I'm glad this thread is helping people Even though I had already lost about 30lbs doing the 5-6 meals/day, I think I owe my weight loss success and absolutely my maintenance success so far to IF. Mini meals were NOT sustainable to me, IF is just a no brainer lifestyle that I can easily maintain. I discovered IF kind of on accident, just because I was frustrated and decided I'd do it MY way. As in save all my calories for the afternoon and evening instead of force myself to follow the mini meal schedule. It was like a weight off my shoulders, and I literally was losing weight still, so I stuck with it. And later found out about daily IF and then tried weekly IF. It's unfortunate that IF is still such an "underground" concept in the dieting world because I think sooo many personalities mesh with it. It's certainly against the grain of most 95% of all dieting advice that is mostly thrown at us. Even on 3FC, any time somebody mentions "fasting," it's considered taboo. (And understandably so, I absolutely understand that 3FC doesn't endorse unhealthy crash diets or starvation diets which "fasting" could easily be confused with). Anyways, my point is, I'm glad that this thread has spread the word a little bit
For those of you who are just starting, I'll say again to not get discouraged if you still feel hungry at early times. I certainly did when I was transitioning. But I'm a save-the-best-for-last kinda person, and I would think to myself "Do I really want to use those calories now or would they be better later after all my studying is done?" This is when you're feeling out your hunger feelings and learning that a little twinge of hunger isn't gonna kill you. Just keep asking yourself "can I wait another hour for lunch?" I STILL ask myself those questions. Before you know it, it'll be 3pm and you'll get to eat a huge meal, a snack, and another huge meal, and maybe another snack (or however you choose to distribute your food) within a few hours and go to bed full and happy. For those of you who are grazers, you CAN graze in IF. Imagine those 6 mini meals spread between 3-8pm. That's more than a meal per hour! Pretty much constant nonstop ON PLAN eating, lol.
That is what I do. I usually drink my first cup of hot tea with my first real 'hunger' pain of the day. I drink a big ol' 16oz cup and that easily sets me for an hour or so. It's not really hard for me to wait until 4pm.
A couple of points to add to the convo here:
Yesterday I read an interesting piece of an article on how, with IF, the 'window' of time tends to be fall into being smaller for women and larger for men. In other words, women tend to like to keep the window between 6 and 8 hours (some actually preferring 4), while men like to spread it a bit and give themselves an 8 or even 10 hour window. Probably has something to do with the fact that men get more calories to start with. LOL
Secondly, I firmly believe that the 5-6 mini meals thing was deliberately predicated by the food and diet industry. Think about all the 'big' guys out there WW, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, etc . . what is all their product based around? It's about buying those mini things (like meal bars) and eating them several times a day. All of them make their real money on the person stocking up on these small items.
In the food industry, it's the same way. Do you know how much money is being made by the 100 calorie snack things right now? Think about how much self space they are allotting them in the grocery store. That doesn't even take into account the lean cuisines, the fiber bars, the protein bars, etc. The food industry does not make money off of people NOT eating, they make the most money off of selling these wayyyyy overpriced prepacked mini prep things.
I was looking the other day at some 100 cal snack chocolate pretzels. In walmart, they were $2.50 a box. There were 6 bags with .75 oz in each. That means they are getting $2.50 out of 4.5 ounces of pretzels! Yet if I went straight to the other isle I could get a 16 oz bag for around $5. That is an unbelievable markup, just for packaging. I won't even go into the prepacked oatmeal and such . .
I'm not saying the weight loss or food industry is evil. They are just doing what they do, promoting their products and trying to make money. The concept of 5-6 mini meals is a cash cow to them, and they aren't exactly lying. You can lose weight eating 5-6 mini meals a day, so long as at the end of the day you are consuming less calories than your body is expending, and you do that routinely enough to create a genuine deficit.
When I was a little girl, we had these little birdies that hopped around our yard. Daddy told us kids that if you could sprinkle salt on their tails that we could catch them. We spent a whole summer running around the yard with salt shakers in our hands, trying to put salt on their little tails, no doubt providing the adults with a full summer of entertainment. After several weeks, Dad called us all to the side and told us that the salt was inconsequential, if we could get close enough to sprinkle the salt, then we could catch the birds no matter what. It was a classic example of misdirection.
That's the same way it is with the 5-6 mini meal myth. That is classic misdirection. The mini meals have nothing to do with losing weight, its all about calories in vs. calories out. However is best for you to accomplish that, is what you need to discover in your own personal dietary habits.
As reasonable human beings its up to us to make sure we continue to view the diet and food industries for what they are,and not view them as philanthropic industries. Recognize that they have an agenda the same as we do.
Their agenda is to make money and my agenda is to lose weight. I am going to do that in the way that is best for me. And, for me, IF works the best.
