Two Years on Interval Fasting: How I Figured Out the Secret to Making it Work and Losing Weight Rapidly

I'm blown away - I've finally found a healthy eating system that works for me, and I'm losing weight rapidly while eating whatever I want! I've been on intermittent fasting for a year now, and I'm not planning to stop anytime soon. Here's how I look now thanks to this system:

a year of intermittent fastingI had to experiment a bit before the diet started working. The key is that the timing of when you eat and when you fast is crucial - although the authors of the diet claim the opposite! But let's get into the details.

I've been doing intermittent fasting for a few years now, where I fast for 16 hours every quarter using the system of Italian nutritionist Walter Longo. I read his book "Longevita. Revolutionary diet of longevity", which includes a tip to limit food intake to an 8-hour 'window' and eat one or two meals during that time, with a snack if needed. And then give your body 16 hours to rest, digest, and burn glycogen from the liver, and then break down fat. The time of day to do this food 'window' doesn't matter. Longo calls this eating regimen intermittent fasting or the longevity diet.

How it works in practice

You can eat, for example, from 12 pm to 8 pm. During that time, have lunch and dinner, and a snack if needed. Or, if you prefer breakfasts over dinners, start eating in the morning, but any food intake after 8 hours must be excluded.

I thought it would be much easier to follow the 16/8 diet by excluding breakfast, not dinner - which Longo also suggests in his book. This way, you don't have to worry about not being able to eat during social events or family dinners. Plus, many people aren't hungry in the morning and can easily skip breakfast - I'm not one of them, but there's a hack to help you tolerate hunger, which I'll write about later.

Since I'm a fan of therapeutic fasting (my experience with 10-day therapeutic fasting), the idea of fasting for 16 hours every day without much effort really appealed to me. Plus, I gained 3.5 kg over the winter and couldn't seem to lose it. In the last few years, thanks to proper eating, I reached a comfortable weight of 51 kg, and I really wanted to quickly get back to that weight.

I decided to try the 16/8 diet because I was convinced of its health benefits, and I had nothing to lose except those 3.5 kg)

review of intermittent fasting My first attempt and a total fail

At first, I decided to exclude breakfast because dinner with the family is sacred. We eat late, at 9 pm. So, I could allow myself the first meal at 1 pm. Exactly lunchtime. So, the 8-hour 'window' was set from 1 pm to 9 pm

What can you eat on the 16/8 diet

Lunch on the 16/8 diet. I allowed myself everything, including pasta, potatoes, and carbs. I didn't count calories. I just limited my sweet treats, opted for slow carbs, and skipped desserts.

Snack. Walter Longo recommends one snack for people with excess weight and those who want to lose weight, and it shouldn't exceed 100 calories, with no more than 3-5 grams of sugar. I didn't stick to this rule strictly, eating whatever I felt like: fruits, yogurt, nuts, bread with butter and cheese. But without overindulging, of course.

Dinner on the 16/8 diet. For dinner, I had some vegetable dish. A soup, sautéed veggies, or a casserole from the raw food menu.

How I felt on the 16/8 diet with skipping breakfast

I struggled with skipping breakfast. The morning hunger was really intense, and I barely made it to lunch. I also started experiencing rumbling in my stomach after each meal. My stool became really hard, and it was uncomfortable, sorry for the detail.

The effect of intermittent fasting

Although I was consuming fewer calories overall on the 16/8 diet than before (my food diary is all recorded!), I had excluded simple carbs, and for dinner, I only saw veggies, my weight remained the same!

In the first few days, I even gained 100-200g. I decided that my body needed to adjust, so I gave it time. But even after two weeks, my weight remained the same! Meanwhile, the 16:8 diet was really tough for me, and I was constantly thinking about food.

Then I decided to shift the 8-hour 'window' to my morning time, excluding dinner. After all, who hasn't heard of the proven method 'don't eat after six' or 'give dinner to the enemy'? But they often exclude breakfast (just can't eat in the mornings), and weight loss isn't even on their radar.

Second attempt. SUCCESS! BINGO!!! By moving the 'window', from 11.00 to 19.00, my day looked like this:

Breakfast I now start at exactly 11 am and allow myself everything! Any fruits in any quantity, homemade baked goods, chocolate, treats.

Lunch. A couple of hours later, around 1-2 pm, I have a filling lunch. I stick to the old scheme and eat complex carbs.

Snack. Another couple of hours later, I can snack according to Dr. Longo's advice, an apple, for example, or yogurt.

Dinner is early, so I have to finish by 7 pm. So, I start dinner between 6-6:30 pm, eating slowly, proteins, and veggies, and sometimes I can have a dessert.

intermittent fasting 16:8 The effect of the 16/8 diet if you don't eat after 7 pm

Having gotten used to seeing 54 kg on the scale, give or take 200g, I was amazed when I started losing weight literally the next day after introducing the new system! In the first three days, I lost 400g per day! The process then slowed down, and I was losing 100-300g per day STABILY.

