May 30, 2019:

Down another 1.8 lbs. Today is my 4th 5/2.

~G

Thanks Tailgate!

Now that I have decided to do this, I am excited for it. I have some of the worst eating habits imaginable. I have about another two hours in my feed window then on to my first 16 hour fast. (Crazy sleep schedule). I imagine the first one will be the hardest. Think I am just gonna OD on black coffee all day long. Also start summer classes today so this should be fun.

So as of now, I'm setting up for 8 to 16 hours and then a 5:2 weekly. We shall see of course how it works. I don't THINK I should have nay real problems adapting quickly to this but what do I know right now....

pdf please. Username @ yahoo dot com

Getting ready to end my second fast. This is a LOT easier than I thought it would be. Turns out I was already more or less IF'ing. I just have actual structure and mindfulness to it now. Makes me wonder if that is why I have not completely ballooned to date. Like I said, my eating habits were atrocious and by all rights I should be pushing 300#+. (I'm 5'6") I am talking about years of fast food, stress, crippling insomnia, etc.

My first fast I pushed to 20 hours to align the my feed window to a more normal schedule. I think I will extend this current fast an extra 2 hours for the same goal. It would put me at 9am to 5pm for noms. The only difference I have felt so far was I definitely lost a step energy wise during a workout. Need to rethink my workout time and probably my diet. Currently at 1900 calories a day.

I don't weigh myself but thinking I should go ahead and pick up a scale to be able to track progress. Will probably help keep me on track.

I'm still feeling this out and am definitely not a converted zealot yet, but as of now I am liking this. I feel like I needed a change of lifestyle and this is definitely that.

Also, ZERO app is awesome.

zurcaled11, will email as soon as I post this.

Eliminatus, great job!

For all who think this is hard - it's not. Just read Eliminatus' post if you doubt it. Your body will adjust to your new eating schedule in a few days or at most weeks. It's easy. I've been experimenting with the 19/5 for the past few weeks and it was effortless. The hardest part is just getting used to not doing the physical act of eating lunch. "It's 1:00pm, time to eat." But I've extended my mental clarity and productivity at work well into the afternoon now. And every day is a new day. NOT fasting today won't "ruin your diet" because this is NOT A DIET. It's an eating schedule and a lifestyle. Just do it tomorrow, and make you are fasting most days.

Jump on board!

Anyone else plateau?

I usually do 3-5 days of a 24 hour fast (dinner to dinner). Non-fast days I'm not stuffing face or anything.

Initially dropped 10 pounds pretty quickly, but nothing since. Workout 6 days/week. Hovering around 203 pounds.

claym711 said:

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Anyone else plateau?

I usually do 3-5 days of a 24 hour fast (dinner to dinner). Non-fast days I'm not stuffing face or anything.

Initially dropped 10 pounds pretty quickly, but nothing since. Workout 6 days/week. Hovering around 203 pounds.

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I plateued but it was after dropping 30# and only doing a 20/4 program. No total fast days.

Starting last week I'm starting a new routine: 18/6 and at least 1 day per week at around 800 cal.

First 5/2 day today. Hoping that adding two 5/2 per week will help me see improvement on the scale.

Getting ready to end my fourth fast. Think I'm gonna start up my first sub 800 calorie day. Planning on making a fat egg and ham sammich and then veggies the rest of the time. I and so thankful that I developed a love for veggies at a young age.

I have had a few hunger pangs here and there but they are quick to kill with a cup of black coffee.

I have also discovered my biggest enemy. Idle time or boredom. Previously I filled those time slots with food. I was never a huge meal eater but rather a constant snacker. And I realize a lot of that was simply me being bored and snacking. Got my scale in and am at 200# even. I'm short but built like a fireplug. Even so, I still want to lose about 10-20# overall. That will put me where I want to be.

So now that I have a good start on the schedule side, I now need to focus on the content of what I am doing and my goals.

Has anyone managed to maintain both weight loss methods of IF and sub 2K calorie days AND a regular heavy lifting routine? Is that even truly possible long term? I am starting to understand how all of this can become a science and TONS of research can be done.

Eliminatus said:

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Has anyone managed to maintain both weight loss methods of IF and sub 2K calorie days AND a regular heavy lifting routine? Is that even truly possible long term? I am starting to understand how all of this can become a science and TONS of research can be done.

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I am in my 7th week of CrossFit and 3rd month of 16/8 IMF and this is my 3rd week of adding 5/2 to the mix.

