Questions on energy intake, eating intervals and rest

After reading multiple articles including the wiki of this sub, I decided to give 16-8 IF a try. Let me give you the context first. I am not an overweighed person. I have no plan to lose weight. What I do have is auto immune disease and from what I learned IF may help improve it. Regarding to that context, I have a few questions before starting IF, they are: *1. Since I have no plan to lose weight, does that mean I am allowed consume the same amount of energy for during IF? *2. Do I need to strictly eat only 2 meals during the 8-hours eating period? Will eating more than 2 destroy the benefits of IF? *3. Does sleeping time count as fasting time? Say I wake up at 8am and do a 2pm-10pm fast. That would mean I would not eat for 6 hours after waking up. If I wake up at 10am one day, do I need to deliberately wait longer before I eat? Or just stick to the plan?

Answer

Yes, no, yes. This could’ve been the shortest response I’ve ever made on Reddit.

And now I’m ruining it. First off, this is a fantastic sub but there is another one dedicated to intermittent fasting.

Regarding changing the schedule a bit? I do that all the time and it’s working well for me. Other people might benefit from a very rigid schedule.

My theory is that if I’m doing an 18 hour fast and I get to the 18 hour mark and I’m simply not hungry? Why should I eat? I’ll turn it into a 20 or 22 hour fast. And two days later, I might only have a 15 hour fast. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

I really hope the fasting helps with your medical concerns!

Answer

Sleep counts. If your eating window is 2-10, you don’t have to adapt it to when you wake up.

If you want to maintain your weight, eat maintenance. So yes, stay with the same amount of energy.

How many meals you eat is up to you and how much you can stomach in one sitting. I’d suggest starting with 2 meals and maybe one snack and see how you feel.

Good luck!

Answer

Yes, calories in/calories out doesn’t change
No, you can eat as many meals as needed. What you’re eating is much more important than when you’re eating, within that allowed window.
Yes, sleeping = not eating = fasting. Ideally your fasting window should begin at the same time each day, though that’s by no means a hard requirement.