I’ve started, then made excuses, then started again, and made more excuses, then started again, and gave up after a month. Then I gave up.
I feel absolutely disgusting, I look pathetic, and I actually feel sick. I haven’t weighed myself in months, but I know I’m close to 350lbs. My friend took a candid photo of me yesterday and I was shocked at how large I actually am. All my clothes still fit okay-ish but I just look, melty and flabby.
I’ve tried the 18:6 fasts and I liked it, I even completed a few 20:4 and 23:1 fasts the last time I was motivated. I plan on starting out with a 18:6 then moving onto a permanent 20:4 schedule. But I need help. What do you guys eat during your eating window? That was always by biggest hurdle. Do you eat low calorie meals? High protein meals? Lots of lean chicken and greens?
My birthday is the end of November, and I’d really like to see if I could lose at least 25lbs by then.
Anyone wanna be accountabillabuddies?
You know, good for you for not giving up. I think intermittent fasting is very doable, and this sub had been super supportive. You definitely can do this.
I think you can get results from eating what you want during your window until satiety, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Eat as clean as possible, limit the junk, and you’ll do great.
I forgot to add: if you’re consistent about it, I think 25 pounds in almost 3 months is feasible.
Walking helped me to regulate my appetite.
I seriously think walking is the most underrated exercise for weight loss.
Also, at higher weight, you burn a shit ton more calories bc you’re physically moving around more mass. At 224 lbs + 10,000 steps, I burn at least 650 calories a day.
I HIGHLY recommend walking. Every single day. Start out with 5000 steps. Throw in a podcast and go :)
You’ll probably hear a lot of “it doesn’t matter”, it’s in your eating window. But as a bigger guy I’ve found I make smart choices when I’m already part-way full (“I’ve only got half a stomach left, so I better make whatever else I’m gonna eat be good for me”)
I personally start with filling veggies with ranch like this: https://i.imgur.com/uiFybq6.jpg
Then the rest of my eating window I can pig out on healthy fats, protein (chicken/ sausages/ nuggets), and have a good meal.
I then end my meals with some frozen blueberries. Is almost like ice cream, is only 70kcal per cup, and has lots of fiber to keep me feeling full long after my window ends 🙂
You can definitely lose 25 lbs by end of November! At a SW of 350, you’ll probably lose a lot more if you’re disciplined. Start out by just sticking to your fasting hours and trying to eat healthy within them. Cutting out alcohol and baked goods particularly helps. Over time, you’ll start to gain confidence by how you feel, and that’ll make it easier to stick to it and make healthy eating choices. And if you fall off the wagon one day, don’t beat yourself up about it - just start your fast the next day and get on with it. You’ll see results. We believe in you.
Eat whatever you want. Eat only until full though. Don’t eat just because ‘it’s my window’.
After a couple weeks it gets easier because you get used to it.
I recommend avoiding carbs as much as possible. Though Dr Fung doesn’t care at all what you eat in your windows. Either can work. I just found carbs absolutely made me hungrier. YMMV
Honestly the way it worked for me was to allow myself to eat whatever I wanted in my window. I do OMAD, and I’ll add that I don’t have a sweet tooth and I also don’t drink a lot of soda. My downfall has always been my portion sizes above all else. So, I let myself eat whatever portions I wanted in my one meal. In the beginning, that meant two giant plates of food. Eventually my stomach started shrinking, and I get full at one plate of food. My one plate now is smaller than either of my two plates in the past. I no longer get heartburn or feel sick after eating, which is really such a large reason for why I started this process to begin with. I only lose 3-5lbs per month, but I’m down 60lbs and am in a healthy BMI for the first time in 10 years really. So, my point is, if you’re anything like me (which maybe you are and maybe you aren’t), don’t obsess over losing weight and restricting your food. Eat one meal until you’re full, don’t snack outside of your one meal, and stay away from sugar. Your weight will drop and it will be sustainable.
