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 ...🍷

I just started 16:8 today after seeing this here. Gone fine so far. If anything it will stop the mindless snacking in the evening. Looking forward to the support. One question I have is do you need to always have the same window or can you do 11am-7pm most days but then switch it up if eg meeting friends later or similar

Welcome Easy, personally I just go with the flow - we often eat earlier in the evening at weekends as we try to eat with the kids (3 & 6) so that means my window tends to shift. I think it’s more important to fast for the right length of time rather than doing it at the same time every day.

Can I join in please? I did 16:8 for a few months 2 years ago and lost 8kg. I've put every gram of that back on and I need to start again.

Hello all

I’ll join too please, this is day 3 for me I’m fasting until 12.
Iv got into the habit of weighing myself daily but really trying not to do that now! Il wait a week and then get weighed.

Loved reading your success stories and the benefits some of you are feeling even after a few weeks.

I’m missing having breakfast but trying really hard!
Good luck everyone

Day 4 for me and I’ve lost nearly 2lb 😮. This pattern of eating suits me down to the ground!

I’m also excited that this feels like something I can continue to sustain once I reach my goal weight as it’s so close to how I naturally already eat.

Am I likely to reach a plateau as often happens with other diets? What have your experiences been?

More newbies! Welcome all

Perfectionist a lot of people do tend to hit a plateau around the 4-6 week point, mine seemed to last for ages, but then suddenly the weight loss kicked back in again. They say you really need to give it a go for 90 days, or 12 weeks, to see proper results so I’d say even if you do hit a plateau just hang on in there as it’s just your body adjusting to the new regime.

Hi There 👋🏼 Id like to join too if that's okay?
I'm on day 11 of 16:8, doing 11am to 7pm eating window. Honestly loving it! My major issues were night time snacking (totally mindless snacking) as well as overindulging in the vino (also day 11 of no vino!).
Finding that I am hungrier in the morning (when I never was) which makes me eat at 11am when I would rarely have eaten until lunchtime, sometimes dinner time 🙈 By which time I would probably be making poor choices because I was hungry.

I am loving the fact that fasting makes me eat more consciously... I now plan all my food for the following day, love packing up a nutritious lunch and knowing what I'm making for dinner. My diet was pretty healthy anyway with very little processed foods but conscious meal planning has made it better.
I have so much more energy now too and am sleeping and waking much better.
Weighed in at 141lbs 11days ago... goal is 119lbs!

Hi, I'd like to join in if that's ok!

I've been fasting 4 days. I've done it before with great success. I stopped doing it and lazy old habits reemerged and the snacking started up again. I put some weight back on, well actually, I put 17lbs back on.

I'm turning 40 in January and we live in Australia so I'd like to be feeling slim on my 40th and be able to wear a bikini to the beach!

The last time I tasted I felt like I had more energy especially when it came to waking up and getting out of bed, so more energy is the second reason I've come back to intermittent fasting.

I like to do low card as well as that helped me lose weight.

I've shifted 4lb so far, and I'm thrilled.

I really try and plan a day's worth of eating to help me stay on track. And I try and drink loads of water, it really helps.

Good luck everyone.

*fasted

*carb (bloomin auto correct on my phone)

I have a question about the diet and maintaining the lost weight.

I have been doing 16:8 since the beginning of July and lost 16lb- but I am also eating a lot less calories. I am almost at goal weight (3.5lbs to go). I think I will carry it on a bit longer after goal weight to lose a bit more, but I don't think I want to live such a restricted life long term. What are others' plans - will you be keeping the diet or will you increase your eating window?

@rosesandroses11 I’m only a few days in at the moment but this pattern of eating is not far from how I usually eat so I’d like to stick to it in the long run.

The reason I say that is because I see it as a way of keeping the weight off rather than gaining it back the way I usually do. Plus I’m feeling good, it’s easy, I’m not feeling hungry and not having to restrict myself too much. Wish I’d discovered it years ago! I used to hear about fasting diets in passing and think..well, I’m not prepared to starve myself, that’s just unhealthy 🙄

@rosesandroses11 I wish I knew the answer! I honestly don't know how to maintain a loss. I did IF starting last year at this time of year, I did really well and got down to 3lb away from goal and then with the lockdown I just went off the rails and really started snacking loads. I put weight back on.

I've seen a thread on weightloss for maintenance. I don't know if anyone on that thread has figured it out!!

I managed a good fast yesterday, I had breakfast at 10:35. I started fasting again at 6:15pm. I made good food choices yesterday. I find good choices come when I've got good options in the fridge to choose from.

I'm in Australia and the weather is just starting to warm up again after winter, so we're planning on going t the beach tomorrow.

I'm on an intermittent fasting for women Facebook group and most people who post about successfully maintaining over a period of years seem to continue to fast but in a less stringent way. Some who've achieved weightloss doing 18:6 or 20:4 report dropping down to 16:8 for maintenance, but others say that they do 14:10 and only go up to 16:8 if they put a bit of weight back on over a holiday or stressful time, and others do 16:8 Monday to Thursday and eat as they want Friday to Sunday.

I think you have to experiment cautiously for a while and see what it takes you as an individual to keep your weight steady.

