The FastDay Forum

Hi Fellow Fasters, Is anyone doing 16:8 exclusively and still losing weight? I know Ballerina does 16:8 only for weight maintenance and there are many of you doing 16:8 and 5:2 with good results. I am close to my goal weight, only 2.5kg to go and am thinking of trying 16:8 only. I have been doing both 5:2 and 16:8 which i have found to work really well but it is getting a bit too hard. Love to hear your opinions. I want to keep it simple.

Hi Leannehills,

I was about 4 lbs off my target weight when I started doing 16/8 every day. I realised that it was how my body wanted me to eat. I've never liked breakfast and eating late in the evening is not for me either so that doesn't leave a huge amount of hours left in the day whether you count them or not, simple mathematics there, it just now seems to have a label hence, 16/8.

Within days I had dropped the last 4 lbs to my target weight so I decided to go with 16/8 everyday with no calorie restriction, 5:2 had been fantastic for me but I was now moving into a different phase. I must add that whilst doing 5:2 I usually only ate once a day or at most, one meal and 1 light snack so in essence I was doing 16/8 even then without realising it.

Having lost my weight I wanted to maintain any health benefits which I hope 16/8 will provide, but who knows? Even if long term benefits turn out to not exist I shall still continue to eat this way as it suits me so much and my weight is incredibly easy to manage now, in fact I dropped under my target but that is no problem, I just eat more, simple.

I have since read that a few people are going straight to 16/8 and I understand it can work for weight loss and if I was starting out again then this is possibly the way I'd go. It's all trial and error and it's all a very personal thing, what I do does not suit my husband but that's fine.

Good luck,

ballerina x

Thank you for that Ballerina, very encouraging. I think this pattern of eating will suit me as well. I am a little like you in that I don't miss breakfast and don't like to eat late into the evening. I shall give it a go and see what happens.
By the way I have enjoyed hearing about your holiday in France- very amusing

It's interesting how everyone has such different experiences
I am enjoying 16.8' a lot.i love skipping breakfast and plan to continue like this always
Not quite ready to give up my two weekly fasts yet as I still want to lose a bit.
Will be interested to hear your progress leannehills

At this point, while I would love to drop the 500 calorie days, I don't think I'm there yet. I'm not terribly yet restrained in my 8 hour windows (especially when there is a peanut butter jar involved) and 2 weeks in I am still missing breakfast. Please tell me it gets easier!

Good luck leannehills - let us know how you get on.

A quick question about 16:8

Do you do it on the days after your fast day? In order to eat with my OH (which I always aim to do) I have to be able to eat supper at 8.30 ish, so on 16:8 I can't eat until 12.30 / 1 (is this right?)

I really REALLY struggle to do this on a day after a fast. As it means I go from 9pm on Sunday night,(I fast Mondays and Wednesdays) right up until 12.30 or 1pm on Tuesday on 500 calories, which I struggle with. Or Tues eve up until Thurs lunch.

[carorees]

I was chatting with OH about #sixteeneight last night. I'm intending to do this on our holiday to Sweden where our breakfasts tend to be uninspiring but then at lunch the real eating gets going with beer/wine at lunchtime, followed by 'fika' at 3pm with coffee and cake, then happy hour at 6 with nibbles and then a dinner of usually fish and potatoes with more wine and sometimes snaps! I suspect I won't be losing any weight during this time though! I think one can fit an awful lot of calories into 8 hours if alcohol is included!

emilymeg, I think that in the '8-hour diet' book it says you don't have to do it every day (I've not read the book so I'm not certain about that), so I don't see why you shouldn't eat earlier on the day after a fast but stick to the 8-hour eating window on the other 3 days of the week (i.e. those that aren't either a fast day or the day after a fast day).

At this point, while I would love to drop the 500 calorie days, I don't think I'm there yet. I'm not terribly yet restrained in my 8 hour windows (especially when there is a peanut butter jar involved) and 2 weeks in I am still missing breakfast. Please tell me it gets easier!

Good luck leannehills - let us know how you get on.

