16:8 - what's ok to drink in the mornings?

[ErrolTheDragon]

I've more or less been doing 16:8 for a while, so far not too strictly and mainly as a way of stopping the upward trend rather than reducing weight.

But now I'm thinking I should do it 'properly'. I've generally no problem not eating between dinner and lunch which is 16 or more hours - but what to drink? My norm is two large mugs of tea with a fair amount of skimmed milk first thing and then a coffee with quite a bit of whole milk mid morning. I can't drink black coffee.
I'm thinking I should defer my coffee to the start of the 'eating window', but what about the tea? I've heard varying opinions on whether bit (how much?) of milk matters or not. I'm trying green tea this morning but not keen... maybe there are nicer (milder?) teas that can be drunk milkless.

Any suggestions please?

I follow Gin Stephens who is quite strict about black coffee, tea without milk, or water only. No milk, lemon, sweeteners or anything with flavour. I thought I couldn’t go without my tea with milk but I switched to black coffee having never drunk it and it’s fine.

There’s an element of comfort/sugar that you’re getting from the tea with milk and really if you want IF to work you want to break that association and get it from something without calories otherwise IMO you’re not doing one of the most important things IF teaches you which is to soothe yourself without food.

Plain hot water is surprisingly nice as well if you just want something warm. I even converted my daughter to this.

Wine

Also - you CAN drink black coffee. Of course you can. It’s just a liquid. You don’t want to, which is fine, but it’s not evil or anything, just a different taste.

😂

I do two cups of black coffee.
There are many schools of thought, but milk is generally frowned upon.

I’ve also read that under 50kcal you remain fasted but I don’t subscribe to it.

Makes me gag. It's annoying, we've got excellent coffee, DH drinks it black in the morning and it smells lovely but I really don't seem to be able to.

I drink tea with unsweetened and unroasted almond milk. Much lower in carbs then normal milk

I like peppermint tea (teapigs) Rooibos tea is nice.

Herbals are nice... but I think I'm hoping to find something that does have caffeine but without any bitterness.

I drink black tea & coffee. Black coffee with sea salt crystals in is quite nice. The salt gets rid of the bitterness.

If I have tea with a little milk I can delay the “fast” longer. If I don’t, I need to eat earlier. But I’m up early and walking dogs and doing yoga.

I think the fast has been broken though. Whether there is benefit in having a small amount of something and continuing not to eat probably needs more research. I suspect there is

I have herbals and Rooibos but also Yorkshire Tea biscuit blend which has a sweet flavour (ingredients don't list sugar just 3% natural flavourings but I weighed a teabag out of interest and if there is any its negligible). Also masala chai teabags, also minuscule amounts of spice. Neither are decaff and both are nice black.

Tea with a tiny slurp of low fat milk.
Iced water
Hot water
Herbal teas, hot or cold, without milk.

I'm doing this - sort of. Didn't do any reading about it just launched in. There's no way I'm giving up my tea/coffee with milk and sugar in the mornings - typically two cups. Then have first food at around 12.30-1. I don't allow it to take over my life i.e. I'll still have a late meal if I was going out with friends etc. I just time my first meal the next day from when I had that meal. If the goal is losing weight, it's still worked. I'm back to my pre-baby weight after 15 years and have a flat stomach again which feels great!

Ah, I'd been thinking black teas would tend to be harsher/more bitter than green but those would be worth a try - I can always drink them in the afternoon if I don't like them black.

What a bizarre way of looking at it. She doesn't like black coffee. I mean, I CAN physically open my mouth, shovel some spinach in, chew it and swallow it. After all, it's just a food. But I don't like it. So I don't. Talk about pushing pedantry to the limit.

I was having very limited success with 16:8 and noticed the only different thing my brother (also IF with me, but very successfully) was doing was not having tea in the morning. I was having two cups with full fat milk. I tried black, skimmed and semi skimmed but still hated the taste, and realised I also loved the ritual of making tea so couldn’t go without.

I decided to experiment with morning tea, late breakfast, late lunch, and fasting after 3pm. It sounds crazy but it’s working brilliantly for me, and I’m never hungry unless DP cooks something delicious. In those cases I usually manage to put it away until the morning.

I drink them weaker than I would milk-with-tea. They also still taste nice if they have cooled down a bit (or even iced in summer for the herbal and chai ones, not sure about the biscuit one!). Weak black Earl Grey might work too, I don't like it myself though, I don't like black coffee either.

Yes, the upside of milkless teas is that they're no worse or possibly better for being tepid.

Thanks all - drink if not food for thought!

It's not 'sort of' - it's NOT fasting! You're losing weight because you're restricting your calories by not eating a meal. But it's not fasting as you're still taking in nutrition through the sugar and milk. IF would mean no milk and certainly no sugar.

@ErrolTheDragon have you tried hot water with a slice of lemon? It's surprisingly comforting. Otherwise try gradually using less and less milk in your coffee as a gradual switch to black. You could also try adding just a teaspoon of double cream which should take the edge off, and also give you a similar mouth feel to coffee with milk, but with far fewer calories.

Oh, also meant to say - IF isn't really about weight loss (although it can help). It's about allowing your body to heal itself without having to start the process of dealing with food and all the biochemical things that go with that. It's called autophagy.

Oh well. I'm happy with my weight loss and feel and look a lot better which is all I really wanted. I've found losing weight this way an absolute breeze as it's more about time rather than food - I don't get a sense of deprivation that I would with other diets, including the IF one that's been discussed here. That said, I might try and cut out my morning tea/coffee and see how that feels. Herbal tea, black tea etc isn't for me.

Great that it's working for you - believe me I know how hard it is, but also how satisfying, to lose the weight! But as I said, it's not IF until you cut out the milk and sugar.

Actually - just looked it up. Tea with semi-skimmed milk and one sugar = 38 calories. If anything under 50 cals means you're still fasting as someone said earlier, my morning tea means I'm still fasting.

I don’t buy the under 50 calories thing. Sounds like a workaround to make it easier for people rather than being based on anything. Ingesting calories cannot be fasting!

BTW I did try IF with the morning tea-with-milk and it’s far easier without it. I do think even a splash of milk provokes insulin production and you’re therefore a) missing out on the benefits of autophagy and b) making it harder on yourself than it needs to be.