[srishiva]

Thanks for the wonderful thread. Nothing is better than showing (through pics) what you are saying. Hope it inspires lots of people.

For me, after reading yours an others stories here, I have started doing it 3 times a week. I cant skip breakfast since that has the most diverse/tasty content for people in south. I try to have a late lunch near to 4 pm and eat nothing after that. Full stomach reduces the feel to have snacks in the evening.

Have been of same weight for last 30 years ! I run marathons, cycling and weights at home and feel really light

[NT56]

Thanks graaja for this awesome thread! I just started experimenting and reading up on IF as a means to loose weight. This helps a lot.

Originally Posted by graaja

Which IF method to follow:

This greatly depends on your current health and weight and your goals. If you have a lot of body weight to lose, then longer fasts like 20:4 or OMAD will be beneficial. If you are not too overweight and want to maintain your weight, then 16:8 with a few longer fasts will help.

I recommend mixing it up and keep the body from settling into a routine – after all that is what our body has been designed for.

I am slightly overweight about 76 kilos and 175cm and I do not get much time to exercise. My goal is to loose 5 kilos and stay there. Do you think IF 16:8 as a lifestyle change can help me loose weight or just maintain my current weight?

Also thanks for busting the breakfast myth. It is easier to skip breakfast than dinner for me.

[adityasatish]

Excellent thread graaja. I have been following IF combined with a moderate workout even since the lockdown began and the results have been inspiring. I started with 16 hours and I have now taken it up to 20 hours. I learnt through the process by listening to my body after just reading up the basics and I realised you have also suggested the same thing, that the best way to be active is to break your fast with an extremely light meal and take it up gradually from there. I normally break my fast with 4 almonds, a couple of walnuts and a glass a lime water without salt or sugar followed by my regular meal after about 30-45 minutes.

I was moderately over weight and I realised IF was working when I started sleeping better, waking up fresh and even had energy to do different forms of exercise twice a day (this was during the lockdown).

[pathik@2020]

This is a very inspiring thread and thanks to everyone for sharing your success stories.

I wanted to share my experience of recent lockdown induced fitness regime just because current situation gave me the luxury of time every morning. I had a moderately active lifestyle with my weight under control at 72kgs and 173cms. But because of the lockdown I took to climbing stairs 4 to 5 days a week in the morning. I started with 25 floors and took that up to 75 floors - this alone with no other change in daily routine led to a loss of 5kgs - my aim was more fitness driven and not weight loss. I am now planning to add strength training to my routine and I suppose with some diet changes may gain back some of the lost weight!

[kat]

This is one awesome transformational journey graaja. You are more than an inspiration and motivation for all of us here. Your inspiration made me follow IF regularly (only 16:8) and combined with a regular training routine, I am at the peak of my fitness now. You are the sole person responsible for making a better me when it comes to fitness and diet consciousness.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by maddyoni10

I have done IF and lost weight, 78 to 70kgs, in a matter of 3 months. Towards the end of it, I felt I lacked energy as I still relied on the carb heavy 2 meals during the eating window. Having achieved weight loss I wanted, I went back to my regular 3-meal diet and have slowly gained weight. Your article is inspiring to make IF a lifestyle and not a temporary change to achieve weight loss and it also makes me realize my mistakes.

Thank you for the kind words. Yes. IF has to be made a lifestyle for a healthy living and to maintain weight. There is no diet that can let you go back to your regular lifestyle and maintain lost weight. Afterall, the lifestyle is what caused the weight

I am very glad to know that you have decided to take up IF as a lifestyle now. This will guarantee health for life.

Originally Posted by Vivek-Bharathy

Wonderful Bro. Keep rocking... Truly Motivational.

I second each and every point that mentioned here. Spot on. Just wanted to share my experience. I tried intermittent fasting ( 16:8 ) with brisk walking for 6-8 kms a day during this lock down period. I could see good result.

Thank you for the kind words. That is an awesome transformation you got there. Congratulations. Please consider IF as a lifestyle and continue with this lifestyle. You will be able to lose more weight and also lead a healthy life.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Thanks for the wonderful thread. Nothing is better than showing (through pics) what you are saying. Hope it inspires lots of people.

For me, after reading yours an others stories here, I have started doing it 3 times a week. I cant skip breakfast since that has the most diverse/tasty content for people in south. I try to have a late lunch near to 4 pm and eat nothing after that. Full stomach reduces the feel to have snacks in the evening.

Have been of same weight for last 30 years ! I run marathons, cycling and weights at home and feel really light

Thank you for your kind words. Yes. Having the last meal at 4PM will also work perfectly well. Once you get used to this lifestyle, I am sure you will start practicing this not just 3 days a week, but all days. This is from my personal experience.

