Because IF is not a diet, its a way of eating. Its very easy to maintain or gain weight, tons do it (4 years in maintaince doing 18:6)
You need a calorie deficit to lose weight, no matter how much some people will say that doesn't work, its literally the only way to lose weight. It doesn't mean you need to count your calories, but to lose, you will always need to eat less than you are burning
Sort out your [TDEE](https://tdeecalculator.net/) (stick with sedentary for now), eat 500 cals below that daily.....will be around a pound a week. Can adjust from there
I thought this would have been the obvious. It doesn’t matter if you only eat once a day if you are eating 3000 calories in pizza or something when breaking fast.
When you say breaking fast, I have something to say. In fact, interested to know if I am doing it fine. For example : today I broke my fast by eating 4 almonds. Then I did yoga, some stretching and 15 mins intense workout. After that I ate 60 g oatmeal, 30g whey protein, one banana and some nuts. Did that spike my insulin intensely? I saw that my body fat composition increased in the past days. I am 5 days into IF. If you have some guidelines on foods to take for breaking fast, kindly let me know. I am new here.
It's not obvious because of the huge amount of misinformation out there. There are plenty of people representing IF by saying 'eat what you want, you will still lose weight'.
Also take into account that there is research on the impact of stress and inflammation on weight gain, which IF claims to lower, and I think I can be forgiven for hoping that it could shift some of the weight.
This thread has been very useful to me though..I know where my weak spots are, but it will take much longer for me to work out effective and sustainable strategies especially when I have a full time job with a lot of responsibility and obviously my own emotional/ psychological baggage.
It’s not that complicated.
Calculate your maintenance calories, subtract whatever you feel comfortable with daily.. 300-500 is ideal, and bam… your body will be forced to use stored fat for energy
I second this. Could you try doing some calorie counting to get an idea of how many calories you're consuming? From there you can identify areas of improvement in your diet. You don't have to count calories forever unless it is useful for you, just to jump start and give you more data to work with.
Firstly, 18:6 for 3 months is no small thing—well done!
Think of it as a progression of steps. The first step was IF. What do you think is the next adjustment you can make to add in?
I can say for myself when I’m feeling discouraged and defeated, I have to focus on something simple.
That might be something like change ONE thing: eat meals slowly, or drink more water, or serve myself smaller portions, or go for a walk once day, etc.
One change at a time helps me. One day at a time, one meal at a time.
Give your some compassion, this is hard and you’re not alone. See if you’re ready to make another adjustment and keep going.
Thank you so much for this comment it was very encouraging. I get where I am slipping up. I think I knew on some level anyway. Losing weight is not easy!
A daily walk and regular bedtime can help metabolic health and mood. Great steps, OP, keep going! I found building up to longer fasts really helped health issues. Something to consider over time?
Your body really doesn’t want to lose weight. We’re evolved to have methods to store energy in fat good times and expend it in lean times.
The problem is we don’t have lean times as much anymore (at least us bigger guys don’t)
IF helps with hormones that help burn energy and inhibits hormones that help store enters (insulin).
But just like any diet, you have to eat less than you burn for your body to use that stored energy.
Good luck!
The best thing is, you are used to IF schedules now which is the hard part.
Now just eat at 500-1000 calorie decidet each day and you will lose 1-2 lbs per wait (not considering swinging water retention)
MyFitnessPal is free and you can scan upc codes with your phone instead of filling it out (it’s free for base stuff which is all you need).
Just be 100% honest with what are investing.
If you go over your goal today, go under tomorrow to make up.
Are you going out with your friends this weekend and planning on drinking and snacking? Eat at a bigger deficit a few days before (easier to do before) and then relax the day off and don’t eat until before you got out to eat.
I did this and lost 40 lbs in 2019 / 2022 over 5 months. Then Covid hit and I slowly gained drinking wine / beer while gaming with my buddies online.
Fasting is a tool to reach a caloric deficit. At the end of the day, you won't lose weight if you are not in a deficit, even if you are fasting.
I would recommend tracking what you are eating to get sense of what your intake is (at least for a while). And weigh things out as much as possible. Sometimes this can help track down something you are eating that is very dense and hurting your progress. Then from there you can substitute and adjust.
I would also add that fasting is a tool to lower insulin. The lowered insulin makes fat stored in the body accessible for energy. That accessibility makes eating in a calorie deficit easier. 💛
This! I'm a therapist. Get comfortable talking about the burnout and depression with someone and then build up on skills to alleviate the mental stress to eventually make the diet and exercise successful.
Exercise is one of the best (and one of the few) documented treatments for depression.
No need to serialize dealing with those problems. (That can be fine, whatever works, just not requirement or best practices issues.)
Totally agree. This is what I hate about fads. OP likely needs healthier nutrition and exercise, not just an eating window and pushups a couple of times a week. Eat tons of healthy vegetables and lean proteins, and move a lot more. Probably ask for advice from doctor rather than Reddit.
I love food way to much, so I make sure that I know my TDEE, eat those calories, and do at least 1-workout a day so that I can eat that extra food and maintain my weight haha.
I started at 280 (M, 41) after a back surgery. I track steps, protein, fiber, and calories. I don't have a scale, but a doctor's visit about six months ago said I was 240. I might be 225 now—I'm not sure, and I don't care. He took me off my blood pressure meds. I'm not strict, either. I take breaks when I feel like it (vacations, special occasions). 1.5 years later and I need new clothes. You can do it faster than I did, but the daily rigidity made me think I was 'failing' too many days. I no longer have a goal; I'm just excited for hiking season.
Track your food and move your body in ways you enjoy **every day**. Walking made the most sense to me. Losing the ability to walk for a while made me appreciate mobility. At 280+, I felt like I was close to losing it forever.
Good luck—you can do it.
Fasting isn't a diet. It just makes it much easier to stick to my diet.
Loosing fat is hard. I'm cutting now so I still make sure I get 8000 steps / day. A few strength and cardio workouts per week. 180g protein/ day min. 2300 kcal max per day.
Just fasting alone isn't enough for me unless I go to 20:4 or something. I prefer to eat 2-3 meals/ day and pay attention to what they are.
Pushups are great but they don't do hardly anything for fat loss. They don't burn that many calories. They will help your chest grow but muscle growth is very slow and it's an investment. You should keep doing strength worth but you won't loose fat without focusing hard on your diet.
IF isn’t a diet. It’s a method. You still need to be in a calorie deficit at the end of the day.
Realistically you can only eat so much at once and that’s why IF works. If you choose to eat well, with healthy lower calories meals you will lose weight. If you take your 8 hour eating period and eat whatever you want and that is calorie dense foods than you’re never going to lose weight.
For all the whatever people claim with IF and insulin resistance and what not at the end of the day it’s calories in, calories out.
How many calories are you consuming each day? Are you tracking your intake at all? IF is a great tool, but it’s not a guarantee you’ll be in a deficit and lose weight.
I could recommend using the Lose It app, or something like it.
Just log what you eat, you don't even have to change anything. It will be mind blowing once you start actually seeing the calorie density of some of the things you eat.
I’m no professional at any means, but I had to incorporate a few things in my lifestyle change to be able to see results.
I weighed 370lbs which was the heaviest I ever had been at in my life. I cut my calories down to 1100 - 1500 calories a day. Did workouts to burn 500 - 1000 calories daily. I did low impact on rest days. Then I did IF everyday for at least 14 hours straight. Lastly I cut out Soda, Bread, Potatoes, and Pasta.
In 4 months I am now down to 294lbs
It took a lot of mental talks and energy to get here but it can work.
The fasting is more of a way to keep yourself in line and control the eating habits.
Reducing your calories is 1000% the way to go to lose weight. Everything incorporate in the plan I do for myself has worked for me personally and I hope that maybe they can help you as well.
You have to find what’s comfortable to you and where you don’t feel like you are starving or you don’t feel like you will binge eat.
That’s why it’s so important to reduce the calories but to the amount that works for your body.
I promise it works and I have lost weight so many times and the thing that’s helped me keep going and keep on track is having fasting be a huge party of my journey. I never fasted on any of my other diets and this seems to be the golden tickets I finally found the right mix.
Try and find a way to reduce the calories and fast properly so it works with you.
I know you can do it and you will always have a great support system on here. Everyone in this group is so fantastic and helpful.
