRE we may be able to change that though.

Totally agree. No way we could do 8A-4P int fasting before FIRE. We enjoy 2 big meals now: 8A breakfast and 3P lunch. All done by 4P. Bulk of our meals are veggies, high Omega 3 and low carb.

 

[caninelover]

Totally agree. No way we could do 8A-4P int fasting before FIRE. We enjoy 2 big meals now: 8A breakfast and 3P lunch. All done by 4P. Bulk of our meals are veggies, high Omega 3 and low carb.

Yes, w*rk interferes with life like that - darnit.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had a big (and late) lunch out after a morning hike. Both SO and I decided we'd have some cheese and peanuts for a light 'dinner' in front of our fireplace. It was nice to not have all that dinner cleanup to do - made the evening feel nice and long. We will probably end up with this schedule when we both FIRE.

 

[Katsmeow]

There are so many different ways of doing IF that you can kind of pick and choose what works for you. I do not do well with those with a strict eating window. I do try to fast for 14 hours most days but don't stress about it.

What has worked better for me is a 5:2 schedule sometimes a 4:3 schedule or every other day schedule. Basically on the low calorie days I eat lower calories, typically between 600 and 800 calories. Again, I don't stress if it is a little below or more. The other days I eat normally. I don't gorge or try to eat extra, just eat regularly.

 

[yakers]

DW & I have been doing 'lower' carbs and an 8/16 IF for over a year now, lost some weight but wasn't overweight to start, had to up calories. Had to stop trying to get three meals in, so its two, one at 10 AM and dinner before 6 PM and maybe a snack in the middle as necessary. Not much hunger, good nutirition good effect on blood sugar only challenge is social. It has become a way of eating, don't think about it anymore except when we socialize. I meet some friends for early breakfast and I only have tea.

 

[chassis]

DW & I have been doing 'lower' carbs and an 8/16 IF for over a year now, lost some weight but wasn't overweight to start, had to up calories. Had to stop trying to get three meals in, so its two, one at 10 AM and dinner before 6 PM and maybe a snack in the middle as necessary. Not much hunger, good nutirition good effect on blood sugar only challenge is social. It has become a way of eating, don't think about it anymore except when we socialize. I meet some friends for early breakfast and I only have tea.

@yakers thanks for the post. Is it correct that intermittent fasting/keto/time restricted eating caused you to lose weight, and you found you needed to increase calorie intake? I want to understand the post better. Thanks.

 

[street]

There are so many different ways of doing IF that you can kind of pick and choose what works for you. I do not do well with those with a strict eating window. I do try to fast for 14 hours most days but don't stress about it.

What has worked better for me is a 5:2 schedule sometimes a 4:3 schedule or every other day schedule. Basically on the low calorie days I eat lower calories, typically between 600 and 800 calories. Again, I don't stress if it is a little below or more. The other days I eat normally. I don't gorge or try to eat extra, just eat regularly.

I agree that not all methods work for everyone. If I may ask, in your routine of eating, what is your progress and mission for your method of IF? Have you lost weight? Just interesting to see your status before IF and your status now using your method of eating.
Thanks

 

[yakers]

@yakers thanks for the post. Is it correct that intermittent fasting/keto/time restricted eating caused you to lose weight, and you found you needed to increase calorie intake? I want to understand the post better. Thanks.

Yes, I was not overweight to start, more interested in controlling blood sugar. Then I lost weight until my Dr suggested a dietician who recommended more calories but through carbs , weight went up so did blood sugar. Had to add more fats and protein to get weight up.
Now, a couple years later my body seems to have adjusted to the diet and I have to watch calories to keep BMI in medium range.
Things do not always stay in place. A weight loss diet may need to be adjusted for maintenance as a blood sugar control diet. My meter is my friend in this, more than any particular book, approach, or school of thought. I am a science experiment of one and I look to works for me. I like to read about others and various approaches but will stay with what works for me even if that has to change over time.

 

[volfan]

Does anyone have difficulty staying hydrated doing IF or even meal spacing?

I have also been trying to wait 4-5 hours between meals but often find I haven’t had much to drink in between. And except for morning herbal tea and maybe 6-8 ounces of almond or oat milk, I basically only drink water.

Any tips? Perhaps I need to start logging my water on my Fitbit App to make sure I am drinking enough?

 

[NgineER]

I find I get hungry when doing an 16:8 IF or a 24-36 hour fast. Drinking water helps tremendously, so no issue staying hydrated.

 

[street]

[B]

Does anyone have difficulty staying hydrated doing IF or even meal spacing?

[/B]
Any tips? Perhaps I need to start logging my water on my Fitbit App to make sure I am drinking enough?

I have to work on staying hydrated and I haven't done a good job staying hydrated. In the months starting now though our winter months I have a tendency to get dry skin. I have found if I drink more water my skin doesn't get so dried out. I start to itch if my skin gets to dry. I also have bottled water with me most all the time or a couple bottles in my truck.

To answer your question staying hydrated is one problem I find with IF.

 

[ddoorn]

Fasting ROCKS!

