So out of all the things I've dome over the years, I've never done IF, but I'm thinking of doing it. I notice that on days that I don't eat breakfast right away (like not until 11a) That I am still able to eat well the rest of the day and not go over calories. Does anyone have a set time they start eating? Does anyone do IF only on certain days? I know if I'm going to do a long run early I'm going to have to eat before. Or if I do a decent run early, I'm going to be super hungry afterwards and I am not going to wait until 11am. It might only work on days I don't run.


Any thoughts?

I mix IF into my diet. I don't eat dinner. And the rest of my diet is a hybrid I have developed, mostly comprising canned fish, salad, kimchi, oats and beer.

But in answer to your question, exercise has a lot to do with it for me. I eat breakfast...wait....do weight training....wait....run...eat lunch. To start or finish my workouts for the day without a meal would be a dealbreaker for me. I can *sometimes* do an extra evening workout without fuel but it's tough!

And that's what food is for my workouts...fuel.

what are the benefits of IF??

Drop a meal...eat fewer calories. I got into IF when very very early on in my weight loss I realized I was eating dinner without feeling hungry. When I was 281lbs my wife would often ask me why I had not had dinner yet at 10pm. I'd go and cook something. Then one day, I didn't bother. And the scale started to drop...

I used to do like IanG - skip MANY dinners as I was much hungrier th ebeginning of the day.

This time, soemthing has switched... I think it's that I incorporated more fat in the morning, so then I didn't need to eat as much and now I can sit down to dinner with the family and have a huge meal.

What I do is - no breakfast as I am not hungry for breakfast. I drink a half caff cup of coffee with a luxurious half cup of half and half. It smooth and creamy and delicious! It's also 150 calories (ish)!!! But... "wasting" those calories on fat in the morning holds me over for HOURS. I am never hungry until 3 pm. Sometimes I'm super hungry at that time and I'll eat a bit of something - usually a couple tablespoons of peanut butter (fat and protein) that holds me to dinner.

Well, then, I've now gone all day with only consuming 150 to 350 calories!!! Woohoo! Then it means I can have a HUGE dinner and I love eating big meals.

I incorporate a LOT of green veggies in dinner time, avocados, olive oil, a big piece of protein. Dinners are usually 800-1000 calories and is WONDERFUL.

I personally still need to calorie count and watch portion control as I WILL eat 2000 calorie dinners if I don't watch out. I don't have a full button that works well.

Berryblondeboys I am much like you now. I find I am most hungry at the end of the day. Around 2pm ish it like a switch is turned on and I want to eat eat eat. If I eat very low carb, this is minimalized to an extent. I tried eating more earlier in the day, think maybe this was a sign that I was not eating enough early in the day. That strategy helped a little too. But over all I have found that is I followed my true eating pattern with no regards to habit or family eating. I would be happy with a very small breakfast, even just coffee with cream as you said. Then a large lunch around 12-1...then I tend to snack the rest of the day, but I do not want something substantial or meal like later in the day. I can still very easily consume the calories of a huge dinner, but I natural want to do it over that later hours of the evening and with several small snacks. I find that if I don't eat breakfast right away, as this has happened in the past for various reasons, and I don't get around to eating it until like 11a, that I then want my large meal around 3-4p and there isn't as much evening time left. I can still snack, but I find that it is MUCH easier to not go over my calories.

Ian, I realized I an not a dinner person several years ago on vacation, I just let my self eat whatever I wanted, with no regards to making healthy choices. I natural replaced dinner with an iced coffee, every night for two weeks (No sugar but with cream) because that's what I wanted. We were also more active on that trip, and I came home 8 pounds lighter, but I feel a main part was I felt no pressure to eat dinner. Now I cook dinner for the family and I feel almost obligated to eat what they eat, although more and more I am serving them and just having a small snack. Actually I have been trying to prepare dinner early in the day, I eat it for lunch (my big meal) and reheat it at dinner time, and this saves me cooking later in the evening anyway which is nice.

I think I might try IF on days I don't run and see how it goes. I've had to cut back on my miles anyway due to extensor tendonitis so I'm only running every other day, or every second day right now.

Glamourgirl, I do my am workout on Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30a I workout in a fasted state and my eating window does not open until about 2 or 3pm(sometimes even later) I drink a lot of water or tea and I'm fine. If I do feel unbearably hungry then I just adjust my window, but this is rare, emotional eating takes over sometimes (stressful job). This may be something you will need to ease into or it may not be for you at all. I'm a dinner person, I don't care much for breakfast foods or eating heavy at lunch and feeling sleepy while I'm at work. I have been experimenting with the different forms of IF for a little over a year now and I have to say it's the easiest thing I've done so far to lose weight.

ShaMac, I'm curious what kind of workout you do?

Those am workouts are body pump. I also do some different cardio workouts in the evening. I don't know if I should or should not be waiting that long to eat but I haven't experienced any negative side affects so far.

Ah ok. With weight lifting I do not experience as strong an appetite afterwards, and I do not feel as fatigued during a session if fasting, like I would with running. But I am not lifting very heavy. Running is a different thing. Go run for an hour or more on an empty stomach and its draining. Try to not eat for many hours afterwards and its torture! lol