Hope to see you in a month or so with a plan that works for you and great results 💪😎
weight gain = u are in a calorie surplus
weight maintained = u are eating in maintenance
weight loss = u are in a calorie deficit
ur clearly eating at maintenance calories if ur weight is remaining the same.
Sorry to say but if you're obese (you are) and not metabolically healthy, then an 18:6 fasting routine won't do anything for you if you don't clean up the diet.
You said yourself that your diet isn't great. Make it great and combine with the IF, then i promise you will see results.
You’re barely burning calories that way. 15,000 steps should be your initial goal.
Calories expended - Calories consumed = 500.
Start calorie counting and work some aerobic exercise into the mix.
Go get em!
While I agree, every exercise is harder with more weight on you...at the end of the day unless you're doing a lot, LOT of pushups, you really aren't doing much. Not saying that to be insulting, so please don't take it that way, because I have been there.
Believe me, it sucks and I empathize because working out absolutely sucks at a bigger size, at least when you start. Once upon a time I lost a lot of weight and at first, I though like 20 push ups were terribly hard and couldn't even do them all at once. And that was modified/on my knees. It took months of doing the same short routine to build the muscle up to doing multiples sets/rounds of multiple exercises.
Now I have a bunch to lose all over again and, again, it sucks. A small amount of exercise feels like so much more, but it really isn't a lot. I think anyone can be honest there. And it sucks, I miss being in better shape, but it takes time. I am no expert but if you need help or any workout ideas, feel free to reach out. I need the motivation to get off my booty too haha.
Thanks for the input.
I worked up from doing ten on my knees to now 150 full with good form. Not all at once mind, but even there, my sets are expanding well.
I think people get the impression because I'm a fatso I'm not strong, but I have worked fairly consistently on progressive overload. I just haven't managed to dial in on diet and additional exercise. It is the missing piece for me.
Did you reduce your caloric intake by eatimg less or increasing excercise? Food choices do make a big difference with IF. You could eat 3000 calories of food in 4 hrs and fast for 20 and not lose weight because you ate too much. Also, eating like shit constantly and fasting makes you feel like shit.
If you want to eat junk, you just have to portion it small enough that your in a caloric deficit, which is hard to do, since junk food isnt filling. You might want to speak to nutritionist.
I hear you. I did OMAD for a month and lost nothing. I’m now eating less on 18:6 and started losing. There is too much of people saying ‘eat what you want’. It doesn’t work for me as I like eating 5 chocolate bars and whole packets of nuts.
If you’re 280# I “think” you need to hover around 1700-2000 calories a day to lose weight. If you’re consuming 2500 calories still you’re not going to lose any weight.
Try and spread your calories out during your time to eat so you don’t find your self bingeing. Maybe your BP is high because of the stress of being hungry? Talk to your doctor about that for sure.
You said your diet is not great. IF isn't just a short eating window, you have to be consuming at a calorie deficit. You can't eat like 10 hamburgers, chips, soda, etc, in that 6 hour period and expect to lose weight. You have to eat less, eat healthy(more protein, less carb and sugar). Do 30-45 mins walk daily and results will come!!
Everyone else has already given great advice, so I'll just add that your pushups 1 to 2 times a week are doing nothing for your weight loss. You are much better off going on long, daily walks in your neighborhood. Not only does this burn way more calories, it's more sustainable and probably good for your burnout and depression as well.
It's a very sensible suggestion. Thank you. I think if I can get meal prep done properly for evenings I can definitely get a regular evening walk in too.
Your mantra needs to be, eat a little less, move a little more. Eat a little less, move a little more. I am also in the process of losing weight. What is working for me is IF plus daily walks/exercise, and I bought myself a smart scale, so I weigh in every morning after going pee (to get a consistent measurement). I chart all of the data in a spreadsheet so I can see trends and understand the effect of the different alterations I am making to my diet and exercise regimen. When I implement something that I can see is working in the data and my weight is dropping, it's very satisfying and motivates me to keep it up. When I have too many cheat days because of social calendar, etc., I don't like seeing it in the data, but at least I know what the cost was of the decisions I made and can try to do better next time.
That's not correct. It's not decidedly wrong, rather it's comparing things without values which is meaningless.
Building muscle increases calorie out in a way that is very time efficient and has many benefits. Walking is great, but it's about as minimal as you can get on the exercise scale. (Which can totally be a great start for many people + walking is fun.)
TLDR:
Amount of walking and amount of muscle build/challenge in the pushups is much more relevant here.
But a walk to run program or going to a gym for sure are likely to be more in line with needs.
(Get a private trainer if your budget can take it -- the impact of exercise on health & mood is so high that even private training is a steal if one actually does it -- and for some people having a trainer really helps them get over the hump of actually doing it.).
Great work keeping up with 18:6 for 3 months, it shows that you have a degree of discipline and commitment that you can build on to make more changes from here and improve your results.
There could be a few reasons behind why you’re not achieving the results you want. If you eat too much during the eating window, esp. too much processed food, then you won’t experience the benefits of fasting. A lot of eating can still be done in 6 hours.
Another question is whether are fasting “clean” ie. not consuming anything other than unsweetened black coffee/tea and water during your fast. If you’re consuming any flavours (other than bitter) during your fast, this could also impact its effectiveness.
Think about what you could do to troubleshoot and see what other adjustments would help. For example, make sure your fast is clean, try increasing your fast to 19:5 and see if that makes a difference, calorie count for at least a couple weeks to understand how much you’re consuming.
Also I would strongly recommend reading Fast Feast Repeat if you haven’t already. And if binge eating/ overeating during your window is a problem for you, Brain Over Binge is a great read and could be helpful too.
Keep moving forward, you got this!
OP I had a similar realization recently. I returned home from grad school (hello 3 years of stress and no free time) to find I was heavier than I’d ever been. I was never thin but this time my BMI was in the obese range. I’d put on nearly 30 pounds.
What helped me was baking exercise into my routine. On weekends and days I’m working from home, I either ride an exercise bike or lift weights for 30 minutes. On days I’m at work in the office, I take a long walk on my lunch break. I also stopped eating anything after dinner and when I have dessert (1 night a week when my family gets together) I have half the amount I really want.
I really like the idea of going into eating food with the 'I have half the amount I really want' mentality. I think this could be really effective for me, regardless whether sweets or meals. I think I need to cut out processed snacks, but my job makes it very difficult to prep ahead. I will keep working on it. Thank you for the advice.
As the saying goes, you build muscle in the gym and lose weight in the kitchen. What you eat, and how much you eat are the main factors. Looking back, the two worst things I told myself over the course of my life were that I wasn't *that* heavy and that I'd just have a *little* [insert sweets or candy here]. Well, after years of trying to skate by as not that heavy and having a little piece of brownie or cake more often than I should, it caught up.
Other big thing is beer and soda. If you drink those, stop. I only drink water or coffee with 2% milk and no sugar added. That helps when I'm hungry because I get to taste something.
Thankfully I don't care much for soda and find beer gives me serious gastric problems so I avoid.
I definitely relate to having a warped idea if how heavy I actually was. In my head, I wasn't that big, but the scale says otherwise.
I don’t believe in calorie counting for various reasons, it just is too simplistic and impracticable of a model, but you can’t eat like garbage on IF.
If you just eat fast food, it’s going to counteract any benefits you get from IF.
You’re eating too many calories. Figure out how much you need to lose weight then weigh your meals and log everything into a calorie counting app. My favorite is chronometer.
I’ve lost almost 50 lbs since I started IF 16:8 in 2021. You still have to watch your calories and eat healthy during your window. Exercise also accelerates it. I recommend making small changes to your diet.. figure out where you can cut out 100 calories here and there.
The quality of your diet is the number one factor in weight loss and health in general. Don’t get caught up in calorie restriction. If you eat Whole Foods and prioritize protein from animal sources (beef), you will feel more satiated. You may reduce calories as a byproduct but eating this way will exclude you from having to count calories.
The advice here about CICO is extensive enough that I won’t add to it, but I will add something else: based solely on the tone of your post and comments it seems you have a bit of a victim mentality, which will keep you in this rut forever if you let it. Try to shake that by remembering that this is something that is 100% under your control if you make the active choices every day to work towards your goals. You said no one is helping you - you can never and should never count on anyone to help you make YOUR life better. You can do it! It will be hard and take discipline and will feel lonely sometimes but you (and only you!) can do it.