Originally Posted by NT56

Thanks graaja for this awesome thread! I just started experimenting and reading up on IF as a means to loose weight. This helps a lot.

I am slightly overweight about 76 kilos and 175cm and I do not get much time to exercise. My goal is to loose 5 kilos and stay there. Do you think IF 16:8 as a lifestyle change can help me loose weight or just maintain my current weight?

Also thanks for busting the breakfast myth. It is easier to skip breakfast than dinner for me.

Thank you for the kind words. What can be achieved by just a 16:8 IF depends a lot on every individual - your current health, insulin resistance, weight, activity level etc. Best way to find out is to start with the routine and monitor your weight. You will most probably start losing weight and your body will settle at a lower weight. If that settled weight is not enought, then you will have to tweak your routine by either doing longer fasts or making changes to what your eat during the eating window like cutting more carbs, or by adding some physical activity in fasted state. Start the routine and follow it for a month and let me know the results. We can then tweak it further.

Originally Posted by adityasatish

Excellent thread graaja.
...
I started with 16 hours and I have now taken it up to 20 hours...

I was moderately over weight and I realised IF was working when I started sleeping better, waking up fresh and even had energy to do different forms of exercise twice a day (this was during the lockdown).

Thank you for the kind words. I am very glad to know that you have taken up IF and are able to do 20 hours of IF. And as you rightly observed IF improves your energy levels.

Keep continuing with the lifestyle and you will make very good progress with your weight loss as well.

Originally Posted by pathik@2020

This is a very inspiring thread and thanks to everyone for sharing your success stories.

I wanted to share my experience of recent lockdown induced fitness regime just because current situation gave me the luxury of time every morning. I had a moderately active lifestyle with my weight under control at 72kgs and 173cms. But because of the lockdown I took to climbing stairs 4 to 5 days a week in the morning. I started with 25 floors and took that up to 75 floors - this alone with no other change in daily routine led to a loss of 5kgs - my aim was more fitness driven and not weight loss. I am now planning to add strength training to my routine and I suppose with some diet changes may gain back some of the lost weight!

Thank you for the kind words! Even if you are not overweight, I would still recommend adding IF as a lifestyle change and include strength training. This will greatly improve your health and fitness levels.

Originally Posted by kat

This is one awesome transformational journey graaja. You are more than an inspiration and motivation for all of us here. Your inspiration made me follow IF regularly (only 16:8) and combined with a regular training routine, I am at the peak of my fitness now. You are the sole person responsible for making a better me when it comes to fitness and diet consciousness.

Thank you so much for the kind words Kat. It is a pleasure to be part of your health and fitness journey. And the feeling is mutual. I derive lots of inspiration from your fitness levels in running and cycling. You are a benchmark for me in what I should achieve in running and cycling. Keep inspiring.

[fhdowntheline]

@Graaja - great thread. Showed it to my wife and we have already started the 13 hour window from 7pm onwards. Whats your view on water intake as part of IF? Should it just be need based? Also - did you consult your physician as you went along this process?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

@Graaja - great thread. Showed it to my wife and we have already started the 13 hour window from 7pm onwards. Whats your view on water intake as part of IF? Should it just be need based? Also - did you consult your physician as you went along this process?

Thank you for the kind words. Great to know you and your wife are planning to take up this lifestyle. Wishing you all the best. Start with 13 hours and increase it to 16 and make it a lifestyle. That should be the goal.

I have not followed any specific rule on water intake. Even before all this IF, I used to have the habit of having at least 3 liters of water a day, and on days of heavy workout and sweat, I used to increase it in terms of hydration during workouts.

So just follow the general guidelines of water intake and adjust also based on need and you should be fine.

I did not consult any physician as I did not have any pre-existing medical conditions for which I was undergoing any treatment. But I did lots of reading and research on the concepts to understand how fasting affects the body and what precautions one needs to take while following various protocols. Following is my learning.

For shorter fasts like 16:8, 18:6 or 20:4 or OMAD, there is nothing to worry about except that you have nutrition dense food instead of food filled with empty carbs. For longer fasts like 48 hours, 72 hours or more, you need to take care of micronutrients in form of salt intake or supplements. For diabetics, medicine has to be taken in the eating window and dosage has to be downward adjusted regularly as the insulin resistance is reduced.

Keto has much more stricter conditions. I will cover this in a detailed post soon.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by graaja

Intermittent Fasting 101

Spent the entire morning going through the thread, and man, what a remotivation!

