Posts by furrybelly

I have been doing IF for the last year. I generally use a 19/5 - 18/6 (fast/feed) window on Sunday-Friday. I currently stop eating at about 10pm and fast until 4-5pm.  Weekdays, I have a small protein rich snack (200-250 cals) at this time and then go to gym  or run (6pm). I eat my main meal after exercise. Sundays I run in the morning fasted and eat at about 3-4pm.

Saturdays I only fast until 12 as I usually go out to lunch with friends.

Works very well for me. I love it actually. I maintain my weight without having to religiously count calories. I have used IF plus a calorie restricted diet in the past to lose minor vanity kilograms and reduce body fat. I find it a relatively painless way to eat less calories.

Original Post by katmatry:

IF has freed me!  I used to eat 6 small meals a day.  I was always hungry from these small meals and thought about food all the time.  I now eat from 11am to 7pm 6 days a week and do a 24 hour fast from dinner on Friday to dinner on Saturday.  Friday night is pizza and red wine and Saturday is a comfort food family dinner such as pot roast.  The rest of the week I eat clean unprocessed food.  I'm no longer hungry or thinking about food all the time.  IF works for me!  That said, everyone is different and needs to find what works for them. 

I have to agree with his. IF has been a savior to me and seems to be the easiest way for me to control my food intake. I have tried grazing, multiple small meals, 3 meals, low carb, high protein, low fat, counting calories. These all left me feeling miserable and deprived to a more or less extent.

My IF regimen is a 6 hour eating window (4pm until 10pm) every day. Some slack on Saturday, but not alot really. IF allows me to eat decent size meals which are satisfying. I have also learnt to put "hunger" in perspective. ie. a grumbly tummy wont kill me. Also, my training is unaffected by it. Theory even suggests that it may help to increase our capacity to store glycogen........but I dont yet know enough about that to discuss it intelligently. gimme time.

IF also is, for me,  a way of life. I am not overweight. I DO use it to control my weight. I cant agree that it is only for the genuinely overweight only. THAT definitely makes it sound like a "diet".

It is NOT a fad diet. What it IS is a flexible way of eating. There are no correct ways of doing it. Hell, even the maligned Mens Health 8 hour diet has got it basically correct. As someone else said here. Eat within an 8 hour window. But dont stuff yourself silly.

I do get annoyed in the forums here that we are always seeming to worry primarily about what the teens, anorexics and some who are ignorant will do to abuse some seemingly good, sensible ideas and therefore say we cant talk about them - ie they are potentially dangerous so lets ignore them. Calorie counting is in that category too. We talk about that.

Lets allow some sensible discussion on an way of eating that, I believe, will help many people - if they are not scared off it.

For myself, I would have to say that IF has been a revelation. I really do have to stop myself from wanting to tell everyone about it and how good it has been for me.

I have been following a 5-6 hour eating window IF (fast from 10pm to 4pm or 5pm) for the last 9 months. I follow this 6 days a week . This is relaxed on saturdays when I have a lunch with friends and therefore only fast until 2pm.

But anyway, I have felt for me that personally this is the way I was born to eat. I have tried the multiple small meals and 3 meals a day thing and have found that, while I CAN keep within my calorie range....it is difficult. And not fun. Each meal is a chance and temptation to overeat. With IF......I KNOW I cant have anything to eat during fast time, so I don't worry about it. No need to think about how many calories you can eat for a snack........you just don't have a snack. So easy! And with one main meal a day, it gets quite hard to overeat in that one session if most of your daily calories are consumed there. And I know I have one decent, non-disappointing, filling, satisfying, unrestricted meal I can look forward to each day. Joy

Sure I get hunger pangs.....but i got to realise that being hungry wont kill me.  My energy is great - no more post-lunch slump. I have  trained for a half marathon whilst doing IF and currently work full time, weight train for 4 days a week and run 3 days a week.

My body fat dropped 2% (22-20%) over 3 months and I gained muscle over the same period, while following IF. My metabolism is apparently 30% higher than expected for age and gender. So!- doesn't appear to be doing me too much harm metabolically.

I realise that this is just one person's experience, but there is alot of literature out there about IF. I have read quite a bit and my experience is not unusual. Of course it is not for everyone, but the seemingly automatic reaction of "OMG your metabolism will collapse if you don't eat every half hour" is not justified.

Well, if you are happiest eating one meal a day, then do that. As long as you aren't bingeing or using it as a method to severely restrict! When I was counting calories (don't really now), I found one meal a day was a far more satisfying way of consuming my "allowance". Once decent meal to look forward to is so much easier to live with than 6 bite sized, unsatisfying meals. For me anyway.

There is no basis to the assertions that many will make here that you need to eat small frequent meals to lose weight and to "stoke your metabolism". I am the same, if I eat breakfast, I am hungry all day. If I don't, I am OK. I currently only eat one meal a day (dinner) plus one small pre-gym snack in the late afternoon. And my metabolism is fine, thank you.

Good luck with finding a way of eating which suits YOU.

So, don't eat breakfast then. Why force yourself to eat?

I feel much the same way. Don't feel the least impulse to gush over babies. Human babies. Kittens.......well that's another matter.

But anyway, I never have been a baby tragic, but  used to try/pretend to look interested. Now,( older, wiser, less time to waste), I can't even be bothered to pretend. There are plenty of gushers out there. They don't need me. I just smile and keep walking....or talk to the mum instead- Often she needs a bit of adult conversation........

Original Post by JustFlipx3:

http://mobile.eatingwell.com/recipes/stir_fri ed_chile_beef.html I've found this recipe delicious! It's soo much healthier than authentic Chinese, but I hope it will satisfy your cravings.

Actually, this IS what I would call authentic chinese (Cantonese anyway). The fried chicken ball version mentioned by the OP is just crappy westernized Chinese. And chips? What part of China do they come from?

I now start to understand why chinese food is considered unhealthy in the US, if chips and fried chicken balls are standard chinese fare in the US. Here in Oz, chinese food is much more like the recipe mentioned above. There are always SOME very calorific menu items, but most is pretty light and healthy.

wasabi coated peas

Hi, Glad to have found someone else doing IF!

I have been doing approx the same IF regimen as you for the last 4 1/2 months. (i may have a 4,5 or 6 hour window, depending on how I feel). I have lost weight steadily, perhaps 5kg over the first 3 months - but that's OK as that was all I needed to lose. More importantly, I feel that my body composition has changed - fat reduced, muscle more defined.

I love it because I can have a substantial meal once a day and don't therefor feel deprived, I don't need to worry about finding food during the day and  I feel more invigorated during the day. My exercise sessions are unaffected, or even improved in energy.

And for those who say it slows metabolism - I recently got my RMR measured by indirect calorimetry and found that my metabolism is 30% faster than average for my age, weight, sex etc. Now, I didn't measure it before I started IF, but it really seems that IF cannot be hurting it too much.

My feeling is that IF works for me not because of any metabolism magic, but because I just tend to eat less in one meal a day than I did previously with 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. Plain arithmetic.

No, it doesn't matter when you have your calories. I practice daily intermittent fasting and so eat all my calories within a 5 hour window, and most of them at one meal. I find this allows me to have a satisfying, filling meal. Personally, I dont like having frequent small meals. I am always feeling unsatisfied  or I just end up overeating at multiple meals throughout the day.

Just do whatever works for you. You don't need to eat frequent meals throughout the day if this does not feel right for you. Your metabolism wont slow, don't worry.