ADF isn’t for everyone (failure story, and what actually worked)
I feel like I haven’t seen this perspective when I was in this subreddit, so I wanted to share. I did ADF for around 6 months. I went in at a normal weight for my height, and my goal was to lose around ~20 pounds. I maintained the ADF lifestyle and lost about ~10 pounds, but after around half a year of doing it, it became clear it wasn’t for me.
DISCLAIMER: I think it genuinely works and helps people, and has numerous health effects, but it was something that personally didn’t work for my body and lifestyle.
Even after 6 months, I still wasn’t totally used to fast days. I drank LMNT to help my symptoms, but I would get intense cravings, and eventually developed lightheaded spells and extreme fatigue. On eating days I would borderline binge eat, and neglect nutrition to satisfy my cravings. I felt bloated more often. I hit a wall at the 6 month mark and even started gaining weight because I was no longer in a calorie deficit with my eating habits.
I eventually gave up ADF because it wasn’t worth it anymore for me. I lied to myself saying this is something I could keep up, but I knew I couldn’t.
In 2 months time after that, I gained most of the weight back.
SO WHAT ACTUALLY WORKED?
DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind everyone’s body is different.
For me, the restrictiveness of ADF was a major factor in my bad eating habits and weight gain. It was a mindset thing too. What helped me was seeing the eating habits of friends who were more lean. I noticed they took their time to eat, saying they wanted to savor and enjoy their food. For me, I thought that meant eating as much food as quickly as possible, so this really helped change my mindset. I started slowing down when eating food. Taking my time chewing, putting the fork down in between bites, and taking breaths, which is weird to say. I would check in with my body and stop when I felt satisfied. At first I was worried this would make me hungry later to not eat to the point of feeling stuffed, but it wasn’t the case. And when I was hungry, I told myself I could eat, and that it was beneficial for me to. Removing that restriction helped me have a better relationship with food, not binge-eat or eat unhealthy foods later. It even lessened my cravings, and it became easier to choose nutritious meals because I wasn’t in the mindset of “I have to satisfy all my cravings before I have to fast again the next day.”
I’ve lost the 10 pounds again, and it feels much more manageable this time. I don’t feel restricted, and I’m taking my time in the weight loss. I know ADF works wonders for many, but it just simply wasn’t for me personally.