Anyone else doing IF? (Intermittent Fasting)
 

I am doing Intermittent Fasting, and I'm wondering if there are any others on here that are doing that??

For years I held the diet mantra that you need to eat 5-6 times a day in order to lose weight, and it always made me so miserable, because I'm the person where I'm not hungry until I eat, then once I eat I stay hungry.

I know it can be argued that once your hungry is when your metabolism 'kicks' in, but for me, I have learned that is not the truth. It is simply when my hunger signals kick in.

I lose weight sooooo much easier with IF, although I know it's not for everyone.

Right now my eating window is typically between 4pm and 10pm, although I will adjust that if life gets in the way.

So, anyone else out there??

Kinda! A bazzilion mini-meals a day is just not for me. I need to feel satiated on occasion. I have been trying to get in touch with my hunger. Trying to learn that it is not an emergancy. That it is nothing to panic over or fear. If I am that hungry - it is either nearly time for a meal or I just have a healthful snack.

Saturdays, I get up usually about 7ish (depends on my 2 yr old) and I have a cup of coffee. I often don't get to breakfast until 10 or 11 or sometimes 12. So - that is really lunch. Then I usually don't eat again until dinner!

Sundays I get to sleep in, but the pattern is the same.

Weekdays are a little more structured b/c I am at work. But if I am not hungry for a snack, then I don't eat it! If if I want my lunch at 3pm instead of 12... then I wait until 3 to eat. I don't eat breakfast until I get to work and get settled into my work for the day - about 9am give or take.

It is also helping me to try to move away from emotional eating. I am trying to eat in response to hunger rather than: "Oh! It's 'lunchtime'" or as a response to stress or emotion.

I am and have been for over a year. I love it! I normally eat 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM but it varys here and there.

I'm surprised at how slowly the concept has spread. It's a game changer as far as I'm concerned. It's 12 noon right now. I'm not the slightest bit hungry and I've been successfully taking tests all morning.

I think everyone's metabolic pattern is different. I am more of a morning person. I am hungriest in the morning too. I eat for hunger, so it's not unusual for me to get up at 7:30 and to have eaten 900 calories by noon with breakfast, a snack and lunch. Then I eat a snack around 3 - very small and then eat a light dinner around 6pm and nothing for the rest of the day and I don't usually go to bed until between 11 pm and midnight. i'm just not hungry at night and at night is usually when I work out too.

My husband on the other hand eats a good breakfast, a very light lunch, a late afternoon snack, a big dinner and then a decent sized snack around 9 or 10 pm. He's a night owl and is hungry later in the day. It used to be a problem when we would go do things on weekends. I would be starving for lunch and he wouldn't want to stop because he wasn't hungry yet.

I think people need to figure out their hunger patterns and eat appropriately. We shouldn't be eating by the clock but by our body's rhythms.

I'm of the belief that for most people the body will adapt to whatever eating cycle you want it to. I used to be RAVENOUS by 10:30 AM if I hadn't eaten anything before then and I rarely missed breakfast.

After a week of doing IFing my body had adjusted. Back then I ate from noon till 8:00PM and around 10:30 AM I would start getting hungry. After a month of this feeding schedule I didn't get hungry at all until around 11:30.

Due my personal schedule I decided to move my feeding window back 2 hours. Only took about a week and I was golden.

From what I have read most people have had similar experiences to mine.

However, I recognize everyone is different and some people cannot adjust to fasting every morning.

JohnP can you sell me on why IF may be good for weight loss? I have acid reflux when I wake up and I often snack/graze unnecessarily between 2-5 PM; for these reasons I try to eat like berryblondeboys, with a medium-sized breakfast, big lunch, and small dinner. However, I'm intrigued with the idea of fasting until later afternoon, if it would both curb my tendency to snack unnecessarily in the afternoon as well as kick-start my metabolism. Would be interested in your thoughts.

Weightloss is dependant on calories so if you have a smaller window of opportunity to eat you can eat larger more satisfying meals. There are some other potential health benefits such as more stable blood sugar and better insulin sensativity but the main benefit for me in regards to weight loss is simply beging able to eat larger meals. Some people do great grazing, I don't. I like the feeling of being full. A small meal just makes me ready to start looking for some snacks.

For example lets say you want to eat 1500 calories a day. The average person spreads those calories out over 10-12 hours and probably 3 meals and 2 snacks. Each time you eat is going to be a fairly small amount of calories. If you're following IF you would eat 2-3 more substantial meals and you won't be hungry for snacks.

