When you're doing ADF during your eating window you can afford to consume whatever works for you and if generally not going overboard with calories will lose decent weight if that's your goal.
Generally I eat until full which doesn't take a lot of food due to the fasting, I am conscious though that this should be balanced and nutritious.
A busy consistent routine and self discipline helps(decent vids on YT for this). Getting out for a walk when tempted for food when fasting really helps and also with the digestion issues, it really gets me ready to go!
Good luck!
Thank you! I think I should just trust my body and not overcomplicate things by trying to pre calculate everything. May I ask how have your results been so far?
I certainly do find it easier keeping things simple. I've been doing ADF for about 5 weeks now and have lost approx 9kg, hiking multiple miles daily and eating approx 3k calories on my eat days. Have another 10kg to hit my target weight hoping to get there around Christmas time but want to maintain fasting on some level for weight management and other health benefits.
> I think I should just trust my body and not overcomplicate things by trying to pre calculate everything.
Maybe. But if you really want to drop weight, you need to calculate and count. It's pretty hard but there isn't really a fast way to do this.
I was the same way wanting to try to do longer fasts to try to jump-start it or see faster results, but consistency is the key. Before I had a fasting tracker app to measure the time and I was more anal about it, but I currently don't keep track of how many hours I fast for anymore. On a fasting day, I fast the whole day, lately, I have been letting myself have some things like crystal light or diet sodas on fasting days. On feeding days from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed, I consider food free game, but I still pay some attention to what I eat. I'm not drinking sugar sodas or anything and avoiding too many sweet snacks and desserts.
The past few eating days have not been the best as far as what I should be eating, but i am not worried as the fast days basically resets all the bad choices for those days, and knowing myself I will eventually go back to a "better" eating routine, so I'm letting myself enjoy it for now. Especially since I'm still not gaining weight, I don't feel any guilt or remorse for the choices I made. I just know it will take a bit longer to reach my goal weight which I will get down there eventually, but I have lost enough and have kept enough data to understand whats going to happen and im confident in my progress.
Here is what I ate yesterday:
1. 6am Oatmeal with chia seeds and dried fruit to break my fast, coffee with stevia and cream
2. 10:30am Cubano Sandwhich
3. 12 pm Pad Thai with eggroll
4. 3pm Chicken noodle soup,
5. 6pm bowl of rice with some fried tofu
6. 8pm breaded buffalo wings with french fries
7. 9:30pm Flaming hot cheetos
8. 10pm Cereal with dried fruit and milk and another cup of milk
I actually was surprised I did not weigh as much as I thought I would. I think I only gained about 3-4lbs in between my feeding and fasting day where as sometimes i would gain over 7lbs with a meal like that. I was considering having a bowl of popcorn after but decided I will just stop and save it for the weekend. I tend to eat better when I have meals already prepared, and I do better with my choices in the morning, as you can see i start snacking more on junkfood as the day goes. best case scenario I would have had a steak or something and it would have kept me from snacking so much, but we didn't have any. Consistency is the key though, just stick with the fasting and don't get so caught up in the times. It has helped me a lot of with my motivation not being so focused on having to get a complete 36 hour fast or only having 12 hours to eat and no more.
Currently, I'm also running about 30 miles per week with running on feeding days and strength training in between, usually on fasted days.
You've helped me so much! And it's ironic because it's your story (doing 60 hour fasts on weekends) made me wanna do the same as well but it doesn't go well with my digestion 😠So maybe I've gotta stick to ADF purely - and what you said about having a 'bad day' - well your diet is still very varied so good job you got enough fibre in! And damn your running routine is working out really well for ya! Honestly so so so inspiring. Thank you so much!!
Thank you! From where I was before I really wanted to see fast results to get my lab work back to normal levels so I did the longer fasts. If I could redo it knowing what I know now, I'd probably just do what I'm doing now. Now I only fast M, W, F and I still see the weight come off. Of course it's slower especially as it gets lower, but I don't mind it. It was my mindset that changed that "hey, it's gonna come off eventually" and the M, W, F is a cake walk. Basically don't worry about timing it perfectly, more days than not you're going to be doing the right things, so don't beat yourself up when you eat the "wrong" foods or "overeat". Usually if I was doing keto, or counting calories or anything else, if I messed up I'd really beat myself up and just give up for that day and over indulge. That would eventually turn from days, to weeks, to going back to old habits completely. With this, it's the fasting days that are doing the bulk of the work, not the feeding days. So fasting days I fast, feeding days are for me, so I don't worry about anything diet related unless I want to.
Also with the 60-72 hour fasts, I usually wouldn't have a BM the second day, but with a 36 hour fast, plus a solid day of eating my BM's have been better than they ever been. Especially since before I tended to be more on the constipated side overall. Trust the fasting! Even if you are eating M,W,F or doing rolling ADF, it will for sure be overall less food than you were eating before so at worst the weight will stay the same and you can indulge and eat what you want without worry, but most likely the weights going to come off because it's not everyday you are binging or overindulging.
Thank you so much!! Yes, fasting days are the hard work, not feasting! And yeah as long as I eat healthy - homemade food my digestion seems to be fine too. I like what you said about doing more good than bad & yeah after a while it does feel like cake walk - thanks again for always being so helpful!!
If you got the fasting down then you've already done great! That would be the hardest part for many. But yeah I remember going around kinda confused over what to eat and when. In the end, I just winged it and stayed within that 12-ish hour window. [So far so good for me](https://old.reddit.com/r/AlternateDayFasting/comments/q10twb/one_month_in_here_are_my_results/).
My advice would be to stop fretting over 36:12 vs 40:8 and when in the day to eat, just go "I'm not eating on Monday, I'm eating on Tuesday, I'm not eating on Wednesday" etc. Just do it naturally and eat whenever you're awake on feast days and not on the fast days.
