daimere look up dr ben kim site with fasting. He gives a fairly clear explanation of how our body uses up the the food and fat resources we have.

I don't buy into his detox theories though.

Yer is kinda annoying not having a whole sub forum, but we don't exactly have the numbers to require it anyway. Mostly these threads are just used for any support and then i assume people branch into other parts they fit into. Just like IF'ers us Australians seem to be few and far apart around here, great to see others on the same timezone :)

I figure this thread IS our support forum. When I first started IF, there were different people in this thread and a bit more active from what I can see. I do two forms of fasting. I always go for fasting windows. I eat from 8pm-5am. If I have to, I will change up the windows. Like today I was busy from 8 to 4:40 am. Therefore, I opened it up to 6 today. I also do the other form of fasting 5:2. That means I eat 500-800 calories two times a week. Although some weeks I am totally UMPH on 5:2, other weeks, like this week, I don't really feel like it. But I am still within calorie range during my eating windows. That works for me.

So what do I do for fasting? I make a batch of sweet green tea and drink throughout a 5:2 fast. I'd also treat myself with a 10 cal monster or 10 cal FUZE drink. It makes me excited for fasts. It's silly but I figure it's my treat for waiting till later to eat less. Honestly after the first few fasts/week, it's quite okay. I don't do full 24 hour fasts. I also figured out with my work schedule that I shouldn't fast on my 12 hour shifts. That's just a personal preference.

I chose eating windows because of my 12 hour shifts. WHen I was eating regular ways, I would spend SO much time eating that it would make me panic on how to eat low cal/low point enough to be "full" throughout the day. Whereas if I just wait till later, it doesn't bother me till I "open my stomach."

Sounds like you've found something that works for you Daimere.

Certainly i agree that no one should do a full water fast on a work day. You just need more energy than you will have available. The other day i found that by about mid afternoon, i was feel a fatigued and brain dead. I couldn't face any tasks that required effort.

So my fast days will be taking it easy days but doing enough to keep boredom from threatening to make me break my fast.

I wasn't sure whether or not i'd do another fast so soon, i.e. one day a week. I decided against it as i don't want to lose too much weight too fast. I do want to do a regular one day fast so maybe i will try again when the weight loss slows down more, maybe it will be once a month and then when i'm maintaining, try for once a week or something like that.

In the meantime, i try not to eat between meals and effectively, I'm fasting from end of dinner to breakfast which is a long time. I tend to have dinner early, so that i'm finished by 7pm at latest. BEcause my calories are not too restricted i've noticed that while i'm feeling mildly peckish, i'm not so hungry as to make it difficult to resist. In fact i think its a good sign to be a tiny bit hungry because it shows that your calories level is about right and you must be losing weight.

Hi all! I've tried IF in these past with varying success. I've been pretty much eating non-stop since Thanksgiving, and unfortunately I'm at my new all time high weight.

I plan on doing 5-hour eating windows during the work week (it's easy for me to not eat while I'm at work), but I am not sure what to do on the weekends. I find it so difficult to skip lunch when I'm at home, especially since the hubs will be here eating, so my current plan is to extend my weekend windows to 8-hours and see how that goes.

Anyway, I'm excited to get back to IF regardless of the approach!

Christina, hi.

Can you clarify what an eating window means. Is it five hours between meals or only five hours a day when you can eat?

If i was in your shoes and wanted to follow an IF, i would would follow what you know works during the week and on weekends, eat breakfast lunch and dinner at more normal hours but don't eat between meals and especially don't eat after dinner at night.

When you do these eating windows, are you eating whatever you want when you want or are you eating proper meals.

I find i don't get hungry if i eat proper meals and time my meals so that i am ready to eat about the time i'm due to get hungry. So it only means i get hungry at night but then not very much so because my calorie restriction isn't extreme. I hope this makes sense.

I keep my window around six hours as much as possible. Sometimes as much as seven or eight if I just can't stand it in the afternoon. Usually I have a small bran cracker (12 calories) in the morning when I take my vitamins, otherwise I get a stomach ache.

I also don't count the 20 calories from the cram in my coffee in the morning.

My official plan is called JUDDD, which is a form of IF/calorie cycling (you can google it), but I also eat during set windows which is not required by JUDDD. In addition I am a vegetarian and low-carb. Wow, I guess I have a complicated diet. But it's working for me! I am using all the ammo I've got.

Hi Pattience, by 5 hour windows I mean that I give myself a 5-hour eating window every day. I've never liked breakfast (and honestly, eating breakfast just seems to jumpstart my hunger so it's more trouble than its worth!), so skipping it is very easy for me. When I'm working during the week, I'm usually so busy that it makes skipping lunch easy enough. During the 5-hour eating window, my goal is to eat a normal dinner rather than making up for the missed meals. I'm a huge snacker so I'm going to have to work hard to not let my 5-hour eating window turn into a 5-hour eating spree...

Yeah, if you are skipping breakfast and lunch, then during the weekends, just skip breakfast instead of both. Some days, I skip breakfast and dinner. And others I have breakfast and lunch. Still no "dinner." So sometimes I have longer fasts and other days shorter fasts. The longer I fast, the more I listen to my body and can hear it's signals more. But I also still write everything I eat down.

Daimere I checked out your blog a couple of weeks ago and was totally inspired to try out hooping. Went for my first class yesterday! I'm sure I looked as awkward as I felt, but its really fun - I can see how people get totally addicted to it!!! Thank you for the motivation and inspiration!

That is SO awesome alligatorpie! I am so so happy! You were fine! You were probably fabulous! Hooping is the reason why I keep restarting this weight loss venture. I want to be a better hooper

Here's an article hooping.org ran that I wrote: Hoop like nobody is watching!

http://www.hooping.org/2014/01/hoop-...is-watching-2/

Hey IFers,
I heard yet another radio show on IF yesterday. I've been toying with the idea for months or more after seeing Dr. Mosley's documentary on the BBC. I've been reading through your thread as well. I think I may give it a shot. I think I may start with skipping dinner. I need to eat in the morning and afternoon - it's just easier for me to skip dinner. I think I'll end up doing 5:2. I'm at a set point right now that won't budge. I look forward to reading about everyone's progress.

I have tears welling in my eyes now because I can relate to so many things, and you tell it so well, what a wonderful article! :hug: I'll for sure keep following your blog.

Its daunting how much practice is required, but then again, if its fun who cares! And yes, I'm looking for motivation to keep trying to lose weight, and to try feel right in my body after years of basically ignoring that it's attached to me, lol. I think hooping can do that. You are an insipiration, girl!!

I had been doing 5:2 for probably close to 15 weeks. I lost count after 10....but now can't seem to stick to it. I was questioning the need to maintain for a while to reset my set point and I've done that now. I can tell my body is comfortable at this weight and it's time to get back on the horse.

Ugh...the hunger, the heartburn. Here I go again.