Yeah, it's never happened to me before in my life. Ever. My usual set point for satiety is 2700 calories of healthy food - regardless of whether I exercise or not.

But I did end up with a binge last night.

I am thinking I need to make split pea soup more often. Stuff is FILLING.

Training for a couple of half marathons right now. Typical runs are 4-7 miles, one longer run a week, goal is to run 5 days a week. I think if I run first thing in the morning, fasted running is ok. I'm on school vacation now (just for another few days :( ) and that means I'm running close to the end of my fasting period after tinkering around the house for a few hours.

Callahan, I've been doing a lot of doubles lately - 3 ish miles at ~5 am and then a 3-7 mile run around 11 or 12. All fasted. I played around with my second run being either before or after breaking the fast and I actually do much better with them both being before. Mostly because I really like my first meal to be BIG. I've had a couple times the schedule didnt work and I did my second run at 6 pm or so and that also worked ok. Ate at 2ish and then made sure I was done eating by 4:30. But night running messes with my sleep.

I honestly think that once you adjust to IF, you'll have no problems with runs up to at least 90 minutes. Beyond that it depends on what kind of intensity you are trying to hold on the long run. OTOH if you are struggling in a training run that is SUPPOSED to be easy (i.e. not a tempo/interval session) it is probably a good sign that you are running the easy runs too fast anyway. Easy runs should be in the fat burning zone.

hi IFers! been awhile...

so it's officially skiing season. Normally, I would never do that much cardio, but I love it so I don't care. I have to get up pretty early to go (6 AM-ish, on a weekend blegh) and don't get home till 3 or 4. My eating window is from 12-6 PM so I don't normally eat before getting on the slopes. I do feel weaker while skiing than I did in my pre-IF days. It's a lot of work, I burn 600-800 extra calories that day.
Think I should just forget fasting, have breakfast and go? Or pack a decent snack for a late-morning ski break? So far i've just had a protein bar (130 calories, 11 grams of protein) and a coffee, which just isn't cutting it. I need energy for this!

I've been wondering what I'll do with skiing. Running doesnt make me hungry but skiing famishes me.

When do you start to feel it? Have you been eating lunch at noon on the slopes? If it isnt cutting it I would say eat breakfast. When you are working that hard the insulin response is mitigated anyway and you should be able to get back into IF the next day.

ennay - could you post your split pea soup recipe? I have a bag of split peas in my cupboard, and I am not sure what to do with them! :)

I don't eat any actual meals while skiing. I waste no time, while everyone else is digging into a 20-euro plate of spaghetti. I just have a snack and short break around 11:30.

It's not bad for the first hour or so, after that I get pretty tired and cold. In previous winters I never felt cold. I pretty much want to quit all the slaloming, jumping, and off-slope fun by midday and just slide lazily down. I think I will have breakfast. I love a hot bowl of oatmeal in the morning anyway.

The people I ski with are pretty into lunch, but we usually eat around 1 so....

I dont ski often and my legs are pretty toast after lunch anyway, part of me would rather ski through and then knock off early

guac

2 stalks celery chopped*
2 carrots chopped
1 med onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1-2T olive oil, butter or bacon grease
1 meaty ham bone
1 lb split peas
1T dried thyme
4 bay leaves
~6 cups water

- ham cut from bone - diced into bite size pieces

* how finely you chop the veggies depends on if you plan on pureeing the soup or leaving soup chunky. If you are leaving it chunky chop fairly finely <1/2 inch pieces. If you are going to puree later just rough chop.

Saute carrots, onions and celery in fat over medium-high heat until starting to soften and aromatic ~ 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 1 additional minute. Place ham bone in the center of the veggie pile and add water, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to boil, add peas, reduce heat to maintain simmer, cover and simmer for 1-1.5 hour stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaves, puree if desired and add chopped ham. Heat briefly to warm ham through.

For vegetarian split pea, omit ham and ham bone and use veggie broth or double carrots and celery and add 1T italian seasoning. If you arent veggie but dont have a ham or dont want to use ham, chicken broth will give more flavor than plain water.

