[Elly]

 My fees are very reasonable too....

Get out of town!  

[Mark]

Inflammation, the route of all evil. That's always my primary concern when it comes to diet.

[Mark]

I've surprised myself recently. I've done around three weeks now of fasting for 16 hours each day. Initially I aimed for two days a week but very quickly it became much easier.  Only on some days is it a challenge like if I did compound exercises (dead lifts, squats) the previous day. On other days I can sometimes go to 18 hours.

"Diets are easy in the contemplation, difficult in the execution. Intermittent fasting is just the opposite — it’s difficult in the contemplation but easy in the execution."

I really hope I can keep this up for the long-term for weight management and longevity.

[Mark]

What I do which is fairly typical is to eat my last meal sometime around 8pm and then skip breakfast and have lunch. That brings it to around 16 hours of fasting.

As long as you don't binge eat, you shouldn't need to worry much about calories or the type of food you eat within the feeding window. You'll probably end up consuming less calories each day anyway.

[amongsttheleaves]

What I do which is fairly typical is to eat my last meal sometime around 8pm and then skip breakfast and have lunch. That brings it to around 16 hours of fasting.

As long as you don't binge eat, you shouldn't need to worry much about calories or the type of food you eat within the feeding window. You'll probably end up consuming less calories each day anyway.

Interesting, but not sure that would suit me. I used to not eat breakfast but realise now that all that was happening was that I was ending up heading to the biscuits at work at around 11.30/12. The biscuit problem was significant!

I've been making sure I have breakfast now for several months and find that I eat less throughout the day and have had at most 4 biscuits at work since May. I do tend to have breakfast a bit later in the morning though - can't deal with food at 7am - so I probably have a window of between 11-13 hours where I'm not consuming anything other than water or green tea anyway.

[amongsttheleaves]

I don't know what you have for breakfast but what about having it at 11:30 as the cravings start?

The cravings issue was more to do with not having breakfast I think. Since making sure I have breakfast I don't seem to be having these issues. That could all change when the crazy marking schedule happens later this month and in January. I'll have to wait and see.

You're only one hour away from 14:10 which is another common but less popular time restricted eating regime. While presumably less effective for weight loss, it's apparently just about long enough to gain from other fasting related health benefits. So maybe that's better suited for you.

If you are interested enough to set aside two hours, here's a good interview on it:

14:10 seems more feasible for me. I could try and finish eating a little earlier in the evening and eat breakfast a bit later in the morning. I often have late lunch at home, but at work this is a bit tricky during term time - all my teaching currently starts at 2pm and finishes at 5 or 6pm.

Thanks for the link, I'll try and take a look on my train home sometime this week.

[Mark]

Your body goes into starvation mode, and attempts to store fat.

Very common myth but not actually true. Particularly with intraday fasting which is what we're talking about here.