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My experience with IF has taught me that I’m much better at complete denial, rather than moderation. So if I want to reduce my caloric intake it works better fo

My experience with IF has taught me that I’m much better at complete denial, rather than moderation. So if I want to reduce my caloric intake it works better for me to say No to everything for 16 hours and only eat for 8, then to try to just eat less and in moderation all day. It also applies to carb and other reductions. If I allow myself any bread, sweets, etc, I will eat too much. It’s easier for me to eat 0, then it is to only eat a little.

Roritharr 6y ago
Same here, years of people telling me drastic diets are "unhealthy" etc. kept me from playing to my strengths of just doing the extremes for long periods of time instead of fighting constant urges while balancing them with a moderate calorie intake. I think most (healthy) people should try fasting for 5 days to see how your body responds. It won't kill you, but many people are terrified of the thought of not eating for 12 hours.
- londons_explore 6y ago
  Lots of people I speak to seem scared of accidentally loosing too much weight and starving to death... I don't really understand it though... Between 'too heavy' and 'too light' exists 'just right', and it's pretty hard to miss...
  - copperx 6y ago
    Like the people that are afraid to lift weights because they might get "too bulky." The human mind is bizarre.
- dorkwood 6y ago
  I once fasted for about a week while suffering an illness that wouldn't let me keep any food down. I only drank water during that time. To my surprise, after several days of not eating, my hunger disappeared completely. It was scary, but also eye-opening. The experience taught me that hunger is not the "you require food right now in order to survive" signal that everyone thinks it is.
  - phonypc 6y ago
    There's an idea out there, no idea how true, that what most first-worlders call hunger isn't even really hunger. More like withdrawal symptoms from food addiction. The hunger that comes back when you're really malnourished is much more painful/compelling. Or so I've heard.
  - abiogenesis 6y ago
    Same here. It disappeared after the first 24 hours for me and I didn't feel any hunger for the next 2 days, which was really weird. I didn't feel any tiredness or cognitive impairment (this is difficult to prove though, lol) either.
- thunderbong 6y ago
  What a coincidence! Today is my 5th day of fasting. I've only been having water and coconut water[0] (one or two glasses a day). The first few days which were a little tough. From midway through the third day onwards, I started feeling absolutely fine. There is an overall feeling of lightness. And, of course, the amazing experience when I have that glass of coconut water is truly indescribable! [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_water
noneeeed 6y ago
Likewise. I think it's true for a lot of people. Its why pregnant women are told not to drink alcohol at all. The reality is that the liver is amazing and can remove low levels of it so well that a small amount of drinking is fine. The problem is that it's really hard to a) effectively communicate what the safe level is b) get people to stick to it. It's much easier to avoid it entirely.
- gvjddbnvdrbv 6y ago
  I've literally measured a glass of wine for someone who then told me the measure must be wrong rather than admit they had always drunk three glasses rather than one. (Person was not pregnant and is not someone that would be described in any way as having problems with alcohol.)
  - ubercow13 6y ago
    Well 'glass' is an entirely arbitrary measure and until they have looked it up in mililitres it's not clear why anyone would know how much it is. I don't. I think public health advice about drinking should stick to more concrete terms.
    - smohare 6y ago
      It’s really not though. The standard understanding is that a 750ml bottle consists of five 150ml (or 5oz) glasses of wine. Calling that amount a “glass” perhaps is unfortunate, but it is convenient and well understood by most. But then again, I’ve also never known anyone who claimed that their 375ml pours were a “glass”. That just strikes me more as ignorance.
- andi999 6y ago
  Well, it has to be in the blood first to get metabolized by the liver, so the unborn gets some. But as you say, a little wont probably matter. I was shocked how big an effect licoriice has (finnish study), before I read the stud, I thought they found something signific but not relevant. Reading the study changed my perspective and i am wondering why there are no warning labels
globular-toast 6y ago
Yes, that's true for me too. I've been practising 16:8 IF for almost ten years now and this is definitely one of the reasons it works. I eat big meals consisting of traditional foods. I see others people's "diets" that don't work and they are always weird foods that aren't actually nice and weird portion sizes that aren't satisfying. The other thing I've realised is it doesn't have to be about watching the clock every day. What I actually do is just eat lunch and dinner every day and that's it. It doesn't really matter when those meals are, which means I can adjust easily to accommodate socialising, for example. The diet that works is easy to adhere to. If you have to think about it every day and shape the rest of your life around it, it will not work (unless you're a professional athlete maybe).
- nerder92 6y ago