Based on your specific eating pattern in place you'll probably like it a lot. You eat a big lunch now but doing IF you'll eat a really big lunch :D You'll be full till dinner and feel no need to snack. You might decide 2 meals is good but you might do two meals and a bedtime snack.

Another thing is that most people report after the adjustment period of feeling really good during the fasting period and full of energy.

[Edit] - I just realized you're very close to your goal weight. This is yet another reason you'll like IF. The thinner you get the more difficult it can be to lose weight because fat can be stubborn and difficult to mobilize out of the fat cell. Fasting solves this problem as the body makes minor adapations to free the fat from your body. You can read about this in detail here.

Many thanks- your post and the article was quite helpful. The latter also happened to reinforce the relationship between insulin levels and fat loss... and reminded me I really need to cut down on my sugar.

Anyway thanks for the info- I'll certainly try out IF and see what happens. Thanks as well to the OP for bringing attention to this subject :)

I have been eating between 2pm and 8pm for several weeks now, I want to say 8 maybe. I find it fits my lifestyle, helps to manage my appetite and is just perfect for me at this time in my life :)
Now I only find myself hungry slightly before it's time to eat, maybe half an hour where as before I was hungry from the moment I woke up, then shortly after every meal. I can also function fine before 2pm and regurly walk a few miles before I eat and feel fine. I'm not sure if this is something I will do forever because i'm always open to change if it benefits me but for now and the forseeable future I IF.

Just a comment to add. I have a lot of stomach problems too, and a lot of my eating over the years has been just trying to 'eat a little something to calm my stomach'

So many times, I have eaten when I'm not really hungry, just to try and make my tummy hurting go away.

I am on prevacid and now I've learned just to let it do it's job. I get up and take the prevacid and my allergy pill and just go on. I do drink hot tea throughout the day, but my stomach does not get progressively worse if I don't eat.

Also, when do you take your stomach medication? I assume it's a once a day pill. A LOT of times, it really helps if you switch to taking your stomach pill at night, before bed, as opposed to taking it when you get up.

Obviously a lot of your reflux is coming from laying down at night, and not from the actual food you are eating. The doctor told me that trick a long time ago, and it really does help if my tummy is being more uncooperative than usual. What I do, is I go two days taking it twice a day (once in the morning and once at night), then I go down to just the once at night. It really does help.

Just throwing out some more ideas to try. I've been on a ton of stomach medication, and I've got war stories from them all. :)

Thanks katy! I am not on medicine right now. I had 3 consecutive nights of extreme pain/nausea/symptoms mimicking a heart attack a few years ago in college which by sheer deduction (ruling out gallbladder, etc) problems my doctor wrote off to acid reflux, but that was the only bad isolated incident. Now, I have a sudden onset of acidity when I go long periods without eating anything, especially in the morning. Lately it's been bad as soon as I wake up- I have to quickly drink water to calm things down. I don't think I've ever had a problem on a full or semi-full stomach.

My doctor several years ago recommended omeprazol, but I never went on it. I usually eat frequently enough to not have any symptoms so I'm trying to avoid going on medication. I don't think it's bad enough... yet. It does make me wonder if I can train my body for IF. We'll see. Thanks for sharing your tips and experiences- I definitely may use them if things get worse.

If your acid reflux is activated by not eating I don't see how IF will help.

Personally I would go see another doctor for a second opinion.

What is the health benefit of IF (weightloss aside)?
and
How do you shift your mentality from wanting to cram a 'normal' day's worth of food into the window?

I ask not as an accusation but because I know my lack of willpower.
Thanks.

Interesting idea. I do notice that when I'm not eating on plan I tend to not even get hungry until the middle of the afternoon. When I am on plan I try to eat every 2-3 hours and I tend to actually feel hungry a lot more often and usually I'm still not really hungry until late morning or so. I might have to consider trying this.

Few questions. How does exercise fit into this schedule? For those that do this, do you only exercise after you've started eating? Is this only about food, or can you drink things during the time you're not eating?

I do IF and I think it's really good for both health and weight. I personally don't like to eat more than my "three square" every day, I don't like snacking between meals. Twice a week I have only dinner. I firmly believe it's better for your teeth and your digestion system to have quiet time now and again.

There is a post about this in the "does it work" forum:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/does...t-fasting.html

I'm also trying out the clean program, which is a little bit like IF in that you eat only one solid meal per day, but it's a limited time frame on that as opposed to IF.

