I want to sort this out and find out what to believe and what works/will work for me. Here are my issues:

Do we add fat or not? There is advice both ways and they both work for some.
Why doesn't IF seem to work for me?
Do extended fasts cause deficiencies?

The first one is the one that matters most to me. I will likely not eat in the morning when I'm not hungry, regardless of anything else. It's what I did w/o thinking about it when I was successful twenty years ago. Still, I need to figure out whether to eat fat to burn fat or limit fat so I will burn off what is stored. If I have a better handle on just what I am doing, maybe I can weather the stalls.
Thanks, Meme, for messaging me. I guess I'm back.

I eat bacon and eggs every day. Honestly I was doing a lot better when I ate it early. Sometimes I don't get hungry until lunch time but I know that when I was eating earlier, I was loosing much better, so there's that, I should go back to that.
As far as fat, I think most of all of us use fat quite a bit and there are even a few threads going right now about Fat and the different types. Laard, tallow, butter, olive oil etc... but not the bad fats like the processed types.
Adkins did say that's it's bad to try to do low carb and low fat. The fat keeps us full and with that in the long run we eat less because it just satisfies much longer.

Also I think it's best to eat for the nutrients, meat and veggies with fat and just concentrate on getting rid of the starch/carbs.

Depends on where you are weight wise. If your stats are correct, then as Dr Naiman says, if you have fat on your body, you do not need to add fat to your plate.
The Keto craze for using macros has screwed up thinking about how to tap into fat on the body. If you are Keto-adapted then some portion of your daily fat calories (estimates of 20-30%) come from your body. If you add that to your plate instead, you will not lose weight. Why Dr Westman's clinic diet ( and Atkins) has a limit on added Fats. Fats in eggs and meat are fine, more than 2T added fat is not. https://youtu.be/BZ-WZ2TYx58


Yesterday, a few women on an Obesity Code FB thread (very active, I’ll never find it again) said they do better staying on the IDM Fat Fast, which is Bacon, Eggs, Avocado and Olives. Find what works for you, stick with just Time Restricted Eating if you get results that way. Long fasts are not needed or even advised, even at IDM.

It depends on what adding fat is.
If I cook a ribeye in bacon drippings, that's OK because a lot of the extra fat stays in the pan and even more is released from the steak. Same with the bacon, that's where I get my cooking fat. The bacon releases the fat and it renders out into the pan.
But, if I decided to drink the fat in the pan, that would be needlessly consuming fat and extra calories for no reason.
I think another problem with too much fat happens with adding fat to coffee for no reason or eating hunks of fat in a fat bomb would also be unnecessary plus it's void of any nutrients.

I remember that Atkins book said that many people begin the diet in a malnourished state and that alone I think can drive a craving for carbs because the body is searching for nourishment, plus the withdrawal from carbs is lurking.
In that case, butter on the veggie needed to make it palatable for many of us and keep us on track with meat and veggies.

Hi well here I am again too. I started jan 1 low carb seems to work i've never been a morning eater just my coffee. i have kind of adapted it to suit me and my lifestyle. I do include 2 fruit a day and either a brown rice or sweet potato along with my veggies. this is working for me I stick to lower fat meats I rinse my ground meat with hot water in a strainer before using if using for a pasta sauce or one of my favorite things a cabbage lasagna. I have omitted sugars bread and white flour. probably confusing you more as i'm going with my gut on this and not books or special diets. I am a nurse and i'm trying to fit in basic nutrition along with lower carb for myself as I suck at taking any supplements lol

For me, I don't do what I use to do, that's how I gained weight. Change is what makes the difference. The whole purpose of doing LC is to get healthy and that includes lowering BS in the process. If I ate 2 fruit per day and plus sweet potato and any kind of rice I would be on a gaining diet, not a loosing diet and my BS along with blood pressure would rise.

I had a weird experience this morning and this is as good a place as any to bring it up.
I was out on a few errands today, and noticed my hands smelled like donuts or pastry. I have not been near said poisonous items and was determined to keep it that way but the smell made it hard to move my mind off of them.

Well, you know, a lot of things happen when we're coming off of the addictive sugar and it might leave the body in many different ways.

I know. It was just weird that it was so specific.

Read about how fat leaves through our lungs when we exhale, that's weird too and at the point when we go into ketosis we might get keto breath. The high state of sugar and carbs in the body has to leave somehow, besides just through the kidneys so the skin seems to be a possible route.
Maybe some of the more well read people on here would know more on this subject and would have more accurate scientific information on the process.