  I'm doing exactly the same since almost 1year, but still I'm not seeing much benefit from it. Like I still have belly fat, I wonder how do you eat when you break the fast and how do you avoid binging? I'm not gonna lie, after 15-16h I start to feel hungry and as soon as the fast finish I tend to eat something pretty caloric & fatty (ie: cheese or nuts)
  - psexec 6y ago
    I've been doing IF for the past five years or so (after "discovering" it by myself) and lost about 30 kg in the process. I am a bulk eater and I still "binge" periodically. The kinds of food that I binge on have changed greatly though, and that's what worked for me. I switched to simpler food: non-starchy grains like buckwheat, kidney beans, vegetables and fruit, and this stuff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) . I dropped almost every kind of processed food (I am not an American though, and we never had the same level of dependence on processed foods anyway). I can't even eat sugar and candies anymore, they overflow my senses and taste like crap.
    - CuriousSkeptic 6y ago
      > I can't even eat sugar and candies anymore, they overflow my senses and taste like crap. A slight life hack. A few days of fasting (3-5 should do it) will probably get you to this state. So once deciding on a new healthy composition of food. Start of a with a few days of fasting and it will be easier to stick to it.
SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
Agreed. The rules of the 5:2 diet that I do are easy. There's no calculation or fudge factor. Just one simple rule: If it's a Monday or Wednesday, no I can't eat it. Else, I can. This works so much better for me than counting calories every day, the "cheating" is eliminated.
- sudhirkhanger 6y ago
  Do you not eat at all on Monday and Wednesday?
  - SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
    I do eat. It's not a complete fast, it's more like "under 600 calories" (1). The thing is, I already know where those calories are coming from, starting with the yogurt pot for breakfast. There's three items (under 200 calories each) with no room for extras. 1) https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/the-5-2-diet-guide https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/the-5-2-diet-guide
StavrosK 6y ago
Same here. I can't moderate, but just cutting things off is no problem. I've been doing 16:8 for a year where I haven't eaten a single thing outside the 8 hours, but I haven't really seen any difference.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
My problem is, I still would have 8 hours in which I must exercise restraint. Packing away 4k calories in a single meal is trivially easy. There is no way to avoid the need for restraint and moderation.
- anon946 6y ago
  For me, I don't need to exercise restraint during those 8 hours. I sate myself. It's still an overall caloric reduction, for me at least.
- coldtea 6y ago
  >Packing away 4k calories in a single meal is trivially easy Does it take must restraint to just eat like 2K calories in a 8-hour span? Never had much problem with that during IF, and I used to have a BMI of over 35, so I was quite the eater...
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    I used to weight twice what I do today, so I know a thing or two about eating too many calories, and I lost that weight so I know a thing or two about not eating that many calories. Thing is, a rule like "only eat in an eight hour window" leaves plenty of time to consume huge amounts of calories. I've been known to pack away 4k+ in a meal, both in the past and today. It's not even hard for me. In fact, it's rather hard not to once I start eating because like many people who are of have been fat I'm a food addict. Some here are saying things like "well, good luck eating 4k of lettuce dude!" and yeah, that is hard. But if you're eating lettuce and vegetables and all that low calorie stuff already you probably don't need the 8 hour window restriction!.
- slothtrop 6y ago
  This must depend highly on where your calories come from, because for most people it really isn't that easy. Even bodybuilders will switch to liquid diets to try to pack that much away. If you're consuming lean protein, fibrous vegetables, nuts and pulses, 4000 calories in a sitting is far more difficult. Think of how many apples you can eat in a sitting, and consider that a single apple is 52 calories.
hliyan 6y ago
Yet another data point. Lot easier on will power reserves to fast at a stretch. All it takes is one nibble of something and I find myself returning to the tin for more.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
vianin 6y ago
I work exactly the same way. People think I do things in extreme, but they don't understand that it's hard to things in moderation for some people.
henriquemaia 6y ago
Since I'm in sync with everyone else in this, ie, it's easier for me to shut my mouth completely than to eat in moderation, I'm guessing there's some biological drive behind this. Maybe that happens because we, as animals, have our bodies more adapted to eat as much as we can while food is available than to risk losing that opportunity for another unknown meal in the future. That to say that it is a hardwired behavior we have, a survival strategy that makes sense in the wild. Problem is we don't live in that environment anymore. So, I think fasting works because our bodies trigger another natural response, that of focusing our senses to the search of food, kind of accepting that food is not available. Thus, it's easier to simply not eat at all instead of trying to eat moderately. These are my 5 cents.
emiliobumachar 6y ago
Interesting. Maybe a normal moderation diet is analogous to an alcoholic trying to stay sober except for drinking half a pint three times a day.