I do CrossFit at 5AM five days a week and I think my fat arse is more of a factor in my exercise than my 1400 calorie a day eating.

#2 5/2 today... just gotta get to dinner!

Getting ready to end my first week.

• Still pretty damn easy to do. Think I have only had one real hunger attack so far. And it was about an hour before a fast ended so no biggie.
• I honestly don't feel any positive difference in my daily living to date. No energy boosts, mental clarity, etc.
• If anything I felt a degradation of energy during workouts. Largely attribute it to my diet though of course.
• Still tweaking in my pre existing diet and workout plans into IF. Was not a 100% seamless integration because of above.
• Halfway convinced that the real magic of IF is just forcing me to stick to my diet goals of sub 2k calories a day. Mentally it's a lot harder if I don't have those hard boundaries. It becomes a 24/7 mental battle otherwise.
• I am down about 2# and that is pretty awesome. The scale is not my end goal though. I am trying to replace fat for muscle currently so good ole fashioned mirror test is what I have been doing and I can see improvements there for sure. I can actually see the outlines of my abs again unflexed!

So with all of that, I am getting ready to go into my second week. I am still not wholly convinced that this is the miracle lifestyle change that will save me, but then again my goals and expectations are probably a lot more different than someone just trying to drop weight.

Still excited though. All the above is just my personal observations to date and there is no misgivings or negative tone as it may seem. IF DOES seem to be working and the effort I put in to the output I get make it a no brainer for me currently.

Gilligan said:

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Eliminatus said:

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Has anyone managed to maintain both weight loss methods of IF and sub 2K calorie days AND a regular heavy lifting routine? Is that even truly possible long term? I am starting to understand how all of this can become a science and TONS of research can be done.

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I am in my 7th week of CrossFit and 3rd month of 16/8 IMF and this is my 3rd week of adding 5/2 to the mix.

I do CrossFit at 5AM five days a week and I think my fat arse is more of a factor in my exercise than my 1400 calorie a day eating.

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I am having a time trying to get everything dialed in. Two days ago I crapped out so hard in the gym I actually got a little concerned.

I am thinking my main issue is the timing. I have been doing my workouts right at the end of my fasts. When my body is literally on E. Pretty sure that is me just being dumb. Trying to tap into fat storage to fuel rather heavy lifting sessions is probably not the most feasible thing. At least not for me. I think this upcoming week I am going to shift my workout time to somewhere in my feed window. After sitting down and looking at it all, pretty sure I am trying to do too much, too quickly. I am not on a schedule for any of this. No competitions or anything. So I think I will probably scale back somewhat on everything somewhat. Workout routine, diet, and timings.

TheBiggerEvent said:

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First 5/2 day today. Hoping that adding two 5/2 per week will help me see improvement on the scale.

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what s a 5/2 day?

Ragoo said:

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TheBiggerEvent said:

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First 5/2 day today. Hoping that adding two 5/2 per week will help me see improvement on the scale.

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what s a 5/2 day?

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Typically means it means an almost complete fast - you are supposed to consume only about 500 cal or so.

Vernada said:

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Ragoo said:

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TheBiggerEvent said:

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First 5/2 day today. Hoping that adding two 5/2 per week will help me see improvement on the scale.

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what s a 5/2 day?

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Typically means it means an almost complete fast - you are supposed to consume only about 500 cal or so.

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okay I see.

I guess I didn't include the full explanation:

It's called 5/2 because you are supposed to IMF 5 days per week at 18/6 or so and then do the super lower cal 2 non-consecutive days.

18/6 is hours not eating/eating - so 18 hours fasting, and all your eating in a 6-hour window.

Eliminatus said:

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I am having a time trying to get everything dialed in. Two days ago I crapped out so hard in the gym I actually got a little concerned.

I am thinking my main issue is the timing. I have been doing my workouts right at the end of my fasts. When my body is literally on E. Pretty sure that is me just being dumb. Trying to tap into fat storage to fuel rather heavy lifting sessions is probably not the most feasible thing. At least not for me. I think this upcoming week I am going to shift my workout time to somewhere in my feed window. After sitting down and looking at it all, pretty sure I am trying to do too much, too quickly. I am not on a schedule for any of this. No competitions or anything. So I think I will probably scale back somewhat on everything somewhat. Workout routine, diet, and timings.


