@Lassie3 Sorry but really restrictive. About 1200-1400 calories a day. I was very strict with that the first 4 months. Then had a few “ cheat” days followed by fast days of 500 calories. Since being at my goal I do the 1200-1400 calories 5-6 days a week. On weekends I don’t count and probably am getting 1900-2000+ calories. After vacations where I really indulge I do a week of two 500 calorie and five 1200-1400 calorie days.
Just out of curiosity I would also like to hear how people who exercise - like sweat inducing 30+ minutes of exercise - deal with IF.
To me it’s a problem for both the morning exercise person and the evening exercise person. If you exercise in the evening after your fast starts your body will be going so many hours after that intensity without food. If you exercise in the morning you’re starting your exercise without any energy intake for several hours.
Looks like the articles say to exercise before eating (for morning exercise). I typically exercise 3x/week, but it may be mid morning or late afternoon, so its not a big issue for me, I guess. Am wondering when I go skiing what I will do… Haven’t decided yet.
This morning I am hungry, and there are all sorts of snacks in the break room!! This is hard.
My fast is between 6pm the night before to 12 pm the next noon, I exercise early (before 6am) in the morning (Bootcamp/spin classes) during the weekday. It has not been a problem for me (not feeling hungry before or after exercise), I have become a lot stronger strength/cardio-wise, but I have not seen dramatic weight loss.
DH could not exercise empty stomach, so he exercises about 1hr after dinner, he just recently started adding recovery snacks (Greek yogurt+Chocolate mixed protein powder) post his exercise.
We also eat very healthy.
I’m a first thing in the morning exerciser - boot camp, run hills, bike, row, etc - and find unless the workout goes more than 2 hours, food isn’t needed. When I was training for distance ‘races’ (I’m the slowest human on the planet, I use the term ‘race’ loosely) if the run was going for more than 2 hours, I’d both bring a small snack to eat midway and a small snack to eat as soon as I stopped. Same thing if I’m doing any sports activity that lasts more than 2 hours. But other than that, not eating before hasn’t ever been an issue.
For me, the opposite is true - I don’t refrain from eating because I’m purposefully doing IF, but because if I eat less than about 2-3 hours before I do a hard workout, it makes me feel sick if I’m upright or gives me reflux if I’m doing things like pushups or rowing. Blech.
I know the common recommendation for years has been that you need food before and after a workout, but I don’t think that’s true for everybody and you have to experiment to see what works for you. You might find you’re more comfy exercising on an empty stomach.
I do my exercise in the morning - one hour of exercise, plus showering/getting dressed - kills time while I’m waiting for my fast to end.
I try to IF 5 days a week. I had already lost quite a bit of weight prior so I don’t actively count my calories. IF has helped me keep the weight off. I also think it has helped regulate my blood sugar so I’m less likely to binge. I eat my first food usually between 12-1 depending on how busy I am. I drink my coffee black which I would not be able to give up. I find if I eat dinner late I’m more likely to be starved in the morning.
As far as exercise. I usually exercise mid morning. For me exercise is about 90 minutes consisting of any combination of cardio, Pilates and strength training. My body has adjusted and I prefer to exercise on an empty stomach. I don’t feel weak if anything I think I’m more focused and have more energy.
Thanks all for your comments re: IF and exercise.
IF is not for me and for me would be too regulated of a way to eat (and feel like deprivation of even healthy food/eating habits).
I’m curious about how/why people do it though, even though it’s not for me.
I just need to dedicate to “IF” between dinner and breakfast - meaning getting rid of the evening snack - I think that would be a win for me!
Everyone is different, and the same person is different at times. Lately I wake up hungry and slightly nauseous. I wake up typically at 5 AM, and if I just ignore it until 9 AM or so, it goes away and I’m fine fasting until 3PM or later.
Snacks are the devil.
‘I’m curious about how/why people do it though, even though it’s not for me.”
For me it fell in line with my natural hunger. It was when I was following the “you must eat breakfast to get your metabolism going“ theory that eating was a disaster for me. I’m not hungry in the morning. I’m not hungry until noon or later. If I start eating at 12:30 and stop at 8:30 a 16 hour fast involves little feeling of “ deprivation.” Occasionally I want to eat more in the hour or so before bed but that’s just a matter of toughing it out and knowing how much better I’ll feel in the morning if I don’t give in to the cravings
An hour of exercise won’t deplete most people’s glycogen stores. I make sure to eat before I go out on a 2 hour plus road ride but indoor exercise isn’t a big deal. If you haven’t tried working out fasted, give it a go. It is a bit of an eye opener. Most people way overestimate caloric requirements of really minor exercise. Most of us probably have many hours of stored glycogen, maybe even days. The short fasting periods discussed here are unlikely to impact that. If you are hitting 36 hours, it maybe a consideration. If you somehow even manage to deplete glycogen stores, you are burning fat, seemingly the aim of the whole process LOL. You can exercise at lower intensity for almost ever on that.