Roritharr 6y ago

Same here, years of people telling me drastic diets are "unhealthy" etc. kept me from playing to my strengths of just doing the extremes for long periods of time instead of fighting constant urges while balancing them with a moderate calorie intake. I think most (healthy) people should try fasting for 5 days to see how your body responds. It won't kill you, but many people are terrified of the thought of not eating for 12 hours.

londons_explore 6y ago
Lots of people I speak to seem scared of accidentally loosing too much weight and starving to death... I don't really understand it though... Between 'too heavy' and 'too light' exists 'just right', and it's pretty hard to miss...
- copperx 6y ago
  Like the people that are afraid to lift weights because they might get "too bulky." The human mind is bizarre.
dorkwood 6y ago
I once fasted for about a week while suffering an illness that wouldn't let me keep any food down. I only drank water during that time. To my surprise, after several days of not eating, my hunger disappeared completely. It was scary, but also eye-opening. The experience taught me that hunger is not the "you require food right now in order to survive" signal that everyone thinks it is.
- phonypc 6y ago
  There's an idea out there, no idea how true, that what most first-worlders call hunger isn't even really hunger. More like withdrawal symptoms from food addiction. The hunger that comes back when you're really malnourished is much more painful/compelling. Or so I've heard.
- abiogenesis 6y ago
  Same here. It disappeared after the first 24 hours for me and I didn't feel any hunger for the next 2 days, which was really weird. I didn't feel any tiredness or cognitive impairment (this is difficult to prove though, lol) either.
thunderbong 6y ago
What a coincidence! Today is my 5th day of fasting. I've only been having water and coconut water[0] (one or two glasses a day). The first few days which were a little tough. From midway through the third day onwards, I started feeling absolutely fine. There is an overall feeling of lightness. And, of course, the amazing experience when I have that glass of coconut water is truly indescribable! [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_water

noneeeed 6y ago

Likewise. I think it's true for a lot of people. Its why pregnant women are told not to drink alcohol at all. The reality is that the liver is amazing and can remove low levels of it so well that a small amount of drinking is fine. The problem is that it's really hard to a) effectively communicate what the safe level is b) get people to stick to it. It's much easier to avoid it entirely.

gvjddbnvdrbv 6y ago
I've literally measured a glass of wine for someone who then told me the measure must be wrong rather than admit they had always drunk three glasses rather than one. (Person was not pregnant and is not someone that would be described in any way as having problems with alcohol.)
- ubercow13 6y ago
  Well 'glass' is an entirely arbitrary measure and until they have looked it up in mililitres it's not clear why anyone would know how much it is. I don't. I think public health advice about drinking should stick to more concrete terms.
  - smohare 6y ago
    It’s really not though. The standard understanding is that a 750ml bottle consists of five 150ml (or 5oz) glasses of wine. Calling that amount a “glass” perhaps is unfortunate, but it is convenient and well understood by most. But then again, I’ve also never known anyone who claimed that their 375ml pours were a “glass”. That just strikes me more as ignorance.
andi999 6y ago
Well, it has to be in the blood first to get metabolized by the liver, so the unborn gets some. But as you say, a little wont probably matter. I was shocked how big an effect licoriice has (finnish study), before I read the stud, I thought they found something signific but not relevant. Reading the study changed my perspective and i am wondering why there are no warning labels

globular-toast 6y ago

Yes, that's true for me too. I've been practising 16:8 IF for almost ten years now and this is definitely one of the reasons it works. I eat big meals consisting of traditional foods. I see others people's "diets" that don't work and they are always weird foods that aren't actually nice and weird portion sizes that aren't satisfying. The other thing I've realised is it doesn't have to be about watching the clock every day. What I actually do is just eat lunch and dinner every day and that's it. It doesn't really matter when those meals are, which means I can adjust easily to accommodate socialising, for example. The diet that works is easy to adhere to. If you have to think about it every day and shape the rest of your life around it, it will not work (unless you're a professional athlete maybe).

