Just wondered what peoples results were for the 16:8 diet

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Just wondered what peoples results were for the 16:8 diet

This topic contains 7 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by  Merryme 7 years, 2 months ago.

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  • Ive been doing the 5:2 diet since September 2016 and in that time ive lost two stone. However i would still like to loose a further 2 and a half stone.
    I have now upped my training gym 4 times a week and running atleast 4 miles once a week. With this my appetite is increasing and im finding it very difficult to keep with fasting days. Just wondered peoples opinions on the 16:8 diet and the results they got within what time frame?

    Hi,

    Firstly, well done on your weight loss so far.

    There are many 5:2 ers who follow 16:8 all the time. It helps control eating as it is so much harder to overeat if you only have an 8 hour window.
    No healthy adult needs to eat first thing in the morning, it is no more than a habit so IMO breakfast is the easiest meal to ditch. I rarely eat before 1pm and have always eaten dinner early unless I’m eating out so 16:8 has worked very well for me. The best thing I did was eliminate snacking except on special occasions as it is so easy to go over TDEE otherwise.

    Unless you are making a concerted effort to increase your fitness levels why don’t you go back to whatever your exercise regime was before?
    Weight loss is 95% calorie restriction and 5% exercise so despite improving fitness, general health and well being it doesn’t really have much of an impact on the rate of loss and it seems to be counter-intuitive to do something that makes you hungrier and risks hampering your weight loss efforts.

    Congratulations on losing 2 stone since September, that is an enormous achievement in such a short time. Regular fasting and a reduction in consumption of refined carbohydrates(bread/rice/pasta/potatoes) with a reduction of sugar PLUS regular fasting, reducing stress, getting plenty of sleep are going to have more impact on further weight reduction than more exercise according to Fung.

    Jason Fung ‘The Obesity Code’ argues that our bodies constantly strive to remain the same and that we have a set body weight that our bodies strive to maintain that by increasing your appetite(which is happening to you) and reducing our energy expenditure. Try reducing the number of gym sessions/running to make sure that you can fit 2 fasts a week in as the priority.

    I am not sporty but took up running(aged 52) when I started the 5:2 almost 4 years ago. Exercise has many benefits, but losing weight isn’t one of them. At my very fittest I was struggling to lose any more weight.I am running a half marathon(well, staggering around slowly) in 9 short weeks, so I am starting to run 3 short runs(2 miles) and one longer one each week. This will allow me to get in 2 24 hour fasts from dinner to dinner which I just started before Christmas and I find much much easier than having a meal.

    Fung argues that what we eat is only half of the solution and the other is regular fasting of 24-36 hours to reduce the Insulin and to start using body fat for energy. I think that he is right, my jeans are looser and I didn’t start the new year with a festive weight gain for the very first time..ever.

    Is that any help?

    Thank you for your responses and that you for your kind words on the weight loss.
    I have increased my excercise as to tone up because with the weightloss has come well excess skin and frankly the gym makes me happy, along with the fact i was doing excercise classes and no longer found this intence enough. I am aware the weightloss wont be as fast due to the buiding of muscle ut i already notice the difference in inches even if the scales say i’m not loosing so much. i also make sure there is a good balance between doing cardio and weights.

    So are you saying to try and introduce the 5:2 diet into the 16:8 if that makes sense?

    I would also really struggle to do 24-36 hour fast. it just wouldnt work with my lifestyle is something i would have to build myself up too

    Yes, incorporate 16:8 into 5:2 and try not to eat between meals. Once you get used to it you might find it easier to manage hunger on fast days.
    If you can fit it in you could also add another fast day now and again.

    Further to what you say about excess skin, it takes a while for the skin to tighten up after weight loss, I noticed a lag between losing weight and inches. It also depends on your age as when we get older our skin loses its elasticity.

    Good luck.

    Hi Paddywack,

    I’m also somewhat new to 5:2, though I am a longtime exerciser. When I began and was diligent with 5:2 last year, I lost weight fairly rapidly. Some things that happened:
    *I found I fell into 16:8 somewhat naturally; as I cut out breakfast on my fast days, I started cutting it out on my NFD as well (which frankly is the only reason I didn’t gain weight over the holiday).
    *Fasting on running days is/was fine, as long as they were regular putzy runs. Running hills or interval training (using fast twitch as opposed to slow twitch muscles) was a big no-no. Strength training (also fast twitch) also a big no-no. I felt awful, foggy head, very low energy.

    As a side, and background to my advice, I did an olympic distance triathlon a few years ago and lost a significant amount of weight during the 3-4 month training process, by going at it 90% paleo, or 90% low carb. I would grab a half a peanut butter sandwich to tuck in my rear pocket during 30 mile+ bike rides, but this was before doing fasting runs. Not sure if I would do the same now. Depends on how I feel.

    With new fitness goals that include regular strength training with regular longer runs and intervals, I’m transitioning to 6:1, and sort of 16:8, and I’m thinking you could do the same and continue to lose weight, though likely not at the rapid rate you were doing. But that’s the whole point, right? Both with exercising and fasting, that it’s long term habits and goals that feed into a sustainable way of life. I would recalculate your TDEE with the extra exercise taken into account and increase your calories slightly, and get them in the form of fiber/protein and fat and see how you feel. I think you can feed part of your increased appetite, but how you do so will matter, ie, don’t let yourself get too low sugar/energy before eating. And remember we are all built differently! My spouse gets crazy if he does not get enough carbs in his diet, but he can do low fat no problem. I go crazy if I don’t have enough fat in my diet, no matter how much protein I’m taking in. Doing the 24-36 hour fasts Annette is talking about would be fine for me if I was just running, but having chatted around here in a few groups there seems to be a consensus that strength/weights are really, really hard to do on fast days. So modify slowly, and figure out what works for you!

    I completely understand that the thought of a 24 hour fast is daunting. I thought that it was a mad idea before I read Fung.

    Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you do some fasting(I used to miss breakfast and then eat lunch and dinner)twice a week and reduce your sugar and refined carb consumption.

    I am not running when I fast. I was very hungry on a NFD when I did a longer run.

    Hi paddy,

    I do 2 fasts per week. I.e. Dinner Sunday night, next food 360 cals at dinner Monday night, then break my fasting after 12 noon on Tuesday. It can get confusing because people use the word fast to mean 2 different things i.e. A 5:2 version of a fast or a water only fast. Many peopke on 5:2 don’t eat on a fasting day till their 1 e ening meal. This is because this group wake the hunger dragon if they eat at all during the day. There is another group who don’t get this and they commonly split their fast day calories into 2 or 3 tiny meals.

    Because I am unable to exercise for medical reasons My TDEE is quite low, so I incorporate 16:8 into my nonFDs as well. So for those 5 days I don’t eat breakfast, and only eat after 12 noon and in an 8 hr window. This helps to moderate my food intake. If I eat breakfast on those 5 days, the hunger dragon wakes up and I overeat for my needs. It’s not about willpower. There are some people who have this phenomena and some who don’t.

    From what I’ve read around the forum, it would be better to tailor your exercise regime to FDs and non FDs. We all are individual and you will need to tweak what you are doing with some experimentation. I wouldn’t give up the extra exercise though, unless no amount of tweaking over several months givesyou a solution. Then only pull it back a bit till the weight is off, then go back to it, the most important thing for our health generally is to normalise our weight, as that excess weight disrupts various bodily systems and strains our hearts.

    Onwards and downwards,
    Merry

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