I am with you about trying to burn fat towards the end of the fast. I am 10 hours into my fast when I work out. I start my fast around 7pm and start CrossFit at 5am. I wake up and drink water on the way to the gym and during my workout and it's been fine for me. I think it would be too hard to lift heavy later in the cycle. Like you said "nothing left in the tank"

I haven't noticed a difference on the morning after my 5/2's yet...

FTR - I am old and fat and everything I do at CrossFit just about kills me.


However, I am still as old, but not as fat, a little stronger and more flexible after just seven weeks.

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I started my own fast diet about 3 years ago.
I never could eat lunch because it causes me to crash and all I want to do it take a nap.

I never was overweight but at one time I weighed 220 lbs. I am 6'2".
I decided I wanted to get down to my high school weight of 180 just as a personal challenge.
I did keto and lost about 20 lbs but got so bored with it and how restrictive it became.

Since I never eat lunch, I decided to cut out breakfast. So, basically, I eat one meal a day pretty much every day.
I do drink copious amounts of water and at lunch I may eat a pack of peanut butter or cheese crackers.

I try to walk about 2 miles every day and go to gym to do some light lifting about 2-3 times a week.
I am now down to 185 lbs and pretty much eat and drink what I want for my one meal a day. But, I can no longer consume much food(maybe stomach has shrunk). If I am out eating with friends, I probably eat 1/2 of amount of food they do. I just get full so quickly now.

I am a firm believer in my fasting. I feel great and don't feel I am making any sacrifices. Not saying this is something you should do, but it has worked for me.

Had a cheat day yesterday. Back on it today and even gonna go ahead and switch to 18:6 from 16:8. Shouldn't make too much of a difference as I was doing that more or less already. With the 8's there were several days I found myself forcing myself to wait to eat so I COULD hit that 8 hour gap.

End goal is 20:4 I think. Also going to do my first 5/2 tomorrow. Full sub 600 calorie day.

This whole thing mixed with my diet and workout goals weren't jiving. So gonna go ahead and ease back on my weightlifting. I'm one of those people that gains muscle easily but struggle to shed single pounds so going to focus on that for now. Too late for summer bod but maybe fall bod??

That being said I'm about 3# down since I've started. Which is not bad considering I've added considerable muscle mass in that same time period. Mirror test showing definite improvement.

Overall views to date on IMF?

There really is something to this. I don't know the full science or math behind it all but something is working and this is EASY for me to do. I'm just a dummy following instructions right now. I'm not even trying to be honest.

Also, can't chalk it up to IMF 100%, but I have a handle on my insomnia now, which was cripplingly bad. There has to be some correlation there. I don't know for sure, I just know that I will take it.

works for me - certainly can't argue with the results.

I lost 30# with almost zero effort then kinda stalled out.

Decided to really focus on it in June and added 5/2 for the first time (previously I was about 20/4 only).

I kept my 5/2 at 800 cal. I've done three days this month so far. (technically I started after Memorial Day weekend).

I've already seen another weight drop - pushing past my plateau. This weekend I'll see if that holds.

But again (I've said it on this forum before), I have NEVER seen results like I have since I decided to try to IMF. And I feel like I've tried it all. This is the only thing where I've lost weight, lost fat, and didn't hate every minute of it.

And FTR - I'm not really that strict with what I eat. I'm aware of things - very little fast food, almost no fried foods. Zero alcohol when I'm really trying to control my diet. But for dinner, I eat the same things the family is eating. If we go out to eat, I eat whatever. I mainly focus on the window - and then of course now, the 5/2 days.

I have stopped taking BP medicine since I started IMF.

What Veranda said!

Between fasting, eating better and exercise my BP now averages 115 / 67.

It took just two weeks to drop 20 points off my systolic.

June 12, 2019 update:

Dropped another 1.8 lbs

Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread. Tailgate - I'd love to read your PDF if you still are sending it out.

I've roller coaster'd my weight all my life. Usually fluctuating between 240 (rugby in college) and 340 (my worst) at 6'1". Bought a Peloton in November and have dropped about 15-20 down to about 285. I ride at least 6 times a week for 45 minutes each. Feeling good but need something else to kick it into high gear.

Today is my first day of IMF. 16 hours wasn't that difficult. A IMF guru buddy of mine talked to me about Rebel Ice Cream and that was what I actually broke my fast with HA! Very low carbs and not bad tasting. Had half a serving, waited an hour then had a normal lunch.

Do you guys eat pretty clean during your eating periods or do you not worry about it as much if you are doing longer periods of fasting? TIA.

When I really got into it, I was eating once per day M-F. I'd eat dinner with the family (whatever that was) and would usually have some candy after. Not clean at all.

