Intermittent Fasting necessary?
 

Doing this low carb lifestyle again, at age 53, better mindset this time I think. My only successes were low carb oriented, trying to lose weight, often not trying at all over the last 25 years. I have an Instagram and everyone is doing what they call keto, which is kind of like Atkins induction until success is achieved. With less protein, added coconut oil or mct oil and from what many successful people are sharing, intermittent fasting. There are many happy stories on this forum I've read over the years. I remember some of you skipping breakfast but intermittent fasting was not an actual thing. Do you think it's necessary to skip a meal or narrow down one's eating window to 8 hours to lose the pounds? I can see how it might be great for breaking stalls but isn't a long term fasting program just calorie restriction made easy by ketosis?

I thought IF was just calorie reduction until I read Dr Jason Fung in 2014, now would recommend his book The Obesity Code. There is a looong standing thread that follows all his work here: https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=472377 IF is about reducing insulin levels, and time restricted eating may also allow autophagy to kick in. Dr Westman has also always kept the plan to "eat when hungry" but practically speaking when you become fat-adapted many members in the clinic support group were eating OMAD. Intermittent Fasting was always a part of the Clinic plans (but not emhasized in the books). This forum does not support extended fasting beyond 24 hours, but is accepted on Dr. Fung's FB pages, etc.

But Is it necessary? No, you can lose weight with three meals a day. A problem is some LCers end up grazing all day, and that makes weight loss harder. The combo of Keto and IF is powerful for reasons other than calorie reduction, consider trying it for yourself, ease into it, making breakfast later in the day. If you don’t like it, an Atkins induction works too. A new study showed the Metabolic advantage to LC, so remaining "keto" makes maintenance easier.

ps: Keto does not require the addition of coconut oil or MCT oil. In fact Dr. Westman discourages it and severely restricts its use. You want to use the fat on your body first. Keto is a fat-burning diet, you want it to burn the right fat.

Fwiw, when I lost over 200 pounds (and then flunked maintenance...), it was with an early dinner (done by 5:30 at the latest usually) and not eating again until 5:30 to 6 am the next day.

It is considered IF if you go as "mild" as a 16/8 plan, where you eat within an 8 hour window, and nothing during the other 16 hours. I have read of folks losing that way.
I belong to a fb group for Dr. Fung's plans as my husband is a newly diagnosed T2 Diabetic and doesn't do FB. I got him the books, found keto recipes to make for him (some eating days he doesn't do keto, but more often he does...not my recommendation, I understand he should pick an approach and stick with it, but he is feeling his way, and I am letting him). He eats tues, thurs and the weekend. I make an approved bone broth for him for his fasting days and he has lost over 80 pounds and brought his a1c back to pre-diabetic.

So...for just weight loss, IF and/or Keto is certainly an intriguing option for many, just know that a window like 16/8 can still be considered IF, if you find you do not want to try a full day (days) of fasting. Many, many folks in this forum know a LOT more about it than I. I am still learning, as is my husband.
Best wishes to you as you find what works best for you.

There's also TRE ( Time Restricted Eating ), which is basically the time from the last time you eat for the day until your first meal of the next day.

I do better eating about 4:30 pm and then not eating again until 6:30 am the next day. That's 13 1/2 hours of not eating, then I usually stick to 3 meals. My schedule and what I'm used to just wouldn't maintain a different schedule. I guess if I reach a plateau and need a kick start, I'll make more of an effort to wait to eat breakfast. I'm trying keto coffee this morning and I'm not that impressed, lol! Greasy coffee, not that great. Going back to low carb dairy or soy creamer tomorrow.

I practice IF, 2 meals a day, but skip dinner not breakfast. I eat breakfast every morning and it is the biggest meal of my day. I then eat usually a late lunch (around 2 pm) but absolutely no food after 6 PM, usually much earlier. Skipping breakfast may be what most people do but it is not essential. What is essential is the extended period of time without food. I aim for between 12/12 and 8/16 eating to non-eating windows. That said, I lost most of my weight just eating 3 meals a day of very low carb.

