Women IFers -- lets chat about protocols! page 5

[zoebird]

I couldn't say why it happens.

But there are so many ways to IF. For example, you could just eat normally for 5 days, and choose any two days a week to do a 25% of normal caloric intake day. Some friends of ours do that, and they are doing very well on it. They find it much easier than the 16/8.

[Leida]

(Sigh) did not work today again. I will try early supper tonight. AGAIN. Tomorrow I am going to start adding legumes to my meals as per Ferris/Hydeman, and see if I can manage to stay fuller & maintain 14 hours break that way.

[InSearchOfAbs]

1.) Leida, you need to clean out your message box. Don't make me fly to Canada to pinch
you to make you do it.

2.) I IF every day but not really consciously.

We usually eat dinner around 6pm and then I don't eat again until 1pm the next day - so what
is that, 19hrs? Something like that.

However, there are some days that I'm totally fine waiting until 1, but then once I start, man, its on
like ping pong, MAMA EATS..... and then sometimes my mouth just happens to wrap itself around some
chocolate AFTER dinner, so there go my total 19hrs.

But anyway, in the grand scheme of things, never been a breakfast person so "breakfast" is at 1.

I find that if I bake up some yam rounds in the oven, a big HUGE yam, and eat that, it keeps me
incredibly full until dinner. Which is so wacko to me, but whatever works!

Carry on,

Julie

[Leida]

To hear is to obey

I am gonna try to marry Ferris with IF, though how I can eat breakfast 1 hr after waking I dunno, since I am on the bus at the time... I hope within 2 hours after waking is Okay.... though then I need to eat supper at 4 pm.

Why does eating have to be THAT complicated?

[zoebird]

It's not imperative to do it, you know.

I find it easy, so that's why I do it.

[Leida]

I just don't get it what's wrong with me, that's all. Why do I need to eat so much and so often? Why can't I lose fat? Why do I feel sick when I am lower in BF%? Why my caloric deficits are not matching the calculators by such a high margin? Why don't I sleep through the night? I had simplistic answers to those questions, and I tried the simplistic solutions (eat MORE! eat MORE FAT!) and no, it seems to be more complex than that.

Okay, I am focusing on not eating anything but a plate of cabbage or shiritake noodles for the rest of the day. That way I can have breakfast at 4 am and pull off 15 hours fast in the pm.

[zoebird]

Perhaps your body requires a different balance than other people. It's ok, you know, to just be what you are.

[Leida]

I just dunno. I think I have to find something that works. I am attracted to the idea of feeding heavily while working and skipping meals or having very light ones (basically snacks) when I am having fun and relaxing. I did not eat as little as I hoped yesterday, but still managed to stay ~ 1,200 cals for the day, which is good (I was overfeeding over the weekend as per Ferris).

This morning I started with a meal within 1 hour of waking and I am adding 1 c of beans. I will see if I will need light supper of cauliflower and Jel-o or if I can just skip it all together.

[gopintos]

I was doing better following PHD protocol for weight loss. He is normally a high fat fella, but for weight loss, he is more like 30-40% fat. I usually do about a 3 way split. Except over Thanksgiving. We had 2 of them so I gained about 4lbs over 4 days. So I thought I would fast yesterday, maybe follow his fasting guidelines, but I ended up with more protein and calories than I planned, so I just turned it into a LC/HF maybe for a few days.

I forget about the fermented foods being okay while fasting. And bone broths are okay. I have 3 quarts of kraut I made in my pantry. The turkey broth will be done today. I think that is why I was hungry yesterday, the broth smells A-Mazing!!

I might have already said, but I was in such a rut for months and months. IF daily. Usually fast 5 but sometimes 24 and a weekly 36-48. I was not hungry and calories were lowish and I was VHF. And weight loss crawled to a full stop. I somehow missed the part about needing to refeed uggh. So switching to the 3 way split w/adding starches, and then doing the tator fast really got things moving again. So now I am more mindful of my calories, trying to mix them up with some high end of my "weight loss range" with some low days, and also mindful of the carbs, trying to mix some high days and low days. That was working until Thanksgiving. I say high days, not even close to SAD levels. But even if I go into the "insidious weight gain" part of the curve, I still lose weight (not including Thanksgiving) but as a normal rule.

So yesterday I thought I would fast but had more protein and calories than I planned, so I thought maybe I would do LC/HF again for a few days since I havent done that for about 2 months now. And then I might do a tator fast next week or towards the middle of the month when I seem to gain.

Fasting was just not working for me for weight loss. I would lose but then gain it right back, but I think that was because I was going right back to the LC/HF which I had been doing for months on end. The last fast I did, I went from the fast straight into PHD 3-way split w/adding tators and continued to lose for a couple of days and then went right into tator fast for a few days and kept on losing.

So anyways, I am still trying to figure it all out. I was losing more weight when I didnt know anything :P And I am not close to goal either.

OH, I forgot to add, I did lose 2.2 pounds from yesterday until this morning I figured my gain was mostly water as I really didnt do all that badly over Thanksgiving.

[zoebird]

Leida,

I now see what people were fussing about on the other thread. Looking at your photos, I see no reason why you need to loose more weight -- particularly at your height. It is likely that you are struggling because you're moving below healthy ranges of calories and you should consider gaining weight.

By that, I mean gaining muscle -- which means that you'll need to increase daily calories (probably upwards of 15-800), and then you'll be able to fast with no problems, loose fat, and gain muscle. . . which will make you look leaner as well (which is probably the look you are going for).

Just a thought.