I am a huge fan of fasting. There are as many ways of approaching fasting as there are people who fast. We are all experiments of one . I’ll share some of my personal approaches. Your mileage may vary.

I think you’re on the right track to consider starting by taking on incrementally larger intervals between meals.

My go to 16:8 approach is to take my “feeding times” between noon and 8 pm. When I eat I keep my sugar and flour intake to a minimum as I know what my “crack” is and keep all that out of my home to avoid temptation. If it calls my name until it’s “all gone” it’s “disallowed!”

I hate measuring and portion control, so I don’t bother.

I added full fasting to my regimen a few years ago and every Sunday night I start my fast. I weigh in Tuesday morning and if I’m satisfied with the number on the scale I will break my fast at noon on Tuesday. If I’m not satisfied with the number on the scale I wait and continue fasting until the following morning and break my fast on Wednesday at noon. On more rare occasions I’ll fast all the way to Thursday noon.

I know full fasting can be a challenge for some. Here are some of what I have found helps me out:

1) Black coffee: LOTS of black coffee…and water too, adding occasional zero calorie diet soda here and there for variety. Flush your hunger away with lots and lots of zero calorie beverages. I’ll add tea here and there and on rare occasions broth.

2) Plan lots of business to keep yourself active so that the day whizzes by with little opportunity to think about food.

3) Enjoy the simplicity and freedom of not having to tie up your time and energy thinking about food, prepping your food, shopping for food (I find shopping for food WAY tough when fasting, so I skip it) or preparing/cleaning up from your meal. All the scamper about breakfast lunch & dinner? Fuggedaboudit: you’ve now opened up all that time for something else!

4) Keep food out of sight, if necessary out of the house, to avoid temptation

5) Sugar-free gum helps to satiate the need to chew. Perhaps a purist may quibble that I’m breaking my fast, but it works without negative consequences for me.

6) Later in the evening my stomach may rumble and complain. When all else fails, SLEEP is my refuge. Zero calories, right? I’m amazed when I wake up and the grumbles are gone!

7) Scale back your physical demands, especially if your new to fasting, as you will run out of steam more quickly than usual. Listen to your body. There have been a few occasions when I broke my fast earlier than I planned because my body told me to. That’s okay. There’s always another day.

Hoping this helps some of you. Feel free to shoot any thoughts or questions my way!

Don

 

[KarenF]

The last thread strictly devoted appears to be over 198 days, so I could not add to it

I would like to start fasting. I cannot do an abrupt cold turkey in terms of going beyond my current routine (one meal, one snack, morning coffee)

... but I believe I can ease into it by gradually increasing the number of hours between meals.

Any tips for beginning fasting? anything that worked well for you that you feel free to share?

THANKS

I read the Obesity Code by Jason Fung, and Delay Don't Deny, and Fast Feast Repeat by Gin Stephens. (I have a mutual friend with Gin and have met her). Anyway, I just started skipping breakfast and drinking black coffee and water in the morning. I eat lunch around 12:30pm and dinner around 6 or 6:30. I am usually done eating by 7:30 or so. That works well for me. I have been doing this for 2 years and am MUCH healthier.

 

[cat4ever]

It can be tough at first but after a week or so it's not too bad. Make sure and keep busy that first week, especially in the evening. Then sleep in as late as possible, drink a couple of coffees/cokes once you're up and before you know it it's lunch time.

 

[KarenF]

I used to be an 11AM - 7PM but found it very difficult to wait for breakfast in the morning. So I moved to 8AM - 4PM. I've learned to ignore hunger pangs at night. Hard but I got used to it. Noticed improved BP and A1C and weight down from 150 to 143 lbs. I have a lipid test next month. We'll see. I'm not giving up my homemade espresso half almond half whole milk latte.

Be aware that when you are losing weight your cholesterol may go up temporarily because some of the fat you are releasing is circulating in your blood. Show this article to your doctor if your lipids are up a bit and test again in a few moths.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2035468/

 

[FIREarly]

16 hours fasted
8 hours "eating window" (11am-7pm; you pick your time!)

I started the above window again today. There are very good videos via TEDtalk about it.

Also, Nimai Delgado has good nutrition videos (not intermittent fasting (IF) related but this is the nutrition side of it; IF is only the timing)

Overnight oats to break fast ("breakfast"). Almost every "morning" at 11am:
(Make in ball jar; get at Home Goods, Target, Walmart, etc...)
-5 scoops oatmeal (right from bag)
-1 serving Orgain Organic chocolate protein
-Cashew milk
(Mix)
-1/4 banana cut on top
(Fridge overnight; it'll be ready and waiting in fridge when you break fast.)
Also eat toasted English Muffin with vegan butter and shake little cinnamon on it
SO DELICIOUS!!
(Make 4 at a time WITHOUT milk and add milk to one each night for next day)

Take multiple vitamins with this (most USP verified):
-Multivitamin
-vitamin B Complex
-Vitamin D
-CoQ10 (for your heart)
-Zink
-Fish oil
-TruNature probiotic

Giving platelets is also super beneficial for cancer patients and actually helps your body too.

