I’m almost at 16 hours on only my second day. I decided against the gradual approach. I feel fine. Hunger pangs at around 10 am were worse than they are now. I feel a little lightheaded which is okay, but I don’t think I’ll do this so strictly on weekend mornings when I exercise hard.
That’s great. I IMF only 1-3 days on various days a week and if I feel lightheaded or dizzy on a day I’ll eat if I think it’s important healthwise. listening to the body used to sound strange to me but now I understand.
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Also find it very hard to IMF when sitting in coffee shops with friends for a few hours. Do it on days when I’m out and about not having food thrown in my face.
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Would that be effective when doing only the 16/8 routine? I assumed I would need to be doing this just about everyday, except maybe when I do a long workout on Saturday or Sunday.
Also, I ate quite a bit today for lunch. Just found myself hungry once I started eating. I guess that’s okay? We’re supposed to eat normally during the 8 hours, right? I’m full now and probably won’t eat until dinner. And I won’t be snacking non-stop during the 8 hours! Just a big lunch.
I think it depends on your objectives. My objectives are not to lose weight but to benefit health.
My main objectives with IMF are
- autophagy
- increase HGH
- blood sugar regulating
- enhanced energy
- increased brain activity
- reduce belly fat
- other health benefits
These are all occur even with one 18 hour break from food.
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Hi. How often did your brother do the 16:8 fast over that 2 months?
go for it Tango. You can do this. Magic starts at 18hour of fasting. Your ultimate goal is one meal a day within a 2 hour eating window. Jason Fung, Valter Longo and David Sinclair have lots of fascinating talks on intermittent fasting.
He has done it every single day for the last 2 months, as far as I know (with the exception of a few days - where he had to break fast earlier due to some social events)
Wow, no wonder he lost 10 kilos. Is he still on it?
Yes, it’s kind of become his lifestyle. I don’t think it impacts him at all. I have never heard him complain of hunger or any other issue.
It’s the same for me, after fasting an average of 48 hours (continuously) each week for last 2+ months, I too don’t feel bothered by fasting at all. That’s the reason I sometimes go for a third day because two days was starting to feel easy. One thing is for sure, it’s a great way to save money too. I didn’t realize this until I started fasting, just how much money I spent everyday on food (just for myself).
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Third day for me. No problem going the full 16 hours today. I’m going to have a normal lunch tomorrow- something I haven’t done in quite a while with my previous low calorie lunch. These last three days, I was picking up bread for breakfast like I normally do, not eating it, then having that with my normal low calorie lunch (yogurt, a soyjoy bar, and maybe a small container of milk). Looking forward to a normal lunch tomorrow and perhaps from now on if this is what I decide to do. A big chicken salad with some bread and soup would be nice.
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I started intermittent fasting in 2012 when I was trying to save money to buy a car. I lost a lot of weight because I was unloading trucks for walmart at the time. I felt great and loved saving money so I just never stopped. I suggest adding more fat to your meal to keep you satiated but go with whatever works 
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It’s been about three and a half weeks since I started IF. I went with the 16/8 approach. I lost a very stubborn 2 kilos and I am now almost at my goal weight. After I lose about another half kilo or so (just to be sure gaining again will be less of an issue), I think I’ll just try to maintain my weight. Here are some random thoughts:
a) Fasting for 16 hours I found didn’t really do the trick for me. My weight didn’t budge for the first week and a half or so. By accident, I discovered that going 16.5, 17, 17.5 hours was more effective for me. Moral of the story is that you need to tailor whatever diet you are trying to what works for you.
b) Hunger. I am hungriest at the normal time I ate breakfast in the past. If I go past that, even by 30 minutes, hunger goes down. I’m still struggling with hunger but it really isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
c) I could see how combining IF with keto or a low carb regimen would be very, very effective. I am not doing that now and I may never do it, but I feel confident that losing a few more kilos would be very possible if I were to do this. I imagine that fasting for just that 16 hours and not needing to extend that, for example, would be enough if you were to do such a combination.
I’m not sure about all the other benefits of IF mentioned in this thread. I haven’t experienced any of those things yet (maybe autophagy but how would you know?).
Edit: d) It’s very possible to exercise during your fasting period and not break the fast afterward. But I’m doing almost only swimming these days and my workouts are short. 1000m swims, 100m intervals with a few hundred meter warm down, etc. I’m sure I wouldn’t attempt this if I were doing long rides on the bike or a medium long run in the summer heat.
IF with high fat low carb is easy simple as a pimple.
Don’t overthink it
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And I guess (from my research) much easier as far as hunger pangs go- your body more readily goes to your fat reserves for energy and so hunger disappears. But if I’m basically at my goal weight and if I just love foods with carbs, I’m not sure I need to do this. I’m going to have beef noodles for dinner tonight, for example, and I can’t wait!
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i started with IF and doing OMAD (One meal a day)
at the start it was really tough… but i got used to it eventually
decided to do OMAD coz i really got very sleepy after lunch.
and now it is a great productivity hack for me with OMAD (at night)
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I would link to The New England Journal of Medicine article, but you need to subscribe to see it all. Nothing really new here, I don’t believe. But it seems this diet is gaining traction and I find that interesting. Been several weeks for me (well over a month), and I like it.
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I think the issue with these “XYZ will help you live longer” studies is “longer than what?”.
Almost anything is an improvement on the Standard American Diet. The USDA has formulated the worst possible diet for humans, and recommended it as an ideal.
From the USDA baseline, it’s almost impossible to eat a diet that will kill you faster. So you can adjust that diet in almost any way you can think of, and it will help you live longer.
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It was probably an editorial decision. The article in The New England Journal of Medicine was entitled “Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease,” and it starts like this:
Evidence is accumulating that eating in a 6-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases, including cancer and obesity.
IF combined with high fat low carb seems to be the best and the one with the most benefit per my reading in many places.
Have any of you tried IF with high protein low carb instead? I really like eating meat.