@Dawn2Dusk Actually, I don't think that is weird at all. I'm the same way, I'm not hungry until I take the first bite then I want to eat everything in sight. That's why IF works so well for me. When my window opens, I can eat quite a bit and don't pick at stuff all day!

I am still experimenting with organizing my food life around IF. Not doing Fast 5 or any organized plan, just doing mini "fasts" in an attempt to feel better and be more organized between fasting and eating periods.

Eventually I will pick a plan.

The IF timer app for iPhone actually has helped me a lot!

Woot!

Hi All,
have now completed my first 2 weeks of IF and have weighed my self this morning. I was hoping for a couple of pounds, but nearly fell off the scales- Ive lost 7lbs!! yippee. :carrot:

I am so encouraged by this, especially as this weigh in was after 2 days of normal eating.I haven't lost that much at the beginning of a diet since i was in my twenties.

I am coping well with 2 fasts a week, of 26-28 hours, so that i miss a whole days food each time. Have had a few difficulties with planning when to fast, but thats just because January is a funny month for me- 3 close family birthdays, including my own, all of which involve food!! but I have been out to 2 celebrations in my first 2 weeks and have not gone mad, nor denied myself.
so all in all, am really pleased with this great start.

dawn to dusk and getmybodyback, this has been so easy in comparison to other eating plans I've tried. yes I've felt hungry on the fasts, but because i know that i can eat on my non fast days, it has been easy to ignore it

i know that this rate of loss will not continue, but its really boosted my confidence that the plan can work for me, and as i am only going to weigh every 2 weeks, I am hoping that i will have some weight loss each time, even if its only a lb, and no early plateaus.

anyway, thanks for reading and for all your posts- which i love to read
:)

Congratulations, Moozie!

I maintained this week, am eating too much overall.

I am still experimenting. :)

Dawn to dusk, that is exactly what happens to me. If I eat when I am not hungry I go into binge mode. Thanks for the observation because I needed a phrasing like that to quantify what I have been doing this week.

At least pseudo-IF has kept the damage to a minimum.

Hi there I'm starting today. My fast started at 6:30. I have about 30lbs to lose and hoping to do so before June 1st. I also workout to kettlebells 3 days a week.

Hi guys. I started on Saturday as planned and today is Day 3. So far so good. I gotta say, I've been tempted to check my weight constantly but holding off until Saturday - official weigh-in. I won't lie, it's definitely challenging. Like I thought so, hunger isn't the problem. The growlies happen twice, maybe three times a day, then disappear a few minutes later. It's the cravings that are so trying. But I've been holding strong. It makes the evening meal that much more satisfying. I don't even binge, don't even feel the need or want to, you know?

I figured even if I add in more meals in the day during maintenance at least by ignoring my cravings now and focusing more on hunger I can teach myself to do the same then, too.

As for how I'm feeling: zen and mellow, more patient, less annoyed about stuff and people. No highs or lows/crashes yet, just feeling stable. I've been very productive at work. I have a desk job in front of a computer with minimal amounts of walking but I've been able to put in 6-8 hours so far in the past three days.

How's everybody else doing?

@noegirl05 Welcome and good luck!

@Dawn2Dusk I also have a desk job. I am much more alert and less prone to do a keyboard face plant while fasting. Bonus! :)

OK so today was easy until it was time to fix dinner. I ended up with a 22 hour fast. I didn't work today so I wasn't as distracted as I would be at work. Planning to do it Sunday evening to Monday and Wednesday to Thursday. I'm only going to weigh on Saturdays. So far I'm super excited. I ended my fast with a half of avocado, half of baked plain sweet potato, and a string cheese. I ended up having a bit of chili for dinner a half of apple and a few grapes. Not sure how many calories that is but I'm hoping its under 800

Note to self. If you spend 2 weeks "IFing" with a sugar binge at the same time, dont think you can do a fasted double workout the second day back, need time to remember how to use fat for fuel

IF - results
 

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum but have being doing IF'ing for 9 months now.

My eating window is 10 hours (as recommended by leangains for women).

Usually I eat 10am-8pm. This time suits me as a get to eat with the family at 5.30pm and a snack whilst watching tv about 7.30pm.

I also do weight training 1 or 2 mornings a week - lifting heavy, 2-3 sets of 5-6 reps - squats, deadlifts, leg press/extension mostly.

