16:8 does not feel like another shitty diet!. I managed to lose fat, have more energy and feel positive about life.

[sbh1991]

Hey,
I want to share my experience, I tried several diets in the past with little luck, I found them boring and I usually ended up caving in, binging on food and ending up back at square one.

However, I finally found the 16:8 fast really worked for me in losing weight.
I enjoy my food and more importantly I enjoy life without having to restrict myself anymore. Life is too short as they say!.

Weight loss can fill like a constant uphill battle, I know that feeling first hand. So, I would like to help where I can, let me know your struggles with the diet or what problems you have?. Happy to give tips or inspiration to others from my experience.

It is the little steps every day that add up to big results over time 😀. Let's all help and support one another!.

if your weight is stalling it's worth having a look at your bmr (basic metabolic rate) and tdee (total daily energy expenditure).
as a tall, middle age, healthy bmi (but lits of wobbly bits) woman my tdee is only about 1800ckals.

also look at your calories, especially:
sugar and/or milk in drinks
oil for frying/salad dressing
nuts and seeds (that healthy granola!)
cheese
butter/marg
chocolate spread or peanut butter (so easy to spread thickly)

all those things are 'good' for you but add up!

@SkeletonSkins I love your updates - please keep them coming.

[quote Moo678]@SkeletonSkins I love your updates - please keep them coming.[/quote]
Aww that’s good to know, sometimes worry I’m just spamming the page!!

I’m not sure why it works for some and not others. I’d definitely try using My Fitness Pal to track calories for a few days and maybe consider if you can do some sort of daily exercise - I walk for an hour a day which burns 2000 calories a week so definitely worth doing.

Hi everyone,
Ive been on another 16:8 thread previously but wanted to see how others are doing
Ive been doing this for 31 days now.
Started with 16:8 but have changed to 18:6 as i was finding i wasnt overly hungry or needing to eat after 16 hours.

I havent got alot of weight to lose (my BMI is normal) but i am quite short so whenever i put on weight it is noticeable. Ive lost 4lbs since starting, but my weight has stayed the same for the last 2 weeks so feeling abit rubbish about it today...
I love that i feel less hungry, more energy and sleeping loads better its just the weight loss that has stopped

I use the Zero app to track my fasts and My Fitness Pal to track calories and have a fitbit to see if i am burning more than i eat (which i usually do)
What i do struggle with is exercise, so could be that. I have a heart condition and get very breathless so struggle. I manage a 10 minute workout a day (and that exhausts me) and go on a walk most days too.

Anyone whose weight loss previously stalled found that it restarts again ?

Hope you're all doing well

@Sissy31 I’m in an intermittent fasting Facebook group. There are constantly talking about how slow losses can be - losses starting and stopping and losing inches without it showing on the scales. Depending on what day it is I either fully buy into all of this or I am hugely sceptical and think it’s all too good to be true. I’ve lost 5lbs so far but unless I see a whoosh before Monday I’m heading for my 2nd stay the same in a row. On the other hand at least I’m not gaining weight and I can’t face doing a proper diet at the moment so I might as well keep going with this!!

Moo I feel exactly the same!

I’m wondering about combining it with 5:2. It feels sustainable so I’m so disappointed it’s not working for me - I’m not gaining but not losing either!!!

Can I ask with this 16:8 do I have to do the same timings every day? Could I for example eat between 12noon and 8pm one day then 11am-7pm another?

@tumpymummy Yes you can change the hours each day but the most important thing is to have at least 16 hours fasting. So if you did 12-8 one day and then 11-7 the next day you'd only have a 15 hour fast. However, you could do it the other way round - 11-7 one day and 12-8 the next. That gives a 17 hour fast.

I'm combining it with 5:2 now as I have booked a surf class for august.
seems easier to squeeze into a wetsuit without too much wobble

wrt fasting window, I'm not too strickt on weekends.

Hi can I join?
I started this 4 days ago, and it's not as hard as I thought it would be.

May I join? I've been doing 1200 cals per day for a month and lost 9kg so far. I've just read about 16:8 yesterday and starting it today. I'm still sticking to 1200 cals initially, and doing a window of 10am-6pm, so I've just eaten a huge plate of chicken, chickpeas and veggies, with a yoghurt after and now settling down for the first evening of hell
I'm so used to late night snacking, I've known for ages it's a terrible habit I need to kick, so I'm hoping this is the way to do it!

Luckily for me, I like black coffee and tea, and I also like the idea of marmite drink. 🍷

I'm following this with interest - but from what I have read, it just seems like it's basically just skipping breakfast (and obvs not eating too late at night either)? Is it more complex than that?!

