Ok, I did the IF for three days and it was easy to do, but then yesterday I woke up famished, so I think it's important to listen to the body. I ate. Came in the same calorie-wise as I always do.

See, for me, eating 5 meals a day or doing IF are both doable for me. I will just go by how I feel. If I really feel the hunger in the first part of the day, I will eat. If not, I will not. I will also keep IF in mind on days I know a big dinner is planned. Like, in a couple weeks we are going out on a dinner date with friends. Instead of picking at my dinner, I will enjoy it by using my calories of the day then. I will still try to make it a good choice meal, but I won't fret as much about it taking me over for the day.

I also think low carb eating just makes IF so much easier. Low carbers (and I'm not even a grossly low carb eater - I still average about 100 carbs a day - mostly from veggies and an apple) have more balanced blood sugars, so spreading meals out like that is easier as their sugars don't spike.

Anyway, just my thoughts on it.

Berry, I'm similar to an extent. I have never *wanted* to eat breakfast, so I don't wake up wanting to eat before noon. Just doesn't happen. So although I agree that one should listen to their body, and eat when they truly need to eat. For me, that means my official window is between noon-bedtime since that's the only time I ever want to eat. Sometimes I truly am hungry at noon, and so I eat. But I do prefer to not eat until 3-4pm, but I always ask myself if I'm hungry at noon. And if I am "hungry," I try to determine if I'm truly hungry or if I'm just bored and wanting to eat.

3 days I've been IF and I have to say it's the first thing I've done that feels normal, natural and life long sustainable.
I am so glad a checked out this thread and all the help that has been offered.

I have been able to loose the water weight packed on by TOM and am now back to my ticker weight and feeling wonderful. It's nice not feeling sluggish in the mornings because i've forced myself to eat something.

It really is good for teaching yourself how to recognize true hunger vs boredom or other reasons to eat . . . I think i've finally found something sustainable.

And just a question, has anyone noticed that their energy levels are more consistent and high when eating this way? Im starting to notice that myself, as much as I can in 3 days

A lot of people report this as well as a sense of peace and clear thinking during the fasting period.

Hi,
I hope I can join this thread-- I'm working on starting IF now. I'm so glad I read about it! A few years ago I lost 35 (150-115) pounds and maintained it fairly easily for over a year.

Then I started taking Zoloft for frequent panic attacks and my hunger became really... different and frequently unmanageable. I gained up to about 135 and have been unable to lose the weight while remaining on Zoloft. I don't want to give up the medication because being chubby is preferable to being panicked, and my quality of life is really great on the meds.
But still... I'd like to lose some weight!

I think IF might work because my hunger is definitely messed up, which it hadn't been before.
I've been gradually shrinking my eating window over the past few days -- yesterday was 6 hours, today I'm hoping for 5.

Reading your stories has been so great. Does anyone else have experiences with IF and antidepressants?

mariarose, I would definitely recommend IF for your situation.. My weight gain was caused by meds too. I've been off all meds for a few years now, but I remember how I was hungry ALL the time (I've always had a big appetite anyway) so I know where you're coming from.

I would make sure you get lots of protein and nutrient rich foods so they will last you the 19 hours between your windows. This will help a lot.. coffee and tea helps too when you get hungry and of course lots of water.

Lately, I've been getting in all my healthy foods in at the beginning of my window and having less healthy stuff later, if I want any of at all. Good luck with it, let us know how you manage.

Is everyone on here doing daily IF? I discovered eat-stop-eat but then switched to daily IF (fast-5) and eat from 4 to 9 daily. What is everyone's fasting regimen?

mariarose - Welcome! No advice to offer, but will say it's great that you've found an Rx that is working for you and hope IF does also.

Coondocks- Glad you found the thread and glad you're doing so well! Only on day two, so I think the energy that I have is more out of relief of finding something that just might work for me and is waaaay less work and stress than what I've been trying to do Hope it continues for both of us!

