welcome, katy.

I hope your first day of IF goes well.

Imannott - thanks! I'm finding IF to fit with the way I normally eat pretty well, too. So far so good! Good luck to you!

Thank Jen!

I'm aiming for a 1-8 window today but I think I'm gonna end up being pretty flexible with it some days because of my work schedule...This morning was good! I had a cup of tea and a load of water, got hungry about 11am, cooked a massive vat of quorn and vegetable chilli (I freeze most of it and just unfreeze portions when I want them) and then treadmilled for 30minutes.

Just had my first meal of the day: two spoons of chilli and 80g measured portion of couscous. I've got work at 3pm so I'm gonna take carrot sticks, an apple, some grapes and maybe a peach with me to nibble on and then have my second proper meal on my break about 7pm (chicken salad).

I think this oculd actually work for me really well!

Hoep everyone's having a good day!

Katy, welcome and good luck!

I did a Q&A for a blogger at his request a few months back. If anyone wants to read my story, it is at http://metabolicmemory.wordpress.com...ustainability/

I am not an EET client and am not promoting that method. In fact, I'm not 100% what the EET plan is. The main reason I hang around the weight loss websites is to try to help anyone that I can. For anyone who has a lot of weight to lose, check it out! If you have any questions or I can help in any way. Let me know.

Hello everyone! I stumbled across IF on this site a couple months ago, read some of the literature out there and decided to finally give it a try! I have been IF since Saturday and am pretty amazed at how easy it is for me so far. I am currently starting my fast at 7pm and breaking the fast at noon. I work out in the mornings and although I feel like I have slightly less energy, fasting hasn't had much of an effect on my workouts (mostly cardio, light lifting).

The best part, is that I am down 5 lbs. already! I know most is water weight but I will take it! I think another wonderful part of IF is that my hunger is much more controlled. I am very sensitive to sugar (low-carb has always been a great way of eating for me) but IF has also helped curb my appetite.

Thanks to all of you who offer so much information on IF!

I have been struggling with my weight for a long time. Since as far back as I can remember I have naturally usually only been interested in one actual meal a day. As an adult, I can go all day without trouble not eating until dinner. Today I found out about IF when looking for a Cantonese food blog! The woman began having trouble eating after 30 years of age. She loves food, but cannot eat it often. She started a website about IF and it was like someone turned the light bulb on over my head!

I feel SO great when I fast during the day, but I think that I am doing it all wrong. I need to do this flexibly and to make my one meal count = healthy and satisfying for myself and my family. This is all such a revelation about going with my body instead of against it. I'll share more as we go, but I have research to do!

THANK YOU for creating this thread. I love this forum and now I feel that I have found my 'food group'.

does anyone else feel like their brain is on overdrive while fasting? I started to feel this way today...and i don't know but I felt like I was burning fat for fuel. I used to feel that way on a really low carb diet.

A lot of people report this feeling. Personally I feel better while fasting.

Is anyone else here a one-meal-a-day IF'er?

So, I'm all good with an evening one-meal-a-day IF as it fits into my normal eating pattern and I always feel so good during the day when I don't eat - more energy and clear-headed. Now, is my thinking correct that the 1200 cals. I will be ingesting will be burned off healthfully over the next 24 hours? This totally goes against what has been drilled into me all of these years of life (not saying that it has been correct). It makes sense to me that we fast normally at night, but I have been conditioned to believe that one shouldn't eat after 6pm. I would rather eat at 8-9pm and be done with it.

Also, is a "mixed meal" a bad thing, or was John just saying that the mixed meal stores as the fat at night that will be later burned during the day?

I am all over the Internet looking for information about this. What is a good resource?

By the way, I am a total foodie and love to cook. I also write food articles for an online media source. So, good food is my friend and I enjoy it, but I want a long-lasting, healthier relationship with it.

So that is what this feeling is I have been fuzzy all week as if I can't focused. If I am up doing things I am okay. If I sit still I can't seem to get my brain to function.

I don't know if it is IF as I am not interested in the Fast Five idea per se, although I kind of tried it, but what I want is to get back to the old fashioned idea of just eating three meals a day. I am a person who did lose more than a hundred pounds more than a decade ago and maintained for a long time and during that time absorbed the message of eating six times a day to control blood sugar, because of my age, because of my work stress, whatever, I had just gotten into the idea that we all should eat all day. This has not worked well lately for maintenance and I am trying to lose 12 pounds currently. It is incredibly hard to cut calories unless I stick to three meals a day (with occasional small snacks) and I FEEL like each time period between the meals and from evening to breakfast is a "fast" and have been starving. But lately noticing that if I stay in a wait period I start to feel BETTER and I have more calories to satiate my hunger at mealtimes.

Remembering childhood and earlier adulthood. We ate three meals, had a bite if we were hungry. Felt fine, did not expire.

So it FEELS like I am doing IF at the moment, although NOT doing the window thing or the one meal a day thing, just getting more in touch with a relaxed feeling that I am feeling better when not eating all day.

fast five is an IF program. I started with that one. I like having a longer eating window though. As a kid, i went loooong periods without eating. my biggest meal was at night. That is how this woe works.

I dont' think the brain on overdrive feeling is bad. I feel more clear-headed when I am fasting. I also feel energized.

No one here that I have seen is. I'm not a fan of a single meal but if it works for you I don't see the harm.

All meals are mixed meals. Unless you want to eat a stick of butter, or just eat sugar cubes, all whole foods contain a mix of macronutrients. Don't worry about it. What matters is calories.

Leangains.com is my favorite due to his reliance on science. (Most of the time)

Weighed myself this morning (sneakily. I'm only meant to be weighing once a week but I wanted to see if this was working!) and I'm down to 67.9kg from 69.5kg (about 4.5lbs) the day I started!

I know its probably water weight but considering I went out last night with my girlfriends and got very drunk on cocktails, I was expecting to at LEAST be the same weight as then and instead I'm DOWN?! Brilliant.

I'm finding this SO easy it almost scares me. I did a 3-9 window yesterday (finished work at 3 so made it easy to avoid picking at work which is what I've been aiming for!) and heated up my usual size bowl of quorn chilli: I couldn't finish it!!!!! I was absolutely full about 3/4 of the way through! About 7 I had a veggie stirfry and fruit and doubt I would've been able to eat anything else if I tried!

Please excuse all the exclamation points but I'm just SO excited for this! I feel great. I'm energised, feeling healthier than ever and best of all: I really think this is something I can stick to in the long run!

John: Thanks John. I wasn't sure if I was to pair food types (veg/protein or veg/carb) separately during my eating window - that's how I was reading your statement. I did read a smart statement on the Warrior website that says to eat vegs./protein first and then carbs after. For a carb addict like me, this is a good for portion control. Thanks also for the link. This is what I was looking for.

katylil: Same here - it is just so natural for me. Mentally it is good too because I plan to only eat in the evening, so the stress of trying to eat during the day when I'm not hungry (to satisfy others) is off of my shoulders. Whenever I don't eat all day I am in much more control of my appetite too. It's because we're going with our body's personal eating pattern I think. Congrats on your loss!

Now out for a walk and then back to work again.