IF does not cause weightloss. Calories in vs calories out as always. Health benefits are not exactly known at this point because the research is primarily in rats but better blood sugar regulation and better insulin sensativity are the two ideas out there currently.

I don't really understand your question though. After the initial adjustment period you're just not feeling that massive hunger that might cause one to binge during your normal fasting period. As always you need to make good food choices there is nothing magic about IF. You can easily gain weight while doing IF I just find it easier to lose weight because I'm eating larger more satisfying meals this way.

The only thing I would not suggest is doing heavy lifting or HIIT during your fasting period unless you're going to be able to eat soon after. Cardio is fine though.

The difference between a fed and a fasted state is insulin. You eat calories, your insulin levels go up and you're no longer fasting. Drink anything you want as long as it doesn't have calories. Coffee and tea are fine. Cofee and tea with lots of cream and sugar are not (of course if you're dieting I doubt you would waste calories on that stuff anyways.)

John, I'm curious how often you fast? From your posts I read it as you having made this your normal eating pattern, is that correct? I haven't read all that much about IF, but the impression I have got is that people usually fast 1-2 days per week.
Interesting topic!

timkerbelle, I've been reading up on IF and it seems like there are two approaches. Fasting 1-2 days per week for 24 hours each, or doing it daily for 15-19 hours. The daily approach really appeals to me so that's what I'm going to try.

Thanks for the advice John.

Yes - it is my normal eating pattern. It is rare for me to eat anything before 2:00 PM although occasionally I'll get dragged to a late brunch on the weekends by my family ... I'll try to delay them past noon but I'm not always successful. :D I follow leangains.com

Others who fast 1-2 days a week are doing it more of the Eat Stop Eat style which is a book I'd like to read but I'm too cheap.

From studies, insulin levels and such seem to really benefit from IF. If you think about it, all through history mankind has 'fasted' between times of eating. The concept of snacking and grazing is a very new concept, like within the past few decades.

Humanity has done Intermittent Fasting (unwittingly) for thousands of years.

I'm not an IF 'pusher' or anything, and I don't think diet in general is a one-size-fits-all proposition, but for certain people (like me) it's a real godsend.

As far as shifting my mentality, that actually was the greatest benefit for me. Instead of worrying about how much to eat now, how many calories to save till later, what if I forget about something I ate, I can just congeal every thing down to a much smaller window that I have to worry about.

For me, it is easily 4 or 5 hours after I get up that I am actually hungry. At that point, I will drink one or two cups of hot tea to satisfy me until it's time to eat.

If you think about your diet right now, I bet you could pinpoint about a 4 or 5 hour window in the day where you are actually hungry. It's rare that people are hungry from the time they get up until the time they go to bed. It's really just a matter of taking that window of time and giving yourself that, and not eating outside of it.

For me, it simplifies matters, rather than complicating them.

I exercise whenever I want to. I know that it's best to do heavy lifting some time around when I eat, but honestly I don't sweat it either way. Most of the time, I do a 60 minute walk and then about 3 days a week I do lifting as well.

I just do it when I want to and don't worry about how close it comes to my eating. It's not like I'm a bodybuilder or anything, so it's not really that exact of a science. I have never had any problems with it.

I also take stomach medication without eating and without issue. And I take allergy pills and shots (I get four allergy shots a week), without eating around it, and it doesn't cause any problem.

I also drink hot tea throughout the day. It's black tea with splenda and fat free half and half. Occasionally I'll drink something else (like a diet green tea) but I am something of a hot tea addict. I drink about 4 ~ 16 oz hot teas per day. :^: LOL.

Most people that do IF are not that strict with drinks, although if they have calories, it can obviously add up.

Because I can't think of a single time when I binged due to hunger.
Sounds like I'm not mentally equipped for IF but I always like to read about others' experiences.

Additional questions for katy, John, and anyone else who IFs--

1. How strict is the term "fast"? Does it take just one calorie to break the fast, or is intaking a very small number of calories (25? 50?) in the morning still low enough to reap the benefits of lower insulin levels and all the other chemical reactions which occur during a fasting state?

2. The article JohnP posted differentiated between truly sedentary fasting (lying completely still, which requires I think something like 16-18 hours between eating) and real life fasting (14-16ish hours) due to the individual moving around, expending calories, etc. By this logic if I were to exercise moderately for 1 hour in the mornings, could I decrease my fasting time? Or did I misinterpret the relationship between calories expended and the length of the fast?

