Subjectively I’d pick constant eating time for sustainability purposes (improved hunger regulation, routine-building) and constant fasting length for everything beyond purely weight loss (autophagy, digestive health, etc.).
Hello, my usual protocol is 15:9, from 10 am to 7 pm, but on the weekends it turns into something like a 17:7 or even more, because I’m less hungry, I try and follow schedules but also many times end up with a 15.5-8-5 because I finish eating earlier, I follow my hunger cues. Hope that helped.
I’ve been on a 16:8 schedule for 2 years and that happens to me all the time. If I was still trying to lose weight, I would just consider myself doing an 18:6 for that day. Since I’m maintaining now, I’ll just eat a little earlier the next day.
I keep it flexible, keeping a 4-5 hour window per day. I usually break my fast at 10-11am but sometimes as late as 1-2pm if life gets in the way. So sometimes it ends up being a shorter fasting window, but it balances out the next as a longer fast.
Unless you are specifically trying to fix a health ailment that requires more rigidity, I would adept IF to your convenience.
the point if IF, from my understanding, is to reset your insulin resistance (cf fung obesity code). that happens when your body uses up all the glucogen stored in your liver. longer fasts tend to do that. but the trick is that if you do a lot of longer fasts your brain keeps a set weight higher and that lowers with persistent, regular fasts( eg 16:8 long term)
now the crucial part is what can you maintain in your lifestyle. skipping a day or a week is not the end.
that being said, im not an expert as ive been only doing it for 10 months and im only using two books as a reference (besides my own experience)
books: fung / the obesity codestephens / fast feast repeat
experience: i usually break my schedule when going to conferences or group retreats. and while i do typically see an increase in weight (about 1kg) after coming back to IF it also goes back down after a week or so.
with all of that - you gotta live life with IF the way you can. long term. so if you break every now and then but are then able to resume then imo thats the way to go.
I’m completely new to intermittent fasting. I haven’t began yet, just researching. Can anyone give me some ideas on when my window of eating should be? Also, I have coffee first thing in the morning. If I am only eating from 12-4, can I still have my coffee?