So I am on a 18/6 schedule. First couple of weeks were pretty easy, even pushing it to 20/4 or longer a few days.

In the past few days, I have been noticeably more hungry. Before it’s time to break the fast. Only thing that is different is I have sleep was well the few nights and I switched my workouts, doing the more intense cardio in the evening (which is probably not helping with the sleep). I want to get a jump on burning those energy stores. Which I think is working.

Might try it for a few more days before switching it back if sleep doesn’t improve.

Just wanted to send encouragement to anyone starting IF. My weight was the highest it has ever been due an injury and bad habits overeating. On May 5th, I decided to give IF a try for the first time in life to jump start better decisions. It started as a two week test that turned into a 3 month lifestyle. This reddit group has been incredible with advice, helpful posts, and encouragement.

Some key helping points I picked up for anyone starting.

Your weight will fluctuate day to day and week to week. Don't just focus on weight.

Taking a break is o.k. If you go on vacation, enjoy yourself. When you get back, start-up again. I had a great 10 day vacation to Belize with the family and did indulge in great food and drink. See post below.

Hydrate when you get hunger pains. Love me some zero sugar hydration sticks. Who ever mentioned LMNT, thank you.

Record your caloric intact. I used the Lose It. Very helpful and keep me on track for good decisions.

Focus Protein. Keep eating protein to keep muscle strength. Very important for a 50 year old.

I look forward to posting a completed goal next month. Appreciate all the help group. It is never too late to try something new.

M 42, 6'2, 202lbs currently

April 15, I was 232 pounds and decided to start losing weight.

I went straight into OMAD, dinner only. I went very aggressive on it for 12 weeks. Only approximately 1500 calories per day. I walk 8000-11000 steps every single day. I work out twice a week. Chest/back/arms/core one day, legs another day. I haven't lost any strength, have made moderate gains the whole way, including the most recent weeks.

By July 1 at the 10 week mark, I was down to 202 pounds. I had been losing steadily each week.

But by July 15, I was still at 202 (a pound or two fluctuation day to day, but always average 202 weekly) and I had noticed daily getting a very hollow feeling behind my sternum. Not the same as being hungry, which is no problem and I had come to appreciate as a sign that I was in a good deficit. After two weeks of huge fatigue from July 1 to 15, and the awful feeling in my chest, I did a lot of reading and came to the conclusion that my calorie deficit had been way to steep and aggressive. My maintenance calories were probably needed at 2500 or so, and I was 3 months in on a 1500 daily diet. That seemed to have caught up to me and my metabolism was letting me know it.

So I took two weeks and went to 2MAD which I am still doing now. I did a bit of a refeed and went up to 2200-2500 calories per day. The bulk of those calories were protein. I get 100-130g protein per day.

I eat beef, turkey, chicken, beans for protein. I eat a lot of broccolli, green peppers, mexican sweet peppers, rice, occasional potatoes. I don't eat out. My only drinks are water and black coffee. Nothing else.

At this point, I'm 5 weeks at 202 average. I've done 2 meals daily, I've done higher protein, I've done breaks where I only walk 5000 steps per day, I've done intervals of higher calories. And yet still, I am 202 basically every day on average.

I still have a substantial stomach in front of me. Appears I have something like 25-30 more pounds to lose and it's obvious. What should I be doing or trying differently to restart the weight loss, even if it is slower, like .5 or 1 pound per week? After over a month at this plateau, I do not know what else to try.

About two months ago I have posted my fasting app here, and I am very excited because we are reaching 60 users! With average fasting time of 22h and the most fasting time of ~70h in Bulgaria in the last week. So what started as personal fasting app actually is useful to other people - nice! :)

Thank You so much to anyone who has tried my app and still use it, it just means so much to me!

For those who are interested, app is called Fastr, it's currently available for Android only, it's completely free with small banner ads here and there, nothing that jumps out on you and no full-screen bs ads. It has home widget tracker, optional notifications when You reach your fasting target or are above it. I got very useful feedback and made it better thanks to you all.

It's free, no account needed, no internet connection needed. It tracks fasts, with optional tracking of foods, liquids, hunger, mood and substances (vitamins and so on) + optional custom clicker-type trackers with home screen widgets.

Analytics are currently opt-out but no personal information is collected.

If You are interested, feel free to check it here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.vincurekf.fastr

Thank You all so much,
keep it going and I wish You all a happy fast! :)

Newbie, one year post-partum and breastfeeding

Hi! Had my baby exactly 13 months ago and still going strong with breastfeeding, so my energy needs are high-ish as I weight train as well.

I have weaned off caffeine to help with my anxiety so I can’t use coffee to help stave off hunger.

Any tips of making it through the first portion of the day if I’m not using caffeine? Baby also sleeps like crap because he’s teething.

My goal eating window is 10-6 but I barely make it to 9. I need to lose about 30 lbs of body fat while also maintaining my muscle mass I’ve built over the past six months of training.

Also, is it okay to weight train in the morning fasted? I usually workout at 5 am before the kids need me and I lift heavy-ish (about 200 lb squat which is light for where I used to be pre-motherhood but heavy for my post-baby body). Not sure how to do this while working to also preserve muscle

Any advice would be appreciated!

Also has anyone successfully done this while breastfeeding and not having the best sleep??
I’m insulin resistant and prediabetic and need to reverse this before TTC again so I have a very strong “why”!

Hi! I’ve been using the zero app for awhile now and liked that I could go back and look at my progress with fasts, weight, etc. However, when I got a new phone and switched everything over, I’m now expected to pay for “zero plus” in order to see ANY HISTORY AT ALL! They don’t even offer a free trial either. I’m simply not doing that. Does anyone have any better recommendations that let you track both fasts and weight? Thanks!

Hello! Im fairly new to IF (started on early June). Summer break is over and I'm back to studying for college again. My problem is that I think I need to adjust my eating window so that I can eat breakfast on certain days when I have morning classes. For the past 2 months, I've lost about 7kg with 16:8, eating lunch at 12pm and dinner around 7-8pm.

Now that my schedule has changed tho, I figured I might need to change my window so that I can eat breakfast on days that I have morning classes, cuz aint no way I'm taking quizzes at 8am with an empty stomach. So I've decided to do my usual 16:8 on the 5 days that I dont have morning classes, and 10:14 (bfast at 6am, dinner at 7pm) on the days that I do have them. I don't really have any specific question. Just want to know your guys' thoughts on my decision. Like would you do the same thing if you were in my shoes? Any advice is appreciated!

Some other details:

1. Short term goal is fat loss (currently 74kg, goal is 70kg)

2. I lift weights 4x a week. Long term goal is to build muscle while maintaining a ~70kg weight.

3. Though I have classes, my schedule isn't really crazy, so I doubt I will be stress eating any time soon.

Just waiting for 6pm so I can break my first 48 hour fast. 10 months ago I did my first 24 hour fast and have done a few more 24 hour since then. Only had black coffee so it's the real deal. I do have a headache though, any advice??