My 16/8 / 18/6 fasting 80 pounds to lose journey

[TarasChoc]

I've just started this Woe last Monday and I'm very happy with how much more naturally this comes to me than anything else I've tried. I fell into it accidentally after starting The fast 800 a few weeks ago. I had a few things on and found the low carb and calories aspect hard to stick to but realised I was still in a decent deficit, eating less sugar and doing a 16/8 without finding it all too hard. I've now fallen into 18/6.
I am tracking calories, I'm only eating two meals and the occasional snack so I don't find calorie tracking hard.

I'm looking at losing 70 pounds so I'll be in this for the long haul. I'm currently doing a lot of research listening to Gin Stephen's podcast and reading Delay, don't Deny , The Obesity Code and Fast, Feast Repeat.
I've been weighing everyday to track the trends but my official weighin day will be Monday.

@Spottypaperdoll what a lovely thing to aim for.

@DillDanding what an amazing loss!

Sounds like you are doing great @justcouldntthinkofausername - sounds like we are approaching this in a similar way. My weight loss has been slow these first few weeks - but I definitely would rather go slow and not have to restrict my eating to a level that sets me up for failure- I have to keep reminding myself of this though.

well my using the glucose monitor patch was a failure, it fell off somewhere within 2 hours, I didn't even get to do a first reading, however, they are sending me a replacement one free of charge this week.

I have been doing IF for just over 2 months now, mainly being that I skip breakfast and then stop eating after dinner and some days my food was pretty good and some days I wasn't that amazing and I drank wine!

After a while I wouldn't really be that hungry at 6-7pm, but I ate dinner anyway, because thats what you do, right? This weekend is when the change started to occur, it got to 6pm and I thought, if I am not hungry why have dinner, just power on through and see what happens, I got mild waves of hunger at 10pm, but I just ignored it, so I've managed to do it for 3 days, I've just moved to OMAD very naturally. I say to myself if I have lunch at noon and then at 6/7pm, I'll have dinner, if I am hungry, but if I am not, I'll stay in fat burning mode for as long as I can in that 24hr period. I cant believe that my hunger hormone has been switched around so quickly, I was always such a ravenously hungry person.

I havent lost any weight yet, I think it might be a while yet before that happens in large amounts, but for now, I am just going to trust the process!

@NorseKiwi that's amazing! 🤩 Well done.

A midday OMAD is my favourite too, but it took me a loooong time to build up to it... For some reason I felt like OMAD should be an evening meal, and I hate waiting until the evening to eat 😆 I find lunch and no dinner much easier.

@DillDanding Ive just been shown that Elton John video which made me cackle with laughter 😂 comedy gold

for those who haven’t seen it;
m.youtube.com/watch?v=weYdqzgWsco

(Sorry it’s not related to the thread but so worth watching) 😂

Love that video!

Just caught up with all the latest posts.
I'm on the app which means I can't scroll back to see people's user names to reply individually to their posts so I'll just chat in general mostly.
Welcome to the new people, its lovely having so many to chat with.

Firstly on the weekly takeaway issue. I didn't for the first while and plan not to for the next few weeks while I get myself back into this properly. After the first few weeks I usually had a takeaway or ate out at weekends. What I found was it was fine until complacency crept in and choices made stopped been as good. Every so often I had to pull back a little.

@neeko well done with that downward trend, that's the line that matters.

How's the low carb going @mumlikeaboss? I haven't started fully but made swaps like cauliflower rice for rice.
I've lots of stuff here to use up so will do that and ease into it slowly.

That Elton video is really funny 😁

For those starting out and wondering if they're doing it right/wrong. Trust the 16/8 process for the first four weeks. Allow yourselves to listen to your bodies and see what you can make work for you. You'll find the sweet spot eventually and once you're fat adapted it'll become easier as there'll be less cravings and hunger.

And once again can I remind everyone myself included not to forget or discount drinking water. When you're not used to it downing a couple of litres seems like a huge effort but once you've got in the habit it'll become second nature and make fasting much easier.

@TarasChoc same as you, I'm easing into it! Fewer chips with dinner, lots of meat and veg, absolutely no bread or bakery stuff (bar a small amount of GF substitute which I don't tend to overeat anyway).

Have managed a full fast today, felt like I needed it for various reasons! Haven't done one for a while, but didn't actually find it hard.

Well done with that fast @mumlikeaboss, that's amazing!
I find I can never plan a full day fast or even OMAD. It becomes to daunting but like you if it just happens easily I go for it.

@TarasChoc no agreed, if I try to force one it almost always backfires!! But some days just wake up and feel like it might be a good thing to do.

Just a reminder to myself and anyone else starting/restarting IF, protein, water and reducing sugar really are key.
So if you're struggling during your fasting times drink lots of water and plan ahead for when your window opens to have plenty of filling food and if snacking read the sugar content and choose wisely.

