I'm just curious

how do you eat when you are not fasting? do you have any rules or guidlines?

Hello, everyone!!!
Is IF a drug??? Cause I'm on day 3, and I'm SO stinkin excited and energetic!

Let me tell you a little about me:
6 months ago, I gave birth to my second child, miracle baby I almost lost at 25 weeks. I was on strict bedrest for the second half of my pregancy and gained a total of 50 lbs (maybe a couple more, but the last couple of weeks refused to look at the scale.) Lol.
I just weaned my daughter, so breastfeeding needs are no longer an issue.
I have been exercising at the level I can find time and energy for (read: sometimes, not a lot), and I have been calorie counting religiously with an Iphone app. My calorie budget is always 1200, but I find it VERY difficult to stay within it. That puts me at 300 cals a meal 4x a day. Yuck.
Slowly but surely I have lost all but 11 lbs of my pregnancy weight. Before my pregnancy, I was in excellent shape and ate within a calorie budget of 1500-2000 calories without gaining.

So, now that you know that, here it is.
I started IF this weekend after doing extensive research on it. I have been struggling with a small plateau and a raging appetite that is none too appeased with 1200 measly calories a day! I also read about some of the health and longevity benefits of IF. But I think the reason I really wanted to try it is to get in control of my appetite. TO feel like I'm the boss. I can eat. I can stop. And when I eat again, I can control myself. I mean, isn't that what it all comes down to???

So. Friday night, I stopped at 9pm. I work full time, am married and have two kiddos, so dinner doesn't get on the table until at least 6, sometimes 7 or later... especially when I commit to cooking myself. I ate pretty freely that last meal- not gonna lie. ;-)
I was up and down with the baby throughout the night, but managed to sleep in a bit Saturday. Then we went to the farmer's market, etc. I was offered "just a taste" of several things, but just said "I can't". And wow, noone even questioned it. Before I knew it, it was time to go home and work out. I hit the elliptical as hard as I could, and directly afterward scrambled up my eggs.

I'm on day three of 16 hr fast, 8 hr eating window. 1200 calories with an emphasis on protein and vegetables. I am not limiting my carbs strictly but also finding that I don't crave them as much.

IF is amazing so far. I thought I would feel horribly at first. But I really feel great. I am excited, because by working out at the end of my fast, I know that I am burning fat. I am serious about burning through this plateau. Thanks for this thread, guys. I'll let you know when the scale reflects my discipline, as I know it soon will. :)

Mrslynah - good to see you're loving it as much as I am! If you stick to it it will start to feel less and less like a diet, and more like a habitual way of life.

Hi all. I'm still here. With being ill, going on a mini vacay, and a death in the family, I haven't been on here for awhile. With all that I only missed 3 fasts. Fasted yesterday for the first time in a week and a half and it was hard. My next fast is Thursday. Hope it will be easier. Also we are in a bit of a remodel, so we haven't grocery shopped in a while so my food choices haven't been exactly great, but I'm hanging in there.

Hello to all the new faces.

Liliann I am a caregiver too. I understand having a different way of eating from the rest of the house. My mother has finally gotten on board though.

My fasts have been hard the last couple of weeks but my body is getting use to it everyday. I think I really need to cut my carbs lower for less hunger grumbling. I can do fruit but not bread. Paleo really did help better with that. I just need to shop for that. My nephew came this summer and threw my mom and I off plan. He's younger and likes the junk food.

Hi.. IF can be addictive. I'm having less mental thoughts about eating, reduce snacking, and reduce calories per day. I also keep IF a secret from family and friends. I find that some people can be very negative. I prefer to talk to people with an open mind about fasting for better health.

Have a good day!

I was doing well with this then had to stop for a week, now I am trying to do it again & I am STARVING right now. I can't eat again till tomorrow.

Well, I decided to just test myself today and see how long I could go before I really felt hungry. I had dinner yesterday well before 9 and then didn't eat my 'breakfast' today until after 12:30. That's just when I felt hungry! I didn't push it or feel horrid or anything. That's just when it fit for me. Tonight I did have a light snack after dinner at about 10:30, but I probably won't eat anything until I feel hungry tomorrow. Not sure when that will be... I guess if I REALLY feel hungry, I will eat early, but if NOT, I will just go on and see where I land. I'm just really curious to see how this works for me...

JustJ280- Curiosity is what got me hooked to IF! Saw from your other post that it seems to be working so yay!

Still doing good with IF and workouts at 185.8 this am though I definitely need to cut out the alcohol or at least keep it to a veryvery low minimum, like once a month or something. This is because I am seriously considering heavy lifting and to get really good "results" from that, diet needs to be clean so thus alcohol is out.

Hope everyone else is doing good!

Has anyone ever binged horribly after a fast? I have been struggling with hunger yesterday and today. Today, when it was time to break my 16 hour fast, I rationalized going to the buffet across the street from my office. I thought, "It'll be a high calorie day, but lots of protein." blah, blah, blah. I am so disgusted with how much food I ate, and I actually got very sick afterward. Anybody?

According to Fast 5, binging is fairly typical during your adjustment phase. As long as you are aware of it, the urge to binge is supposed to go away once you get used to fasting. This is also why IFers usually don't see results until around the 3rd week. The fast 5 website has the free ebook that describes this.

Hi, mrslynah,

The first two weeks I struggle with the overeating. The third week, I had better control over my cravings. I knew my body had to adjust with the IF way. I went thru the cravings for sugar, raging appetite and noisy stomach. Now, I only feel the noisy stomach. For now, the IF way is working for me.

Yes! The urge to binge came sometimes after fasting or even after being "good" for several days in a row. DON'T go to a buffet!! Not good if you are in the binge mode. I guess it is all about protein if you feel like you can't control yourself (and veggies!).

I am still doing some IF, but not very strict or following any special rules, but I try to put off eating as long as I can most every day. That might get me until 10 am or up to 3-4pm. Also, I try to go for an hour walk before ever eating to (hopefully) increase fat burning.

I seriously love this plan. At the end of the day, I feel like I've accomplished something and I am in control.