How strict is intermittent fasting?

[MadraDunn]

I started intermittent fasting on Monday so very new to it. started my fast at 6.30pm today but have just absentmindedly eaten a grape whilst making the kids school lunches. Im curious as to whether or not even a tiny morsel of food resets the clock?

I follow my own version of IF. I can’t really say I do it properly because I don’t like plain water. So I add a bit of no sugar cordial. I skip breakfast but tbh I never eat breakfast properly anyway but I was terrible for nipping the shop and eating rubbish like some biscuits or (I love) squares bars. It helps me lose weight because I’m skipping all the rubbish I start eating in the morning. I also find because I’ve started eating in the morning I’m then snacking till I have lunch. Doing IF takes that away. I have also lost weight purely calorie counting. As everyone says it’s all about calories in and calories out. The IF gives me extra calories to play with because I’m not snacking first thing in the morning.

@concernedchild ...made to sell products? Eh? I just only eat between 11-7 or 12-8, or less really. I don't buy any specific things. A couple of eggs on a bit of wholemeal for lunch and then dinner as normal. There are no related products I have seen. My sister died of cancer and there is a lot of research based on IF that shows it is good for cells regenerating etc.

So you're in a calorie deficit...

I'm sorry to hear about your sister but IF wouldn't have saved her.

So many ill informed people on this thread that think they know the reasons for fasting (and are wrong)

For me intermittent fasting means I can achieve a 500+ daily calorie deficit. Something I’ve never been able to do before for a sustained length of time.

There's two or three posters who appear every time intermittent fasting is mentioned and rail against it. That's fine, this is a forum for open discussion after all, but I see this time it's descended into untruths and inaccurate statements such as "it's just skipping breakfast" or "it's about selling products". I've never purchased ANY intermittent fasting-related product.

It’s the overall calorie intake that matters, not when they are consumed. IF just makes it easier to manage.

Perhaps so, but that "just" is key. It's not just a "just", being able to manage weight loss is key to success, and its role ought not to be downplayed.

I don't agree with IF because it enforces strict rules that can easily lead to disordered eating

But there are so many people for whom the strict rules help them maintain a healthy weight. Skipping breakfast is really pretty minor for most people !

I’m a bit confused why anyone would “rail against” IF - just don’t do it if it doesn’t work for you.

If you have to maintain through disordered eating, it's not healthy.

That’s ridiculous. Eating 2 healthy meals a day is not disordered eating.

What??? So add in an unhealthy breakfast and a whole lot of snacks and that would somehow be better?!

Thank you @Unabletomitigate now that you mention that Jason guy i have heard of him. I'll have a google

And thank you to everyone else who replied. I genuinely wasn't asking about weightloss. Just curious if a single grape resets the clock in intermittent fasting.

I rail against people spreading information that’s not correct.

IF is one tool it’s not the best tool, or the only tool. People like it because it gives them control. That’s fine. But it’s not that you know something we don’t and you need to spread the word, that sounds like how cults behave.

There isn’t a conspiracy about our bodies being able to do certain things with intermittent fasting and they can’t do without intermittent fasting and only the very rich Jason Fung can lead you there.

The OP was worrying about some sort of internal reset from eating one grape and one of the first responses was scare mongering her that one grape would cause her to binge eat and raise her insulin through sugar intake - it IS disordered eating to think like this.

It’s a grape. Nothing will happen.

There’s a lot of good info about IF on Huberman’s Lab podcast, including a whole episode with Satchidananda Panda who has been conducting studies into IF and circadian rhythm for years. The idea behind having an eating window and a period of rest for our gut has little to do with weight loss, it’s perfectly possible to overeat in the eating window and put on weight despite fasting.

There are two different things in play.
Glucose levels and weight loss. They can be related but don't have to be.
A grape may or may not affect your glucose. Only a blood sugar monitor can tell you that. Some people process it well and are unaffected by small amounts of food and some don't and are. We can't know that for you unfortunately.

A grape won't really affect your calorie count all told so weight loss it won't affect you.

IF works really well for some people. I personally find it beneficial and I believe in the non weight loss benefits as I not bothered about weight. CICO is not something I can subscribe to as the way we measure Cal is not how we digest food and so whilst I get people lose weight on it. It isn't necessarily a right answer. Plus you can eat mars bars for your cals and lose weight but not be healthy

@concernedchild i think most people who are overweight enough to be discussing various strategies online already have some degree of disordered eating.

Replacing one eating disorder with another isn't healthy?

Reducing your food intake from over eating (disordered) to normal healthy eating within a calculated calorie budget isn’t disordered. The disordered eating comes when you attach unhealthy emotions and dependencies onto food, dieting or your body and you develop unhealthy ways of thinking or behaviours.

If you become preoccupied by food to the point where you question every morsel you eat and the repercussions it could have, this could be disordered. For those who find IF really easy to do, this is probably not disordered. Calorie counting or IF becomes disordered if you are making yourself suffer and become restrictive so if someone with IF is really hungry but won’t break the fast for fear of weight gain or this ‘body reset factor’ or terrified of insulin (normal, everyone has this we could die without it) this would be an unhealthy view of what IF is meant to achieve.

IF is controlling your food intake the same way calorie counting is - both are methods of monitoring your food intake they are just different. IF people believe they are free from having to count calories (and somehow superior when people like to boast they can fast for 20 hours) but they are counting time instead. Still counting.

The disorder for me IMO is demonising foods (a grape has too much sugar and will cause XYz) or accidentally eating something outside of a fast will lead to repercussions. IF or CC mixed with keto is probably one of the worst ones I see here for disordered thinking around food with snippets of science or nutrition thrown around as gospel facts.

This is a weight loss forum so coming to post about IF with no active plan to lose weight will probably cause some confusion, if you post about IF then announce 5 posts later its not for weight loss purposes I think that’s on the OP not the respondents

I found IF to be the least 'disordered'/ controlling way of eating more healthily. Calorie counting is nuts (I can't be bothered to be that controlling), keto is way too strict. The only difference to my normal diet with IF is black coffee in the morning and no morning snacking. The lack of morning snacking plus the longish fast (18 hours is good) means your appetite is reduced. You can play with it and not be fanatical. I have breakfast on Saturday with my kids or on holiday (it's later but not as late as lunch) and then get back to it after.

It's genuinely a 'no brainer' ie. You don't need to think or plan too much. Disordered eating comes from obsessing.

@Menora i didn’t say i wasn't trying to lose weight just that that's not my query in this instance. I am not worried that a grape will make me fat. I was curious as to whether eating something tiny is the same as eating a Big Mac in terms of the fast being broken.

Oh just do one @concernedchild I'm under no illusions intermittent fasting would have saved her. Idiot.

Can’t agree more that IF is an easy and healthy way to lose weight. It has completely stopped me obsessing about food and really helped me to make healthy food choices.

Above everything else though it means I can join in with friends and family at lunch and dinner and eat whatever’s going. I also don’t worry about IF on holidays and happily tuck in to the hotel breakfast.

Not sure if I’m posting in the right place but has anyone who does Intermittent Fasting experienced changes in their period? I have never had irregular periods before, but I started fasting 3 weeks ago and my first period after starting is so far 4 days late! Is that normal?