Hi there,

Since the outbreak of Covid 19 millions of armchair experts have appeared across the world giving out unsolicited advice based on nothing but their personal opinion or something they’ve read on social media posted by another armchair expert.

If you’ve done any research at all regarding IF you’ll be aware eating a varied balanced diet ensuring you get all the nutrients you need is the way forward for everyone especially as we get older as our immune systems become less robust.

We all have to make our own decisions, sometimes guided by experts and if you are healthy and coping well with IF and following all the advice regarding social distancing and self isolation (I’m assuming you’re in the UK) ie staying home unless you need to go out to buy food or some fresh air, maybe you should ask yourself if there is a good evidence based reason for you to stop.

Good luck.

thanks @amazon, I totally agree!

Hi thin,

I was trying to tread a fine line between saying don’t listen to others and then dishing out advice which is rather tricky, but the subsequent responses make me think I might have got it right.

I’m actually struggling with compliance this week but the thought of what a bonus 12 weeks of being away from all temptation could be is spurring me on.

I absolutely agree we could all do much good by eating less. Being overweight increases our risk for so many health conditions.

Oh, some friend! OH and I are continuing on our 16:8 maintenance pattern. The good habits we learned when we started IF in 2016 have stood us in good stead.

Just eat healthily, including on your fast days.

Every day. We found that the best way to cope with the initial 500 cal, or 600 for OH, was to delay eating as long as possible. Once we reached our targets we found maintaining on 16:8 so easy.

If we’re staying in an hotel and breakfast is included we eat it, of course. But not indulging ourselves in a blow out as we’ve have down in the past. We’ve found that our appetites have changed considerably.

Hi DTC, you know you have got 5:2 (or whatever permeation you like) right when it is easy and sustainable.

It is good that you are analysing what you are doing and how it effects you.

You might need some breakfast to help your brain get into gear (I do). You can play around with what works best and whether your brain responds best to having protein at breakfast, or maybe complex carbs eg porridge. You might even find a bowl of soup suits you best. A small amount should do.

You could see if 10am is a fine time for breakfast, or if you need it earlier.

All power to you working it out.