GreatDepression
New member
It's probably not the "fat burner diet" promoters are saying. I've been trying this out for more than a week now and I like it. It takes a lot of motivation and dedication but I feel empowered.
Weight-Loss What Are Your Experiences with Intermittent Fasting?
- Thread starter GreatDepression
- Start date
Weight-Loss
The Heretic
New member
I've been doing IF without knowing it since the beginning of my weight loss journey. When I had already lost like 80 lbs, I discovered that there was a special name for it. It's definitely not for everyone, but I love it and I think I'll stick to doing it even when I'm done trying to lose weight. Can't say anything bad about it, to be honest. It just takes a strong will to maintain, as you said.
GreatDepression
New member
How did you manage your intense hunger and cravings? Does it get easier?
The Heretic
New member
I basically just suffered through it. The hunger and the cravings don't really stop, you just grow more indifferent to both as time passes. That's the best way I can describe it.
I'm doing IF every day, basically. Sunday is an exception, since that's my cheat day where I eat whatever I want, whenever I want.
I have a 5 hour eating window where I consume my calories for the day, followed by 19 hours of not consuming anything but water or otherwise non-caloric beverages.
BelindaR
New member
Then I can see how people could be IFing and not even realize that's an actual method or that they're doing it. My husband did this--his only meal was dinner and he'd eat whatever he wanted (didn't have to be deemed healthy). He lost 40lbs in 3 months and even though he's not dieting nearly as stringent, his weight is still consistent.
Kara mentioned fasting at night and the AM and then eating based on one's workout schedule. Makes sense to me.
Kara mentioned fasting at night and the AM and then eating based on one's workout schedule. Makes sense to me.
GreatDepression
New member
Thank you. I've been trying to find non-bias research on IF. It seems like it doesn't help you burn fat any faster than eating normally with a calorie deficit. Some advertisers of IF claim that you go into a "fat burning mode" when you don't eat for that many hours. Seems like bull unfortunately.
I'm going to stick with IF for now because I hope it will help me develop skills to manage cravings for junk food.
jmiller76
New member
Hi All,
I have been doing IF for more than a year and I truly recommend it to everyone I meet (who cares to listen
). There are a few different ways you can do IF but the major benefits comes around 14 - 18 hours into the fast. The benefit of course being that the body burns fat instead of energy from the food you ate. Actually after about 8 hours into the fast (yes, while you're sleeping probably) the body switch over to burning from fat because there isn't anymore energy from food to burn.
I started out with 24 hour fasts once a week and those are ok to do 1 - 2 times per week (not more because you just won't get the same effect). Recently I have switched to the 16/8 approach and do that 3 times per week instead. This means that you fast for 16 hours and eat 8 hours. For me it looks like this.
- Stop eating after dinner time, roughly 7 PM
- From that point on only drink water, coffee or tea (no milk)
- I skip breakfast (of course) but drink 1 liter of water and have a coffee
- On my way to work I realize that coffee and 1 liter of water isn't the best idea when stuck in traffic
- I work and then go to lunch with my collegues around noon or 1 PM
That's it, really easy.
The myths:
I'll get hungry and cranky because of low blood sugar!
Actually this was what I thought as well but it didn't happen the way I thought it would. Sure I was hungry in the beginning, but it wears off when you start working and drink lots of water. After a few weeks this will not be a problem for you. Don't believe me? Try it out for 2 -3 weeks and get back to me!
The crankiness I thought would be my biggest problem. I'm really really cranky when I don't get my food, or that's what I thought. But I think that this is because blood glucose goes up and down and when on a fast the blood sugar is even which make you feel pretty good actually.
An interesting side effect is that your efficiency will go up, as will your focus. My most productive hours are the first half of my fasting days, before I eat. You'll notice a laser focus, and you'll get things done. Sounds a bit like a commercial, I know...
There are some research challenging the common understanding that we should eat 5 meals per day etc and there's also research in favour of IF showing a lot of major benefits to this way of living. This is the way we used to live. We used to hunt and eat while we had food, then there were periods with less food. So we're it's not entirely true that we have to eat 5 meals per day. We've only been doing that for the past 50 years or so.
I'm not a scientist or anything but I'm happy to answer any questions since I've been doing this for a while.
Take care!
//John
I have been doing IF for more than a year and I truly recommend it to everyone I meet (who cares to listen
). There are a few different ways you can do IF but the major benefits comes around 14 - 18 hours into the fast. The benefit of course being that the body burns fat instead of energy from the food you ate. Actually after about 8 hours into the fast (yes, while you're sleeping probably) the body switch over to burning from fat because there isn't anymore energy from food to burn.I started out with 24 hour fasts once a week and those are ok to do 1 - 2 times per week (not more because you just won't get the same effect). Recently I have switched to the 16/8 approach and do that 3 times per week instead. This means that you fast for 16 hours and eat 8 hours. For me it looks like this.
