Intermittent Fasting is miserable

Oooh, I don’t agree with the last line at all! Most of my meals are a treat, because I don’t cook or eat food unless I really enjoy it.

I just had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on whole grain seedy sourdough - that felt like such a treat after a long dog walk in the cold. Dinner is going to be a cottage pie made with the leftover roast beef and gravy from Sunday’s roast, and I know it’s going to be warming and nourishing and yes, a real treat.

Food should be pleasurable, I think.

I absolutely loved intermittent fasting and miss it greatly! I stopped when I was pregnant for obvious reasons and I don’t do it anymore because I’m still breastfeeding.

I was so much more healthier and energised, I would do all my exercise and gym workouts in the morning and eat afterwards. Same lunch everyday and more or less same dinner. I think my eating window was 1-9pm.

I am very overweight now! But that’s down to no food discipline and lack of exercise.

I'd been doing it since way before it became a fashionable diet. I just don't eat breakfast and don't snack after dinner. Easy.

I wasn’t talking about not eating after dinner.

My IF involves not eating dinner in the evening. I eat my main meal at a late lunch time and then don’t eat again until morning.

weight loss is about 20% exercise, 80% roughly!

Exercise daily by all means, for health, for mental health, for toning up, because we are not designed to be inactive, but not many people exercise enough to actually lose weight from it.

You're doing it wrong. I don't feel dizzy or sick, I have the sam energy as before. Eat breakfast at lunch if you love breakfast. It totally includes eating dinner at restaurants.

Why are you doing something you don't understand, don't like, and apparently don't need?

I am not saying it's healthy, it's not always a choice either, but the point was that most of us are function very well without needing food every 10 minutes.

I know my daily protein and calorie target, I am not obsessive about it but I reach it fairly easily. If I am busy, I just don't remember to eat for a few hours, it's not a big deal. Most people are like me, food is not the priority. Intermittent fasting is not a big thing because many people do it without noticing.

I don't over-eat to compensate later.

Food is fuel, not a treat. Nice restaurants are a treat, but daily meals not really.

My sister has arthritis and has noticed a marked difference in her inflammation from about 6 months into starting IM

Sorry, I had meant to quote/respond to another poster when I posted.

I definitely agree that not eating after dinner is one of the best strategies to manage weight. The point of my post was that, at the end of the day, what one eats and how much one eats are the key determinants.

And never forget exercise, which is absolutely crucial.

Yes! All the PTs I know all eat a healthy balanced diet. No stupid fad diets, no starving yourself and only eating during 12 and 8pm. Their bodies are their jobs. They even drink a beer or two and have the occasional slice of cake or Pizza.

Most people don't eat after an evening meal it isn't anything special. But a doctor has found a way of making money out of something people do anyway. I mean I have dinner at 6pm then don't eat until 8 or 9 am the next day. I don't class that as IF it's just how I tend to eat. I only eat in a 9 hour window naturally.

But WHAT you eat is more important than WHEN you eat it!

But I have over several years found a noticeable and significant improvement in specific areas of my health when I don’t eat in the evening.

It would surely be patently ridiculous for anyone else to tell me my own experience is wrong?

In the 30’s and 40’s most houses were cold, most people had physically more demanding lives, and most food was unprocessed. It would be difficult to replicate that today.

But WHAT you eat is more important than WHEN you eat it!

If you eat a nutritionally balanced diet you won't feel hungry or miserable.

Healthy Mediterranean type diet. Lots of vegetables, moderate protein, small amounts healthy fats and dairy, a little healthy carbs.

I feel like it's just a trend. In e.g. the 1930s/40s, my grandparents' generation, hardly anyone was overweight, they had three meals and sometimes snacks, but the portions were small and there were not that many processed foods. I guess most people who do intermittent fasting want to lose weight, and I think for most people if they cut down sugar and portions and have three medium meals a day, that would happen anyway. During COVID I got into a habit of late night heavy unhealthy snacks and gained 7 kilos in a few months. Stopped that habit and it went away. It's just very hard to not reward oneself with unhealthy, always available food especially when you're middle aged and knackered.

I've tried it several times and it just makes me feel dreadful - headaches, sick, dizzy. I can cope with the hunger as I do think you get used to that, but it ruined the whole day for me.

It's more the other way round - if I ate breakfast (other than when I'm about to do a big walk) my other meals would have to be miniscule.
Actually when we're on holiday we'll sometimes have the big hotel breakfast but then very little at lunchtime and then a nice dinner - not doing IF but just being realistic about how much we should be eating.

Could anyone who does this for immune system benefits tell me how it’s worked out for you? Did you have immune system problems before, or do you feel just you’re getting sick less often now with the fasting? TIA as I have had this recommended to me by a friend who has found it really helpful.

@XxSideshowAuntSallyx I don’t think anybody is talking about minuscule meals. You can eat your usual calories in the window making sure you get all your nutrients. Aiming for higher protein and healthy fats is a good way do to this.

I think if you’re not eating nutritious food in between, then IF would leave you feeling hungry. Essentially, it’s just eating less.

I think if you are miserable and have to force yourself it is not for you.

I stopped for exactly that reason. I was utterly miserable.

I accidentally "fast" for 15 hours most days - I'm not slim either, and there is absolutely no difference in my health to the days when I worked and ate breakfast earlier. If I want to lose weight I eat less and walk more - and it works.

I lost 5 stone doing it. I still do it, now, to keep the weight off.

I'm unsure if there are other health benefits that you're looking for. I do a 16:8 fast.

It is hard, at the start, for sure. In time, your body will adjust to it. I don't eat until 12:30pm and now never feel hungry in the morning. Ive been doing it for near 18 months, though.

@TronaldDump people are built differently. I tried to do no breakfast and was miserable. I was incredibly hungry, I was cranky and I'd end up eating junk all afternoon.

It doesn't come naturally to me, I need breakfast and a big lunch. I moved on to skipping dinner while my DH was away for 6 weeks and the weight came off, I wasn't even thinking about it! If I could just skip dinner for the rest of my life,I would. It's unfortunately incredibly antisocial...

I've been doing it and it works well for me as long as I drink plenty of fluids in the morning. I do the 8pm - noon no eating window. I have time off at the weekend if I want but I don't go crazy!