Intermittent Fasting is miserable

[Slowontheup]

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?

I wasn’t talking about not eating after dinner.

My IF involves not eating dinner in the evening. I eat my main meal at a late lunch time and then don’t eat again until morning.

I'd been doing it since way before it became a fashionable diet. I just don't eat breakfast and don't snack after dinner. Easy.

I absolutely loved intermittent fasting and miss it greatly! I stopped when I was pregnant for obvious reasons and I don’t do it anymore because I’m still breastfeeding.

I was so much more healthier and energised, I would do all my exercise and gym workouts in the morning and eat afterwards. Same lunch everyday and more or less same dinner. I think my eating window was 1-9pm.

I am very overweight now! But that’s down to no food discipline and lack of exercise.

Oooh, I don’t agree with the last line at all! Most of my meals are a treat, because I don’t cook or eat food unless I really enjoy it.

I just had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on whole grain seedy sourdough - that felt like such a treat after a long dog walk in the cold. Dinner is going to be a cottage pie made with the leftover roast beef and gravy from Sunday’s roast, and I know it’s going to be warming and nourishing and yes, a real treat.

Food should be pleasurable, I think.

I am an all or nothing person. I really struggle to stick to three meals a day. If I skip breakfast, I feel fine. If I eat breakfast, it's like it sets me off and I end up constantly eating all day. I don't mind feeling slightly hungry during the day if I know I am going to eat something nice later. I cannot go to bed hungry though. So for me, holding off from eating until later in the day works perfectly.

There’s a difference between ‘needing food every 10 minutes’ and not eating anything (and exercising during that time) until 4/5pm.

Agree with the poster who said many people ‘IF’ by not eating after 6/7pm until the morning. There’s no need for labels and obsessive calorie counting. If you are the type of person who doesn’t feel hungry in the morning then great - skip breakfast. As long as you have a desk job and aren’t exercising.

And food (as part of a well balanced diet) can be a treat. Again this is going in to disordered eating territory. If you eat a balanced healthy diet and exercise then the odd treat is fine and healthy.

Food should definitely be pleasurable yes. And to say it is not and it’s purely functional is a bit of a red flag for disordered eating (I work in the health and fitness industry and am trained in nutrition).

I don't feel dizzy and sick by postponing breakfast to 11am. The first few days are harder as you are expecting food earlier but it gets easy quickly.

I find I’m not hungry at all doing 8/16 - first thing I ate today was soup about 12.30. I’ll have a yogurt soon then dinner about 6 followed by a banana.

I already posted this up thread, but in case you missed it - for me, I can see inflammation in my body because I swell up. When I've not been fasting properly, I can see my face is puffy, my joints are swollen, and I feel achy, tired and worn out.

When I stick to having a decent fasting period and I stay away from too much junk, I have more energy, significantly less swelling, and less pain overall. It also keeps my weight stable so I'm not putting on extra which would be a strain on my joints.

I really highly recommend it.

Thank you and really glad it’s helped her

I have long covid and POTS. Generally I've found that IM reduces the pain levels and my fatigue levels. It seems to reduce the level of my symptoms although they are still there which means I can function a lot better. I still pace and have to be careful due to the POTS element but mostly it has meant my conditions have become more to keep in check then debilitating every day.

I would say it took about a month for me to recognise the reduction.

Update: I did a long fast because it just worked out that I didn't eat dinner last night and realised I hadn't actually had anything else since 3pm apart from some herbal tea. (allowed right?) So I delayed my breakfast this morning anyway as I will have dinner tonight so I guess I'm switching my eating window. Well after a long gap having not eaten I did feel absolutely fine. I haven't exercised though. I must be imagining it but my jeans feel a size bigger today already!

Anyway I am a bit more motivated to try again now but I do think it's worth paying heed to the research that says don't work out fasted if you're a woman. That suits me anyway as I loathe working out in the morning tbh.

That sounds great! Very pleased for you.

it's worth paying heed to the research that says don't work out fasted if you're a woman

I'm not familiar with this research. All I can say is that IF works for me.

I don't consciously fast. I'm just not hungry first thing. So I have a cuppa and catch up with Mumsnet and the Guardian, before my daily appointment with Mrs Girvan.

Brunch, healthy mid-afternoon snack, super-nutritious dinner.

Sorted. For me, anyway. I'm quite old but very fit. YMMV.

I'd love to do this but eating dinner with my husband is really our only touchpoint during the week and it seems a bit mad to disrupt that when I don't really need to lose weight dramatically in any case. If it were left to me I'd definitely finish by 4-5pm latest.

Oh - I absolutely agree that IF is much easier to manage if one lives alone! I don’t even attempt it if there are other people in the house, or if I’m out.

It works for me and for DH. We don’t always do it on weekends and never on family holidays.

I have been doing intermittent fasting since Michael Moseley first introduced the concept, but I do the 5:2 rather than this time restricted eating method.
I chose to do it for the health benefits but it does help keep weight down.

5:2 works very well for me and I much prefer to have only two days a week thinking about it rather than watching the clock every day.

I'm not bothered by breakfast which helps, i stop eating by 8pm then next day lunch will be around 12:30, i get by on coffee and water until then.
I eat breakfast on holiday as i'm either AI or i'm about to spend a good few hours out walking with only fruit and crisps for lunch so it's important, i don't miss it when i get home.
My husband has recently cut out breakfast again and he's finding it tough but he got used to it before and will do again, just takes some time.

I think it's wise not to exercise on an empty stomach. You can't perform at full capacity without the energy to support you.

That said, a banana would be sufficient to exercise on. It doesn't have to mean eating loads beforehand.

If you don’t enjoy it and don’t need to lose weight, there’s no point to it.

As I’ve got older, I’ve needed to eat less, and I enjoy it because it helps me rediscover my appetite and enjoy my food more and feel empty and light instead of constantly a bit too full. I actually feel a bit grotty if I have a late night restaurant meal. But don’t do it as some kind of theoretical thing when you can’t feel any benefits.

it's wise not to exercise on an empty stomach. You can't perform at full capacity without the energy to support you.

This isn't what I have found. I work out for 60-75 minutes on an empty stomach (bar an early morning cuppa) most days. Proper, serious weight bearing exercise (Caroline Girvan, using 8-12.5 kg dumbbells) and HIIT (Growingannanas), plus push-ups and planks.

Followed by a protein rich brunch. Definitely works for me.

You'll find a lot of fasting gurus recommend it - one of the best ways to burn extra calories is in a fasted state - e.g. before you eat breakfast, lunch etc.

If you read Dr Stacy Sims Next Level book (which is focused on peri menopausal and menopausal women) she explains very clearly why exercising fasting is bad for women particularly of this age.

Just because you feel ok doing it doesn’t mean it’s good for you. I cross checked this with my dietician who also says the same. It’s complicated but it spikes cortisol which we don’t want.

Even a banana or a slice of toast will help. Then refuel with protein afterwards