The FastDay Forum

I've just been reading round the web about fasting 16 hours and eating 8 hours in every 24 and wondered if this change may help get past this weight-loss stall. Anyone tried it with any success? I have been fasting 24hours twice a week since the start of January and lost 17lbs and feel a change of pace may refresh things.
Thanks everyone.

[carorees]

There are a couple of people using this technique for maintenance: Ballerina and NoraBoswell are two I can think of, maybe there are more. I saw that NoraBoswell said that she is also including a couple of low calorie days in the 16:8 format and has lost a little more weight so I think that you would need to do that as well because I reckon it is still fairly easy to eat to TDEE and beyond in 8 hours! (well it would be for me anyway ). I am thinking of using this technique when I go on holiday as a way of avoiding gaining (too much) weight. Currently I try to have at least 12 hours without food each day and if I can push that to 16 I do, whether it has helped my weightloss I don't know.

I'll be interested to see how you get on.

Good luck!

I tried 24h-fasting twice a week for a while, but couldn't sustain it long term. The hunger pangs would become too difficult to ignore after 19-20 hours!
Based on that (failed) attempt, I now do 20-4 (or close) twice a week.
I eat a normal diner around 7:00pm and have a snack around 4:00pm the following day, followed by a low-cal diner around 7:00.

It has actually become easier to postpone the first bite.
I am fasting today and I haven't had anything to eat since 7:30 last night.

I have been doing Fast-5 which is 19:5 since May 2007. The premise behind the daily fasting is that you will tend to naturally eat less in your window. I lost 20 lbs doing the five hour window. I gained it back when I stretched my window to six....then seven, then eight. So for me, just doing 16:8 would not work. I may do 16:8 on my non-fast days. I am just not a breakfast person- just coffee for me. I went back to 19:5, but even doing just that was not getting the scale to budge. So I'm hoping 5:2 along with 19:5 on my workdays, and 16:8 on the weekends will do the job.
I started last week planning to do the diet portion of the HCG diet which is 500 calories a day for a couple weeks. Well I couldn't even handle the strict food options for one day, so just restricted the calories to 500 on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. The other days I followed Fast-5. I did lose a little over 3 lbs. so yay me. So my plan is to do 5:2, with an occasional Saturday fast and on the non-fast days fast between 16 and 19 hours.

Interesting responses, thank you. Although we all have the same basic physiology we all use it individually. In a perfect world I would continue to lose a steady pound of flesh every week but, as nothing is perfect, my body has become used to 5:2 and hangs on to what goes in now. So today I ate scrambled egg on toast at 11.30am instead of my usual Monday 24 hour fast, and dinner will be over by 7pm, all calories counted so things don't get out of hand! Nothing but water then until Tuesday 11-noon and see how I respond for a few days - a week or two weeks maybe - then perhaps back to 5:2 and watch the scales. Mr Berardi suggests small changes are most effective over a fortnight.

Hi Azureblue,

As Carorees rightly says, I do this. As I was approaching my target weight I found I was naturally consuming my calories within a set time scale on my fast days, not deliberately, but it just seemed to suit me and felt very easy for me. I then started to do this every day and when I reached my target weight some weeks ago I continued with this regime. It is not for everyone, my husband who LOVES breakfast would rather eat razor blades than go without sustenance first thing in the morning but I consider this to be his loss, or not!

I rarely break my fast before 12 noon and rarely eat after 8 pm but more typically I have a substantial lunch at 1 or 2 p.m. and perhaps something at around 5 or 6 p.m. so that my daily window is nearer to 4 or 5 hours rather than 8. This suits me perfectly and it's not as bad as it sounds, I just skip breakfast and don't nibble late into the evening, a lot of people actually do this naturally without ever realising that they are fasting, it's just how they eat.

Since going on maintenance this way my weight has never, and I do mean NEVER, been so stable. It seems that no matter how much I eat, and sometimes I've indulged in the most spectacular blow outs in the history of dieting woman, my weight does not fluctuate so, for me at least, this is the perfect way to live.

Try it for a few days, it won't kill you and other than perhaps feeling slightly peckish as you get near lunch you should not suffer.

I hope you enjoy whatever you decide to do because anything is better than nothing so, good luck and keep us posted as I'd love to know how you get on.

