Since my doctor's counsel that I should start eating breakfast again, I've slowly gained nearly 20 lbs. and I don't feel any better! Since I'm not on any medication for my ailments, I decided to go back to IF yesterday. I survived just fine, with an eating window from 3 pm to 9 pm. I didn't starve myself at all, ate a balanced diet with plenty of veggies, healthy fats and protein. Stayed away from processed foods. I drank all my water. I was able to cut 700+ calories from what my daily average diet has been.

I really look forward to moving on with this eating plan. It suits me best! I had stopped because I was not feeling well, and my energy levels had dropped a lot. They really haven't improved at all. I think it's more a function of my inadequate sleep.

I think you need to be very careful if you are breastfeeding. You need to be sure your daily calorie intake is sufficient to produce adequate and nutritional milk for the baby. My thought would be that 16/8 with adequate calories would be better.

@geoblewis Good for you. The ignorance of doctors/dietitians about anything nontraditional never ceases to amaze me.

I think the nutrients you're getting are more important than meal timing. Regardless I would advise you to just ease into it and see how it goes. Maybe start with 14/10 and move towards a 16/8 monitoring your milk supply along the way.

As far as I know there are currently a couple studies being done. I am not, however, aware of any current studies. IF is not new but there was very little interest in it until recently. Now of course, it's rediculous. Many "experts" are looking to cash in. Heck I should have written a book. What's stupid to me is how many "experts" talk about the heath benefits when in fact those health benefits happen when you lose weight regardless of the method. I've said it before on this thread and I'll say it again. At this point we simply don't know what, if any, health benefits there are to IF and if they exist we don't know how long one much fast to get said benefits. We're not rats and most of the research done so far is on rodents.

Omega 3's will beneift most people because our diets are sorely lacking in omega 3s. The research in this area is well documented. The O6/O3 ratio in most diets is screwed up big time.

On the other hand BCAAs are a waste of money for most people. I'm frankly shocked that the good Dr Lara was talking about BCAAs because your body gets all the BCAAs it needs from your diet so supplementation is pointless. I suppose if one was eating a very low protein diet they could in theory benefit from BCAAs especially if they are dieting. I'll admit I skimmed that video because I'm not interested in spending 60 minutes finding out the basics of intermittent fasting so I don't know what context he talks about BCAAs benefiting dieters.

Hi everyone, I've had a few busy days, so I am starting my intermittent fasting today. I weighed in, am reading The 8 Hour Diet book and am good to go. It's very freeing to just eat within a certain timeframe and not stress over calories anymore.

Just curious, those of you eating within a set timeframe like me, be it 8 or 5 hours in the day, or whatever, do you count calories also? I'm hoping this will work for me without stressing over calories, just being mindful of what I'm eating. I'm so tired of the numbers game. Any input is appreciated.

I roughly count them in my head. I counted calories meticulously for a year so I have a rough idea of how many calories different foods contain.

Calories always matter. While some people might have trouble eating 2000 calories in an 8 hour window I can easily eat over 3000 calories in a single meal.

You'll have to experiment a little.

Hi John, thanks for your reply. Yeah, I know calories matter, but I just can't count them anymore. I did for many years, and it never kept me thin long-term; it's just not sustainable. IF, on the other hand feels very sustainable.

So I've thought about it this morning, and while I won't count calories, I'm going to have what I call calorie awareness. Like for lunch I had corn chip nachos and I realized that when I put the beans on corn tortillas instead of chips, they are far less calories and a whole lot more satisfying.

So I'm curious, anyone else just "aware", or do you guys actually count all your calories along with IFing? I honestly don't think I'll be able to do this if I need to go back to counting calories. Maybe I'll look into intuitive eating along with IFing as time goes on. We'll see. I don't want to confuse myself too much!

I counted calories at first, because I had logged for years. I've been Fast-5ing for over two years. After the first couple of months, I stopped logging calories. I have a good idea of how many calories I am taking in because it is such a habit. I think I could probably come within 100 calories on any given day, but that's because I logged for so many years. So yes, I am "aware." I'm like John said he is, it would be no problem for me to rack up 3 or 4 thousand calories in my five hour eating window.

I suppose intuitive eating would be great if it works for you. Problem is, I always want more than I need, which is why I had issues with my weight. I think people who can be successful at "intuitive eating" are already doing so naturally and are thin. My husband is like that (makes me sick . Even when he is eating something he really likes, he stops when he is full. I just keeping going. So, in my case, I have to be mindful of calories to maintain.

I count calories along with IF... I've found that when I "roughly" count calories with IF that I maintain well... But I don't really seem to lose... I've just started to "face facts" and it looks like I'm going to have to go back to pretty strict calorie counting to lose the rest of the weight that I want to... Also I'm still trying to figure out how IF is ultimately going to fit in with all the swimming, biking, and running that I like to do... Although I have been experimenting with more carbs than I had been eating and that seems to be giving me the energy for 1hr workouts in the morning while still "fasting"...

But at this point I'm not sure how IF will fit with 2 to 3hr runs and 4 and 5hr bike rides... But we'll see... I'm open to being very flexible with it... as long as I have the energy that I need for the workouts that I want to do...

@TripSwitch That's a very good point I think. I'm in maintenance, so I can be a little looser with it. If I was trying to lose, I'd be keeping a lot closer track. IF is a tool, not a magic bullet.

Just giving a quick update, in my first week of IF along with calorie counting. I've lost about five pounds in a week. Went from 228.6 to 223.4.

So true...

So I'm just curious... What are people's thoughts on taking in a few calories in your coffee during the time that you're "fasting"?

I've heard that between 30 and 50 calories doesn't really matter... So that's what I do... I have a little bit of milk in my coffee, so about 30 calories or so...

But I'm interested to hear what others do and what they think about it... Any "purists" out there that only drink water when they're IF'ing?

<-- Also curious...

I have about 36 calories in my morning coffee, I can't drink just black and I'm not human without it. It might not be "purist" but I'm into changes I can do for life and giving up coffee isn't one of them.