Thanks in advance, all!

I personally find that this is the greatest benefit of IF in my limited experience. IF seems to calm me down significantly so I think less about food, and apparently it also helps with insulin which at least in my case can lead to massive carb binges.

Hey indiblue,
I will just speak from my limited experience but the most I will have during fasting times is coffee/tea with 50ml of skim milk over the course of a few coffees. I know this is 17.5 calories but I still don't consider it to have broken my fast (perhaps it has)
I regularly partake in exercise before I have broken my fast, I still don't eat before 2pm. If anything exercise decreases my appetite. It's not like I intentionally exercise while fasting it's just that I sometimes have to do a lot of physical activity before 2pm. If I were experincing negative effect from doing this such as dizziness or extreme fatigue I would probably eat sooner even if it were before 2pm

I have done both the daily IF (only eating during a certain time window of the day) and weekly IF (not consuming any calories for 24 hours). Even when I'm doing the weekly IF, I follow daily IF out of habit and preference.

A few undeniable truths about yours truly are 1) As much as I love food and eating, I abhor the thought of eating in the morning. It's just the last thing I want to do, but I LOVE eating at night. And 2) I like freaking HUGE meals. Finally 3) The more frequently I eat, the more I think about food. Considering these facts, try to imagine me forcing myself into the 5-6 mini meals per day routine. I did it for about two months and I was miserable. I choked down breakfast and a morning snack, and then I watched the clock obsessively for the time for my next mini meal. I could think about nothing else other than the next time I'd get to eat. When I did eat, that small little meal or planned snack juuust barely took the edge off my hunger enough for me to obsessively wait for the next mini meal. B the afternoon and evening I was wishing I had the calories left that I had stuffed down my throat in the morning. And, mind you, these were whole healthy food choices. Lean protein, high fiber, complex carbs, etc. Sure, I was losing weight, but I was becoming an anxious starving food-obsessed nutcase.

So I threw that garbage out the window. I started eating my first meal no earlier than noon, and I absolutely prefer to eat later than that. I'm thrilled if I'm just starting to eat around 2-3pm. I can honestly say I do not get hungry before that. Sometimes I'll eat at noon just because I'm bored and it's "lunch time" and I think I need to eat. And I do, but that's not because I'm truly hungry. Generally, I eat either two HUGE meals and a few substantial snacks or three HUGE meals. I feel like I'm eating sooo much food which truly pleases my gluttonous brain, haha. But really, it's a normal amount of food just packed into a smaller time frame. And it did not affect the rate of my weight loss at all, it just made the process easier.

So I find daily IF fasting easy. It's just how my brain and stomach prefer it, and it didn't require much discipline. Weekly IF took a bit more focus. It was hard the first few weeks, I won't lie, but it was definitely more mental than true hunger. I didn't eat anything between my dinner of Saturday until the dinner of Sunday. 7pm to 7pm. It was more of a mental struggle because I set myself up with dreading the thought "oh nooo, I can't eat anything today, I'm going to starve!" But after practicing it for a few weeks, I realized that that was all in my head. In reality, I felt bright, alert, and perfectly fine. Weekly IF helped me break out of my plateau during the last phase of weight loss and helped me lose those last stubborn pounds.

Our eating preferences are very similiar mkendrick. I've been doing the six meals a day and just keeping my early day meals smaller so that I can enjoy more food in the evening. I don't actually feel hungry very often, but I hardly ever feel completely satisfied and I am always thinking about the next meal. It's exhausting spending the whole day thinking about food food food.

I'm really psyched about trying IF. I've decided I'm going to do daily and my eating window is going to be between 2pm and 8pm. I can see this working out for me very well. I might adjust the hours a bit up and down depending on how my body responds to it, but I'm thinking this might be perfect for me.

Glad the OP started this thread. =)

TooManyDimples, I think a lot of people are like us. People who prefer to eat a lot at one time and who are hungrier later in the day. Unfortunately, the "mini meal" and "planned snacks" concepts are the most widely endorsed models these days. So many of us are trying to stuff ourselves into molds that we simply don't fit in.