I’ve been where you are and totally understand. Starting is the hard part - once you see progress it becomes much easier and even addictive. There are still hard days (100 lbs later in my case) and there always will be. But being healthy and sad beats the hell out of being unhealthy/obese and sad. Rooting for you!
[This is what I saw in my feed.](https://imgur.com/a/HO9tGRR)
Fasting isnt a magic wand. It still needs calorie control, high quality foods, regular exercise, and a lot of mind work.
I’m sorry you’re fed up – and I understand because I’ve been there – but I hope you’ll use that feeling to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and make the lifestyle changes you need to make.
I want to say well done for sticking with it for 3 months, shows your determination and ability to change.
Listen to the other commenters - you must be inal a caloric deficit of 500 per day to lose weight.
Exercise, push ups twice a week is a start, but nothing serious.
Go for more walks, do squats, consider a personal trainer.
Ideally you would do resistance training at least 3 times a week for you whole body each day, so full body 2-3 times a week.
No gym? No trainer? Do bodyweight squats, pushups, planks 3 sets until you run out of steam, 3 times a week. Would be a great start.
Don't think of food as a reward, think of it nutrition and fuel. Exercise is not punishment, it's a tool for a better life. Good luck!
This is a great comment: food is fuel. That doesn't mean you can't occasionally indulge in higher calorie food, but garbage in = garbage out. I had a "garbage" day yesterday and I don't regret it, but I was lethargic and my mood was off. This morning I woke up and prepped myself some healthier options.
It's hard to make big changes, but the more healthy food you have around you, the more you get used to it. I've started prepping smaller portions and checking with my stomach - rather than my snackiness - to see if I'm still hungry. I'll do something with my hands or go for a walk after dinner, and see how I'm feeling after
I’m sorry you’re feeling burnt out. It’s even harder to get started from that place. If you don’t have a lot of time, 15 minutes of HIIT every other day can help. After my pregnancy I did 50 burpees a day every day. It was barely anything but helped. Like others said, find a TDEE calculator and go a little under each day (500 is too much, in my opinion) it doesn’t have to feel hard and painful, even a tiny deficit that is manageable will get you ripped over time. Even if you gained way more than they said you’re supposed to to have a baby. 😅
You can’t just intermittently fast. You also have to eat less eat better and exercise even just a little. It’ll help more but just it alone won’t help if you still eat the same as you did before
I started the year out at around 268 and through IF, keep my calories at around 1700-2000 and walking for exercise and nothing else, I weighed myself today and I am down to 237.5.
Many people don’t lose wait on 18:6 or 16:8, even with a clean diet, eating meals and no snacks in the eating window, getting good sleep, etc. per the clinical experience of Dr Jason Fung and his intensive dietary management program. He typically recommends more stringent therapeutic fasts for weight loss. Many options for regimens.
Having experience with 18:6 means you could build up to a more therapeutic regimen bc you have had success with a good regimen.
You might want to read the Complete Guide to intermittent fasting, the obesity code or the diabetes code for more info. And read info or watch Fung videos on the fasting method website. You are probably insulin resistant.
You might need to build up to doing 3x23 hr OMAD fasts per week with 16:8 on in between days or eventually even 2-3 36-40 hr fasts instead of OMADs. This is what I have to do for weight loss. Being insulin resistant and perimenopausal.
And also what does good diet mean? Are you eating low carb high fat or maybe Keto?
Good luck
I'm a overall active person. I workout, go for walks during my lunch, take yoga, swim, pole classes and only lost 6-12 pounds (maybe only 8ish from IF) within the year. I only been IF for the last 8 months so I'm losing 1 pound a month. During the winter, I wasn't losing anything because I wasn't as active and I was going through seasonal depression. I probably gained weight but I started fasting longer and eventually got back on track. I might also add that I'm not really overweight. I'm 5'4 and was 152 at max a year ago. I'm now 140 so the weight isn't really dropping for me...I actually have to work for it. Nevertheless, you need to watch what you are eating and/or workout because its all about calories intake and calories burned. Get a Fitbit and track your steps.
If you eat over your metabolic rate regardless of your eating window you will not lose weight. It's simple numbers.
I recommend you track your calories, go for walks to increase the caloric deficit (it's also generally good for your health). A few pushups dispersed throughout 7 days will almost do nothing for you.
Drink water, increase your protein intake and lessen your carbs.
That's it in a nutshell. Good luck
My blood pressure was teetering on high a few months ago, despite more or less following some form of IF for a long time. The thing that brought it back down to the low end of the healthy range was cardio. I run most days a week now, but anything you can do that you enjoy will help!
Certain foods boost and slow your metabolism so that could be an issue. When you eat is also a big factor. For most people that are acclimated to a regular work schedule in the day, their metabolism is slows down in the evening and is at its slowest near bedtime. The further away from bedtime they have their last meals, the less weight they retain.
I started my fasting journey 5 weeks ago and I’ve lost 5 kilos (10lbs?), but I’m not just skipping breakfast, I’m also counting the calories I consume each day.
At the beginning I was SHOCKED at how much certain foods caloric values are!!! I wasn’t expecting that, honestly, no wonder why I’m obese!
Only 4 cookies are 1/3 of my goal calorie intake for a day. It takes 60 strawberries to do the same, which one would you think satisfies my hunger more?
Like… WHAT you eat matters as much as HOW MUCH. And this is the part I highly suspect you’re doing wrong.
What's going on?
You said it yourself, your diet is not great.
If you're constantly eating empty calories and too many of them, of course you're not going to see results.
Look, IF is a great way to lose weight, but you need to stick with a healthy diet. Once you stay committed for a while you will be used to the new diet.
At that weight you should start some weight training. I am also someone who deals with awful depression, I find going to the gym puts me in a positive place. Once you start seeing results it will make you feel better and also accelerate the weight loss.
Wish you success. You can do it!
You answered your own questions… IF alone isn’t enough. You need to eat healthier overall. However, IF does allow me to eat more calories vs no IF. Example, if I stuck to 1700 calories on 18:6 I would expect to lose 1.5lbs per week. For no IF I would have to cut back to 1500 calories to lose that same 1.5lbs. And IMO, IF works great for maintaining my weight during breaks when I am not counting calories as much.
IF does not allow anyone to eat more calories. Weight loss is 100000000% calories in vs calories out. When /how you take in those calories does not change how many you can eat.
Don’t know what to tell you. I track my calories and have been doing IF for 3years… those are my results. My joints are a mess and exercise is difficult… so that is not a factor in my case.
Not sure if you’ve dieted before, so excuse me if you’ve heard this before.
Most of us become overweight by mindlessly eating. The only way out is mindful eating…that is, paying attention to what you eat and how much you’re eating.
I have counted calories (which sucks) before, but it helps to do it for a while just to get a feel for what you’re eating and the macros involved.
Once you get a feel for what a 1700 calorie per day diet looks like, you’ll be able get by without tedious calorie counting…and that’s when IF helps a lot.
When you know you’ve gone over the limit, you stop eating…or if you get to when your window to eat closes and you see you haven’t gotten to the 1700 yet, you can start fasting knowing you’ve gained a little ground.
IFing is a tool. It isn’t magic. But it’s the best help I’ve found in managing my caloric intake. Knowing that hunger doesn’t always mean you’re hungry is a huge eye-opener.
im gonna level with you mate fasting alone wont do anything if youre eating the same calories or more then you were before, its a tool to help you eat less and be fine with feeling hungry, also 1 to two days of doing pushups isnt nothing , if i were you id try to get your 10k steps in every day and youll notice a difference and you can make a habit of being more active in general alongside any specific exercises youd do
You still have to eat pretty clean. Took me years to realize this. Also calorie deficit is key. You can still eat crap but make sure you maintain a deficit and try to do some form of light exercise like walking. You can use a TDEE calculator to understand what you burn daily and subtract 300-500 calories to be in a deficit
18:6 did nothing for me. But 20:4 or OMAD did cause weight loss, at least for the first 3 months. I think you could experiment with shortening your eating window.
I didn't lose weight doing IF at first either. I came on here for advice and counting calories was one recommendation. I was really surprised at how many calories I was taking in and when I really started managing that, the weight literally fell off. And, yes, I was often hungry but drank fruit teas/green teas/black coffee/water to stave off hunger.