I've managed 21/3 and 20/4 the last two days. I'm meeting my sister for lunch so I think today will be 19/5.
I'm going to put more effort in at weekends as they had started to slip too much.
My bank balance will thank me for less takeaways I'm sure.

It's my youngest birthday this weekend. I'm collecting her from uni on Friday, a 6 hour round trip. I'm sure she envisions stopping off along the way so maybe I can make that a OMAD day. We are going out to eat then on Sunday. It is nice to know I can do these things and once I don't go mad still lose weight.

Thanks for all the tips @TarasChoc - do you have a book that you'd recommend reading about IF? I'd quite like to learn a bit more to keep me motivated xox

I would start with fast, Eat, Repeat and then The Obesity Code.

Every so often I read or listen to something about the benefits of fasting. I find this beneficial at times like now when I'm trying to reset after Christmas and having a flu.
It's easy to just focus on the potential weightloss and if this doesn't come as much as we hope for it can be demoralising.
When you're aware of all the other benefits it makes it easier to persevere in the initial few weeks of adjusting and later on if you hit plateaus or just lack incentive.

This lady is fascinating, she has written a book "called fast like a girl" by Dr. Mindy Pelz I havent read it. She says you need to fast with your hormones, depending on where you are in your cycle, so fasting is much better on days 1-11, then not fasting on days 21-28 as its affects Progesterone etc

Why FASTING For Women is Different & How To Do It CORRECTLY For Insane Benefits | Dr. Mindy Pelz on Dhru Purohit channel, if the video doesn't play properly here

Thanks @norsekiwi, I'll watch later.
I'm never sure how fasting would affect me as I'm peri menopausal, according to blood tests post menopausal. I've a coil in so hard to track, very little symptoms really so doubt very much I'm pos.
I need to read more on this side of it.

Thank you that's great!

@NorseKiwi thank you so much for the above link. I've ordered Fast Like A Girl and spent a good while yesterday listening to Dr Mindy Pelz.

It's really helped to refocus me.
Starting back this week was the first time since I started fasting that I felt a little deflated and questioned myself if I could do this. I knew this was because I was thrown off track for a fair while now with my holiday, Christmas and having a bug but still the doubt had crept in.

Listening to information about the health benefits of fasting and been reminded I'm doing this not only for weight loss but for my health has been like hitting a reset button. I had began to focus too much on that extra pounds on the scales since December and how far behind I am compared to what I had hoped to be at by now.
I knew myself that wasn't the right way to think and was doing my best to fake it until I made it, and I believe I would have in a couple of weeks, but listening to Mindy really brought home how important it is to keep healing my body.
It feels so good to have my positivity back thank you so much for your part in this😊

I've decided going forward even when I'm in the zone I'm going to read or listen to something on fasting every week. It doesn't need to be overkill just a reminder of the unseen benefits going on inside!

@TarasChoc I think that's a great idea 🤗

Even 2+ years in I still have periods where I slack off or lose momentum a bit and I often go back to reading blog posts or books to get motivated - or listening to Gin's podcast, which I do most weeks anyway.

I haven't ever stopped fasting and I will do it forever but I do sometimes get lazy with it and let it slip until my eating window gets a bit too long... So it's good to remind myself why I'm doing it and remember how good it feels to do it properly!

Mindset is super important :)

@mumlikeaboss at the end of the above youtube link they discuss thyroid issues. I think you mentioned previously that you were changing medication for yours.

@TarasChoc oh, thanks for the heads up! I'll give it a watch when I have a minute 👍🏻

I have read/listened to a few things about fasting for women and how hormones affect it... And definitely notice for myself that fasting in the 2nd half of my cycle is a completely different ball game. Usually crave a lot more carbs and am hungrier so my eating window ends up longer as a rule.

It's very individual isn't it, so you have to experiment a bit!

@NorseKiwi another thank you for highlighting that video, I just watched and it was so interesting.

Confirmed a lot of what I have started to learn about my own body during my fasting journey, but it's fantastic to have all the science to explain it all! Love it!

And the thyroid bit was interesting too @TarasChoc - I think perhaps explains why any kind of calorie-restriction is a complete no-go for me... I've known for a while that I just can't seem to do it like others can, but didn't know why 😅 So now I'm owning it - I was listening to my body all along! Yay me 👏🏻😆

WEEK 1 TO 20 - 25.4
WEEK 21 (sick) -0.6
WEEK 22 -2.2
TOTAL LOST 28.2 POUNDS.

Good morning. I'm happy this morning to report I've finally got back on track and have one full good week behind me.
I even managed a couple of 24 hour fasts. The other week days were 20/4 and two weekend days were 16/8 and 14/10.

How's everyone else getting along?

I had a bad week 🙁
I did 16:8 but as I was staying away from home I ended up eating mostly crap in my window. Then the weekend was a binge too after not being at home all week, resulted in eating out twice! 🤦🏼‍♀️ I weighed last night and could have cried, I've put on what I lost plus 2 more lbs!!!! 😩
Time to hit the restart I think