The FastDay Forum

Hi - you may have already seen my various ramblings about falling off the 5:2 wagon recently but I am very keen to learn more about 16-8 (or variations of) and any success stories out there as the more I read the more I am leaning towards this approach maybe 4 days a week? Anyway an input appreciated!!

It was my impression that 16:8 type diets are done every day. Doing them only a few days a week isn't likely to result in a calorie deficit. And you need that deficit. You will only lose one pound if you eat 3500 calories less than your body needs. So the window approach also won't help if you simply compress your eating into a shorter time frame.

Were you being too stringent on nonfast days? If you do 5:2 and know you can have whatever you want the next day, those fast days are much easier. But if you make your self diet on the other days it can be too hard.

Hi @Wilson.
I just thought that I'd tell you about my eating patterns. After around nine months of standard 5:2 I adopted an eating window approach, usually just eating one meal in the evening, but I wasn't rigid about it. If there were any social events I might switch to eating lunch, or occaionally eating both. I found that I didn't want to return to three meals a day.

I'm currently maintaining, with a view to further weight loss in the New Year, as I've had major surgery, but I'm still generally just eating an evening meal, although I'm allowing myself some kind of daytime treat on a couple of days a week. I previously cut back on carbohydrates quite significantly, as I discovered that I had high levels of blood glucose. I'm not quite so strict at present, but I still need to be careful, and I'm keeping an eye on things.

I have found that my appetite has been re-educated, and I generally prefer not to eat during the day. On most days I'm doing something like 23:1, but there are a few 18:6 days along the way. So, even when maintaining, I'm adopting an eating window approach every day. It looks like this will now be my approach forever. I don't find it restrictive. It doesn't feel as though I'm on a "diet". I'm not rigid about it and I don't count calories. I feel quite liberated and it seems to have developed quite naturally out of the previou fast days on 5:2.

I hope that you find a pattern which suits you.

Bracken.

Hello Wilson. These are my thoughts on 16:8.

I think this eating window can work to maintain weight if you have a reasonable TDEE so you don't overeat (preferably low carb low sugar) in the 8 hrs feeding time. Essentially you are distributing your calories over two instead of three meals.

I am small and my TDEE is only between 1300 and 1400 kcals and I am maintaining. With such a low TDEE it is quite easy to go ever so slightly over every day especially if like me you are quite partial to bread and sugar.

I find that the fasting on two days help me to discipline me in that respect.

Well before 5:2 I did do some sort of 16:8 and it kept my weight gain fairly slow over the years but I never managed to lose weight. I used to eat fruit only at about 11 am and then have a soup lunch or similar. My downfall was in the evening when settling home after work and having a lovely neal cooked by DH with a delicious desert. My gain was only about a lb or two per year since my forties but once gained I could not lose it any more. This was only possible with 5:2.

So until I can be a bit more disciplined and lose my love for chocolates and biscuit, I will keep fasting, but also have breakfast late morning. I just like the occasional treat too much. May I add that I am still a novice at maintaining and therefore still experimenting what works for me and what I can get away with.

Interesting pieces by fellow fasters there! My story is that I've just got back onto the fasting wagon having gone off the rails lately (I basically put all the weight I'd lost back on...plus some...the usual story). With encouragement from my lovely buddies I am now doing 5:2 instead of ADF which is the routine I got into before. I found after a fast that I was looking forward to breakfast and would eat as much as I liked because I said to myself that tomorrow would be a fast. In reality, I didn't really feel hungry the day after a fast...which leads me to 16:8

I hadn't tried it before but when I read Caroline's carorees' article on her amazing success I gave it a go. So now instead of ADF, I am doing 5:2 (fasting Mondays and Thursdays) and then skipping breakfasts altogether and just eating in the 8-hour window of 12:30 - 20:30.

After my first week of trying this method I have lost 3 pounds...so I'm pretty pleased. Having said all this, I may return to ADF in the new year but I'm aiming to stick with fasting and don't want to go mad too soon. As many peeps have said; this is a marathon not a sprint!

Anyway, I wish you luck with whatever method you decide on. The great thing to remember is that everyone is so helpful on this forum and if you need any help and advice you'll definitely find it here
Bean

[carorees]

It is likely that every one is different!

