Talk to me about 8:16

[Ihatesundays]

I have been doing 16:8 for a few weeks but it’s making no difference to my weight.
All I have done is move my 1300 calorie diet into those 8 hours. The only thing I have dropped is my breakfast.

I’m unsure if I am eating too much or too little.
I struggle to eat less though and I am hungry a lot, particularly in the afternoons.
I’m also not great with eating a lot of protein as I am not a big meat eater.

If it works for you how do you do it?

How tall are you and what's your weight? Do you exercise regularly?
I find I am less hungry in 8:16, if I avoid sugar. The days I eat biscuits or cake it gets extremely difficult!
I'm almost vegetarian, but eggs and beans are good for protein and to feel fuller.
It's good to drink a lot but I find that having sweet drinks, (even if they are 0 sugar like Diet coke and similar) makes me crave sweet flavours. I do better sticking to water and unsweetened tea.
I also think that all processed food makes me more hungry. Simple whole foods are a lot better! Especially raw vegetables.

Are you eating carbs? I find hunger Is not a problem in f i don’t.
I’m veggie and get my protein from eggs , cheese tofu and occasional pulses.
Read michael Mosley on the Mediterranean diet.

God luck

I’m 5ft3 and currently am 76 kilos.
I exercise quite a lot (mostly HIIT) and almost everything we eat is homemade. I only drink water and tea.
I do eat carbs - I was worried maybe that was the issue but I can’t do without esp for evening meal.
Sweets also aren’t an issue, I’ve really gone off stuff lately since cutting it out, not eaten a biscuit in weeks. I’m only wanting sugar when I am hormonal.

I think I expected the weight to fall off. Currently I think I have lost 0.6kg in 3 weeks (about 2Ib). Feeling like it’s a big change for little gain? Esp the hunger pangs!!

I do it with low carb. I think it’s quite hard to fast if you’re a sugar burner as opposed to a fat burner. I only started fasting after getting into ketosis. I don’t do keto now, just low carb high fat. If I have more carbs than usual I’m hungrier.
I’d recommend “why we get fat” or “the obesity code” books which explain how low carb works

Low carb scares me. It also means I would have to make separate meals from DH who has to eat carbs (diabetic).
It’s all so hard!

As far as I understand it, the longer fast has health benefits beyond weight loss, and may help a bit with weight loss too, but I doubt much weight will come off unless you're skipping breakfast without making up for that by eating more later in the day.

I've just restarted 16 8. I had some success with it in the past but gave up due to slow progress. Slow is better than no though so giving it another shot and will try to be more patient. I hate feeling hungry too but find a few cups of tea with a little milk help a lot and don't seem to affect the results. I would definitely try to persevere if I were you. Good luck!

Low carb works better than anything but I can't stand it! Love potatoes.

Low carb works better than anything but I can't stand it!

Same here. I know it's unfashionable, but low fat works too. I discovered this kind of accidentally when I had to eat a very low fat diet for 8 months due to gallstones. The weight fell off me just like it did on low carb. And that was with allowing myself sugary stuff. I figure the answer is reduce fat and reduce sugar a fair bit, but not cut them out altogether. But that requires willpower like everything else, sadly...

I think I am mixing up the low/high fat too much as well and need to decide. I do love full fat Greek yogurt though!

2lbs' loss in 3 weeks sounds very respectable to me.

I always thought you have to either do low fat or low carb. I read that it’s not that common for a naturally occurring food to contain similar levels of both carbs/sugar and fat. Nuts being one example and they are SO easy to over eat. I find the fat+sugar/carb combo irresistible. Think ice cream...roasties in dripping😭. Whereas sugar/carb in a low fat food eg a fizzy drink, jacket potato, not bothered.

I ditched the carbs and moved up to OMAD. I still cook carbs for my family. So tonight we had fajitas but I did mine like a burrito bowl rather than the wraps etc. Swap out my pasta for courgetti, my rice for cauliflower rice (which you can buy as frozen microwave bags). You don't need to go full keto, but even those little switches really add up calorie and carb wise.

2lb loss at your size and weight sounds perfectly fine.

Are you including every calorie? Or are you having several tastes of dinner while it cooks, liking the nutella spoon, grabbing a biscuit at coffee time. 1300kcal is a very low amount to be worried about not losing weight.

Also a really good tip I have been given recently is to weigh yourself daily and average the week out. As you weight fluctuates so much over a week you can give yourself a false answer by only weighing yourself once a week.

And I've lost 42lbs in just under 3 months.

I always thought you have to either do low fat or low carb.

Have to? Why? Carbs and fat are the most highly calorific things. Cutting down on either or both of them should surely result in weight loss.

I mean, I do get the whole 'convert your body into a fat burning machine by depriving it of carbs' thing. And it's true that it cuts your appetite and craving for chocolate. But it's still really hard to go to that extreme long-term, and let's face it, there were presumably slim people and people who lost weight long before lchf existed as a concept, and even before the low fat agenda was being pushed. I guess they just ate less. Or ate fewer fattening things (i.e. carbs and fat)

Eating low carb is hard, eating low fat is hard, cutting portion size is hard, doing a combination of the above is hard, but they'll all work if you can stick to them! I guess you just pick which is more doable for you. It's just so bloody boring, isn't it!

I do count every calorie - I usually aim for under to allow myself a bit of wriggle room for picking.
Saying that - we’ve been for a day out, I ate my packed lunch at 11.30am and I have been ravenous all afternoon. I’ve had toast, nuts and crackers since I came home. Fresh air has set my appetite off!

I do weigh daily. Mostly as my weight does this thing where I lose weight, I jump up and then it creeps back down again. I feel small today though. I think I have been putting muscle on too, I know it’s meant to hard to do but my body has shrunk a lot lately.

I’m thinking of seeing what it does this week and then reassessing.
5 years ago I was 68kg, size wise I wasn’t far off what I am now. I would be happier if I could get under 70kg though, I’m short and I think it’s a better weight. I’ve had bad feet and the weight loss I’ve had has improved it enormously!