The FastDay Forum

Hi, just a quick personal update for anyone interested in 16/8, I am still on it every day and still maintaining. I dropped below my target weight but that has not been a problem and now my body seems to have settled comfortably into this way of eating/life which actually comes very naturally to me. For anyone interested in the 'one meal a day' aspect, this week I have, due to social arrangements, only had lunches, BIG, BIG, lunches but they have been the only meal of the day so, in effect I have done 3x23 hour fasts in a row with no problems, no calorie counting and no guilt but quite a lot of wine. My lunches must have each been well in excess of 2000 calories which is way over my TDEE but the scales have shown a slight dip nevertheless.

The other thing is that although I do 16/8 the reality, for me, is actually nearer to 19/5 on most days and I almost never 'bust' my window but if I want to I DO, and I ENJOY it!

Hope this helps and good luck,

Ballerina x

Sounds like very long and enjoyable lunches half your luck

Love reading your posts Ballerina - a definite inspiration! Looking back over the past few months, once I found I could manage without breakfast (took a lot of convincing) I have fallen into a 16:8 pattern as apart from water I never eat/drink after 8pm. Quite often, if I have a large lunch or perhaps a piece of home made cake for tea I don't have anything else until the next day at lunch time. So nice to be able to eat and drink what I want and the beauty of it is that no one else knows and MOH has got used to eating in the evening alone (also took a bit of convincing but he is enjoying the results). On maintenace and till fasting twice a week and as clothes are still loose don't go near the scales.

Thank you Navwoman for the lovely comments, it's amazing how well you can integrate this eating pattern into your life without others commenting on it, usually in a negative way, or even noticing but then, why would they notice? You eat at social functions, drink if you wish, have puddings, which others regretfully decline, and can really enjoy yourself and NEVER feel deprived. Sometimes I think I've dreamt all this and will wake up in the morning and be 3 stone heavier again but so far, this has not happened, it really is real, hooray!!!

Ballerina x

Count me in!

I have officially started today. Got too messed up with the timing yesterday. Some members of my family (who intermittently - ha ha, love that word - go on this forum had success with 16/8.)

I plan on doing it every single day. I've read elsewhere that it can take a while for your body to kick in to the fat burning mode, so I'm prepared for patience. My main goal is for my health. Weight loss (even if it's slow) will just be icing on the cake.

This book I'm reading says you can only do it 3 days a week if you want, but now I'm thinking, from what I've read elsewhere, that it can take a while for your body to get acclimated, so I'm definitely doing it every single day. It doesn't have to be the same hours from day to day as long as you fast 16, so that will work well for me.

Me too, though I may do a Monday fast day as well, see how things shape up and if the scales are kind.
By the by, I tried on a lovely pair of Planet trousers reduced from £99 to £29 today, size 16, and they fell off me!!! No 14's left so ho hum. I still felt great anyway :0D

I'm trying it again today, with the intention of making it permanent. Tried it on Saturday - disaster ! Just ate like a lunatic from when my window opened, and felt hungry all day.

Should be much better today, as I'm going to do 10.00am-6.00pm, which fits in nicely with early tea with my son, and not drinking tonight. I don't tend to snack in the evening. I think it will work out as a big brunch around 10ish, and tea around 5ish, with not much in between. I'm also low-carbing, which should help manage the hunger.

I'm hoping this will enable me to drop the second fast of the week, and just do Mondays, and still lose some weight - will monitor and report back

I've been experimenting with 16:8 recently and getting on well with it.

What I'd like to know is whether 16:8 carries the same health benefits as 5:2? I'm sure this information is somewhere on this forum but I can't find it. Can anyone point me in the right direction or tell me the answer, if they know? Has anyone had their blood indicators tested after doing only 16.8 for a while?

I really want to know - if 16:8 does have the same health benefits then I'd like to switch over entirely from 5:2 to 16:8 because I find it so much easier. And I'm very encouraged by others posting here about continued or renewed weight loss doing 16:8 only.

Hi @Sachat

I can only tell you what MY understanding of all this is so don't take it as gospel and if I'm wrong then I'm sure someone will be along to correct me, so, here goes..........

Intermittent Fasting is the one that should improve your blood markers and you should fast for at least 14 hours to get any benefit. Reduced calorie intake is good for losing weight but you need to severely restrict your intake on a permanent basis for any health improvements. This is what I understood from Dr M's documentary and also from his book.

They do tend to mix and match a bit as by fasting, the implication is that you are restricting calories and if you are restricting calories then you are POSSIBLY having periods of fasting. There are some people who have never done 5:2, they have only ever done an eating window and have been successful at weight loss so, who knows?

Some people are sceptical of the benefits of an eating window and this is understandable but it is the FAST that does it not how many calories you ate in your window and you will find many views on here re-a calorie is a calorie.

I have not had a blood test for years and have no reason to ask my G.P. for one so I can't help you with that question, sorry.

Hope you get on well with it and good luck

Ballerina x

Hey guys

My plan is to do 5:2 twice a week and 16:8 3 times a week with weekends off. I did my first fast yesterday which was fine and waiting til 12pm to eat today. I've been up since 6am so counting the minutes til I can go get a bagel to be honest.Im stemming my appetite with coffee and just to say to all of you who found it tough to do 16:8 after fasting, don't forget how hard the first 4-5 fasts were , I presume it gets easier and your body gets used to it. In fact I'm actually going to only eat between 12 & 7pm so its more a 17/5, hoping the weight will fall off especially since I'm running 40miles a week at the moment. I will also report back but you can also check on my blog which I will update daily. I did do a blog before - you can check out dukan diet dumpling before I returned to 5:2 so I will do the same kind of blog again

Jmousey I did what you are planning for 2 months and it was fine. Just hard the 2 mornings after the 5:2 that's all otherwise it is very doable.