My TDEE is around 1400 and I have been successfully maintaining using an eating window for the last 7 months and had previously lost the last 2 stone that way. I don't eat before midday or after 8 pm unless I absolutely have to because of circumstances. Most days are 17:7, some are 18:6 or 19:5 and some the full 16:8, but I've also reduced my carb intake...not low carb but leaving out the carbs where possible (e.g. an open sandwich instead of two slices of bread; one or no potatoes with my evening meal, substitute half the spaghetti for courgette spaghetti). I find that if I do 16:8 for several days I tend to put on weight slowly, but a day or two of 19:5 will see me lose the weight again. I don't count calories or carbs.

I find that some days can naturally be much lower calorie/carb than others even within the eating window approach. Some days I'm be less hungry than others or will easily be able to have a really low carb day: I grab those days! Some days I'm more hungry, but I don't worry about them as long as they are not every day! It is a far more naturalistic way of eating to have fasting days and feasting days, so I try to go with the flow!

The advantage of the eating window being every day is that you can't say "oh I'll do it tomorrow" and then repeat and repeat until you've missed a week or a month of fasts, like you can with a 5:2 pattern. You say to yourself "I don't eat before noon" and "I don't eat after 8pm" (or whatever) and that creates a habit which is easy to stick to. I'm not saying that I think 5:2 is hard to stick to...it is easy, but sometimes if you're having a hard week/month you can find yourself putting off fasting. Making the decision to restrict your eating to an eating window every day may help you to keep fasting in your life in those situations.

You need to experiment. Good luck with your experimentation!

@Bracken I find your post very interesting. I have also noticed recently that I can easily do with only one meal per day (usually in the evening). As I have mentioned in yesterday's fasting thread, I am a bit puzzled how/why I have been finding fasting quite easy in the last couple of weeks. This has not always been so. Yesterday I could have easily done withouth food for 36hrs but DH had cooked a nice meal and I didn't want to eat it cold today for the sake of it. If my hunger levels stay the way they have been in the last few weeks, I could easily adopt your style of eating ie just one meal in the evening most days of the week with weekends accommodating socialising and family.

I am still experimenting with this WOE in fact, I think we all are constantly refining our WOE.

It is likely that every one is different!

The advantage of the eating window being every day is that you can't say "oh I'll do it tomorrow" and then repeat and repeat until you've missed a week or a month of fasts, like you can with a 5:2 pattern. You say to yourself "I don't eat before noon" and "I don't eat after 8pm" (or whatever) and that creates a habit which is easy to stick to. I'm not saying that I think 5:2 is hard to stick to...it is easy, but sometimes if you're having a hard week/month you can find yourself putting off fasting. Making the decision to restrict your eating to an eating window every day may help you to keep fasting in your life in those situations.

You need to experiment. Good luck with your experimentation!

@carorees Thank you, I like your way very much. To establish a habit of IF and then if I gain a bit, add 5:2 until I am back to the middle of my target range. First of all weight gain will never be dramatic with IF and establishing a habit is very important. Now I just need to concentrate on less sugar (I have already reduced to some degree) and carbs.

Hi @Wilson I have been doing Fast-5 (19/5) for nearly a year and now I actually do my eating within a 3 hour window (so 21/3). This has evolved naturally over time. I have never counted calories as ideologically I am in the opposing camp and have been cutting down on carbs, in particular sugars and starches.

Over my 16 months of fasting ( I began on 5:2 with no calories on my Fast days), my food choices have changed out of all recognition, with junk and processed foods virtually gone. I open my window with a huge salad with fish or omelette and then rely on my appetite to tell me how much more to eat in my window - things like nuts, berries and cream or full-fat yoghurt, home-made low-carb pizza or quiche, veg soup etc.

I am now steady at 3 lbs over the goal weight I achieved 5 months ago, but not worried. For me fasting is a process done for health, not a technique for getting from x lbs to y lbs. I love food, but have so many hours in the day when I don't have to think about planning, shopping, preparing, consuming and clearing up after it, it is liberating!

