16:8 Intermittent Fasting - help

[DoubleChinWoes2]

Hi

I've just started this and need some guidance if anyone can help me.

I'm currently fasting between 6pm and 10am and am having two decent meals and a snack in that time. I exercise between 8 and 9 before I start work as I read exercising at the end of the fasting window is best (and it's when I'd do it anyway).

Questions I have:

• If I had a tea with milk in the fasting window, what does that mean for weightloss? Does 'cheating' completely nullify the effects of the fast window?

• Similar to above, can you have 'days off'? If I fail over the weekend as going out to eat/drink with friends, does this nullify the benefits from doing it the other days?

• If you end up going longer on a day without eating, I take it that day you might do 17:7 but I'd still need to finish eating by 6pm to start again the next day?

Sorry for the basic Qs!

Oat milk* if that changes anything. I don't like cows milk

It depends why you think fasting works. I've done it before and feel much healthier for it and definitely lose weight. But my suspicion is that you lose weight because you ingest fewer calories. If this is the case then having a splash of milk in tea isn't going to make any difference.

I was reading it was some scientific thing (over my head) that fasting for that long does, in addition to the calories in/out. I agree if just that, then oat milk not going to hurt. But isn't it also something about fasting and your body... Doing something 🙈 I'm such a scientist

Think that's called a "dirty fast".

Op, it’s something about insulin spikes, when you have food or drink (not just sweet food), then you body produces insulin which stops your body eating your stored fat cells. That happens when you fast.

Could you have water in the evening and a drink in the morning as 10am isn’t that long to wait. (I fast 6pm- 12noon)

But I think it’s important to do what you can, not make it difficult but sustainable.

You can have a day off, it’s a marathon not a sprint, a life change not a quick fad diet.

From my very limited reading up on fasting, around 14-16 hours of fasting switches your cells into ‘repair’ mode which can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and burn fat. I would think that anything other than water would break the fast, because you’re giving your body calories to digest and use again, rather than a full ‘break’ from it.

Dirty fasting will loose weight slower
Clean fast (only water during fast) loose weight quicker - but is it sustainable?

Ok that's all helpful. Having a cup of tea at 9am isn't going to undo anything, but it's going to hinder progress. Where I can, I'll have a water though.

It's not as long as midday to wait but I can be up at 5am with the baby occasionally. If only I could sleep until 8am, then it'd be a cinch!

Herbal tea in the evening is OK, or plain water only? I'm thinking a chamomile type thing.

Hi,
I'm a regular intermittent and extended faster.
As others have said, it depends on the reason you are fasting.
Calories in/ calories out has been debunked at this stage for weight loss. Weight gain and weight loss is about hormones... Mostly, insulin. When you eat, insulin helps your body either use or store the glucose in your food. This is why most people who fast eat low carb/ keto in their eating window. If you eat too much glucose, it gets turned into fat in the body to be stored for use as fuel during fasting periods (this is why is best not to have milk when you're fasting as it does have sugar in it so would be used for fuel instead of your body fat).
If you are fasting to lose weight (it has many other benefits other than weight loss) for best results it's a better idea to not have milk in your tea when fasting.

Having days off is fine if you don't mind slowing down the weight loss, I would tend to do a longer fast either before or after a day off to make up for being naughty. I also try to make better decisions such as gin and tonic rather than cider etc.

If you go longer on your fast, it's completely up to you what you do. If you want to get back on track the next day then yes, you would need to shorten your eating window. An easy option for this is to extend your fast and only eat 1 substantial meal that day.

Feel free to ask any more questions.

I more or less do IF on a day-to-day level.

I will occasionally go out for a meal in the evening but it is quite rare.
You can have days off.

I never did it for weight loss, I just prefer to eat in the morning.

On the occasions where I feel my weight is creeping up, I cut back on the calorific foods.

If I eat high-GI food, IF is hard. If I eat lots of veg and a bit of protein it's easy

I've been doing it for about a year with slow weight loss and I do have tea with milk every morning.

Then black coffee until lunchtime.

It might not be perfect but it makes it sustainable which it wouldn't be without morning tea!

If you’re up extra early with a baby, then that will make it much harder, just waiting those extra hours, and interrupted sleep makes everything harder anyway!
I realised when I started trying to lose weight, that by cutting out evening snacks, I was accidentally fasting somewhat. I finish dinner around 6pm and then only drink water until bedtime. In the mornings I was having a coffee with sugar before school run, so I decided to delay that coffee until after school run. So just water beforehand. That means I’m now fasting between 6pm-9am and it hasn’t made any difference to how I feel. It’s not like I ‘need’ the coffee, and if anything, I look forward to it more.

Thanks everyone. I think I would struggle somewhat with low carb or keto.

I have a terrible relationship with food and often binge eat. The idea of IF for me is to reset my brain as much as anything, and reset my hungry cues. If I think I'm "dieting" I'm going to likely binge again (this happens if I think I'm restricting food into good or bad labels).

I'm trying to frame this as eating 'normally' without much restriction on the types of things I'm eating and think about when instead, to avoid going back to bingeing.

I would like to ideally eat a brunch of eggs, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes on toast type thing, a fruit snack mid afternoon, maybe some dark chocolate with a homemade oat milk latte, and a larger evening meal (tonight was seafood risotto, but I would typically have curries or veg bake with halloumi, homemade pizza type things - I don't eat meat)

Weightloss isn't the goal necessarily either, just being healthier all round.

Any advice greatly received!!

@DoubleChinWoes2, setting a switch-off time helps with not nibbling all evening.

Cutting down the carbs helps - it doesn't have to be low carb but eat low-GI carbs. Not pasta, rice, baked potatoes, flour-based food.