intermittent fasting anyone

[westwoodmom04]

Agree about the group. Also feel like lots of misinformation. Finally, I wish the author had a science background....


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This, I think it’s the perfect example of what I was trying to say earlier. There is medical evidence in support of moderate intermittent fasting although it hasn’t been found to be more effective for weight loss than any other method of calorie cutting (it does seem to have other moderate health benefits not found with other diets) but that doesn’t necessarily translate if moderate is good, going further is even better, at least from a health perspective. At some point, it crosses the line to very controlled eating, i.e. an eating disorder.

[westwoodmom04]

I just took a peek at the fb page- There are a lot of new people. Must be New Year’s resolutions LOL plus recent awareness.

There are people who need to lose 200 pounds for health reasons, so they are going to have totally different goals than most of us. They are also more likely to post. I could probably go up to eight hour windows for maintenance, Which is a piece of cake now, but I can see myself doing six hours for life on normal days as I feel best with that. That didn’t happen in a day… It took months to get to this point. I’m flexible even now, though.

The holidays are over and, for the first time EVER, I didn’t gain weight/sizes. I ate all sorts of stuff, did extended window IF here and there when possible, but for the past month I’ve been traveling and hosting family.

If people need to lose 200 pounds, they would be much better off with bariatric surgery, that’s pretty close to a miracle operation.

[Kindra178]

This, I think it’s the perfect example of what I was trying to say earlier. There is medical evidence in support of moderate intermittent fasting although it hasn’t been found to be more effective for weight loss than any other method of calorie cutting (it does seem to have other moderate health benefits not found with other diets) but that doesn’t necessarily translate if moderate is good, going further is even better, at least from a health perspective. At some point, it crosses the line to very controlled eating, i.e. an eating disorder.

Yes to this. There is no doubt that intermittent fasting in its many forms has excellent health benefits beyond weight loss. I just want someone to admit that there is a calorie restriction component, which is part / some of / mostly why this works. That, to me, is like the elephant in the room.

Westwood, many people have disordered eating by way of eating too much (me!!). This controls for that X factor.


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[wendibird22]

Yes to this. There is no doubt that intermittent fasting in its many forms has excellent health benefits beyond weight loss. I just want someone to admit that there is a calorie restriction component, which is part / some of / mostly why this works. That, to me, is like the elephant in the room.

Westwood, many people have disordered eating by way of eating too much (me!!). This controls for that X factor.


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Yes, agree! In my mind there's a big difference between an 8hr eating window and 4hrs or eating just one meal a day as some are doing. I'm sorry but eating just one meal a day for the purpose of losing weight is a diet. You might make this a lifetime commitment, but it's a diet. I have friends who have been doing WW for a decade. Also a diet and yes now their lifestyle. And I feel the same about paleo. Do all of these work for some people, yes. Can some people eat one of these ways for the rest of their life, yes. Do I judge anyone for finding the thing that works for them, nope. Each person has to find what works for them. If someone is willing to try 16:8 and it doesn't move the needle and they aren't willing to do 20:4, then try something different. For me 16:8 or even 18:6 seems doable for me (we almost always eat dinner at 5/5:30 so noon-6 is realistic) though I am STARVING by 11am, but I'm just cannot go to one meal a day. I love good, healthy food too much.

[anonomom]

Thanks for the commiseration, citymama!

I understand about needing to work up to a longer fast, but I don't even know if I really want to do that. Now that I think about it, part of the appeal of delay, don't deny is that you're not restricted from anything. When I think of working up to 20+ hour fasts and having that as a way of life, I just don't like it. It's too much of someone telling me what to do (even if it is for my own good!). And I know that you can plan to have longer windows for special occasions, etc. I think I have a "you can't tell me what to do" streak so when everyone says that you need to do 20:4 to see progress I automatically don't want to do it and the idea of strictly limiting myself to 4 hours of food per day for.the.rest.of.my.life is terrifying and depressing. I'm sure I'll get over it eventually. Or I'll just stick with my not eating before 10am or after 8pm plan and be happy with that!

Oddly enough, due to a 7pm meeting last night and a 10:30am dentist appointment today, I actually fasted from 6:30pm yesterday until about noon today and I lived to tell the tale! (Although I was more than ready to eat at lunch time today.)

I agree that the group can start to seem like a competition to see who restricts themselves the most, but at the heart, I think it really is about finding what works for you and going with it. I've tried a 19/5 schedule and HATED it (and didn't lose any weight on it), so I'm going back to 18/6, which I can maintain easily. I seem to have stopped losing weight completely no matter what I do, but am not willing to torture myself over it. If you find yourself losing weight on a schedule that works for you, then that's awesome! No need to go further.

