Anyone do 18/6? I'm starving already and it's only been 4 hours 🫣

[Mydogiscuter]

So I started on 18/6 this week on Monday, eating between 07 00 and 13 00. It's gone pretty well and I have stuck to it. However, the last two days I have been absolutely starving with a proper gnawing hunger in the night.

I thought yesterday it was because I didn't eat enough during my eating window so I made a real effort to have a big lunch. It's now nearly 17 00 and I'm really hungry already.

For breakfast I had berries, full fat greek yoghurt, walnuts, low sugar granola, chia seeds and millet.

For lunch I had a large portion of chicken and pearl barley stew with lots of veg (broccoli, asparagus, courgette, carrot, potato) and a large portion of Rhubarb Crumble and cream.

I have been to the gym and also walked the dogs for half an hour.

I can push through the hunger but it is most unpleasant! Does anyone else experience this and what do you do?

I didn't expect it to be so intense every day. I thought I'd get used to it. I have fasted before but I have never been woken in the middle of the night by hunger like the last few days.

That's a long time to go without eating especially afternoon/teatime. Would you consider 16/8 instead? I do that and rarely think of food after 7pm or before 11am which are my times to fast.

That means I can have breakfast (same as yours), a small sandwich/fruit/salad for lunch, and a healthy low carb meal for tea. Once the window closes I'm fine because I spend most of the fasting time asleep! I honestly feel great, no sluggishness and although I haven't really lost weight, it's a discipline that helps me keep it off!

I do break out on hols/special occasions. I'm not on a military campaign. 😊

Personally, I find with this kind of fasting it’s easier to have the majority of fasting time whilst asleep, then a late breakfast and lunch. 16/8 gave more flexibility.

As PP, I think 16/8 starting in the evening would be much easier. I always do this on my WFH days without even thinking about it as the morning flies by and before you know it it’s 1pm. I find it much harder not to drink wine snack in the evening.

I think you'd do better to flip it round. So not eating in the morning and having a decent dinner that will see you through the night.

The way you're timing your fasting seems a bit daft, if it's waking you up in the night with hunger.

I do it, but my eating window is about 12:30/1 til 6:30/7pm. I find it quite easy but if you are struggling, do 16/8 instead.

As others have said 16/8 between 10-6 works for me.

I do 16/8 on and off, but wouldn’t break fast until 11am most days, 10am if I was peckish early to finish eating at 6pm. If I was going to do 18/6 I’d start eating at 12pm as I find it much easier to push breakfast off (I only had lunch at 1pm today, no breakfast but I’m not fasting at the moment so had had a milky coffee in the morning) than to eat early and finish early.

There’s no way I could have finished eating at 1pm and then got through tomorrow morning.

Why are you eating massive portions of crumble. I presume you’re dieting if you’re fasting. Theres no point fasting then eating badly. You can eat your calories any time of the day without torturing yourself.

However if you want fast trying doing eating between 12-8. Have a couple of black coffees to wee you through til 12.

I started this week as well doing 18/6. I naturally don't eat a meal until about 1pm anyway, but the odd 10am biscuit/cake would be accompanying a cup of coffee, and I was piling on the pounds.

Definitely more manageable (for me at least) to have an eating window of 2pm to 8pm. I generally don't eat past 7pm.

Combined with MFP calorie counting of 1200 a day seems to be working.

Sounds daft but I love my cup of coffee with milk in the morning. DH brings me one in bed every day and it's the only time where I have ten minutes of peace to myself. I don't like black coffee and I don't like drinking coffee after midday.

I'm just going to have to bite the bullet though. I've just eaten a sandwich and an apple and will shift my window forwards for tomorrow.

I'm not dieting and I don't eat badly. My diet is very good. One homemade pudding every so often is fine.

I would also consider starting with a longer eating window and reducing it over a number of days, to allow your body more time to adjust.

Doing 18/6 or 16/8 intermittent fasting isn’t related to dieting.

I do 20:4 but I eat between 5:30pm and 9:30pm. I know this isn't ideal, but I work in a very full on and active job from 8am to 5pm and I don't notice feeling hungry until I finish work, so it's a good balance for me. I did this for years but then stopped for stupid reasons and only did 14:10 or 16:8 and put weight on and felt crap, but I was comfort / stress eating snacks (snack cupboard and culture of eating sweets on the run at work, then a feeling of having started eating sugar and wanting more in the evening) from lunchtime on due to being stressed out and this was really doing me no good at all.

Back to 20:4 with an after work eating window now and I feel good again. I do the same at weekends if it's me deciding when to eat but with social flexibility - if brunch or lunch is a social plan I'll vary my hours or have a longer eating window. I remember from last time that it's good to mix things up a bit anyway.

Although a morning eating window might be the absolute optimal way to eat, perhaps an afternoon eating window would also suit you better. You have to do what works for you, your body, your mind (hunger after four hours is psychological or a blood sugar crash, not genuine hunger, but still a real feeling), your daily routine, your work/ family set-up etc. etc. and that doesn't have to be exactly the same as a specific plan suggests.

How long have you been doing this @Mydogiscuter ?

When I started IF I found it took my body 2-3 weeks to get used to it - and yes it did "pretend it was hungry" during that time....And I would tell myself firmly, it was just my body adapting. Though I know Gin Stephens recommends, and many find it easier to start with a longer eating window and then reduce by an hour or so each week... or more slowly

I've lost a lot of weight and done a mixture of eating windows - anything from 30mins to 11 hours, depending on social plans and the scales.

I now seldom get hungry - and if I do, I just break my fast a little earlier.

When I'm at the weight I like to be, my typical week is mainly 6-8 hour eating windows, with one or two longer ones and one of just an hour, when I eat 500/600 calories.

When I started I found it easy to fast until 12 or 2, and closed my window at 6 or 8. More recently I've been hungry in the morning, and just started eating earlier (9 or 10) and then finishing earlier. That's been for the last few months and I've no idea what changed for me... especially as in my 20's I often didnt have anything except black coffee until 6pm (while knowing nothin about IF then and thinking it was very unhealthy!!)

Have you tried eating a smaller lunch? I would be hungry in the evening if I ate so much early in the day, especially with a sugary pudding. But hopefully moving your window later in the day will sort things out.