Actually, it appears quite unregulated to me vs. many other diet plans. Simply restricting your eating to a certain window of time in a day isn’t a lot of regulation. Many IFers don’t worry about counting calories or restricting what they eat. Those things can be layered on but aren’t really part of IF.
This makes sense to me because I’ve known several competitive cross country runners at the college level and they like to get their runs in during the morning before eating. Running with food in their stomachs would upset them. They do eat well the night before and after running.
I typically eat my last meal around 6 or 7 pm at night and don’t snack or consume anything other than water after that. Breakfast isn’t until 8 or 9 am. I typically run a few miles in the early morning and haven’t noticed any ill effects. If I wanted to eat before I exercised, I’d have to eat around 3 am and I’m just not interested in that.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but during a house renovation I became interested in using Circadian Aware lighting. So, I read The Circadian Code. In addition to discussing lighting, it discussed TRE (Time Restricted Eating) as a beneficial and “natural” way to harmonize your internal clock. Similar to IF. I recommend the book highly.
Like @sabaray , I also don’t usually eat before say a 3 mile run. But if I have not eaten since 7pm, wake up at 5:30am, run, take the dog for a walk, get ready for work, get to work and work for an hour or two, I am READY for some breakfast at 9am. I often have 5 miles of walking/running in by 9am and that breakfast is a JOY!!! 
I’ll be honest I just try and understand the how/why of people who choose IF. My goal isn’t really losing weight - hey, 5 pounds would be nice - but I’m more focused on health and wellness than pushing the # on the scale. That’s ME.
I enjoy my morning egg, fruit and yogurt (non-sugar full) very, very much! That healthy meal FOR ME sets the stage for what I eat the rest of the day.
@abasket. My daughter wakes up hungry. She can’t imagine waiting til noon to eat. I wake up at 6 do the treadmill, walk to work about a mile…Work…still not hungry. I can’t imagine actively wanting to eat in the morning. When I went to Canyon Ranch last year I did 3 pretty intense classes before lunch. No breakfast and I was even less hungry than usual. Felt super energetic, no weakness. I didn t eat til 1 pm or later. All of our bodies react differently and have different needs. Eating before noon really messed me up. It set me up for a desire to overeat all day long. Never again. You are having trouble understanding it because your body doesn’t work this way. It’s always hard for all of us to really wrap our minds around how different other people can be than us.
The only person I know IRL doing IF is doing it in hopes of avoiding diabetes.
I don’t know the nitty gritty details, but she told me she had had a series of worsening fasting glucose tests & A1C tests.
She began to test her waking and postprandial glucose levels at home with a finger prick glucose monitor. She made adjustments to her diet based on the numbers & ended up going low carb. After reading about IF for diabetics, she incorporated IF in addition to the low carb and is doing well.
Checking in. I tried IF for about a week before we went out of town for the holidays, then ate regularly while away for a week, and restarted New Year’s Day. I do drink coffee with artificial sweetener on the morning. I exercise 3x/week, sometimes in the morning, sometimes I’m the afternoon. I’ve lost 5 lbs. This makes one mindful of when they eat, and I am sure I eat less quantity- wise simply because I only eat from noon-8 (or 1-9 if we have dinner plans). It makes you mindful of eating but I don’t care so much what I eat, though it’s not anything unreasonable for the most part. No snacking makes a difference for me. I have had cookies ( for a bunch of homemade ones for the holiday) and eat reasonable meals. This is pretty doable. I like not calorie counting. So far, so good.
Nice to see this thread pop up. I need a reset after the holidays.
I really enjoyed the holidays food wise. Which was something I planned to do and felt good about. Yesterday was my second fast in a 5/2 week of fasting. The fast ( really 500 calorie) days have become much easier for me than the first time I did them. I don’t want to do 5/2 all the time but it’s a perfect reset for me to get back to my 70 pound loss lifestyle after vacations or holidays