I use the Life app, but I’d like to imagine a future where I don’t use an app at all, and just fast and feast on a schedule without watching the hours. To me, this is how I can truly make this a “lifestyle” in the future. It needs to be more effortless.
For folks who have been doing IF for a year or longer, do you still time yourself, or is it an ingrained habit so you don’t have to anymore? Open to hearing a variety of experiences and advice.
I am following a 23:1 OMAD protocol, and I eat around the same time every night! Dinner with my husband is always right around when baby goes to sleep, so 7 PM. I still start/end my fast using the Zero app because I like the visuals and I love data.
Since dinner time sometimes changes, especially with guests or eating out, it may mean I fasted for 20 hours or 22 hours instead of my usual 23- but that also means by the time I have dinner the next day, I’ll have gone more like 24 or 25. It all balances out!
I’ve been doing IF on and off for about 5 years. I always use my Fastic timer for the simple reason that I like seeing the streaks and earning gems and badges. It’s motivating for me and keeps me accountable.
I just do the same time every day if I can. Lunch at noon, dinner at 5:30-6 for an 18:6 fast.
If I go climbing or something after work i do a 17:7 fast, but its offset by the fact I likely did exercise, and 17:7 is still a good fasting window
Oh man the life app drove me crazy. So many thirsty old men messaging me. So weird like whyyyy!?!?
I just don’t eat after supper at all. I take a mental.note of that time, usually around 6 pm and then I try not to eat (unless I’m really hungry) until lunch! Works for me!
I’ve been doing IF on and off for 6 yrs, mainly for weight loss after building up my winter fluff. It’s really easy, I don’t have to think about it at all at this point— and that makes it pretty sustainable.
It’s easy for me to do 16:8 at this point. Eating window is 12p-8p. If I eat later than 8p I just push my eating window to start later the next day, but I always end at 8p.
I hardly ever eat anything before 12p, but if that happens I’ll try to end my eating window early- but not if means I skip dinner with my partner or miss a social event. I honestly don’t stress it- I’d rather live my life and lose weight steadily.
I’m starting to do 20:4’s and that’s been awesome.
If you’re in for the long haul, it really doesn’t matter if you’re short a few hours every once in awhile. What matters is that you keep it up most of the time! It’s all a balance. You got this.
I use zero app but have to edit it almost everyday because I’m always forgetting to start or stop timer, but it’s really a log of fasted hours for me in records, I hit my times very naturally now, few months in 21:3.
3ish years, still use the Zero timer daily. During the week isn’t as bad cause my meal times are pretty set, but weekends I eat way later Fri & Sat, but still try and get 18hrs in, so helps to know when I “can” eat. Also, I like the streak & the awards lol
Stopped timing with the App a couple of days ago after 1.5 years of fasting. I felt like too much focus went into tracking. Decided to not eat before 12 am - that will usually get me to 16:8, sometimes (late drinks) less, sometimes substantially more (early dinner, late/no lunch). I would ideally like to stay my weight or loose 1-2 Kilos, but I also want to normalize my diet and not think about eating windows regularly.
I’m currently doing 18:6. I eat once at 12pm and once at 5pm. It’s easiest for me to stay on track if I have 2 “meals” (I eat whatever I want within reason for an hour or so, I just stop when I’m full or when I finished what I picked out to eat) instead of a window I’m allowed to eat in (I’ll just snack the whole time). I’m starting to get to the point where I’m near Pavlov’d lol. 1130 and 430 roll around and my tummy starts to rumble…
I have been fasting since August. I used to use Life and was compulsive about the hours and time. Eventually that just faded away and now I don’t use an app at all. I do two 48 hour fasts a week, which are usually somewhere between 45-49 hours but I don’t track them exactly. I eat dinner when it makes sense for my schedule and family without worrying about if it’s hour 46 or 48. The rest of the days I do about 18 hours but I don’t time those either. Like you said, it’s my lifestyle now so I don’t need an app. The only time I still use the app is on my occasional extended 72-120 fasts because I like the notifications about impacts of fasting as I fast longer, like now I have maximum HGH.