Ballerina x

Thought I'd just mention that after almost two days on 16/8 my constipation problem has resolved so I hope that may continue. Also finding I'm more noon to 7pm eating window and averaging 1400 calories without trying. Dropped 0.3kgs too. So far so good. We have grandchildren tomorrow, their extra dimension may alter things! Pip pip :0)

I'm doing 16:8 for the first time, as a method to try and manage overeating at the weekend, but still enjoy all my going-out indulgences. So far really enjoying it - I'm going for a very late big cooked breakfast, then out in the evening, and nothing in between. Its still quite high calorie, but its not out of control. I'll aiming to do my 2 fast days during the week as well, but wont manage 2 every week, as lots on over the next few weeks, so I'm using every tool I can to keep IF going

As a great fan of 16/8 I'm glad to see more people trying it, hope you all find it as satisfying a way to live as I do. I think it might be helpful to have a short FAQ on 16/8 in the newbie section although I never suggest that 16/8 should be a starting point. For me it came on gradually and became a natural way to eat. I feel quite strongly that it is just as sustainable as the more conventional 5:2 either on it's own or as a supplement/complement/maintenance.

The lovely Rainbow and her husband have jumped straight into 16/8 without doing 5:2 first and if I was to start this process again it it how I would approach it myself but like everything else on here it is all about what suits YOU best.

Although I had great success on 5:2, and always praise to the hills, for me, 16/8 is the one. My window is more like 4/6 hours rather than 8 but it is always nice to feel that you have a little time in reserve, just like calories on a fast day.

I also feel that I am getting, I hope, any perceived long term health benefits on 16/8 as my average fast every day is anywhere from 16 to 24 hours as sometimes a large, late lunch is all I can eat in one day. I have been known to consume in excess of 2000 calories at lunch, (my TDEE is 1580)it was not easy, I really had to push myself but I ploughed on manfully

I have maintained my weight on 16/8 and when I did a 36er, as we call it in the trade, I lost a shocking 7lbs which I have maintained in spite of my best efforts and huge lunches

Anyone considering trying this? Just go for it, if it does not work for you or suit you then stop, easy peasy!!! Good luck if you are going to give it a go and any questions you may have just fire away, I only have my own experience to fall back on but if I can help or just support you then great,

Ballerina x

I am also trying 16:8. Only started less than a week ago but already it is suiting me fine. I think for me this way will be more sustainable. The fasts on 5:2 are ok but a little challenge whereas skipping breakfast and not eating after 7 or 8 is easy and suited more to my way of eating.
I don't think I am eating more that I normally would for lunch and dinner. The principle is the same as 5:2 just set out a little different.
The proof will be when I do my next weigh in on Friday. I have also incorporated some exercise - pump twice per week and walking on other days. I only have 5 kg to lose and I don't mind a slow loss.

Hi all
I have been doing 5:2 for some months now and I have been reading about 16/8 IF with much interest. Couple of questions: do you 16/8 everyday? Or do you still do 2 x 500 cals during the week? I feel I could easily do 16/8 7 days a week - missing breakfast, eating lunch 2pmish and dinner 7pmish.
Hope this makes sense and I am loving this forum I feel really excited about trying 16/8 and like others have said before...if it doesnt go to plan, I can always go back to 5:2.
Kate xxxx

Hi Whatkatiedid,

I do 16/8 every day, I no longer do fast days as I just cannot bear to count calories, but like most woman I am mentally aware of how much I am consuming even though I do not restrict myself. Some days I eat huge amounts and other days I eat like a sparrow but this is a natural process which I just go with. If I am hungry, I eat, if I am not hungry, then I don't eat, I just go with what my body wants, not what I think it should have (like breakfast!) and as a result my weight seems to be self regulating. I shall never ignore my instincts again.

This s not for everyone but if it works for you half as well as it works for me then you will be onto a winner, good luck,

Ballerina x

Thanks ballerina - will start tomorrow and keep posting.
Katie x

I do both 16/8 and 4:3. I've been doing some kind of IF since June 2012 and have found it helps to mix things up a bit, because your body seems to adapt to the pattern of fasting after a while, so I try to keep it guessing. I know that sounds daft! I do 12 fasts every 28 days in different ways. 5:2 one week, ADF the next, 4:3 and 4:3. Then stir it all up for the next 28 days. I occasionally fast for 24 hours and eat once at 8 o' clock on non-fasting days, but only when I'm feeling strong. The 16/8 comes from last June when I started IF and I can't quite give it up. This may all seem a bit stringent and unsustainable, but even full on ADF is only dieting one day at a time and you can sort of relax on feeding days.

I started on 5:2, reached my target and planned to move to 6:1 but have found a 7 hour eating window works well. I've explained this in more detail in:

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5026

Good luck