As well as other studies which showed an inverse correlation between meal frequency and obesity.
In a way it reminds me of breakfast. While there is a lot of correlation between eating breakfast and health what it really boils down to is the true correlation is between having regular eating habits vs irregular habits.
Even though those of us following IF don't eat breakfast we are still following regular healthy eating habits.
I've heard about this and might officially try it. This is actually the way I naturally like to eat anyway because I hate breakfast and usually don't get hungry until around 1-2PM. I like to skip breakfast, eat lunch, maybe have a small snack and then have dinner. I actually don't like snacking much, I prefer big filling meals.
As well as other studies which showed an inverse correlation between meal frequency and obesity.
In a way it reminds me of breakfast. While there is a lot of correlation between eating breakfast and health what it really boils down to is the true correlation is between having regular eating habits vs irregular habits.
Even though those of us following IF don't eat breakfast we are still following regular healthy eating habits.
It's not a conspiracy theory.
I am aware of those studies. My point is that it only makes sense for the diet/food industry to promote the studies that make them money.
There are all kinds of studies out there, it's the studies that are picked up and promoted as being relevant to dietary weight loss that are given the most credence.
One main reason that IF is taking so long to get in the mainstream, is that there are no direct beneficiaries to its predication. A few book authors perhaps, a few online 'gurus', but that's about it.
It's not conspiracy to say that industries will promote the studies that tend to benefit them the most.
There is no evil plot, it's capitalism at work. I don't blame anyone, or any company, I just realize that dietary concerns are an industry, not a philanthropic endeavor.
I am aware of those studies. My point is that it only makes sense for the diet/food industry to promote the studies that make them money.
There are all kinds of studies out there, it's the studies that are picked up and promoted as being relevant to dietary weight loss that are given the most credence.
One main reason that IF is taking so long to get in the mainstream, is that there are no direct beneficiaries to its predication. A few book authors perhaps, a few online 'gurus', but that's about it.
It's not conspiracy to say that industries will promote the studies that tend to benefit them the most.
There is no evil plot, it's capitalism at work. I don't blame anyone, or any company, I just realize that dietary concerns are an industry, not a philanthropic endeavor.
What you are saying makes complete absolute sense to me. I don't watch tv much, but every time I do there is at least two adverts for snack foods, be it little yoghurt pots, packs of chocolate crispy things (?!) and other pre packaged calorie counted mini meals aimed at women (always women) trying to lose weight.
When I tried the mini meal approach I was profoundly unhappy. I was constantly thinking about food, obsessing about food, and being dissatisfied that I could never ever eat until I was full.
The diet industry is fracking huge. Of course companies will highlight the studies that will help them make money. And the "small frequent meal" thing is one of them.
Thanks for this thread, folks, I have really enjoyed it even though I don't have a dog in the hunt, so to speak. I don't think IF is for me, though it's been quite fascinating to read everyone's experiences with it, and I'm delighted to hear that it's working well as a tactic for so many of you.
I just want to point out that the dichotomy between mini-meals and IF is a bit of a straw man - there are ways of eating that fall in between the two. My own current way of eating (always subject to revision, of course, which is part of why I read this thread with such interest) generally includes a very light breakfast, a large lunch, a large dinner, and a snack or two at other times in the day when I need or want one. There might be 5 or 6 eating events spread throughout the day but it's not 6 uniform mini-meals - I definitely eat two very voluminous meals each day and enjoy the feeling of being full after them.
I'm on my 4th week doing IF and I'm definitely converted lol
I'd been doing the ESE version but I thought I'd be more suited to daily IF so I downloaded the fast-5 ebook (the couple live in my hometown! how cool!) and it's just so easy and much more satisfying to me. I'm relieved to not be a "slave" so to speak, to breakfast. Because for so many years, that is what every magazine, article, or anything else about weight loss promoted. I feel a million times better and have much more "natural-feeling" energy with this lifestyle. I really couldn't be happier with it. And, I'm actually still losing weight which is the cherry on top of how good I feel.
Katydid- I'm like you and don't make it more complicated then it has to be, which is most of the beauty of IF for me. I just have my window of 4 to 9 and enjoy 2 nice sized meals and a snack or two. I'm also a big hot tea drinker and have the occasional decaf coffee, lots of water.
If IF can get me down to my goal and maintain, I will be so ecstatic.
Trying it out today. It's about 11 am and I haven't eaten anything solid yet, just drunk lots of coffee and water. I am hungry and lunch will be a welcome break to the fast, but I feel much calmer than if I had eaten breakfast. I find that chewing anything, even gum, keeps me in "obsessed" mode.
This could be the start of an absolutely fantastic new way of life...!!! Maybe it's all that coffee talking, but I feel so hopeful.