I don't do any cardio anymore, just a low/medium intensity walk with the dog 2-3 mornings a week. I'm not a big fan of cardio at the gym!

I have dropped my weight from 150lb to 120lb (with more muscle weight) since I started IF'ing, so am happy with the results!

I have a couple of pounds still to loose before I want to maintain and am having the old difficulty that when I eat a nible of anything the flood gates open and I start craving, then eat junk!

I read 'Eat Stop Eat' and did did my first day on Monday. I was really surprised that I wasn't hungry at all throughout the day. Although I drunk some black coffee, water, flavoured tea thorughout the day and then ate at 6pm with the family. I thought I would pig out after 24 hours of fasted state but to my amazement I just ate what I would normally eat for dinner anyway (what Brad suggests).

I am on day 2 of Eat Stop Eat today, and am not feeling hungry at all! But I know if I were to eat one little thing the hunger would come straight away!

This forum is a great resource, thanks for all the info and I will post back to let you know next Monday if there has been a drop in weight or body fat this week.:carrot:

I'm working in a 24-hour fast today. Have a wine and cheese thing to go to this evening and I want to be free to enjoy. Still, I don't plan on making a meal of it all. Trying to make up for a bit of overeating earlier in the week.

Originally Posted by JohnP:
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.

JohnP, I'm glad you brought this up... I've been doing 20 g. BCAAs on my workout days, 10 g. before workout & 10 g. immediately after... do you believe there would be any benefit to doing more than that?.. like, 5 g. upon waking in the morning & 5 g. right before bed?.. plus, doing them on my non-workout days too?.. or would just be overkill, so to speak?..

Thanks!.. hugs :hug:

Once I start eating it seems uncontrollable. I don't eat a very large amount it just seems like I am always wanting to eat once I break the fast. During my fasts though I am not hungry or even thinking about food.. Do you guys have this problem? I did get a little off track due to TOM this week and a night of drinking at a concert and gained back 3 of the 6 lbs. I lost. Ugh! But I am getting back on track and making better food choices I closed my window tonight at 7:30pm. I'm hoping to lose 15 lbs. And get down to 165 by march 1st. *fingers crossed it goes as planned*

@GetMyBodyBack Actually, I find that I feel full pretty quickly when my eating window opens. The only thing I can think of to help is fast longer. I can't remember if you are doing Fast 5 or Eat Stop Eat, but for instance, if you are doing Fast 5 you could reduce your eating window to 2 or 3 hours perhaps? No clue really, just trying to think of something that might help.

Originally Posted by Aunt Sheshie:
JohnP, I'm glad you brought this up... I've been doing 20 g. BCAAs on my workout days, 10 g. before workout & 10 g. immediately after... do you believe there would be any benefit to doing more than that?.. like, 5 g. upon waking in the morning & 5 g. right before bed?.. plus, doing them on my non-workout days too?.. or would just be overkill, so to speak?..

What are your goals? The primary reason to use BCAAs is to maximize muscle gain (or to help minimize loss) on heavy lifting days. I'm only going by what Martin from Leangains reccomends when I suggest to take 10g before workout. He only suggests 10 more grams if you can't eat within an hour of working out and spaces them out 10g every two hours.

Example - workout 8:00 AM - feeding window opens at noon. 10g BCAAs at 8:00 AM, 10g BCAA at 10:00 AM, meal at Noon.

Even then Martin says this is optimal but not necessary - again when the goals to maximize muscle gain (or to help minimize loss) on heavy lifting days. Thus anything else is just tossing money down the drain.

I have been doing a 5 hour eating window and JUDDD ( eating 2600 calories
one day and 500 calories the next day) this has worked well for me. But like
some people here I don't get to hungry when fasting but once I start eating
I find it hard to stop. On my 500 calorie days if I eat a 100 calories here and there I seem to do ok but having 2 or 300 calories at one time trigers my hunger. Is there any good reason for this ?

On a different note I rember a study I read about exercise and consuming
protein. This study did not look at building muscle mass it was conserned with
something called cardiac reserve. They found that having 20 or 30 G of protein right after exercise enabled the heart to build this reserve capacity
something to help it handel stress like a heat stroke a lot better. And no I
don't rember where I read this article.

new to 3 fat chicks and IF
 

HI I've been trying to find an IF support group online for Intermittent fasting. Is it too late to joing this group?

thanks!