@enderthedragon That’s about it. It’s very simple. Although since I love drinking wine and eating crisps once the kids are in bed it hasn’t really been simple for me. I stop eating as soon as family dinner is done at 6:30/7 and don’t eat again until 11 at the earliest. I fast clean (no milk in tea, no flavoured water, no diet drinks). Simplest diet I’ve ever done.

Gosh it seems so easy and thinking back, years ago before I had kids, I used to skip breakfast because I couldn't face it and I sometimes used to skip lunch too as I didn't get time to eat. So I would be starving by the time I got home and would eat loads and felt like I provably had my whole days calories in that time! But I was a great weight without even trying! I never used to eat breakfast, I'm not a breakfast person at all really.

I have a slight problem because I have a bit of anxiety around driving and since I started a new job that requires motorway driving on the commute I make sure I eat breakfast because mentally I worry that if I haven't eaten I will feel faint and that in turn exacerbates my anxiety. God that sounds batshit written down! But I might try skipping breakfast and eating at my lunch at 12 and see how I get on, I will probably be fine to be honest. I could do no milk in tea I think and apart from tea I only drink water anyway.

@Enderthedragon you can choose whatever 8 hours you want to eat. Most skip breakfast. I eat 10am to 6pm so have a big brunch then an early dinner with a snack in the middle. You could have breakfast and lunch and skip dinner but most people find it easier to skip breakfast than lunch. You're eating less calories overall but it's also to do with the fasting burning more calories and more body fat than just cutting calories alone. Something to do with insulin release. By the way, I can really relate to your driving anxiety!

Morning all and welcome new comers. I’ve never managed to maintain any sort of diet in the past and I think the simplicity and simple ‘no food at these times’ approach works for me without making me feel to limited.

I’m feeling a little frustrated as my weight loss has been really slow this week. I’ve had a couple of extra treats but nothing mad, no takeaways or anything. I’ve only lost half a lb since this time last week, and I know it’s good I’m not gaining weight but it’s just a bit frustrating as I feel like I’ve had some really good fasts and been quite active. I was under the weather though and maybe drinking less water than I should have so maybe that’s got something to do with it. Perhaps I’ll experience some sort of ‘woosh’ and start moving downwards again.

I've started doing 16:8this week. Lost 2.5lb. But I feel dizzy throughout the day. Anyone else experience this?

I read that dizziness can actually be due to low salt issues, so that might be something to look into.

Morning all (nearly afternoon already, bloody hell, and I'm still not dressed) and hi to the new people.

I bought Bovril cubes from Amazon, which helped me with hunger pangs and dizziness. I don't have one every day but they are useful for the rare day I want to gnaw my own arm off with hunger before my fast is over.

I have no idea if I've lost any weight as I've decided to weigh infrequently, maybe only once a month. I can see that I'm slimmer around my middle and I feel better, so that's good enough for me at the moment. I've done 16:8 for just over a fortnight.

Today is the first day I haven't gone at least 16 hours before breaking a fast, but I decided I wanted to eat breakfast with everyone today for Father's day.

If I keep to an 8 hour window, it should end at 18:15 today, which is very early for me. I haven't decided if I want to do that yet, and go for a longer fast overnight, or have a longer eating window and reset back to my normal times tomorrow.

I've been wondering - if the idea is that you don't need to calorie count or restrict eating during the window, and you'll lose weight anyhow, does that mean that your body will chose where to stop you losing weight and keep you maintaining that weight?

On most diets or weight loss plans you decide on a target weight and work towards it, but is that not going to work with this?

I am doing this and seeing results...i am trying to stick to about 1200 calories though.

The most annoying thing is though ...in the mornings i weigh 75 kg but in the evening i weigh about 77kg which is a few good pounds more. I kbow the reasons for this but it seems like a take one step foward and 2 steps back.

always weigh yourself in the morning, after toilet, before any food or drink.
naked. scales on a flat, hard surface.
there is no point weighing more that once a day.

@BewareTheBeardedDragon

I've been wondering - if the idea is that you don't need to calorie count or restrict eating during the window, and you'll lose weight anyhow, does that mean that your body will chose where to stop you losing weight and keep you maintaining that weight?

On most diets or weight loss plans you decide on a target weight and work towards it, but is that not going to work with this?

I mean, I don’t count calories but I don’t eat whatever I like as this won’t work if you’re eating too much. What I’d say is that it’s easier to stay naturally within low cals on this as you have less time in which to eat, many of us cut out breakfast and also you find you get full much quicker so eat smaller portions/snack less during your eating window.

I’m hoping that I can get to a weight I’m happy witj and then maybe eat more freely at weeekends but keep it up in the week so that I maintain.