I used to be 100 and dropped to 73 and then maintained at 76. Am decently muscular but with ab fat. Lockdown made it worse. I went to 80 which am sure was a combo of 7 kg fat gain and 4 kg muscle loss.

Had started workouts again last couple weeks but no dieting. But now after reading this, am totally convinced to start the IF once again starting tomorrow!

Thanks for the detailed explanation !

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you Graaja. Sounds good. Starting on Sunday. Told my wife my skin will be glowing soon and other 60-year old women will be making wolf whistles at me

Why would you deprive the 30s to 50s

[Jeevan Sukumar]

Very informative article. Thanks for sharing.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Spent the entire morning going through the thread, and man, what a remotivation!

I used to be 100 and dropped to 73 and then maintained at 76...

But now after reading this, am totally convinced to start the IF once again starting tomorrow!

Thank you for your kind words. 100 to 73 is an awesome transformation. I am very glad to know you are planning to start IF to complement your workouts. Please plan to make this a lifestyle. With IF and strength training, I guarantee a healthy and fit life

Originally Posted by Jeevan Sukumar

Very informative article. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[DHARM]

Inspiring Journey and thought provoking. Thank you for Sharing

[MasterChief]

Looks like the attachment pictures didn't get uploaded properly in my previous post. So, I am posting it again below (hopefully correctly this time). Also, I request the moderators to remove my previous post without the proper attachment.

Dear graaja, thank you for such an inspiring post (at least it has inspired me to try IF). I may have missed it but how many times can we eat during the eating window? 2 or 3?

As you also mentioned, Carbs are the enemy. And you also advised avoiding fruits during the eating window. I, some months back, came across a website (whose name/address I have misplaced/not saved) that pictorially presented how many grams of digestible carbs per 100 grams are present in various fruits and vegetables in a very beautiful manner. I had downloaded those pictures that I am sharing below, which I think members may find useful in estimating and planning their calories/diets.

Don't consume too many fruits - they are full of sugars. They are nature's candies. All the nutritions available in fruits can be had from vegetables also - without the added sugar.


Then, what about vegetables? In case of those growing above ground, even the worst has lower carb than the best fruits.


But be careful with those growing below ground - possess higher carbs.


Be a nut.
All nuts provide healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, and eating them may even help improve some heart disease risk factors.
But all nuts are not created equal.

Yes, the peanut is better than cashew nut in terms of carb content. So, if someone pays you peanut, don't feel offended

Choose your plate:

Colourful or colourless?

And, say goodbye to low-fat and fat-free products. It's a myth propagated over the decades. Fat is essential for the human body and is required for absorbing various vitamins. And bonus - it makes everything delicious.


And avoid sugar. Sugar is poison.

[vibbs]

Thank you Graaja for pointing me towards this thread. It was the motivation I needed. I am no stranger to the benefits of IF having lost 8 Kgs this year and also managing to achieve a fitness state I never dreamt of in the past.

However it got derailed a bit for past couple of months. Have been struggling with stress and almost at the verge of depression. I am taking help for my mind and hopefully as the mind heals, I will also gain the physical health back.

Your statement that health and fitness is a life long journey and not a goal is so true. Thanks for inspiring a lot of us.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by DHARM

Inspiring Journey and thought provoking. Thank you for Sharing

Thank you for the kind words!

Originally Posted by MasterChief

Dear graaja, thank you for such an inspiring post (at least it has inspired me to try IF). I may have missed it but how many times can we eat during the eating window? 2 or 3?

Don't consume too many fruits...

Thank you for the kind words.

2 or 3 meals actually does not matter. Eat to satiation. With an 8 hour eating window you will be able to have two meals and a snack in between. In a 20:4, you could fit 2 meals. Also, once you get fat adapted, your body becomes sensitive to the hormone leptin which can keep you full and away from food.

Thank you for sharing the very useful information on what to eat and what to avoid in an LCHF diet. This is very good information.

Originally Posted by vibbs

Thank you Graaja for pointing me towards this thread. It was the motivation I needed. I am no stranger to the benefits of IF having lost 8 Kgs this year and also managing to achieve a fitness state I never dreamt of in the past.

However it got derailed a bit for past couple of months. Have been struggling with stress and almost at the verge of depression. I am taking help for my mind and hopefully as the mind heals, I will also gain the physical health back.

Your statement that health and fitness is a life long journey and not a goal is so true. Thanks for inspiring a lot of us.

I can totally relate to your situation as I have faced such situations in life before. We fall to rise and bounce back stronger. I am sure you will be able to bounce back much stronger and get back to your earlier fitness levels in no time. Wishing you all the best.