IF doesn't seem to be working for me yet

[Nozza]

Is anyone claiming that IF offers weight loss benefits over and above the calorie equation?

[mrchair]

Originally Posted by Nozza

Is anyone claiming that IF offers weight loss benefits over and above the calorie equation?

no , he said that he eat 1600 cal , so is impossible that with that amount of calories he is in caloric surplus

[Easto]

My suggestion to anyone thinking about doing IF would be to try Eat Stop Eat.

Start with 1 fast per week for 24 hours. I prefer 2pm - 2 pm

When it comes time to eat, I count calories.

When you break your fast eat like you did before the fast, don't overeat.

Once you are able to fast once per week try and 2nd 24 hour fast, so you are doing 2 fasts per week. When not fasting eat your normal meals.

I did this and lost a ton of fat.

I also found that doing fasted cardio was great.

[zgames]

I think this video explains IF pretty good

[Fedorgasm]

Thank you all, there are some great suggestions here. I think the main takeaway for me is that I need to stop mixing and matching IF styles. If I can't make leangains work the way he designed it, then I need to just get a completely different plan, like eat stop eat, and follow that one, rather than just picking out which pieces I like of each one.

[HillRaiser]

Anyone else think that maintenance is really low? 2100 for an active male seems sketchy to me, maybe check those calculations and make sure your activity level has been factored in correctly.

[PWR1982]

Imo, the whole point behind this sort of dieting is eating less meals in such a way, that it makes it easier for you to stay in a deficit. After getting used to it, 8 hour fasting window can make it very easy for a lot of people... but if you don't get used to it, try something else.

Your eating schedule doesn't matter. Just pick one that makes dieting the easiest for you - if eating a huge breakfast and lunch, but no food after 14:00 let's you stay in a caloric deficit with consistency, it's fine.
When you get to low bf % and struggle to lose weight just with a normal caloric restriction diet (just eat enough protein and refeed once in a while, while staying in a deficit), try more advanced things like carb cycling.

[Pope Leo VII]

how many meals are you eating per a day? Typically for me I break my fast for lunch around 1-3 and have a huge PWO meal at 9. Trying to squeeze three meals in was a bitch and I prefer eating as much as possible in each sitting. When first starting the big number was month one, I noticed a difference in terms of physique. Never bothered with carb cyling since it doesnt make sense for me, refuel after MT workouts with pasta/potatoes and dive into rice at lunch.

[Old Mate]

meal timing and IF is stupid imo cos your body works on a much longer clock than 24 hours so in essence IF is not essential in terms of cutting and dieting. not that it's bad but stuff starving yourself for long periods of the day when you could just eat in a caloric deficit anyway and you will lose weight guaranteed. realistically you could bulk on an IF diet, but why bother?

[Old Mate]

op:

your maintenance is 2100 and you are eating at 1600 per day for weight loss? you must lead a very sedentary lifestyle or be a midget (small person) cos 2100 is extremely low. there are many calorie calculators online and most are conservative so you will lose weight if you follow their guide. another point is i would not eat at such a deficit. steer clear of suggestions that you take off 500 calories to cut cos you cannot be that general. some people have a maintenance of 3000 calories therefore cutting 500 calories is acceptable being about a 17% caloric deficit. whereas cutting 500 calories off your maintenance comes in at about 24% which is too great a deficit and you'd be starving your body of required nutrients. personally i'd start by dropping 10% (210 caloric deficit based off your dodgy figure) however some say that 20% is ok...but that's generally suggested to be the max. also remember to add your daily activity. you train three times weekly for how long? if you train for 1 hour then you will burn anywhere from 200-400 calories in that session....make sure you eat more those training days. gl man.