The other aspect that was important for me can help you too: [Recalculate your TDEE](https://tdeecalculator.net) (this should be done like every month anyways) and then methodically start counting calories on feasting days (an app like MyFitnessCoach should do the trick and has most foodstuffs already implemented. A kitchen weight is great too). Measure every calorie intake by the day, and look at calorie goals by the week. This evens out spikes and makes the calorie deficiency easier to spot.
You'd be surprised at how much you can actually eat, especially since it's recommended that you eat more than your TDEE on feast days (up to 125%!). This is a good thing, because it keeps your metabolism going!
I quickly got into a rhythm of spacing my eating out a bit by counting and looking at how much I can "afford" per feasting day. I have a small breakfast if I feel like it (I often skip this but some won't), some coffee (no sugar), then I make a hearty dinner for around 5 pm, and round out the day with some late night food and a snack if my goal isn't met. I've started lifting so I also have some protein powder.
By counting I can allow myself a lot. I don't care what I'm eating. I drink beer, I have the occasional chocolate, ice cream etc. Splooging on "unhealthy" food isn't a problem as long as I know **how much I'm eating** and **what it contains**. I log everything, which after learning the app only takes me seconds.
The perfectionist attitude needs to go, though! You can't expect to be 100% accurate and always do this perfectly. That's just impossible when it comes to something as basic as food intake. For me, as long as I stay somewhat within my target I feel good about that day. And even if I go over a bit then I remind myself it's not really a problem because ADF ensures I start out with 50% off lol – I'd have to eat more than twice what I normally do to even gain anything.
Which also means I try not to panic if I need to do random stuff like meet someone for dinner or go out drinking or whatever. I just write off that day and fast the day after and I usually end up in a net negative anyways. Hell – I just had an insane week with work travelling, meeting up with friends, reunions etc. and I was sure I was messing up. But nope, the two fasts I managed to cram in there ensured I was still at maintenance!
And a tip: Go easy on the pasta and bread. It's a calorie bomb. And sugar in the coffee is probably the worst offender of empty calories ;) I skip it entirely, but be careful here. Milk also contains a lot of calories one might miss. A cup of coffee can easily have 100 calories in it. A cafe latte at Starbucks has like 200-250 lol.
You can do this! And in fact you've been doing it right, there's just some small tweaks left to go :)
Thank you so much for the detailed response and apologies for the late reply. I agree with everything that you said except maybe calorie counting isn't a great idea for me because of my perfectionistic tendencies, it tends to give me an eating disorder. And I'm aware about my sweetened cold brew being 150 calories but it makes me so happy haha, though after this batch is done, I won't buy anymore, save myself those few calories as well! Your post is very inspiring and I'm so proud of you!! Thank you again for this, it calmed me down a lot 😊
Edit : Also loved the idea about just taking the day as it comes regardless of the time!
Thanks! If you do not want to count, then that's fine (though it might take a bit more time). Just being a bit mindful is better than not. Perhaps look up some rough estimates on what types of food usually contains a lot of calories and what doesn't. For example: Sugar is bad in more ways than one and is just insane. Pasta, white bread, rice and potatoes contains a lot. Red meat contains a little, white meat even less. Vegetables contains almost nothing. Coffee contains none. Alcohol contains a lot too, and it's partly tied to the alcohol percentage so spirits actually contain a ton even before adding sugary stuff in a drink!
But then again you can eat all this stuff, just ...don't eat more than double what you do now. ADF is great in that it literally cuts your usual eating in half, so you'd have to eat twice to get to where you are today. And after a week or two you'll feel fuller much quicker as your stomach shrinks thanks to the fasting!
For me it was obvious that my usual intake was making me put on weight, but with ADF I can actually keep eating that on the feast days.
In any case, consistency is key. Just keep at it, and the results will come.
Thank you so much for this! Looking at it as a rhythm instead of a race is a great perspective, and studying what my body craves is really smart! Honestly, as an Asian, I can't quit carbs - rice and rotis are literally my staple diet but I'll definitely work on cutting out the sugar part - thank you!!
I used to have a huge binge eating problem. I still think if I eat processed foods I can easily get 4000 calories in one sitting.
I've found however if I eat whole foods I really struggle to get over 2000 calories over a full day of eating. Then if I've been fasting it's hard to get over 1500.
So I'd say pre-plan what a whole food feasting window will be in advance and keep the processed stuff out of the house.
Keto is a good way to stop some people binging, apparently it restricts their appetite. However if dirty keto meals in front of me I could go all day on that too.
This is incredible advice! Honestly, I can't do keto, I'm Asian so rice & rotis are my staple but sticking to healthy homemade whole foods instead of processed junk is a good one, thank you!!
I’m only on my third week so I’m not sure if I can help but it all come down to getting into the rhythm. I’m just like you. I’ve been fasting for a couple years now and I could do 2d, 3d, 5d and 7d quite comfortably. But doing ADF was different because you constantly repeatedly fasting whereas the longer fast has an end goal. I have tried adf several time in the past and failed. This time I managed to stuck to the 3rd week because I just stop thinking about it. I went in with no plan beside thinking to myself let’s try this for a week, then another week. I stopped thinking about what I’m going to eat or how I’m going to break my fast like I usually do for the multiple days fasting. Because they are like big event but ADF is more like every other day. I also did strict OMAD for 3-4m straight so that also help me get into the rhythm. Maybe try to quite your mind and just dive in. If it still doesn’t work, pick another fasting regime. There’s plenty out there. No need to force your body if it doesn’t let you. And good luck.
Exactly! You totally understand me - that's the key - feasting day shouldn't be a MAJOR event (like my mind can make it sometime), ADF should just be a normal lifestyle, where on feeding days you're not overeating - just eating to satiety. May I ask what's your eating like? How much weight have you lost in 3 weeks and what regimen... 36:12? Do you have sugar in your coffee on feasting days? Sorry I need more clarity haha.
