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 ...🍷

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme welcome! Good luck. We are a friendly bunch!

@Sissy31 I came on to post exactly the same! My hormones are all over the place as I’ve stopped bf’ing in the day. Cue loads of migraines and wanting to eat everything. Sticking to 16:8, but only just!

@Pandapotato I'm so glad i'm not the only one! Today ive had 2 crossiants, pasta, a chocolate muffin and a small bowl of ice cream and i could easily demolish it all again.
Hormones are a pain!

@Sissy31 I just had a pizza! Too much pizza 🍕
But, I do love that this way of eating means I can do that and not fall off the wagon completely.
I’m at work tomorrow & find it much easier to be “good” than when I’m around the kids and their constant snacking.

@Pandapotato Oooo i love pizza!
I even dreamt about food last night! Haha!

Sissy and Panda thanks for the welcome. I'm finding the fasting itself fairly easy, but I'm not sure whether I'm doing it "right". One thing is I'm not following any kind of eating "plan" when I do eat. I'm not sure whether I'm eating the right things or enough, but don't want to over complicate as I know from previous experience that obsessing over food makes me give up quickly. I really hope this can work in a simple way with just not eating for 16-20 hours then eating for the remaining 4-8 hours!

Another is that although it's easy to have my last solid food 3-4 hours before sleep, we drink tea with milk in the evening, together, and I'm loathe to give that up as it's really comforting - in all honesty I will not, and I don't want to (won't) cut the milk out of my tea even though I'm fine with black coffee - so I'm not actually "fasting" completely until bed time. I am counting my fasted hours from after the last cup of tea though.

I guess I'm going to see how it goes for a month, and if it's not working change something.

My eating "window" is late but it'd seriously impact family life not to eat in the evening and I really don't want my teens to have the "mum's always on a diet" experience which I think partially screwed up my attitude to food! If I fast 7pm - 3pm they don't even know!

Respect to those of you doing this while breastfeeding or up in the night with babies and toddlers - I could not have done that!

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme i dont follow a set eating plan either. I try to eat healthy and balanced but equally i do have a takeaway once a month. I know if i restrict myself too much i tend to give up completely! I fast for as long as i can, minimum 16 hours but have done up to 23 hours and i always make sure i stop eating by 7pm
I struggle with the tea thing too and i dont like any coffee at all. I have milk and 1 sugar (used to be 2) in my tea.
I love a cup of tea, especially at work so find it really difficult to not have it. So i only have plain water during my fast then tend to open my eating window with a cup of tea. I then find i can go another hour or 2 without food as the tea satisfys my hunger.
My weight has maintained the past 3 weeks, which is annoying but i do feel better and my clothes fit better so hoping itll gradually drop

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme I don’t really follow anything other than the fast. In the weeks where I’m “good” in my window, (not having treats or loads of seconds) I tend to lose. In weeks where I’m
Not so good, I tend to maintain. It suits me better than piling it back on. Progress is slow, but that’s because I don’t want my teenager to see me being permanently on a diet, so I have pudding with Sunday lunch & the odd thing in the week.
Sounds like you are finding your feet. Give it time to figure what works for you.

Hope everyone is ok? I’m struggling with pmt & wanting to dive into a chocolate bucket, but getting through.

Hi guys, I'm really considering this diet to lose my baby weight.
I've 2st to lose.
I'm normally good at self control & reckon I can manage the fasting.
Will I see good results with this diet?
Anyone else used it to shed baby weight?

I’ve been doing 16:8 and sometimes 17:7 for about 6 weeks. I find the fast really easy but recently seem to have too many days where I just binge on crap during the 7 hours.
Is anyone else having the same problem?

@TickledOnion

Yes my partner and I fall into this trap quite often. We recently spent two weeks doing the fast 800 to break the habit - 800 cals a day, Mediterranean diet. It worked well. We’re going to do 800 cals three days a week from now on until we lose the rest of the weight (think it’s about a stone for me, bit less for him). Three days a week is very doable and stops us going kamikaze and falling completely off the wagon (we are big eaters and love to cook, so it’s easily done).

One question please. I'm considering trying this.
Can you drink during the fasting hours? Or is it a total nil by mouth fast? Thanks

You can have water and black coffee for a “clean” fast. Some people add a little milk to the coffee if they’re less strict.