Originally Posted by JohnP:
What are your goals? The primary reason to use BCAAs is to maximize muscle gain (or to help minimize loss) on heavy lifting days. I'm only going by what Martin from Leangains reccomends when I suggest to take 10g before workout. He only suggests 10 more grams if you can't eat within an hour of working out and spaces them out 10g every two hours.

Example - workout 8:00 AM - feeding window opens at noon. 10g BCAAs at 8:00 AM, 10g BCAA at 10:00 AM, meal at Noon.

Even then Martin says this is optimal but not necessary - again when the goals to maximize muscle gain (or to help minimize loss) on heavy lifting days. Thus anything else is just tossing money down the drain.

Thanks, JohnP... my goal is really to minimize muscle loss, but if there's any muscle gain, that'd be a good thing... I think I'll just stick with what I've been doing & not add any more... throwing money down the drain isn't one of my favorite things...

Originally Posted by wvuchick:
HI I've been trying to find an IF support group online for Intermittent fasting. Is it too late to joing this group?

thanks!

Its' never too late, wvuchick... welcome!..

hugs :hug:

Thanks for the welcome.

I should probably introduce myself a little

I've lost 31 lbs. through conventional dieting, counting calories, since July 2011. I don't actually remember where I came across IF, but I read Eat Stop Eat, and thought that it made a lot of sense to fast and thought I'd give it a try.

Today is my first day. I'm about 18 hours in and so far so good. :)

I've still got a lot of lbs to go. So I think I will still try to be a little strict when not fasting.

@wvuchick Welcome and good luck! :)

Originally Posted by wvuchick:
Thanks for the welcome.

I should probably introduce myself a little

I've lost 31 lbs. through conventional dieting, counting calories, since July 2011. I don't actually remember where I came across IF, but I read Eat Stop Eat, and thought that it made a lot of sense to fast and thought I'd give it a try.

Today is my first day. I'm about 18 hours in and so far so good. :)

I've still got a lot of lbs to go. So I think I will still try to be a little strict when not fasting.

Wvuchick, welcome:carrot:

Sounds like me in many ways! Did the conventional route and now doing a combination of ESE and Fast5. Weigh in on Monday so will get to see if I have gotten results! Although I do feel alot better already and clothes seem looser in 2 weeks:carrot:

Today was REALLY easy, didnt feel hungry at all. I tend to do ESE on Monday and Friday:carrot:

Hey gamesmaster!

I can't "weight" to hear how you've done. I am going to do Mondays and Thursdays. My first day was really easy. If it gets easier like everyone says, I shouldn't have any problems.

I felt really good yesterday. I also think this will help me get over the feeling that I need to eat at certain times that I've conditioned myself to believe. Like usually at lunch, I am counting down the minutes, but today I was like I don't really care if I eat at all.

Good Luck on Monday. Tuesday is my official weigh in day. I'll be sure to report my results!

I'm feeling so much better since I started back doing IFing. I don't have a particular window. I just eat only in the evenings which consists of dinner and a small snack. I feel hunger pains and growling all day, but it's not that bad and I don't feel like I'm starving. These are just things I'm not used to feeling cause I never would allow myself to be hungry at all.

I have coffee and water throughout the day and that's it. I feel like my mind is sharper and I don't feel as tired. I'm loving it :) Hopefully, I'll lose weight in the process..

HI Violet,
We are very close to the same weight right now. :D Maybe we can be buddies through this together. Thursday was my first fast, and today is the second.



Tomorrow is my official weigh in day. Wish me luck! :^:

wvuchick, that sounds great! There are definitely some health benefits to doing this. My mood was so great yesterday and I even had less fibro pain. I was able to turn my neck farther around while driving yesterday too. I've read that it can help inflammation. I believe it is for me! I'm down another pound from yesterday too :carrot:

I felt so much better since that first fast. I'm sure part of it is in my head. But hey if I feel better I don't care what the reason is!

I'm sure it isn't in your head, or actually it may be but not in the way you think! studies show that IF causes the brain to function better :)

Mind if I pop back in? I need some accountability. I taped a calendar on the back of my closet door to keep track of my eating and weight. I need to get this done before bathing suit season!!! No more excuses.