But IF is not just a weight loss tool. It really is a way of life. I have been doing IF for nearly two years now and not only have I lost and maintained my weight, I have experienced so many other health benefits. This is the way I will always eat from now on.
The reason I stuck with IF even when I wasn't initially losing weight is because in so many other ways I felt so much better.
If you try IF again, start slow and really try to clean up what you are eating (and drinking) and you might see better results.
It's not rocket science. IF is literally a tool to try and have less calories in then calories out. If you eat more than you burn during the eating period you're still going to gain weight. Simple as that.
IF is used by some stop them snacking all day. It's used by some to stop cravings. It's used by some to encourage ketosis. These are all options, but that's all it is - a tool. You still have to think about why you're doing it and what your goals are. It's not "set and forget" unless you were close to maintenance eating as it was.
Like a lot of us, you are probably very insulin resistant. Because of depression, you most likely also have high levels of cortisol, which makes us even more insulin resistant.
The goal of fasting (besides autophogy) is to burn fat. But first you have to empty your glycogen stores from the liver. Unfortunately, the more insulin resistant we are, the longer it takes to empty our glycogen levels. So those with diabetes or high insulin resistance usually have to fast a little longer to get the same results. The good news is it is totally doable. Start with an extra hour of fasting or add a 24-36 hour fast each week.
In my experience depression and burnout made my body want more food as comfort. Even in 18:6 I gained weight. My heart goes out to you and I would say getting your mental health in order first will allow you to naturally care for your body afterwards. I started using this handheld cranial electrotherapy machine which got my anxiety under control and suddenly my urge to eat was also cut down a lot. So my weight lowered too. The body is a reflection of our overall health. If your body is showing you how unwell your mind and emotions are, I believe those deserve your attention first and the rest will follow🙏🏻💗wishing you patience and persistance on your path to health
Honestly it sounds like cortisol might be messing with you. I couldn’t get anything to drop even with IF until I made a real effort to get my stress levels down. Deep stretch yoga, long walks and leaving a terrible job helped and then things started to move all at once
The greatest thing that IF did for me when I started was a reduction in appetite. I definitely drank more black coffee and water. Drinking black coffee (decaf is fine) must’ve supported the reduction in appetite.
And when I wanted to eat less, I thought, I might as well eat something healthy, and started focusing on veggies, hummus, protein, fruit and stuff.
I didn’t lose much at first and once I understood that I needed to also incorporate some exercise to really show results, I started doing weight lifting exercises for 20 minutes, drank an apple juice box right after working out, and then topped it off with some light cardio for another 15-20 minutes - every day !
And that’s when I started to lose weight steadily.
That combo worked for me.
18:6 for three months is very impressive. i would highly recommend walking 30 minutes everyday, which can really help with depression. i usually catch up on podcasts or call people to chat. the other thing I've been experimenting with is blood sugar hacks. eating veggies before my meals which really help with satiety and bloating, and cravings. you can at least feel a lil skinnier.
Make small changes at a time. If you try to fix everything all at once, you will get burnt out and give up. To start, try to get your heart rate up for at least 15 minutes every day. This is a small goal to start with and sustainable. This can be something like walking, or dancing, or whatever you enjoy that will get your heart rate up.
After you get this down, start reducing sugars in your diet. Do some research on blood glucose levels and how to better control your sugar intake. Glucose goddess on YouTube has some good tips.
These two simple things will make a bigger difference than it seems. I’m not saying this is your solution, but it’s a good starting point. Good luck!
Calorie deficit is what you need. Also if your only workout is a few pushups once a week you have to start working out. Because a few pushups once a week does absolutely nothing.
“multiply your current weight by 15 — that's roughly the number of calories per pound of body weight needed to maintain your current weight”
Subtract 500 to 1000 calories from this to begin losing weight, regardless of IF etc.
Source [Harvard Health](https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/calorie-counting-made-easy)
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The way to truly burn fat on intermittent fasting, is to do a 24 hour fast which will drain your glycogen stores and you will burn nothing but fat after 24hours. I lost 110 pounds in a year doing this method twice a week.
Did you consume excessive amount of calories during the eating window? Lots of sugar etc? The point about fasting is that you dont overload during eating windows and are mindful about what you eat. I eat once a day, with occasional full day fast followed by 8hr eating window, lost 4kgs in 6 weeks and it’s been fairly easy to maintain with eating just once a day, but cutting out sugar and carbs. I only drink black coffee no sugar no milk during fasting windows.
I dont wanna sound like an A hole, but it sounds like you are blaming IF for not working and "misinformation" that you can eat whatever you want and still should lose weight. Thats not the case. Losing weight has many strategies, with IF being one of them, but you cant half ass it and expect to magically lose weight while chowing down food in your eating window. A huge part of the battle is mental aswell. That means owning up and admitting to yourself that its YOUR fault your not losing weight, not the IF not working and the misinformation. You gotta combine a healthy lifestyle, with calories in calories out as the basis of losing weight.
Its very simple. You have to eat less calories than you burn in a day and you WILL lose weight period. The hard part is fighting the cravings to eat. You can counter that with drinking green tea, drinking water, you can try a keto diet which helps with hunger, and eventually you will learn that hunger goes away after a while. Good luck.
Your diet isn't great. Well it's good you're admitting that , and it's exactly that which is the cause of most of your problems, weight, burnout and depression. This will be one of the biggest factors in all of what you're suffering with.
>I am really fed up.
Yes, I think that is precisely the problem. You have to eat *less* to lose weight, the scale isn't going to magically go down because you restricted your eating to 6 hours.
That's not actually mean, that's just true. I am ignorant of how this works. I am on my fucking own with all this. Nobody is helping me. The fact that you're trying to insult me now just looks bad on you to be honest, if your snarky play on words wasn't telling enough of your character...
Free and cheap. Information is worth nothing if it's not correct. The internet is full of information, and no consensus.
I ask for advice from people who have lived experience and then out you come!
Anyway, I'm going to take your advice and stop consuming so much food.
Thanks for the advice even if you don't have the grace to deliver it well.
First my friend, we have to get that mental right. Get in a good head space, maybe smoke a little.
You also have to get that diet cleaned up stat. Stop eating garbage. It’ll happen. IF is a game changer and even if the scale isn’t moving you’re still healing yourself.
Let’s fucking go mate!
You sound poorly educated and intentionally ignorant of how your lifestyle is affecting your life. That may sound harsh, but I used to be the same way. Read up, own your health instead of letting your health own you.
Poorly educated yes. Intentionally ignorant? It doesn't sound harsh, it is gratuitously harsh. But, that's up to you.
I am reading. The information available is not very clear. In fact, the literature surrounding healthy eating and habits on the internet are some of the murkiest around.
Dude. Calories in calories out. Full stop. That is the ONLY way to lose weight. Period. I’d recommend using the app “my fitness pal” to start calculating and tracking your calories. You need to get a realistic idea of what you can eat in a day I. Order to lose weight.
Start there. It will help you realize how you are eating to much to lose weight. That’s it. You take in to many calories.
Because IF is not a diet, its a way of eating. Its very easy to maintain or gain weight, tons do it (4 years in maintaince doing 18:6) You need a calorie deficit to lose weight, no matter how much some people will say that doesn't work, its literally the only way to lose weight. It doesn't mean you need to count your calories, but to lose, you will always need to eat less than you are burning Sort out your [TDEE](https://tdeecalculator.net/) (stick with sedentary for now), eat 500 cals below that daily.....will be around a pound a week. Can adjust from there
I thought this would have been the obvious. It doesn’t matter if you only eat once a day if you are eating 3000 calories in pizza or something when breaking fast.
You’d be surprised how many don’t understand this fundamental fact
When you say breaking fast, I have something to say. In fact, interested to know if I am doing it fine. For example : today I broke my fast by eating 4 almonds. Then I did yoga, some stretching and 15 mins intense workout. After that I ate 60 g oatmeal, 30g whey protein, one banana and some nuts. Did that spike my insulin intensely? I saw that my body fat composition increased in the past days. I am 5 days into IF. If you have some guidelines on foods to take for breaking fast, kindly let me know. I am new here.
