I’m really wanting to give IF another go but have tried and fell off before in large part due to my changing work schedule. I work a fairly strict 8.5 hours a day (with a 30 minute lunch), and I’m wanting to try a 9:15 schedule just to ease into it and transition into a 8:16 at some point. I’m at 315lbs right now, the heaviest I’ve ever been and I desperately want to try this and stick to it.
I usually work 9:30-6pm, like 3 or 4 days a week, so I was thinking of building my fast around these times, since when combined with 2 days off I will be able to stick to this schedule 5 or 6 days a week. I could break fast at 11:30am these days, this would make my eating window until 8:30pm, ensuring I have enough time to get home and enjoy my last meal of the day there.
The tricky part is 1 or 2 days a week I’m schedule 12-8:30pm. I have about a 25 minute commute to work so eating at 11:30am these days is not doable. Also, getting to work and working for 2 hours before taking a lunch is the earliest I could eat these days. So waiting until after I get to work would push my eating window back to 2pm which feels like a little too long to go between meals, as a beginner at least.
Does anyone have any suggestions when transitioning from a 9:30-6pm shit to a 12-8:30 shift? I feel like transitioning the other way won’t nearly be as hard as I can always eat the next day at 11:30am. Or if you think I should scrap this schedule and do something else I’m open to that also. Thank you.
I would experiment with cutting breakfast MOST days, and go gradually from there. Planning and especially perfectionism, should be kept to a minimum. Try to adopt a solid long term mindset too. There will be stumbles in the short term but nothing can stop you if you keep at it.