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@lindseykaye: @crazydoglady: and others with concerns about coffee: So what you're doing right now is called "dirty fasting" vs. clean fasting. I think it works decently, and is a good entry point / segway. My first month, I still had diet soda outside of my window (I'm not a coffee drinker.), and to be honest, sometimes I still do (I'm at a maintenance weight, and do IF for the hunger / appetite / life simplicity purposes.) You might find that over time, you want to see if you could truly clean fast by drinking black coffee, and see if it makes a difference.
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@crazydoglady: Same with the eating disorder history. I spent a long LONG time healing from that (still am?) and so I tend to lean towards being heavier than is comfortable for me vs. spiraling into an unhealthy pattern. But I also sometimes lean on that to be complacent or stay where I am vs. a fear of failure.
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@lindseykaye: Same! I've figured that my mental health is not worth being at a "perfect" weight (whatever that means!), but I also don't feel comfortable going on the same trajectory of gaining, gaining, gaining. There has got to be a middle ground between "diet mentality" and f it. I am trying to find that. Before trying this, I did a brief stint at intuitive eating, a huge premise of it was to honor your hunger and fullness. I didn't even know what those were because I was often confusing physical and emotional hunger. I try to practice IE during my eating window. I know it may sound counterintuitive, but it seems to be working. I used to placate myself with food every night and now I don't. I know intuitive eating would say that it's ok if I am hungry, but my mind would try to "trick" my body into even the faintest glimmer of hunger so I would binge. Now, it's off the table and it should be because I am not even hungry. When are you thinking of starting?
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@DesertDreams88: Thanks for the tip! Since heavy whipping cream didn't raise glucose in that "study" compared to black coffee, I am giving it a go. When I did a whole 30, I lost weight and had great results without giving it up. I just can't haha.
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@crazydoglady: I think I want to start this weekend with longer eating windows (like maybe 8-8 and 10-8) and then come Monday try for 12-8 and see how it goes.
I'm usually a breakfast person so that will take some time to adjust, but it's a lot easier if I am away from the house and busy at work vs. at home so I am optimistic - especially if I can keep my coffee/cream for a while. It's easy for me to have a healthy lunch and dinner, but I blow it at night with snacks so that's going to be my main goal starting out, no matter the eating window.
Now I just gotta get DH on board with the nighttime snacking. We are such enablers when it comes to that! -
@lindseykaye: That sounds like a great plan! I started with the 16:8 because it hadn't occurred to me to build up to that, and I found the 8 hour eating window to be absolutely doable. I TOTALLY understand night time snacking. After my husband went to bed, it was " my time" to eat anything and everything...almost like a reward for getting through the day. Now, it's off the table and I make sure to eat right before the end of my "window." In the past couple of weeks, I have only been "tempted" once. It's great and really shows me how much I didn't even need it!
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@crazydoglady: omg I used to do the “my time” eating too and I swear just cutting that is probably half the weight loss!
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@bhbee: I seriously ate an OBSCENE amount!
Also, I LOVE that this has become a IF "support group!" It's so helpful!
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@crazydoglady: I love it!
I’m so excited, 2 lbs away from 20 lb down which is my first goal (I’d like to lose another 20 eventually). I have not been making the best choices during my window lately (working on it but travel and stress have gotten to me) but I have mostly stuck to the window and it’s so amazing that still works. I know I’ve got challenges ahead with holidays but feels so good to go to our family photo shoot today after seeing that number.
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@bhbee: This is so great!! Way to go! Have you felt restricted at all?
This morning, I made pancakes for my kids and had a slight twinge of disappointment that I couldn't have one. Then I remembered "delay don't deny," so we went out to breakfast for lunch after church. I will still eat breakfast food, but just wait a little longer. My husband has just started, so it's nice to be on the same page. -
@crazydoglady: that’s so nice to do it together! It is a little disappointing sometimes but I definitely just eat it in the window if I want to. No denying over here!
I really have not felt restricted. And I’m over 2 months in so the honeymoon is over!
The most amazing part of this is how forgiving it is while still working. I definitely have not done my window perfectly even close to every day, but doing it most of the time has changed my appetite and habits enough to work (I know I could get faster results if I obsessed but no interest in that). The only downside I see about not being as consistent is that you do get hungrier than if you keep it the same every day. But it just really works with my laziness ... like I kind of wanted something last night but was just like eh not worth it, just go to bed! So much better for me than counting and planning and such.
