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 ...🍷

@Themadcatparade Thats brilliant! So glad you are feeling good.
I also havent seen much weighloss on the scale (although i wasnt overweight to start with) but do feel alot better and noticed some of my trousers are looser, which is great!
I still have sugar cravings sometimes (especially now TOTM) which i do occasionally give in to. But still i feel so much better in myself

Do you all find it easier to fast during weekends or weekdays?
During the week when i am at work (desk job) i struggle. My stomach rumbles loudly and im always hungry. i always make it to 16 hours but struggle to go much further. Today im not at work and have done 18 hours easily and will probably go another hour or so before i have something.
I know its just habit when i am at work but not sure how to combat it!

Hi everyone. I joined the thread towards the end of July but haven't checked in for three or four weeks.

I've been doing IF for 6 weeks now and weighed at work this morning - have lost 8kg which is 17lb I think! Very happy with that but nobody's noticed and actually I can't tell myself by looking in the mirror, although I have lost 2 inches from my waist and my jeans are looser - I do have a lot to lose (want to lose about 45kg from start weight, which I'm expecting to take about a year as I know there will be slow downs and plateaus)

Sissy31 weekends have little meaning for me aside from when the kids are at school as I work mixed shifts in a 24/7/364 healthcare setting. I mostly find it easier to fast on work days though as I'm on my feet and busy, and obviously not in my own home able to raid cupboards!
Other people are my main stumbling block atm as both at work and home I'm expected to eat with people and I want this to be a lifestyle and do not want to be a "diet bore/ martyr" so I'm generally trying to juggle in a way that avoids having to ever say I'm fasting. I've had to tell DH and dc1 because they both bring me coffee with milk or food otherwise.

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme Yeah i understand. I think with me its because i am sat at a desk allday and not very active maybe? I always manage the 16 hours but find it difficult to push any further.
Yesterday i did an 18.7 hour fast and today i am currently at 19.5 hours and still going.i always thought id struggle on weekends and it would be easier when i was distracted at work

Sissy31 yep I can see that! I had a desk job in the past and can definitely see how that'd be the case, especially if there's an office culture of eating at desks and people around you are eating, or it's just been your habit and you have a strong association. I stress and boredom eat (I nearly wrote"I used to stress and boredom eat"! Bit early to be so cocky about that being in the past! Still I hope in a year's time I can meaningfully use past tense about that!) So I'd do that at a desk job I'm sure :(

A lot of things around food are about breaking habit - I always used to stock up on chocolate or biscuits for night shifts, so I've just consciously had to stop doing that! Luckily (?!) I'm on duty alone at night so can't nip out to the petrol station to buy snacks if I change my mind!

Habit changes are hard. I wonder how long it takes to confidently be sure a habit has been broken/ changed?

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme I'm glad its not just me!
I'm on Day 102 of fasting and that habit still hasnt broken! I still get hungry and stomach growls when sitting at mt desk even though i never give in before the 16 hours - trust me somedays it feel so so hard!

Hi everyone, I am at the final week of couch to 5k and the whole time I hardly shifted any weight. However I found this thread a couple weeks ago and before that I had never heard of 16/8! I decided to give it a go, the best thing for me is to eat my final meal of the day by no later than 5.30 pm, so that I can eat breakfast at 9.30. This works really well for me, I've simply told myself if I want to eat something I have to have it before the cut off time, if its after that it's too late. I have found that by eating breakfast that little bit later, I'm eating less for lunch, because I've not worked up an appetite again but that time, same again at teatime really. I think by only having an 8 hr eating window you can only physically eat so much, and I've not missed eating later on either, it's amazing. And the scales are budging now, I seem to be losing 1lb every 4-5 days!
I have tried to convert my dh who has type 2 diabetes, he literally eats crap all evening, even right before bedtime, I know for a fact that he'd feel so much healthier if he stopped it, but he has a busy job so doesn't eat much throughout the day, only breakfast and a sandwich or something for lunch, so when he comes home he's starving. Does anyone fast through the day?

Well done Edward, I was similar - I started C25k in May but didn’t shift any weight until I started IF.
I’m sure they say that weight loss is 80% diet and only 20% exercise - certainly I‘ve heard the adage that “you can’t outrun a bad diet”.

Personally I stick to 16:8 or thereabouts but chatting to a friend of mine who is a Dr, she said a lot of her colleagues do OMAD (One Meal A Day) and swear by it.

