Sometimes I chuckle when people say they gained back weight and then some when they resumed “normal” eating. “Normal” eating for so many of us is literally habitual over-eating. That’s why we ended up overweight in the first place. You can’t ever go back to your old habits if your old habits were over-eating.
You most definitely can. While exercise is great for you for so many other reasons, you don’t need it to lose weight. The caloric deficit by itself will do it just fine.
In fact, I think I finally cracked it for myself after many years of struggle with it. And I found that while I exercise to keep my body toned and active, the waistline battle is entirely a kitchen thing for me. Meaning I have to control calories and IF makes that easier.
For me this means OMAD some days and other days I just 16:8 if I’m not going to add any exercise. I also don’t go crazy on that one meal. I have actively worked to reduce portion size and shrink my stomach back down and IF really helped with that. So overeating is uncomfortable now.
Weight loss is almost entirely what you eat, with some additional benefits depending on when/how often you eat. That being said, exercise has many additional physical and mental health benefits. I find a walk after dinner is a good way to end my eating window rather and stop the temptation to eat ice cream:).plus it’s a great stress relief and gets me connected to my body and breath. finally as others have said IF is ideally a lifestyle not a diet. I do 16/8 to 18/6 to maintain. If I put in a few lbs from vacation or whatever I do cut calories and increase exercise for a few days until I reach my goal. And as for how long it takes you, this is super individual. You will envy many posters who drop 10lbs a month seemingly by only doing IF. This is not going to be everyone and esp not the closer you get to your goal weight. My rate of loss (as. Short middle aged woman weighing around 120) is .5 lbs a week eating 1200 calories and exercising most days. Don’t compare yourself to others , just mark the progress you make.!
IF and CICO yes.
You can’t just eat what ever you want in your meal time and expect to lose weight.
Like eat a massive steak and drinking a slab of beer in your 6 hour meal slot everyday does not mean you willLose weight cause you are fasting the other 18 hours
I lost twenty+ pounds and kept it off until very recently. I’m back up 8 or so. I 16:8. I gained back the 8 or so pounds when I got Achilles tendonitis, which meant I couldn’t run. I’d have to go OMAD I think to lose weight and not workout.
For me absolutely. I lost around 30 kg through IF alone now Idling at 90 kg with 1,90 m height. Fuck Breakfast you dont need it. Start eating at noon, stop at 20:00 and you are set. However I have to stick to it always. So no going back.The comments about overconsumption are on point. If you can’t get around it some other way - just skip Breakfast. I don’ t need it anymore and it saves a lot of time in the morning. “Most important meal of the day” is complete industy-food-selling bullshit.
First 90% of weight loss is dietary change. This means that in answer to your question, Yes just IF can reduce weight. However you need to understand that IF alone will not result in weight lose as a dietary change, if the caloric intake is not also reduced and calorie types changed.
As for going back to normal eating, that is the issue people face. “Normal” for a lot of people involves a lot of bad decisions and outright stupid eating habits. So lets say you IF and are doing 2K Calories a day while doing it. When you stop IF you will basically add another meal. If the two meals during IF does not change you have in essences added more calories to your day and thus gain weight. If you want to keep off the weight and add the 3rd meal you then need to balance the caloric intake by reducing the size of the other two meals, this is the mistake most likely make.
IF is like practicing discipline. That’s why I like it. It also increases your chances of being in a caloric deficit if you are mindful of calories. I did it for many years. I stopped during covid and regained the fat. So yea there’s something to it. I can’t seem to lose weight unless I do IF
I did. I was on IF for a year or so (Technically 2 but not as I wasn’t serious about the windows)18:6. I didn’t watch what I ate as much as I should but for that year I lost 10lbs. Nothing changed expect my eating window. I didn’t include any additional exercise or anything. So I’m doing Omad now and I’ve lost more than that in a months time so…. Yeah. Slow process for me but I’m sure it is more than sustainable especially with proper diet and exercise. It was quite honestly the easiest thing ever and I didn’t weight myself regularly either. Omad is definitely tougher compared to the IF 18:6 but I’ve got some goals I want to meet sooner than in the next 4 years lol
Slowly but yes, as long as you are minding CICO, you will lose weight. I would definitely do some exercise tho, it can be a 10 minute yoga, HIIT or just a walk around the block, it will multiply the speed of your fat burning process!
>I’m tired. I feel like it’ll be my life long battle
Looks like you’re starting to realize the truth)))
If you’re not naturally blessed with the super metabolism, it’s a lifetime of effort to maintain your preferred physique. If you’re not blessed with white teeth, you maintain them, if you’re not blessed with good nails, you do nails extensions, if you’re hairy, you do hair removal pretty much all your life until you don’t care no more.
Weight loss and toned body is not a destination, it’s a path.
If you’re physically feeling tired while following your food regimen, reconsider it’s nutrient composition (add protein) and add the supplements that could help.
Yeah you can lay in bed all day and as long as you’re not eating much then you’ll lose weight. People lose weight when they’re in the hospital and bed ridden and can’t eat much so why wouldn’t you.
However it’ll help to at least go on walks. I did lots of fasted walks
My understanding is that IF is NOT a diet. It is a lifestyle change and it is FOREVER.
It is a lifelong battle.
Its like being a drug addict that needs to have some drugs daily to live. The best you can do (imo) is drop sugar because it is very addictive. Also monitor carbs. I have done keto w and w/o IF. What I noticed is that lower carb eating means less cravings for carbs. Almost immediately.
Eating junk with cabs leads to a need to eat more and overeat.
Use an app like carb manager. Track what you are eating.
Do your fast and try making a limit on carbs. Slowly change the types of food you eat. Decide what you can include so as not to fall off IF. Try fruits and try 85% cocoa bars.
The key is to not go back to your regular eating habits because a lot of going backwards for people is what caused the weight gain. I always look at IF as not a diet but a lifestyle change. I have successfully lost 30lb without Exercise.