My journey with IF so far. Hopefully it helps some of you.
1. After experimenting with so many different protocols and nothing to show for it, started with IF. Classic 16:8. Broke a plateau I've had for a long time. 1st week- around 1.4kg
2. Overall it averaged out to 5kg+ in 5weeks.
3. I was mostly using 16:8. On weekends since I WFH, i naturally went to OMAD a few times. Some days I had a coffee in the afternoon and then OMAD.
4. GREEDY for more, faster fat loss, I said if 16:8 is so good, OMAD all the time will be better! And that ladies and gentlemen is when things started to go wrong. I had to fight my hunger pangs the whole day and then when eating couldn't finish all of the 2000 cals in a single sitting.
5. I had a brainwave for a modified OMAD. If C and P release Insulin and F doesn't (not much anyways), I'll eat 1 meal of only F and then in the night have my C and P. Just didn't work out. I used to be sooo hungry went on binges.
6. Then for some reason, I rationalized lemme give my body a break for 3 days and reduce its stress. Refeeds I called it...and that lead to more binges...
7. In 2 weeks now I have gained 3 kg or something...lesson learnt. Going back to what was working..
Slow and steady wins the race!
All exponents of IF talk of not forcing yourself to a particular fasting window. Start off by pushing ahead your 1st meal. It can be any window or even a combination of different fasting windows in a week. When too hungry- eat!
One more thing that helped me
In this podcast I heard:
What do you do once you have achieved your body composition goals? If you relax your dietary protocol then most of the people end up gaining weight. The problem is you tried to fix the symptom of being overweight rather than the main problem of your lifestyle which lead you to having so many problems in the 1st place. So when going on a plan, let it address your lifestyle rather than your weight. So that when you hit your target, you still continue with the healthy lifestyle which will keep the excess weight at bay.
My problem is erratic eating, stress eating, midnight cravings, munching throughout the day...the majority of which were handled in the 16:8 protocol. I unnecessarily went to OMAD to hasten the journey which exacerbated my bad lifestyle habits. It increased my stress, lead to more cravings etc
Hope it helps!
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Yea it is easy to make things too complex when enthusiasm sets in. Doing 1-2 things really well instead, and not thinking about every single aspect that could be ‘optimized’, can give better result and less stress.
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Slow and steady for sure! Still doing 16:8 and although I reached my goal (having a healthy bmi again) I am still maintaining IF. I lose weight still, slowly, and am learning now to have a better relationship with food and without CICO to listen to my body better. Eat when hungry in my eating hours, and don’t eat if I’m not hungry. Drink enough water, etc.
Your body needs 3 weeks to adjust, so keep that in mind when you want to learn a new habit
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Yaaaaas!!! Preach!!!!! You have to fix your eating habits - not lose weight with IF and think you won’t gain weight when you stop fasting.
I encourage ppl to get their eating right, then fold in fasting.