Questions for weight-loss

[jakson1021]

I've been reading around. I've came across a diet so to speak that sounds like it works effectively, intermittent fastings. If someone can point me in the right way to find a solid IF plan I'd be greatly appreciative.

[JasonTarin]

IF is for people who can not control and track their caloric intake. You can't do it forever and once you go back to regular eating you will just gain the weight back. I suggest you buckle down and start tracking your calories instead of not eating all day and then benging in the evenings. Learning to do this will carry through for the rest of your life.

[SuffolkPunch]

It isn't a diet, it's a meal timing protocol. Nobody has ready made meal plans because most long timers don't eat the same thing all the time. We know what macro and micronutrients a diet should contain and we construct a diet based on what we want to eat or what we have in the cupboard. See the sticky threads in the nutrition forum for more info

[SuffolkPunch]

IF is for people who can not control and track their caloric intake. You can't do it forever and once you go back to regular eating you will just gain the weight back.

What? Do you even know what IF is?

[JasonTarin]

Yes I do. It is a period of starvation followed by a short period of benge eating. Call it what you will but technically that is what it is. I never said that IF was bad in any way. I simply said it is for people who can't normally learn to control their daily caloric intake. IF is usually never someone's first choice when selecting a diet or a "meal timing protocol" as you call it. Assuming that you know the word "diet" means a person's chosen "meal timing protocol", also to include their food choices for that protocol, the words are completely interchangable. Scientifically I agree that we as humans have not come far enough evolutionarily to properly adjust from the starvation/ benge eating that humans did 10,000 years ago I was suggesting that the OP try tracking calories as a quality of life thing. IF is no fun... I've tried it. It worked for weight loss but that was because I couldn't shove down 4000 calories in five hours. Sometimes it would be a safe idea to stop and consider that someones comment albeit negative is not hostile brother.

[SuffolkPunch]

I bet you didn't try it for more than a few days... I assume 4000 calories was a bulk, I don't see why you would want to use it for this purpose since the main benefit is appetite control.

I've used it for several years. Myself and everyone I know who uses it also counts calories. There is no reason why you can't do it long term and no reason why you would gain any weight back.

It has nothing to do with "bingeing" either. We eat the same kinds of healthy foods, just in two or three larger meals. This is hardly an extreme way of eating.

I don't consider a meal timing protocol and a diet to be the same thing at all. That was exactly the point I was trying to make to the OP - it isn't a meal plan, just dictates when you eat. It may or may not be convenient to how you structure your day.

It's simply a matter of convenience and particularly useful for people who are cutting and feel that eating in the morning negatively affects their appetite control.

[JasonTarin]

Ok I completely understand your point about apetite control and undoubtedly agree that if you eat in the morning you are much more likely to be hungry again. I eat 4000 calories a day to maintain that is why I used that number. Again, I agree that it is formidable for someone trying to cut weight. Also, IF has been proven to increase a person's life span. This is all besides my point however. My point was that by eating in a small window of time you are losing the opportunity to go out for a drink, a spontaneous late night dinner date, or enjoy other things that do not fit inside your window. It can create a quality of life issue... I wasn't negging the effectiveness of IF at all.

[SuffolkPunch]

Whether you do IF or you eat every 3 hours, any kind of protocol like this can affect your social life - if you let it. I see no reason why you can't just turn it off for one day here and there, it won't affect your long term success. BTW, Berkhan wrote an article on this subject - preparing for a party or night out:


http://www.leangains.com/2010/11/che...-hedonist.html
http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/tru...nd-muscle.html