Intermittent fasting, please talk to me about it

[Whydoesnothingwork]

Right ok next thing to try.
Seasoned faster please talk to me about fasting, the rules, how it works, what I can eat, thank you.

I don't want to lose any weight, but thinking of trying this for the other benefits.

Do you always lose weight? and has anyone seen or felt other benefits from it?

I basically eat one meal mid afternoon and (food) fast for the rest of the time. I eat what I want and don’t calorie count nor deprive myself of any food groups. I lost 45 kilos doing this over a few months (no exercise, I couldn’t at that point due to pain). I also make sure I drink 3 litres of just plain water throughout the day (I don’t drink anything else but that’s just my preference). I’ve been maintaining my weight recently due to a few ongoing health issues I had to get sorted out (not related to my weight or diet) but will be looking to start losing again soon and introducing regular exercise. I’ve never been able to lose this kind of weight (and keep it off!) before fasting and for me this will be how I continue to eat for the rest of my life. I much prefer eating once a day to faffing around eating regularly and it’s massively improved my blood sugar levels (I have PCOS) as well as inflammation (I also have psoriasis).

@projectblister look up Dr Mindy Pelz. She does lots on YouTube talking about the benefits- autophagy, hormones, blood sugars etc.
She did a really good podcast recently:

I've got a really odd metabolism and I always lose about 12 lb in the first week.

Then it slows down to losing about 5 lb the second week.

And finally it stays at losing 2lb a week from week three onwards.

I drink milk with my tea and do no exercise (due to disability).

I'm going it not to lose weight but because I did the Zoe study and the continuous glucose monitor showed it was best for my health if I did. Was on a path to diabetes and I am hoping eating 16:8 is going to help reverse that along with some food swaps. Won't know if it helps until a blood test in autumn but I'm hopeful. It's very easy to stick to but then I've never been an evening snacker.

I've been doing this for a few weeks now and generally fast from 7pm to 12 the next day.
I do have tea & coffee each morning with milk though and there's no way I can stop this 😩

so glad I found this thread.
I’ve got about 2 stone to loose. Have always found going low carb seems to work for me but not sure if it’s my age but just can’t loose weight.
Going to try this but low carb for when I eat.
Ive been getting aches and pains and pins and needles in my hands, hopefully dropping a couple of stone will help.

Try cutting your milk in your tea and coffee back by a couple of mls a day, that's what I had to do xxx

I just love that really hungry and 'unbloated' feeling you have when you're IF 😂 autopaghy is a really interesting concept too.

Can I ask what kind of food and how much you eat in your daily meal?

Because it seems to me that it must be perfectly possible to eat too many calories to lose weight in that one meal, but you obviously don’t?

Just bumping this cos it's going well so far, I've lost 5lb and feel really good. Going to try and keep it up.

Excellent! Well done!

I've just started after finding this thread. I used to do 5:2 but found it really hard to maintain. This suits me much better.

I'm eating between 12-8, 2 normal meals but no sweet stuff except a piece of fruit, and fewer carbs if I can. Like someone said I'm enjoying the hungry feeling as it means I'm only eating when I'm actually hungry rather than just for the sake of it, which is a nice habit to get into.

I have an amazing dress that I bought off vinted that is wearable but slightly too tight and I have it hung up on the outside of the wardrobe to remind me to keep going so I can get into it comfortably. That's my target :)

That's great. I've found that despite feeling hungry I'm not eating loads. Not sure what'll happen when I'm premenstrual but I'll cross that bridge then....!

Place marking. I’m an emotional eater and have gained far too much since the beginning of this year.

I started on Sunday and I've lost 6 lb so far.

I had an ice cream yesterday, too, so I was expecting not to lose today, but I did.
It must be the total calories which make a difference.

Also, not drinking two gin and tonics every evening

Well done! It's always good to see results.

I feel more comfortable in my clothes today. I do massively overeat.

I want to start this but worried about how I'll feel in the mornings, I tend to feel quite shaky and unwell if I don't eat breakfast.

You all make it sound so easy but surely there must be a period of adjustment and how do you physically cope with that? I have a full on job too with a commute so interested to hear how people have managed initially? It's not practical for me to eat an early dinner so I'd likely be looking at 11-7pm or 12-8pm to eat.

I suggest that you start with a smaller fasting window.

So 14:10.

That would mean you had ten hours in which to eat and fourteen to fast. You could eat between 8 am and 6 pm. Or 9 - 7.

The initial adjustment was only difficult for me because I am used to grazing all evening. I had to constantly tell myself not to.

Also, @TakingTime2 If you need to eat earlier than your window, so that you get to work without feeling unwell, eat something high fat, or high protein, and avoid carbs if you can.

I cheat a little sometimes and as long as I stick to the fasting window it doesn't seem to wreak havoc.

I also get hungry and shaky in the mornings, I was hungry in the night last night but I didn't eat today until 12.15pm. The hunger sort of came and went over the morning.

Thank you @TheShellBeach that makes sense and sounds doable!

That's good to know, I'm going to push breakfast back tomorrow a little and see how it goes....

The thing is, @TakingTime2 you can gradually fast for longer as you adjust to it.

There are Intermittent Fasting zealots who will tell you differently, but I have lost about 6 lb in five days so far, and I've cheated every day.
I also do almost no exercise because of disabilities. I do try to walk a bit every day but it's hard.

Yesterday I ate some ice cream! <<<slaps own wrist>>>