Thanks barbarita - and is that 7 days per week?? Thanks again to all the posts and advice - much appreciated

Hi Wilson

As carorees said, we are all different and what works for someone else may not work for you. Do give eating windows a go if you think that is what will suit you and help you lose weight. However, I do think it is worth persevering with one style of IF for long enough to determine how well it suits you, and what it is about that way of eating that may not be working for you, before trying others.

Best wishes finding something that works for you.

Thanks barbarita - and is that 7 days per week?? Thanks again to all the posts and advice - much appreciated

Yes, I do it 7 days a week. I don't have a reason not to. Some Fast-5ers take the weekend off to eat socially with family and friends and do OK.

Hi @Wilson.
I just thought that I'd tell you about my eating patterns. After around nine months of standard 5:2 I adopted an eating window approach, usually just eating one meal in the evening, but I wasn't rigid about it. If there were any social events I might switch to eating lunch, or occasionally eating both. I found that I didn't want to return to three meals a day.

I'm currently maintaining, with a view to further weight loss in the New Year, as I've had major surgery, but I'm still generally just eating an evening meal, although I'm allowing myself some kind of daytime treat on a couple of days a week. I previously cut back on carbohydrates quite significantly, as I discovered that I had high levels of blood glucose. I'm not quite so strict at present, but I still need to be careful, and I'm keeping an eye on things.

I have found that my appetite has been re-educated, and I generally prefer not to eat during the day. On most days I'm doing something like 23:1, but there are a few 18:6 days along the way. So, even when maintaining, I'm adopting an eating window approach every day. It looks like this will now be my approach forever. I don't find it restrictive. It doesn't feel as though I'm on a "diet". I'm not rigid about it and I don't count calories. I feel quite liberated and it seems to have developed quite naturally out of the previou fast days on 5:2.

I hope that you find a pattern which suits you.

Bracken.

its great that it works for you but 23 hours of fasting and one hour of eating every single day does not sound like something I could ever adopt, whether im still in weight loss mode or ,aintaining. I know you say you do 16:8 some days but even so.
everybody is different and im just putting it out there that newbies shouldnt feel the need to eat in such a small window every day.

Same with barbarita's 3 hour window. every day of the week. And i thought 5 hours was hard thought I can almost get the 8 hour window thing, as I'm finding i try to delay my meals even on fast days to around 2pm. thus eating from 2pm to 10pm or if i fail, from 1pm to 9pm which is 8 hours. But if im hungry and its only 10am, I tuck into whatever, as it's why I love 5:2 or 4:3 because you aren't calorie restricting every day of the week. Having said that, dont dare look at my progress chart.

Anyhows... so im sure people are going to scream at me but just sharing my opinion.. and please keep doing whatever is successful and works for you and is "healthy" from a medical point of view (im meaning anyone)

I just thought that I needed to respond to the comment below.

its great that it works for you but 23 hours of fasting and one hour of eating every single day does not sound like something I could ever adopt, whether im still in weight loss mode or dieting. I know you say you do 16:8 some days but even so.
everybody is different and im just putting it out there that newbies shouldnt feel the need to eat in such a small window every day.

Same with barbarita's 3 hour window. every day of the week. And i thought 5 hours was hard and i can almost get the 8 hour window thing.
Anyhows... so im sure people are going to scream at me but just sharing my opinion.. and please keep doing whatever is successful and works for you and is "healthy" from a medical point of view (im meaning anyone)[/quote]


Please look at what I said. I don't do this "every single day"; most days, yes, but I adapt to whatever is happenning. I'm very relaxed about it and do not deprive myself of family lunches etc. It is a case of listening to my body. If I need to , or want to eat for social reasons, I do, but I no longer eat simply because it is a meal time, and I am no longer an emotional eater. This was something which developed quite naturally after a lengthy period of 5:2. It would not have been something which I would have been able to do without that period, but the fasting days on 5:2 seemed to sensitise me to my body and what it actually needs.

Hi @Juliana.rivers, I quite agree that newbies should not start with, or ever feel they should aim for a very short eating window. I began fasting with 5:2, and after switching to Fast-5 my window has naturally shortened after a year. I do not think shorter is better or set it as a target. I do not calorie restrict at all, and am always full when I close my window.