I’ve spoken to so many of us who’ve done IF and have been successful for just a short while. After that they hit a plateau and or gained back all the weight and more. Here are 5 top mistakes many of us make.
- Focusing only on the fasting window. Here one is keen on how many hours they didn’t eat and don’t pay any attention to what they eat during the fasting window. E.g. doing 20hours without food and 4 hours of reckless and mindless eating of highly processed low nutrient foods in copious amounts, all because you earned it with the long fasting hours.
For IF to work, you MUST nourish the body well. Almost to perfection even. You’re eating window is way more important than your fasting window when it comes to what the results for weight loss will be. One must eat highly nutritious food and in the right quantity. Go for carbohydrates that your grandma can recognize, eat good quality protein and lots of fruits and veggies. You must also space your meals right. You cannot eat every hour, the 4-hour rule stays. So, for a 20:4 protocol, you will eat once. There is no medal for fasting hours if you eat poorly when you break the fast. Use both windows to complement each other.
- Breaking your fast with carbohydrates. I see this so much, especially with highly processed and refined carbohydrates all the time. Think bread, cake, cookies, oats, pastries, chapati, pasta. Liquid calories in the name of smoothies also cause the same effect, sweetened and loaded fruit and veggie smoothies and juices are a huge culprit. Eating this way just off a long period without food leads to a spike in blood sugar and could end up causing you to keep craving carbohydrates throughout the day. Once this happens you will not manage hunger well and may end up eating so much more than you should despite learning and adapting to fasting. This will then mean you are not eating less anyway; you just compress calories in a shorter period of time.
The best way to break your fast is to take protein and veggies first, paired with some bone soup to help your gut. This will keep you full, and manage cravings and blood sugar.
- Doing IF for weight loss for too long. Weight loss is a destination, not a journey. For it to be effective, it needs to be well structured and planned, consistent and done for a set period of time. Once that time lapses, you need to take a break before you restart. If you achieve your goal before the time lapses, you need to move to a maintenance program after that. The longer you do it, it probably means you are not eating in a deficit, you’re not progressing and results will keep moving further and further away.
Plan ahead- which protocol will you be doing, what will you be eating in your eating window, what time, how many hours do you have between meals and most importantly, how long will you be on IF for weight loss. The sweet spot is between 8-12 weeks after which you go onto maintenance calories for a 2-week break and replan the next season.
- Taking your calories so low that the IF starts to have adverse effects on your health. If the fasting window is too long or the meal, you’re having is not nutritious enough to support your existence and daily activities and bodily functions, or a combination of both, then the IF will not benefit you but rather make you feel bad. It may lead to dehydration, chronic headaches, constant fatigue, brain fog, lethargy, poor energy levels, low libido, missing a period, poor appetite, insomnia, health risks, poor gut health among many other challenges brought about by very low-calorie diets. Yes, you want to lose weight, but there is a limit to how low the calories can go. There is a minimum requirement for survival and optimal function and that must be met.
Adjust the protocol in terms of hours and nourishment even as you maintain lower calories for best results. I for example love the 16:8 model, I am able to keep it consistent while being disciplined with my portions. Ensure the quality of food is excellent, as well as the quantity being good enough to get you results. Fainting isn’t cute please.
- Overconsuming other peoples’ stories and theories about IF and how they did it, applied it and what worked for them. This can be hearing what someone did and going ahead to doing it, reading on just that and not being objective and then applying things without full consideration
Ensure that IF works for you, you have understood the basics of it and you know what to do for your health, body and goals. Observe how you feel as you go along and adjust it where necessary. Where possible, consult a coach or reputable journals to help you clarify the jargon. It is not the only weight loss nutrition approach you can take.
