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Original poster

Intermittent Fasting is miserable

204 replies

Slowontheup · 21/01/2025 09:42

Why would you spend half your waking hours feeling dizzy and sick with zero energy.

opt out of breakfast, the best meal of the day.

or, opt for a life that couldn't include eating dinner in a restaurant.

I don't get it but every health thing says to do it. Does it actually work (I don't need to lose weight anyway just health driven)

how long until it's bearable?

OP posts:
Scottishskifun · 21/01/2025 10:04

I think you need to ease into it so start with 12 hours then build up.

For me though IF helps control some of my long covid symptoms and there is research that IF can help some auto-immune conditions as it helps increase macrophages (a type of white blood cell involved in immune response).

It's not for everyone and if it's making you feel dizzy then stop but for many people it helps manage health conditions.

battairzeedurgzome · 21/01/2025 10:06

It's a treat to have a day when you don't have to think about food, cook food, eat it and clear up after you have done so.

SnowFrogJelly · 21/01/2025 10:09

You don't have to opt out of breakfast I have a nice brunch at 12 noon.. a few healthy snacks in between then dinner before 8pm

toastofthetown · 21/01/2025 10:12

If you’re feeling sick and dizzy with zero energy then it might not work for you. Everyone is different. I’ve never been hungry in the morning, so skipping breakfast for me feels normal and natural, but if I felt hungry and that i was missing out on the best meal of the day doing it, it wouldn’t be sustainable for me

VoodooRajin · 21/01/2025 10:15

Possibly what you're eating tge rest of the time isn't sustaining you

mossylog · 21/01/2025 10:16

Most healthy long-lived people in the world don't fast for so long every day. It probably does help lose weight (while you keep up the practise) but it's not necessary to live a healthy life.

CharSiu · 21/01/2025 10:16

All this talk of intermittent fasting, what sort of hours are people not eating?

My natural pattern is a very late small breakfast at about 10.30 am and then evening meal eaten by preferably 7pm and that’s it. Would that be classed as fasting at all?

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 21/01/2025 10:18

I've never liked breakfast. I run and exercise in the morning and can't eat before and don't want to eat after, so I eat one meal at around 4-5pm most days. That's it. I don't feel hungry - and even if I do, so what? I don't think there's any need for human beings to be shoving food in their faces every time they feel the slightest bit peckish. I enjoy my dinner. I eat out, I'm not religiously keeping to the one meal a day if I'm on holiday or it's a special occasion. I sometimes have toast in the morning on a Sunday when I'm not running. BMI 21 post menopause, so it's working for me!

EveryKneeShallBow · 21/01/2025 10:19

I eat once per day, and in summer months mostly raw vegan, and don’t eat fish or dairy. But maybe for you several smaller meals per day is better. Definitely avoid snacks, sugar and alcohol, though. And salt.

bakewellbride · 21/01/2025 10:20

I absolutely love it. Makes me feel great. I do 3pm - 7am so quite a lot of the actual fasting is when I'm asleep. Eating a protein based snack just before I start really helps.

Scottishskifun · 21/01/2025 10:20

CharSiu · 21/01/2025 10:16

All this talk of intermittent fasting, what sort of hours are people not eating?

My natural pattern is a very late small breakfast at about 10.30 am and then evening meal eaten by preferably 7pm and that’s it. Would that be classed as fasting at all?

As long as having no calories after your evening meal and no calories in the morning then yes. Things like if you have tea with milk that doesn't count as fasting due to calories associated with the milk. Or a glass of wine etc.

If having fruit teas, water, black tea/coffee in between that time then yes your intermittent fasting of 14ish hours.

There are different fast patterns so daily options are 12/12, 14/10 or 16/8 (first number being the fast time.)
I do 16/8 but built up from 12.

Chasingsquirrels · 21/01/2025 10:21

I love it.
I don't eat breakfast anyway, and often don't have much for lunch.
So on v low calorie days I just don't have any snacks and eat a healthy, filling, enjoayble evening meal.

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 21/01/2025 10:23

It didn’t work for me - like you it made me miserable. I get “hangry” too, so it made everyone else miserable too!

I try and leave as big as possible overnight without consuming calories, so once I’ve had my evening meal, that’s it, no snacking in the evening, and I delay my breakfast for as long as possible, which isn’t too hard as I don’t like eating first thing. But fully 16:8 doesn’t work for me.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 21/01/2025 10:26

I do this and really enjoy it. It took a while though to find my 'slot', if you know what I mean? I do 16:8 and tinkered around finding what would work.