nerder92 6y ago
I'm doing exactly the same since almost 1year, but still I'm not seeing much benefit from it. Like I still have belly fat, I wonder how do you eat when you break the fast and how do you avoid binging? I'm not gonna lie, after 15-16h I start to feel hungry and as soon as the fast finish I tend to eat something pretty caloric & fatty (ie: cheese or nuts)
- psexec 6y ago
  I've been doing IF for the past five years or so (after "discovering" it by myself) and lost about 30 kg in the process. I am a bulk eater and I still "binge" periodically. The kinds of food that I binge on have changed greatly though, and that's what worked for me. I switched to simpler food: non-starchy grains like buckwheat, kidney beans, vegetables and fruit, and this stuff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) . I dropped almost every kind of processed food (I am not an American though, and we never had the same level of dependence on processed foods anyway). I can't even eat sugar and candies anymore, they overflow my senses and taste like crap.
  - CuriousSkeptic 6y ago
    > I can't even eat sugar and candies anymore, they overflow my senses and taste like crap. A slight life hack. A few days of fasting (3-5 should do it) will probably get you to this state. So once deciding on a new healthy composition of food. Start of a with a few days of fasting and it will be easier to stick to it.

SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago

Agreed. The rules of the 5:2 diet that I do are easy. There's no calculation or fudge factor. Just one simple rule: If it's a Monday or Wednesday, no I can't eat it. Else, I can. This works so much better for me than counting calories every day, the "cheating" is eliminated.

sudhirkhanger 6y ago
Do you not eat at all on Monday and Wednesday?
- SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
  I do eat. It's not a complete fast, it's more like "under 600 calories" (1). The thing is, I already know where those calories are coming from, starting with the yogurt pot for breakfast. There's three items (under 200 calories each) with no room for extras. 1) https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/the-5-2-diet-guide https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/the-5-2-diet-guide

StavrosK 6y ago

Same here. I can't moderate, but just cutting things off is no problem. I've been doing 16:8 for a year where I haven't eaten a single thing outside the 8 hours, but I haven't really seen any difference.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

My problem is, I still would have 8 hours in which I must exercise restraint. Packing away 4k calories in a single meal is trivially easy. There is no way to avoid the need for restraint and moderation.

anon946 6y ago
For me, I don't need to exercise restraint during those 8 hours. I sate myself. It's still an overall caloric reduction, for me at least.
coldtea 6y ago
>Packing away 4k calories in a single meal is trivially easy Does it take must restraint to just eat like 2K calories in a 8-hour span? Never had much problem with that during IF, and I used to have a BMI of over 35, so I was quite the eater...
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  I used to weight twice what I do today, so I know a thing or two about eating too many calories, and I lost that weight so I know a thing or two about not eating that many calories. Thing is, a rule like "only eat in an eight hour window" leaves plenty of time to consume huge amounts of calories. I've been known to pack away 4k+ in a meal, both in the past and today. It's not even hard for me. In fact, it's rather hard not to once I start eating because like many people who are of have been fat I'm a food addict. Some here are saying things like "well, good luck eating 4k of lettuce dude!" and yeah, that is hard. But if you're eating lettuce and vegetables and all that low calorie stuff already you probably don't need the 8 hour window restriction!.
slothtrop 6y ago
This must depend highly on where your calories come from, because for most people it really isn't that easy. Even bodybuilders will switch to liquid diets to try to pack that much away. If you're consuming lean protein, fibrous vegetables, nuts and pulses, 4000 calories in a sitting is far more difficult. Think of how many apples you can eat in a sitting, and consider that a single apple is 52 calories.

hliyan 6y ago

Yet another data point. Lot easier on will power reserves to fast at a stretch. All it takes is one nibble of something and I find myself returning to the tin for more.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

vianin 6y ago

I work exactly the same way. People think I do things in extreme, but they don't understand that it's hard to things in moderation for some people.

henriquemaia 6y ago

Since I'm in sync with everyone else in this, ie, it's easier for me to shut my mouth completely than to eat in moderation, I'm guessing there's some biological drive behind this. Maybe that happens because we, as animals, have our bodies more adapted to eat as much as we can while food is available than to risk losing that opportunity for another unknown meal in the future. That to say that it is a hardwired behavior we have, a survival strategy that makes sense in the wild. Problem is we don't live in that environment anymore. So, I think fasting works because our bodies trigger another natural response, that of focusing our senses to the search of food, kind of accepting that food is not available. Thus, it's easier to simply not eat at all instead of trying to eat moderately. These are my 5 cents.

emiliobumachar 6y ago

Interesting. Maybe a normal moderation diet is analogous to an alcoholic trying to stay sober except for drinking half a pint three times a day.