Just finished eating dinner and I feel so satisfied, even after having eaten 600 calories less than yesterday! I kept going over my food choices in my mind...did I miss something? Nope!

Carbs and fat were appreciably lower than normal, protein was on track. I didn't eat three distinct meals. My schedule didn't allow for that today. But I was okay with that.

So I guess I'll see how hungry I feel in the morning. I have a Pilates class at 9:15. I'm wondering how I'm going to feel after that.

30 minutes left and I'll have done a 24 hour fast. Just wanted to see what it felt like. It's not something I'll commonly do. Hunger has been coming and going in waves but never overwhelming.

I posted over a month ago that I tended to eat just a couple hundred calories a day before 2ish, but never thought of it as fasting, it was just what I preferred to do. Since then, I've been working at truly fasting and establishing an eating window, which tends to be about 1:30-6. I don't do this on days I lift or work out though (which is 2-3x a week). It's been working fine, I guess not that much different from before.

So I decided I'm going to do my first 24 hour fast. I just finished dinner and will fast until dinner time tomorrow. I guess I just want to see what it's like. I feel so good when I'm fasting and I like not planning out all these zillions of meals. Life is just much simpler and I feel very content.

I'm concerned I will make poor choices when my 24 hr fast is over because i"ll be hungry, so I'm going to plan what is for dinner tomorrow ahead of time. I'll probably break my fast by eating an apple while preparing it so I don't start nibbling and stuff. I'll see how it goes!

I used to do 24-hour fasts for spiritual reasons, many years ago. I just remember feeling light-headed, intermittently, and sleeping more. Afterwards, we'd go out for dinner. I don't recall specifically overeating back then, but I was in my 20s and I wasn't overweight...yet.

I can't fast like that any longer. It's gotten harder as I've gotten older. I think my type 2 diabetes is part of the problem. Perhaps it will resolve itself as I lose weight and at some point I may consider doing it again.

This is the start of my fourth day on IF. I woke up ravenous. I have added a little extra carbohydrate to my dinners, and I think that's the issue. In the past, if carbs are the last thing I ate in the evening, I feel famished by morning. I'm going to have some coffee with a little cream and hope that'll keep me from doing a swan dive into my sons' breakfast. They want to go out this morning...I'm not sure I can do that just yet!

i think i am going to work on my first 24 hour fast, just so i can say hey i did it, my last meal was at 3pm, but i am not going to get too stressed if i cant do it, im getting very antsy to get out of the 300's, IF has helped me a lot the past 10 pounds or more.

ARG I'm still having trouble with working out during a fasting state. My workouts, for whatever reason, seem to be better (in terms of how much I can do) if I have a small snack about 30 mins before. This has lately been a homemade pumpkin health bar (100 cals/5 g protein/20 carbs).

I can workout during my fed state, or I can try working out upon waking up. For some reason between 11-2 PM, when I'm fasting and when I'd prefer to exercise, it's gotten really difficult. I just had to open my window at 11:30 AM because I'm going to run 5K at noon and judging from recent experiences I won't be able to unless I eat a small snack.

Any advice? :?:

Indiblue- I would say if it is working for you to have a little snack before your workout, stick with that. Is this not working for you? I wouldn't worry about working out while in your fed state. Have a little snack, workout...wait a bit and have a big meal. Your body might not enjoy working out fasted...go with what works and adjust as needed. Could you be overdoing your workouts/doing them too often? What kind of workouts are you doing? Disregard if you don't think this applies...just throwing it out there! :)

Anybody else have any thoughts?

I agree, I have been following intermittent fasting for about two months now and find that I do not miss the calories and even get more accomplished on those fasting days then when I have three meals. It is important to know what works well for your body though. It's always good to try out new things but only stick with what's working. I say if having a 100 calorie snack before working out helps your energy level then you should stick with it.
Keep up the good work. :)

Yes. Eat. Don't stress over the little things that in the big picture aren't a big deal.

Since I like little details though ... maybe try eating 1/2 the pumpkin bar and see what happens. :D

repto--how did your fast go?
indiblue--I cannot work out without being fed, I just can't....well I mean I can, but I don't get in as intense/long of a work-out. I simply don't do IF on those work out days, or allow myself a snack, such as 1/2 protein shake or whatever

So the day I planned to my 24 hour fast didn't work out. I was starving, and actually ate at 10am, which is odd, because I usually don't even want to eat until after 12. So I'm doing it today. So far so good, but the latest I've even gone w/o eating is 2pm, so there's nothing new yet. I'm hoping eating an apple to break my fast, then waiting 20ish minutes before starting with dinner will stop me from eating everything in sight haha

24 hour fast is over....I made it to 23 hours yay!! I broke it with an apple, a couple of slices of turkey and 1 serving of sun chips. I'm feeling almost full, and am sure that in an hour, I"ll eat a small-regular dinner (soup, sandwich, veggies) and be great the rest of the night.

I found during the fast, I had a few 15ish minutes spells of overwhelming desire to go shove anything in my mouth. But as I waited and distracted myself, I realized the hunger pains just went away and I felt fine. I had energy to do everything I needed to do. In fact, I wasn't even hungry at the time that I broke my fast. I was getting a headache and wanted to see if eating would make it better (it did not!)

So I will absolutely do this 24 hour fast from time to time as it made me so keenly aware of how strong I can be. I feel so resolved in my ability to say no to tempting/unhealthy things in every day situations. I can do it, I decide what I eat. I decide.

I find it interesting to think of people for whom such a fast is not an option, but an everyday necessity. That, and coffee, help me "distract" myself until my eating window opens.

Very good point. I do the same when I'm struggling to drink more water - think about the fact that I could live somewhere where clean drinking water is not an option.

my fast so didn't happen that day,it was a very stressful day, i just might not mentally be able to do a 24 yet, if i could get through the next 8.5 hours today...its worth a shot..
my weight has been messing with me the past couple of days, i had a really good week of losing, so maybe my body is just like...whoa...okay take a break or something.