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 ...🍷

Urgh, mDe the mistake of drinking a green tea this morning having forgotten that it makes me queasy if I drink it on an empty stomach. Anyway, made it till 16.5 hours before breaking my fast (food wise it was actually more like 18.5 but I had a cheeky gin cocktail at 8.30pm!)

Weather here is horrid so I’m not feeling inspired to go out and burn off some extra calories!

Honestly I am not particularly eating any differently. I know some people like to low carb it, but I eat a lot of pasta and that's not gonna change.

But it just stops me from being greedy 16 hours out of 24. I am a greedy guts, I know that.

I actually did a 19 hour fast last night as we went out for a walk this morning and I didn't get to eat till noon. Wasn't so bad actually. I'm not finding the fasting part that horrendous? I mean I'm hungry but it's not distressing. Perhaps because I know I can eat something I actually want for lunch rather than a green salad and a Muller light!

It’s probably variable from person to person ElspethFlashman. I’m trying to cut down on carbs anyway because I have PCOS and I need to avoid getting diabetes as I get older. Also I find it easier to fast eating lower carb (I’m not going full keto or anything like that, bread is too delicious), because I feel less hungry on protein and veg.

I agree!
I love carbs (dont we all?!) But i am trying to cut down on the bread and pasta as much as i can.

@BatleyTownswomensGuild Welcome! This is a great group, hopefully the support will help! For sugar cravings, do you like fruit? Its still sugar but a better kind of sugar
I cut up little containers of mixed fruit and containers of salad bits, pop them in the fridge and snack on them during my eating window as i find that if they are already made up its quick and easy.
Ive actually found my sugar cravings have lessened. Ive got chocolate in my cupboard still but i find myself reaching for fruit instead.
Hopefully itll get a little easier for you over the next few weeks.

Hi all, i started 16:8'ing this week. How long til i stop feeling like i need to stuff myself with crap in the 8hours? Overall i feel better, its good to not have to think about food til those 8hours. I just wish i could have self control when i can eat

Same here @wizzywig I started this week and the fasting is going fine but I do get a bit of a binge mentality during my 8 hours eating period! I've decided to worry about that too much at the moment. I want to let myself get used to the fasting for maybe a couple of weeks.
Actually yesterday I did feel like I had less appetite and felt more full on less food than usual and couldn't cram in as many biscuits as I wanted to 😂

Question for everyone - if you break your fast with a snack rather than a meal, what do you have? I've read it's best to choose something easy to digest?

@WinterAndRoughWeather the newest research into diabetes is looking at the fact that T2 is caused by fat, not carbs. Carbs spiking blood sugar is a symptom.

Low carbing/keto is kind of a sticking plaster approach, it keeps diabetes from being a problem because the blood sugar is naturally low - but it can make insulin resistance worst if the diet is high in fats.

I was diagnosed with prediabetes, and after doing a lot of research on my own, as the promised support from the NHS never materialised, I've gone down the wfpb approach - it's working for me so far. I've cut out meat and fish (not that I ate much anyway), oil, most dairy (although I do occasionally cheat with some cheese). I stick to wholegrain carbs.

It might not be the right approach for you (absolutely fine, I'm not trying to convert anyone) but it might be with considering worrying less about carbs, and looking at going low fat, with fats coming from sources like nuts seeds and avocado rather than oils and prioritising wholegrain rather than refined carbs - the fibre makes a big difference with how your body deals with it.

My window starts at 11. If I really have to break it on the dot, I tend to eat a banana. Then I can wait till lunch to eat properly.

I break my fast (at 12ish) with whatever I feel like.

Sometimes it is 'breakfasty', like a smoothie, oats or wholemeal pancakes.

Sometimes it is 'lunchy', like soup or falafel in pitta with salad.

I do keep my main meal for later though, so it's never anything heavy.

I tend to break my fast with a cup of tea rather than food. I find that satisfies me for another hour or so. If i do feel extra hungry then ill have a slice of toast with my tea.
Then i tend to pick on fruit/salad bits for a while then have dinner and close my window after that.

Ive also read that you should have something easy to digest but i dont really know for sure what that would be I guess it would maybe be differant for everyone?

@ChangeThePassword

Interesting, thanks. Though also a bit depressing in a “ffs can we ever get anything right when it comes to diet?” sort of way.

I haven’t been diagnosed with prediabetes or anything, but I am aware that PCOS can increase insulin resistance and that it gets worse with age anyway.