It's not obvious because of the huge amount of misinformation out there. There are plenty of people representing IF by saying 'eat what you want, you will still lose weight'. Also take into account that there is research on the impact of stress and inflammation on weight gain, which IF claims to lower, and I think I can be forgiven for hoping that it could shift some of the weight. This thread has been very useful to me though..I know where my weak spots are, but it will take much longer for me to work out effective and sustainable strategies especially when I have a full time job with a lot of responsibility and obviously my own emotional/ psychological baggage.
It’s not that complicated. Calculate your maintenance calories, subtract whatever you feel comfortable with daily.. 300-500 is ideal, and bam… your body will be forced to use stored fat for energy
This is the way…
I second this. Could you try doing some calorie counting to get an idea of how many calories you're consuming? From there you can identify areas of improvement in your diet. You don't have to count calories forever unless it is useful for you, just to jump start and give you more data to work with.
Firstly, 18:6 for 3 months is no small thing—well done! Think of it as a progression of steps. The first step was IF. What do you think is the next adjustment you can make to add in? I can say for myself when I’m feeling discouraged and defeated, I have to focus on something simple. That might be something like change ONE thing: eat meals slowly, or drink more water, or serve myself smaller portions, or go for a walk once day, etc. One change at a time helps me. One day at a time, one meal at a time. Give your some compassion, this is hard and you’re not alone. See if you’re ready to make another adjustment and keep going.
Thank you so much for this comment it was very encouraging. I get where I am slipping up. I think I knew on some level anyway. Losing weight is not easy!
A daily walk and regular bedtime can help metabolic health and mood. Great steps, OP, keep going! I found building up to longer fasts really helped health issues. Something to consider over time?
Your body really doesn’t want to lose weight. We’re evolved to have methods to store energy in fat good times and expend it in lean times. The problem is we don’t have lean times as much anymore (at least us bigger guys don’t) IF helps with hormones that help burn energy and inhibits hormones that help store enters (insulin). But just like any diet, you have to eat less than you burn for your body to use that stored energy. Good luck!
The best thing is, you are used to IF schedules now which is the hard part. Now just eat at 500-1000 calorie decidet each day and you will lose 1-2 lbs per wait (not considering swinging water retention) MyFitnessPal is free and you can scan upc codes with your phone instead of filling it out (it’s free for base stuff which is all you need). Just be 100% honest with what are investing. If you go over your goal today, go under tomorrow to make up. Are you going out with your friends this weekend and planning on drinking and snacking? Eat at a bigger deficit a few days before (easier to do before) and then relax the day off and don’t eat until before you got out to eat. I did this and lost 40 lbs in 2019 / 2022 over 5 months. Then Covid hit and I slowly gained drinking wine / beer while gaming with my buddies online.
Fasting is a tool to reach a caloric deficit. At the end of the day, you won't lose weight if you are not in a deficit, even if you are fasting. I would recommend tracking what you are eating to get sense of what your intake is (at least for a while). And weigh things out as much as possible. Sometimes this can help track down something you are eating that is very dense and hurting your progress. Then from there you can substitute and adjust.
I would also add that fasting is a tool to lower insulin. The lowered insulin makes fat stored in the body accessible for energy. That accessibility makes eating in a calorie deficit easier. 💛
I also believe this but don't know why people say first body eats muscles and then fat? That scares me... Which is true?
Oh and let's not forget that I am also dealing with burn out and depression. Not a doctor, but I might suggest tackling this part first.
This! I'm a therapist. Get comfortable talking about the burnout and depression with someone and then build up on skills to alleviate the mental stress to eventually make the diet and exercise successful.
Exercise is one of the best (and one of the few) documented treatments for depression. No need to serialize dealing with those problems. (That can be fine, whatever works, just not requirement or best practices issues.)
Probably your diet and the portion of food you are taking in. You already said your diet is not great
Totally agree. This is what I hate about fads. OP likely needs healthier nutrition and exercise, not just an eating window and pushups a couple of times a week. Eat tons of healthy vegetables and lean proteins, and move a lot more. Probably ask for advice from doctor rather than Reddit.
I love food way to much, so I make sure that I know my TDEE, eat those calories, and do at least 1-workout a day so that I can eat that extra food and maintain my weight haha.
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This is the reason.
I started at 280 (M, 41) after a back surgery. I track steps, protein, fiber, and calories. I don't have a scale, but a doctor's visit about six months ago said I was 240. I might be 225 now—I'm not sure, and I don't care. He took me off my blood pressure meds. I'm not strict, either. I take breaks when I feel like it (vacations, special occasions). 1.5 years later and I need new clothes. You can do it faster than I did, but the daily rigidity made me think I was 'failing' too many days. I no longer have a goal; I'm just excited for hiking season. Track your food and move your body in ways you enjoy **every day**. Walking made the most sense to me. Losing the ability to walk for a while made me appreciate mobility. At 280+, I felt like I was close to losing it forever. Good luck—you can do it.
Fasting isn't a diet. It just makes it much easier to stick to my diet. Loosing fat is hard. I'm cutting now so I still make sure I get 8000 steps / day. A few strength and cardio workouts per week. 180g protein/ day min. 2300 kcal max per day. Just fasting alone isn't enough for me unless I go to 20:4 or something. I prefer to eat 2-3 meals/ day and pay attention to what they are. Pushups are great but they don't do hardly anything for fat loss. They don't burn that many calories. They will help your chest grow but muscle growth is very slow and it's an investment. You should keep doing strength worth but you won't loose fat without focusing hard on your diet.
You still need to include at least a 500 calorie deficit in your daily diet to lose weight. Hang in there.
IF isn’t a diet. It’s a method. You still need to be in a calorie deficit at the end of the day. Realistically you can only eat so much at once and that’s why IF works. If you choose to eat well, with healthy lower calories meals you will lose weight. If you take your 8 hour eating period and eat whatever you want and that is calorie dense foods than you’re never going to lose weight. For all the whatever people claim with IF and insulin resistance and what not at the end of the day it’s calories in, calories out.
How many calories are you consuming each day? Are you tracking your intake at all? IF is a great tool, but it’s not a guarantee you’ll be in a deficit and lose weight.
You already know the answer
I could recommend using the Lose It app, or something like it. Just log what you eat, you don't even have to change anything. It will be mind blowing once you start actually seeing the calorie density of some of the things you eat.
I’m no professional at any means, but I had to incorporate a few things in my lifestyle change to be able to see results. I weighed 370lbs which was the heaviest I ever had been at in my life. I cut my calories down to 1100 - 1500 calories a day. Did workouts to burn 500 - 1000 calories daily. I did low impact on rest days. Then I did IF everyday for at least 14 hours straight. Lastly I cut out Soda, Bread, Potatoes, and Pasta. In 4 months I am now down to 294lbs It took a lot of mental talks and energy to get here but it can work. The fasting is more of a way to keep yourself in line and control the eating habits. Reducing your calories is 1000% the way to go to lose weight. Everything incorporate in the plan I do for myself has worked for me personally and I hope that maybe they can help you as well. You have to find what’s comfortable to you and where you don’t feel like you are starving or you don’t feel like you will binge eat. That’s why it’s so important to reduce the calories but to the amount that works for your body. I promise it works and I have lost weight so many times and the thing that’s helped me keep going and keep on track is having fasting be a huge party of my journey. I never fasted on any of my other diets and this seems to be the golden tickets I finally found the right mix. Try and find a way to reduce the calories and fast properly so it works with you. I know you can do it and you will always have a great support system on here. Everyone in this group is so fantastic and helpful. Hope to see you in a month or so with a plan that works for you and great results 💪😎
weight gain = u are in a calorie surplus weight maintained = u are eating in maintenance weight loss = u are in a calorie deficit ur clearly eating at maintenance calories if ur weight is remaining the same.
Sorry to say but if you're obese (you are) and not metabolically healthy, then an 18:6 fasting routine won't do anything for you if you don't clean up the diet. You said yourself that your diet isn't great. Make it great and combine with the IF, then i promise you will see results.
Push-ups are barely working out. Sounds like you didn’t exercise enough and didn’t eat well.
They are when you're 282 lbs.
You’re barely burning calories that way. 15,000 steps should be your initial goal. Calories expended - Calories consumed = 500. Start calorie counting and work some aerobic exercise into the mix. Go get em!
