I’ll get some background out of the way first. Water fasted before, 48h max, currently overweight, so plenty of fuel available. Reason for fasting is to reduce calorie consumed during the week and eventually naturally reduce portions I’m eating. I used to do 16:8 everyday for 3 months but it came a point where it wasn’t sustainable for me as I was constantly feeling hungry and had to really watch out that I eat enough of the right stuff. I’ve fallen from the cliff after ending 16:8 months ago.
So I thought of a different approach. Two 24h fasts in a week for 50 weeks. On paper good, but I fear that I’m still eating too much (I really don’t want to go back to calorie counting). This is because I fast from 3pm to 3pm (Mon-Tue and Thu-Fri). I’m two weeks in and what I’ve observed is I eat a bit more on Mon and Thu and then when I break fast at Tue and Fri at 3pm I’ll struggle to stop eating. I may not be in calorie deficit at all.
I thought of modifying this plan to ensure I do get my calorie deficit in a week naturally. So maybe Mon-Wed and Thu-Sat, from 6pm-6am. That would be 36h twice a week, but actually only two full days with no calories. My worry is sustainability. I can pretty much do whatever for 2-3 weeks, but if what I’m doing is not sustainable, I then quit. I’ve had this many times with different things: fasting plans, diets, exercise programs.
I guess what I’m asking is if anybody tried something similar and what were their experiences. What worked and what didn’t. Fully appreciate my mileage will vary, just trying to get some ideas and thoughts.
Check out Rachel Sharp’s youtube videos on Alternate Day Fasting. She managed to make it into a routine for quite a long time and I believe she uses fasting to maintain to this day, though she also eats healthier and works out now.