Hello everyone! I'm so happy I found this website and this thread! Last week I re-read Eat Stop Eat and had 2 24 hour fasts.. today I'm on my third that I started yesterday at 6pm. Looking forward to my dinner!

Thistoo - that is so funny because right now I feel like I have had 3 cups of coffee! So energetic & hyper. I'm so surprised.. I worked out an hour ago and I've only had 1 cup of tea this morning.

I have a couple of questions for you all. So, last week I binged before and after both of my fasts.. I really really want to be able to keep myself in check tonight. How do you guys do that and how long did it take for you to cut back a little? I also have read that some of you have experienced a lot more control of overeating and just being more in tune with your hunger pangs and cravings. I have yet to experience that - about how long did it take for you to get there?

I gained weight last week so I'm kinda bummed.. but I know it's because I ate too much before and after my fasts.

...Another thing - Why is it so easy to not eat sugary treats and snacks during a fast but it is next to impossible to turn down girl scout cookies, gummy bears and chips when I'm not fasting?

It's incredibly hard at my office because there are ALWAYS treats on every corner. Some guy even brought in 20 boxes of my favorite girl scout cookies and put them on my desk. Luckily I'm fasting today and can't (and don't even want) one.

I think it is because of sugar level in you blood. when it drops quickly you want more of it. during the fast it is in the same level.

good luck with you fast.

I have a q. I am doing my fast today. But I ate yesterday at 10 pm and I try not to eat after 6 pm and go to bed at 9.30 pm.

Is it really bad if I wont eat today and just have a breakfast tomorrow morning?

BKLady - I'm afraid I can't help much with the binging part. I have always ate a small breakfast and lunch and a large dinner. I do think it becomes easier with time. I have been doing ESE for 2 months and for the last month, I don't really even get hungry until I am about 21 hours in or so, when I started I was pretty hungry by the 12th hour so I can attest that it gets easier a little at a time.

As far as why its easy to turn things down when fasting... you got me on that one. I think it is totally mental. One guy at work brings in donuts every Monday. On my fast days I don't even think about them, but like today my non-fast day, its like they are calling my name! So weird. I find the best thing to do is look at the calories and ask if it is worth it. Someone brought in pumpkin chocolate chip cookies one day and I thought how bad can they be, they have pumpkin in them. WRONG, they were like almost 300 calories each!!! :o

An hour til quitting time! :carrot:

You're not going to hurt yourself, if that's what you mean. As long as you're not starving, don't worry about it.

BKLady, I just don't eat those things at all. The only way I can avoid temptation is to make it off limits at all times. I don't eat wheat, so it's not that hard for me to pass up on cookies and cake etc. There's always junk food at my job too, but I'm just used to not indulging now, I guess. There's not really any secret trick, unfortunately.

As far as not overeating after a fast, I make sure I have a plan in place for dinner, and that whatever it is won't be hard or time-consuming to prepare. If I'm still hungry later I will have an apple with some almond butter and that usually does the trick. Some people break their fast with fruit before a meal so they won't go crazy with the snacking.

Ya, I just need to learn how to turn away.. maybe ask myself if it's worth it. Maybe with time I'll get better at it.. especially when you go a whole day fasting - why waste it on junk food.

I'll have to start sneaking peaks at the calories rather than denying I'm eating junk!

Good for you Thistoo - to be able to make something off limits(or at least mostly off limits) and not binge, that is my goal.

Prettylady411 - Welcome to the group. This is a great group for IF support and it makes it so much easier with so many of us doing it. It is wise to do this the way it works for you. I did this years ago and lost about 70 lbs, but didn't have a name for it. It's the way I ate growing up. One day I read Dr. Heller's story in Carbohydrate Addicts of how she ate only one meal a day and lost weight. I chose to do that and like I said I lost the 70+ lbs. I had never heard of IF and I eventually went back to eating "normal" and gained almost all of weight back. I have never been able to do the one mteal a day again, but I hope that someday I will.

BKLady4 - Welcome. It is strange to me as to when I can resist certain foods and when I can't.

thistoo - 22 hrs is a great accomplishment any way and Congrats on the 193.4 this morning.