Kaseyy, I have done daily fasts AND eat-stop-eat in conjunction with daily fasting. Like I have mentioned several times, my brain and body don't like eating in the morning, so daily IF is just so naturally easy for me that eating within a small time window a non-issue to follow. When I read about E-S-E, I thought it was an interesting concept. I had reached a plateau and was willing to try it. I always had my 24-hour fasts from Saturday dinner to Sunday dinner. So eating nothing after dinner on Saturday and nothing all day until dinner on Sunday. It was fairly easy to adjust to, really. Once I got used to it, I absolutely got that clear energized feeling that JohnP mentioned. It shook me out of my plateau and my weight loss was linear practically all the way down to goal weight doing E-S-E.

Kaseyy and MissJessica thanks for the welcome! I broke my fast at 3 today and probably ate a bit too much, but less than I would have eaten by this time of day usually. Plus I feel really stuffed, and will probably not eat that much for the rest of my window.

I've been reading about intermittent fasting for insulin resistance and I'm interested in starting this. When I was at my best weight and maintained, I only ate one meal a day with occasional snacking. I didn't do it on purpose, it's just that I was busy in life and was active and eating too often made me feel heavy. I listened to my body. Something I haven't done in a while. I've been doing low carb for IR and I just feel heavy and lethargic. I believe IF will work for me.

My question is for those of you with IR, what do you eat during your window? Do you just count your calories for this time or do some of you do low carb? I am gluten-free and limit dairy and sugar so I may just stick with protein and salad and maybe some fruit. Is fruit going to be ok though? I just need some help getting started lol

Jessica, I'm not sure how many pages can be posted in a thread before it's done to be honest .

Hope you're all well today . It's 2:40p.m. California time and it's almost time for my eating window to open up! It's cool to look forward to eating and actually know that you're HUNGRY instead of forcing yourself to eat or eating out of boredom

Monique

Megan - I was looking at Before/After pictures and saw your post. Amazing!! Your success and your story, truly inspiring. This is a plug guys and gals, go check her post out!

LeslieLou - I'm PCOS, wheat-free, limited dairy, so similar to you I think. From what I've read so far and my knowing own eating preferences, IF seems like a good choice. I do count calories, but at an amount I'm comfortable with. I stick with the usual healthy stuff: lean mean, fish, lots of veg, a little fruit, a little carbs (usually potatoes, rice, or rye crackers). Now, it's the same food but the difference with IF is instead of always being hungry and thinking my next mini meal all day, I can chill until it's time to eat a meal substantial enough to be pleasantly satisfied. All bodies are different though, so try it out and see how it goes for you.

Thanks SO much for your reply! I'm the type that likes to feel full when I eat so I think this would work for me. I'm not big on eating breakfast and it seems if I do eat breakfast then I feel like I'm hungry all day If I don't eat breakfast then I'm really not hungry until early afternoon, so I think this would work for me! I'm going to join in and see how things go. I think I would feel more in control this way. I love it that I found this thread and there are so many doing this!

I have to calorie count. Even though IF curbs my appetite to snack needlessly, I love food terribly and would eat everything in my fridge if I could. While it's nice to have larger dinners, I shouldn't overdo it, and calorie counting keeps me from overeating.

I think most people would tell you to eat how you normally would, just in a smaller time frame. Get in your fruits, veggies, protein, and whole grains. Though it has the word "fast" in the title there's no reason to cut nutrients- just limit the time frame in which you intake them.

Yes, I still calorie count. While I have zero problem restricting eating to only my window, I could eat junk food for the whole 6-8 hours if I allowed myself. Which would be counterproductive, to say the least. Even if I was trying to "be good," I still think I'd overeat even healthy foods if I wasn't tracking calories. Calorie counting has just become so routine and easy for me that it's no big deal. I count calories and stick to my window. Easy peas.

That said, I do not track carbs, fats, or anything of the sort. I do make sure I have enough fiber and protein, but I usually do just based on the foods that I prefer to eat (lean proteins and veggies). I probably eat too many carbs (complex carbs and whole grains though) than I should, but it hasn't negatively impacted me. Basically, as long as I am eating a satisfactorily balanced diet and getting my protein and fiber, I just consider a calorie a calorie and eat what I want. I have no health issues such as IR or PCOS or anything.