I'd highly suggest trying daily fasting. Who knows, it may not work for you, but you may discover that it's fanfreakingtastic like I did. I think eating between 2-8pm is perfectly legitimate...that's generally my window. I don't really have a defined time period (except no food before noon), but I don't usually get legitimate hunger feelings until 2. Don't be discouraged if you feel hungry earlier than that. Like I said, I'm NOT a morning eater, but after months of forcing myself to eat at 7am, 9am, and noon...my body was angry that I hadn't fed it at 7am and 9am for a few days. But I got used to it quick and I'm back to feeling disgusted at the thought of eating before noon, lol. And I'm ALWAYS thrilled that I get to eat so much food in the afternoon and evening, hehe.

I found a lot of benefits to it. I follow a daily IF pattern. I'm still consuming a normal amount of calories, but I give my body some time to digest the food. I've noticed a few things:

-I don't feel ravenous when I break the "fast" (a term I use rather loosely because it doesn't typically exceed 12-15 hours).
-It's so much easier for me to keep track of what I've eaten.
-I'm able to pay attention to hunger cues. In turn, I'm able to recognize feeling full more effortlessly than I when I was eating mini-meals.
-I don't experience sugar rushes/crashes like I used to, which is also related to cutting sugar.

I do not like eating several times a day (mini-meals) and I had to accept that that was ok. It had been drilled into my head that in order to lose weight you have to keep your metabolism "up" by constantly feeding yourself. This is simply not true for me. This could be related to my pcos/IR. It really has curbed my grazing behavior and has made my meal planning easier to manage as well.

since, i am pretty sure my problem is insulin resistance, that explains WHY this WOE worked for me in the past, not only would i see the weight go, my body would be restructured due to the resensitizing of my insulin receptors. The ONE TIME i was successful with weight loss and kept it off for 2 years was due to IF, i used the fasting for 24 hours approach, on one day and off the other, i also fasted for prayer and getting closer to God, so that made it more motivating to me.

Before i got pregnant, i learned of the fast 5 approach, i saw great results from that as well. I do agree you need to get used to the WOE. Right now my hunger is so scattered, but usually my hunger doesn't really hit until 1 pm or so like johnP said.

if you have any type of insulin resistance, this WOE is good for you. If you do have it your body is in a CONSTANT fed state anyways. Sugar is available in your bloodstream and all you have to do is burn it off, but if you are constantly feeding you are constantly spiking your blood sugar and insulin levels which only aggravates the problem.

A GREAT BOOK , WHERE I ACTUALLY first learned about insulin resistance is the "Carbohydrate Addict's Diet". Folloiwng that WOE I found i could actually go 5-6 hours in between meals not hungry.

Thanks! =) It's kind of funny because I did get some hunger signals around my usual eating times. I guess my body did adapt to the 6 meals a day even if my mind never did. I'm sure I'm going to have an adjustment period and I'm cool with that. I just drink some hot tea and I'm good. =)

The guy I "follow" is Martin Berkhan. He says under 50 calories will not raise insulin enough to screw up the benefits of the fast. To keep it safe I keep things under 25.

He normally has his male clients follow a 16 hour fast and his female clients a 14 hour fast having found many female don't do as well on a longer fast. From what I have read many people do longer than 16 hours so you'll have to experiment and find what works for you. I do 16-17 hours every day.

I too am so pleased to read this thread. I have found that I tend to eat the majority of my calories between 2p-7p, although I never thought of it as fasting. I do have a light meal/snack at about 10 am plus coffee--typically under 250 cals total, so I'm not truly fasting, but that' just when my hunger kicks in. I'm hardly ever in the mood for more. On days that I lift heavy weights, I have to force myself to eat a little heavier, otherwise I'm not able to lift as much. Sometimes/rarely I feel hungrier in the morning, and I just listen to my body and eat more on those days.

On days that I know I will splurge because of an event, I have recently found that fasting is much much more effective at reducing my calories than going to the event not hungry, because I tend to eat a similar amount whether I've eaten before or not. Going in and refusing to eat, or vowing to eat less doesn't work very well because either I cave, or I get all sorts of odd questions about why I'm "starving" myself etc. that I don't feel like dealing with. Not that fasting before doesn't mean I don't make good choices, but I can eat more than I would on a typical day without worrying. If I am ravenous, I can just eat an apple to calm down the beast before going in and still be confident I will make healthy choices even when faced with tempting foods :D

This daily 14 hr fast is intriguing to me. I will have to read up more on it and may try it instead of having that small "meal/snack" about 10 except for lifting days. It sounds like my body will adapt. My main goal is to maintain/gain muscle mass and be healthy, and it does sound like that has many benefits without sacrificing those goals (which is what many people probably think of when they think of fasts: ie fasting=starving oneself)

I really like this approach, and I wish it was more recognized as much as the small meals every few hours.