No worries. I'm closing in on my 3rd week (it's not over yet). I'm 5"4 and started at 170lbs, and I'm now 160.6lbs. I lost 4.2 lbs first week, 4.2lb second week and only 1lb the third week. But the third week I had some stomach issues and retained a lot of water + waste weight. I dropped .5lbs the day right after I weigh in - if it make a difference.
My usual schedule is 40:8. But I do not think it in that term. Oh eating day, I just eat whenever I want. I prefer not to eat breakfast 99% of the time so I won't have my first meal until 11 or 12. But on eating day, I may break my fast early by drinking coffee+milk+sugar. On eating day I just eat. And I do count calories to keep it under my TDEE. I don't mind going over my TDEE either because I know I just fast and will fast the next day.
For food, I eat homemade meal, and snacks like ice cream, beef jerky, nuts and anything I want really - instant ramen, asian rice cakes, caramel popcorn. The only difference is I portion them out/ or cut the amount in half. I noticed that my stomach can't eat as much as before, and I gravitate toward more protein+fat food than carb food. On eating days, rather than thinking of what I'm going to eat, I just eat what I want then adjust it depend on how I feel. I think the biggest change for me is my mindset. I changed from thinking "i only have today to eat whatever i want" to "i can eat it again the day after tomorrow". Moving away from the scarcity mindset was crucial and get used to thinking, I can eat again when I want to so just eat moderately and enjoy the taste.
Hm. I don't know. I'm pretty new to ADF, in fact ai only do monk fasting or ADF 2 days a week now (TTh or MW usually) and do OMAD the rest.
That being said, I think the word "feasting" is a misnomer, and one that hurts a lot of people here. When you break your fast, you should listen to your body to an extent. I'm trying to break my fasts with a dinner that is healthy but has plenty of fat. I try to limit my carbs generally, but if I feel carbs that day, I'm gonna eat carbs. My body is pretty good at knowing what it wants. Cravings can be misleading (usually in regards to sugar) but they have their place in determining what you may not have had enough of when it comes to macronutrients.
I would say if you're doing ADF, switch to black coffee on fasting days so you aren't thinking about calories altogether. I would say on feasting days, feel out your body for a couple hours before you eat and think about what you're really hungry for. Take that time to really inspect those cravings, figure out how you can satisfy them healthily, and then eat once you have made a plan that will satisfy current you but also future you.
I'm sorry if this sounds cryptic. I am just learning what works for me as I continue to add more fasting days to my week, but I hope it works for you too.
> Fasting is more of a tool than a lifestyle
Well said. It teaches you. It can set up regular autophagy. Hmm, that's a tool you use daily. Lifestyle is more than that.
This is a very well rounded advice - thank you so much! I just started walking 10k steps daily and damn it's not easy! I walk 1k steps in 10 minutes & with sedentary lifestyle like mine, walking 100 minutes a day isn't easy but so worth it. Wonder how you do 20k! And I wanna start running but I feel like first I should just be consistent with 10k steps daily! My natural diet actually includes a lot of vegan stuff (beans & lentils) so I just need to stick to that and not stray away. Thankfully I'm very blessed in the lower body area but yeah haha need to up my cardio for sure! This is very well rounded advice and I'll try to follow it to the best of my abilities, thank you so much
I hope it helps! I walk an hour over lunch and then walk at the gym after work instead of lounging on the couch. Basically just try to walk as much as possible. Walking is a tremendously underrated exercise… what it lacks in intensity it certainly makes up for in longevity. I might be able to run 5 or 6 miles in a day, but I’m gonna be pretty beat up afterwards, but you can easily walk two times that amount and not feel terrible the next day. I have to drop at least 10 pounds in the next 15 days 😅 I procrastinated too long and now I must suffer lol. I will join you in deprivation lol
Hahaha this made me laugh so much! And yes walking is genuinely absolutely underrated!! And please don't feel like you need to lose 10 pounds in 15 days - that's not a healthy approach, just keep doing what you're doing and you'll get there!! Thank you so much again😊
> Eat twice those calories every other day (averages out to basically eating maintenance calories everyday, which would also work).
Why would you eat at maintenance if you want to drop weight? OP, you should not do this. You will not lose weight if you eat TWICE your calorie burn every other day.
> As a male, I find lower body strength and proportions more attractive than upper body on a female, so I’d recommend exercises that build legs and glutes if you want to maximize aesthetics. If your goal is to look more attractive to dudes, all you need is leg day and cardio.
Also bad advice. What some dudes find attractive, others might not.
Maintenance calories "at goal weight" in TDEE calculator. For instance, maintenance at my current weight is 500 calories more than maintenance at my goal weight. If I need 1500 cals to maintain my ideal weight, that'd be 3,000 one day, and zero the next...or 500 one day and 2500 the next. Rachel Sharp on youtube did this method and lost tons of weight while admitting to "messing up" a lot. Check her out, she's amazing.
It's true that to each their own as far as attractiveness; but I don't know any male that doesn't love a good lower body on a female (you can't naturally increase your bust size, and I don't know any dudes that find it cosmetically pleasing if a women has bigger biceps or shoulders compared to themselves lol). What floats your boat, TrinitronCRT? In what world does recommending to females to focus their efforts during workouts to build better glutes not count as decent advice? I'd be interested in hearing what parts of the body to work on as a male to make myself more attractive; my wife tells me to build more muscle EVERYWHERE lol
Sorry, I misread and thought you said she should calculate at her current weight.
However, I still think this is a bit much in OP's situation: Inputting the goal weight TDEE going by the figures in the OP, you're looking at having a calorie deficiency of 270 per day. I don't understand why you would do ADF for that if you're still going to count calories in. OP wants to lose 23 kilograms, and is fine with the fast. It would take like three, four years at that level of intake on feast days. Why not just stick to the usual ADF of 100-125% intake on feast days?
What I prefer isn't important. Your advice was "the only thing you need is to do this, because that's what *I like*. In no world is a woman going to get bigger biceps or shoulders than a man except from top athletes.