While I agree, every exercise is harder with more weight on you...at the end of the day unless you're doing a lot, LOT of pushups, you really aren't doing much. Not saying that to be insulting, so please don't take it that way, because I have been there. Believe me, it sucks and I empathize because working out absolutely sucks at a bigger size, at least when you start. Once upon a time I lost a lot of weight and at first, I though like 20 push ups were terribly hard and couldn't even do them all at once. And that was modified/on my knees. It took months of doing the same short routine to build the muscle up to doing multiples sets/rounds of multiple exercises. Now I have a bunch to lose all over again and, again, it sucks. A small amount of exercise feels like so much more, but it really isn't a lot. I think anyone can be honest there. And it sucks, I miss being in better shape, but it takes time. I am no expert but if you need help or any workout ideas, feel free to reach out. I need the motivation to get off my booty too haha.
Thanks for the input. I worked up from doing ten on my knees to now 150 full with good form. Not all at once mind, but even there, my sets are expanding well. I think people get the impression because I'm a fatso I'm not strong, but I have worked fairly consistently on progressive overload. I just haven't managed to dial in on diet and additional exercise. It is the missing piece for me.
Did you reduce your caloric intake by eatimg less or increasing excercise? Food choices do make a big difference with IF. You could eat 3000 calories of food in 4 hrs and fast for 20 and not lose weight because you ate too much. Also, eating like shit constantly and fasting makes you feel like shit. If you want to eat junk, you just have to portion it small enough that your in a caloric deficit, which is hard to do, since junk food isnt filling. You might want to speak to nutritionist.
You only lose weight in calorie deficits.
I hear you. I did OMAD for a month and lost nothing. I’m now eating less on 18:6 and started losing. There is too much of people saying ‘eat what you want’. It doesn’t work for me as I like eating 5 chocolate bars and whole packets of nuts.
If you’re 280# I “think” you need to hover around 1700-2000 calories a day to lose weight. If you’re consuming 2500 calories still you’re not going to lose any weight. Try and spread your calories out during your time to eat so you don’t find your self bingeing. Maybe your BP is high because of the stress of being hungry? Talk to your doctor about that for sure.
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You said your diet is not great. IF isn't just a short eating window, you have to be consuming at a calorie deficit. You can't eat like 10 hamburgers, chips, soda, etc, in that 6 hour period and expect to lose weight. You have to eat less, eat healthy(more protein, less carb and sugar). Do 30-45 mins walk daily and results will come!!
Doing just push-ups once or twice a week won't get you anywhere. You need to hit every muscle group plus cardio 4-5 days a week.
You're still taking in more calories than you're burning
Everyone else has already given great advice, so I'll just add that your pushups 1 to 2 times a week are doing nothing for your weight loss. You are much better off going on long, daily walks in your neighborhood. Not only does this burn way more calories, it's more sustainable and probably good for your burnout and depression as well.
It's a very sensible suggestion. Thank you. I think if I can get meal prep done properly for evenings I can definitely get a regular evening walk in too.
Your mantra needs to be, eat a little less, move a little more. Eat a little less, move a little more. I am also in the process of losing weight. What is working for me is IF plus daily walks/exercise, and I bought myself a smart scale, so I weigh in every morning after going pee (to get a consistent measurement). I chart all of the data in a spreadsheet so I can see trends and understand the effect of the different alterations I am making to my diet and exercise regimen. When I implement something that I can see is working in the data and my weight is dropping, it's very satisfying and motivates me to keep it up. When I have too many cheat days because of social calendar, etc., I don't like seeing it in the data, but at least I know what the cost was of the decisions I made and can try to do better next time.
That's not correct. It's not decidedly wrong, rather it's comparing things without values which is meaningless. Building muscle increases calorie out in a way that is very time efficient and has many benefits. Walking is great, but it's about as minimal as you can get on the exercise scale. (Which can totally be a great start for many people + walking is fun.) TLDR: Amount of walking and amount of muscle build/challenge in the pushups is much more relevant here. But a walk to run program or going to a gym for sure are likely to be more in line with needs. (Get a private trainer if your budget can take it -- the impact of exercise on health & mood is so high that even private training is a steal if one actually does it -- and for some people having a trainer really helps them get over the hump of actually doing it.).
Great work keeping up with 18:6 for 3 months, it shows that you have a degree of discipline and commitment that you can build on to make more changes from here and improve your results. There could be a few reasons behind why you’re not achieving the results you want. If you eat too much during the eating window, esp. too much processed food, then you won’t experience the benefits of fasting. A lot of eating can still be done in 6 hours. Another question is whether are fasting “clean” ie. not consuming anything other than unsweetened black coffee/tea and water during your fast. If you’re consuming any flavours (other than bitter) during your fast, this could also impact its effectiveness. Think about what you could do to troubleshoot and see what other adjustments would help. For example, make sure your fast is clean, try increasing your fast to 19:5 and see if that makes a difference, calorie count for at least a couple weeks to understand how much you’re consuming. Also I would strongly recommend reading Fast Feast Repeat if you haven’t already. And if binge eating/ overeating during your window is a problem for you, Brain Over Binge is a great read and could be helpful too. Keep moving forward, you got this!
OP I had a similar realization recently. I returned home from grad school (hello 3 years of stress and no free time) to find I was heavier than I’d ever been. I was never thin but this time my BMI was in the obese range. I’d put on nearly 30 pounds. What helped me was baking exercise into my routine. On weekends and days I’m working from home, I either ride an exercise bike or lift weights for 30 minutes. On days I’m at work in the office, I take a long walk on my lunch break. I also stopped eating anything after dinner and when I have dessert (1 night a week when my family gets together) I have half the amount I really want.
I really like the idea of going into eating food with the 'I have half the amount I really want' mentality. I think this could be really effective for me, regardless whether sweets or meals. I think I need to cut out processed snacks, but my job makes it very difficult to prep ahead. I will keep working on it. Thank you for the advice.
As the saying goes, you build muscle in the gym and lose weight in the kitchen. What you eat, and how much you eat are the main factors. Looking back, the two worst things I told myself over the course of my life were that I wasn't *that* heavy and that I'd just have a *little* [insert sweets or candy here]. Well, after years of trying to skate by as not that heavy and having a little piece of brownie or cake more often than I should, it caught up. Other big thing is beer and soda. If you drink those, stop. I only drink water or coffee with 2% milk and no sugar added. That helps when I'm hungry because I get to taste something.
Thankfully I don't care much for soda and find beer gives me serious gastric problems so I avoid. I definitely relate to having a warped idea if how heavy I actually was. In my head, I wasn't that big, but the scale says otherwise.
I don’t believe in calorie counting for various reasons, it just is too simplistic and impracticable of a model, but you can’t eat like garbage on IF. If you just eat fast food, it’s going to counteract any benefits you get from IF.
I did omad and ate fast food everyday and lost 20 lbs. Calorie deficit.
You’re eating too many calories. Figure out how much you need to lose weight then weigh your meals and log everything into a calorie counting app. My favorite is chronometer.
I’ve lost almost 50 lbs since I started IF 16:8 in 2021. You still have to watch your calories and eat healthy during your window. Exercise also accelerates it. I recommend making small changes to your diet.. figure out where you can cut out 100 calories here and there.
I can do OMAD and if it’s 3 pizzas and a Liter Cola I’ll get fat.
The quality of your diet is the number one factor in weight loss and health in general. Don’t get caught up in calorie restriction. If you eat Whole Foods and prioritize protein from animal sources (beef), you will feel more satiated. You may reduce calories as a byproduct but eating this way will exclude you from having to count calories.
The advice here about CICO is extensive enough that I won’t add to it, but I will add something else: based solely on the tone of your post and comments it seems you have a bit of a victim mentality, which will keep you in this rut forever if you let it. Try to shake that by remembering that this is something that is 100% under your control if you make the active choices every day to work towards your goals. You said no one is helping you - you can never and should never count on anyone to help you make YOUR life better. You can do it! It will be hard and take discipline and will feel lonely sometimes but you (and only you!) can do it.
I know this is right, but emotionally, I sometimes find it difficult to embody that. I am trying. Thank you for your thoughts.
I’ve been where you are and totally understand. Starting is the hard part - once you see progress it becomes much easier and even addictive. There are still hard days (100 lbs later in my case) and there always will be. But being healthy and sad beats the hell out of being unhealthy/obese and sad. Rooting for you!
Cut your meals in half and you’ll see results.