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@bhbee: That is so great to hear! I'm glad it's been flexible for you. As I said before, I did WW last year and was so completely over it by 4 months or so. I am really hoping that I won't get over this. I think it's wise to do this slowly so that it's maintainable in the future. If I've learned anything from the f it diet, it's that if I feel restricted in any way, shape, or form, this won't work. I know that excited feeling at the beginning of a diet where you think "of course I can eat steamed chicken and broccoli every night" or " All I have to do is count points for the rest of my life!!!" but that's restricted eating. I realize I am less than 2 weeks in, but I really haven't felt like I was on a "diet" aside from the pancake thing this morning and this was more of a case of delaying vs denying.
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@charm55: Just curious (since you are nearly a year in,) do you ever feel restricted?
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@bhbee: That is amazing! And so encouraging to hear.
Alright - first real day for me. It's going to be great!
Not eating after 8pm tonight (and every night) is seriously going to save me hundreds (if not thousands, let's be honest) of calories and I am ready to feel more myself in my body.Meal prepped this weekend like normal, and I am thankful that I don't have to make separate meals for myself to fit a certain plan. I just have to eat them at the right time.
And I brought a small container of heavy cream with me to work for my mid-morning coffee
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@lindseykaye: you’re ready! It’s going to be great!
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@lindseykaye: Yay!! I think you are going to enjoy it!
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@crazydoglady: no, never ! I really do Delay whatever I want rather than deny. It’s so flexible and my body feels so much better, I think that’s why I’ve stuck with it for the long haul.
The other night I went to the movies with some friends. I shifted my window to later because I LOVE their popcorn with all the butter. It was 9pm - my window is typically well closed by this point. I got my popcorn and literally was force feeding myself to try and enjoy it because I had paid a small fortune for it haha. I think I ate 1/4 of the bag before I felt sick. Appetite correction is a real thing !!!
@lindseykaye: good luck !! Not eating in the evenings has saved me a ton of calories too. I used to plan my nightly snack out in advance for when the kids went to bed ... now I truly don’t even miss it .
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@charm55: This is so helpful! Thank you!! I absolutely love the "delay don't deny" mentality.
@lindseykaye: On night time eating, I find that I gravitate toward other things as a "reward" for surviving the day: a bubble bath, listening to an audiobook, or (like last night) watching vacuum wars on Youtube. Literally the hardest day with skipping night time snacking was the first day because it was habit more than anything else. I thought that skipping night time eating meant going to bed hungry. I'm not even hungry! -
@crazydoglady: This is a good mentality and I love the 'Delay don't Deny' mindset @charm55: !
For me the nighttime snacking was part reward after a long day and part 'get me through the rest of this work' strategy. It's a bad habit I developed in college where if I snack while I work then I can stay awake/attentive/reward myself for continuing to be productive. There are many nights when I am back on my laptop working after the kids go to bed and the chores are done which takes out the option to do a 'me time' activity. Setting better boundaries for work/life balance would help but it's a tough season to pull all the way back.
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How do you guys move your window back? For example, I usually eat 8-4 but I need to do 1-9 on Saturday. Then following day should I only eat from 1-4?
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@gotkimchi: I was wondering the same thing. I guess it would make sense to keep the fasting window where you want to be or longer for the best results.
But it sometimes might make sense to adjust the fasting window shorter for logistics, or if it's too long to fast. Seems like this will still get you good results from the above comments. Interested to hear from experienced folks! -
@gotkimchi: the next day I go back to normal. Even though it’s a shorter fast, the day before (when I shifted my window forward) would have been a longer fast so I figure it all works out.
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@gotkimchi: I just do a shorter fast when it makes sense. I sometimes do 18 hours but anything that is going to make you feel bad is not worth it! Honestly, you don’t need to be perfect for things to take effect.
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@lindseykaye: How are things going?!?
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So, I am 2 weeks in and have lost 5lbs!! I'm super stoked because I have been denying NOTHING.
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@crazydoglady: good for you! Keep it up, the appetite correction and simplicity is so worth it.
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@DesertDreams88: Thank you! I am hoping to lose 20 (comfortable weight)-30 more pounds (goal weight,) but I am encouraged by how easy it is!
