Intermittent Fasting

[SmoothButch]

I've been doing intermittent fasting for five months. My cousin had great results in her health improving and got me interested.

Anyone else doing IF, or interested in starting?

[easygoingfemme]

What's your fast routine?

I've done this a few ways, sometimes fasting from 4pm-8am. Right now I mostly do 6pm-9am ish.

My job is crazy though so it's hard to plan food and time to eat. But I feel better when I have a regular long fast time.

[Kelt]

About a decade ago go I did a major health reset and intermittent fasting, while not widely used at the time, was very helpful for me.

At my current age (59) I am needing to rebalance other parts of my system and believe this, and possibly some other fasting styles, may be beneficial for me. This last week I’ve been easing into it with a 14/10 routine, it feels good so I will up my game a little bit at a time over the next few weeks. I think I would like to land at about 18/6 but I will play it by ear.

There is a whole lot more research available now particularly surrounding the topic of autophagy since the 2016 Nobel prize and I am interested in playing around with some more self experimentation.

n=1! Feeling up for another healthy adventure.

[clementinefemme]

I just recently heard about IF on a podcast. Does anyone have resources for someone interested in learning more, particularly what kind of routine would be best? Thanks!

[PlatinumPearl]

I fast anywhere between 12-16 hrs. and sometimes longer. It all depends on how early I start my day and the days events.

I have a family member that shed a considerable amount of weight with Keto and IF.

Is anyone doing Keto with IF? or just IF?

[Orema]

Originally Posted by PlatinumPearl

I fast anywhere between 12-16 hrs. and sometimes longer. It all depends on how early I start my day and the days events.

I have a family member that shed a considerable amount of weight with Keto and IF.

Is anyone doing Keto with IF? or just IF?

I'm doing keto and a form of IF. Usually, I only have solid food from noon to 5pm—lunch or dinner. In the morning I have decaf with cream followed by celery juice or a protein drink. And I drink a lot of water throughout the day. Then I don't have anything till I have a meal. The only way I can fast like this is with Keto—otherwise, I have cravings from the carbs.

I have to couple keto with counting calories or IF to lose weight. I can't lose on Keto or Low Carb on its own. For now the Keto and my kind of IF is working for me.

And I take no-diet days on holidays (today is holiday in the states so I'll make some grilled cheese sandwiches—thanks to VintageFemme and Mopsie's posts in another thread—then it's back on the diet till Halloween).

[Kelt]

I’m trying out the free version of the app “Zero“, basically a countdown timer with history tracking. So far so good. I’m doing 16/8 now.

I’m also one of those people that likes cream in my morning coffee and I had read that for some people heavy cream is OK, and for some people it breaks the fast but the only way to tell is to take glucose measurements. I went ahead and picked up a glucose/ketone tester (Keto-Mojo) and I’ve been having fun playing with it. I have always wondered how different foods affect me since everybody is different, and now I have a toy to play with to find out. With my science background give me something to measure and a way to measure it and I just go down the spreadsheet rabbit hole.

Bonus! I’m one of those people that gets to have cream in their coffee, doesn’t budge the needle.

[Kelt]

For the last five days I seem to have settled in at 18/6. The fasting portion doesn’t seem to bother me at all, I just make sure I have some thing to do the last couple of hours. The six hour feeding window is just right for two good meals without getting hungry in between. I like the amount of variety that I can get across two full meals.

So far so good.

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Kelt

For the last five days I seem to have settled in at 18/6. The fasting portion doesn’t seem to bother me at all, I just make sure I have some thing to do the last couple of hours. The six hour feeding window is just right for two good meals without getting hungry in between. I like the amount of variety that I can get across two full meals.

So far so good.

I have some questions if you don't mind. Do you do this 7 days a week or just a portion of the week? How do you get all of the nutrition your body needs in just 2 meals? Do you use additional supplements or vitamins?

I think that's it for now. I kind of fell into intermittent fasting by accident on the Sundays that I work since my work schedule is in the middle of the day and really doesn't allow for my normal 3 meals (unless I eat dinner very late, which I don't like) so I have some interest in possibly expanding it to more times during the week. I'm not sure I could do it 7 days a week.

[Kelt]

Originally Posted by Gemme

I have some questions if you don't mind. Do you do this 7 days a week or just a portion of the week? How do you get all of the nutrition your body needs in just 2 meals? Do you use additional supplements or vitamins?

I think that's it for now. I kind of fell into intermittent fasting by accident on the Sundays that I work since my work schedule is in the middle of the day and really doesn't allow for my normal 3 meals (unless I eat dinner very late, which I don't like) so I have some interest in possibly expanding it to more times during the week. I'm not sure I could do it 7 days a week.

Hi Gemme-
You’ve been around these parts for long enough to probably recall a decade ago when we were both in the healthy weight loss thread. Intermittent fasting at that time didn’t have the press it enjoys now but that’s when I discovered it for myself as being helpful for losing weight. Since I get hungry about every four hours after I start eating for the day I ended up eating too much, cutting that down to 2 1/2 made it easier for me at the time. Now I’m engaging with it for other reasons (I do have some pounds to takeoff too, and it’s working).

I have bumped my fasting interval from 16 to 18 in order to drop out that other half/small meal because I found that portion to not be adding anything nutritionally, just macros. Since I’ve only been doing this interval for about six days that makes the answer to your question about seven days a week “I don’t know“. So far it feels great and meets some other goals so I will try to continue and just play with it.

