Usually if you’re first starting out, people recommend that you start with a 16:8 schedule meeting. You fast for 16 hours and your eating window is 8 hours. That doesn’t mean you eat constantly throughout 8 hours, that just means you fit all your meals into that 8 hour window.
As far as when you set your fasting and eating windows, that’s entirely up to you. I find breakfast very easy to skip since I’m not really hungry in the morning, and I usually am so busy at work I don’t get hungry in the afternoon for lunch, so I start my eating window around 4:00pm when I get home from work and I make sure I’m done eating by 9:00pm (I do a 19:5 split). On the other hand, some people really like to have breakfast and it makes them feel better throughout the day so they start their eating window in the morning and it closes sometime in the afternoon. Again, it’s totally up to you and whatever fits your lifestyle.
I use an app called zero to track my fasts so I don’t have to try to remember when I started or stopped eating (because it does sometimes change from day to day). When I’m fasting I only drink zero calorie drinks like water, flavored seltzer (unsweetened), black coffee and plain tea. During my eating window, I focus on filling my meals with healthy things like vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats. I personally avoid highly processed refined carbs, but that’s just a personal preference.
When first starting this I felt like you need to get used to how you feel when you get hungry. Work through the hunger pains when they come, they will go away. Drink water or tea and distract yourself from it. Eventually you realise that by not eating you’re not going to die :)
It gets easier and easier. Aim for a week first and see how you go.
This is my 2nd round of IF. First time around I lost a considerable amount of weight from OMAD. Didn’t track my meals or fasts, and as soon as I fell off the wagon I fell. Hard. Gained everything back and then some.
This time round I’m using an app called Zero but just the free version. It tracks my fasts and lets me logs my meals and weight. It’s kept me accountable and I’ve lost more weight than the first time round. I hope to keep it that way too.
You really don’t. You just want to come up with excuses.
Stop putting food in your mouth! Many ask the same questions, seems you may be lazy? Look through the forum!
Once again. Drink only water and black coffee, and stop putting food in your mouth except during a window of time. The rest will sort itself out, if you do….