I'm thinking with low carb, especially the higher fat ratio, IF is good because it helps account for the slower digestion of fat. Even Atkins, or perhaps it was the Drs. Eades that said that ketosis will turn off one's appetite and if you skip breakfast, that's fine. Fat takes much longer to digest and process, so it makes sense that IF would be a natural progression of this whole way of eating. I'm just not quite there yet for the 16:8 schedule.

That depends. My experience was a year-long stall only broken when I did IF 23:1 for one Winter. I remember the 1st 9 days was the hardest. Then it was like the fog lifted.

IMO how we do IF can be very individualized.

I dropped cofffee LONG ago, and drink green tea instead, no cream, no sugar, no AS. Or drink water. OR not drink.

For me, I can skip breakfast. It takes a little work:

Start to push the IF window by eating later into the morning, then move first meal to after 12. Eat two meals a day or 3. Eating after 6 is problematic for me, so I need to increase the fat at the last meal to skip eating after 6. And I get off all AS drinks as well and just drink water. When I was rocking and rolling in ketosis, For a month I could manage just one meal at about 2:00, and go 23/1.

What works for you is what works.

When I started low carb, I ate 3 meals a day. After 6 months or so when I became fully fat adapted and burned fat as my primary fuel, I stopped eating breakfast. I was no longer hungry, and I only eat when hungry. This suits me now, as I fall right into the time restricted eating with a mid-day and a late afternoon meal. Sometimes, I only eat OMAD. Given the time between my last meal of the day and my first meal the next day, it could be called IF. My consumed volume of food is less than when I started, and it's due to me being a fat burner due to very low carb. It's easy this way, but it took a while to adapt. Most of the weight I lost and the health improvements I experienced were when I was not doing IF and was eating 3 meals a day. Becoming experienced in mastering a low carb lifestyle in the beginning enabled me to more easily adopt IF later when I was ready. Depending on one's health circumstances, meaning that there are no immediate health risks, taking a gradual, steady approach works very well.

You will not get into autophagy without fasting -pure and simple. Read about autophagy and then decide what you want to do. Autophagy has also shown benefits of reducing loose skin.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/

This video is a lot easier to understand than all the medical date in the link above. This is brand new information that received the Nobel Prize in 2016. The FDA has been pushing lies for 50 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzIbkyr5QQ&vl=en

Autophagy... a picture is worth a thousand words!
https://www.dietdoctor.com/with-one...nd-lost-200-lbs

Moje, you have already read all the classic low carb books...highly recommend you add The Obesity Code to your list :thup:

Yes, it is made easier by being fat adapted, as the presence of ketones are a good indicator that you're burning fat. As one starts IF, being able to go through periods of not eating and the experience of cravings (usually during your normal meal times) is blunted by being able to burn your own "on-board" fat stores. And that's a good thing, as you are losing weight while burning your existing fat. Not sure what you mean about long-term IF, but there's enough information on this forum and enough people who practice IF in many forms to share their experiences with you. When you feel you're ready for IF, start very conservatively at first. After a few experiences, it will seem to be easier. I also recommend reading Fung's "Obesity Code." It's an extremely practical approach to health with information that can be readily applied to an eating lifestyle. Good luck on your continued journey!

Fasting/autophagy got rid of a keloid scar I had for years from a dog scratch. "There is no treatment/cure for keloid scars" -- Medical literature

No.

I did many fasts lasting as long as 12 days since my teens. Non-fasting days I ate 1400 cal while running track, playing on the tennis team and working active jobs. I lost no weight from it. For me I develop high reverse T3, my body turns down my metabolism.

My best fat loss occurred while working out with a trainer and doing 4 hrs of a day of intense exercise. (I normally do 3hrs and 1hr of it is yoga). My weight didn't change much but bodyfat went from 28% to 20%. My 2nd most muscular phase was 18hr IF but eating up to 300 carbs a day.

It all depends on what the cause of your increased body fat is and
how your body reacts to nutritional changes and exercise.