Hi all. When my endocrinologist recommended IF, she said that I would likely have improvements to my metabolism (specifically, average blood glucose levels) by fasting 12:12, but that I’d probably get some additional weight loss benefits if I can push it to 16:8. Reading people’s experiences here, it seems that many folks don’t experience weight loss unless they do 18:6 or 20:4. I found it pretty easy to go from 12:12 to 16:8, but I get distractingly hungry during that last hour. Is that something that other people have experienced and overcome? Did you just push past it? Does it ever get easier?
What helped me is instead of jumping directly to the next interval I tried half an hour increments to push myself a little more over a period of time. Also drinking water and staying engaged during the day by focusing my attention on other things really helps me. It sounds like you are already committed sticking to 12:12, so I am confident you can eventually get to your goal!
Edit: Sorry, I misread 16:8!
Push past it. And try not to fixate on eating. It will get significantly easier over time.
I draw an analogy to weight lifting. For me, someone who has done a lot of weightlifting at points in my life (mid 30’s now, lifted starting from age 14) the first two weeks are always killer. I mean my legs get so sore and so tight I look like I’m crippled hobbling around, and that’s with some fairly basic and not overly heavy lifting routines. But it’s like one day a switch just flips and the soreness just goes away. I rarely ever get sore after that, unless I really push myself very hard.
Fasting is like that for me. When I start fasting again, the first two weeks can be pretty hard. Or three. But after that, I have days where I realize I’m halfway through my eating window and haven’t eaten anything yet.
I am new at this too and started fasting from 02/04. Already lost 8 lbs so far on 15:9. I started with 12:12 then 14:10 and eventually 15:9. Going on to 16:8 is proving little hard for me so I am going to stick to 15:9 until I stop seeing result and by then May be I will get used to it and adding an hour more will be easier than today.