Don’t consider it a diet, you’re just making a lifestyle shift.
An improvement I experienced and wasn’t expecting was relief from IBS. I barely have symptoms these days since IF. Started to notice it a month into adopting consistent fasting schedule. I’m also less food obsessed if I stick with my schedule and “clean” eating.
I’m only about five weeks in, but one thing that I noticed after a couple weeks of a 16:8 regimen is that I’ve learned how to go to bed feeling slightly hungry without panicking and being unable to sleep. I eat dinner between 5-6:30 and am in bed between 9-10. Prior to starting IF it was hard for me to go to bed without having a snack; I felt the urge to pre-empt hunger pangs. Now that I am no longer eating my calories throughout the day but rather “back loading” them, dinner is a large, satiating meal. Now when I eat dinner I’m not worrying about being hungry at bedtime since I’ve started fasting and hunger is expected. I also look forward to breaking my fast earlier in the morning :)
This has really surprised me. A big barrier to maintaining a calorie deficit for me in the past was that I would try to eat three 500 cal meals +2 snacks but I would always need a third snack before bed. Then my deficit was gone :-(
The challenge for me, however, is making sure that I am eating enough calories at dinner time so that I can last through the morning until 10 or 11 AM. I am also finding that I need to eat a higher fat diet to fill satiated and this is no problem :-)
Don’t get hangry anymore.
Way better at telling the difference between boredom eating and actual hunger.
I save a bunch of time only making 1 meal a day.
I’m not exactly sure how long it all took to click since I really eased into it, moving from 16/8 to OMAD over the course of a year.