I quickly lost the extra 3 kg, and over the course of a year, my weight gradually decreased by another 1 kg, and now, thanks to intermittent fasting, I'm not losing weight anymore, but easily and comfortably maintaining my new weight of 50 kg.

Intermittent fasting 16/8 photos before and after

I've got some before-and-after pics to share with you. The first one's from the start of my experiment, when I weighed in at 54kg + 200/300g. The second one's from just a week into my 16:8 diet with an early dinner. My weight's now around 53kg. And I'm hoping to keep going.

16:8 diet before and after 16/8 diet before and after

Here's a before-and-after pic of my figure after a year of experimenting. I used to weigh 54kg, but now I'm around 50kg.

16:8 diet before and after a year

How I found it easy to skip late dinners

I was surprised to find that not eating after 19.00 was a lot easier than I thought. Even though I go to bed pretty late, I don't get hungry in the evenings, and my breakfast the next morning is easy to get through until 11.00. The hunger in the mornings is strong, but a cup of tea or coffee usually does the trick.

How to get through hunger pangs on a 16:8 diet

The key is to remember that hunger is a normal physiological state. Periods of temporary fasting won't harm you. All animals experience hunger and periods without food, and our bodies are adapted to this. In fact, constant digestion is more harmful than hunger. When you're constantly eating, your liver can't process glycogen, and new carbohydrates go straight to your fat stores instead.

Life hack: coffee with oil like on a keto diet

I borrowed this life hack from keto dieters. During my 16-hour fasting window, I allow myself a cup of coffee with coconut oil. The oil contains fat but no carbs, so even if you're getting a dose of fatty coffee, your body will continue to burn glycogen. Hunger isn't broken! Plus, the oil gives me a feeling of fullness. And did you know that oil is essential in the mornings to prevent bile from stagnating? There's info out there that intermittent fasting can lead to gallstones due to bile stagnation. So, coffee with oil during fasting is a win-win.

By the way, I've tweaked my diet a bit since then. Now I'm managing without snacks altogether. I just try to eat later in the day and can easily make it to dinner without eating for four hours. Sometimes I can even make it until 16.00. Plus, I've been wearing invisible aligners for straight teeth, so I don't have to worry about taking them out for snacks.

I've noticed that my weight loss isn't affected by what I eat or how many calories I consume beforehand. Even if I have chocolate and baked goods, I've completely relaxed about my diet and I'm still losing weight. The only thing I try to limit is my last meal of the day.

My new diet looks like this:

Breakfast at 11:00 I indulge in any quick carbs without restrictions: fruits, sweets, homemade baked goods, chocolate, honey yogurt, fruit and nut smoothies. I enjoy the sweet taste after 16 hours of fasting. It's pure bliss. I eat without restrictions, but since lunch is soon, there's no need to overeat.

Lunch around 1:30 pm. I try to eat a filling meal to last until dinner. I eat without restrictions - pasta, grains, legumes, baked goods. I always have a handful of nuts. I can have a dessert, fruit, or dates. I don't count calories.

Dinner by 5:00 pm remains unchanged: unlimited veggies and protein. But I can have fruits or a plant-based hot chocolate. I really enjoy eating raw veggie dishes for dinner - they're more filling and nutritious than cooked ones.

raw veggie dishes and raw sweet treats

It turns out I'm eating only 7 hours a day, and my body is resting and burning excess fat for the remaining 17 hours.

intermittent fasting diet

UPDATE OF MY REVIEW AFTER A YEAR

A year on intermittent fasting. Photo of the result.

And that's a year since I switched to this diet system. I didn't even notice how time flew by! I feel amazing, and I couldn't imagine any other diet.

16/8 fastingI weighed 54 kg at the beginning of the experiment.

Now, after a year on intermittent fasting, I weigh 51 kg (+/- 200g).

I want to show you some before-and-after photos. The clock in my hands is a symbol of time restriction - the foundation of the cyclical fasting system.

16/8 dietintermittent fasting

Conclusion.

I'm completely satisfied with my decision to adopt the 16/8 diet. I'm not hungry during the day, I eat whatever I want, and I'm losing weight right before my eyes! It's even a bit scary how fast it's happening. I plan to make this my lifestyle. I hope my body will stop losing weight at some point. If not, I'll add calories in the evening, but I'll keep the principle.

A Year of Cyclical FastingI'm really hoping for an anti-aging effect at the cellular level, just like Dr. Longo promises. By the way, he recommends eating just once a day, stretching out the fasting period to the max. I'm not ready to go that extreme yet... Food is a pretty accessible pleasure in life, after all. But practicing intermittent fasting does make you appreciate each meal more. You start approaching food with more mindfulness. When you've only got 8 hours to eat, every bite counts. And let's be real, food tastes way better after a fasting period - trust me on that!

Thanks for sticking with me to the end!

Cyclical Fasting

Some of my other reviews on health, youth, and longevity, if you're interested in that stuff:

- The 5:2 Diet

The Back Roller

Giving Up Sugar

The Longevity Diet