There’s already a lot of amazing advice in this thread but I figured I’d share my experience and see if it helps! I was 335 at 29, didn’t want to be that weight when I turned 30, down 95 lbs by my 30th birthday. I started with 16:8, progressed to 18:6 and now I do 20:4 or OMAD depending on the day. I’ve been doing IF for a little over a year and I just now started incorporated extended water fasts. It’s a marathon not a race.
I started by just eating whatever I wanted within my eating window which naturally restricted my calories, progressed to actually counting calories after a few months and then moved to keto about 5 months in. Taking it slow really helped me establish a routine and be consistent.
Be kind to yourself, if you mess up just start again the next day and try to identify what went wrong and work to correct those behaviors. Good luck, you can do it!
Keep it simple to start. 30 days, lean meats, eggs, veggies and a lot of water. No processed foods. Don’t weigh yourself till the end of 30 days. Dont over think it. At the end of 30 days re evaluate your diet and add exercise like walking to start.
350lb 30 year old ain’t bad. I was 308lbs going into the 8th grade and when I was 23 I was right under 400lbs. By my 24th birthday I was done losing weight and had been sitting at 195-200 for 5 months. Eventually it’ll feel like just yesterday you were morbidly obese and you’ll thank yourself for the suffering you went through as the suffering is what gives it value. If you didn’t suffer everyone could do it right?
I found meal prepping works for me. When I’m ready to break my fast, I’ll eat anything.
I love snacking. Had to toss the junk but picked up fruits to pair with my meals.
Do what works for you. My boyfriend is fasting and he mainly eats carbs and lost weight. I tried his method and it was a big no for me. I went back to meal prepping with a lot of veggies, protein and low carbs. I found my happy place and I hope you will too. Take this as a journey or a marathon. Don’t burn yourself out at the starting line. Be in the moment. Don’t forget, be gentle on yourself. We are cheering for you. I’m glad you are still trying.
Congratulations on keeping on keeping on. Food addiction is harder to kick than alcohol, nicotine, or heroin because you have to eat to live. Many addicts, regardless of the substance of choice, have to make many attempts or even get professional help to break the addiction.
So you’re doing the right thing by making repeated attempts. Every time gets a tiny bit easier, and then it becomes a lifestyle.
Drink lots of water regardless of what you eat. I find that limiting carbs (except fiber - make sure you get enough fiber, which may require a supplement) makes my fast a little easier after my eating window. Also try to time your fasting schedule to coincide with your sleep schedule as much as possible. There’s a lot of info that says to not eat right before bed, but for a lot of people, late night snacking is a problem, so make it easy and go to bed shortly after your eating window is closed. It’s easier to have a cup of black coffee, skip breakfast, and get going in the morning than it is to binge watch TV without snacking.
Check out r/keto and their faq for tips on eating low-carb. I also suggest starting an exercise program. Start slow and just focus on creating the habit. It will also give you something to occupy your idle time instead of eating. Walking is one of the all around best types of exercise you can do, and it has mental as well as physical benefits. Browse and bookmark fitness and healthy lifestyle websites. Read as much as you can about health and nutrition. You will find conflicting information, but just the act of spending time on stuff like that will help your mindset.
Progress can be slow, and the scale will fluctuate. Don’t worry about that. Just keep in mind that if you make a few small improvement and create some consistency, a year from now you will be in a lot better shape than you are now. You’re going to be a year older anyway, so why not be healthier and happier, right?
You can do it stay positive and keep track of your meals write them down and keep a log to help you remember what meals you ate and how they made you feel. I started to take a picture of my meals everyday of everything I consume and I’m currently tracking everything that goes with it. I bought a digital food scale and started to weigh my food as well. Keep track of caloric intake. Read about that and learn you’ll be surprised I know I was. I went from 300 to 220lbs but began to plateau because I’m not watching my caloric intake like I should be. We can do this though hopefully you’ll continue working hard. Stay blessed.
Read the obesity code, it explains the science of weight loss. Fasting alone won’t do it what you eat and how you break your fast is key.
For a quick win, skip to the what to eat chapter but make sure you read all of it. It’s life changing.
I know the feeling. I recently lost 25 lbs+ 2 months ago but i have been stable since. Not at my goal weight yet but i have stopped caring what i eat just cause i am a size down. I would be okay to have a accountable buddy.
