I am currently in a 20:4 fasting schedule. I am considering going to a 18:6 window. Has anyone made this change? Did it make you gain? Did it slow down your progress? Or on the other end, did it improve your success? I’m on my 8th week into IF and do enjoy it alot. I am finding however that particularly on weekends it is harder to restrict until late afternoon and not being able to be included in some of the festivities with family and friends. I have heard of others cutting down their hours but not as much on increasing.
I change my schedules all the time. Makes no real difference. It might slow your losses with longer windows, but this isn’t a marathon. Slow and steady wins the race. During the week, my window is 2 to 3 hours. On weekends I will go longer so I can eat with family/friends.
The important thing is consistency and not how long/short your window will be.
Try 18/30, one day lunch the next day dinner. I did OMAD for 3 months and my weight loss plateaued. If you like that style 18/30 would probably work nice. I started OMAD with one 18/6 and 1 36 hour and it started back with 1 lb a week. I usually do no fasting after a 36 too which is always fun to eat all day. It’s important to try new schedules to see what works for you. I’ve never gained trying new schedules.
I tried to do OMAD, then 20:4 after a few months of IF and just couldn’t. I was always hungry, moody, not sleeping well, no energy to work out, would wind up binging. Went back to 18:6 and have kept that up a few years. Weight loss didn’t change, and have maintained for about 2.5 years now. I sleep well, have energy all the time (I don’t have that get home from work and just groggy, I actually do stuff, then when I go to sleep I’m out fast and sleep soundly), biggest bonus though, I’m not always thinking of food. I’m done at 6, and good to go. I do start getting hungry around 11am, but can push through that last hour….my boss was just making fun of me that you could set the clock by my noon sprint to the work kitchen to eat lol
Remember that you’re making a lifestyle change, its not a diet, you need to do what works with your life. I keep the same IF schedule Sun-Thur. Fri I don’t eat till 12, but no cut off. I do make sure to get 18hrs in though till I eat Saturday, which usually means around 4pm. Again no cutoff Saturday, but keep 18hr till Sunday. Sunday tends to be Omad, or two quick meals (like 4pm, 5:30….I need to be done by 6 to get the 18 in for lunch Monday and back on track) Gives me the flexibility to go out and do stuff, but still stay in check
Try 20:4 on the weekdays and 18:6 or even 16:8 on the weekends. IF is meant to be a lifestyle change, so if you are regularly missing out on fun activities you’re eventually going to crash and binge. If it makes you feel better, do a full day fast after the weekends, but don’t feel like you have to! It’s all about sustainability.
I relax a bit at weekends. It’s much easier for me to fast when I have a routine through the week, I’m doing 20/4 or 18/6 depending on how hungry I feel. Some days I manage OMAD, others I don’t, weekends tend to be more 14/10
Unless you change the amount of calories you eat than it won’t make a difference but if you start to eat to more in a longer window than obviously you will slow your progress down or even start to gain if you add too much.
Do what works best for your life and schedule. I try to do a 36/12 fasting schedule, but there are many times where I still end up eating on my fasting day because either we are with friends, or I have something to do that I would rather not do fasted, or… I am just really hungry, lol. But I’ll still try to keep it in a small window like 4 hours or even just the one meal. I’m still getting the benefits of the fasting, even if they slow down just a little bit.
I started IF doing 16:8, then went to 18:6, and then eventually to 20:4. My TDEE is 1700 cals and I also eat a vegetarian diet. I always found it really hard to reach my calorie goal for the day. I ate two large meals and was so full I was miserable. I decided that for now 20:4 isn’t for me, and went back to 18:6. So far I haven’t had any changes to weight loss, but I just feel so much better because I’m not sick to my stomach by the end of the day.
I agree with everyone else here. The best thing you can do is something you’ll be able to sustain. If 18:6 is more your speed, then by all means stick with it. You can always readjust later on down the road.
My windows change almost every day, and I’m slowly getting smaller every quarter.
I generally aim for a five hour eating window. Sometimes it’s two hours (22/2), and sometimes it’s nine (15/9)… I know that I lose more when I’m more strict, but my fasts naturally shorten in the winter so I just keep the food quality higher when my window is longer.
I like changing my window to match that day’s hunger or satiety.
I made a change to 18:6 the second day of doing IF to match the break fast time with my lunch break at 2pm and eat till 8pm but have since changed it for a little more than a week to 12pm to 6pm so that Id be done with eating farther away from bedtime which is usually around 9pm or 10pm the latest.
Today was going to be another 18:6 day but my lunch got pushed to around 2:20pm so that made it a 20 hour fasting day and this happens at least twice a week when work is busy so on most days its 18:6 and I do one scheduled 20 hour fast Friday night 6pm until 2pm Saturday and sometimes even that gets pushed a little past 2pm, still only eating until 6pm.
Ive been able to stick to a caloric deficit for the past handful of days and I believe that its helping me lose some weight and body fat too. Only been doing IF since 2/2/23 with a starting weight of 176 pounds and current weight of 167.8 pounds.
I think it’s always important to mix things up a little, not only for physical benefits, but mental as well. Some people stop ketosis so they can metabolically switch. We gotta find what works for each of us 😁