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?

Low carb and IF went from 33 to 25 BMI. Swimming 4 times a week for an hour. Losing the belly fat. Still drink alcohol so cutting back on that to make a bigger impact. 🙂

I think it's probably because my DC wake me at 5. So by 8 I'm faint.

Not sure if this has already been said but fasting is much easier if your last meal isn't heavy on white carb. Protein and high fibre works really well for me and means I wake up feeling good, not hungry or faint.

I'm terrible with breakfast....as soon as I eat it, it's like it sets me off and I will just eat and eat all day. It doesn't matter what I have....eggs, porridge...whatever it is sets me off. Its why I've failed at so many diets as they all involve breakfast....it just doesn't work for me. I find it easier to skip it

I just call it not eating until I'm hungry on a morning.
It's helped me notice how my body responds to certain foods. Eg lots of carbs and I'm constantly hungry. Plenty of fat and protein and some vegetablesand I do much better.

I used to have ups and downs with blood sugar, which was making the sport I do difficult and thought I was one of these people who need to constantly snack or I get wobbly. It turns out I don't.

Exactly what I found! I’d read porridge is really good for you as a breakfast, controls blood sugars for HOURS afterwards, fills you up until lunchtime, etc., so started taking microwave porridge into work. It just kick-started my appetite and I didn’t stop eating all day!

It's completely cleared up my hayfever.

You are righ t I intermittently faster yesterday, forgot to have breakfast, went out for a late lunch and had a piece of toast for dinner. Not intentional. It works because not having breakfast or evening snacks cuts the calories you are eating

I have an underactive thyroid diagnosed in 2013.

Started on Levothyroxine and began 16:8 combined with 5:2 at the same time and lost 3 stone in just a few months.

I am now back to a comfortable size 10, exercise for 10.minutes twice daily and still do 15:9, i.e. I only eat between 1300 and 2100 hrs.

Has worked fantastically well for me and I am fitter and slimmer now than I have been for 20 years. Can highly recommend! (I'm over 60 too!)

"Diabetes nurse" (every one that I've ever seen, at least) has such a massive hard-on for porridge, and how amazing it is for satiety and blood glucose and so on, and IMO it's a load of bull, at least for me. When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I tested myself with a lot of different foods, at regular intervals after eating them, and surprise surprise, boiling up a load of starchy carbs to make them more digestible and eating them as a soft goop sends my blood sugars through the roof. I'm way better off from a blood sugar perspective eating a bowl of muesli than a bowl of porridge without sugar, even if the muesli has plenty of dried fruit.

Yes of course it's a gimmick.

Yes the person might lose weight in the short term but in the long term they are highly unlikely to continue that lifesysle.

Why people feel the need to overcomplicate something that is so simple is beyond me. Eat fresh non processed foods, eat a sensible amout relative to how active you are. That is it!

It pretty much is that, skip breakfast and stop that mindless late night eating and drinking. It’s kept me slim and I’m pushing 50.

If you skip breakfast and snacks you’re reducing your calories so how can it be a gimmick

You should be eating a good wholesome breakfast. Having no breakfast is shockingly bad.

Eat like a queen in the morning
Princess in the aftenoon
Peasant in the evening

It worked for me, I lost 3 stone over 6 or so months. It really depends on your relationship with food; for me once I start eating I find it hard to stop.

Surprisingly, your experience is not universal 🙄. I feel MUCH better not having breakfast. There’s no law saying everyone has to have 3 meals a day.

for me once I start eating I find it hard to stop

Me too. I wonder why. Even when I switched to low carb, I thought it would help but it didn't. I tried eggs with courgette and feta for breakfast thinking it would fill me up, it took away my hunger, but I still kept eating.

Does anyone manage it with a super early start to do running?

Yes, me. I just want coffee when I get back from my run though, so it doesn't feel like I'm depriving myself.

It does irritate me (probably unreasonably so) when people bang on about "fasting" though.
No, you're not fasting, you're just skipping breakfast and not eating any snacks. Which is what millions of people do every day without feeling the need to give it a special name and make it into a Thing.

But if giving it a special name and making it into a Thing is psychologically useful for some individuals, helps them put clear and manageable boundaries around their eating when they would otherwise struggle to moderate their diet, then why not?

Yeah, fair point. As I said, I do realise that it might be unreasonable of me to be irritated by it!

"No, you're not fasting, you're just skipping breakfast "

Breakfast itself has the word fast in it!

"You should be eating a good wholesome breakfast. Having no breakfast is shockingly bad."

Complete rubbish.

Fair enough

You should be eating a good wholesome breakfast. Having no breakfast is shockingly bad.

I thought this tosh disappeared in the 1970s.

What is 'shockingly bad', is people forcing food into themelves when they're not hungry and their body doesn't need or want it.

I'm 54 and I haven't eaten breakfast since I left junior school.

I've never suffered from weight problems in my life. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.

To many people I apparently skip breakfast.
I don't, I just have it really late; around midday.
Left to my own devices I would sleep from 1am - 9am, work from 10am - 6pm, and do some sport in the late evening. I'm a night own and sports wise I perform better in the evening (I'd MUCH rather go out at 10pm than 6am in this heat).

I'd have breakfast around midday, something light early evening, dinner around 9pm and some fruit around 11pm.

As I have a son at school and a job I need to fit in with those hours. I still don't feel hungry for breakfast though. I can manage myself as I wfh. It gets in a pickle when I travel for work and know that if I don't have breakfast I won't make it through till lunch time, or I have to get up super early to exercise.

My point? We are all different and need to find what works for us (within the life we lead).

I also match the findings which showed that slim people compensate for eating more than they need by naturally eating less in the following days.

I think there's quite a lot on this thread that demonstrates that we don't know what it means when we say a food/dietary habit is 'good for you'. Most things are good for us and bad for us both at the same time, to varying degrees. Broccoli may be high in nutrients, but give you indigestion. Ice cream might be physically unfavourable, but a couple of scoops might improve your mood, and thereby lower your stress. Early nights might improve your physical health, but wreck your social life. Fasting may encourage sarcopenia, but increase autophagy.

There's nothing that is only good for us. There are benefits to most things.

Fasting is something that humans evolved with. For some, the pros will outweigh the cons. For others, not.