Intermittent Fasting, aka eating all the things a few hours a day

savvy

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Hello all, thought I would start an IF bitch post. I'm grumpy this morning, and broke alllll rules yesterday and today already. I need some support to get my eating back on track. It's massively derailed and doesn't help I'm moving, again, this weekend. Hard to stay on track.

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I would love to do IF but I'm supposed to have protein on of my medications in the morning so I'm trying to figure out a way to make this work.
 
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savvy

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I would love to do IF but I'm supposed to have protein on of my medications in the morning so I'm trying to figure out a way to make this work.
Do you have to take meds at night? You can IF on the other side of the day, it's just more difficult with societal norms. I love eating dinner with people. Also, what time do you have to take your meds?
 
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Do you have to take meds at night? You can IF on the other side of the day, it's just more difficult with societal norms. I love eating dinner with people. Also, what time do you have to take your meds?
The medication I need to eat protein with has to be taken in the morning. I have other medications I take throughout the day but I can take them just fine without food. I need to do some research and see if it's workable for me to do IF someday and not others or if that would nullify the positive effects.
 

savvy

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The medication I need to eat protein with has to be taken in the morning. I have other medications I take throughout the day but I can take them just fine without food. I need to do some research and see if it's workable for me to do IF someday and not others or if that would nullify the positive effects.
I don't have time to find the information right now. But what I saw 2-3 days a week is useful still. I probably won't stick to it 7 days a week. I need to do research again, it's been over a year.
 
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Pleco

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Hello all, thought I would start an IF bitch post. I'm grumpy this morning, and broke alllll rules yesterday and today already. I need some support to get my eating back on track. It's massively derailed and doesn't help I'm moving, again, this weekend. Hard to stay on track.

Pleco @Pleco Classic®

and i don't remember who else
I've fallen off the wagon before, but the most important thing is to go back at it when you can, instead of going "Welp, I ate a cupcake before the 16 hours were up, this is useless, might as well stuff my face". The cool thing about IF is if you had one "bad" day, you can go back right at it the next, it doesn't ruin all the progress you've made until then.

Also I will say, if you're going through something big like a move, then forget IF for a couple of days. You're going to be stressed out as hell, with a ton of things on your mind, and non-stop running around to get things done. It's not really the best time to test how faithful you can be to an eating habit.
 

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I do something similar to this - though I eat an apple or something like that during the day. It is unbelievable the amount of money I save by eating at 6 pm instead of going out to buy lunch during my break. Of course it comes with its difficulties, because I probably break the rule by eating throughout the day 2-3 days a week, unless that apple already breaks it for me every day of the week. I've lost 102 lbs since May of last year doing this (and just calorie counting overall). For the record, I weigh 210.
 

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Doing Pins while on IF was a mistake.
 
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electrolyte

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Oh, wait, it's just 16 hours at a time? I thought this meant like, not eating at all for 2-3 days/week. Well, TIL I'm doing this and I had no idea. I eat dinner at 6-7PM and then don't usually have anything except water until the next day at about noon. Sometimes I end up having a bedtime snack but definitely not every day. Am I doing it wrong since most of my hours are at night and while sleeping?
 
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Oh, wait, it's just 16 hours at a time? I thought this meant like, not eating at all for 2-3 days/week. Well, TIL I'm doing this and I had no idea. I eat dinner at 6-7PM and then don't usually have anything except water until the next day at about noon. Sometimes I end up having a bedtime snack but definitely not every day. Am I doing it wrong since most of my hours are at night and while sleeping?
Intermittent fasting can also be entire days of not eating at all, it's just that 16/8 is the most popular method as it requires most people to just skip breakfast. 18/6, 20/4 and even 23/1 are also ways of doing it.

You're not doing it wrong, the sleeping part counts as part of the fasting. You basically want to ingest nothing other than water ( and maybe salt for some people) so that your insulin levels drop, autophagy begins, and your body turns to your fat reserves to burn off energy (if you're trying to lose weight) instead of muscle. The more time without eating the more effective, but at the same time most people don't want to longer than 16 hours without food.