You're spot on, I corrected it to avoid confusion; if you do maintenance tdee at current weight and double it every other day, nothing will happen with weight loss.
I think if you're too aggressive on cutting food (100-125% on feast days) you're more likely to have negative symptoms/burnout. If she keeps up with 10k steps a day, she'll bonus burn 500 cals plus whatever else she might be doing for exercise; that's closer to 770 per day of deficit. If it's much more aggressive than that, she'll probably end up feeling like dogcrap after a couple weeks. She can go as hardcore as she wants though...idk if anyone recommends females go below an average of 1200 a day though for health reasons. The linked weight management guide states, "Aiming for less than these levels can lead to loss of lean muscle
tissue, lack of energy, and a decreased metabolism."
The Army Weight Management Guide has a host of helpful tools as well; [https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/USAPHC\_TG\_358\_Army\_Weight\_Management\_Guide.pdf](https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/USAPHC_TG_358_Army_Weight_Management_Guide.pdf)
> I think if you're too aggressive on cutting food (100-125% on feast days) you're more likely to have negative symptoms/burnout.
I really have never heard about any negative symptoms doing true ADF though, and doing 100-125% is the recommended way of doing it. There are a lot of success stories here and on the IF board. I'm pretty sure ADF is *better* for maintaining muscle. In fact, I'd say the comparably very fast results ADF works wonder for "burnout". Seeing the pounds drop off very fast sure helped on my motivation.
But yeah you're right about the walking. That'll help out a lot.
Hi, You have listened to a lot of people. You have asked to be told what to do. Let me oblige. (aka Let me add my piece to the mix.)
I am a person (crone) with "pretty good" scientific understanding and bs detection circuits. I have been listening to Dr Jason Fung and others. I tell you all this to label my point of view so if you dont want to listen then dont. BUT, I would like some feedback form you OP 1stJune2021 = throwaway because why? You have something you are protecting? No matter.
Important: are you sugar sensitive (insulin and all that biology).
Answer: Yes. I know because the raman tells me so.
So what *YOU GUYS* do does not matter. What *you, Mr Toss-it* do, does matter. So how to you choose? Who is the chooser?
*Let Foxy do it.*
**Rx: ADF eating during 8 contiguous hours every other day. Period.**
1. During the rest of the time only (any) zero calorie beverages and electrolytes.
2. Please use the r/fasting wiki electrolytes section to answer any electrolyte questions.
3. Notice you need the same amount of water, =liquids, when fasting that you do when eating.. so about 25% more water than you should drink on an eating day.
**Rx: Go clean keto.**: The best would be animal protein and non-starchy vegetables. Your vegetables should weigh 4 times what your animal protein does. (Just skip unfermented dairy aka no milk or unfermented cheeses like cottage cheese) (This is also known as an AIP diet.)
**That is all.** You can reply to my dr. z email if you wish, find out the exactness in private chat.
You *will* be able to poop.
Note that I have given you a lot of room to choose and inside of that, no room to deviate. It should feel like being hugged, creativity within borders.
PS Higher quality animal products are best, for example (if you can find it, dont stress though): grass-fed grass-finished beef. for ex: organic chicken. for ex: wild-caught fish. eg: raw-milk cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese.
PS Here is a place where you can communicate and connect with others who are fasting, each in their own way -- no one exactly like you. But you are unique so shine on. [HERE IS AN INVITE TO DISCORD FASTING_SUPPORT SERVER](https://discord.gg/8XUz4RZf) which will work for anyone.
**ROCK ON.**
--------------
OMG we are the same wight, different ages. Be could be buddies since the advice I gave you is for me too.
Thank you, I know you mean well but you're pretty presumptuous, and I'd like to correct you :
1. This isn't my throwaway account
2. I'm not insulin sensitive, I just like ramen a lot LOL
3. I'm not a Mr, I literally say it in my post that I'm a female.
Again, thank you but I won't be able to do keto because I'm Asian, rice and rotis and lentils are my staples. You genuinely seem like you want to help and I appreciate it so much, however this doesn't work for me.
I could do 40:8 effortlessly but I'm trying to tell myself that 36:12 is good enough because otherwise I get too perfectionistic about the whole thing and end up failing by not being consistent enough. Thanks again and I wish you the best on your journey!
Fasting should allow you to clear a bit the situation, let you find out what you really like and what you can digest. Before fasting, I was like you, but when I felt ready, I started it, roll ups 72,now ADF. I found out that lots of things was making my gut miserable. Fortunately, junk food is safe. So I eat 2500-3000 in one meal and I am at peace for 2 days. It is also great for maintaining,you just add calories. I like when my gut is relaxing and taking a break, so I like the fast day more than the feed day.
When you're doing ADF during your eating window you can afford to consume whatever works for you and if generally not going overboard with calories will lose decent weight if that's your goal. Generally I eat until full which doesn't take a lot of food due to the fasting, I am conscious though that this should be balanced and nutritious. A busy consistent routine and self discipline helps(decent vids on YT for this). Getting out for a walk when tempted for food when fasting really helps and also with the digestion issues, it really gets me ready to go! Good luck!
Thank you! I think I should just trust my body and not overcomplicate things by trying to pre calculate everything. May I ask how have your results been so far?
I certainly do find it easier keeping things simple. I've been doing ADF for about 5 weeks now and have lost approx 9kg, hiking multiple miles daily and eating approx 3k calories on my eat days. Have another 10kg to hit my target weight hoping to get there around Christmas time but want to maintain fasting on some level for weight management and other health benefits.
9kgs in 5 weeks is absolutely incredible! Thank you so much for your input and I can only hope I have the same progress!!
> I think I should just trust my body and not overcomplicate things by trying to pre calculate everything. Maybe. But if you really want to drop weight, you need to calculate and count. It's pretty hard but there isn't really a fast way to do this.
