16/8 support group

[Klaudia14]

Anyone interested in joining me here? I posted this on an older thread so will just copy and paste my story below:

I'm on day 8 doing the 16/8. I'm loving it!! I'm against dieting as restrictions always lead me to binges and feeling rubbish. I haven't weighed myself in 5 years as I got rid of my scales due to a very unhealthy obsession with weighing myself. I am very interested in intuitive eating and have been trying to get in tune with my body but it's been hard and the lockdown has thrown me off guard and I was overeating, feeling bloated and fed up. I'm loving 16/8. My eating window is 11-7 and I find this fits well with my lifestyle. I'm surprised at how much energy I have in the morning. Even managing an hour long walk with the dog ...getting up at 7 as well with lots of energy. Feeling less bloated and just happier overall! I think this is really helping me be more intuitively about what I actually want! Having good, hearty food. Butter and cheese and full fat yoghurt! These foods were always a no no for me but I much prefer theses to fat free/low fat options. I feel satisfied after my meals too .
Oh and I can't do this without a bit of milk in my morning coffee ( freshly brewed filter) so haven't cut that out. And have had a cheeky glass of wine during my eating window ...🍷

Hi new people!

I’m by no means a model faster, but my biggest tip would be - don’t fear hunger. You’re not going to die, you’re going to eat soon, but there’s nothing to fear from being hungry for a bit every day. Also, when you feel a hunger pang, wait ten minutes and it usually goes away. Have a glass of water and do something to distract you, even if it’s watching YouTube videos or finding a compelling Mumsnet thread. You’ll forget about the hunger quite quickly.

@myfirstbirnisacollie, Thankyou I will look at cutting out a meal maybe have breakfast and lunch combined. My calories are cut as I no longer have supper or daily chocolate or popcorn, 400 calories at least. Trying to ease myself in and get used to the eating window. Seems a straightforward diet so that helps. Might try measurements if scale not moving. Good luck to everyone xx

Hi guys, can I join!!

I've gained a stone since lockdown in wine and laziness. Hoping to TTC soon so want to be in good shape.

Hoping to lose a stone - has anyone succeeded this with 16:8 and how long did it take? Should I be counting my calories?

I'm hoping to eat within 12-8 window. Day 1 here goes!

I'm joining too.

I did this a couple of years ago but didn't lose anything and I think it was because I was fitting 3 meals in to my window. I just wasn't really eating much less.

I weighed myself this morning and was shocked. I've put on a stone since Covid! And I needed to lose a stone before that!

I hadn't noticed it was that bad as I'm actually quite fit and exercise a lot. I just realised I was looking really bloated. I had no idea it was this bad. I think this is the heaviest I've ever been! Oh dear!

I have a question:

How do you handle wine nights? I drink a couple of glasses of wine usually twice a week. But it's always quite late as I have to wait till the kids are asleep. How can you integrate that into your plan?

I’m thinking of starting this, I’m not a breakfast person but have got into the habit of toast during lockdown and also too much wine in the evenings so I’ve regained a lot of weight that I had worked hard to lose before all this.
Also interested to hear what others do with wine and also coffee as there’s no way I can do mornings without coffee.
Also wondered does it always have to be the same window of 8 hours or do you adapt slightly (eg if the window was 12-8 and I ate at 9 could I “make up for it” by not eating till 1 next day etc or is it best to stick to the same ?)

This morning exactly 14 stone So here we go ! Day one
Green tea made ... and ignoring the call of hot buttered toast !
Good luck to everyone and especially today’s starters same as me

@Mortigua you can have coffee/tea during your fast as long as it’s black with no sugar.

Don’t know if this will help any of my fellow new starters, but this was the video I found that helped kick start me into doing this.

I'm so hungry. I've got to wait until 12 to eat. Its hard to concentrate on work feeling this hungry.
I think I'd rather do a standard diet, this is so much worse.

vinotinto I don’t count calories exactly but I have reduced my intake. I only have two meals, one of them just a small bowl of muesli and yoghurt. I only have gluteny carbs at the weekend (bread, pasta) because they make you bloated and hungry, but they’re so delicious I can’t cut them out altogether. I snack on fruit, nuts, olives, cheese etc.

I think you do need to cut calories to lose weight, people who say “eat what you want” in the window aren’t being entirely honest. The point is that fasting brings other long term health benefits, and also that the body is burning fat instead of glucose in the fast. You still need a calorie deficit though.

ElspethFlashman and Mortiga I don’t think the window matters, so on weekend wine nights I don’t worry about going past 9pm with alcohol, I just try to make it up the next day. Yesterday I managed to scrape through to nearly 4pm, because I’d had a late dinner and an even later brandy on Saturday.

Morning all! Good luck to all the new starters.
I’m down 2lbs from last Monday. (Probably because I had a booze free weekend!) A good start to the week. Also managed to get out for a walk this morning With the baby before the rest of the gang woke up. Nothing to strenuous, but I’d like to build up towards feeling I can exercise in a fasted state.

