Just deleted this. Didn't want to offend/annoy anyone :) Bottom line of what I was trying to say is that different people have different "rules of thumb" or guidelines for what they think is appropriate to eat, but it's important to remember that different strokes work for different folks; what works for me may not work for you, vice verse.

Originally Posted by SCraver:
I have a two year old and he has his daily schedule, but if a meal time rolls around and he just doesn't appear hungry, I don't force the issue. I am sure, too, as he gets older and is running around in the yard and playing with friends, meals will be missed and made up for later in the day.

I think IF is more about learning that you don't need to eat every two hours. It is a good way to get back in touch with hunger cues.

you can't honestly tell me that a kid forgetting to eat his snack because he is busy playing and someone only allowing them to eat during a few hours of the day is the same thing. :dizzy:

its not 2 or 3 hours a day..i am using a 6 hour time frame, the avg for females is 6-8 hours and some males go up to 10 hours...and who said anything about only letting their kids eat for 2 hours a day?

a kid has different needs than an adult. they are growing, they are adding a foot or more height to their bodies..we are done. im not getting any taller :(
so obviously the needs will be different, that would be the same thing as not letting your baby have breast milk because you as an adult don't drink it.

and yes it is easy to go 18 hours without a meal, its once you start putting food in your body you get hungry for more..my example would be back in high school, i usually didn't eat breakfast and i was fine when lunch time rolled around..now if i ate breakfast i would be starving hours before lunch.

anyway i am not trying to convince anyone to eat this way..but i don't go around to other threads and argue with their plans either.

bottom line i am happy, i am finally losing weight, i am overall consuming less calories a day, i am full, and i am not mindlessly eating. i am sticking with IF

Originally Posted by niafabo:
you can't honestly tell me that a kid forgetting to eat his snack because he is busy playing and someone only allowing them to eat during a few hours of the day is the same thing. :dizzy:

No one is making their child eat on an IF schedule here so I'm not even sure why the idea was brought into the conversation.

Indiblue is right, different strokes for different folks. Choosing to eat on a schedule that is considered normal by most people works for some, eating on an IF schedule works for others. There is nothing unhealthy about the way I eat.

niafabo your rule of thumb about not doing what you'd teach your kids to do seems like a useful one for you. I am on a 1200 cal diet- which makes sense for me right now and is an appropriate calorie level for a dieting adult- but I'd never require a healthy child to abide by it, so for me the rule of thumb may not make sense.

Alternatively, some people use the rule of thumb "I will eat like my ancestors did in their natural environment," which also makes sense for them, and is one way to explain why IF makes sense- because history tends to show that our ancestors ate only once or twice a day. That works for them.

Others use Michael Pollan's "don't eat anything with ingredients that your grandmother wouldn't recognize", etc.

I'll stop before i get too repetitive, but the important point is there are different ways to get in all the important nutrients your body needs to be healthy :D.

I have chosen not to comment anymore because people got offended and took things personally. I was happy to let this thread die. :/

Originally Posted by JohnP:
You eat 300-400 calories and then go 10 hours on only 100-200 calories. That is amazing. I'm impressed. Seriously. If I ate a 100-200 calorie lunch, snack, or whatever it would only do one thing. Make me hungry and by 3-4 I would be ravenous.

John you are 6'9" you obviously require many more calories than the poster who is 5'4".
I do not believe in IF, I count calories and eat 6 times a day, that is not 6 meals but 6 times, 3 meals and 3 snacks , I eat something about every 3 hours. It works for me,.

I didn't mean for this thread to start a battle. I was just wondering the difference between the two. But really they're about the same. And I understand different stuff work for different people. Thanks everyone... I think...

This is one of those things where each "chick"/"rooster" (hehe, JohnP) needs to figure out what works for them and what doesn't. As a community, we share thoughts on the zillion different ways to approach weight loss and support each other on whatever method is working for them, assuming it's safe and healthy.

I lost about 60lbs eating around 1200-1700cal/day at various stages. I started out eating 5-6 mini meals because I thought that was the "right" way to diet. I was eating high fiber, lean protein, bulky low-starch veggies, complex carbs, healthy fats. And I was miiiiiserable! I was so food obsessed, it was taking over my life. I'd eat my mini meal, and feel only slightly satisfied but still hungry. I'd watch the clock, obsessing over what and when I'd eat next. I couldn't focus at work or school, I always felt hungry, and I was irritable. I finally gave that nonsense up and started eating B/L/D. I'm NOT a morning eater, even when I was overweight, eating before noon made me feel queasy. But I choked down breakfast, still miserable. Once it was noon and I actually wanted to eat, I was still food obsessed and sad that I had wasted however many calories in the morning.

I nearly gave up on weight loss. I had lost about 30lbs, was miserable, had plateaued, and was thinking about giving up because it was just not sustainable. My last shot was to tell all the "proper way to diet" advice to shove it and do it my way. I didn't eat until noon, but preferred to eat my first bite no earlier than 2-3. I still calorie counted. You can't imagine how thrilled I was to have a whole day's worth of calories to play with in a few hours. I don't even think about eating until later in the day. Sometimes around noon I feel hungry, but that's almost always just because I'm bored. I simply don't even think about food or eating, and that in itself is an immensely freeing feeling. Then I have a satisfying lunch (about 400 cal), a big dinner (about 600 cal), and a large evening snack (around 200 cal)...I go to bed full and happy.

Now is this method going to work for everyone? ABSOLUTELY not! But neither is the mini-meal method or even standard B/L/D. IF sounds like a miserable life to some people, but considering the huge IF thread that's been going on, several 3FC-ers have discovered something that has made a HUGE improvement on their lives thanks to IF. If it's not for you, that's fine :) There are a million ways to skin a cat, but it only takes one way to get the job done. If you are happy with your cat-skinning procedure, by all means continue. Just remember that there are 999,999 other ways to get 'er done.

Originally Posted by niafabo:
I have chosen not to comment anymore because people got offended and took things personally. I was happy to let this thread die. :/

Don't worry about it I offend people all the time on here. :D