Intermittent Fasting

IF has been practised in India for a long time. It is not called IF, but called differently, i.e., Amavaasya and/or Purnima vrat. <== read more at link.

This is not really feasible for working women. However, on eventless weekend-days, one can fast the whole day, rather easily. I had done this on days when there was no one to cook for (spouse on business trip, children away at school). Two days a month -- like the old custom on Hindu calendars -- can be achieved rather easily. I am not sure if one should binge-eat after the vrat day. Generally cutting down on food, and exercising routinely, would help a lot more than vrat-binge cycles.

 

I fast every Thursday till evening or until i feed cows in my neighbor. After that i eat my dinner.

I usually end up eating a lot more on a Thursday than on a any other day. Since i fast the whole day, i do not have the energy needed to cook dinners most Thursdays after coming back form office. We either end up ordering or I put something together hastily which usually tends to be on unhealthy side.

I fast for a spiritual reason so i dont mind about the calorie intake. But for toning down purposes i would rather you reduce your quantity intake gradually at every meal and include healthy alternatives than going for IF. It doesnt really work for me... maybe it might work for you or not! If you are intent, try it out!

 

Tagging @MalStrom . She had great success with IF

 

I have tried this n lost about 18kgs in like 5-6 months I guess. I use that now (not as much as while losing) to maintain the weight as well. I prefer this form to any other diet as it’s quite easy to follow n doesn’t require special cooking.

There are many articles online that explains the science behind it, do go through it for understanding it better.

So out of 24 hours, say you sleep for 8, you are left with 16, out of this you pick a window to eat. Like you eat for 8 hours n not for 16 hours. This time changes person to person.

It’s easy to club the ‘not eat’ time with sleeping time. So you either eat lunch to dinner n skip breakfast, so you are fasting from after dinner to next day lunch or breakfast to lunch n fast after lunch to next day meal. Your sleep time makes it easier.

So for me, I can live without dinner but not breakfast. There are others who can easily skip breakfast but not dinner. So I try to keep a 4-6 hours eating window n not eat the rest. Some days even one meal a day works, but only when feeling the energy. I was able to do that only after some weeks of slow start. I slowly increased the fast period only as my body adapted.

If generally, you eat for 16 hours, start reducing by 1-2 hours slowly. N stick with a number that you are comfortable with.

According to me, this works as
I get to eat whatever I want as am a big foodie.
Not a restrictive, special kinda diet or separate cooking.
Feel more energetic.
I personally felt free not to overthink about food, planning diet plan n eating every 2 hours or making special diet only for myself.
As long as I am not loading up myself on cheese or sugar, n eating regular home made food, weight doesn’t hike. If I have to eat out, I balance it out the next few days.
I followed IF everyday when I was losing n it became more of a lifestyle change rather than trying a trend. It became easier n I was able to see the difference in my health, it’s like a better version. Once I lost, I took it a lil easy, in terms of the eating window, which really doesn’t make u lose but helps in maintaining even when I binge.

What to look out for ?
It takes a bit of time getting used to.
I am never a believer of over shocking the system so start slow, n it helps in not quitting too.
It’s difficult to start, initially I think I had headaches almost every other day. But bcoz of the slow start i was able to pull through n it disappeared soon.
May feel a bit low on energy or a bit irritable initially just due to the lack of food, keeping busy helps n all these side affects disappears pretty soon.
Avoid junk completely initially or atleast reduce drastically, home cooked food worked for me.
If you see this as a lifestyle change, it can really help.
I am grateful I gave this a try n it truly helped me, even in terms of my health, both inside n out.

Just sharing whatever’s on top of my head, will share as I remember. Hope it helped you. Do share how it goes. Good luck.

 

I have yet to bring it in practice, but I have read that fasting for 12-14 hrs for 3-4 times a week is a good start. It is very difficult to stay hungry if you are not used to it. You need to distract yourself. Best way to achieve 14 hrs of fasting is to finish dinner early (say 6pm) and then next day have late breakfast (at 9am). My husband and I tried it 2-3 times and we were able to do it. Yet to bring it into regular practice though.

 

Hi,

In the past, I have tried many diets and one that works with ease for me is IF diet. I do the usual 16 hours fast with 8 hours eating window.
Usually skip breakfast due to these reasons,

-I enjoy lunch & dinner more than bf as I eat these two meals with family & mostly bf is eaten alone.
-I used to workout in the evening. After gym, I'm extremely hungry and can't miss dinner.
-Moreover I used to wake up late and by the time I get hungry it's already close to lunch time.
You can see what works better for you and decide the 8 hr eating window. There are also different variations of this diet like full fasting 2 days a week and eating normally other days, but that was not practical for me as I can't handle fasting whole day.

Advantage of 16:8 IF is that its pretty straightforward.
- Its simple calories restriction, 8 hr window means skipping one meal but having a same portion size for other 2 meals and probably small snack.
- No major diet restrictions, but to see good results, I used to eat high protein moderate carbs and take protein shake as snack after gym.
- There is no scope for food cravings like other diets (keto drove me crazy), as we can include our favorite meals within the eating window but in moderation.
- I didn't feel any loss of energy or excess hunger. Most of the fasting window is spent sleeping so I didn't have any problems.
- One can have normal day to day life and social life without food group limitations.

I used to follow IF all days or 6 days a week and eat bf may be once in the weekend. I was only aiming to lose 5 kgs to reach my ideal weight and lost that in about 3 months gradually.
This was my intermittent fasting experience and hope it was helpful

 

We do have 12 hour gap anyway, from night to morning, so increase it to 14, 15 or 16 by finishing dinner early. It is more regular.
I felt eating dinner 4-5 hours before sleep time helps and a walk even better.

 

Has worked for my cousin Cheenu.
She said it wasn't difficult to follow. And she could lose substantial amount of weight by doing IF. But having said this I'm not very sure if she had any side effects