as long as I drink a little tea, I am ok without food. it took a couple days of doing liquids and one meal, before I got into the IF mode again. it's different for everyone though.

@badgirl I started IF on February 1 of this year. I thought it looked perfect for maintenance... and it is! Also, I've lost 8-9 pounds without trying. Bonus! Actually, wish I had known back when I had over 100 pounds to lose. Good luck!

Thanks for the info girls!

hi everybody,

I'm new here, but not new to IF, I am returning to this lifestyle, because my weight is getting out of control. This way of eating has always got me thin when I needed to loss weight, and kept me thin as long as I stuck to it.

This is my 5th day on IF , I have lost 2 lbs, and I started out breaking =fast at 1;30 and i am now eating at 6:30(I added time slowly) which is working great for me. Today was great , because i started to crave fruit and salad, I always find that after a while on IF I start to crave fruits and veggies and less junk.

For workout i am doing 60 mins most days of cardio, right before I breakfast.

@badgirl, my body usually excepts this way of eating around weeks 2-3. after that i for the most part don't get hungry all day, until it's time to break fast and i will start to not even think about food until then. unless i cheat and eat breakfast then I feel almost like I'm starting over.

Well this day 6 of IF for me and I started the day with a can of la croix(sparking water) berry flavor. It has no calories or artif. sweeters. I find that it is easier for me to drink water or plain tea , If I add any sugar drinks or calories in any way I get a hunger out of this world.

I'm starting IF tomorrow. Here's my plan:

24 hour fast on Monday.
Eating window of 2-8 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Eat normally on weekends.

Does that sound reasonable? Is it a good idea?

Hi everyone! I'm an IF newbie. Actually, I had never heard of IF until reading this forum, but when I first read about it, I was waking up around 7 or 8 PM to start my day, and didn't want to eat past midnight, so I was doing IF without realizing it! I was skeptical upon reading about it at first, but it seemed to be working, so I'm now trying it officially. I've adjusted my sleeping hours, so I'm doing 12 PM - 4 PM as my eating window.

I'm very excited about combining IF with calorie counting, and about the results I hope to see soon!

To me this does not seem like a great plan for the following reasons.

1) Starting with a 24 hour fast seems like putting yourself through more pain than is necessary.

2) Eating "normally" on weekends may make the rest of your days more difficult than they need to be.

That said - it might work great for you. My suggestion would be to IF every day of the week including weekends but if you need/want to eat a few hours earlier for whatever reason go for it.

hey all, I'm still feeling good with IF. I do drink tea with a tsp of honey and a tsp of milk, but am careful to not break 50 calories. I have had very little to no problems with hunger AND IF has caused my postpartum belly flab to stop pointing at the floor. I have lost a measely 2 lbs, but if the majority of what I am losing is fat, i'll take it!

John P or Rick...any one with the research. I am working out at night (cardio) after breaking my fast, I do some intervals for about an hour with a friend...I have added pushups modified planks, and tricep dips to my exercises once my intervals are done. I have been reading posts in other forums and AM CONFUSED.

is it better to do the resistance training before I break my fast and why???

Wow! I am so happy to have found this thread. I had lost about thirty-five or so pounds from February 1st 2011 to May 1 2011 and then stalled in my weight loss. I was trying EVERYTHING and then I read about intermittent fasting. I did 24 hour fasts Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Worked like a charm. It broke through my plateau and I lost an additional seven pounds. I stopped with the intermittent fasting for some reason or another and have decided to do it again, except this time, make it a long-term habitiual way of eating. Also, I'd like to lose the last ten pounds to reach my goal of 130 before my classes start this fall. Hope everything is working out for you all!

njdx1205, glad to hear it only took a couple of weeks to adjust. Weekend's are a little harder than weekdays. I guess I more distracted at work and there's less temptation too. Finding I have more energy though instead of crashing as soon as I get home from work. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Hi,

I just started IF. My window is 12 - 6. I had a cup of tea with lemon no sugar, and then at 12 I had a big salad with tuna and balsamic dressing and about 4 whole strawberries. Feeling woozy now that I have eaten. Maybe I shouldn't had the balsamic dressing? I normally drink coffee in the morning is why I had the tea.

When you open your eating window, should it be with a protein or carbs?

Thanks. Any help would be appreciated.

It doesn't really make a difference if your goal is just to lose weight but if you can maintain workout intensity I'd say workout before breaking the fast because you'll probably lose your far more evenly.

This has a fairly complicated explination but essentially your body has preferred fat to burn. Given a hypocaloric diet the amount of fat you burn in a given day will be the same if you workout before or after breaking your fast but if you workout after breaking your fast you'll be burning more carbs and less fat in your workout and because you have raised your insulin levels you'll be burning the fat that is easier for your body to mobilize. The easier it is for your body to mobilize the more you probably don't care about losing fat in that area.

I'm probably doing a poor job of explaining this but the other side of the equation is IF you can maintain intensity. If you can't you're better off working out after you eat so you can get a better workout.

Note to self - don't post at 12:45 AM.

Goodnight

Give it some time. You'll adjust. I am of the belief you should have a good amount of protein with every meal.

How's everyone doing? Awfully quiet on here! Things are going well for me.