June 15 Update:

There are times I get frustrated with my weight since I want it to be lower faster.

However, there's satisfaction with the measuring tape. Down an inch off my waist in the last 21 days.

Sustainable <-- Tailgate88's magic word.

Some Inspirational weight loss stories

keep it up.

~G

AgFB said:

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Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread. Tailgate - I'd love to read your PDF if you still are sending it out.
ruff tamu at g mail dot com.

I've roller coaster'd my weight all my life. Usually fluctuating between 240 (rugby in college) and 340 (my worst) at 6'1". Bought a Peloton in November and have dropped about 15-20 down to about 285. I ride at least 6 times a week for 45 minutes each. Feeling good but need something else to kick it into high gear.

Today is my first day of IMF. 16 hours wasn't that difficult. A IMF guru buddy of mine talked to me about Rebel Ice Cream and that was what I actually broke my fast with HA! Very low carbs and not bad tasting. Had half a serving, waited an hour then had a normal lunch.

Do you guys eat pretty clean during your eating periods or do you not worry about it as much if you are doing longer periods of fasting? TIA.

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On a normal schedule I am clean-ish. I don't meal prep or even plan really but still most of my diet is ok to good. I do count calories but not super anal at where those calories come from.

I did end up taking about three days off of IMF AND clean eating for out of town guests and I cannot believe how fast I gained those 4 pounds back I had lost. It's actually gross to me. So back on it with purpose today. I had switched to 20:4 right before I derailed. Definitely paying more attention to where those calories are coming from too now.

I will say that with eating cleaner, it is actually rather difficult for me to hit all 1900C I need in a four hour block. It really is.

AgFB, email sent!

Howdy all, sorry I've been off the boards for a bit, we just got back from a ten day family vacation and I took a break from TexAgs. I did read a couple books and spend some much needed time with the family! Glad to see everyone is rocking along.

I'm also working on narrowing my eating window - More along the lines of 20/4 most days. I was pretty relaxed about it while on vacation so naturally I gained a few pounds but know that a week back on hardcore and I'll be back down where I want to be.

Hey Tailgate. After a lot of success on Keto last year (lost 50 pounds in 7 months) I came off of it over the holidays and have never been able to get back on it. I've gained 20 of those 50 pounds back and need something more sustainable. Your story/progress here has been inspirational and I would love a copy of the .pdf if you are willing. I think I want to try something new. I did try to stick to a 16/8 during keto, but I want to try full-blown IF this time around.

Email is username at gmail.

Thanks

Sent

I've recently started this as well and it's definitely not as hard as i first thought. The first weekend i just did 16:8 every day to see how that went. I've worked in my first 5/2 day yesterday and wasn't too bad either - really basic lunch and then was craving for dinner, which I kept reasonable to stay under the 600 mark.

I'm honestly starting to just make my window 12-8pm but i won't eat until i feel like i need to, so sometimes my fast won't start until 2 or later, but i still try to end at 8pm.

Are there any diet components that people are doing as well? I haven't jumped into anything specific, just trying to eat better in general and not over eat.

Thanks to all in this thread - i need something to fall back on and keep me accountable.

I need to be more intentional with my food intake during the 8 hours. I work from home so meal prep isn't really a concern. I try to break the fast with a higher fat/lower carb meal but not sure what to do for snacks along the way. Lost about 6 lbs the first couple of days but not much since....I did relax a bit on the weekend at a grad party but still only ate during the 8 hour window. I feel like the fast is getting easier every day.

June 18, 2019 Update:

Down another 1.8 Lbs and on the second hole of my new belt.

The only things that have gone right today are going to Crossfit, Taking a short walk and being down 1.8 more pounds.

Had to come to work early. Ate a Kolache Factory Ranchero which on it's own is more than 1/2 of the calories I ate yesterday. (my 5/2)

Then didn't get to eat lunch until 2:30 and ate 1/2 of the 1/2 chicken plate at Pappa's BBQ.

Let's just say my body has not liked what I have put in it today and I have paid the price.

it's 4pm and I have already eaten 1300 calories. Today is going to have to be a cheat day even though that wasn't intended. UGH.

~G

HTown, you will generally lose that water weight right off the bat, but as your body adjusts to the new routine, the weight will start to come off, slow and steady. It happens that way with nearly everyone.

Gilligan, life happens. One "Cheat day" doesn't mean you fell off the wagon - every day is a new day and there is always tomorrow. Slow and steady wins the race, brother.