At the end you may need to add additional water to thin depending on how you like your soup.

mta - it is best to use a fairly heavy pot as peas tend to stick on hotspots

Thanks for the recipe!! Sounds yummy and filling!

Hey all, Happy New Year!

Have no idea why I'm posting as I'm going to wait until next Wednesday to weigh in. I'd lost 4 lbs. before the holidays and although I kept to my eating window, I relaxed it a bit on those days.

Felt absolutely glorious not to feel guilty about enjoying what I ate and noticed I didn't eat as much as I normally would. Due in part to knowing I could and keeping pretty much to my workouts, which is Curves and their Zumba workouts (apart from the machines). Love it!

My window is still mainly 3 p.m. - 8 p.m., but if it needs adjusted on occasion, so be it. I usually have a couple cups of coffee (morning and afternoon) before my window opens, both with cream and Splenda. Neither of which seem to affect the weight loss I was beginning to see.

Have a good afternoon!

Oooooh this is weird. I'm racing today so I am eating breakfast. I'm kind of having to force it. Odd feeling

Howdy y'all!.. I haven't been here in quite a while & am thrilled to see so much activity in the past month... as for IFing, I put it on hold a couple of months ago, & wish now I hadn't done that... so, I'm back with a vengeance... today is day 3... I do best with a fairly short evening window... officially, it's from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm, but I usually stop eating by 8:00...

All this talk of running has got me excited about starting up running again... it's been many, many years since I ran much, so I can pretty much count myself a beginner... I found a running group in my area that has 5K training sessions every Saturday morning... too bad I didn't find it before this morning!.. oh, well, I can start next week...

WOW!!!.. can I relate to this!.. this was my biggest problem during the holidays, especially during my visit with my parents... my mom is an amazing cook & is always pretty insistent that we all eat breakfast, lunch, & dinner... of course, since it was Christmas, there were all sorts of sinful goodies around 24 hours a day... I found them too hard to resist... these first few days back on IF are giving me a chance to get my stomach used to not being full all the time... I think eating all day gets me so used to having a full stomach that to have it less full is extremely uncomfortable, physically as well as mentally & emotionally... so just cutting back is just not possible... the only remedy is to go cold turkey... IF rocks!..

hugs :hug:

hmmm...I may have to replan race day fueling. Not being used to breakfast anymore I felt a bit uncomfortable most of the race. Might have to stick with liquid or gel calories. Blech.

Ennay how did you do on the race? What was the distance? It sucks doing a race and not feeling your best while doing it. I guess with IF it's trial and error?

I fasted every other day this past week so my week looked like this:

Fast Sunday 6pm-Monday 6pm
Fast Tuesday 6pm- Wednesday 6pm
Fast Thursday 6pm-Friday 6pm.

I know with ESE he says 1-2 times a week for fasting. Do you think this is too much to d it every other day? I feel fine so far doing it. And I was going to fast today (well Saturday from 8pm to tomorrow morning)

Also got some good walks in and just weights at home. No real loss this week yet.

I did well on the race, I'm coming back from a long layoff and I was about 90 seconds faster than I expected. It was a 10K so fueling isnt super critical. My energy level was perfect though, I felt like I had the right amount of fuel, but my gut felt heavy and in a couple spots at the tops of hills I felt sick. I may try a protein shake with fruit next time instead of toast and almond butter.

Got way off track with the IF over the last few months. It has been really difficult to get back to it. I thought I'd try to get back on track with a good old-fashioned 40-hour fast today. Started last night at 8 and I plan to go until tomorrow noon, then break with my regular old 8-hour eating window, get back into the IF groove and keep calories at my RMR minus 500. That's just for this week. Next week I start the Venus Index competition (12 weeks) so I think I'll try to do two 40-hour fasts a week. We'll see how this one goes.

Good luck! I'm restarting again today. I seem to always get off to a good start and then TOM hits and I get off track because I'm ravenous during that time. :(
I always thought it'd be easy to get back on track with IF, but I've struggled this last year. I guess the best way is to never get off track.

between the race and my daughters birthday this weekend was farther off the mark than most of the holidays. Blerrrrrgh.

