(18F, SW 160, CW 140, GW 125)
Hi there, i’m currently doing 16/8 IF with calorie restriction. As i’m approaching my goal weight, the pounds are becoming increasingly more difficult to get off. I’ve just discovered this subreddit today, and both OMAD and multiple day fasts (i.e. 5 days on 2 days off) sounds very interesting to me.
Has anyone on here tried the three of these & has seen more success with one over the other?
Also, my understanding of fasting is limited to 16/8, so any beginner’s tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
If your primary goal is weight loss then the fasting schedule your should do is the one you can keep doing. Losing weight is the easy part, keeping it off requires lifestyle changes not moon shot diets. The purpose of multi-days fasts is gut health and autophagy, except in unusual circumstances weight loss is not the primary purpose.
I can’t emphasize this enough. The overwhelming majority of people who lose significant weight gain it all back within three years;many within the first year. So don’t become obsessed with meeting a certain goal weight. Look to the long term and what you can successfully maintain over the years.
First things first, sounds like you’re doing great! Remember this is a long-term process… And good for you to be getting things under control at such an early age. I wish I did!
Obviously everybody is different, but I think what you might want to try is simply “mixing things up“ a little bit. If you’re very comfortable with 16 hour fast, why don’t you try 18s once or twice a week? Or even 20s? That’s what I did, and my feeling is as long as you keep a floor of 16 hours you will do very well.
It’s going to sound strange, but your first 24 hour fast is actually quite exciting. 36 hours is a great target to shoot for and it’s not as bad as it might sound. Just remember one thing please… You are going to see posts on Reddit talking about 10 day fast 20 day fasts all kinds of stuff… It’s all great, but it’s not necessary! Just keep doing what you’re doing… If you overreach it might be a tough experience.
The other thing I might observe is you could also change your exercise program. Just like above, you don’t have to start working out four hours a day! Do a little walking, definitely do some strength training, and just sort of see how it goes!
Finally, the type of food you eat is pretty important. There’s an old saying that “you can’t out run a poor diet“… You also can’t out-exercise it!
I guess the point of this very long winded reply is to observe that there are a lot of “dials“ you can turn in this process. It’s not all about number of hours fasting (although of course that’s important). Your weight loss is definitely going to slow down as you approach your goal. That’s OK! There are many other victories besides the scale. Take measurements of yourself, notice how your clothes are fitting… Take pictures of your face! You are going to see many, many benefits besides the number on the scale.
If you’ve never heard of the paper towel effect, it’s kind of interesting. Imagine you have a new roll of paper towels and you grab five towels off the roll. You really can’t tell anything has changed right? But imagine the roll of paper towels is getting kind of close to the cardboard tube. Now when you grab five towels, it’s a huge difference! That’s already happening to you, and it is only going to accelerate as you make progress. Just keep it in mind OK? The fact that your rate of loss may decrease is not a bad thing.