1- I found some conflicting articles about drinking beverages during the fasting period ( coffee/tea with 0 cal sweeteners or diet sodas). Some say it’s OK to drink them during the fasting period, others say it will definitely hinder your progress.
2- About the eating period, Some suggest to consume a low calorie diet saying you will see little to no progress if you consume your normal diet during the 8 hour window, others say eat whatever you want during that window and you will still make progress.
3- How many cheat days can I have per month, 2, 4 or none?
I only need to lose 10-12 KG at most and I have an above average metabolic rate. From your experience, how many weeks/months would it take me to achieve my goal using IF.
Thank you in advance.
Scroll down and keep reading. It seems to me this same question becomes a debate here every few days. Myself I err to the cautious side, which means only black coffee with salt, or water. People more experienced than me claim a clean fast (no food, no calories, no chemical sweeteners) made a difference in how quickly they saw changes. I’ve read a couple IF books and a dozen articles explaining the science of IF, which also helped me come to my decisions. There’s really no “cheating” concept, I eat when I’m hungry in a window. On weekends my window is longer bc I’m busy with friends. I eat whatever I like, and I consistently lose about 1.5 pounds per week. Good Luck on your journey.
Super sweet sensation is not a good thing for a new faster. It perpetuates the desire for such foods. There’s also some evidence that the super sweet diet foods generate an insulin response, because it fools your body into thinking it’s the real thing. Not to mention those artificial sweeteners are a chemistry set that some prefer not to ingest. It’s better to eat healthy and delicious real food. Some delicious fruit inside your eating window. I recommend not using artificial sweeteners. But some people do. Fung has said the impact varies by person.
I started with 16:8, but moved to Omad rather quickly. It’s a big change when you start. I’d suggest focusing on eating healthier, lower carb foods that you enjoy. Salads, meats, salmon, veggies, cheese, nuts. You’ll find such foods help fill you up and don’t leave you hungry shortly after. I would try to acclimate to the fasting without being overly concerned with calories. Just eat healthy low carb. You’ll get hungry at first, but sticking to the window day after day despite the hunger is incredibly important. But when it’s your eating window it’s ok to eat. Don’t diet as you acclimate.
Don’t cheat on the fasting window. Do it every day. Occasionally - maybe once a week, have some pizza or whatever more carby foods. But stick to your window. It will help establish it as the new normal.
Good luck!
2.
I don’t recommend cheat days. If you aren’t going to stick with IF after you lose weight, then best you can do is maintain your hours during the whole period of losing weight. It will be really easier to lose weight when the window isn’t floating.
As to diet, well eating healthier is always a good choice. On 16:8 yes you do need to count calories, because the window is quite big, you still can overeat during those hours if you don’t control CICO.
Whether artificial sweeteners outside of your eating window hinder your progress is individual. Some people find that they hinder, others that they help. You have to figure out which one is you. :)
8 hours is a long time. You probably need to pay attention to what you are eating with a window that long. Whereas with OMAD, you can likely eat whatever you want for that one meal and lose weight. One way to think about this is: with traditional CICO, you have to count calories all day long. With IF, the calorie control can happen by shortening or lengthening the eating window instead of by counting calories. A lot of people like not worrying about calories and instead just changing their eating window based on how things are going.
It can be difficult to get back to your IF routine if you “cheat” by eating outside the window. You may want to avoid doing so until the eating window habit is well-established. But that is also individual — you may not find it difficult.