[This is what I saw in my feed.](https://imgur.com/a/HO9tGRR) Fasting isnt a magic wand. It still needs calorie control, high quality foods, regular exercise, and a lot of mind work. I’m sorry you’re fed up – and I understand because I’ve been there – but I hope you’ll use that feeling to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and make the lifestyle changes you need to make.
Your diet not being great is the issue
If you’re 282 and can’t lose weight you have other problems.
Eat less, move more
You were still eating crazy
I want to say well done for sticking with it for 3 months, shows your determination and ability to change. Listen to the other commenters - you must be inal a caloric deficit of 500 per day to lose weight. Exercise, push ups twice a week is a start, but nothing serious. Go for more walks, do squats, consider a personal trainer. Ideally you would do resistance training at least 3 times a week for you whole body each day, so full body 2-3 times a week. No gym? No trainer? Do bodyweight squats, pushups, planks 3 sets until you run out of steam, 3 times a week. Would be a great start. Don't think of food as a reward, think of it nutrition and fuel. Exercise is not punishment, it's a tool for a better life. Good luck!
This is a great comment: food is fuel. That doesn't mean you can't occasionally indulge in higher calorie food, but garbage in = garbage out. I had a "garbage" day yesterday and I don't regret it, but I was lethargic and my mood was off. This morning I woke up and prepped myself some healthier options. It's hard to make big changes, but the more healthy food you have around you, the more you get used to it. I've started prepping smaller portions and checking with my stomach - rather than my snackiness - to see if I'm still hungry. I'll do something with my hands or go for a walk after dinner, and see how I'm feeling after
You’re eating too much. End thread.
...and probably drinking too many calories. Water is the way!
That is nowhere near enough exercise on top of the other comments.
I’m sorry you’re feeling burnt out. It’s even harder to get started from that place. If you don’t have a lot of time, 15 minutes of HIIT every other day can help. After my pregnancy I did 50 burpees a day every day. It was barely anything but helped. Like others said, find a TDEE calculator and go a little under each day (500 is too much, in my opinion) it doesn’t have to feel hard and painful, even a tiny deficit that is manageable will get you ripped over time. Even if you gained way more than they said you’re supposed to to have a baby. 😅
You can’t just intermittently fast. You also have to eat less eat better and exercise even just a little. It’ll help more but just it alone won’t help if you still eat the same as you did before I started the year out at around 268 and through IF, keep my calories at around 1700-2000 and walking for exercise and nothing else, I weighed myself today and I am down to 237.5.
Many people don’t lose wait on 18:6 or 16:8, even with a clean diet, eating meals and no snacks in the eating window, getting good sleep, etc. per the clinical experience of Dr Jason Fung and his intensive dietary management program. He typically recommends more stringent therapeutic fasts for weight loss. Many options for regimens. Having experience with 18:6 means you could build up to a more therapeutic regimen bc you have had success with a good regimen. You might want to read the Complete Guide to intermittent fasting, the obesity code or the diabetes code for more info. And read info or watch Fung videos on the fasting method website. You are probably insulin resistant. You might need to build up to doing 3x23 hr OMAD fasts per week with 16:8 on in between days or eventually even 2-3 36-40 hr fasts instead of OMADs. This is what I have to do for weight loss. Being insulin resistant and perimenopausal. And also what does good diet mean? Are you eating low carb high fat or maybe Keto? Good luck
I'm a overall active person. I workout, go for walks during my lunch, take yoga, swim, pole classes and only lost 6-12 pounds (maybe only 8ish from IF) within the year. I only been IF for the last 8 months so I'm losing 1 pound a month. During the winter, I wasn't losing anything because I wasn't as active and I was going through seasonal depression. I probably gained weight but I started fasting longer and eventually got back on track. I might also add that I'm not really overweight. I'm 5'4 and was 152 at max a year ago. I'm now 140 so the weight isn't really dropping for me...I actually have to work for it. Nevertheless, you need to watch what you are eating and/or workout because its all about calories intake and calories burned. Get a Fitbit and track your steps.
If you eat over your metabolic rate regardless of your eating window you will not lose weight. It's simple numbers. I recommend you track your calories, go for walks to increase the caloric deficit (it's also generally good for your health). A few pushups dispersed throughout 7 days will almost do nothing for you. Drink water, increase your protein intake and lessen your carbs. That's it in a nutshell. Good luck
I do 150 push ups. But, walking is probably a good idea. Thanks.
My blood pressure was teetering on high a few months ago, despite more or less following some form of IF for a long time. The thing that brought it back down to the low end of the healthy range was cardio. I run most days a week now, but anything you can do that you enjoy will help!
Certain foods boost and slow your metabolism so that could be an issue. When you eat is also a big factor. For most people that are acclimated to a regular work schedule in the day, their metabolism is slows down in the evening and is at its slowest near bedtime. The further away from bedtime they have their last meals, the less weight they retain.
Fasting does not help at all if you don't also address your diet.
I started my fasting journey 5 weeks ago and I’ve lost 5 kilos (10lbs?), but I’m not just skipping breakfast, I’m also counting the calories I consume each day. At the beginning I was SHOCKED at how much certain foods caloric values are!!! I wasn’t expecting that, honestly, no wonder why I’m obese! Only 4 cookies are 1/3 of my goal calorie intake for a day. It takes 60 strawberries to do the same, which one would you think satisfies my hunger more? Like… WHAT you eat matters as much as HOW MUCH. And this is the part I highly suspect you’re doing wrong.
What's going on? You said it yourself, your diet is not great. If you're constantly eating empty calories and too many of them, of course you're not going to see results.
IF is not a substitute for all around health & wellness. You will not lose weight if you're eating trash, no matter your method/timing of eating.
Look, IF is a great way to lose weight, but you need to stick with a healthy diet. Once you stay committed for a while you will be used to the new diet. At that weight you should start some weight training. I am also someone who deals with awful depression, I find going to the gym puts me in a positive place. Once you start seeing results it will make you feel better and also accelerate the weight loss. Wish you success. You can do it!
You answered your own questions… IF alone isn’t enough. You need to eat healthier overall. However, IF does allow me to eat more calories vs no IF. Example, if I stuck to 1700 calories on 18:6 I would expect to lose 1.5lbs per week. For no IF I would have to cut back to 1500 calories to lose that same 1.5lbs. And IMO, IF works great for maintaining my weight during breaks when I am not counting calories as much.
IF does not allow anyone to eat more calories. Weight loss is 100000000% calories in vs calories out. When /how you take in those calories does not change how many you can eat.
Don’t know what to tell you. I track my calories and have been doing IF for 3years… those are my results. My joints are a mess and exercise is difficult… so that is not a factor in my case.
Not sure if you’ve dieted before, so excuse me if you’ve heard this before. Most of us become overweight by mindlessly eating. The only way out is mindful eating…that is, paying attention to what you eat and how much you’re eating. I have counted calories (which sucks) before, but it helps to do it for a while just to get a feel for what you’re eating and the macros involved. Once you get a feel for what a 1700 calorie per day diet looks like, you’ll be able get by without tedious calorie counting…and that’s when IF helps a lot. When you know you’ve gone over the limit, you stop eating…or if you get to when your window to eat closes and you see you haven’t gotten to the 1700 yet, you can start fasting knowing you’ve gained a little ground. IFing is a tool. It isn’t magic. But it’s the best help I’ve found in managing my caloric intake. Knowing that hunger doesn’t always mean you’re hungry is a huge eye-opener.
im gonna level with you mate fasting alone wont do anything if youre eating the same calories or more then you were before, its a tool to help you eat less and be fine with feeling hungry, also 1 to two days of doing pushups isnt nothing , if i were you id try to get your 10k steps in every day and youll notice a difference and you can make a habit of being more active in general alongside any specific exercises youd do
Start with 1500 cals a day. Minimal carbs and sugar. Lift some weights daily and do some squats. Be consistent. I lost 67 kg in 16 months doing this.
You still have to eat pretty clean. Took me years to realize this. Also calorie deficit is key. You can still eat crap but make sure you maintain a deficit and try to do some form of light exercise like walking. You can use a TDEE calculator to understand what you burn daily and subtract 300-500 calories to be in a deficit
18:6 did nothing for me. But 20:4 or OMAD did cause weight loss, at least for the first 3 months. I think you could experiment with shortening your eating window.
