I take it this means you are restricting your eating to one six-hour period each day, with only water during the other 18 hours. Trying to lose weight, or what?
I’ve done this in the past. Curious how you find it. I mean, not many people can eat for an hour. Hell, it’s a challenge to eat for longer than 30 minutes straight.
How are you feeling? Surprisingly good, am I right?
Wow, good for you! How are you feeling during the 23 hours? I start getting pretty hungry by hour 18. I could go longer though and I’ve considered trying omad (one meal a day) but don’t know if I’d be able to keep that up.
Yes, I have two meals and no snacks during the 6 hours. Mostly I want to get off my gerd meds but I also need to lost about 20 lbs.
Wow, I do this and had no idea it was a thing.
Last time I dieted I lost 40 pounds in 13 weeks. Unfortunately, keeping it off is nowhere near as easy as getting it off – over the next two years I put it all back on, and I’ve gained more during the last three months. 
Time to do it again…
Its easier if you have the option of being out of the house all day. Been doing it for 20 years, but now that I’m WFH, I find myself taking a trip into the kitchen mid day to see if there is anything there that might interest me. Oh look! Snacks!
As a prediabetic, I’ve been wondering about this one for a while. I’ve heard contradictory things - intermittent fasting is great for your blood sugar! It’s terrible for your blood sugar! etc.
Apparently, it’s good to skip a meal, but only if it’s dinner. Skipping breakfast or lunch will harm your blood sugar situation. Is that it?
You’ve been doing 23:1 for 20 years?? If you don’t mind me asking, what is your weight like? Does it stay steady? Are you happy with your weight? Are you under/over/normal weight? What about things like glucose levels/digestion/energy?
I’m hypoglycemic and I’ve noticed that, if I can white knuckle it for about 10 minutes, my blood sugar stables and I feel OK again. I keep a little box of raisins with me in case of an emergency but I’ve not had to take it, yet. I’ve also noticed that the crashes seem to be happening less often.
OK, but I’ve never had any problem with low blood sugar or crashing, only too-high sugar. Which form of fasting is best?
Whichever one you can keep doing is the best one for you. No sense trying 23:1 only to quit 3 days later and feel like a failure. Try 16:8 and see how you feel. If you don’t get into a good enough fast, try 18:6 and see how that feels. I’m at about 19:5 and I’m trying to get and stay at 20:4. I’m also considering trying ADF (alternate day fasting) and omad.
Yes. 23:1 to 22:2. For many years. My weight has been quite steady except for the past 3-4 years where it has a tendency to creep up. I’ve been quite athletic for most of my life. But there was a period of time in my early 30’s when for completely nonsensical reasons, I let myself go and gained 80-90lbs. That was bad. Looking at 40, I got a grip and lost all the weight by limiting my eating to just one meal a day. I also took up an intense exercise program, weights & cardio. Over a period of 12 or so months, I lost the 90lbs and gained lots of muscle mass. It was a complete lifestyle change. I was happy with my new weight of 165lbs but was at my personal best when 158lbs. I maintained those numbers in the years since. But in the past few years by weight has crept closer to 170lb and due to wear and tear, I can’t maintain the level of intensity in exercise like I used to. I don’t like it and I’m working on get back to my fighting weight. In my advanced mid 50’s, it’s much harder than it used to be. At 5’8", I’ve never felt or considered myself to be underweight. Also, I love food so there is little chance of that ever happening.
In the beginning, and very rarely now, I felt the lack of blood sugar as the day crept into mid afternoon. A nagging headache would be the worst of it. I felt hungry but not ravenous and was mostly unaffected by bad moods. Took the entire first year to get over the worst of the symptoms. Over the years since it’s been my normal. Now I mostly break my IF window out of boredom and/or stress rather than any specific physical need for food. Working from home has been a surprising challenge. I did not remember the kind of temptation being close to an always available food source presents. Also, the getting older part seems to introduce a flagging amount of willpower.
Well, I don’t eat for an hour - I just give myself an hour window in which I can have a meal.
Yes, I feel great. 23/1 isn’t an ongoing thing for me; I did it last month for a week (intentionally), I’ll probably go 2 weeks this time before going back to 16/8 (which I find amazingly easy to do as I am never hungry in the morning anyway).
Fasting is a smart thing to do for one with prediabetes as long as you are cautious - paying attention to how you feel and testing more frequently than normal. Absolutely a bad idea for someone with Type 1.
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My wife and I have been doing about 17/7 since Feb. 1. A couple years ago, we discovered that we sleep better if we have out main meal at lunch so it was easy to just skip dinner. Generally nothing from some time around 2 or 3PM till something like 7 or 8AM. My wife has lost about 10 pounds while I have stayed about the same. But we are not mainly interested in weight loss. The main thing is that according to a report in New England J Medicine, it dampens inflammation.
I get it. I was simply observing how some people wonder whether you can eat a day’s worth of food/calories in just an hour. Come to find it’s pretty easy and it requires much less than an hour to boot.
I’ve been doing 16:8 since about last November. Seems to have helped blood sugar (was in “pre-diabetic” numbers) and cholesterol a bit. Lost about 15-20 lbs (started just under 200, now around 180-185. Was rough for first few weeks and now I hardly notice it. I stop taking in calories around 6 pm (this hard rule helps A LOT with bored mindless alcohol consumption) and then eat around 10 am. I’m not sure what of the weight loss and other effects is due to the fast strictly, and what’s just due to decreased calorie intake as a side effect (have not done the math, can’t be bothered). Progress has slowed since teh Covids-- more time at home and angst-consumption-- but haven’t gained anything back, I don’t think.
Oh, also I “cheat” when life calls for it-- parties and travel and such-- and the next day just do the thing again without some self-loathing crisis. I’ve decided that it has to be an ongoing lifestyle change rather than a two month event in order to really be effective over time.
The people who’ve been doing this for years - I’m seriously impressed!
I think I reached a milestone today. I ate a good sized breakfast at 9 am and then went off to work, with my lunch/dinner packed. At about 2:30ish I felt suddenly very nauseous to the point I thought I might throw up. I had some water and it passed but then, for the rest of the day, I never got hungry again.
It’s now 9 pm and I’m still not hungry. I must be successfully into ketosis now.
Ok hard lesson learned of what not to do when intermittent fasting.
I wanted to lose 20 lbs and I’m down 18. Last night I decided to have a “treat night” and have some goodies/snacks while watching a movie. I completely overdid it with chips, chocolate, pop and candy and I am seriously paying for it today.
My stomach is so sore and bloated. Really sore, like sick sore. Terrible gas and burping. I feel like I have a hangover and even googled to see if that was a thing - it is.
I’ve been having great success doing 18:6 with two meals and no snacks. I’ve been feeling great. Why oh why did I do this to myself??
The point is, you won’t do it again. Here endeth the lesson. 
Have a cup or two of mint tea if it’s handy. It’ll help.
I still feel terrible but I had some broth which helped with the cramps. I tell you, I won’t do this again anytime soon.