I'm not sure I can be of much help... since I use IF as a weight management strategy and not for weight loss... for that restricting carbs made the most sense for me... so for me, what and how much of what I was eating was more important to my weight loss than when I was eating it... But what I like about IF is it provides me with a framework to eat less often... which is also how I can see it being beneficial to weight loss... If that is by eating less often it enables you to eat less overall...

I used to eat at crazy times of the day (e.g. dinner immediately before going to bed) so IF really helped me with that. Once I combined IF with a balanced diet, I really started to see the benefits. Some approaches are to eat what you want on IF but when I replaced that with healthier food I really started to see the benefits. I like the break it gives my digestive system too. I am sleeping so much better.

I am coming back to it IF. I like the 16/8 and eat between noon and 8 at night. Actually, when I was growing up, this was my "normal" way of eating and I was thin. Then everybody convinced me I needed to eat 3 meals a day. Had a friend who was a dietician and when I gained so much weight, I asked her to write out a diet for me. She sent me a diet with 3 meals and 3 snacks. I told my hubby, "If I eat all that weight, I'll gain weight instead of lose". When I was thin, I never ate breakfast. I usually ate only 1 or 2 meals or 1 meal and a snack. Everybody fussed because I didn't eat enough. Then when I did eat "healthy", they would fuss because I needed to lose weight.

I finally decided like someone else said here that I know carrying all this weight is unhealthy and I don't care that some people think not eating breakfast or not eating as many meals is unhealthy. It is what I think that counts and I'll choose to eat only 8 hrs a day and I like the Intuitive Eating way of eating where I can eat what I really like to eat and eat only as much as it takes to satisfy me and enjoy eating better. At the same time, I have to admit that I really like mostly low carb eating best. IF, IE and low carbing works together very well for me.

Ok i have a question..I eat between 12-6pm ...is it okay to be hungry? I mean..I dont seem to get hungry before 12 but after 6..usually around 8 or 9..my hunger kicks in and i get stomach pains...i stick it through and dont eat but still...does this ever go away??? Is it okay to feel hungry? Is your body not starving? If we ate lots between 12 and 6..then why would i be hungry between 8 and 9? Shouldnt i be full from eating?

I like the break it gives my digestive system too. It was one of the main benefits that brought me back to it. Since you mentioned it, I notice that I am starting to eat more balanced with healthier foods even carbs as I do believe that there are certain carby foods my body needs. Hadn't thought about it until I read your post, but I do seem more satisfied longer when I do include them. I'll have to observe more of how I feel when eating certain foods.

I have this happen too... I actually tried to do a little bit of research on why this happens in general and not just within the context of IF... and there are actual physiological reasons for this phenomenon that are explained by hunger signals being triggered after the stomach has emptied and don't necessarily mean that you haven't eaten enough... I try to make my meals pretty energy dense with a fair amount of fat and protein which helps and then I just try to do my best to deal with the "hunger" that I might experience later in the evening by reminding myself that it's not "real" hunger in the sense that I know I've eaten enough for the day and I'm certainly not starving by any stretch of the imagination... Also when I get the urge to eat later in evening after my "window" has closed I tell myself the "KITCHEN IS CLOSED" and eating right now is not part of the plan that has been working for me so far... and it will not move me closer to my goal... and not only that, but it will probably wind up interfering with my sleep as well... and I find that even pretty intense "hunger pangs" will pass after about 20 minutes or so...

I am curious to see how others answer your question. I tried doing a 5 hr window in the begining, however, I seem to need to extend my window to 8 hrs usually from noon to 8pm was because I know that I am a nighttime eater for some reason. I plan to keep it flexible... I'm leaning that there are days that I may do an 8 hr from 11 to 7 or 1 or 2 till 9. Sometimes it is a 5 hr window or an 8 hr window are somewhere in between. I never go over 8 hrs, but I'm not going to make myself eat for 8 hrs if I'm not hungry. Seldom do I feel real hunger after 8 hr window. I find that the hunger I usually feel is from a habit and it isn't real. I focus on something else ad wait a few minutes and it passes. However, if I was truly hungry, I would have no problem eating if I really felt I needed to. That is why I combine my IF plan with IE. It just seems to work for me and keeps me from going off plan. I think everyone has to figure out their own way of doing this in a way that works for them that they can live with. My doctor told me that any diet will work, but the key is learnig which one you can live with. It has to become a lifystyle, not a diet plan, Good luck finding yours.

I eat beteen 7am and 1pm. Yes, I get hungry some evenings (it really depends on what I eat as my lunch) but by the time I go to bed it has gone and I do not feel hungry while sleeping or even when I wake up. Then it's breakfast.

My doctor does not particularly like me skipping dinner. We both didn't like me being 280lbs. But it is my way, or the highway.

I did have some 'tight' tummy feelings in the beginning but they have mostly passed.

IF is for me because I used to find myself eating dinner when I was not really that hungry. It was then I realised that this might work for me.

I have followed IF for 30 days without a break. My eating window is 12 pm to 5 pm (19/5). My hunger has diminished. Sometimes I feel hunger in the morning around 3 am. I take a sip of water and try to go back to sleep. After I wake up, I exercise and sip on hot tea until 12 pm.

Hi! I will join you! I was going to start South Beach tomorrow...then I watched the news tonight with an amazing segment on The Fast Diet book, which is a form of IF. 500 calories (for women) twice a week, and eat normally the other 5. One of the things that attracted me is that I'm sick of counting, weighing, measuring food. Even with South Beach, you still have the restriction of their food lists.

I can handle counting 500 calories of food twice a week, but I'm hoping that just eating normally the other 5 (without counting) will work for me. We'll see.

I ordered The Fast Diet and 5:2 Diet books from amazon and will get them on Wednesday. So happy to have found you!

Intermittent fasting
 

Hi everyone. I'm Going to try IF again but I crave sugar at night. Does anyone else have this issue? And how do you work around it?
Thanks

I crave beer and, calorie for calorie, there's about a chocolate bar in each.

So, you could try a healthy breakfast, a healthly lunch and ONLY a normal-sized candy bar for dinner. Combined with some light exercise, I'd bet you lose weight.

new loser
 

Iam new to this site and I like the idea of IF.

But what shall i do if i feel hungry in between. I get head aches.

I asked a bodybuilder friend of mine who practices intermittent fasting...he said you just deal with the discomfort and it gets easier.

During my fasting hours, I drink hot tea or water to quiet my grumbling stomach. If your headaches continue, I would have it check out. Or change your eating window. There are several different protocols based on people’s needs, lifestyle, exercise, goal and so forth. Check out the following sites for more information: www.theiflife.com www.PrescisionNutrition.com, www.Fast-5.com.