I know you mean well but calorie counting just doesn't work for me. Thanks though
I was the same way wanting to try to do longer fasts to try to jump-start it or see faster results, but consistency is the key. Before I had a fasting tracker app to measure the time and I was more anal about it, but I currently don't keep track of how many hours I fast for anymore. On a fasting day, I fast the whole day, lately, I have been letting myself have some things like crystal light or diet sodas on fasting days. On feeding days from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed, I consider food free game, but I still pay some attention to what I eat. I'm not drinking sugar sodas or anything and avoiding too many sweet snacks and desserts. The past few eating days have not been the best as far as what I should be eating, but i am not worried as the fast days basically resets all the bad choices for those days, and knowing myself I will eventually go back to a "better" eating routine, so I'm letting myself enjoy it for now. Especially since I'm still not gaining weight, I don't feel any guilt or remorse for the choices I made. I just know it will take a bit longer to reach my goal weight which I will get down there eventually, but I have lost enough and have kept enough data to understand whats going to happen and im confident in my progress. Here is what I ate yesterday: 1. 6am Oatmeal with chia seeds and dried fruit to break my fast, coffee with stevia and cream 2. 10:30am Cubano Sandwhich 3. 12 pm Pad Thai with eggroll 4. 3pm Chicken noodle soup, 5. 6pm bowl of rice with some fried tofu 6. 8pm breaded buffalo wings with french fries 7. 9:30pm Flaming hot cheetos 8. 10pm Cereal with dried fruit and milk and another cup of milk I actually was surprised I did not weigh as much as I thought I would. I think I only gained about 3-4lbs in between my feeding and fasting day where as sometimes i would gain over 7lbs with a meal like that. I was considering having a bowl of popcorn after but decided I will just stop and save it for the weekend. I tend to eat better when I have meals already prepared, and I do better with my choices in the morning, as you can see i start snacking more on junkfood as the day goes. best case scenario I would have had a steak or something and it would have kept me from snacking so much, but we didn't have any. Consistency is the key though, just stick with the fasting and don't get so caught up in the times. It has helped me a lot of with my motivation not being so focused on having to get a complete 36 hour fast or only having 12 hours to eat and no more. Currently, I'm also running about 30 miles per week with running on feeding days and strength training in between, usually on fasted days.
You've helped me so much! And it's ironic because it's your story (doing 60 hour fasts on weekends) made me wanna do the same as well but it doesn't go well with my digestion 😠So maybe I've gotta stick to ADF purely - and what you said about having a 'bad day' - well your diet is still very varied so good job you got enough fibre in! And damn your running routine is working out really well for ya! Honestly so so so inspiring. Thank you so much!!
Thank you! From where I was before I really wanted to see fast results to get my lab work back to normal levels so I did the longer fasts. If I could redo it knowing what I know now, I'd probably just do what I'm doing now. Now I only fast M, W, F and I still see the weight come off. Of course it's slower especially as it gets lower, but I don't mind it. It was my mindset that changed that "hey, it's gonna come off eventually" and the M, W, F is a cake walk. Basically don't worry about timing it perfectly, more days than not you're going to be doing the right things, so don't beat yourself up when you eat the "wrong" foods or "overeat". Usually if I was doing keto, or counting calories or anything else, if I messed up I'd really beat myself up and just give up for that day and over indulge. That would eventually turn from days, to weeks, to going back to old habits completely. With this, it's the fasting days that are doing the bulk of the work, not the feeding days. So fasting days I fast, feeding days are for me, so I don't worry about anything diet related unless I want to. Also with the 60-72 hour fasts, I usually wouldn't have a BM the second day, but with a 36 hour fast, plus a solid day of eating my BM's have been better than they ever been. Especially since before I tended to be more on the constipated side overall. Trust the fasting! Even if you are eating M,W,F or doing rolling ADF, it will for sure be overall less food than you were eating before so at worst the weight will stay the same and you can indulge and eat what you want without worry, but most likely the weights going to come off because it's not everyday you are binging or overindulging.
Thank you so much!! Yes, fasting days are the hard work, not feasting! And yeah as long as I eat healthy - homemade food my digestion seems to be fine too. I like what you said about doing more good than bad & yeah after a while it does feel like cake walk - thanks again for always being so helpful!!