I actually like fasting 16:8 and think I'll stick to it most days but have a day or two off to drink wine and snack in the evening or have a big family weekend breakfast on the same day as family dinner here and there, especially when both DH and I are off on the same day, which only happens every other weekend. Atm I do a mix of fast lengths between 16 and 22 hours and find 16 very comfortable, especially when I've stopped eating straight after dinner the day before.

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme would you mind sharing the name of the Facebook group please? Funnily enough I did a search for one yesterday and couldn’t find much.

PerfectionistProcrastinator it's literally called 'Intermittent Fasting for Women'

There are some cult like unquestioning and zealous believers in the gospel of certain self declared fasting gurus on there, and some really extreme fasters who are a little worrying, but there are also a lot of people losing weight sensibly with IF, and maintaining, and people fasting for health without needing to lose weight. It's a good place to ask questions if you keep your critical thinking facilities switched on as some people advocate very extreme regimes or pet theories or push their favourite guru.

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme that sounds really sensible, regarding the maintenance aspect of IF. I think if I was sensible I could say I'd have a meal out or drinks but then also switch back to fasting that week to balance things out.

I've had a good day today even though we went to the beach. Everyone else had sandwiches that I made. And various other snacks as the day wore on. I'd packed a yogurt for myself and a babybell, then I had a banana and a carrot and some nuts. I packed things that were easy to prepare for myself. I was happy because on a bad day I'd have had a can of coke and a bag of crisps!

I had a Thai beef salad last night, the rest of the family had other Thai dishes from the take away. I'd not had the salad before, it was so nice! I'll have it again for sure. It was really low carb.

Ive gone from a 32 waist to a 28 since May. Doing IF 16:8 or 15:9.

Hello! Can I join the thread please? I'm starting IF tonight/tomorrow. I did Joe Wicks 90 Day plan and finished in July, lost a few inches and a few pounds. Toned up a lot though. Then did Courtney Black's 28 day challenge (twice) and lost half a stone and 24 inches so far. And now I'm 13 stone 7, and 5'2. I need to lose 3 stones, but I'd be very happy to get down to 11 stone. We're going to ttc soon and thats my motivation really, I want to be healthy and fit, with a good core and After reading about IF on here and all of your progress, I think I might as well try it and see what happens!

Completed my first week! Didn’t think I’d do it but so far so good, haven’t lost any weight (I should really not get weighed!) but my stomach feels flatter and generally I feel healthier for the lack of stuffing myself every 5mins. I’m Fasting from 7.30pm-11.30am find 8-10Am the hardest when my stomach really rumbles! Also trying to keep under 1200cals during my eating time - hope I can keep it up, I’m just thinking week to week in my head then don’t over stress myself with any long commitments that I then break and eat to console/punish myself 🤪

Well done to everyone with their progress I have re-read a few of the success stories on this thread to keep me going so thanks for sharing

Ahhh fallen off the wagon a bit this weekend. It was my birthday weekend so while I've stuck to 16:8, I've gone way over calorie wise. Yesterday I had a fry up, followed by party food at lunch, pizza, cake, crisps, etc. Today I had a full roast dinner and more cake. The scales have already gone up a few pounds, I hope they will go down again in a few days because I seem to have reached a standstill - I've only lose 0.5lb in over a week. It's so hard to lose but so easy to pile back on!

I've been doing this for 6 weeks now and lost 9lbs! Thank you to everyone here for pointing me in the right direction.

I'm not great at doing it every day, i miss perhaps 1 or 2 days a week,and I drink milk in tea during my fast, but whatever, it seems to be working.

I don't feel hungry anymore, just keeping busy helps. Sometimes it helps to keep my mind and hands busy so I don't snack, so I've downloaded a few puzzle apps to keep me occupied.

Its great

It's nice to read some good updates!

@blackbutterfly4 I think it's fine to enjoy some party food for your birthday! Happy birthday! I'm sure you can refocus on IF if you want to.

I'm enjoying having an app to travel my fasts. It's a good way to keep track.

I did a huge hike up a huge hill this morning! I managed 8.8km in total so I'm pleased with that.

I've got two skirts that only just do up at the moment so I'm really keen to try them on next week and see if I've made progress!

Hey - can I join???!

Went into lockdown about 0.5st over what I’m comfortable with (maybe more) and have added a stone since lockdown, so probably have 1.5 st to lose overall, but keen to get started.

Today is the first day! I see this not as a magic diet that will make me lose weight really fast, but as a way of gaining back control over some emotional-eating habits. We’re going through some tough things and I’ve turned to chocolate to help me! It’s not making me feel great so I’d love to knock it on the head and enjoy all food in moderation.

Stomach is rumbling now- am planning a banana at 11.30am to break the fast!

So nice to see all the newbies!

I’m now within spitting distance (or 0.5lb) of having lost a stone since I started IF in late June. I’m about 3lb off my initial goal weight, though if I drop 5lb I’ll be back at my pre-pregnancy weight so I might aim for that instead!

I’ve been wandering what to do once I reach my goal and have read that some people do a few days of IF each week to maintain, rather than going back to their old ways in full and then having to do IF for several weeks to shift any excess.