Weight Loss and Better Health Through Intermittent Fasting (IF)?

[DadAManger]

Has anyone else tried it and how were the results?

I am in the third month of trying intermittent fasting and have found it easy to follow, minimally taxing mentally (not thinking about whether or not I should eat x or y) and feel good. Better still, I have lost 7kg easily and my blood sugar is improving.

Anyone else had similar success or planning to give it a try?

It's working for you.

What else do you need?

OP I’m currently trying it. I was inspired by a YouTuber Six miles to supper.

But I feel like one needs to do more than just IF and incorporate some kind of healthy eating / lifestyle at the same time.

What are your rules? Do you eat whatever you want?

Yes! I've been doing 16:8 for just over a year, lost a bunch of weight and my IBS has improved.

@Lessthanaballpark - I'm doing a 16:8 now - I started at just fasting for 12 hours and worked my way up to it :). I agree that it actually makes you think about what more you do alongside it - I'm exercising now too - 13/14km on the bike every other day or so. Will check out Six Miles to Supper, thanks! I got guidance from Dr Ian Smith - a very young looking doctor (50+ years old) from the US who looks 28!

@madeofwaxLarry - that's great to hear. I have IBS too and that was one of the reasons I started as well - really reduces "flare-ups"

Given the results, I'm kind of annoyed with myself for not trying it a while ago and also wonder why more people don't give it a go...

Yes, lost 6.5 stone last year. My blood sugar went down from 41 (so nearly pre diabetic) to 31. I still need to lose 3 more stone but got a few health issues I want to try and sort first. IF makes me feel fuller for longer, whereas faffing about eating little and often just makes me constantly hungry!

@alwaysinpainofsomesort - great result on that blood sugar fall. I am hoping this will be a side benefit for me too. It has been falling for me, but lets see next time now I have done it for longer.

I really agree about the faffing with small bits of food point - I think that regimes based on calorie-counting and "points" and all that involve so much actual brain power and somehow thinking about food more and being more hungry. It's like you have to go into battle each day with your own thinking, choices and willpower. I find with IF it's clear - if you have passed your window of eating, just don't have something. And if you have done it for several weeks and months you know you can continue. :)

I'm interested in starting IF. How does it work when you eat out in the evening? Would you not have any food until midday or is it permissible to have a day off as often as once a week and still get the benefits you describe?

I am doing 16:8 because it works for me. I rarely have a rumbling tummy, I find it easy to skip meals, and I eat out of habit and greed and because I just love food. Breakfast is a meal I rarely have, I've never particularly liked breakfast so that's easy. I then eat light lunch 12.30ish and early evening meal.

I have lost 1stone13lbs, and I have 1 stone to go. On weekends, it all goes a bit to pot as far as drinking wine and eating what I want on a Friday and Saturday night, but I then rein it all back in on Sunday.

@Crunched - there are a few different ways to start. When people talk about doing 16:8 it means fasting for 16 hours and having an eating window of 8 hours. It may not sound much time to be eating, but actually it is more than you think. I do 16:8 and eat from 9am until 5pm. I do that because I prefer a larger breakfast and lunch. Also I remember "9 to 5 easily" :). I started doing 12:12. I supplement it with exercise every other day now too. You think you will wake up starving, but actually you do not in my experience anyway. Like the others posting here, have been doing for several months now and it has become a habit. I don't think I have ever (would ever want to) stay on a "diet" for this long. And like Rousette, I also vary it sometimes - if we are going for a nice evening dinner, later barbeque. Then get back to the usual the next day. Give it a try if your doctor or nurse says you don't have any condition that might not sit easily with it!

I’m doing one meal a day focussing on fruit and Veg and limiting carbs and dairy

Not weighed yet only been a week !

I do this, 16:8, stop eating by 3 or 4pm every day and usually eat after 10am which gives me an extra hour or two with autophagy. For me, its a brilliant way of life.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe - I do this sometimes too. Do an extra hour or two fasting because I am really not hungry as I expect or am just busy. Feels good.

Thanks DadAManger. Maybe I'll do a week of 12:12 and then move on to 16:8.

It's just another fad diet.

It might be another 'fad diet' but it suits me and now it's been disproved of being unhealthy, it works.

I do think if you are a person who feels faint if you don't eat every few hours, it really is not for you. But I've never been like that. I could easily not eat for 24 hours if I had to.
However, my love of food means I eat too much!

I tried IF for about 6 months and it doesn't work for me at all. I hardly lost any weight and I was constantly hungry. Pointless for me because I'll then just binge on rubbish foods.
A colleague suggested Joe Wicks to me and I have lost about 10kg in 5 months. I'm generally not hungry and snack less, drink more water and I'm a lot fitter. (I'm trying to get ready to start ivf, so it's good for me to lose some weight, drink more water generally and eat a high protein diet.)

I'm going to look into this, really need to loose 12 pounds and break my habit with reaching for food for boredom but don't have the brain space to actively diet and change the foods I'm eating too much etc.

16:8 recommended for women now? I though that was for men and for women it was fewer fasting hours.

Women start off with 14 hours and build up to 16

Hi OP,

I'm glad it works for you! That's amazing!
Personally, I decided that I will not try diets like these anymore, because I do lose the weight fast, but then I gain it back (often a bit more than what I lost). Just try to be very careful after you reach your goal.

Good luck!

I tried IF, it didn’t work for me in that I didn’t lose weight and periods and cycle slowed down BUT I felt great 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yeah I have been doing this for about 7 months now. Haven't lost heaps, but am 10-12 pounds lighter than I was in December, and I find it quite easy to stick to.

Thanks for highlighting this @DadAManger It is a good way of losing weight/keeping it off, as you are not massively depriving yourself. I do one day off, one day on, one day off, one day on... I have found this diet/way of eating, the easiest to stick to out of all the diets I have tried over the past 30 years!

I’ve been doing it for a while. I struggle to lose weight due to an underactive thyroid and have lost 10lbs without really feeling I had to restrict anything. Stalled a bit the last couple of weeks as I’m not being as consistent. It also seems to make me feel generally ‘better’ and more alert.

@rainbowfairydust - this is exactly me. I struggled with food points and calorie counting and this sort of thing and got exhausted with the constant choices to be made when trying to ‘eat healthier’ in the past. That’s why this works for me - not a diet and the focus is definitely on slow weight loss and balance and not massively depriving yourself as you say @AngryWhompingWillow.

My better half has done for a year and it’s really just how she does things now. I feel much less concerned about wanting to stop it and packing on the pounds quickly as a result.

@Crunched - you’re welcome. Let us know how you get on!

It may not be for everyone (as per some if the posters here), but if even 20% of us find IF useful it has got to be looked at more often - we have massive health problems related to diet, food and overeating in our country as we know. I say that as someone that was once 102kg and is now 83kg and falling, so I have certainly been there on this.