Trying it out today. It's about 11 am and I haven't eaten anything solid yet, just drunk lots of coffee and water. I am hungry and lunch will be a welcome break to the fast, but I feel much calmer than if I had eaten breakfast. I find that chewing anything, even gum, keeps me in "obsessed" mode.
This could be the start of an absolutely fantastic new way of life...!!! Maybe it's all that coffee talking, but I feel so hopeful.
Let us know how it goes! The first couple of days you might want to kind of ease into it. Set your 'window' slightly later each day, until you get to where you want to be.
Day one was a success! I love. I set my window for 3:00p.m. to 7 p.m. mainly because I go to lunch around 3 every day at work and also, I can't lie, I'm not in the mood to have people questioning me about "starving myself" so at least they'll see me eating and stay off my case (not everyone understands that fasting can be good for you). LOL.
As I expected would happen, my stomach let me know what it was hungry about after 10 this morning and growled here and there until I ate at 3 p.m. I ignored it! I stayed strong and pulled through . What I love so far about IF is that I'm so focused on fasting until my eating window is open that I have NO urges to snack throughout the day and let me tell you guys: I'm a line cook at a casino! we're around food all day! we're allowed to taste the food, sneak bites here and there so it's soooo hard! But I'm proud of myself for getting through the first day.
One part I was bad in today: at three, when it was time to eat, I ordered a cheese burger with onion rings on the side with an ice coffee (sweet). Later on, around 4:30 I bought a blackberry gelato. Around 6 p.m., I ate a bean and cheese burrito with sour cream on the side when I was technically still full from the other stuff. At least I'm being honest. Haha. But hey, it's my first try and I'm still proud of myself for eating within the hours I planned to . I'm totally fine with not eating TOTALLY healthy every day .
Geez, I think we're gonna need our own IF section soon.
Ok, so I gave it a shot yesterday and will continue and see how it goes. I drank coffee and water until 1 pm and set my time for 1-7 but I actually was done eating by 6 pm. I felt totally full all afternoon and at night. My stomach did growl LOUDLY for a few hours in the morning but by 11:30 that had passed and I actually was not very hungry at 1.
I did not count calories yesterday which I should do because after entering my info into My Daily Plate I was over my caloric allowance by almost 200 calories but it was all healthy food such as veggies and tuna so I am not too worried and I am really hoping this will work for me!
I don't have much else to add except to repeat the advice that has already been stated when starting IF. Expect some hunger when you're not eating at regular times. Gradually push your eating times later and later. Eat smaller and smaller "meals" at your regular earlier times. If you have had a big breakfast everyday, reduce that down to one apple or something. You'll be thrilled that you have the calories to play with later in the day, and eventually, you may be willing to give the apple up also for a true fast.
Also, just as regular spread out meals are not for everyone, IF isn't for everyone either. If you try it and hate it, no harm done
This was possibly the best day ever. Consider me a convert. I feel like prehistoric man who has just discovered fire or something. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and convincing me to try it out!
It's going well for me too. The first day I ate at 2, then at 4, then at 6 and had some small snacks from 7:30 to 8. Yesterday I ate at 2, 5 and then had my snacks from 7:30 to 8. I think I liked eating 3 times more then 4 times so that's what I'm going to stick with. Hunger pangs were less of a problem on day 2 then 1 so hopefully they'll continue to decrease today and disappear by the end of the week. =) Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. Really glad I found out about IF.
Even though I had already lost about 30lbs doing the 5-6 meals/day, I think I owe my weight loss success and absolutely my maintenance success so far to IF. Mini meals were NOT sustainable to me, IF is just a no brainer lifestyle that I can easily maintain. I discovered IF kind of on accident, just because I was frustrated and decided I'd do it MY way. As in save all my calories for the afternoon and evening instead of force myself to follow the mini meal schedule. It was like a weight off my shoulders, and I literally was losing weight still, so I stuck with it. And later found out about daily IF and then tried weekly IF. It's unfortunate that IF is still such an "underground" concept in the dieting world because I think sooo many personalities mesh with it. It's certainly against the grain of most 95% of all dieting advice that is mostly thrown at us. Even on 3FC, any time somebody mentions "fasting," it's considered taboo. (And understandably so, I absolutely understand that 3FC doesn't endorse unhealthy crash diets or starvation diets which "fasting" could easily be confused with). Anyways, my point is, I'm glad that this thread has spread the word a little bit 
how cool!) and it's just so easy and much more satisfying to me. I'm relieved to not be a "slave" so to speak, to breakfast. Because for so many years, that is what every magazine, article, or anything else about weight loss promoted. I feel a million times better and have much more "natural-feeling" energy with this lifestyle. I really couldn't be happier with it. And, I'm actually still losing weight which is the cherry on top of how good I feel. 
