After doing IF for 3 months, 16:8, I would like to quit IF. In these months, I haven’t lost any weight at all, but fortunately haven’t gained any either.
Are there any particular things I should know before stopping? I would like to hear about your experiences / tips on stopping IF permanently.
Apologies for the long-wind here…
I think it depends on what drove you to IF in the first place. For many of us, it’s not that eating during a smaller window means automatic weight-loss. The metabolism and the longer fat-burning period are great, but for many of us, it’s about regaining some semblance of control in our lives. It’s about more mental clarity and not feeling like I’m a slave to my gut. Every time I’ve ever gone off IF, my eating always feels more chaotic and less healthy, and I’m more likely to rationalize or excuse bad eating.
“It’s JUST this one little bit….” (all day, every day)
If you go off IF, I highly recommend you make (and stick to) a meal/nutrition plan that sets you up for success. Personally, I am absolutely terrible at planning ahead, which is why IF works for me. If I’m only eating once or twice a day and the rest of the time is a firm “NO” to myself, it becomes way easier for me to plan, monitor and control what goes into my body.
Other things I had to learn about with IF is that the quality and quantity of food very much so still matter. Once, I tried IF but I was gorging on shit food during my eating window. Obviously, it didn’t work out, lol. Now I try to stick to a more Mediterranean style diet (lean proteins, greens, nuts, healthy fats, low carbs, no sugars or soda), and that combined with IF has been melting the weight off.
If you haven’t lost anything in 3 months, then you obviously haven’t cut your calories. If you had gained, I’d say maybe hormonal issues or something, but if you’re basically maintaining, you’re eating too much in your four hour window.
For me, 18:6 method works pretty well, I did a while from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm, now I prefer to skip breakfast a lot and eat later in the day since I’m not awake for the sugar crash. It appears you’re only doing a medium level of IF, so I’d say that your plan doesn’t eliminate snacking and extra drinks/grazing properly.
What might be better instead of 2 meals plus time in the middle for snacking is doing the 18:6 method. Two normal sized meals that are 650-800 cal each depending on your size, should put you in a deficit, but the narrower time frame eliminates a lot of snacking and drinking.
Not really. You just stop… 16:8 isn’t such a powerful strategy for fat loss anyway.
It can help you not to overeat if you struggle with that otherwise, but 8 hours is a proper long time to consume all the calories you want.
If you really want to go after the fat you could try OMAD. That used to work for me like clockwork. 16:8 is good for maintenance.
16:8 is just skipping breakfast. For many that’s the smallest meal of the day anyway. If you’re trying to lose weight you do need to pay attention to how much you’re eating, and ideally the nutrient content of what you’re eating.
You still need to count calories in your eating time. IF is just a way to help the body metabolize fat quicker by having longer fasting periods between food. Adding in some light activity also helps as it just gets you burning more calories over all even when at rest.
Yeah… 16:8 is pretty bare minimum IF. I’ve seen best results for anything over 18. You also still need to be conscious of what, and how much, you’re eating. You can’t lose weight without calorie deficit. Another super important part is drinking water. Drinking tons of water really helps avoid water retention and helps shed weight, especially if you’re eating a lot of salt or just not very good food all around. You also still need to be mindful of what you eat. Just cause you’re taking a 16 hour break doesnt mean you should shovel down as much shitty food in an 8 hour window as you possibly can.
Some years ago I started with 16:8 but I didn’t notice any difference physically because it’s just like skipping breakfast. So then I notched it up to 18:6, causing hunger to set in. I would eat lunch and dinner only and around that time I was running 3-4 times (45 mins) a week. That’s were I lost fat rapidly. I quit IF for a long time after feeling very miserable/weak at one point.
Lately I’ve been binge eating every day and I felt shit for my lack of self-control. I picked up IF again two weeks ago, started with 18:6 and now doing 20:4 with OMAD. With one meal a day I cannot overeat because I’m bloating full after dinner (eating a normal portion). Even without workout I am losing weight: I lost 2kg in 13 days.
I don’t know if this will help you, but for me this is what does the trick.