I kept (and still keep) hearing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is, BUT breakfast just means first meal of the day, time isn't specified. My preferred time to start eating is 3pm. It just is. I'm usually stopped anywhere from 6-9pm and that's fine.

Even if I'm not following another or any diet plan, that is my natural preference and it explains why being forced to eat before school made me so miserable. Don't do that - find what works for you and you'll be happy.

You can do any fasting timescale - 12:12, 14:10, just make your fasting hours fit in with when you're asleep (I'm sure you're doing that already).

I eat one main meal a day, maybe two - never three.

Don't beat yourself up for a day off and never compare with what other people are doing unless it's to find something good for you. Tinker a bit more and find your happy place.

Hoover2025 · 21/01/2025 10:27

Im just not hungry. I don’t feel dizzy or sick. I eat one meal which is dinner.

I don’t like eating breakfast unless it’s a holiday buffet all pre prepared.

Im not against lunch but you have to break fast with a proper meal and I don’t usually have time or inclination to make one. Again if someone else was to make it for me or we go out then sure great.

Or of I’m hungry I eat. I find this happens more when it’s hot or I have had an active morning/ day. It’s not a punishment or diet - it’s just the way I eat.

RaspberryBeretxx · 21/01/2025 10:28

I think it probably doesn’t work for everyone. Definitely don’t do something that makes you miserable.

if you’d really like to try it, maybe it’d work better for you to tweak the hours so eat between 10 am and 6pm for example. That still gives 16hr fast. Or just do some glucose goddess tips for reducing blood sugar spikes like having a savoury breakfast - a big omelette maybe.

R053 · 21/01/2025 10:28

I have always enjoyed breakfast - it’s probably the most important meal of the day for me. I also exercise a lot including weightlifting, so IF is not for me.

CienAnosDeSoledad · 21/01/2025 10:31

Because I like it, I feel sharp and energetic, I love that 'empty' feeling and flat stomach, I hate feeling stuffed and full.

Because it in no way makes me dizzy, shaky and miserable.

Because breakfast is certainly not a 'best meal of the day'. I'm an owl, never ever hungry in the mornings and never ate breakfast. I refused breakfast as a child, when no one even heard about intermittent fasting.

I don't eat three meals a day, I'm not hungry. I usually eat once or sometimes twice, if I'm hungrier that day. I don't snack. I'm slim, healthy and happy, no 'food noises', no problem.

Fibrous · 21/01/2025 10:31

I enjoy a breakfast, so my version of intermittent fasting is just ensuring I don't eat anything after 7.30pm. 13 hours is enough for me.

Twixtmasjigsaw · 21/01/2025 10:33

I hated it. I could manage without food but, psychologically speaking, I felt so miserable I would then overeat on the normal days.

I do Slimpod now and combine it with strength training. Haven't lost loads, only about 4lb in a year. But have a lot more muscle mass than previously and feel strong. I like my shape and I'm able to keep things in balance which, as I'm in menopause, I'm quite happy about. (The women in my family all pile on the belly fat at menopause.)

TooManyChristmasCards · 21/01/2025 10:33

You are not doing it right or you need something completely different.

feeling dizzy and sick with zero energy.
that's not right at all. To be sustainable, you need enough energy from your meals anyway, whatever time you take them.

Most people "fast" 12 hours a day naturally they don't eat late in the evening, don't eat at at night, rush in the morning and don't have breakfast until late. They don't even know they are doing intermittent fasting 😂

I have my breakfast around 11, only because I am not hungry first thing, even when I go for a run. Even a banana makes me feel nauseous

FastFood · 21/01/2025 10:34

I do it everyday since I'm a child. Never been a fan of eating in the morning.

Now, I generally eat at around 11am and then at around 5 or 6pm, although it happens that I'm just not hungry in the evening.

Expletive · 21/01/2025 10:35

personally, I realised I accidentally intermittently fasted nearly all my life

Same here. Only eat breakfast on Saturday and never eat lunch.

I’m not slim.

Lobstercrisps · 21/01/2025 10:39

I can do it for a fortnight all in, so 1200 cals and eating in a 6hr window, loses 5lb as a crash diet.

Day in day out, nope. I have low blood pressure and feel dizzy. I usually naturally do 14hrs but thats about it.

I eat brekkie at work, with a homemade flat white on the way in the car. Lunch at work.
Then I have something to eat about 5/6pm.

If i do the big fasts I eat between 10 and 4 as I absolutely love breakfast but couldn't give a toss about eating a dinner.

Moveoverdarlin · 21/01/2025 10:42

I find it easy not eating before midday, but what lets me down is drinking tea and coffee. Does that make the fasting thing pointless if I drink say 3 cups of tea with milk during the fasting period?