I’ve had moderate success with IF in the past feeling better and losing 20-25lbs, but eventually fall of the wagon start eating earlier and earlier in the day and end up right back where I was. That was with IF and changing my diet and the foods I eat. I’ve been back on the IF wagon (18:6) and it’s going really well but this time I’m not changing anything about what I eat. Not withholding from the odd treat or dessert but still limiting it to my eating window and only in moderation. I’m father of 4 young kids and don’t have time to count cals or cook separate meals from my family.
Has anyone had long term success maintaining this way? I started at 235lbs about 3 weeks ago and currently around 227lbs (fasted). Overall my goals are health and controlling my constant need to eat more than it is a weight thing but I wouldn’t complain if I could stick around 200lbs.
I’ve had a lot of success with IF without calorie counting.
Initially yes, you can kind of get away with a lot. Just cutting a meal and some snacking will be enough of a deficit for most folks. Depending on their eating habits and if they can keep from eating back those calories at other meals.
However eventually you’ll need to be a little more mindful, but don’t necessarily need to go full food scale on everything. I usually describe it as there’s a spectrum from unrestricted eating to meticulous counting, just have to find the right dials. That might be certain substitutions, like complex carbs for simple carbs. Certain goals, like no snacking period. Or ways to control, like only having take out one night or replace a meal with a specific same one everyday.
At some point you will have to cut your calories down because you’ll be eating for the heavier you, not the lighter you. So it can work for a while, but you’ll plateau and have to make some adjustments.
That would entirely depend on what you ‘normally’ eat and whether it’s filling enough in smaller amounts to be satisfied and therefore produce a calorie deficit.
I don’t rule anything out with IF that I want to eat, and I didn’t change what I eat when I lost weight counting calories years ago. But, I already eat pretty well, including lots of filling fiber rich veggies. My problem is eating too much/often when I’m not either restricting by calories or eating window. I do eat less bread and pasta, but I don’t rule them out. I just see better appetite regulation when I don’t eat them as much.
If a 6 or 8 hour daily IF window alone isn’t enough to create the deficit naturally, then also look at your portion sizes. Create meals (and snacks) based on the idea of not eating more than one serving of any food in a day, other than veggies. So, instead of eating a huge plate of spaghetti with two pieces of garlic toast, you instead eat one serving of spaghetti (it’s smaller than you think), one piece of garlic toast, a big salad (easy on the cheese/croutons/dressing/, and some yogurt and blueberries. You can be just as full on fewer calories, and it’s better nutritional content.
I’m at 2 months IF today. Haven’t had a single day where I wasn’t successful at fasting for at least 16 hours per day (typically I’m between 16:8 and 18:6 with most days sitting around 17:7). Haven’t changed my eating habits within my window significantly, haven’t changed my sedentary lifestyle, and have lost 8.5% of my starting weight so far (with an ultimate goal of 45ish%).
I counted calories a few days just out of curiosity and specifically made sure I ate normally those days, and was hovering between 1800-2200 just naturally. I had also counted calories a few days before starting IF to see what I’d typically consume as well, and it was 3200-4000.
90% of that difference was calories from late night tv snacking and soda.
For me, IF is basically keeping me from the bad habits while also not denying me anything within my window, which is mentally easier than the denial-based diets. Feels like cheat codes so far.