IF doesn't seem to be working for me yet

I've been IFing for 2 weeks and have not really seen any significant positive changes, so I was wondering if anyone who knows more about it than me could maybe help my identify my problem area. I know 2 weeks isn't that long, but I'm hearing about all these other people that are losing like 5 to 8 lbs in the first week so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I'm trying to recomp.

This is a list of things that I think may be the problem:

1. I'm not carb cycling. I've heard that IF should be combined with some other diet strategy, and I chose to limit calories instead. Currently my maintainence calories are at 2100, so to lose fat I've been eating 1600 calories per day, with a 16 hour fast and 8 hour eating window. Is this ok or do I HAVE to start carb cycling if I want progress? I was under the impression that the act of fasting would burn more fat regardless of carb cycling due to the release of catecholamines. Am I wrong?

2. My fast hours are not always the same time. My work schedule varies, so sometimes I need to fast from 7pm to 11am, and on other days I do a 10pm to 2pm fast. Would this screw things up or is this ok?

3. My sleep schedule varies. Some nights I get 8 hours but twice a week or so I only get 6. I realize more would be better but I honestly hope this is not the main cause of my problems because I'm not sure I can fix this one anytime soon.

4. I don't pay that much attention to macros. I really only count calories and protein. 1600 calories and 150 grams of protein per day. Outside of that I eat pretty much whatever I want, and no, that doesn't mean oreos and ice cream, it's mostly healthy, chicken and salads and such, but I do eat pizza or a burger maybe twice a week or so as long as it fits in my calorie limit.

and I know your reaction might be "All of those are problems, idiot, why don't you follow the rules more closely" So I guess what I'm really asking is which one is the biggest problem? I seem to have more success when I take baby steps, so I'd like to only change one thing at a time so I don't get frustrated and give up entirely.


edit: Duh, I should've mentioned I lift 3 times per week but don't do any cardio

 

How much are you trying to loose?

 

I'm estimating that 165 would be my ideal weight, right now I'm 212, so 47 lbs give or take.

Not sure if I'm going to IF the whole time or not, I really just wanted to try it out to see if I lost fat faster than I was losing it by just counting calories and not fasting.

 

I used to be morbidly obese and went vegan,except for fish and chicken for my meats. I cut out all junk food and even fast food,my big treat is Subway ever so often and I also cut out soda's as well. Good luck on your cut,take your time and do it right. If I can do it anyone can.

 

I would not recommend IF to someone with a variable schedule like yourself. If your sleep schedule is messed up, your work is stressful, and you never fully adapt, you're probably exposed to enough physiological stress as it is. Fasting is a stressor, don't forget that. Under certain circumstances, it will just compound the problem.

You might be better off with another strategy.

 

Yeah you're probably right. Just cutting to 1600 calories was working for me, albeit very slowly. I was just hoping IF would be faster, but maybe I should just go back to what I was doing before since at least I was making progress.

 

You might want to look into well timed PWO refeeds. If your life is hectic and your stress exposure is high, you need to counter-balance it with some anti-stress activities. A big carb refeed could go a long way to helping you out (this is, I think, one of the most overlooked benefits of IF).

 

I've been doing IF for a month and a half and went from 178 lbs to 165 lbs in that time, both weight measurements taken first thing in the morning, after emptying my bladder to be consistent. It's not drastic weight loss but it should be noted that aside from fasting I'm not on any specific diet and my exercise schedule is the same as before I started IF. I should add that I have a 19 hour fast/5 hour eating window.

In the first few weeks I saw little to no improvement and felt like shit a lot of the time. I got hunger pangs, headaches and dizziness because my body was adapting to the new regimen. When it was time to eat I'd be so hungry that I'd literally binge until I wanted to throw up, so my caloric intake was the same as or even greater than before I started IF.

After a while I adjusted to the program and stopped feeling hungry all the time. It was at this point I started eating regular-sized meals during my feeding time instead of scarfing down food like a great white. The weight loss began and my energy levels during the day skyrocketed. Best of all, I have developed a tolerance to hunger that makes it easy to get through long shifts without eating.

The scary thing about doing IF for a while is that you eventually reach a point where you're never hungry and only eat because you know you're supposed to. My eating window is 4pm-9pm and when 4 comes around I'm usually not hungry at all but put together a meal just for the sake of being healthy (and I sure as hell don't want to develop an eating disorder.)

Edit: I forgot to address your post, TS. My apologies. I think you should just wait it out a bit because not everyone sees results right away. Also, why the hell don't you do cardio? Even though strength training burns more calories (and builds muscle) there are still many benefits to doing aerobic exercise or interval training.

 

The problem is you aren't really doing IF the way most do it.

Either you do it 16 hour fasts leangain style, or longer fasts

What I mean is if you want to do leangains style you should be carb cycling and doing fasted workouts before you break your fast.

If you want to do simpler IF without worrying as much about calories, start doing 20-24 hour fasts a few times a week.

I did 20-22 hours a day 5x per week followed by BJJ training and took the weekends off of fasting usually. I went from 232 to 197 in about 10 weeks.

 

16 hours fasting and 8 hours windows is ok if you are bulking. when you cut you should eat all you calories in a very small eating windows , like 4-6 hours or less if you can . also you should do some cardio . for more info check on youtube the channel "fastingtwins" , they give great advice about IF

 

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

 

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.

 

I think this video explains IF pretty good

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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?

 

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.