Sometimes I have definitely abused this kind of thing purely as an excuse for dysfunctional eating patterns, but when done properly I think it's great.

The thought of eating 5-6 smalls meals every day fills me with dread. I think about food nonstop anyway, I can't do eating every few hours! Definitely around 2pm-7pm for me, but with plenty of water early morning :) Also definitely prefer eating larger quantities of food instead of small meals.

I've found that I have the LEAST amount of problems with the desire to overeat, binge, excessively restrict, or plain old obsess over food when I'm doing intermittent fasting. Even when I'm doing weekly 24-hour fasts. I have had brief periods of time where I was excessively restricting (I ate about 500 calories/day for a week), and there is a distinct difference in my mindset and behavior between restricting and fasting. I'm happy and content and calmly in control when I'm doing a 24 hour fast. I'm desperately grasping for something resembling control when I'm restricting.

If anything IF, especially the 24 hr fasts, taught me how to manage my hunger. It helps me understand the difference between brain munchies and true physical hunger. It also shows me that a little bit of hunger isn't going to kill me, and it's not something to fear. When I'm doing a full day fast, I embrace the hunger. I make myself consciously aware of the signals that my body is sending me and how they're different from that nagging "I wanna eat" false hunger feelings. I recognize the fact that yes, I feel some hunger, but it's nothing to be afraid of. And then when I have that meal to break the fast, I savor and appreciate the food. All in all, it's a very positive experience for me.

I am interested in trying this out. I think perhaps part of what has caused me to binge/graze constantly/never stop thinking about eating is the idea of snacks and planned meals and stressing over making sure I eat X at X time. A good indicator for me is how on weekends I am perfectly content to wait until late to eat. Also, in the past I lost weight just fine eating one or two big meals a day and waiting until the afternoon.

We'll see. For now, it's been very educational and encouraging reading about people's experiences with IF. It's an approach I am strongly considering to regulate my ferocious graze urges.

Interesting indeed. Thank you all for sharing your information and experiences. This could be something that may work very well for me. As some of you have mentioned of yourselves, I'm not a morning eater either and I realized that after reading this thread and I remembered all the times I skipped breakfast over the years and it wasn't a big deal to me.

Lately, I've been doing the five meal a day thing which definitely has been helping with maintaining weight but since I haven't been really giving it my ALL....I haven't really seen weight loss because of it yet. I remember years back when I really TRIED...yes, the weight seemed to melt off of me but still, it's always nice to research and try something new and deep down, I'm not really into forcing myself to eat :).

Me likey. LOL....I'm gonna go do a little research :)

Monique

i agree with mkendrick about the fasting resetting your hunger clock. When i first did this in 2001, i noticed the hunger on my 24 hr fasts, but it didn't really bother me, because i knew i could eat the next day.

i also hate eating small meals...and would feel obsessive about food if i had to...Fast 5 reintroduced me to it with daily fasts. I learned about alternate day fasting through the Bragg books. I also mixed a little bit of honey with acv and water and sipped on it throughout a 24 hr fast. I never felt a lack of energy, like i said i did feel hunger though.

i would also rather sleep than eat breakfast, but if i am eating on a schedule, i am constantly hungry.

i think the hardest part is finding your window. if i let my window go too late, i wouldn't see as good results. With fast 5, you can alternate your eating window too.

i am not sure if it will be ok for my milk supply to do the fast 5 after the baby is born. oh so you know with fast 5, you only eat 5 hours a day.

THIS

Thanks OP and everyone else for your input. You are pretty convincing spokespersons for the IF model. mkendrick you make such a great point about how the concept of eating multiple small meals only induces constant thinking about hunger. As a total foodie I would definitely fall into this category.

It's interesting because the diet world says OVER AND OVER AGAIN that you never want to feel full, you want to just eat until satiated, because the stomach is 20 minutes behind the brain, etc. What it does is leaves us - or at least me- constantly roving and grazing for a little bit of food here and there. I never feel full but I'm definitely eating way more than I should.

In this way, it seems like IF has two major benefits:
1. Extending the length of time for reduced insulin levels, higher percentage of fat burned during the fasting state
2. Reducing the number of calories one intakes by configuring the body's desire to graze/binge.

The second benefit may vary from person to person depending on eating habits, but I may be one of those people for whom it benefits.

Anyway will definitely be playing around with this model. Thanks all, and to katydid for starting this thread.