- Stop eating after dinner time, roughly 7 PM
- From that point on only drink water, coffee or tea (no milk)
- I skip breakfast (of course) but drink 1 liter of water and have a coffee
- On my way to work I realize that coffee and 1 liter of water isn't the best idea when stuck in traffic
- I work and then go to lunch with my collegues around noon or 1 PM
That's it, really easy.
The myths:
I'll get hungry and cranky because of low blood sugar!
Actually this was what I thought as well but it didn't happen the way I thought it would. Sure I was hungry in the beginning, but it wears off when you start working and drink lots of water. After a few weeks this will not be a problem for you. Don't believe me? Try it out for 2 -3 weeks and get back to me!
The crankiness I thought would be my biggest problem. I'm really really cranky when I don't get my food, or that's what I thought. But I think that this is because blood glucose goes up and down and when on a fast the blood sugar is even which make you feel pretty good actually.
An interesting side effect is that your efficiency will go up, as will your focus. My most productive hours are the first half of my fasting days, before I eat. You'll notice a laser focus, and you'll get things done. Sounds a bit like a commercial, I know...
There are some research challenging the common understanding that we should eat 5 meals per day etc and there's also research in favour of IF showing a lot of major benefits to this way of living. This is the way we used to live. We used to hunt and eat while we had food, then there were periods with less food. So we're it's not entirely true that we have to eat 5 meals per day. We've only been doing that for the past 50 years or so.
I'm not a scientist or anything but I'm happy to answer any questions since I've been doing this for a while.
Take care!
//John
San2
Mod
Wait.....so intermittent fasting just means not eating late at night and skipping breakfast?
I do that about 5 out of 7 days a week....I have dinner about 6 pm, and then have nothing other than flavoured water (sugar free) until I go to bed, then more often than not skip breakfast and don't eat anything until lunch time the next day. When I go to work, I don't eat until about 4 pm the next day. I don't look at that as fasting though - that's simply me getting nauseous at the sight of breakfast, and being too lazy to take a sandwich to work.
And it's certainly not healthy, or helping me with losing weight....on the contrary.
I do that about 5 out of 7 days a week....I have dinner about 6 pm, and then have nothing other than flavoured water (sugar free) until I go to bed, then more often than not skip breakfast and don't eat anything until lunch time the next day. When I go to work, I don't eat until about 4 pm the next day. I don't look at that as fasting though - that's simply me getting nauseous at the sight of breakfast, and being too lazy to take a sandwich to work.
And it's certainly not healthy, or helping me with losing weight....on the contrary.
jmiller76
New member
Well, fasting is basically just staying away from food. And intermittent fasting means that you don't fast for days and days but for a limited period, usually 24 hours of less. Of course keeping fit is still a lot about eating right and for me that means eating a full lunch after a fast with lots of raw vegetables, beans, fish and meat. The same goes for dinner.
Intermittent fasting increase the level of HGH (human growth hormone) which help maintain muscle and lose weight. Other ways of increasing the HGH levels is by doing high intensity workouts (HIIT). Intermittent fasting also has the benefit of normalizing leptin and insulin sensitivity which is crucial for weight loss. On top of that studies has shown that IF reduces inflammation in our bodies. So there are quite a few benefits and still more research to come I'm sure.
Needless to say, IF is not for everyone but for me it's far better than a long-term low calorie diet. Now I don't have to count calories, but I still choose to eat healthy food.
Intermittent fasting increase the level of HGH (human growth hormone) which help maintain muscle and lose weight. Other ways of increasing the HGH levels is by doing high intensity workouts (HIIT). Intermittent fasting also has the benefit of normalizing leptin and insulin sensitivity which is crucial for weight loss. On top of that studies has shown that IF reduces inflammation in our bodies. So there are quite a few benefits and still more research to come I'm sure.
Needless to say, IF is not for everyone but for me it's far better than a long-term low calorie diet. Now I don't have to count calories, but I still choose to eat healthy food.
San2
Mod
Hmmm....as said, for me it does the opposite. Especially the part about inflammations in the body - yeah, no such luck here. And unless you pay attention to the calories you eat when you eat, IF is not going to aid weight-loss at all. There is nothing stopping a person from just cramming the same amount of calories into less time.
The whole idea just sounds too far fetched for me, and for every study somebody shows me that says it's good for you, there's ten that say that it doesn't really do anything. And from personal experience - it doesn't do anything other than make me feel like crap. So I guess it's definitely not for me.
The whole idea just sounds too far fetched for me, and for every study somebody shows me that says it's good for you, there's ten that say that it doesn't really do anything. And from personal experience - it doesn't do anything other than make me feel like crap. So I guess it's definitely not for me.
joshd_1973
New member
I usually tend to fast for a day after a party or an occasion where there's been a lot of food and alcohol. Fasting for me involves eating only fruit, lots of water and green tea and exercise. Gives my bowels a rest and recover.
GreatDepression
New member
There seems to be limited evidence to show that IF can help you burn more fat that eating the same calories spread through out the day. Can someone show me evidence to the contrary? I still like daily IF because I find that it's easier to manage calories when you set a certain time limit on when you eat.