I’m doing this now! I have a 13 month old who loves to eat. My minimum fast is 16:8 but typically push it farther. The hardest thing for me was stopping licking the spoon or knife after making something for my son. I drink water until his breakfast and drink my coffee while he eats. During his snack, I read to him so no temptation to eat then. If I’m hungry, I’ll break my fast around 12:30 before making his lunch or if I’m feeling good, I’ll wait and prep my lunch while he eats and have my lunch after he goes for his nap at 2:30. We eat dinner early, around 6 pm and I end my eating window by 7, though I typically don’t usually have anything else after dinner.
Without knowing your situation, I hope seeing how my day goes can help you!
I prepare meals for an elderly parent three times a day, twice while fasting, and for a pre-teen half of every week. I was keto and OMAD and they are picky eaters. So. Many. Meals. Honestly, after a while I just got used to preparing foods for others I couldn’t eat. The hard part was not licking my fingers or not being able to taste good before I served it. Luckily I have several meals I can cook well without tasting. You will get used to it and eventually it will help reduce the grazing and idle eating that you didn’t even realize you do like finishing kids’ meals
I find myself so busy making the toddler and infant meals and feeding the baby that I don’t have time to eat during meals. My bad moments come when I’m stressed and alone and want to run into the kitchen and chow down. What helps is avoiding buying things for toddler snacks that I would want to snack on. I buy my 3 y.o goldfish (I don’t like them) and then he is allowed to grab fruit out of a bowl whenever he needs a snack. The kids also eat what I’m eating for meals. there’s less temptation to eat a whole pot of max n cheese or plate of chicken tenders. I’m also trying to establish set snack times for the kids to avoid the all day grazing, it’s a bad habit for kids and me. Im sorry for your loss.
I have three kids. I make breakfast daily, feed the toddler by hand, and pack lunches 50% of the time. It’s gotten a lot easier. In the first month of IF it was THE WORST. Hang in there. Now I can even prep dinner without breaking a 24 hour fast.
I’m 34 and have a 1 year old and a 3 year old. I do 16:8 right now. I’ve lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks by eating high protein foods at about 1100-1300 calories per day. So, I don’t eat breakfast and the kiddos have toast and eggs or a waffle and yogurt. Lunch we all have crackers, meat, cheese, and fruit. I add a handful of veggies and a protein shake to my lunch. Dinner we do milk, chicken or fish, rice, and veggies. If I’m low on calories I’ll add some cottage cheese. Sometimes we do chicken nuggets and tater tots, I just add veggies and only do a handful of tots.
I have my eating window from 10-6. This means I eat a late breakfast after taking my oldest daughter to nursery and getting the baby ready. I have a small lunch about 1-2ish and eat dinner with the family about 5.30-6.
I eat the same as my daughter and husband for dinner, I just eat less of the carb component (rice/potatoes/pasta) and have more green veg.
I work in a restaurant 3 days a week so I only really have to worry about the other 4 days. I prep Monday for Monday & Tues, prep Wednesday for Wednesday & Thurs. I always make my kids breakfast before school & pack a lunch but dinner…. Not gunna lie, dinner has been chicken nuggets more times than I’d like to admit. One day at a time.
I fairly recently started doing IF. My husband has a spinal cord injury and I do all food prep and cooking all the time. I have son who is elementary school-aged. I kind of got into a rhythm because everything is so chaotic in the morning that I don’t really have nought time to eat breakfast until after I drop kiddo off at school. I get home at 9AM and eat breakfast then. Kiddo and husband always like to eat dinner early so I serve it up around 5PM. That’s my 8 hour window. 16:8 is good for me. No plans to do ever do a smaller window or go OMAD. I know that wouldn’t work well for me. I like 16:8 because essentially for me it means I don’t eat after dinner. It’s difficult for me sometimes when I’m making a new recipe and I need to taste it so see what’s going on. So I just taste it and don’t beat myself up over it.
I’m thinking about “meal prepping” for the baby… veggies, fruits, proteins, carbs, etc… all chopped up and ready to go so that I only have to prep maybe a few times (2x?) for him so I can just whip out food for him in the mornings. Doing 16:8 or 18:6, usually 12-8pm or 12-6pm or 10-6pm depending! So usually it’s primarily breakfast for him (10 months) I have to work around.
I’m doing this. My husband works most of the day so I prepare all the meals and snacks for my kids while fasting. Add to this that I’ve been fasting for 3 months with no weight change. The only advice I have to give is stay determined against all odds until your body falls in line with your determination. That’s what I will continue to do.