But if you're already eating that way naturally then keep at it, you're getting all the benefits without having to do a lot of effort.
 
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electrolyte

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Intermittent fasting can also be entire days of not eating at all, it's just that 16/8 is the most popular method as it requires most people to just skip breakfast. 18/6, 20/4 and even 23/1 are also ways of doing it.

You're not doing it wrong, the sleeping part counts as part of the fasting. You basically want to ingest nothing other than water ( and maybe salt for some people) so that your insulin levels drop, autophagy begins, and your body turns to your fat reserves to burn off energy (if you're trying to lose weight) instead of muscle. The more time without eating the more effective, but at the same time most people don't want to longer than 16 hours without food.

But if you're already eating that way naturally then keep at it, you're getting all the benefits without having to do a lot of effort.
I like the word autophagy because it sounds like personal cannibalism.
 
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savvy

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I've fallen off the wagon before, but the most important thing is to go back at it when you can, instead of going "Welp, I ate a cupcake before the 16 hours were up, this is useless, might as well stuff my face". The cool thing about IF is if you had one "bad" day, you can go back right at it the next, it doesn't ruin all the progress you've made until then.

Also I will say, if you're going through something big like a move, then forget IF for a couple of days. You're going to be stressed out as hell, with a ton of things on your mind, and non-stop running around to get things done. It's not really the best time to test how faithful you can be to an eating habit.

I typically wouldn't but it has helped the stress levels a little bit - one less meal a day to think about. I get to eat in 30 minutes and I'm stoked. I will not follow on moving day, as I will feel better if I eat some breakfast. I fell off the wagon for...almost a year. Last winter i was following fairly well. In my mind I already said to myself I will probably only follow 5-6 days a week. Sometimes, I love breakfast, and eating breakfast with other people lol. I just feel really out of control (twice this week I ate an entire frozen pizza by myself in one sitting...shame). Yesterday I managed to follow, which made me feel better because I knew I was having a gluttonous dinner with family. But today is going well, is well planned and I feel good.

I'm glad I learned this about you Pleco @Pleco Classic® you seem very knowledgeable about this. I was last year when I first researched it. My schooling actually was in exercise science/ so anatomy, nutrition, etc, so this stuff is fascinating to me.
 
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savvy

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Oh, wait, it's just 16 hours at a time? I thought this meant like, not eating at all for 2-3 days/week. Well, TIL I'm doing this and I had no idea. I eat dinner at 6-7PM and then don't usually have anything except water until the next day at about noon. Sometimes I end up having a bedtime snack but definitely not every day. Am I doing it wrong since most of my hours are at night and while sleeping?
like Pleco @Pleco Classic® said, you're good. That's my timing. I eat 12pm-8pm. :) For my sanity most of my fasting needs to be done while asleep lol
 
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savvy

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I do something similar to this - though I eat an apple or something like that during the day. It is unbelievable the amount of money I save by eating at 6 pm instead of going out to buy lunch during my break. Of course it comes with its difficulties, because I probably break the rule by eating throughout the day 2-3 days a week, unless that apple already breaks it for me every day of the week. I've lost 102 lbs since May of last year doing this (and just calorie counting overall). For the record, I weigh 210.
Congrats !! 1 meal is too much for me, but maybe one day.

In my lifetime I've lost 70lbs, but I've gained about 15lb back from my lowest weight, and I would like to lose 20lb.

Whatever you're doing, it's working!
 

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I recently completed a week-long water-only fast, and I have to tell you my health and desire to improve my health have gone completed up! I've been exercising, meditating, eat better, and drink more water. Fasting is something special that's for certain. First thing I ate after that week long fast was sauerkraut, and wow that was intense!
 
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savvy

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I recently completed a week-long water-only fast, and I have to tell you my health and desire to improve my health have gone completed up! I've been exercising, meditating, eat better, and drink more water. Fasting is something special that's for certain. First thing I ate after that week long fast was sauerkraut, and wow that was intense!

wow, i definitely couldn't function on a week long fast, good on ya. glad you're feeling better!
 
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