Have you tried changing your window. Doing breakfast and cutting out the late meal. It might suit you more.

You make a lot of sense emsy44, and in a couple of months when I am no longer working that might be the way to go (assuming I haven't gotten used to going without breakfast till then). If I lived alone I could definitely see myself doing that. But it feels terribly anti-social not having dinner with my DH, the only meal we can have together, and I often don't know from day to day when that will be (my work hours can be a little erratic).

In any event, if I don't shake out of this plateau soon I may have to try shifting the window - at the moment when my window opens, especially after a fast, I go a little crazy. If that doesn't settle down soon I have to think of something else, and shifting the window is definitely at or near the top of the list.

Its let me stop calorie counting at long last! The weight loss is slow but its much more sustainable. I have to keep a check on carbs for my blood glucose to stay in normal limits. Learned that the hard way!

I took an idea from the 2Day Diet (Michelle Harvie and Tony Howells) and I do 2 consecutive days of very low carbs back to back with the rest of the week low to moderate carb. I do try to restrict myself to one really crazy day a week! I fit my meals into an 8hr window most days. I did low carb for about two years so I pretty much don't need to count really as I more or less know what stuff to limit and the freedom is lovely.

Regarding doing it everyday, I read a sample of the 8hr book and it says that 3 days a week should be enough.

Hi was just reading about 16.8 anybody doing it just eat 1 meal in the day, was reading about the warrior diet and wondered if it was similar , on a fast day I only eat 1 meal and now found I like this way of eating so on feed days I just eat more calories in my meal, wondering if anybody else done this? Xx

leanne I'm another one who used 5:2 for weightloss and 16:8 to maintain (with the odd 6:1 thrown in some weeks). I've maintained my goal weight for 2 months doing 16:8I eat two meals a day (quite calorie-dense, large meals actually!)and no snacking in between them: lunch at 2pm and dinner at 8.30pm followed by a small dessert. Eating is over by 10pm. I only do 16:8 Monday through Friday and if I do a 6:1 in with that then it tends to be a Monday or Tuesday.

By the way, when I did 16:8 a few weeks when still in weightloss mode I didn't lose any weight - simply maintained. I had to throw in 5:2 to lose again. But that's just my experience.

Can't help with the Warrior Diet but I just suit myself and how I feel when I get up in the morning. I try not to start eating until 2pm as I need a small snack (less than 100cals) before bed or my fasting blood glucose is up the next morning. Some days I will have a bit of scrambled egg or something similar other days I'm happy to tootle straight through to tea time and have one meal.

I never thought I'd ever see the day when I preferred to feel hungry rather than stuffed! Now I hate that feeling after a big meal and do feel much better for eating lighter meals less often. I've a way to go yet but now I actually feel thin!

Hi was just reading about 16.8 anybody doing it just eat 1 meal in the day, was reading about the warrior diet and wondered if it was similar , on a fast day I only eat 1 meal and now found I like this way of eating so on feed days I just eat more calories in my meal, wondering if anybody else done this? Xx

I haven't done this (although I do stick to one evening meal on fast days), but today (day after fast day) as usual I wasn't hungry when I woke up. I had lunch at 12 - the opening of my 8 hour window. I still wasn't hungry but I was ready for food. And even though it was a relatively light lunch I do feel slightly over full, so perhaps it is something that could be done. Although I know some days I would be ravenous and wouldn't be able to hold out!

I used 16:8 over my vacation, like Caroline said we didn't have much going on for breakfast, so better to skip it and save the money then we had a huge meal in the evening. And I mean HUGE! And there was a lot of wine drinking too. It worked great for maintaining my weight over vacation even with the 4 course meals and drinking. Very pleased about that.

Once I got home though, I could not keep up 16:8. I get up very early and work 10 hour days with an hour commute each way, so I was up for 7 hours by the time I could eat at noon, and I just can't do that every day. Besides I really enjoy breakfast. So I am back to 5:2 for weight loss and will use 16:8 as a tool when needed. The flexibility of fasting is great.