(also, I wholeheartedly agree with the PPs who are calling IF out as a diet. It may be one that some people really enjoy and/or are willing to stick to for the rest of their lives, but it is definitely a diet).

If people need to lose 200 pounds, they would be much better off with bariatric surgery, that’s pretty close to a miracle operation.

I just want to flag that bariatric surgery isn't exactly an easy "fix" for weight loss. Not only isn't it particularly effective at producing the kind of weight loss most people imagine it will, but it can leave people with severe health problems for the rest of their lives. As of the last time I did the research, the surgery was considered a "success" if patients maintain a loss just 20% of their excess weight (that would be a 40-pound weight loss in a patient with 200 pounds to lose), and complications such as lifelong pain, repeated surgeries, hernias, discomfort, malnutrition and inability to keep food down are dismissed as "minor." Add in the fact that bariatric patients basically can never, ever eat normally for the entire rest of their lives, and surgery starts seeming less like a miracle and more like a nightmare.

[westwoodmom04]

I just want to flag that bariatric surgery isn't exactly an easy "fix" for weight loss. Not only isn't it particularly effective at producing the kind of weight loss most people imagine it will, but it can leave people with severe health problems for the rest of their lives. As of the last time I did the research, the surgery was considered a "success" if patients maintain a loss just 20% of their excess weight (that would be a 40-pound weight loss in a patient with 200 pounds to lose), and complications such as lifelong pain, repeated surgeries, hernias, discomfort, malnutrition and inability to keep food down are dismissed as "minor." Add in the fact that bariatric patients basically can never, ever eat normally for the entire rest of their lives, and surgery starts seeming less like a miracle and more like a nightmare.

I’m not sure what research you did, but it seems very different from the peer review research I just pulled up. The vast majority of recipients sustain durable weight loss in excess of 100 lbs, and 80 percent achieve remission of diabetes after surgery. Since it is typically laparoscopic, mortality rate is well below 1 percent. And the many, many health conditions that accompany severe obesity are effectively cured by the surgery, resulting in extra years of life. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729256/

Of course, every surgery has drawbacks, and the tradeoffs might be too great for you personally. But on a macro level, bariatric surgery is like few other procedures in terms of improving people's health both in the short and long term.

[mikala]

I'm on day 4 of IF now. I did it some last year combined with macro counting and had good results but I hated macro tracking and stopped fasting when I ditched the macros. I'm following this thread with interest now. I joined the DDD group but holy moly, it seems like misinformation and eating disorder city right now. Lots of complaints from people that they're losing a lb a week but they're convinced this isn't working because they expected more. Lots of people seem to be combining it with keto or really restrictive calorie counting and it seems like a competition for who can eat the least for the least number of hours and act happy about it.

I get the concept of one meal a day for people that really need those guardrails to fend off serious health issues but dang, that seems really restrictive and so easily disordered.

[wendibird22]

I'm on day 4 of IF now. I did it some last year combined with macro counting and had good results but I hated macro tracking and stopped fasting when I ditched the macros. I'm following this thread with interest now. I joined the DDD group but holy moly, it seems like misinformation and eating disorder city right now. Lots of complaints from people that they're losing a lb a week but they're convinced this isn't working because they expected more. Lots of people seem to be combining it with keto or really restrictive calorie counting and it seems like a competition for who can eat the least for the least number of hours and act happy about it.

I get the concept of one meal a day for people that really need those guardrails to fend off serious health issues but dang, that seems really restrictive and so easily disordered.

I just joined the FB group too and have the same impression. I find posts about multiday fasts where they are sharing pics of their app tracker showing how many hours since they've last eaten particularly concerning. It does, for some, seem to shift to a control issue...the ability to control how much and how often one eats and getting a "high" from taking such control over this aspect of their life. To me this is disordered eating, but I'm certainly not an expert in eating disorders.

[niccig]

Thanks for the reminder to get back to IF. I did it about 18 months ago and combined with regular exercise, lost 20 lbs. 16:8 window worked for me then and I’ll do that again. I found it easy to adjust too and I was flexible with it and would eat earlier/later if that worked better for my plans for the day. I like that I can be flexible with it. Those Facebook groups sound crazy rigid and I won’t join them


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[speo]

I just had two emergency surgeries for a gallbladder attack from gallstones. Over the last 2 weeks I have read a lot of information about this topic. Some basic risk factors are being female, fertile and over 40. However, other risk factors are losing a lot of weight quickly and fasting. I wanted to put this out there because I haven't seen it mentioned. I would not wish gallbladder pain on anyone. It's worse than labor.

With that said, my husband and I have had great success with IF. We both were able to lose weight. He did 16/8 and I was more 17/7 or 16/8 depending on the day. What was really wonderful was the lack of insulin spikes and cravings. My gallbladder issues arose before I did IF.