Thank you for the welcome "pattygirl63" - I have spent alot of time on the boards since I found them last night. It has been amazing to read stories that people share and find out I am not alone anymore and that I can ask for help and support if needed. It definitely keeps me away from the kitchen as well...lol

Hello everyone. I'm a newbie here. I just started my IF diet four days ago with my hubby. We both have some weight to lose and this really seems to be the way for us to do it. We are doing daily fasts of about 16 hours with an 8 hour eating window. So far its working out nicely for us. We would typically eat all throughout the day to get our calories and we never really felt full...so we over ate of course! However, the 8 hour window gives us enough time to have two meals and a snack, but its just short enough to make sure we eat enough so we aren't miserable for the next 16 haha.

I haven't touched a bit of junkfood for about two weeks. I decided to quit junkfood 'cold turkey' because it was a serious addiction. I gained forty pounds in the last year alone(went from 152 to 192). Before we started IF, it was an uphill battle to resist a bag of chips. Now I have no cravings for junk because I know I need to eat healthy to feel full! Probably a psychological thing..but hey! Whatever keeps me on track.

I really get the feeling that this is something I can stick with for the rest of my life. I've tried other diets, like low carb, that just didn't work for me. This plan doesn't seem to be as easy to go off track with.

My main goal is to lose 55 pounds by April of next year. I would really like to lose the weight by December 3rd but I think that's an unrealistic expectation. I can't wait to to lose this weight with you all! :)

You can, easily. Once you've adjusted to it there is literally no effort involved because you simply won't be hungry outside your normal eating window.

Just remember - calories matter. Cutting out the junk food and IFing does make it difficult to over eat but not impossible.

Oh trust me; I'm almost obsessive when it comes to tracking my calories! :)

HELLO NEWBIES!!!!
Great to see our numbers grow.

Another benefit to IF: I know we all talk about extra energy. Yesterday I was out with my son looking at a college. We had a 3 hr drive each way. My husband had to work, so I was doing the drive both ways, in the past, I would have been groggy for the drive home, but because I was fasting, I had a cup of coffee before we left the campus, we did stop for dinner on the way home, but there was not so much as a yawn out of me for the entire drive. I absolutely attribute it to the fact that I had fasted all day.

Bingeing after and before a fast: Someone asked about this. It definitely gets much easier, as IF becomes part of your life. When I break my fast, I eat several pieces of fruit if I am really hungry, this holds me until I eat a healthy dinner. It is very important to eat "regularly" when you are not fasting, so that you create your calorie deficit. If you are truly hungry after your fast and before you have a meal, make sure you fill up on wholesome, healthy choices. If you start in on super high calorie sugary, salty, fatty carbs and stuff, you will find it almost impossible to control your binge. (Just my experience).

pattygirl63: Well Done!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 lbs.

Great to hear from everyone!
Have a great IF day.

Another couple lbs. down today...yippy! I see the goal of hitting under 200 by next week for sure if not before. I am so excited - I haven't seen any scale I step on in the 1's in a very long time. This is so working!!!

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I was here, at least a month! I quit smoking and found IF too difficult to stick to, I found the fasts themselves fine but I was binging in my eating window to make up for not smoking. I was worried I would just end up gaining.

@italiannie thanks for that info re binging above, it is something I need to address and am hoping this time, without the smoking cravings it will be easier to resist!

So I decided to try low carb, seeing others success with it and thinking that then I would eat throughout the day and reduce my eating in the evening.

However, I ended up actually gaining the weight I'd lost on IF back!!! Gutted!! Only 2kg but still!!!
I suppose I just ate too much of the higher fat versions of stuff?!
Despite the scales saying I was heavier though, I didn't look heavier and I looked more toned than before...strange. My stomach was flatter, the same as when I was doing IF.
I know muscle adds weight, but I have always lifted weights and my routine did not change. Anyway I decided to quit low carb as I couldn't handle the scale keep going up, and go back to IF now that I am over the worst of the smoking cravings.
I cannot believe I dieted myself heavier! :dizzy:

The good thing about doing a fortnight of low carb though has taught me that I do not need to eat carbs with a meal, before I would add potato or rice just to fill up the plate, whereas now I won't bother.

It's all a learning curve to see what works I guess! I liked the results IF gave me before and I have 84 days prepare myself for my holiday in Ibiza. Operation Bikini starts here!!

Anyway on Tuesday I began with a 21 hour fast, Wednesday was 16 hours and today I am at 16 hours at the moment and not at all hungry. I only brought a fresh fruit salad to work today anyway so I will only eat it if I feel hungry in the afternoon. I might do another longer fast today and then go to the gym after work before eating. Dinner tonight is butternut squash, spinach and barley risotto.

Good to see that you are all still on plan and doing well!