I’ve been using IF my whole life to keep my weight in control, probably 18:6 iirc. It helped me keep weight off for the most part, though I could never actually lose weight.
That is until I focused on my mental health first. I went through a lot of self discovery and critical analysis of my situation and eventually (3 years later after starting that journey) I got diagnosed for ADHD. It was like having a light bulb turned on in my mind. Suddenly the binging (2000-2500 kcals) in my 1 meal made sense, I had/have massive issues with impulsively in terms of controlling how much I eat.
I got on new medication to help with my ADHD symptoms, and suddenly I didn’t feel I had to gorge myself in one meal any more. I still use IF but I spread my meals out in that 6 hours more now. I’ve gone from 106kgs to 82kgs in the last 3 months, eating about 1600 kcal a day. I hadn’t changed my diet, just ate smaller portions. I still stumble sometimes (often), especially when the meds wear off, but I’m making good progress.
So I suppose what I wanted to share is if you use IF and aren’t seeing the results you want, it may be worth thinking about your relationship with food and why IF is your go-to for calorie restriction. Is there something underlying it all? Sorting that out may help you more than struggling all the time to lose weight (if you do struggle).
I agree. For me it wasn’t ADHD but getting on a medication really helped the impulsive symptoms I was having. It’s also easier to make better choices when your mood isn’t fluctuating or in a depressed state. Congrats! I think this is an important message for this community or anyone who is hard on themselves because they’re struggling with their weight.
I fully agree, even when you’re stressed or going through a rough patch, it’s so harder to exercise discipline on what to eat, specially when it comes to your comfort food. Mind you some medication, specially the ones todo with mental health does have weight gain as side effect. I’m no doctor but i’ve seen this on friends.