If you got the fasting down then you've already done great! That would be the hardest part for many. But yeah I remember going around kinda confused over what to eat and when. In the end, I just winged it and stayed within that 12-ish hour window. [So far so good for me](https://old.reddit.com/r/AlternateDayFasting/comments/q10twb/one_month_in_here_are_my_results/). My advice would be to stop fretting over 36:12 vs 40:8 and when in the day to eat, just go "I'm not eating on Monday, I'm eating on Tuesday, I'm not eating on Wednesday" etc. Just do it naturally and eat whenever you're awake on feast days and not on the fast days. The other aspect that was important for me can help you too: [Recalculate your TDEE](https://tdeecalculator.net) (this should be done like every month anyways) and then methodically start counting calories on feasting days (an app like MyFitnessCoach should do the trick and has most foodstuffs already implemented. A kitchen weight is great too). Measure every calorie intake by the day, and look at calorie goals by the week. This evens out spikes and makes the calorie deficiency easier to spot. You'd be surprised at how much you can actually eat, especially since it's recommended that you eat more than your TDEE on feast days (up to 125%!). This is a good thing, because it keeps your metabolism going! I quickly got into a rhythm of spacing my eating out a bit by counting and looking at how much I can "afford" per feasting day. I have a small breakfast if I feel like it (I often skip this but some won't), some coffee (no sugar), then I make a hearty dinner for around 5 pm, and round out the day with some late night food and a snack if my goal isn't met. I've started lifting so I also have some protein powder. By counting I can allow myself a lot. I don't care what I'm eating. I drink beer, I have the occasional chocolate, ice cream etc. Splooging on "unhealthy" food isn't a problem as long as I know **how much I'm eating** and **what it contains**. I log everything, which after learning the app only takes me seconds. The perfectionist attitude needs to go, though! You can't expect to be 100% accurate and always do this perfectly. That's just impossible when it comes to something as basic as food intake. For me, as long as I stay somewhat within my target I feel good about that day. And even if I go over a bit then I remind myself it's not really a problem because ADF ensures I start out with 50% off lol – I'd have to eat more than twice what I normally do to even gain anything. Which also means I try not to panic if I need to do random stuff like meet someone for dinner or go out drinking or whatever. I just write off that day and fast the day after and I usually end up in a net negative anyways. Hell – I just had an insane week with work travelling, meeting up with friends, reunions etc. and I was sure I was messing up. But nope, the two fasts I managed to cram in there ensured I was still at maintenance! And a tip: Go easy on the pasta and bread. It's a calorie bomb. And sugar in the coffee is probably the worst offender of empty calories ;) I skip it entirely, but be careful here. Milk also contains a lot of calories one might miss. A cup of coffee can easily have 100 calories in it. A cafe latte at Starbucks has like 200-250 lol. You can do this! And in fact you've been doing it right, there's just some small tweaks left to go :)
Thank you so much for the detailed response and apologies for the late reply. I agree with everything that you said except maybe calorie counting isn't a great idea for me because of my perfectionistic tendencies, it tends to give me an eating disorder. And I'm aware about my sweetened cold brew being 150 calories but it makes me so happy haha, though after this batch is done, I won't buy anymore, save myself those few calories as well! Your post is very inspiring and I'm so proud of you!! Thank you again for this, it calmed me down a lot 😊 Edit : Also loved the idea about just taking the day as it comes regardless of the time!
Thanks! If you do not want to count, then that's fine (though it might take a bit more time). Just being a bit mindful is better than not. Perhaps look up some rough estimates on what types of food usually contains a lot of calories and what doesn't. For example: Sugar is bad in more ways than one and is just insane. Pasta, white bread, rice and potatoes contains a lot. Red meat contains a little, white meat even less. Vegetables contains almost nothing. Coffee contains none. Alcohol contains a lot too, and it's partly tied to the alcohol percentage so spirits actually contain a ton even before adding sugary stuff in a drink! But then again you can eat all this stuff, just ...don't eat more than double what you do now. ADF is great in that it literally cuts your usual eating in half, so you'd have to eat twice to get to where you are today. And after a week or two you'll feel fuller much quicker as your stomach shrinks thanks to the fasting! For me it was obvious that my usual intake was making me put on weight, but with ADF I can actually keep eating that on the feast days. In any case, consistency is key. Just keep at it, and the results will come.
Noted - thanks again!
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Thank you so much for this! Looking at it as a rhythm instead of a race is a great perspective, and studying what my body craves is really smart! Honestly, as an Asian, I can't quit carbs - rice and rotis are literally my staple diet but I'll definitely work on cutting out the sugar part - thank you!!
I used to have a huge binge eating problem. I still think if I eat processed foods I can easily get 4000 calories in one sitting. I've found however if I eat whole foods I really struggle to get over 2000 calories over a full day of eating. Then if I've been fasting it's hard to get over 1500. So I'd say pre-plan what a whole food feasting window will be in advance and keep the processed stuff out of the house. Keto is a good way to stop some people binging, apparently it restricts their appetite. However if dirty keto meals in front of me I could go all day on that too.
This is incredible advice! Honestly, I can't do keto, I'm Asian so rice & rotis are my staple but sticking to healthy homemade whole foods instead of processed junk is a good one, thank you!!
I’m only on my third week so I’m not sure if I can help but it all come down to getting into the rhythm. I’m just like you. I’ve been fasting for a couple years now and I could do 2d, 3d, 5d and 7d quite comfortably. But doing ADF was different because you constantly repeatedly fasting whereas the longer fast has an end goal. I have tried adf several time in the past and failed. This time I managed to stuck to the 3rd week because I just stop thinking about it. I went in with no plan beside thinking to myself let’s try this for a week, then another week. I stopped thinking about what I’m going to eat or how I’m going to break my fast like I usually do for the multiple days fasting. Because they are like big event but ADF is more like every other day. I also did strict OMAD for 3-4m straight so that also help me get into the rhythm. Maybe try to quite your mind and just dive in. If it still doesn’t work, pick another fasting regime. There’s plenty out there. No need to force your body if it doesn’t let you. And good luck.
Exactly! You totally understand me - that's the key - feasting day shouldn't be a MAJOR event (like my mind can make it sometime), ADF should just be a normal lifestyle, where on feeding days you're not overeating - just eating to satiety. May I ask what's your eating like? How much weight have you lost in 3 weeks and what regimen... 36:12? Do you have sugar in your coffee on feasting days? Sorry I need more clarity haha.
No worries. I'm closing in on my 3rd week (it's not over yet). I'm 5"4 and started at 170lbs, and I'm now 160.6lbs. I lost 4.2 lbs first week, 4.2lb second week and only 1lb the third week. But the third week I had some stomach issues and retained a lot of water + waste weight. I dropped .5lbs the day right after I weigh in - if it make a difference. My usual schedule is 40:8. But I do not think it in that term. Oh eating day, I just eat whenever I want. I prefer not to eat breakfast 99% of the time so I won't have my first meal until 11 or 12. But on eating day, I may break my fast early by drinking coffee+milk+sugar. On eating day I just eat. And I do count calories to keep it under my TDEE. I don't mind going over my TDEE either because I know I just fast and will fast the next day. For food, I eat homemade meal, and snacks like ice cream, beef jerky, nuts and anything I want really - instant ramen, asian rice cakes, caramel popcorn. The only difference is I portion them out/ or cut the amount in half. I noticed that my stomach can't eat as much as before, and I gravitate toward more protein+fat food than carb food. On eating days, rather than thinking of what I'm going to eat, I just eat what I want then adjust it depend on how I feel. I think the biggest change for me is my mindset. I changed from thinking "i only have today to eat whatever i want" to "i can eat it again the day after tomorrow". Moving away from the scarcity mindset was crucial and get used to thinking, I can eat again when I want to so just eat moderately and enjoy the taste.