I have just been busy and bit stressed so stopped for a few weeks I will be back on it soon. @Wendy Darling does the same routine

shachat wrote: I've been experimenting with 16:8 recently and getting on well with it.

What I'd like to know is whether 16:8 carries the same health benefits as 5:2? I'm sure this information is somewhere on this forum but I can't find it. Can anyone point me in the right direction or tell me the answer, if they know? Has anyone had their blood indicators tested after doing only 16.8 for a while?

I really want to know - if 16:8 does have the same health benefits then I'd like to switch over entirely from 5:2 to 16:8 because I find it so much easier. And I'm very encouraged by others posting here about continued or renewed weight loss doing 16:8 only.

@shachat It depends which health benefits you mean! As so many health benefits accrue from losing weight, any form of fasting that results in weight loss will bring a load of health benefits.

There are some studies on daily fasting in the form of Ramadan fasting (12-16 hour fasts during the day for 1 month) that suggest even beyond weightloss there are improvements in glucose metabolism, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, but not all Ramadan studies show these changes. However, you should note that the study results are likely influenced by how the participants in these studies broke their fasts (some followers of Ramadan have a big carb & fat laden meal to break their fast, while others are more frugal). This suggests that 16:8 may bring similar health benefits to 5:2 in respect of glucose metabolism and cholesterol levels at least.

However, if you mean the benefits that have been suggested from studies in rodents such as longevity, cancer risk, neurological improvements, then the answer is that we don't even know if 5:2 will bring such benefits. The studies in rodents are all flawed because the fasting periods they have been exposed to are much, much longer in terms of their metabolic rate than we are using in 16:8, 5:2 or even ADF. To get the answers to these questions we need to have a population who have followed 5:2 or 16:8 or whatever for many years to see whether the rates of cancer, Alzheimers etc are any different than in people who do not practice IF. So, you'll need to come back and ask your question again in about 20 years!!!

I don't think that anyone here has had blood tests done before and after 16:8. However, you could try looking at 'leangains' as the leangains protocol involves 16:8 fasting (combined with certain dietary changes and an exercise schedule) or the '8-hour diet'. Unfortunately, I think that the founders of these two approaches are more interested in selling you stuff than collecting useful data on health outcomes - I have certainly failed to find the info we need anyway!

Hope this helps a bit...

Ballerina and Caroline, thank you both. Nothing in life is flipping simple, is it?!

The health benefits I'm after are the glucose metabolism, lower cholesterol and blood pressure variety. Both my parents were on medication for the last two by the time they were my age, and I'd like to avoid that as long as possible, for ever if I can. For the other longer-term benefits, we obviously need time-machines to know for sure!

I'm starting to realise that I get confused between a) the duration of fasting and b) daily calorie consumption (fasting or otherwise) and which of these brings the health benefits. Add to that the question of weight loss and the picture gets even more muddled.

I think I need to revisit Dr M's book and try and get back to basics. In the meantime, I may experiment with only 16:8 for a bit to see what happens. The journey of discovery continues!

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum, but i've been lurking for a few days and I'm happy to have found this thread! I've been doing 16/8 IF since early September, although only about 3 - 4 days a week, and my eating windows are usually more like 18/6. So far I have lost about 2 kg in 3 weeks, which to me is awsome!!

I really don't like calorie counting but doing this has made gradually made me more aware of what I eat. I also found after several days of 16/8, my eating portions have been naturally reduced, so I'm happy with this approach.

I'm building up my "courage" to add 1 fast day a week (6:1 + 16/8). The thought of eating only 500 cals a day (possibly in one meal) is daunting . But I've read some posts (like Ballerina's post) that shows success in combining 16/8 and 5:2 so I'm gonna give it a go. Wish me luck!

Ps. I really enjoy reading through the threads in this forum, a lot supportive and fun people here, very informative too!

DeeWidiastuti wrote: Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum, but i've been lurking for a few days and I'm happy to have found this thread! I've been doing 16/8 IF since early September, although only about 3 - 4 days a week, and my eating windows are usually more like 18/6. So far I have lost about 2 kg in 3 weeks, which to me is awsome!!

I really don't like calorie counting but doing this has made gradually made me more aware of what I eat. I also found after several days of 16/8, my eating portions have been naturally reduced, so I'm happy with this approach.

I'm building up my "courage" to add 1 fast day a week (6:1 + 16/8). The thought of eating only 500 cals a day (possibly in one meal) is daunting . But I've read some posts (like Ballerina's post) that shows success in combining 16/8 and 5:2 so I'm gonna give it a go. Wish me luck!

Ps. I really enjoy reading through the threads in this forum, a lot supportive and fun people here, very informative too!

The fasting is tough - no doubt about it. I know some people find it very easy but I have yet to really adapt. I don't get ravenous per se but I really do miss the eating and also seem to think about food non stop; This forum is the only thing that keeps me going. You have little to lose like myself so it will be tougher to make those scales keep moving. I started with 3 meals spread over one day (protein and veg heavy), then reduced to two meals. Now 1 fast day I have 1 meal and the other fast day I do two meals (due to marathon training), So it was quite gradual for me. I eventually intend to do one complete liquid fast per week but not til after the marathon. Give it a go on a Monday after a heavy sunday which will keep you going