Not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night

 

[Vacation4us]

I have been doing keto, IF, and prolonged fasts since the end of July. I have lost 39 lbs so far. I actually enjoy fasting, actually feel euphoric on days 3,4,5. I walk at least 4 miles a day and never feel week or dizzy.

I essentially do a fat fast though which means some will say it’s not a true fast. The scale says otherwise. I drink at least 96 ozs water , have a bulletproof coffee around 11 and then 8 ozs of bone broth around lunch and dinner. Adds up to less than 500 cal/ a day while fasting. Fat does not effect your insulin/ blood sugar levels which is the whole point of fasting.

I highly recommend Dr Jason Fung’s book The Complete Guide to Fasting. This is not a diet for me but a lifestyle choice. Diabetes runs in my family type 2 diabetes is a dietary disease which is completely curable. Diabetes is treated like a long term progressive disease by most of the medical providers which is a crime in my book.

Day 2 is always the hardest and there is zero reason to scale back your activities like @ddorn recommended. Do your own research, fast your own way.

 

[gooddog]

I've found that fasting on non-exercise days is the easiest, and that the AM is the best time to set aside hours if only doing it for limited hours per day. Once you eat something, your blood sugar starts moving up...then down, and your hunger kicks in. Years ago, used to do it all of Saturday/Sunday - that was brutal towards the end of Sunday. Worked wonders, but was tough.

 

[FLJim]

THis Works for Me

30 months ago I went to black coffee (1-cup) in the AM; eggs/bacon at noon; "regular" dinner about 6pm-6:30pm with red wine. Lost 22 pounds (11% of body weight) and have kept it off with same routine. It's intermittent fasting, but with less carbs. kinda like keto. It's not a diet; it will be what I do til i die. I'm 73.

 

[audreyh1]

Does anyone have difficulty staying hydrated doing IF or even meal spacing?

I have also been trying to wait 4-5 hours between meals but often find I haven’t had much to drink in between. And except for morning herbal tea and maybe 6-8 ounces of almond or oat milk, I basically only drink water.

Any tips? Perhaps I need to start logging my water on my Fitbit App to make sure I am drinking enough?

No, I drink plenty of water between meals, and sometimes a black coffee between meals.

I also drink sparkling water from our SodaStream.

 

[SunnyOne]

Are there any of you who have been fasting - and so you changed up the timing of your food consumption, but not the type or volume of food consumed say...over day or week's timeframe? I've always been curious as to whether fasting alone can produce improvements in health parameters or weight loss without making any other adjustments?

I've just started all this, so too soon for me to tell.

 

[yakers]

Haven't changed the type of food, am somewhat low carb but I have noticed that I have trouble eating 3 meals. Two and a snack or one & a couple snacks, just not enough time or hunger to eat more. But I am not aiming to reduce calories.

 

[reneeh63]

There are so many different ways of doing IF that you can kind of pick and choose what works for you. I do not do well with those with a strict eating window. I do try to fast for 14 hours most days but don't stress about it.

What has worked better for me is a 5:2 schedule sometimes a 4:3 schedule or every other day schedule. Basically on the low calorie days I eat lower calories, typically between 600 and 800 calories. Again, I don't stress if it is a little below or more. The other days I eat normally. I don't gorge or try to eat extra, just eat regularly.

I like the 5:2 schedule - I'd lost 15 pounds initially and was trying then to do a "maintenance" plan of 6:1...then fell off the wagon completely with COVID when I had to quit the gym and it seemed all my routines were ruined.

In the last month I've started again, and being much more strict with myself on my "fasting" days. That means a couple cups of coffee with a bit of milk, a 150 calorie lunch, a 200 calorie "dinner" with a tiny snack in between (an ounce of pistachios, for example). I haven't kicked up my excerise but have lost almost 5 pounds - which is fantastically fast for me! And though I'd love to lose faster I know it's not realistic or a smart way to do it. So...I'd settle for losing another 5 pounds but another 10 would be great. Another 15 and I would be truly ecstatic, but we'll see.

I think I'd do better without a work schedule - I do get a bit cranky sometimes but other times I'm engrossed enough in what I'm doing that I practically forget my lunch. Of course in terms of extending my fast, I'd be better off forgetting my dinner but that never happens!

 

[turbo89]

Are there any of you who have been fasting - and so you changed up the timing of your food consumption, but not the type or volume of food consumed say...over day or week's timeframe? I've always been curious as to whether fasting alone can produce improvements in health parameters or weight loss without making any other adjustments?

I've just started all this, so too soon for me to tell.

I can say that I was already eating a reduced calorie diet and was stuck in a “weight range” for months (eating 500-1k calories less than my base metabolic rate indicated), then switched to fasting and instantly broke out of that weight range and started loosing again.

I’m still tracking calories religiously, but it seems that I just loose weight when I fast, and progress stops or is much slower with just a reduced calorie diet.

I believe the big difference that I’m seeing is due to fasting, and more specifically pushing myself to stay in ketosis as long as possible everyday.