@cavemum thanks for that! I've heard Prince Charles does the one meal a day thing, and he seems pretty healthy, he even shrugged of covid with no bother, at his age! I think I might try it myself a bit down the road, when I've got more used to the small eating window, it will be a step further on from that really won't it. I suppose in history when food was thin on the ground we won't have eaten three meals a day!

Quick question. I’m thinking about doing 16:8. Can you drink literally nothing apart from water during the 16 hour fast? Could I have a cup of tea with a little semi skimmed milk for breakfast or is that a no no?

@Littlemissdaredevil

Quick question. I’m thinking about doing 16:8. Can you drink literally nothing apart from water during the 16 hour fast? Could I have a cup of tea with a little semi skimmed milk for breakfast or is that a no no?

It is water, black coffee and black tea only I’m afraid!

Some people put milk in their tea/coffee but doing this will break your fast as the milk will trigger an insulin response.

Have a read through the thread, there have been lots of posters who thought they’d never manage their morning tea/coffee without milk, but it’s amazing how fast you adapt!

I’ve made myself a green tea. Is that ok as there is no milk?

It’s difficult as I’m at home with my toddler so I have to make her breakfast but I managed to load the dishwasher instead of making toast.

Littlemissdaredevil plain (unflavoured, not "with vanilla" or whatever) green tea is perfect and doesn't break a fast, neither does black unsweetened coffee. Some people "dirty fast" with milk in coffee and still lose weight, but as the milk breaks the fast the body is doing something different (due to insulin production) and "dirty fasting" is effectively just a reduced calorie diet not technically fasting.

Managed to get though day one. Had a latte and muffin at 11:45 as both kids were screaming so I went and popped into Starbucks. So not the best. Ate dinner at 18:45.

EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide I move my fasting/eating times constantly because I work shifts. I just make sure I never have longer than 8 hours of eating window and never less than 16 fasting. Sometimes I have a 4 hour eating "window" and fast 20 hours, partly to make jiggling hours work. If I have the weekend off (I work alternate weekends) then I fast til 2pm minimum, often 3pm on the Saturday, so that I can drink wine and snack in the evening with my husband! I don't think it'd work on a daily basis but it certainly hasn't caused a problem twice per month...

I've lost 11kg (25lb) as of this morning. Started on 18th July. I have a lot to lose though.

Any tips? I’m feeling hungry. Does the hunger go after a few days?

@littlemissdaredevil what time are you fasting to /from?

@untilyournexthairbrainedscheme thank you! I am going to try and get dh to do something similar in the hours that work for him!

Littlemissdaredevil drink water, black coffee, green tea and/ or do something to take your mind off it. It also helps me to think of hunger as my body digesting it's own fat! If you're hungry and don't eat your body has to use stored fat... Helps me see hunger as good!

I find that I'm hungry some days and not others. Probably to do with hormones and exactly what I ate before starting the fast rather than how much I ate or how long I'm fasting, but I'm finding I can just accept being hungry as I know I can eat what I want within reason later.

Hello! I’d like to join please!

I have just discovered the 16:8 diet and I’m so pleased I did! I’ve dieted on and off for a few years, often using the slimming world plan. I like that you don’t have to measure a lot of things with it and for the most part it’s healthy eating but I always fell off the wagon eventually.

When I started I had 31lb to lose til my goal weight and I decided to not follow a plan but eat sensibly. I always skip breakfast anyway and due to my job I was eating lunch often at 2:30 or 3pm. I’ve heard about fasting diets but didn’t realise what the deal was and that with this method you get to eat within an 8 hour window. Seeing as I was as good as doing that anyway I’ve decided to follow the plan properly from here on in.

So I now have 19.5lb remaining til goal. I’m here with my black coffee

Welcome to the thread Perfectionist

Hello, can I join? I started 16:8 last week and lost 2lbs so I'm happy with how it's going so far. I think the main impact is not eating in the evenings (my window is 10-6) Does anyone have opinions on whether its better to exercise during your eating or fasting window?

Welcome aboard Perfectionist and well done on your loss so far.

Welcome too Barbara, personally the only time in my day I have to exercise is first thing (I run every other day at 6.15am), so I do mine effectively in the middle of my fast. I’ve not had any issues, I just make sure I drink a few glasses of water before and after to keep myself hydrated.