AIBU to think Intermittent Fasting is a gimmick?

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I know a few people who swear by Intermittent Fasting and make a big deal of only eating between 12 noon and 8pm

To me, this just sounds like (1) skip breakfast and (2) no snacks after dinner

AIBU?

@Happyvalleyfan you could do it on days you aren't running. To be fair if you are getting up to exercise at 5 a.m. I don't reckon you would need to do IF anyways 😉

@aloofflooty you would just change your hours so you eat at say 6am, then have an 8 hour window yo eat so up to 4pm?
No dinner.

I do it. I've recently lost 17lbs. I cannot eat three meals a day and lose weight. As soon as I eat breakfast, I cannot stop eating. Its all or nothing for me.

except it’s not just about weight loss. Watch the program- eg fasting linked to youthfulness, reduction in risk of dementia

Essentially when you fast, your body goes into repair mode

To me, this just sounds like (1) skip breakfast and (2) no snacks after dinner.

Yes, it is. How does that make it a gimmick? That's like saying 'AIBU to think that a reduced calorie diet is a gimmick? To me this just sounds like a) not eating as much, and/or b) eating less fattening food!'.

It’s not a gimmick. I’ve always fasted. I don’t eat before 1pm and I’ve never had a weight issue. I find I feel much more energised compared to others too. There’s no need for 3 meals a day unless you have an extremely active job or you’re an athlete. People eat too often.

I am trying it. Only been 3 weeks but I have lost 6lbs. I tend to have breakfast around 9am and then something lightish around 1pm. Most days I don't actually want to eat later. I try and have a largish vreakfast, 3 pieces of fruit and Small portion of Porridge or cereal.

A couple of days I've tried to sift it f it to start later if going out for dinner but then it's almost 24 hrs and I am angry and starving!

I know my calories are low —around 900 - 1000 so both together has helped with my weight loss plateau.
I had

I run in the morning a few days and usually end up caving in. I have found having a protein shake or a hot tea staves off the hunger until lunch.

It’s great for blood sugar as once it’s dropped after your last meal you’ve got hours of it staying low.

Also read that it’s good for digestion ….the stomach and intestines don’t like being constantly bombarded with snacks.

I only eat between 5/6pm and midnight. It's what's always worked for me. Not to lose weight but to fit in with my habits and job.
I have a sporty job that requires me to be fit. I've eaten like this since I'm 17. I'm 37 now and pretty much the same size as I was at 17.

I’ve done it since my teens, and am still almost as slim at (nearly) 60. It’s easy for me, I don’t feel hungry until I’ve been awake for 5 hours, and only eat when I’m hungry. Definitely don’t believe people need three meals a day, or that breakfast needs to be as soon as you get up in the morning (obviously talking about adults not children). I eat what I want, as much as I want, but have to feel hungry first.

I’ve said that before on MN and people have replied they feel hungry ALL THE TIME. I can’t imagine anything worse.

The only way to lose weight is by being in a calorie deficit. That’s science and the laws of physics. All diets are designed to put you in a calorie deficit , where you burn more calories than you eat. They just do this in different ways:

Atkins/low carb - restricts carbs
16:8 - restricts time available to eat
Weightwatchers - restricts fats

Etc. Etc.

The effectiveness of these is moderated by hunger, so choose the one that’s the most filling and satisfies you for longest.

I used to think breakfast was the most important meal of the day, but I have changed my mind on this. For children, perhaps. It's not easy though.

Definitely not a gimmick! I eat 3 meals still, just in a slightly condensed time, fasting minimum 14 hours but ideally 16 or longer. I find it works better if I stop eating around 6pm. Has improved migraines hugely and lost me 2 inches from my waist so far.

This. Totally works for me - a stone and a half down without feeling like I have been on a diet.

So much scientific peer reviewed research which supports intermittent fasting. My elder son is a GP as is his FIL both are very supportive and enthusiastic about IF. Maybe look at the research.

I really liked doing this. Lost some weight. I found not eating really for2 days of week was sooo much easier than dieting 7 days a week.

