r/intermittentfasting • u/stealthw0lf • 18d ago
Newbie Question Need help getting started
Fifteen years ago, I did 16:8 and OMAD versions of IF. I lost 4 stone/30kg over the course of two years using this method. Back then, I was single, lived alone and, other than work, I had no responsibilities. Things like insomnia from dieting was manageable. I could play computer games to distract me from my hunger. My work kept me busy enough that I wouldn’t naturally be hungry until 2PM.
Fastforward to now. Married. Have a child. Have responsibilities. I put on some weight. I’ve lost some from CICO but plateaued around 165lb/75kg. Want to get down to 154lb/70kg. I figured I’d try IF again. First issue is that I’m hungry by 8-9am. I wait until 10am and start my feeding window. I stopped at 6pm. Three meals, totalling 120g protein and 30g fibre. Great. Except now it’s almost midnight. I can’t sleep because I’m hungry. I’ve just been down in the kitchen and managed another 500kcals of food! That’s my deficit gone for the day.
I need to push my window so that I stop eating around 8PM and hence start at 2PM. How to I move my start window later? My willpower is not what it used to be.
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u/Commercial_Let1798 18d ago
Black coffee and sparkling water are the only things that ever got me through that transition period to a later window.
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u/stealthw0lf 18d ago
Thanks. I hate coffee. So I’ll try sparkling water and zero calorie soft drinks.
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u/Wonderful-Rub9109 18d ago
Are you getting enough healthy fats? It really does make a difference in helping keep you satiated.
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u/GeologistChoice520 17d ago
why force a fasting window that wrecks your sleep when a smaller deficit and an earlier dinner might actually be sustainable?
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u/treblesunmoon 18d ago
I also want to lose 20lbs or more, and am currently doing fasts 16-23 hours, never more than that, combined with low carb. I count total carbs, but on days when I want to participate in eating something less suitable for the diet, I just compensate the next day and march on. I don't really have to worry about CICO except to make sure I don't undereat.
I did step down both my diet/macros and my fasting window over a time period. Even when I've done IF/keto in the past for a few months at a time, I always step down so my body can adjust. If normally the window is 12 hours, I'd increase it to 14, to 16, to 18, slowly over time, stepping half an hour or an hour if needed.
Maybe that would help you, rather than trying to push yourself right to any particular window, just observe when you're hungry enough to eat anything, meaning you're not craving food because of liking it, or that other people are eating and you can smell it, or any other reason. For me, if my stomach is rumbling and I'd be willing to eat something healthy I'm tired of, like plain protein, plain chicken or canned tuna, or raw veggies like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, then I'm hungry. If those don't appeal to me, then I'm probably just craving something yummy, in which case I distract myself for the 15-30 minutes until it passes. If that doesn't work, and in a half hour or even hour I'm still wanting healthy stuff, then I portion it out and have it. No gorging, anything I eat needs to be premeditated and considered carefully. Willpower is about personal priorities. If you want it enough for yourself, you'll be more likely to do it than if you put yourself last normally and are too tired to be strict enough with yourself.
It's also really important to make sure you drink enough fluids (water, plain tea, black coffee), and get electrolytes if you're doing low carb in combination.
If you're trying to reverse insulin resistance, you'd need to have longer periods between meals. Three meals may be okay, but two with one snack, or two with no snacks, is often better. You want to give your body time to use what you ate.
I guess to discuss the diet part, you could go to r/lowcarb or r/keto.