Welcome back, Ann. I remember you. All the best to you in 2019.
You just answered your own question. My answer to that question would be to do what allows you to STAY ON PLAN. If limiting fat causes you too much hunger, don't do it. If you're feeling motivated enough to tolerate more hunger and you want to limit the fat, try it. If tracking every (expletive) gram of every macronutrient you consume is going to send you off the rails, don't do it! Anyone can white-knuckle their way through a miserable diet plan, but we've all been through that before and we know how it ends. Do what keeps you enthusiastic and sticking with it for your best possible health, which is not necessarily a ton of weight loss.

Myself, I like having various tools in the toolbox, so to speak. Sometimes it's deeply ketogenic, sometimes not. Sometimes I splurge on expensive stuff, sometimes not. Sometimes I feel like cooking, sometimes not. Since staring LC in 2002, I've lived in 3 different cities, had 2 different jobs with lots of different shifts, in 3 different relationships, and have been both financially blessed and dirt-poor to the point of crying myself to sleep. I live in the Great White North and have pretty serious SAD; and I've struggled with anxiety and depression since I was a teen. This has all required some regular adjustments to my eating plan. Keep reading, learning and asking questions so you can continue to adjust. Life ain't no straight line, that's for sure.

You might need a new definition of "work." How are your blood sugars? Hunger? Strength? Inflammatory conditions like arthritis? Autoimmune conditions? Mental illness? Alertness? Quality of sleep? Energy? Immune system - are you getting sick ten times a year or no? Any signs of other degenerative diseases? To me, that's infinitely more important that the weight loss.

For your second question, putting on the moderator hat here, we do not support extended fasting here. The explanation is here.

(ETA) - Oh, and about the weird smell on your hands - were you in a public washroom? I've washed my hands and had some crazy scented soaps. I actually gave away some Bath and Body Works soaps to a friend that I knew loved the scent. She had said earlier that every time she washes her hands, she wants to lick them afterward. o.O I don't like smelling like food. That just weirds me out.

Good luck and good health.

Hi, Kristine. It's nice to be remembered. ;-)
I think I will simply eat on plan, meaning cut out starches and sugars, and not worry about fat one way or another. That's the way I remember doing when I was successful on PP so many moons ago.
As for whether IF 'works', I mean do I lose on it or stagnate?

I have engaged in a lot of stress eating due to an up/down employment year for my husband, dealing with my mom's AD, and who knows what else. I have some fairly dire possible financial dark clouds that may or may not come to pass and on top of that, The AD for my mom resolved in the predictable but bittersweet way. She passed away on Dec. 12. I think I need a change. I will likely go get a job. My time is now my own.

Thanks again for reaching out. I hope to come on here a lot.

I add fat because it tastes good. If I'm hungry and need to eat I'd rather have a high-fat snack than anything else. For example, right now I'm eating a half an avocado sprinkled with garlic salt and topped with 1oz of cream cheese. I was hungry and I know this tastes really good and will keep me full and free of craving carbs for a good while! If I give in to carbs (ok, I do have hummus & sugar snap peas every other day) it will trigger more carb-cravings and that will send me spinning. I have found, calorie-for-calorie, fat fills me up better and for longer than anything else, so it is the better choice. However, I do not eat if I'm not hungry and sometimes my calories are really low for a day just because I'm not hungry. In that case, I don't force myself to add fat just to make it to a certain macro %age or minimum calorie level.

I have never tried IF so will not attempt to answer that.

As far as extended fasts, not only do our bodies need macronutrients they also need micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals etc...) to maintain vital bodily functions. If over a week's time you are consuming adequate amounts of all your micronutrients than I don't see how a fast can hurt. It all depends on what your definition of "extended" is and what kind of healthy foods & proper supplementation you are ingesting in the meantime.

Ann, if Protein Power worked for you before, good idea to try it again. Dr Eades had an emphasis on controlling fat intake. I forgot if he put actual limits on cream and butter, but the Westman diet gives guidelines if that would help you. We are all awaiting that PP 2.0 book! https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=460687


Welcome Stani, dieting is getting more "techy" by the day, but a simple start point is to use a glucose meter to check your blood sugar reaction to fruit, rice, etc. Dr Davis had a good article about how to use it as the best and most powerful weight loss tool we have.

https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2017...ol-weight-loss/

and

https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2016...ng-blood-sugar/

Hi thank you Jey100 I consulted with my Dr and he also agreed on the addition of fruit and brown rice. My glucose level is at 5 not sure how the American method translates it. But it is on the normal range as normal is concidered to be 4 to 7. I have been losing 2-3 lbs a week. And I’m not hungry so this is working for me my biggest thing was the sweets and breads. Finally on the right track