And for your questions eat what suits your body. Try to have a balanced diet. High protein, good fats. 2 whole eggs atleast a day. I usually have 4, but yeah high protein diets helps keep you full.When i was cutting I tried not to avoid the things i love completely just eat in moderation and had fixed cheat days and meals and adhered to that.
Seriously, you can totally make it. I also started lots of changes when I was 30 and had a crisis. I did lots of research and started to reflect more on who I wanted to be and how i wanted to live my life and just started to take tiny steps to the direction i want. You still have maaany years to live. Do not stress about it. But ask yourself everyday what you can do to make your feel better and what you can do move yourself to the right direction.
Just start today, and experiement and reflect and the adjust.
For me I want to live my dream life now. And keto is not a part of it. I do not like it. I do not want to restrict any food groups and as a foodie, to eat keto would take away the pleasure of enjoying diffrent kind of food for me. Instead i follow glucosgoddess at instagram. Check her out. Following her hacks helps me to feel fuller and satisfied longer (tbh not hungry at all between meals) and i still eat carbs and sweets now and then. So my biggest advice to reduce glucose spikes and feel fuller and more satified is to add a veggiestarter to your meals. Yes, eat the veggies first. It makes a significant diffrent to have veggies first and not last. And save the sweets you are craving to as a dessert to you meal. This made a huge diffrence for me. But if you prefer keto, do keto. But do not let choosing between diffrent diets delay your start of fasting. Start today! 😁
Honestly I’d start by doing 16:8 to start off with, ad that’s a lot easier to stick with. A trend I keep seeing on this reddit is “had enough of how I look, so I’m going to do one of most extreme fasting strategies now”.
Wish you best of luck! You’ve got this!
As u/milkteaplanet said - it’s a marathon not a sprint. Keep in mind that being healthy and fit is a life-long commitment, there are no short-term solutions or shortcuts. You have to gradually change your mindset and your lifestyle. Psychotherapy can really help in that regard.
Also, most important thing is to look at food as simply fuel. Food is not what’s supposed to make you feel good, your body is supposed to make you feel good. You can use an app to keep track of your nutrients and macros and calories, and you’ll be able to see what you need to change in order to have a healthy body.
One more thing which is as important as dieting - exercise. Find a type of exercise you enjoy and make it your hobby. Focus on building a strong and healthy body.
And above all - love yourself, be kind to yourself and don’t be too hard on yourself if things are going slow. After all - Rome wasn’t built in a day, still water runs deep and all that…
I do 18:6, and typically fast from 8pm to 2pm.
I eat a big salad for lunch (breakfast). Like a normal salad bowl that feeds a family, I fill that up with vegetables and eat the whole thing. When I go grocery shopping, I basically go to the vegetable department and buy one of everything. For dressing, I use a high quality extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, fresh lemon juice, and sometimes a scoop of sour cream. It’s really delicious, and quite satisfying. Keeps me full till dinner. For dinner, I mainly eat meat or fish. If I’m still hungry after dinner, a couple scoops of peanut butter makes a great dessert. Look for organic peanut butter where the only ingredient is peanuts
Mostly it doesn’t matter what you eat but you should try and cut back on high calorie low nutrition processed food.
Sure in a perfect world you would eat perfectly healthy meals all the time but reality is not perfect. Eat what you think is sustainable for you. So if you don’t like chicken eat beef instead.
The most important advise in my opinion is to not try everything at once. Don’t try to be perfect from the get go because you will most likely burn out after a short while.
Unlike others here I would avoid r.keto - way too much support for keto products and treats.
The video has a kind of “neo-Atkins” approach and I like most of his ideas. My big disagreement with it is he doesn’t care about time restricted eating. I’m only just getting into this, and I believe 16:8 is fine. Depending on one’s life something between 7am and 3pm to 10am and 6pm could be good. You need to be kind to yourself to begin with
Good sleep, adequate sun, zero sugar and seed oils.
Extreme methods of weight loss are things like a Kempner rice diet, or r/PSMF, but consult a professional before attempting these