I feed from 5-9 M-F, eat "normally" on Saturday and usually fast on Sunday. I'm open to tweaking and/or suggestions. It just happens to be how my body wants to eat!

Hi Val,
Just wanted to say that you look great! How did you do it? All IF (I hope)?

I can't really suggest anything, since i'm so new, just wanted to say HI!

Originally Posted by wvuchick:
Hi Val,
Just wanted to say that you look great! How did you do it? All IF (I hope)?

I can't really suggest anything, since i'm so new, just wanted to say HI!

Thank you! Unfortunately I didn't discover IF until last year. I've used it mostly for maintenance. I wish I'd known about it sooner, would have made my journey a lot easier!! I get sick thinking about all the times I force fed myself when I wasn't hungry :dizzy:.


Hello!!

I've lost 31 lbs pre-IF. Since you are in maintenance, what do you typically eat on your non-fasting days?

Originally Posted by wvuchick:
I've lost 31 lbs pre-IF. Since you are in maintenance, what do you typically eat on your non-fasting days?

Was on maintenance... I'm done making excuses. Time to get back in it to win it! :carrot:

You mean like Saturday? I'm not proud of my Saturday food choices but that will change.

Breakfast - Fruit and yogurt, Lunch... soup and salad and or sandwich/out with friends, Dinner... Pizza or something awful. :o. It was bad... but at least I didn't regain!

Back off starch and back on whole foods for a while. I don't want to scare everyone at the pool this summer.

Hi ladies!

Okay, my weigh in went great! I have finally managed to break through the weight loss plateau and lost 2lbs in 2 weeks! My body fat went from 17.5% to 16.7% which is a record for me!

My stubborn lower body fat also seems to be finally coming off my thighs and bum, although my lower legs are REALLY stubborn, I think they hol the fat the longest (I blames cr@p genes!).

Anyway, just to make you aware there is an Eat Stop Eat forum on here which is very busy atm if you ladies are wanting to post there too? Some do ESE or Fast Five or IF in other windows.

I have benn doing ESE Mon and Frid and Fast 5 during the week! I take Saturdays off the plan. I will continue this until maintenance (end of April) all things going to plan and then maybe drop ESE an just use Fast 5 as a lifestyle plan!

Have a fantastic day!

Gamesmaster, that's great on the weight loss and inches lost! I'm going to search for the other thread! thanks!

@gamesmaster1 I've been doing Fast 5 for maintenance for one year this month and it is fantastic for that!

@Valrock Like you, I eat as I please on Saturdays and still maintain with ease. I don't have to struggle during the week either. I'm sure I COULD regain some weight, but I'd have to work at it I think. One thing about all the years of dieting, you learn to almost instinctively avoid eating certain foods on a regular basis. That probably contributes to the ease of my maintenance because during the week, I still avoid overdoing. It is GREAT to be able to eat as I wish on Saturday though without having to worry. That gives me the motivation I need to stay on track during the week. I seldom eat before noon on Saturday which is my preference and helps too.

Well I weighed in this morning. Lost 2.2 lbs in one week. The last month before this weigh in, I had lost 1.2 lbs in total. So I am thrilled. I am hoping to be able to keep this pace up!

Good work gamesmaster.

I'm going to check out the ESE forum too.

Originally Posted by wvuchick:
Well I weighed in this morning. Lost 2.2 lbs in one week. The last month before this weigh in, I had lost 1.2 lbs in total. So I am thrilled. I am hoping to be able to keep this pace up!

Good work gamesmaster.

I'm going to check out the ESE forum too.

Well done wvuchick!:carrot: what a result:carrot: See you over on ese!

Originally Posted by KTucke7:
@gamesmaster1 I've been doing Fast 5 for maintenance for one year this month and it is fantastic for that!

That's encouraging! thankyou:) It change my eating window sometimes when i feel hungry - like today 1pm-6pm, as I got hungry earlier in the day! Means I can eat lunch at lunch time and dinner with the family!

Yesterday my 5 hour window was later in the day and I felt really bloated at bedtime with all the late night eating?!

I guess it just takes a while to find out what suits your own body/lifestyle best!

It is absolutely an individual thing. My sister doesn't want to eat anything within 4 hours of bedtime. I sleep best when I eat right before bed. Whatever works! :)