I started intermittent fasting (initially doing 16/8, now 20/4) on February 24th. So this weekend I'll be at 6 weeks, and I've lost 25 lbs so far. I still have a long way to go - around 100 more pounds, but this will be a lifelong change for me.

I'm 6'5", and when I started IF I was at 375 lbs. I'd been watching videos and reading about IF for a while, and decided to just try it over a weekend, basically just skipping breakfast and using an 8 hour eating window. That weekend was easy, and based on everything I'd heard, the hardest part was the first few days, so I figured why not keep it going. It got even easier for me that Monday going into the work week. If you stay busy it's easier to not be hungry during the fasting periods. That actually has a double effect for me, because when I am fasted I have WAY more energy to do stuff and stay busy.

And that's the thing for me - there's a ton of double benefits. If you look at the research on IF it helps burn fat because your body switches to using fat for fuel instead of glucose once you've fasted for 10-12 hours. Which means that even if you ate the same amount of calories in your eating window that would normally be maintenance, you'd loose weight by burning fat because your body is using fat for fuel instead of the food you are eating. You'll find people that argue with this and say a calorie is a calorie. I don't know, but the other effect of IF for me has been that it is pretty much impossible for me to eat the same amount of calories I used to eat. I've trained myself to recognize what "hungry" actually means, and when I do eat, I get full much more quickly.

I mentioned above that I have more energy. Part of that is based on getting more regular sleep. I typically start my fast at around 7pm. I used to go to sleep around 11:30, but since I know I can't snack on anything, I've been going to bed pretty much right after we put the kids to sleep, around 9pm. Then I wake up on my own at 5am, completely energized. That made it possible for me to start exercising regularly. I'm just doing HIIT cardio in the morning now, every morning. I've never in my life been able to get up early in the morning to exercise. I get another double benefit with this - after I do fasted cardio that energy really carries into my workday. The couple days I skipped working out in the morning I really felt groggy. That's given me the motivation to stay consistent with it.

I started out with an 8 hour eating window of 11am to 7pm. Now I do 3pm-7pm, so I'm fasting for 20 hours. It's flexible - if I do have a day when I'm really hungry at lunch I might move that window earlier and eat at 1, and I'll just start fasting at 5. If I'm not hungry at 3, I'll stretch the fast out and just eat dinner, so some days I end up doing OMAD (one meal a day) or even a full 24 hour fast.

The last thing I'll mention is the double benefit of doing low carb along with IF. I'd known about keto/low carb diets having a similar effect of switching the body to using fat for fuel instead of sugar. But I've NEVER been able to stick with anything like that. But when doing IF the carb cravings are gone, so I am also doing lazy keto now. I don't flip out if I eat something that has a few grams of carbs, and I'll have cheat meals every now and then that will have carbs also, as long as they are during my eating window. But this is the first time I've been abgle to stay with a low carb diet for longer than a month - both low carb and IF make each other more easy to do.

Sorry I wasn't planning on typing all that out...TL/DR - I love intermittent fasting.