I got to 36 hours with my fast, but I lost two pounds! It was rough toward the end (that's why I cut it off shorter than the 40 hours I had planned). Didn't sleep welll at all during the fast. But recovery was good, so I'm trying a second fast now.

If that works, it'll be great! Because I've always struggled with getting daily calories lower, but the fasting doesn't seem so hard. Doing two 36-hour fasts a week means I can eat well four days a week and not stress so much over the calories every day.

new to IF-any advice appreciated
 

HI,
have never joined a forum before, so forgive me if im butting in here!
i am nearing 47, weigh 15 stone- 210 lbs and aim to lose about 4 stone-56 lbs.
have done the usual yoyo dieting since my mid twenties and have always ended up weighing a bit more.

have read a bit about IF, but not great deal. begrudge buying a book about how not to eat!!! anyhow. I am planning to do two 20-26 hr fasts a week, but always eating something each day- eg breakfast on day 1, then nothing till lunch on day 2- or should i start with breakfast on day 2? is that what most of you do?

Im looking to be able to keep this up for a considerable period of time- as i have so much to lose, but wondered if anyone here has managed to keep it any if so, if you have any tips?

also i only plan to weigh myself once a fortnight, and i dont plan to changs what i eat on my none fast days-as the whole point for me is to not become obsessed with what i can or cant eat.

thanks for reading. will post again soon.
Moozie ( lover of cows, but not in the physical sense!!!)

Moozie, good luck! IF has been the answer for many of us. I don't have any experience with two longer fasts a week. What works for me is the fast 19 hours, eat for 5 as set out in Fast 5 (free e-book). Others on here do something more like what you are trying.

Just a word of caution. I understand that you don't want to have to count calories on the days you don't fast. One of the things I've seen mentioned is that you have to be careful not to make up all the calories you didn't eat on your fast in the next eating window. So, make sure you are mindful not to over eat when you start again.

Good luck! :)

thanks for that,
and yes i realize i cant go mad on my eating days. i just plan to eat normal meals and continue to be able to eat out occasionally. my weight has been stable for about 6 months ( since i stopped dieting!) so i am hoping that if i stick to my normal regime with the fasts too, it will give me a slow but steady weight loss.
thaks for the advice.
moozie:)

Moozie, yes it should. Keep us posted! :)

Moozie, welcome to our little forum. I've been doing the IF for a few months now. I had been at a three-year plateau around 325 lbs and was so SO frustrated about not being able to break past that weight for any length of time. I'd dip down to 315, then pop right back up.

I changed the content of my diet, which made me feel a lot better, but even with the lower carbs and increased vegetables, even with the end to eating out and no longer eating any processed foods, all I could do was maintain that weight. I struggled to lower caloric intake. But once I learned about IF and started to use it (at first with 18-hour daily fasts and a six hour eating window), the weight started to come off. And I finally broke below 300 lbs a few months ago.

Since then there have been periods of time when I wasn't faithful to the IF. The weight didn't come back, but the weight loss ended and I hit a plateau again, right around 296 lbs. But last week, I started back up with the IF, this time with a 36-hr fast, and I dropped to 293 lbs. It is my intention to continue with this until its no longer effective, which will probably be when I get really close to my goal weight, below 200 lbs.

I seem to be able to handle the longer fast if I time it right (from 6 pm to 6 am two days hence). I struggle with eating less than my RMR on any given day, so with IF, I don't have to stress over that at all. During the fasting day, I drink coffee, water and chicken broth (no more than 2 cups every four hours).

The challenge for me is breaking the fast. I'm still tweaking this. I can easily put away my RMR within the four hours after I'm done fasting. I read how other women can break a fast with 200 calories and go on with their day till dinner. I can't! I wonder if it's how I break the fast that is the issue, what I'm eating specifically. This time, I'm going to try ending the fast with a meal replacement shake and then leave the house to go to my Pilates class. It seems to take a good hour before what I eat affects my blood sugar levels and helps me calm down. (I get really edgy and energized when I fast.) If I can distract myself enough with something else to do, then perhaps I can work on spreading those calories over the day rather than all at once.

