Can some experienced fasters tell me if I'm doing this right?

[peachypips]

Hi all,

I'm doing 16:8 every day from 10am - 6pm. I am making sure I have a calorie deficit every day and I have lost about 8 pounds since Sept 1st when I started, which I am very happy with.

I am worried about the fact that I am skipping breakfast every day; is this healthy? This is roughly what I eat:

10 ish am- an apple
12pm - lunch- salad, or soup and a small roll with no butter
5:30pm - a healthy balanced tea, e.g. Spag Bol, fish with potatoes and veg etc.

Is this a healthy way to eat? Because it's really working for me life-style wise and weight loss wise.

Thanks for your help.

[juneavrile]

It looks good to me. I'm sure if we showed it to somebody in their 60s /70s they would see it as a pretty normal way to eat. One large meal a day and two small. No snacks or fattening drinks.

Great that it works for you.

[LetMeDriveTheBus]

Looks good to me too. I do similar and it's been working well. Very easy to stick to. I eat lunch at 12 and dinner at 7:30. I try not to snack between meals at all, especially late afternoon, as I'm finding that generally leads to me eating more than I intended.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Well done on your SV, Peachy That's good progress
Yes, your meal plan looks fine.
I'm 59 and that's similar to how we ate when I was a kid, also how I've changed back to, now: We had one main meal, 2 small, no snacks.
In fact 16:8 is even popular now with some weightlifters, because it tends to retain lean mass and lose only fat, like most forms of intermittent fasting.

Continue like this and once you are at goal you can maintain on 16:8, just without the deficit.
If you find you get hungry in the morning, you could swap the apple for a hard-boiled egg, as protein keeps you fuller.

[peachypips]

Thank your so much r your input and advice. I'm glad it's ok as it's the first ever diet I've done that I feel I could do long term as a lifestyle change. I have three stone to lose in total, and it seems doable this way.

Funnily enough I've just started using free weights more heavily so this will help!

Have you all lost weight doing 16:8?

[BifsWif]

I'm sorry for being clueless, but what is the 16:8? I'm looking to lose weight and thought fasting/5:2 might work for me so ive popped in for some info

[BigChocFrenzy]

bifs 16:8 is another form of intermittent fasting:
eat within an 8-hr window and fast (no calories) the other 16 hours.
It is a way of reducing total calories.

To lose weight, you normally need a weekly calorie deficit.
You can achieve this like peachy with a daily calorie deficit or you can combine it with 5:2, so that the deficit comes only from the 2 fast days.

You are both welcome to join us on the main 5:2 / IF Thread #57
We have all sorts of IF there, including 16:8

[BigChocFrenzy]

You can choose whatever 8-hr window you want:
10-6pm, 12-8 pm etc
Just don't consume calories in food or drink outside those 8 hrs.
Water and diet drinks are fine during the fast, but not juices or milk, because they have calories

[BifsWif]

That's brilliant, thank you! I'll pop over to the other thread now