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Which fasting schedule do you prefer? Why?

Hi! I am a newbie to IF. I have been doing 16/8 daily for two weeks and have fallen in love with it.

Originally I thought that this would be harder, but it has been fantastic. I feel better, the scale has dropped, and clothes are much looser already. I really see it as a permanent lifestyle. šŸ˜Š

Yesterday I did OMAD to help with Thanksgiving overindulgence and it made a big difference. It got me thinking about trying difference fasting routines. I wondered if switching to 18:6 would give me better results.

Which one do you do? Why? Any personal experiences would be great.

My goals are weight loss, regulating hormones, and overall health.

Thanks in advance!

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Answer

Iā€™ve been doing OMAD for over 4 years. Lost my weight and maintained. Few reasons I like it best ā€¦

1 - you can eat a very generous meal every single day to fullness. Fullness is very important to our biology - makes it feel food is plentiful. In this pattern I am never hungry during the day. Zero will power needed. Means my biology is happy, right?

2 - itā€™s very flexible. I can eat breakfast, lunch or dinner (dinner is my normal). But I can switch around on short notice around social / business events. Not in a window like 16/8. In fact I went to Omad after getting home too late to eat in my window on 16/8. I hated the time pressures to finish eating by 8pm.

3 - super effective and healthy. Feel great. Eat healthy foods. Like to exercise. Dr happy with my weight and blood chemistry. Even gum heath improved. Itā€™s very different living a healthy lifestyle naturally - vs having to use discipline to push yourself in these directions.

This isnā€™t just a weight loss method. Itā€™s how I live every day. Going back to frequent eating and fighting cravings is completely unappealing.

Answer

Right now on a 47:1 to 44:4 to lose the excess weight but once I hit goal I see myself using 20:4 to 22:2 for maintenance. Not really a fan of downing everything in a single meal and prefer a 2 meals for variation.

A 20:4 would also allow enough time for a preworkout, commute time to and back and postworkout meal when I decide to bulk.

Answer

Iā€™ve only been at it a few weeks, but 16:8 fits me pretty well so far. Itā€™s basically what Iā€™ve done naturally for a long time, except that I was snacking outside the 8 hours before (and of course without the intentionality). So all I had to do was make my morning coffee black and replace the snacks with water or tea.

I often stop eating in the evenings before my eating window ends, so it wouldnā€™t be hard at all to switch to 18:6. The 16:8 just leaves room for the times when I donā€™t get around to making dinner until later in the evening.

Answer

Iā€™m a beginner as well but I switch between 16:8 and 18:6 depending on how my days are/has been. My ā€œguidelineā€ is between 12PM and 6PM because itā€™s easy to remember, but if Iā€™m super hungry in the morning or get up earlier, I eat breakfast perhaps 1-2h earlier, or if I havenā€™t eaten enough throughout the day, I extend it. The fasting duration is more important than the eating window, although papers doesnā€™t showcase what the ā€œbestā€ fasting duration is.

Iā€™m normally very fatigued throughout the day (not related to fasting btw) so I want to be sure that Iā€™ve eaten as much as I otherwise would during a ā€œnormalā€ day šŸ™‚ I find that itā€™s easy to accidentally eat too little so counting calories, without obsessing over it, has been a good ā€˜reality checkā€™ for me.

Whatā€™s most important for me is that I donā€™t eat right before bed, which was a bad habit I had. As long as I havenā€™t done that - I still consider the day successful :)

I have done 5:2 a few times, but didnā€™t get any noticeable benefits from it besides saving money on groceries lol.

Answer

I feel best 18/6 with breakfast and lunch. In practice I canā€™t because I cook for my family (like to) and supper is the only meal we can all eat together.

So MWF I do lunch and supper, T&Th do breakfast and lunch and let them fend for themselves, weekends usually a late breakfast and teatime meal.

Answer

Been doing OMAD for 4 years now and itā€™s just what works best for me.

The meal I eat is dinner as itā€™s the meal mostly commonly shared with others. My eating habits before was never a large amount of food at once, but more of just eating constantly. OMAD has eliminated that. Iā€™ve lost 130 pounds and Iā€™m chipping away at another 30.

Answer

Usually 22:2. Or 21:3. I eat a one big meal and some kind of ā€dessertā€ later. Sometimes itā€™s not even a dessert, maybe I eat more of the same food I ate earlier or have a protein shake if I didnā€™t get enough protein from my first meal. If its weekend and I have maybe few beers or something itā€™s more like 16:8. :D

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