BUT, like a small cohort of people I found that on (typically) 2nd fasting day (I fasted tues and Thursday ) I would eat the evening low cal/ low fat meal and then within2 hours go into catastrophic “dumping”. Sometimes I’d make it through evening meal, and then do “dumping” after breakfast on Friday morning randomly. Sometimes I’d get an attack on the Tuesday fast day, or Wednesday morning. . The “dumping” was not nice- severe agonising abdominal pain first for about 40 mins with increased feelings of nausea , then violent vomiting and diarrhoea . Sometimes both simultaneously. Would go on for 4 hours. Hot/cold sweats. As it was often in evening I’d still be trying to stop it at midnight and be complexly exhausted . It took me ages, stupidly, to link it to the fasting.

And now I have stopped fasting diet due to this ,but I find it happens now if I skip any meal , I have to eat something at least everything 4 hours. It has been bloody awful, I have had some very public embarrassing accidents. Even happened during my sons graduation. I even gave up work and retired early in part due to this as I travelled and flew a lot and wasn’t able to eat at my normal meal times due to times zones and I was in a mess gastrically. I had loads of hospital tests to see what was happening, but no reason ever found, I have to live with it now 5 years after quitting the fast diet.
I’ve read up this happens to some people. I’ve read up on how to stop it with all sorts of weird stuff you have to take even people taking meds. I really did not want to do that . I’m still living with consequences of something I never used to have issues with prior to fasting diet.

Either you haven't read all of the science behind it.. or you didn't understand it... or you just have no idea what science actually is. You don't have to be a genius to type a search term into YouTube to find some simple explanations... or maybe no amount of evidence or proof can change your mind... in which case - you do you.

I think OP is right in that people constantly talking about IF is boring. I don't talk about it. Just do it quietly. Also if I am out with friends, I will skip it for that night, so as not to bore everyone stiff.

Do people talk about this IRL? That would be v dull. However - doesn’t make it a gimmick.

evidence is that the effectiveness of them is far from simply moderated by hunger, that’s a massive leap and not supported by research
there are many different causes why diets fail and some of it is due to emotions, some due to ultra processed foods and addiction to food, for some people we know hormones do actually play a part. Hunger , or more specifically the hormones that signal hunger, do have a part to play for some people, but only for some

this is why diets don’t work. There is no evidence that the majority of people keep weight off they’ve lost. All evidence is quite the reverse- people regain overctoyicwlly 5 years and end up even more overweight than where they started. Even in cases of gastric surgery a lot of people regain weight, and the new weight loss drugs are even being prescribed just for 12 months even whilst acknowledging that once stopped people put the weight back on and more. The science behind that, which is slowly emerging is very interesting, and it will probably eventually unlock the key to keeping slim in the first place.e but almost all expert scientist will agree loosing weight once gained is a particularly ineffective solution. There are some very interesting articles for instance, that now show that caloric intake between societies of highly active lifestyles (eg hunter gatherer tribes) actually differs little from healthy weight individuals in western world with no exercise. The evidence is pointing out that the body is very adapted to regulate calorific burn rates at a steady rate irrespective of levels of activivty. Activity is clearly beneficially and needed for all sorts of reasons, but weight loss is not one of them, despite what gyms would have us think and the old chestnut “energy in equals energy out” is a complete fallacy and doesn’t take into account the vast majority of our energy is needed to survive as warm blooded animals - we have to keep the internal boiler on at all other costs.

yep, right now best hope people who are overweight have is the variety of diets, injections, tablets and gastric sleeves. But it ain’t simply hunger that make them fail over and over.

I'm a newbie to IF, try to do 16:8, but if I'm starving I have my breakfast anyway. its rare that's necessary though. I have a cup of tea with soya milk in the morning. it's been so much easier than I expected and I have lost weight. it's easier to eat healthily and less snacks too.

I could do this easily BUT don't have a healthy relationship with food. So I'd be worried that I'd eat anything and everything in between. The timeframes themselves wouldn't bother me though.

I lost 5 stone doing IF - it was amazingly easy, and I felt incredible. Unfortunately put it all back on after having my DS but will be starting it again