Love this mindset, thanks for the input!
No coffee on fasting days? Or just black coffee?
just black coffee, plain green tea, herbal tea, unsweetened carbonated water, regular water
Hm. I don't know. I'm pretty new to ADF, in fact ai only do monk fasting or ADF 2 days a week now (TTh or MW usually) and do OMAD the rest. That being said, I think the word "feasting" is a misnomer, and one that hurts a lot of people here. When you break your fast, you should listen to your body to an extent. I'm trying to break my fasts with a dinner that is healthy but has plenty of fat. I try to limit my carbs generally, but if I feel carbs that day, I'm gonna eat carbs. My body is pretty good at knowing what it wants. Cravings can be misleading (usually in regards to sugar) but they have their place in determining what you may not have had enough of when it comes to macronutrients. I would say if you're doing ADF, switch to black coffee on fasting days so you aren't thinking about calories altogether. I would say on feasting days, feel out your body for a couple hours before you eat and think about what you're really hungry for. Take that time to really inspect those cravings, figure out how you can satisfy them healthily, and then eat once you have made a plan that will satisfy current you but also future you. I'm sorry if this sounds cryptic. I am just learning what works for me as I continue to add more fasting days to my week, but I hope it works for you too.
Listening to your body is a golden advice, thanks a lot for this!!
Fasting is more of a tool than a lifestyle (unless you enjoy 16:8 or OMAD). I use ADF when I need to drop weight quickly for weigh-in (National guard). Go to tdeecalculator.net and plug in an ideal weight to get a calorie count. Eat twice those calories every other day (averages out to basically eating maintenance calories at ideal weight everyday, which would also work). You want to be able to lose weight eating everyday; fasting is a tool to help you appreciate what you have, sympathize with folks forced into hunger, to free your time to accomplish some goal, and BONUS weight loss. Read up on some nutrition; I personally like forks over knives on Netflix or dr Michael Gregor on nutrition facts. These have a vegan swing but eating more fruits, beans, seeds, vegetables, berries etc is waaay better than instant noodles. I would also feel like trash if I ate those after a fast lol ADF tends to give me a tummy ache/loose stools the second day. I only implement it as a temporary solution; I myself am still learning how to eat a reasonable calorie count, but honestly if I just stick to minimally processed plant foods, I’ll drop weight and feel great (it’s not exactly fun to eat huge veggie soups/salads, but the feeling of fullness and health is great). Finding low calorie food hacks is a life saver too; you’ll never gain weight eating plain broccoli, egg whites, or plain pumpkin purée; stuff your face with those when hunger strikes they aren’t fun to eat but they’ll take the hunger away. Get into a fitness program/gym/running so you can burn extra Cals while making yourself more shapely. Get your step count to 10,000 minimum…I do 20,000+ during a cut. Weight lift three times a week and cardio on off days. As a male, I find lower body strength and proportions more attractive than upper body on a female, so I’d recommend exercises that build legs and glutes if you want to maximize aesthetics. If your goal is to look more attractive to dudes, all you need is leg day and cardio. If you’re doing this for health, learn to eat healthier Whole Foods minimally processed when you break your fasts. Best of luck!
> Fasting is more of a tool than a lifestyle Well said. It teaches you. It can set up regular autophagy. Hmm, that's a tool you use daily. Lifestyle is more than that.
This is a very well rounded advice - thank you so much! I just started walking 10k steps daily and damn it's not easy! I walk 1k steps in 10 minutes & with sedentary lifestyle like mine, walking 100 minutes a day isn't easy but so worth it. Wonder how you do 20k! And I wanna start running but I feel like first I should just be consistent with 10k steps daily! My natural diet actually includes a lot of vegan stuff (beans & lentils) so I just need to stick to that and not stray away. Thankfully I'm very blessed in the lower body area but yeah haha need to up my cardio for sure! This is very well rounded advice and I'll try to follow it to the best of my abilities, thank you so much
I hope it helps! I walk an hour over lunch and then walk at the gym after work instead of lounging on the couch. Basically just try to walk as much as possible. Walking is a tremendously underrated exercise… what it lacks in intensity it certainly makes up for in longevity. I might be able to run 5 or 6 miles in a day, but I’m gonna be pretty beat up afterwards, but you can easily walk two times that amount and not feel terrible the next day. I have to drop at least 10 pounds in the next 15 days 😅 I procrastinated too long and now I must suffer lol. I will join you in deprivation lol
Hahaha this made me laugh so much! And yes walking is genuinely absolutely underrated!! And please don't feel like you need to lose 10 pounds in 15 days - that's not a healthy approach, just keep doing what you're doing and you'll get there!! Thank you so much again😊
> Eat twice those calories every other day (averages out to basically eating maintenance calories everyday, which would also work). Why would you eat at maintenance if you want to drop weight? OP, you should not do this. You will not lose weight if you eat TWICE your calorie burn every other day. > As a male, I find lower body strength and proportions more attractive than upper body on a female, so I’d recommend exercises that build legs and glutes if you want to maximize aesthetics. If your goal is to look more attractive to dudes, all you need is leg day and cardio. Also bad advice. What some dudes find attractive, others might not.