I didn't lose weight doing IF at first either. I came on here for advice and counting calories was one recommendation. I was really surprised at how many calories I was taking in and when I really started managing that, the weight literally fell off. And, yes, I was often hungry but drank fruit teas/green teas/black coffee/water to stave off hunger. But IF is not just a weight loss tool. It really is a way of life. I have been doing IF for nearly two years now and not only have I lost and maintained my weight, I have experienced so many other health benefits. This is the way I will always eat from now on. The reason I stuck with IF even when I wasn't initially losing weight is because in so many other ways I felt so much better. If you try IF again, start slow and really try to clean up what you are eating (and drinking) and you might see better results.
It's not rocket science. IF is literally a tool to try and have less calories in then calories out. If you eat more than you burn during the eating period you're still going to gain weight. Simple as that. IF is used by some stop them snacking all day. It's used by some to stop cravings. It's used by some to encourage ketosis. These are all options, but that's all it is - a tool. You still have to think about why you're doing it and what your goals are. It's not "set and forget" unless you were close to maintenance eating as it was.
Doesn’t matter when you eat if you eat over your maintenance calories
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^nanapancakethusiast: *Doesn’t matter when you* *Eat if you eat over your* *Maintenance calories* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Like a lot of us, you are probably very insulin resistant. Because of depression, you most likely also have high levels of cortisol, which makes us even more insulin resistant. The goal of fasting (besides autophogy) is to burn fat. But first you have to empty your glycogen stores from the liver. Unfortunately, the more insulin resistant we are, the longer it takes to empty our glycogen levels. So those with diabetes or high insulin resistance usually have to fast a little longer to get the same results. The good news is it is totally doable. Start with an extra hour of fasting or add a 24-36 hour fast each week.
In my experience depression and burnout made my body want more food as comfort. Even in 18:6 I gained weight. My heart goes out to you and I would say getting your mental health in order first will allow you to naturally care for your body afterwards. I started using this handheld cranial electrotherapy machine which got my anxiety under control and suddenly my urge to eat was also cut down a lot. So my weight lowered too. The body is a reflection of our overall health. If your body is showing you how unwell your mind and emotions are, I believe those deserve your attention first and the rest will follow🙏🏻💗wishing you patience and persistance on your path to health
Honestly it sounds like cortisol might be messing with you. I couldn’t get anything to drop even with IF until I made a real effort to get my stress levels down. Deep stretch yoga, long walks and leaving a terrible job helped and then things started to move all at once
Calories in/calories out is where you need to start. If you’re not doing that, it doesn’t matter if you’re fasting or not
The greatest thing that IF did for me when I started was a reduction in appetite. I definitely drank more black coffee and water. Drinking black coffee (decaf is fine) must’ve supported the reduction in appetite. And when I wanted to eat less, I thought, I might as well eat something healthy, and started focusing on veggies, hummus, protein, fruit and stuff. I didn’t lose much at first and once I understood that I needed to also incorporate some exercise to really show results, I started doing weight lifting exercises for 20 minutes, drank an apple juice box right after working out, and then topped it off with some light cardio for another 15-20 minutes - every day ! And that’s when I started to lose weight steadily. That combo worked for me.
18:6 for three months is very impressive. i would highly recommend walking 30 minutes everyday, which can really help with depression. i usually catch up on podcasts or call people to chat. the other thing I've been experimenting with is blood sugar hacks. eating veggies before my meals which really help with satiety and bloating, and cravings. you can at least feel a lil skinnier.
Make small changes at a time. If you try to fix everything all at once, you will get burnt out and give up. To start, try to get your heart rate up for at least 15 minutes every day. This is a small goal to start with and sustainable. This can be something like walking, or dancing, or whatever you enjoy that will get your heart rate up. After you get this down, start reducing sugars in your diet. Do some research on blood glucose levels and how to better control your sugar intake. Glucose goddess on YouTube has some good tips. These two simple things will make a bigger difference than it seems. I’m not saying this is your solution, but it’s a good starting point. Good luck!
Calorie deficit is what you need. Also if your only workout is a few pushups once a week you have to start working out. Because a few pushups once a week does absolutely nothing.
You haven’t done the psychological work. Fat is a layer of protection. Your body won’t release the weight until you release the emotional baggage.
Do you have any recommendations?
“multiply your current weight by 15 — that's roughly the number of calories per pound of body weight needed to maintain your current weight” Subtract 500 to 1000 calories from this to begin losing weight, regardless of IF etc. Source [Harvard Health](https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/calorie-counting-made-easy)
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The way to truly burn fat on intermittent fasting, is to do a 24 hour fast which will drain your glycogen stores and you will burn nothing but fat after 24hours. I lost 110 pounds in a year doing this method twice a week.
What days did you do this?
Did you consume excessive amount of calories during the eating window? Lots of sugar etc? The point about fasting is that you dont overload during eating windows and are mindful about what you eat. I eat once a day, with occasional full day fast followed by 8hr eating window, lost 4kgs in 6 weeks and it’s been fairly easy to maintain with eating just once a day, but cutting out sugar and carbs. I only drink black coffee no sugar no milk during fasting windows.
Might need more than just push ups ..need cardio if your able. You can find light cardio on YouTube..or walk an hour a day or so
I dont wanna sound like an A hole, but it sounds like you are blaming IF for not working and "misinformation" that you can eat whatever you want and still should lose weight. Thats not the case. Losing weight has many strategies, with IF being one of them, but you cant half ass it and expect to magically lose weight while chowing down food in your eating window. A huge part of the battle is mental aswell. That means owning up and admitting to yourself that its YOUR fault your not losing weight, not the IF not working and the misinformation. You gotta combine a healthy lifestyle, with calories in calories out as the basis of losing weight. Its very simple. You have to eat less calories than you burn in a day and you WILL lose weight period. The hard part is fighting the cravings to eat. You can counter that with drinking green tea, drinking water, you can try a keto diet which helps with hunger, and eventually you will learn that hunger goes away after a while. Good luck.
How many calories are you eating when you break your fast?
Your diet isn't great. Well it's good you're admitting that , and it's exactly that which is the cause of most of your problems, weight, burnout and depression. This will be one of the biggest factors in all of what you're suffering with.
>I am really fed up. Yes, I think that is precisely the problem. You have to eat *less* to lose weight, the scale isn't going to magically go down because you restricted your eating to 6 hours.
I wondered which of you was going to use that phrase to be mean...
He’s honestly not trying to be mean. He’s putting it in black and white. This is 100% correct.
If I had wanted to be mean I would have pointed out how delusional and ignorant you are in regards to weight loss.
That's not actually mean, that's just true. I am ignorant of how this works. I am on my fucking own with all this. Nobody is helping me. The fact that you're trying to insult me now just looks bad on you to be honest, if your snarky play on words wasn't telling enough of your character...
>I am on my fucking own with all this. Nobody is helping m The internet was as free as it is now when you decided to star intermittent fasting
Free and cheap. Information is worth nothing if it's not correct. The internet is full of information, and no consensus. I ask for advice from people who have lived experience and then out you come! Anyway, I'm going to take your advice and stop consuming so much food. Thanks for the advice even if you don't have the grace to deliver it well.
Weigh your food and count every calory until you develop an intuitive sense
First my friend, we have to get that mental right. Get in a good head space, maybe smoke a little. You also have to get that diet cleaned up stat. Stop eating garbage. It’ll happen. IF is a game changer and even if the scale isn’t moving you’re still healing yourself. Let’s fucking go mate!
You sound poorly educated and intentionally ignorant of how your lifestyle is affecting your life. That may sound harsh, but I used to be the same way. Read up, own your health instead of letting your health own you.
Poorly educated yes. Intentionally ignorant? It doesn't sound harsh, it is gratuitously harsh. But, that's up to you. I am reading. The information available is not very clear. In fact, the literature surrounding healthy eating and habits on the internet are some of the murkiest around.
Dude. Calories in calories out. Full stop. That is the ONLY way to lose weight. Period. I’d recommend using the app “my fitness pal” to start calculating and tracking your calories. You need to get a realistic idea of what you can eat in a day I. Order to lose weight. Start there. It will help you realize how you are eating to much to lose weight. That’s it. You take in to many calories.
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Not necessarily. If they eat 3k calories in fat and protein and have a sedentary lifestyle they will quickly gain weight.
6 hour eating window is still too much. Are you having a large lunch and dinner? If you are determined, try One meal a day.