I’ve been listening to the intermittent fasting podcast over the weekend. Really recommend it. Loads of great information about the benefits of IF and how to go about it.

Hope you had an ace birthday @Sissy31. I’m going to work slowly towards a couple of 20:4 every so often. My window has naturally moved to 18:6 over the past few days. It’s so interesting how your appetite changes.

@Hoolajerry don’t let the scales get you down. The podcast covers lots about the weight thing & fluctuations. They recommend going by measurements / fit of your clothes. I definitely feel a bit smaller, despite not seeing that much weight loss.

I don’t know about medications, sorry @WinterAndRoughWeather. I would definitely take them as you need them though.
Totally agree with you on the not fearing hunger advice. And the calorie deficit thing - I do much better if I have 2 meals a day, rather than 3.

That’s quite a fast @justanotherneighinparadise. Hope you are doing ok.

@ElspethFlashman and @Mortigua I just flex my window a bit if I’m having a drink. I do find it makes me super hungry and makes my fast harder the next day though.

Have a good day everyone, another scorcher here!

@Pandapotato can you recommend a few IF podcasts please, I usually listen to one in bed each night.

@cavemum the only on I’ve listened to so far is called the intermittent fasting podcast with gin Stephens and Melanie something. There are loads of episodes, but I started at the beginning. I’ve found it very informative.

Good video Cavemum, and congratulations on the weight loss Pandapotato!

@moveandmove you don't have to start eating at 12, you can choose an earlier eating window if that suits you better. Have you just recently started it? If so, you might want to start with a longer eating window, and build up to 16:8 rather than jumping straight in, get the body more gradually used to it. When I first started I would feel hungry in the mornings, but now about four weeks in, I'm 45 minutes from my eating window and I don't feel hungry.

I've started at an 11-7 window as we eat dinner early and 7-8 is just messing about with bedtimes anyway so no eating in that hour regardless!

I was fine this morning until about 10.15 but then got ravenous. But then I remembered I could have a cup of tea and that kept me going.

I downloaded a weight tracker app and it says I have 37 lbs to lose for a BMI of 25. Yeah like that's gonna happen! I don't even know if I want that - I'd be perfectly happy at a 27.

I did my big sweaty 5k power walk this morning and I downloaded a flexibility app because I looooove stretching and I did a 25 min session of that. So feeling quite fit for a lardy pants.

I definitely wouldn't be able to keep a 16 hr fast after having late night alcohol, I suspect I'd keel over if I had to fast virtually all day. I think noon is my limit. I'll just have to be careful not to do it too often!

Just checking in to say hello I'm starting today, doing 12-8pm window for eating. Like most of you lockdown hasn't helped my weight loss, lost a stone last year and felt great, still needed to lose a lot but have put a stone ON!!! Feel awful, grotesque and struggling to stick to anything but going to keep positive for this as I did it before and it worked really well! Good luck everyone xxx

Just checked my BMI and I am now 24.9, so no longer overweight. I’ve lost 7lb in 2 weeks. My goal is to lose a stone from this point and get back into my jeans 😬

@justanotherneighinparadise 7lb in two weeks is awesome! What are you eating during the day? I've just started with my eating window 12-8pm and can only wish for that kind of loss!

I’m following a tighter eating window to be fair. It’s 20:4 but I did fast for 36 hours yesterday. Eating wise I make sure I get a variety of foods. It’s normally a portion of dinner from the night before, some crackers and cheese or buttered toast, some fruit and some dark chocolate.

Managed the window in fact didn’t eat until 115 , but after a Greek salad then ate 2 biscuits and a few squares of milk choc why Oh why ? But day one so Will strive to do better ,

20:4 goodness. What time is your eating window? I may see if I can stick to 16:8 for a week before attempting 20:4 to ramp up the results. Did you not feel like death after 36 hours? @justanotherneighinparadise

Managed to make it to 12 before eating today - poached eggs and bacon with spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes. It’s a Hairy Dieters breakfast recipe but I find it works well as a brunch/light lunch.

Also gave in to my sugar craving and had a small bar of white chocolate plus a croissant and a satsuma to snack on this afternoon. I’ve had 11 cups of water and a black coffee since I got up at 6.15am (tracking it all on MFP) so I’d say that’s not bad going!

Chicken Fajitas for dinner tonight!

Good luck to everyone starting today!

I had the day off for my birthday, we drank alot of wine and snacked alot and i feel so bloated today! Back on it from tonight, going to try to do another long fast if i can!

@justanotherneighinparadise Well dond for your loss! Thats brilliant!

vino I never felt hungry but you just miss the taste of food. Just try it once a week and see how you get on!

My feeding window tends to be morning/lunch. Generally not hungry later in the day.