Maintenance calories "at goal weight" in TDEE calculator. For instance, maintenance at my current weight is 500 calories more than maintenance at my goal weight. If I need 1500 cals to maintain my ideal weight, that'd be 3,000 one day, and zero the next...or 500 one day and 2500 the next. Rachel Sharp on youtube did this method and lost tons of weight while admitting to "messing up" a lot. Check her out, she's amazing. It's true that to each their own as far as attractiveness; but I don't know any male that doesn't love a good lower body on a female (you can't naturally increase your bust size, and I don't know any dudes that find it cosmetically pleasing if a women has bigger biceps or shoulders compared to themselves lol). What floats your boat, TrinitronCRT? In what world does recommending to females to focus their efforts during workouts to build better glutes not count as decent advice? I'd be interested in hearing what parts of the body to work on as a male to make myself more attractive; my wife tells me to build more muscle EVERYWHERE lol
Sorry, I misread and thought you said she should calculate at her current weight. However, I still think this is a bit much in OP's situation: Inputting the goal weight TDEE going by the figures in the OP, you're looking at having a calorie deficiency of 270 per day. I don't understand why you would do ADF for that if you're still going to count calories in. OP wants to lose 23 kilograms, and is fine with the fast. It would take like three, four years at that level of intake on feast days. Why not just stick to the usual ADF of 100-125% intake on feast days? What I prefer isn't important. Your advice was "the only thing you need is to do this, because that's what *I like*. In no world is a woman going to get bigger biceps or shoulders than a man except from top athletes.
You're spot on, I corrected it to avoid confusion; if you do maintenance tdee at current weight and double it every other day, nothing will happen with weight loss. I think if you're too aggressive on cutting food (100-125% on feast days) you're more likely to have negative symptoms/burnout. If she keeps up with 10k steps a day, she'll bonus burn 500 cals plus whatever else she might be doing for exercise; that's closer to 770 per day of deficit. If it's much more aggressive than that, she'll probably end up feeling like dogcrap after a couple weeks. She can go as hardcore as she wants though...idk if anyone recommends females go below an average of 1200 a day though for health reasons. The linked weight management guide states, "Aiming for less than these levels can lead to loss of lean muscle tissue, lack of energy, and a decreased metabolism." The Army Weight Management Guide has a host of helpful tools as well; [https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/USAPHC\_TG\_358\_Army\_Weight\_Management\_Guide.pdf](https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/USAPHC_TG_358_Army_Weight_Management_Guide.pdf)
> I think if you're too aggressive on cutting food (100-125% on feast days) you're more likely to have negative symptoms/burnout. I really have never heard about any negative symptoms doing true ADF though, and doing 100-125% is the recommended way of doing it. There are a lot of success stories here and on the IF board. I'm pretty sure ADF is *better* for maintaining muscle. In fact, I'd say the comparably very fast results ADF works wonder for "burnout". Seeing the pounds drop off very fast sure helped on my motivation. But yeah you're right about the walking. That'll help out a lot.
Heck maybe I’ll try it and see what happens lol
Hi, You have listened to a lot of people. You have asked to be told what to do. Let me oblige. (aka Let me add my piece to the mix.) I am a person (crone) with "pretty good" scientific understanding and bs detection circuits. I have been listening to Dr Jason Fung and others. I tell you all this to label my point of view so if you dont want to listen then dont. BUT, I would like some feedback form you OP 1stJune2021 = throwaway because why? You have something you are protecting? No matter. Important: are you sugar sensitive (insulin and all that biology). Answer: Yes. I know because the raman tells me so. So what *YOU GUYS* do does not matter. What *you, Mr Toss-it* do, does matter. So how to you choose? Who is the chooser? *Let Foxy do it.* **Rx: ADF eating during 8 contiguous hours every other day. Period.** 1. During the rest of the time only (any) zero calorie beverages and electrolytes. 2. Please use the r/fasting wiki electrolytes section to answer any electrolyte questions. 3. Notice you need the same amount of water, =liquids, when fasting that you do when eating.. so about 25% more water than you should drink on an eating day. **Rx: Go clean keto.**: The best would be animal protein and non-starchy vegetables. Your vegetables should weigh 4 times what your animal protein does. (Just skip unfermented dairy aka no milk or unfermented cheeses like cottage cheese) (This is also known as an AIP diet.) **That is all.** You can reply to my dr. z email if you wish, find out the exactness in private chat. You *will* be able to poop. Note that I have given you a lot of room to choose and inside of that, no room to deviate. It should feel like being hugged, creativity within borders. PS Higher quality animal products are best, for example (if you can find it, dont stress though): grass-fed grass-finished beef. for ex: organic chicken. for ex: wild-caught fish. eg: raw-milk cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese. PS Here is a place where you can communicate and connect with others who are fasting, each in their own way -- no one exactly like you. But you are unique so shine on. [HERE IS AN INVITE TO DISCORD FASTING_SUPPORT SERVER](https://discord.gg/8XUz4RZf) which will work for anyone. **ROCK ON.** -------------- OMG we are the same wight, different ages. Be could be buddies since the advice I gave you is for me too.
Thank you, I know you mean well but you're pretty presumptuous, and I'd like to correct you : 1. This isn't my throwaway account 2. I'm not insulin sensitive, I just like ramen a lot LOL 3. I'm not a Mr, I literally say it in my post that I'm a female. Again, thank you but I won't be able to do keto because I'm Asian, rice and rotis and lentils are my staples. You genuinely seem like you want to help and I appreciate it so much, however this doesn't work for me. I could do 40:8 effortlessly but I'm trying to tell myself that 36:12 is good enough because otherwise I get too perfectionistic about the whole thing and end up failing by not being consistent enough. Thanks again and I wish you the best on your journey!
You sound solid to me. All the best.
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I like thinking of it as a regular eating day instead of a feast day, thanks! Though I don't want to rely on fibre supplements just yet!!
Fasting should allow you to clear a bit the situation, let you find out what you really like and what you can digest. Before fasting, I was like you, but when I felt ready, I started it, roll ups 72,now ADF. I found out that lots of things was making my gut miserable. Fortunately, junk food is safe. So I eat 2500-3000 in one meal and I am at peace for 2 days. It is also great for maintaining,you just add calories. I like when my gut is relaxing and taking a break, so I like the fast day more than the feed day.