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@crazydoglady: Going well so far, a few days in! I have not cut out pm snacking totally, but I have been limiting it A LOT more than before and I have been adjusting my next-day window to account for it so I've been able to stick to a 16-hr fast window since Sunday PM. Typically fasting from 10pm-2pm instead of the 8pm-12pm window I figured I would do.
It's so freeing to be able to just eat what I planned and what I want within my window and not worry. I am sure as I make progress I may want to make changes, but for now this is what I have the mental capacity to handle. Tracking containers, tracking nutrition on My Fitness Pal, or tracking macros was so time consuming and kept food on my mind far too much for my comfort. These have worked for me before and work well for others, but like I said above, in this season of my life just tracking time is perfect.
I am not planning to weigh myself for at least a week or two so that I have a good amount of time to let my body adjust. I don't want to get discouraged if there isn't much change before then, and I don't want to get cocky if it's the other way around -
@crazydoglady: @lindseykaye: I’m so excited for you both! I think most people see a decent drop to start and then it may stop and start. Losing almost 20lb so far I’ve had several plateaus but since it’s easy to keep going I get past them. Just sending encouragement if you do see those pauses.
It’s so nice how easy it is to stick to it because it’s so simple. Or even to get back on track if you “mess up” one day. My mom is coming this Saturday for thanksgiving (other relatives will be around later) and I probably won’t fast as much, but I know it be ok because I’m so much less likely to overeat anyway. Eating outside the window I’m basically full before I start.
I haven’t weighed in a couple days but last time I was down 19 so hoping to get and hold onto 20 for the rest of the month. I’m actually really excited to do this during Christmas and get to eat guilt free!
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@lindseykaye: That's so great! This is something I plan to do long-term (if it keeps working!) I figure that I will probably just do a 12 hour fast to maintain once I get to that point.
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@bhbee: Ok, this might sound totally nuts but I actually LOVE how I feel the hour or so before my fast ends. Like, I have tons of energy. Is that weird??
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@crazydoglady: no I remember the delay don’t deny author having a blog post about that! I don’t feel it all the time but there are a lot of times I feel really good fasting.
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@crazydoglady: Oddly enough, I was thinking about this today as I was driving to get lunch. It was about 12:30 and I almost thought that I could have waited another hour or so! I felt really good!
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I've been following this board and so excited to see that you all are seeing results with intermittent fasting. I need to give it a try. DH has done it some this year, and started back again a few weeks ago. I just can't handle tracking calories or doing anything too restrictive at the moment. But I need to cut out mindless snacking late at night.
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So I’ve been religiously fasting for 16h for 2.5 weeks and have lost no weight. And this isn’t vanity weight I actually have weight to lose. And while I’m not expecting miracles I would think I would see the scale budge in 2.5 weeks. So. What do I do? I’m not interested in tracking my food but is the problem I’m eating too much in my window? So I be fasting longer? Open to any and all advice
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@gotkimchi: are you constantly eating throughout your window or are you eating two giant meals? It would be helpful to have a better idea of what you are consuming.
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@gotkimchi: true, that is unsual. A couple of thoughts of possibilities-
- while IF doesn't mean you have to track calories or portion sizes, it does involve paying attention to appetite and not snacking constantly. I usually have a normal size meal at 12, a snack at 4, and a normal meal at 7.
- have you been chugging water due to hunger? That's fine for a transition while appetite correction is happening, but, if it was extreme, it could just mean it is "water weight" which will soon be lost. Google the "whoosh effect"
- if you've been having some trouble going to the bathroom (less in, less out), try taking some magnesium or colace. That can account for a pound or two -
@gotkimchi: ugh, I ttped out a big reply and it got eaten! I'll try again later
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@DesertDreams88: @KNS: I usually eat a bigger meal when my window opens then 2 smaller “snacky” meals. So big meal 8am, snack at 12 and 3:30. I don’t think it’s a water issue or bathroom issue
The most amazing part of this is how forgiving it is while still working. I definitely have not done my window perfectly even close to every day, but doing it most of the time has changed my appetite and habits enough to work (I know I could get faster results if I obsessed but no interest in that). The only downside I see about not being as consistent is that you do get hungrier than if you keep it the same every day. But it just really works with my laziness ... like I kind of wanted something last night but was just like eh not worth it, just go to bed! So much better for me than counting and planning and such.
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