Good luck with finding what works for you. Be patient with yourself. It takes a little time to tweak IF to your body's rhythm.

thank you for the advice.... and support
 

thanks to both of you.:)

its good to hear that you haven't lost heart with IF, as I know i want to follow it long term- if I can get my body used to it.
have been on a non fast day today- my Sisters 50TH birthday. just got back from an oriental buffet, and was able to eat without feeling guilty. but funnily, didnt go mad either.

for me, this is one of the biggest attractions of IF. as I do eat out once a week- nothing special, just a pub supper at the local Quiz night. i had always struggled with the guilt versus deprivation, which ultimately made me eat more than.
if I can plan my fasting periods around it, I hope i will be able to enjoy it without overeating.

any way, we will see.
my first fast went really well. second one starts tomorrow after breakfast. and then ill have the weekend eating normally.

oh yes- can anyone tell me how you got the little weight loss picture at the bottom of your posts?

thanks and good luck to you too.
:dizzy:

You have to be a member and participate in the forums for awhile before you can get a ticker. I think it is 30 or 50 posts, something like that. Once you can, you can use 3FC's own ticker, lilypie or tickerfactory

TICKERS: I think it's 21 days and 21 posts. If you keep checking your CP it will show up automatically that you can add a custom signature. That is where you will put it. You can go on one of the ticker web sites now and get one going, you just can't add it to your signature quite yet.

Welcome to IF.

I just cannot eat as much with ESE! I fast for 24 hours every other day and when I do eat it's usually one meal a day of whatever I fancy ( healthy but not deprived). And then I just don't have an appetite it's crazy. I love it.

thanks everyone.
i will have my ticker to look forward to!
have just finished my second fast, only 20 hours, as i had an evening meeting that included a meal. but i ate very sensibly and was surprised how quickly i was full.
think i will stick with the 2 x 24 hour fasts for a while and see what my results are, as i haven't had any real ill effects of going without food. don't feel like im cutting down, though obviously over the week, its a reasonable calorie deficit.

not looking for a quick fix- it took me a long time to get here. i am just hoping that by this time next year I will be feeling a lot healthier- and be able to fit into normal clothes.
keep well, eat well.
moozie:dizzy:

Hi, everyone! Happy New Year! I've been using different versions of IF off and for awhile, just trying things out. I have become fascinated by all the different benefits and patterns that people use to fast, something years ago that I thought was not good for me but I am increasingly drawn to the benefits.

Moozie, I think you are basically doing Eat-Stop-Eat, then? Sorry, I am kind of breezing through because busy and not sure if you said that.

I tried Fast Five and I don't like that pattern and am considering Eat-Stop-Eat or Leangains but now I just "fast" by basically skipping one to two meals in a day that I've decided to do it.

It has a lot of benefits and I feel great.

What I did come on here today to ask is if anyone knows of an iPhone app for IF. I found one with bad reviews and it doesn't seem to be much more than just a countdown timer. I would like an app that works like a countdown timer but also logs the fasts and enter data.

There are a number of fasting apps that are applicable to religious fasting but that isn't really what I am doing.

Hi Amarantha,
i think its eat stop eat that i have based this on- to be fair i havent read the book, but i did some searching on google and read a bit about it that way.
i begrudged paying $39 to be told how not to eat!!!
I am eating normally all this weekend and will be fasting again after monday breakfast- but i am finding that i am tempted to miss meals, which im guessing i shouldnt do?
what i dont want to do is under eat and slow my metabolism down.
ho hum, will just have to trust my instincts on this one.and the scales when i weigh myself.

anyway there is an IF timer app by motfu on iphone apps. it is a very simple tool, it basically tells you when you started, how long you have left- that may be the one you saw?
cant see any others, sorry
it may be that one of the diet apps could be used? will have a look and report back.

