Do most of you who practice IMF workout? Just curious how not eating for 20 or 24 hours effects a strenuous workout routine. For example, I try to lift weights 3 days per week and do moderate to intense cardio on another 3 days.

Yup. Zero issues. Now granted I'm not a power lifter benching 350, or a triathlete, but I've never felt an inability to push through a workout, unless I'm exhausted from a long stressful day at work.

third coast.. said:

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IMF is like the f150 ofbthe health and fitness board.

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As a frequent flyer of the OB, I can appreciate this.

Yes.

However, I don't do the full fast days. The few times I've tried to do only 500ish calories in a day I just didn't have any energy.

ExtremeRush said:

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After watching the documentary "What the Health" on Netflix and reading the book "How Not to Die", I just started a whole food plant based approach to eating and it's been great. I've had a ton of energy!

Here are some websites that are good resources:

https://nutritionstudies.org/whole-food-plant-based-diet-guide/
https://www.forksoverknives.com/plant-based-primer-beginners-guide-starting-plant-based-diet/#gs.nph6v9 (Also has a documentary on Netflix)
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/plant-based-diet-guide#overview

You could also try the Whole30. Book is called "It Starts with Food."

If you want to lose weight you have to consume less calories than your body needs. There are multiple online calculators to help you estimate your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Once you know this, you will lose weight if you consume less calories than your body needs (your BMR). I recommend you track calories at least for your first week of whichever diet you choose. It will open your eyes to the caloric content in what you're eating. I use MyFitnessPal (by UnderArmour) which is free and makes it very easy to track. Good luck!

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"Forks Over Knives" was eye opening.

Adkins = fast and simple !

I will say for my family a low-carb way of eating fits better with our tastes and food preferences. We like meat, vegetables, healthy oils and butter, minimal grains and very few sweets, even sugar-free. We have them as a rare treat but not regularly. My husband has lost and kept off about 20 pounds and looks amazing - he's always been very fit but low-carb keeps the bloat away and at 45 he looks like a pro athlete.

I don't know how old your wife is but she won't lose as much as you - probably 1 pound for every 5 that you do - and stuff that worked for her when she was younger won't work as well now to lose weight. It's discouraging, especially if she's eating right. Calories in calories out is generally valid but hormones & metabolic syndrome play a big role as well, especially for women over 40. I've found that the more I exercise the more ravenous I am, which makes it harder to eat the amount I need to to lose weight. When I was younger that didn't really happen, hard exercise tended to dampen my appetite.

All that to say that as you start eating right, listen to your body and pay attention to the things you like to eat - a diet that makes you eat stuff you don't enjoy cooking or eating won't be sustainable. If either of you struggle to lose weight once you've done that, adding in elements of IMF or adjusting your macros can be really beneficial.

Weight loss is simple.... being disciplined is the hard part. Buy a food scale, write down everything you eat, and find a way to workout at least once a day... Even if it is just going for a nightly 30 minute walk initially.

Start a progress update/weight loss journey thread on here and people will gladly help you along your way. Plus, doing something like that you will feel much more motivated & obligated to stick with it as you naturally won't want to let down some internet strangers.

Whole 30 - essentially meat, fruits, and vegetables. No processed foods, dairy, grains.

Ag12thman said:

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Do most of you who practice IMF workout? Just curious how not eating for 20 or 24 hours effects a strenuous workout routine. For example, I try to lift weights 3 days per week and do moderate to intense cardio on another 3 days.

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Yes. I eat between 12-8pm. I do CrossFit at 5 am (CrossFit isn't the important part, just showing that it's an intense workout). Your body is surprisingly good at adapting. I used to be one of those that said there was no way I could workout on an empty stomach, and that simply wasn't true once I tried it.

Edit: You shouldn't be fasting for 20-24 hrs doing IMF.

I have plenty of days I will run ~5 miles or so at 5AM and then do a heavy lifting session around 12PM and won't eat anything until after that around 1-2pm. My last meal is usually around 7-8pm the night before.

third coast.. said:

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IMF is like the f150 ofbthe health and fitness board.

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The intention of IMF is multilayered, because there are things your body does while in a fasted state that it doesn't do while in a fed state. The simplicity of IMF is why it can be effective. The amount of calories people will/can eat in a 16 hour window vs an 8 hour window varies pretty dramatically. If you're not morbidly obese then sticking to a 16/8 cycle can improve your health and reduce your waistline with less effort than counting macros. Is it going to be as fast or effective? Maybe not, but it's also way easier to comply with. When you start to worry about doing 500 calories in a day compliance is going to go down, so starting with 8 hours a day of feeding and see how far it takes you before you go extreme.

Reduce/Avoid grains/starches.
Don't drink calories unless it's deliberately for nutrition (i.e. a smoothie, and a smoothie should be vegetable/leafy green based with minimal fruits, berries contain less sugar than other fruits. Citrus, especially lemon, will help the greens taste better)
Eat in an 8 hour window

Do that and you may not get as skinny as you dream about being, but you'll feel good and you'll lose weight.

Fasted exercising can lead to better gains/more endurance as well.

OP, do yourself a favor and watch the Fathead movie/documentary (free on YouTube).

Just started a book called "The Personalized Diet" by Eran Segal. In clinical studies Segal proves that each person's body reacts differently to the same foods. While one food may be bad for me it may not be for you. The book isn't just about weight loss but about preventing disease as well.

Segal has a good Ted Talk out there that describes his research and results that led to the book.

What is the best diet for Human's?

I'm an IMF fan.

I'll post more details in the 'transformation' thread, but I had a check-up with my PCP yesterday. He said the improvement in my #s (across the board) was incredible since they were achieved so quickly and with only diet and exercise.

I'm doing low carb... 30g or less a day and it was much easier than I anticipated. I lost 70 lbs from july-jan, and have kinda plateaued there, but I also slacked off a lot this spring. Getting back into it now, gotta get over that hump and lose like 40 more lbs. Low carb helped in just about every other aspect of health issues, too. I had what we called "chicken skin" on my upper arms - that's gone/reduced. Dandruff non-existent. Blood pressure (thankfully) has always been good, even at 270lbs. Doc said I was pre-diabetic and that combined with a lackluster dating life was all the motivation I needed

On top of all the other suggestions, I recommend an app to track. I CICO using the LoseIt! App. Once you start tracking what you eat you really see the room for improvement. It actually gets addicting.

I lost 20 pounds in 6 months by cutting out sugar, beer, and reducing other carbs.

No beer, minimal bread or pasta.

don't get seconds at any meal.

Having reached my goal weight, I'll let myself have an occasional meal with bread or pasta and may have a beer every once in a while.

I also weigh myself daily at the same time. If it is ever more than 5 pounds above my target weight, I'll eliminate beer, bread, pasta, and sugar again until it's back to goal weight.

Some great advice on here. Thanks everyone! So far down about 9lbs just eating better/less, drinking lots of water, and being more active.

I know the first 10-20lbs will be the easiest, but it's a start.