a couple of years back I lost around 65lbs in around a semester doing IF and calorie restriction. my eating habits became sort of disordered, so that’s something important to note. my disordered eating had a lot more to do with mental health issues than what my diet of choice tho. I liked IF because for me it’s easier to just not eat when you’re fasted than you just had a meal, especially if you’re stuck at home for whatever reason. if I have a meal there’s a greater chance I’ll get something sweet after or snack after a couple of hours, whereas if I simply not eat I can willpower fasting until when I planned my meal.
there have also been some studies that claim IF is really, really good for your overall health and longevity, so that’s also a plus.

I’m doing IF right now.

Disclaimer - There’s a ton reading out there for those interested, but not much research. Or at least research that agrees. Also, like most studies regarding food, you aren’t going to easily find the sponsors of current research around the topic. My point is - if you’re talking to (whom you believe is) a real person on the internet who has tried it, in my experience the feedback is pretty positive. But if you read around on the internet you’ll get the vague sense that cutting back on your calories is bad, and you should keep buying - er - we mean, you should keep eating a “balanced” diet.

So with that out of the way, I can say that so far I’ve enjoyed the experience. I feel less bloated throughout my day, and I have a little more energy during the afternoon slump than I normally do. I have lost about 3 pounds since I started last week, and I’m hopefully that trend will continue. My biggest challenge is that I had to figure when to have my calorie intake window. A lot of “research” says you should do early intake - like 8am to 2pm; but I just couldn’t get that to work. Partially because I have dinner eaters in my house and I usually give in and eat with them, but also because I like to drink on the weekends. And if I tried to restrict my calorie intake after 2pm on Saturday night, I would start drinking around 7-8pm and then be so hungry that I would snack and just go waaay over my calorie budget for like 3 days. Now I’m pushing my window back. I don’t eat until 1pm, and I try to cutoff the food by 7pm. It’s working better, and I don’t go crazy snacking when having an evening beer.

Just my two cents. Don’t be afraid to try different things to see what works best for you. I think the most important thing for seeing results is just to be consistent. Give your body the 16 hour break and let the rest happen on it’s own.

I lost 20 pounds one summer in highschool because I inadvertently discovered intermittent fasting. I’d start my day with this trader joes chiabatta bread thing, then drink coffee and not eat till dinner.

It worked in some form.

My main reason for exercising is so I can keep eating good food and drinking beer without gaining 20 lbs a week.

If you don’t commit we will find you :hexbear-shining:

Have you tried the bag of microwaveable vegetables at grocery stores? They usually have like a mix of good stuff. You can just add like a little salt, pepper, and like either red pepper flakes or a tiny bit of honey depending on how you’re feeling.

Very hard to eat healthy without veggies. https://www.precisionnutrition.com/dont-like-vegetables talks about what to do if you don’t like vegetables, but I haven’t tried this myself

lazy/drained/tired so it needs to be easy

Meal replacement shakes, easiest meals you can make, plenty of flavour options, mostly sweet but some savoury stuff out now also, this has helped me to be much healthier in what I eat, I do about 1/2 shakes 1/2 food most days.