As far as meeting my nutritional needs I’m finding it to be pretty simple by simply cutting out anything processed or refined. Variety in vegetables and meats is key for me. Part of my current project is to reset my pallet, I got to a point where my taste buds were really only recognizing sweet and salty so I was ignoring other things that are really good for me. It’s amazing to me how much that has changed in just a couple of weeks, I’m now incorporating more sour and bitter and really enjoying it while tapering down on sweet things with no feeling of sacrifice.

When it comes to supplementing that is something I’ve done my entire life though mostly just vitamins. This is the bigger part of my current health project. I’m really working on improving my bacterial environment and due to a recent diagnosis of osteopenia I am also really honing in on minerals. My goal is to do most of this through the foods that I eat but I acknowledge that things like depletion of soil and crop hybridizing have made it such that our food can’t really deliver all that we need so yes I am doing some supplementing.

TLDR: No, I never have a short answer.

[Kelt]

I have now been doing this interval, 18 to 19 hours, for a month and it’s becoming routine. I’m more than willing to be flexible if there’s an issue with my schedule, but other than that it seems like a reasonable way to just keep doing things. I feel good and my energy levels are stable.

[iamkeri1]

I had a big old long post mostly typed when an ad popped up over my page and erased it all.



I started intermittent fasting 107 days ago. It is very comfortable for me and I'd like to talk to other people about it. I use 2 apps which I'll say more about as time goes on. For now I just want to "bump" this post and get the discussion going again.


Smooches,
Keri

[iamkeri1]

I use the simple app to keep track of fasting times, hydration, movement, and food I have eaten. I wanted to commit to intermittent fasting so I bought a membership, but I think they also have a free version. They provide coaching via AI which can be helpful with goals and encouragement. The coach can also provide good recipes if you need them. They also have a Facebook member group. I dislike FB so I don't participate in that group. I find it especially helpful keeping track of what I am drinking. Historically I don't drink a lot of liquids, so I need help in that area.

Smooches,

Keri

[iamkeri1]

I've posted a couple times on this thread, and I can't get it to "bump up." I've been doing intermittent fasting for almost 4 months and I want to talk about with y'all. I'm going to try again this morning.

Smooches,

Keri

[Gemme]

So, I suppose I'm technically doing some version of intermittent fasting 7 days a week now, albeit not on purpose. My schedule changed and I had more unrestricted time so I slept later and had breakfast later and lunch kind of faded away since I was not hungry when it would come around but I didn't want to push dinner farther back either. I don't like eating too late.

Now, I eat two meals a day and I take some vitamins and supplements to make sure my nutritional needs are being met as much as possible.

I'm not on a structured schedule so there's no strict pattern to it. There could be as little as 8 hours in between meals or as much as 12 hours. It depends on my schedule for the day, when I wake up, et cetera. I do have a few rules for myself that are very simple: I don't eat right before bed, usually at least 3 hours before going to bed, I don't eat right when I wake up either and when I do eat, I try to get as much nutritional variety as possible.

[iamkeri1]

Hi Gemme,
Are you losing weight as a result of the meal reduction? Do you even want to lose weight? how's your energy?
Smooches,
Keri

[Stone-Butch]

I have never done IF but I did change eating habits and went from 194 to 157 in about a year and a half and could not be happier. I do not eat hardly any pork (just ham on a sandwich no chops). I have steak perhaps once a month. I eat mainly chicken and fish and seafoods. I eat ONLY when hungry never on a schedule. No snacking and no junk. I have no cookies, cake or snack foods on my shopping list as if you don't buy them you don't have them if you get a craving. I drink ice tea and coffee but in between I drink a lot of Brita water. I enjoy green veggies daily with my meals. Most of my food is baked not deep fried. I can't remember when I last went to MacD's or other place. I do have occasional Chinese or Pizza like once every few months. I like rice with my fish or green veggie. I have changed from pork chops every week to ribs once a month. I find I am use to eating like this, my excuse to buy new pants that fit and my feeling of less stress on my body. I type instead of eating after my blueberry muffin (shame) for breakfast. Supper tonight will be salmon and fiddle heads with a little long grain and wild rice. Happy chowing to all.

[iamkeri1]

Good for you S-B. I am not disciplined enough for that. I always said, I could quit anything if I could go cold-turkey, but you can't go cold turkey with food, because you can't "not-eat"

So IF works for me because there are long periods of time when you actually can "not-eat" Also I am learning that drinking a lot of water pretty much takes your appetite away. I have never drunk much water, (or anything) so this is a major change for me. I haven't had cookies/cakes/biscuits for a while, but I haven't eliminated all snacks.I eat no more than 1200 calories, but I can usually work in a fudgsicle or a pudding cup at 90 calories each. Gotta have treats!
Smooches,
Keri

[iamkeri1]

Had my 300th day of fasting a few days ago. I hope to hit my goal weight loss of 48 pounds on June 22, 2025. If I'm still as comfortable with this diet then as I am now, I have an additional goal to lose 18 more pounds.


This will bring me to the BMI range recommended for older women.
Not a bad idea, i guess.

Smooches,
Keri

[iamkeri1]

I'm still going with the intermittent fasting. Approaching a year on April 21st. My sleep schedule is totally messed up at this point. I'm pretty much a vampire, up all night, sleep all day. I love the night, I always have. But still, I'm encouraging my body to move beyond this phase. Ideal for me is, go to sleep around 2 am, awake around 10 am.