I was wondering is it better to keep to a steady window or switch it around? When I am at work it is easier to open my window later say 2:00 pm instead of noon. If I am at home, I can't seem to go past noon before I have to eat.
Thanks
I was wondering about this too. It seems like it could be confusing, like if Monday I ate from 12:00-5:00, and Tuesday I wanted to eat from 2:00-7:00, but I wanted to go back to 12:00 on Wednesday, then my fasting window would be two hours shorter.I suppose a variation like won't make or break you, but I could see it being problematic if you had larger fluctuations and did it pretty frequently.
Thanks for the replies. After reading the 8 hour diet, he leads you to believe that it is the window that is important not what you eat. But he does stress eating 8 super foods that are good for you.
So the fasting just makes it easier to stick your calorie total?
Well for ME? The window makes a difference. I'm sure some will beg to differ, but I have noticed with my own body that the earlier I cut off eating in the day, it has a more positive affect on my fat loss. It may not be the case for others, but you should experiment and see
For me the fasting time is helpful for consistency/speed of loss. The window helps with establishing a routine and not having to count daily. I've found I can switch the time of window but to continue losing I need to get at least 19 hrs of fasting normally and 16-17 when I am doing heavy weight training or marathon training.
So the fasting just makes it easier to stick your calorie total?
I think that's the main thing for me. It's easier to just say I'm cut off at a certain point, so there's no issues with mindless eating. But having read the 8 Hour Diet, it will be interesting to see if the fasting really accelerates weight loss or not, given all the extra benefits we are supposed to see.
I tracked my calories a few times when I started fasting and while I did find myself eating more in the 8 hours than I usually would, my total calorie intake for the day was right in my recommended range for weight loss.
I think IF has a lot of benefits on top of helping someone to stick to their calorie targets for weight loss... In my case for example I've seen improvement in my fasting blood sugar numbers... I'm not diabetic or prediabetic but there is evidence to suggest that being on the lowering side of "normal" may reduce risk of developing diabetes and possibly reduce cardiovascular risk as well... I've also seen reduction in my body fat % which is really what I'm after, since for me this isn't about losing "weight" anymore... It's about losing FAT...
But the thing I really love the most about IF is that it gets away from this idea that we have to eat something pretty much from the time we get out of bed in the morning to the time we go to sleep at night... I really think a lot of people could benefit if they challenged themselves to reconsider that one...
I think IF has a lot of benefits on top of helping someone to stick to their calorie targets for weight loss... In my case for example I've seen improvement in my fasting blood sugar numbers... I'm not diabetic or prediabetic but there is evidence to suggest that being on the lowering side of "normal" may reduce risk of developing diabetes and possibly reduce cardiovascular risk as well... I've also seen reduction in my body fat % which is really what I'm after, since for me this isn't about losing "weight" anymore... It's about losing FAT...
But the thing I really love the most about IF is that it gets away from this idea that we have to eat something pretty much from the time we get out of bed in the morning to the time we go to sleep at night... I really think a lot of people could benefit if they challenged themselves to reconsider that one...
Well I worked 12 hour shifts this weekend so did not stick to my window at all and ate all the wrong foods. Monday, for some reason was a bad food day as well. All I ate was crap, which of course made me feel like crap. So in the middle of the night I threw away, or boxed up for donation all processed foods. I even threw away my ranch dressing eek!
My plan is to do my own version of a detox by only eating one ingredient foods. The exceptions are cheese cuz that has 3 ingredients and my bread I buy has 6 ingredients.
I'm hoping this will help me to learn to crave real food more than all the fake processed crap I was raised on.
Before the weekend my weight was down to 178.2. I have not weighed myself since then lol.
This week has been harder for some reason. I keep eating out of my window. I have been trying to do a FF but end up eating after my cut off. Once I do it, I am through for the night. I am thinking I am not getting enough protein or I need to move my window to later and let dinner go later than 5. I've going to try tomorrow and see how it goes.
Has anyone continued to lose weight after reaching their goal? I'm struggling with this. I started off 19/5 and I found fat melted off of me rather quickly. I since moved it to 17/7 or 16/8 and I hoped I could maintain with that window but I'm still losing.
Intermittent Fasting works really well for my lifestyle and increasing calories is a no go because I'm already full. I do light to mid exercises/activities about 6-7 days per week for 20 mins - 1 hour and I really don't want to cut back on that either. Hopefully I can figure this out!
Has anyone continued to lose weight after reaching their goal? I'm struggling with this. I started off 19/5 and I found fat melted off of me rather quickly. I since moved it to 17/7 or 16/8 and I hoped I could maintain with that window but I'm still losing.
Intermittent Fasting works really well for my lifestyle and increasing calories is a no go because I'm already full. I do light to mid exercises/activities about 6-7 days per week for 20 mins - 1 hour and I really don't want to cut back on that either. Hopefully I can figure this out!
I don't understand why you're concerned. You had a goal, you're still losing weight. Are you in a competition where you have to be a specific weight? Are you worried that you're going to die of starvation? I'm not trying to be a funny guy here ... I'm genuinely puzzled as to what exactly the problem is with going under your goal weight.
Regardless - if you don't want to lose more weight and you want to continue IFing - eat more during your window. If you have a difficult time eating more - drink your calories.
Unless you have some weird rare disease which is causing you a problem ... I'm not really understanding the challenge here ...
Hello all, I'm finally back to this site and thread... I have been slowly getting back into IF almost getting to 16/8. The first few days have been the hardest but I am getting there. I can see that a lot of other people are doing well so yay for them!
Sunnyside- You can easily increase calories by adding calorie-dense stuff like nut butters, nuts, healthy oils or fatty stuff like avocados, yum! Or go by JohnP's suggestion to drink the cals. I see that you go by sizes but have you weighed yourself at all? Because if you go by clothes, it could be body composition, not actual weight loss if you know what I mean? But if you have been weighing yourself and find yourself continuing to lose, that means you are at a deficit so you just need to bump up the food to make up for the deficit since you say you do not want to cease your current activity. HTH! Btw, congrats on making goal and beyond!
I don't understand why you're concerned. You had a goal, you're still losing weight. Are you in a competition where you have to be a specific weight? Are you worried that you're going to die of starvation? I'm not trying to be a funny guy here ... I'm genuinely puzzled as to what exactly the problem is with going under your goal weight.
Regardless - if you don't want to lose more weight and you want to continue IFing - eat more during your window. If you have a difficult time eating more - drink your calories.
Unless you have some weird rare disease which is causing you a problem ... I'm not really understanding the challenge here ...
John, I don't want to lose anymore weight. I love my mixture of curves with strength/muscles. I stepped on the scale today and noticed I was down 4.5 lbs from last week this time. I do not want this to continue and I'm newish to maintenance and IFing hence my question. I may start drinking my calories. Thanks for the tip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by amandie
Sunnyside- You can easily increase calories by adding calorie-dense stuff like nut butters, nuts, healthy oils or fatty stuff like avocados, yum! Or go by JohnP's suggestion to drink the cals. I see that you go by sizes but have you weighed yourself at all? Because if you go by clothes, it could be body composition, not actual weight loss if you know what I mean? But if you have been weighing yourself and find yourself continuing to lose, that means you are at a deficit so you just need to bump up the food to make up for the deficit since you say you do not want to cease your current activity. HTH! Btw, congrats on making goal and beyond!
Thanks for replying...I recently started weighing myself again I lost 4.5 lbs in the last week. Great idea about adding a little more more fatty things. Thanks and good luck to you getting back into IF!
