Hi Everyone 👋 I’m 33yrs old, 85kg and around 5’10. I have always remained in what I would consider to be reasonable shape, but for the first time in a long time, I’m unhappy with my body, specifically belly fat that has begun to cling to me at quite a rate. I’ve led a particularly sedatory lifestyle over the last year and a half, that combined with episodes of gorging on sweets and treats it’s easy to see why it’s happened. Fast forward a bit and I’m trying to get my eating habits in check and regain some levels of fitness and ultimately, return to a body i like living in. I have decided IF will be one of my tools.
My main concern having tried 16:8 for two weeks now, after my evening meal, i feel incredibly bloated and my stomach always feels hard and uncomfortable, right through to around 12am. If I attempt to go to bed sooner, i have terrible acid reflux.
My question is, has anyone had negative effects from IF? Do i need to stick with it for longer? Am I doing something wrong? I genuinely feel like after 2 weeks I’ve actually put weight on.
Any tips or stories will be greatly appreciated
I’m not a professional, but this reminds me a lot of how I feel after eating insoluble fiber/how I used to feel after eating anything when my gut was more compromised than it is now.
Tbh, 16:8 is not that different from how many people naturally eat occasionally without trying - there may have been times before you consciously starter IF when you ate on that schedule just by chance. It’s highly unlikely this is what’s causing your bloating.
You don’t mention any problems with the fasting part of it…and it doesn’t sound like breaking your fast is what’s causing the bloating either. I would be interested to know what you are generally eating throughout the day.
There are lots of people who achieve desires results just by changing their eating window or watching calories. But plenty of other people end up uncovering that they have food intolerances or other situations that require further care or restriction. Paying more attention to how you feel after certain foods is a natural consequence of limiting your eating time. And also, giving your stomach a periodic break from digesting is also going to change stuff.