16:8 diet

[Mummytron]

Anyone doing it and can give tips please? I know it's where you only eat in an 8 hour window but wondered if there's anything else I should know?

Ooh can I join in? The main appeal of this for me is to only have to worry about time, not about restrictions on what I can eat (within reason ), so I was a bit disheartened to read that people are combining the 16:8 with LCHF or calorie counting. But it seems some of you are having success without actually changing your diet much?

Looking at blogs on this diet, some people seem to skip breakfast entirely and only have lunch and dinner, but I was planning to have a small breakfast at 11, lunch about 1.30, then make sure I've eaten dinner by 7pm. Does that sound ok?

Eolian

I've lost 2 stone on 16:8 without changing what I eat. I eat bread, pasta, chocolate cheese. Main reasons why it's been successful:

1. I only eat 2 meals a day - lunch and dinner.

2. I don't really snack now.

3. my portions are half the size they were.

2 and 3 are because my appetite on this diet has massively reduced.

Today so far I've had fried courgette and feta on granary toast, and a twister. Dinner is pasta with veg sauce and salad.

Wow - good going, Moomin! I might try starting with a small handful of nuts or a banana at 11 and see if I can work towards skipping breakfast altogether. My appetite decreased when I did LCHF but I got so fed up with the restrictiveness of it (plus I had gallstone attacks which I suspect may have been kicked off by my high fat diet).

I don't know if I'm going to have any success at all but it's already a massive relief to be able to eat spontaneously.

Today I ate pork chops and salad for dinner, and for lunch I had a wrap, and at 9.30 I had an omelette. All my favourite fillings and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Because 9.30-5.30 fits my kids schedule I can't see myself only eating twice tbh.

I hope that doesn't mess up my success but there's nothing in the PDF I posted about being restricted to two meals, I don't think.

I also did LCHF for a while but got bored. I hate cutting out a whole food group, it just doesn't feel like a healthy relationship with food to me.

No you can have as many meals as you like, I've just found I can get by well without breakfast now.

Ok I might stick to 3 then. I eat reasonably healthy meals, I just need to resist snacking! I figure that if I can just cope with waiting until 11 for breakfast, I'm then much less likely to succumb to snacks the rest of the day because eating meals closer together means I won't get hungry between them!

I started yesterday actually and I noticed that yesterday and today I haven't had my usual 4pm slump which results in chocolate cravings!

If you eat breakfast at 11 then why not try to eat lunch a bit later? Obvs it's not easy in some workplaces but eating 2/2.30 might avoid a mid afternoon slump.

Ive read people who do 12-8 often eat at 3 in between.

It all depends on what works for your lifestyle too, my DP isn't back from work til 6.30 so I like to eat with him.

I work part-time and on a fairly ad hoc basis so I'm reasonably flexible in terms of when I can eat, thankfully. Will have to experiment and see how it goes! My weight has fluctuated quite a lot over the last few years so I'm looking for a reliable, easy to stick to method of losing a bit (1 to 1.5 stone) then staying stable.

Losing about half a lb a day at the moment which I'm absolutely over the moon with.

I agree I think because I now only eat 2 meals a day obviously that's a big reduction in calories already. And I don't miss breakfast at all.

For lunch I've had porridge made with water and some almond milk, fresh blueberries and pomegranate seeds, and a handful of mixed nuts.

For dinner I've had 2 burritos - made a homemade mix of yellow peppers, kidney beans and spices. With lettuce and tomato, a little bit of cheese, little bit of reduced fat sour cream, jalapeno and a little bit of spicy rice.

Which takes my total to about 1200 calories. I'm really full and feel so satisfied. This is definitely the diet for me.

Hi all. Been on this diet a week now. Feeling really disheartened though as I finally weighed myself and was shocked to see it is much more than I thought. I am 12, 4 and BMI 29 and body fat 38%. Feeling like I have been obsessing on weight for last two years, never have done anything drastic but tried to walk at least 10000 steps a day and not overeat. It hasn't helped a jot. I guess I might have been loads fatter if I had not done that! Oh, gawd, I really hope this new regime of 16:8 works. Will give it a month and if there is no shift, well I don't know what I'll do. Be glad to hear good stories.

theres you probably need to keep a food diary (inc drinks) as I imagine you are probably eating more than you think.

Yep, I think you are right. Just downloaded MFP.

Thanks for the pdf Elspeth, it's got some good ideas in it. I ate a load of junk today, but I've stuck to my 8 hrs. I think boxercise before breakfast tomorrow will be tough. I'll make better choices tomorrow!

I am a bit confused now, do we need to restrict calories in the. 8 hour window to lose weight. If so, is there any advantage over a calorie restricted diet editing a normal times? Or is the idea simply that you retrain yourself to cope with hunger, and restrict calories anyway by missing a meal.

Your calories are naturally restricted on this diet because you haven't got as much time in which to eat and because most people will naturally drop a meal (usually breakfast).

On 5:2 you are meant to stay below your TDEE even on non fast days - if you have a poor gauge on how much you're eating (like me), then yes it is a good idea to track calories for a while.

However intermittent fasting is said to burn fat and also to reduce appetite and make you eat more mindfully.

Realistically you cannot lose weight without calorie restriction of some sort, whether you track it or not.

I think we are scared of hunger. In reality it's ok to be hungry for a few hours, it won't hurt us :)

Thanks Moomin. makes sense. I just want to tread the right side of the line between mindful eating and getting obsessed!

Totally agree!! It's so hard isn't it!!

Those of you doing 11am/noon what time are you getting up?

Cos I've been up since 6 and I'm looking forward to my 9.30 start! I couldn't go much later without misery!

I have a 14 month old - up at 5.30 most days!

I do have tea with milk in my fasting hours though.

I get up at 7 and normally would have brrakfast at 7.30. I find it quite easy to go without eating until 9.30 ish but after that it takes a bit of willpower!

I amdoing 12-8 and getting up at 7. Get through with lots of green and herb tea and a couple of coffees with a bit of milk.

I get up at 6 don't eat til half 12 have pint of water as soon as I get up and a coffee at about 10am and more water.
Although I'm having my first time of accupuncture this am and she told me to make sure I'd eaten so I'm going to do as best I can today but I don't think I can finish eating at half 5 !