EDITED TO ADD: I did get the app, Moozie! I do think it is nice. It puts your fast on your calendar so that serves my purpose that I want a record. I am doing a one hour test of it to see if it actually makes a sound when the fast is over.

Lol, I am app mad since I got my new iPod! Thanks!

I did do 15 hours, my longest stint, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 a.m., usually I eat something at night or early in the morning, so this was a good effort. I am cutting calories today so as NOT to have a binge.

Yea, I have not actually read E-S-E either. There are copious explanations of all the plans on Livestrong and I have a lot of the Kindle versions of some of them at much less than $39.

Have a good day, all!

I have read a couple of articles about exercising in the fasted state. It seems
that this works better for burning fat and reducing insulin resistance. I haven't
been exercising lately but decided to start back doing some but only on alternet days about an hour or 2 before I break my fast. I am hopeing this
will help with my diabetes a little more. Now the 40lbs I have lost on this WOE
has helped my diabetes a lot but it still could be a little better.

Lost my mojo for awhile and while I was mostly still in IF the quality of food wasnt good.

Think I have located it.

Question for John or anyone who uses BCAA supplementation in conjunction with IF. I have BCAA capsules, but taking that many pills is tiresome so I skip more often than not.

I'm back in a heavy lifting cycle so I though I would at least use them then since it is usually at least 5-7 hours after my workout before I break fast. I've been looking into the BCAA powders, but all the ones I have seen have artificial sweeteners which cause me major tummy issues. Are there any unflavored ones?

If you're going to use BCAAs and your stomach cannot handle you should probably stick to pills.

I buy unflavored BCAAs for when I lift fasted but I mix in crystal light because the unflavored BCAAs by themselves are taste very bad.

Then again - BCAAs are certainly not necessary. If you're not looking to add muscle then I would just skip them.

The idea behind BCAAs is to turn on anabolism for people following the leangains method and attempting to add small amounts of muscle while dieting down to very lean levels. Martin has said they are not neccessary just optimal for those following his methodology.

Hey everyone! I'm new to IF and I'm so glad to have found this forum! I have been trying everything under the sun to lose the 50 lbs. I gained after my pregnancy. I then was hit by a 53' semi trailer in November and have a bad back injury. At this time I can't do any exercise except my physical therapy 3 times a week so I need to cut my calories by a lot! I figure this is worth a shot to help control my calories and turn this into a healthy lifestyle! Do you guys think this is a way of life that could help me reach my goal while recovering from my accident? Thank you for all of your posts they are so inspiring!

Btw this is my 3rd day doing IF and my window has been roughly 12:30-7:30 to start. I am working my way to a 5 hour window. So far I am 4 lbs down in 3 days, I'm sure it's water weight but it is nice to see on the scale! :)

Hi all! I've been skimming through these posts for a while. Intermittent fasting is something that has worked tremendously for me in the past. I stopped when people, usually family and friends, convinced me that I'm harming myself by eating just once (sometimes twice) a day, that I'm going to go into starvation mode, that it's not something you can do as a lifestyle change, etc.

I'm the type of person who, if not hungry, will binge everything in sight if I have a single bite of something. I guess I'm weird like that. But if I'm hungry, and I mean truly, stomach growling hungry, I'll eat until satisfied (usually in the afternoon) and I'm good to go for the day.

My problem isn't hunger... it's the cravings. If I only wait until I'm actually hungry, I'm fine and I eat what I need and not any more. I've tried eating small meals every couple of hours and had I stuck with it, it would have worked (ultimately it IS calories in vs calories out) but that's just it. For me, it doesn't feel very natural or very practical. It got to a point where eating every few hours felt like a chore. If I wait until I'm hungry, I tend to make better choices, too.

So tomorrow, I will go back to IF. I feel I'm happier, more energetic, less lethargic and more productive that way. Eating every few hours had the disadvantage of making me drowsy and bogging down my mind, too.

@getmybodyback I think IF would be a great way to loss weight before or after an accident. I've been doing fast 5 for almost a year now. It is very sustainable and works great for me and many others. Good luck to you! If you have questions just ask :)