I’m very new to intermittent fasting, I have just completed a week of eating for 8 hours a day and 16 hours with only water. Originally I wanted to do it for a week and see how my body felt and then continue from there. It has been a week and I feel totally fine if not alot better than normal. However I am not sure what do moving forward, should I continue everyday? Do alternating days? Alternating weeks? Im not sure and my education on this topic is limited to 4 or 5 articles I read before trying it out.
For additional context if helpful I am 24 male, currently hovering around 260lbs Very willing to answer any other questions and looking forward too your feedback, thank you for reading!
Congrats!
I also started with 16:8, and I’ll offer this advice from my experience: when a fast schedule feels “easy” for a few days, don’t take that as a signal to increase the fast. Instead, keep with the schedule for at least another 2 weeks, and see how it makes you feel.
The point overall is that even if you feel like you can fast “for longer”, if you’re cutting sufficient calories, it might take a little while for the same schedule to feel “hard”. Being overly-sensitive as your body adjusts to intermittent fasting can cause yo-yo/ binge behavior (eg, fasting for 20 hours and then eating 4000 calories the next day, then punishing yourself with another too-long fast).
Consistency is a foundational key to IF. Start tracking data against your goals (weight, inches lost, take photos), but understand that the first 2-3 months is very much “getting used to it”/ recalibration for your body. Once you get past about 10 -12 weeks, then you can start making adjustments as appropriate.
I am a year in. I am maintaining now, I have lost 45lbs, 65 in all. I am happy where I am, although I wouldn’t mind loosing a couple more. Now I am so accustomed to doing it I kept up with a minimum of 18-6, usually 20-4. On weekends, I give myself more freedom.
Lots of folks maintain 16:8 everyday if not stricter. So if you’re feeling fine you certainly don’t have to stop. If you’re really concerned about it I would suggest talking to your doctor for peace of mind though.
Otherwise, find what works for you, what goals you want to achieve, how quickly you want to get there, etc. That might be longer fasts, mixing it up, there’s no right answer here. Ultimately it’s about finding what’s challenging but still sustainable, and that differs from person to person.