I thought the research pointed to fats being good for diabetes? Not that I’m eating mounds of butter or anything, as I’m cutting calories anyway, but I don’t worry about olive oil or full fat dairy.

The carbs I do eat in the week (and as I said I’m only reducing them, not eliminating them) tend to be things like brown rice or raw oats. At the weekend we sometimes have white sourdough bread or bake a cake.

I might test my fasting blood sugar and see what’s what.

After a non start last week I am starting today (again ) so 16:8 , broke my fast at noon with egg and avocado on toast with peaches afterwards . I am trying not to snack ( also dp is cutting down on snacking so makes it easier ) so will prob be ready for evening meal later
I have been lurking , interesting reading and inspiring weigh losses

@WinterAndRoughWeather it is a bit of a minefield, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and a lot of militant people that say their way is the only way (on different sides of the argument).

All I can say is, after everything I've read and watched, I strongly believe that what I am trying is the best way to make sure I don't move on to full blown diabetes (and that includes IF) - but that also takes into account my personal health and food history, and the fact that I strongly believe eating paleo for a while to try and lose weight was the reason I got to a prediabetic state. I'd never had issues with blood sugar before and used to be tested annually as part of a well woman clinic at work.

I'm not militant about it though, I think everyone has to come to their own decisions based on their own experience and history and research.

I think paleo is largely cobblers tbh, and in general there just isn’t enough reliable science about any diet.

I think the basic theory behind paleo makes a lot of sense (eat the natural foods we were designed to rather than the highly processed stuff made in factories), but the way of eating that has stemmed from it isn't great. So I'm going back to that basic theory but in a different way.

I did the Whole30 three years ago, which is kind of paleo-esque. I lost just under a stone in the 30 days we were on it, DH lost 1.5 stone.

The thing is though, absolutely none of the foods we eat are remotely like anyone ate in the Palaeolithic. Most of the fruit, veg and cereal crops grown now aren’t even like the ones grown 100 years ago, let alone what could be foraged before farming became a thing.

It has still got to be better to eat the closest we can get, now e.g. fruit, veg and wholegrains than it is to eat highly processed food though. Well, I think so anyway.

Absolutely, but that’s just standard diet advice isn’t it?

That depends where you are getting your diet advice from.

Lots of low carb plans tend to prioritise protein and fat and are anti fruit and wholegrains, with veg being the only real common ground
Slimming World seems to have a lot of people using cheats, like using white pasta to make fake tortilla chips
Slimfast and the like - well that's as highly processed as it gets

Believe me, there's quite a bit of hate out there against wholefood based diets. I've seen it in action.

Yes that’s true, which is weird because I grew up when my parents were into wholefoods as that was the thing in the 80s. I’ve got some fantastic cook books handed down from that era.

I suppose what I’m objecting to is the idea that any modern diet can be compared to what humans ate in the paleolithic (but then I studied archaeology at university!).

My favourite cookbook that I have never made anything from is a 1971 copy of 'the new york times natural foods cookbook' by Jean Hewitt! I love it so much! I think my mum would be surprised to know I still have it. It has gems like calves brains with scrambled eggs and sweetbread kebabs as well as the very American wholewheat waffles and blueberry muffins.

I might have to try some recipes from it sometime...

Morning all! Had a nice weekend here. Stuck to my fasts, but definitely had too many cakes and treats in my window. Back on it today! Going to try for 18 hours most days if I can.

@CaveMum green tea on an empty tummy makes me feel really dodgy too.

I don’t find the fasting too hard either @ElspethFlashman. Not eating too much in my window is definitely my biggest challenge. But i do think it’s getting easier. I pigged out a bit this weekend, but nowhere near what I usually would. I also noticed that it made me feel quite rubbish.

Finding your discussion about paleo and low carb really interesting @WinterAndRoughWeather & @ChangeThePassword. I lost loads of weight on low carb a few years back. But I found it really unsustainable and I don’t want to eat different foods to the rest of the family. The thing I like about fasting is that, amongst the morning chaos, no one really notices me not having breakfast and then I eat normally with them for other meals.

Hope everyone has a good day.

@Pandapotato I'm finding it great too, that my kids don't really notice that I'm eating differently, as we didn't have breakfact together anyway. Which is really important to me, as I don't want my DD in particular to see me always "on a diet" ...