So I’m on week three of counting calories and increasing exercise to try to lose some weight. I’m short so I have to keep calories quite low. Because of this I tend not to eat during the day until around 5pm when is when I prefer to eat anyway. I do have a tea or coffee around lunch time with skim milk and a little sugar. Because of the tea/coffee that means I’m not doing IF right? I find my lunch time beverage really helps me get through the day. Would I really see any added benefits to cutting it out/doing IF over just cutting calories and exercising?
From what I’ve read and seen, when you do intermittent fasting, it allows your body time to fully deplete the glucose stores which are your foods and then tap into body fat further and further into a fasting period. 16 hours minimum seems to be the standard amount of time for a fasting period, or longer if you so choose. After the 16 hour mark what happens is the body begins to use fat stored on the body and converts it to glucose and carbs for energy, it goes something like that. One thing is to drink water throughout the fast to maintain bodily functions and to keep the body from feeling sluggish and dehydrated most of all. Dehydration and hunger often get confused. I did a 16 hour fast and 8 hour eating window my first day last Thursday but the following day I bumped it up to an 18 hour fasting with 6 hour eating window to match it with my work lunch schedule, sorry I feel so repetitive mentioning my lunch schedule haha. Anyways for a couple days now I’ve gotten closer to the 20 hour fasting time because of work and honestly I think less about food than I ever have. Another thing I want to add is that after the 16 hour time, my body gets an energy boost and I feel euphoric, I think it’s my body doing its glucogenesis thing. To share, I was around the 176 pound weight before I started IF and after doing a no less than 16 hour fasts per day I weighed myself on Sunday and my weight dropped to around 171 pounds and it surprised me, looking forward to what it will be this Sunday. This was a long post but I’m really into doing this intermittent fasting for long term and plan to stick with it. Hope this helps you out someway, ✌️❤️