Thanks. I guess tea would be ok then?

It's really important to drink a lot of water whilst fasting, or you'll dehydrate yourself.

Black tea and coffee is fine, some people add a splash of milk but that's up to you. I have 2-3 stone to lose so I'm doing clean fasts, if I didn't have very much to lose or was maintaining I'd probably be happy to add a splash of milk.

Hi guys!
I havent been on here for a few days.
Ive been doing okay, i was away at the weekend but still fasted, although was less strict during my eating window.
Ive stopped weighing myself weekly as my weight fluctuates so much, especially with hormones so going to do fortnightly for now.

How are you all?

I've been doing this for 3 weeks now. I skip breakfast and sometimes I go 18 hours without eating anything - no cheats either, just water and black tea. I am keeping my food low cal and low carb, I consume 1000-1200 calories a day. Before I was probably around 2000.

But I am not losing sometimes I think I have lost a pound but it's back on again by the evening. I will stick with it a bit longer but feeling a bit disheartened. How long until others saw results?

poldarklover I've been doing this just under two weeks and haven't weighed yet - only going to weigh once per month - cycle related weight fluctuations can be several pounds etc.

However I'm on a FB intermittent fasting group and whilst some lose 10lb in the first week (then nothing or 1lb in the next few weeks and get frustrated) others seem not to start losing til 3 months in, but then lose fast!

Have you noticed that your clothes are looser and/ or your skin smoother (less bobbly fat under the skin)?

There's a lot of talk of something referred to as the whoosh effect although I am pretty heavily sceptical about the science behind that...

Still if you're noticing any other changes in fit of clothing or in your skin it looks anecdotally likely that the scales will eventually catch up.

@poldarklover everyone gains a pound or two over the course of a day. It’s in all the fluid you drink and all the food you eat.

Weigh yourself at the same time. I will only ever weigh myself first thing, pre food and post poo!

@ KnobblyWand how is it going without Pepsi Max? I’ve cut out Diet Coke and find I don’t crave it anymore. Swapped it for a tall glass with lots of ice of Robinson’s fruit squash with fizzy water. Still get the cold refreshing bubbles and I’m enjoying it.

I know there is still junk and artificial sweeteners in the squash but it’s a lot better than Diet Coke!

Hello all, this thread fell off my active threads (been spending a lot of time in Style & Beauty as I’ve bitten the bullet and battered my credit card ordering new clothes now that my current wardrobe is too big 😂).

So I’m 2 months in and a total of 10lbs down so far. Ideally I’d like to lose another 7lbs to get back to my Pre-children weight, but we’ll see how it goes.

Re the rate of weight loss, I found I lost the first 4/5lb very quickly then stalled for several weeks, then there was another rush of 4lb coming off and now I’m back in a stalled phase. I invested in some Smart scales that have an app so I can see things in more detail and there’s still changes happening, just too small for regular scales to pick up.

These are the scales, I got them from Amazon (still reduced from £50 to £30) then you download an app to your phone: www.amazon.co.uk/Bathroom-Scales-Weighing-Body-Fat/dp/B07HH6DJHH/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&psc=1&s=drugstore&crid=36UV8PBUILND3&keywords=kamtron+smart+body+fat+scales&sprefix=Kamtr%2Cdrugstore%2C137&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyVE9MQUU5STUxT0NSJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjUxMzQ3TFdWRkg4QjFPME9IJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4NTc4MjBQOUlZWFJCU0RHWEgmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1596093555&sr=1-1-spons

It doesn’t just measure weight/BMI, it measures body fat %, visceral fat (which is something I was personally concerned about), bone density, etc.

@CaveMum oooo they look good!
Are you finding them helpful? Is it worth investing in some?

@Sissy31 yes they’re definitely useful, though when I first got them I was jumping on them every day and watching the weight go up and down every day was a bit disappointing 😂 I now try to stick to twice a week max!

I've put a pound on. im gutted as I've stuck to it with no cheating, very few carbs & clean eating :(

Anyone else gained then lost well?

@MsMiaWallace yes that keeps happening to me. Don’t be disheartened, you will naturally fluctuate by a lb or 2 every day due to fluid retention.

CaveMum how does that scale work to measure bone density and body fat, but especially bone density? Does it send electronic impulses through your body or something?