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!.

Hi can i join? I've never heard of this before but saw it a few days ago and thought i would give it a go.
I'm 47 and have been very skinny all my life but since having had 3 kids and heading towards 50, i have gained a large tummy. I am 5' 7" and 10 stone 1, so not overweight and if i had more of an hour glass figure i don't think i would be too bothered but it is literally all muffin top.
My problem is i hate exercise apart from walking and eat too much choc, cake and biscuits.

I've been doing 16/8 for 4 days and have found it surprisingly easy to stick to. I've also only eaten 2 biscuits in 6 days which is amazing for me. I've found I get fuller a lot quicker so have naturally reduced my portion size. So doing ok so far.

@justanotherneighinparadise I couldn't agree more!

@Tallace I hate exercise too but I’ve been doing some online Zumba which is vaguely bearable and doing long walks too. But lots of people say it’s mostly about diet anyway!

Going to have something to eat shortly, that’ll be a 17 hour fast and I’m no where near as hungry as I was when I started doing this!

It's definitely more about diet than exercise unfortunately. I walk 5k most days, takes me almost an hour and I use the 'map my walk' app which tells me I've burned around 250 calories!! Feck sake that's not much!! When I can be arsed (which is less and less often these days), I do some YouTube workouts to tone up my tummy. I like Amy Wong she has a 15 minute HIIT workout that is 'no jumping' I've found that the times I stick to doing it every day I really notice a difference in my tummy. I don't know why I just can't motivate myself to do it more often.

Yes I definitely think i will focus on the diet. I fasted until 12.30 today then had a Spanish omelette. I am finding that I'm not craving biscuits at all. If I have one I would want have lots so its much easier not to have any.

Outside if the time restrictions can you have drinks like tea/coffee?

You're meant to have drinks that are virtually calorie free like black tea and coffee or herbal tea, water etc. I drink black coffee and green tea when fasting. I agree that you stop craving food so much. I've been doing this for years and it's completely changed my appetite. It has truly liberated me from my obsession with food and eating. I still LOVE food and am always planning the next meal etc but my life is no longer dominated by it in a bad way. I eat big portions of really tasty food and I'm satisfied. For me there's no calorie counting, no restrictions. I just enjoy food, guilt free. No more worry!

Fasting reduces your midriff area so quickly. I couldn’t believe how tiny my waist became last time. I think it went from like 32 inches to 27.

I’m on day 5 and only just found this thread! The tips and success stories are really encouraging me.

Am confused. I thought 16:8 fasting was all about the eating window. Why are people talking about counting calories too?

I think the health benefits (regulating blood sugar, reducing inflammation, improving heart and brain function etc) come from fasting for 14 hours or more at a time. But not necessarily weight-loss. Obviously you're cutting out a whole meal (breakfast) but depending on how much weight you want to lose you might also need to cut back on calories in general. I know if I had carried on consuming all the high calorie dinners, snacks and wine that I had been then I'd have hardly lost anything by now. So I suppose it all depends on what you want to get from the fast?

Yes. We've been through all this before with 5:2. Some people's daily calorie requirement to lose weight is so low that they can't just eat "normally" in the 8 hour window.

In which case, it is still a diet that involves calorie counting and very significant restrictions. It is not as simple as it is often made out to be.

If I was restricting as low as 1200 calories a day I wouldn't also want to be placing further rules on myself as to when I could eat those 1200 calories on top of it all!

Ah see I see it a different way - doing 16:8 I only have two meals and so splitting 1200 over two meals is easier for me and I feel LESS restricted. Because I know I can’t eat until 12 I don’t even think about food before then, but if I got up and had breakfast my mind is on food straight away so I’m constantly thinking about when I can next eat. I guess different things work for different people but this works well for me so far.

I honestly think it's wonderful if it works for anyone!

But counting calories is counting calories is counting calories.

Isn't it just eating less? Nobody says they eat packets of biscuits and drink bottles of wine during their 8 hour " window"

Anyway, great results folks.

Fasting is two fold. It reduces insulin production by giving you more time with stable blood sugar plus it gives you a smaller window to eat in which helps cut out those evening munchies many of us have.

I’ve been reading up on the ‘science’ behind it all. A lot of the studies are in animals....but.... my understanding is that there is an element of teaching your body to use fat as a primary source of energy during your fasted period. So my understanding is that it’s the fast that’s important not what you eat in your window. Although I’m sure if you pie yourself for 8 hrs you would gain. I’ve also read that long term if leads to lower insulin levels and becoming less obsessed with food. I’m hoping this can be something I can do long term that will lead to weight loss but also better health overall and an improvement in my unhealthy relationship with food. At the moment I’m not calorie restricting. Just trying to eat sensibly in my window with the odd treat. If I haven’t lost in a month I’ll think about restricting calories / carbs.

I eat MORE during fasting than when I used I used to calorie count but eat all day long. I have it all recorded on my fitness pal. I no longer calorie count or cut out any food groups but still lose weight. I do believe it's not just a case of calories in/calories out - but that the body burns more fat when fasting. I've been doing for years and that's my experience.

@SallyWD it’s stories yours that inspire me. I really hope this will be my body’s response too.

Starting this today

For me it’s eating the nice healthy balanced diet I did eat only in a window and less of it. Still have some treats but less often. Have my meals on smaller plates too which helps. Just cuts excess food but you can still eat nice food

Sally it’s absolutely not just a case of calories in versus calories out. The nutritional value within those calories are really important.

The last two days, because of stress, I've only eaten once in the day at dinner time. I feel like my body would adjust to that quite quickly. I'm pretty hungry by dinner though and I can't tell if it's the stress or the lack of food slowing my ability to think down!