Once upon a time, a friend mentioned she had lost weight with intermittent fasting. I didn’t think much of it – beyond that “fasting” sounded awful – for years after that. Then, this past Christmas day, after months of watching the scale creep up because of pandemic life, I saw a digit in the tens’ place that I’d never seen before. My BMI had crossed the line to Overweight. And I knew I had to do something.
I don’t know why, but I thought of that friend, and I decided to see if there was anything to this “intermittent fasting” thing. So, I did what I usually do: I googled “intermittent fasting science” to try to find only scholarly or reputable articles about it. I was surprised to find that there are a lot of them. I kind of felt like the only person in the world who’d never really taken a good look at IF!
According to multiple research studies, there are benefits to IF beyond weight loss. One IF proponent and author, Gin Stephens, calls it “a health plan with the side effect of weight loss”. Diabetes runs in my family (though I’m not yet affected by it) and my husband has high blood pressure – two things research seems to indicate that IF helps with – so I decided to pitch to him the easiest version of IF and see if he wanted to do it too.
This is how we do it:*
I began with what’s called 16:8, which is a form of time-restricted eating. What that means is that I don’t eat anything for 16 hours a day; I eat in an 8-hour window of time. 16 hours might seem like a lot, but that includes 7-9 hours of sleep! My eating window started as noon-8pm. Over time I’ve gone longer, and now open my window anywhere from noon to 4pm, and close my window by 8pm. I’ve found this surprisingly easy to do, partially because I can eat whatever food I want during my eating window! I’m not restricting sugar or carbs or anything tasty. Many do, and probably see bigger or faster results, and there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just not for me because it will be unsustainable for me because I love tasty food.
My husband wakes up earlier and also works really long hours right now, so he’s been doing 14:10. He fasts for 14, and eats for 10. This usually means eating between 10am and 8pm. He has sometimes pushed opening his window to 11am or noon. This is the first diet or healthier eating plan that he has not only stuck with, but is doing very well at! Because again, we don’t restrict what we eat. We don’t overeat, nor do we eat only junk, but the man doesn’t want to live without hamburgers and Cadbury Creme Eggs! Last week we actually each had our own slices of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory – but I ate mine as a treat after dinner over three days, and he had one bite the night we got it (previously he would’ve eaten the whole thing despite being full) and then ate it as a meal the next day, during his window.
How’s that workin’ for ya?
Well, first, if you don’t cut out junk food and such, and only restrict your eating time, you should expect to lose no more than .5-1 pound per week, after your body adapts to IF, which may take 4-6 weeks. We are at about 14 weeks now… and I’ve lost 14 lbs! I also only thought to measure my waist and hips, and those are down 1.5″ and 1″, respectively, but it’s very obvious my belly and thighs are a lot leaner. I wish I had measured them! I got myself out of Overweight BMI! I also have found myself naturally craving healthier foods, and needing less food to feel full. And since one of my IBS and acid reflux triggers is eating to much or being too full, it has helped with those as well.
Isaac did not weigh himself before, or take measurements. He also started lifting weights at the same time so perhaps has not lost as much as he would’ve otherwise because of muscle gains, but he has lost at least 15 lbs. and has fit into numerous articles of clothing that before he couldn’t button. A few people have also noticed his loss and commented on it if they hadn’t seen him for a while. He has also moved down one BMI tier!
But the best part for us has been how easy it is. This is something we can do indefinitely, it costs nothing (actually, it may save money!), and it’s incredibly flexible. When I was visiting somewhere in February, I found out there were amazing cinnamon rolls nearby. It only worked for us to go there and eat them around 10am. Did I stress about eating early, feel like I failed, or “fell off the wagon”? Nope. I just considered it a longer eating window that day, I enjoyed every delicious bite of those cinnamon rolls, and then went back to my usual schedule the next day.
OK, I’m intrigued. Got any more tips?
Honestly, my main recommendation is to see if your local library has Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens. She explains everything really well and has links to many studies.
If you don’t have time to read a book but think you might want to try IF, here’re the basics:
1. Pick an eating window that works for you. Try to go at least 14 hours without eating. See if you can work your way up to 16-20 hours, depending on how you feel! If you love breakfast and don’t care much about dinner, maybe try 9am-5pm. It’s completely flexible based on your needs and your life.
2. Outside your eating window – during your fast – only put water, black coffee, plain unflavored tea, or anything else that is flavorless, in your mouth. (Plus any medications and toothpaste, of course!) Don’t chew gum or add cream to your coffee. There are different schools of thought on this, but some studies seem to show that flavors/sweetness/salt spike your insulin and prep your body for food, thereby ending your fast early. Anecdotally, I can attest that I don’t even get hungry in the morning while fasting – BUT when I opened my window early to have those amazing cinnamon rolls? I was starving an hour later! Even though it was 1-4 hours before I would normally eat a thing, and I’d already eaten three cinnamon rolls! (Judge that lack of moderation if you want, but I regret nothing!)
3. Don’t overeat in your window. Your goal isn’t to squish all the food you used to eat all day into a reduced period of time. (Although some studies show that there may still be health benefits from time-restricted eating even without calorie reduction.) Indeed, likely one way that IF helps with weight loss is by reducing caloric intake. Isaac and I used to snack a lot after dinner. Now, our window is closed, so we don’t. I’m also eating less by not having breakfast.
4. It’s OK to change your window if needed; it isn’t failure or cheating. If you forget and add some cream to your coffee, you didn’t fail and the rest of your fast that day isn’t pointless. If you forget and lick the spoon when you are making cookies for your kid’s class, that’s fine; keep fasting till your window opens. If you’re on vacation and decide to have some amazing pancakes at 9am, or a night cap at 9pm, have fun! If your friend’s birthday party doesn’t bring out the cake till 10pm, enjoy! Those are just days with longer windows. You can go back to your normal schedule the next day, or after your trip, or whatever. You haven’t undone everything or failed.
5. Take pictures and lots of measurements, but stay off the scale for at least a month! One way that IF works is by using your stored fat for fuel. This often leads to your measurements and the look of your body changing, even while the scale doesn’t budge. Take pictures in the same lighting and same angles, and same clothes if you can. Take note of how your clothes fit. Watch for changes.
6. Hunger is not an emergency. We’ve all been told to eat when we’re hungry – but when we start tuning into our body, we realize that a lot of times the hunger we feel is mental, not physical. We’re bored, or sad, or whatever, so we feel like we want to eat. The majority of the time, though, our bodies don’t actually need any fuel, even if you’ve done IF long enough to have depleted your glycogen stores. Even a normal thin body has plenty of fat to fuel itself, and we will not starve if we just delay eating for another hour or two. If you feel hungry but it’s only been, say, 13 hours since you ate, drink some water/black coffee/plain tea and go do some work/cleaning/school/yoga. Chances are you will make it that extra hour or two just fine. When my brain is trying to tell me I’m hungry and I know I’m really not, I channel my inner ’90s kid and retort, “Hey, body! Eat fat!”
And I think that’s it! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
* Sorry not sorry for getting that in your head. Party here on the Westside!
P.S. Obviously I’m not your doctor. Particularly if you have health challenges, you should probably talk to yours before you start a new way of life like this. You may want to come armed with some of the studies referenced in the above linked articles, just in case they aren’t up on the latest IF research… but they might surprise you; many MDs recommend IF!
I’ll own it: I used to be an insufferable know-it-all. In fact, I think a lot of people still have that idea of me in their heads because that’s what I was for so long. Alas, it’s my own fault.
A Buna for Mama 