Iāve been seeing a dietician on and off since before the pandemic. I decided in January to start IF with a 16:8 window. I started seeing progress, and when I had my next appointment, told her how I incorporated IF into my routine, and she quickly shut me down. She told me āI donāt understand the scienceā (okay, then explain it to meā¦she didnāt), and suggested that I go no more than 5 HOURS without eating (with the exception of sleeping).
I have implemented her advice, but I feel like I am taking steps backwards now in terms of my weight/progress/appetite. Iām at a loss for what to do. I have seen other incorporate IF into their lifestyle and they have reaped the results/benefitsā¦but I donāt want to ignore the advice of a medical professional. Please advise š
So I used to go to a dietician for an eating disorder. Dietitians are sort of the expert on ānormalā eating. But you canāt really eat normally and expect to lose weight. Itās like how a therapist would tell you about healthy coping mechanisms, but probably discourage you from doing a crazy dopamine fast that would help you in the long run but be hard on you in the beginning. Dietitians are experts on balance, but perfect ābalanceā is not the answer to quickly losing weight like IF is.
Thatās ridiculous. A dietician isnāt a medical professional, and most of them are operating on antiquated data. Fasting does the vast majority of people nothing but good, correcting metabolic syndrome and allowing autophagy. Humans were designed not only to be able to go for periods without food, which we evolved doing on a regular basis; we actually require such periods for optimal functioning of our bodies. Iām betting this dietician also wants you to cut fat and eat mostly carbs, doesnāt she? The notion that your metabolism is negatively impacted by fasting is thoroughly disprovenāmyths of āstarvation modeā and such (there is a starvation mode, but itās not thatāitās about when you are literally starving and your body starts to eat itself, burning itās own lean, living tissue instead of using fat, which is all gone, and dead tissue that needs to be cleared out). The impact of fasting on the metabolism is entirely beneficial. The ridiculous āeat all day to lose weightā idea IS still being spouted by a lot of dieticians because they are still operating on outdated, disproven information and ideas. (Doctors are still being trained in a lot of antiquated bs, too.)
Do what works but for me eating multiple meals a day leads to weight gain. Now I eat 1 or 2 meals a day depending on the day I feel good. Im full after meals no logging or counting and Iām losing weight. I donāt feel restricted because nothing is off limits. Iām eating ice cream tonight.
Honestly I would always consider the opinion of a qualified professional more valuable over people on Reddit, some of which have done little to no research.
That said, I would be curious to understand her reasons for asking you to not go for 5 hours or more without eating - in a normal situation this seems odd, but if there are underlying conditions we are unaware of etc then perhaps this contributes to her opinion.
Everyoneās bodies are different and some advice will be circumstantial so perhaps you could seek a second opinion from a professional if youāve been left unsatisfied with her explanation (or lack of!) and see where that takes you.
Great to read all these comments, Iām in a similar boat. Iād like to do 16:8 but my dietician said to have something to eat 2 hours at the latest after waking up each morning (I guess to ākeep the metabolism fire burningā?). I donāt get hungry until about Noon each day and would feel better eating between 12-8. Thanks again for all the advice, I hope everything goes well for OP.
Insulin gets produced every time you eat, levels depending on food content. In the presence of insulin the body doesnāt wanna burn fat, itāll hold onto it. This eating every 3 hours or whatever that is widely recommended doesnāt make any sense to me. IF works so well because it knocks the insulin levels down so other hormones go up and the body will wanna burn fat more easily. Some medical issues donāt mix well with IF thoughā¦ so best bet is to check with your doctor first.
I have family that have tried to convince me that we need to keep our metabolic rate up by rating every few hours. You mean do what most of Americans have been doing for decades? Have you seen the results? Hard pass.