I think what the comment you are replying to is saying, and which I agree with after trying IF, is that IF works simply by making it easier to restrict calories for the average person, not that other methods are impossible or can't work.

I mean, just take your example. Counting calories for everything you eat is a significant amount of work, and it's really easy to cheat if you're feeling hungry ("Oh, look, my app says that an 'average' blueberry muffin is only 250 cals, so that's what I'll put in, despite this muffin being the size of my head").

With IF, all you have to think about is whether you're in your feeding window. You can still cheat, but there is no ambiguity about it, so for many people (or, fine, at least for me) it's easier to keep with it. I found myself getting super hungry during my fasting period, but I knew I just had to wait until my feeding period, and I actually found it difficult to overeat during my feeding period because I would just eat until I was full and then would "run out of time" to overeat.

Last time I IFed I found hunger to become a more varied signal and something much more under conscious control.

Some hungers turn out not to be that urgent.

There's a different hunger for an empty stomach and for a suddenly drop in blood sugar, etc.

I mean different body signals tell you that you are hungry and you learn to introspect them a bit.

I had quite a bit of fun trying to get to biochemical/physiological/phycological understanding of the triggers/sensations.

The one I could never quite crack is a craving to chew when I could tell my stomach was full and I was satiated otherwise.

It doesn't feel like work to me after I'm used to it, just a part of life. I'd only be cheating myself if I cheated on it, so I always err on overestimating.

I also track protein to make sure I get at least 170g, so that's an additional benefit.

170g of protein?? Are you also doing a carnivore diet or keto?

"gram of protein per pound of bodyweight" is a fairly standard macro ratio in the fitness community.

170g of protein is only 680 cals, so plenty of room left over for carbs and fat.

Right, and in my case I was only going for .8 grams per pound. It's hard to do without going over on calories without a lot of meals being skinless chicken breast.

I think the formula is .8g per kg of bodyweight, not per pound. That’s a significant difference.

That's for the average person, but for someone who's trying to gain muscle, a minimum of .8 per lb is recommended.

I agree with your sentiment but would add I think counting calories is a better strategy than most people think. For many they lack a very high level idea of how many calories they are eating, particularly for sugary drinks. By learning to ballpark better I’ve seen people have success. And for that it’s only tricky for a couple weeks, then you just get good at estimating and it becomes more automatic. Ultimately whatever works is best but I wish more people would give counting an honest shot, especially after seeing how well a few folks I know did once they started doing jt.

Agreeing.

I personally find it psychologically much easier to not eat at all for now (knowing I'll feast in a while) than to exert the effort of eating less when I'm eating now.

I think what the OP meant is that IF has all the benefits in one, simple to use format.

You do not need any apps, you do not need to count calories and you do not need remove food you love from the menu.

And while it may sound that you would try to overcompensate for not eating during specific timeframes, what happens in reality is that your body responds by wanting less food, not more.

I was like that too but eventually after doing one meal a day Ive been feeling full on anywhere from 1200-2200 calories. Really depends on the food where I'm at and what's around. But you're absolutely right, there's not one BEST method for everyone. I personally cannot stand the minutiae of calorie counting and measuring portions so it's not good for me. I will measure portions to learn to eyeball things but yeah, can't do it every time I put food on a plate.

For me it feels uncomfortable eating something I can't track accurately, like it's going to actually have 5 times the calories I think it would, since that's the story for so much food. Like once I was hungry after a dinner and there was stuffing left, so I had some assuming it was a lighter food, then I looked it up and it's actually extremely calorie dense.

> Lose It app, highly recommended

It has become such an annoying nag though. If they offered a reasonable one-time payment -- not even for premium features, just to make it stop nagging -- I'd pay it. But no, they want me to subscribe. No thanks.

I have same reaction to payment plans. I fully understand the business goal of recurring revenue, but several times in last few months I’ve opted for workarounds/alternates rather than paying a subscription for a product where I would have just paid a flat fee if available.

my folks lost a ton of weight using Noom. I'd try that if Lose It annoys you.

I'll take a look at that. I have occasionally considered writing my own simple logger that fit my needs (I don't need a really fancy database of nutrients, my diet is somewhat repetitive, so the basic FDA stuff would be fine) and then releasing it for free. That's a lot more work than just paying Lose It, but I really don't care much for software subscriptions for every little app.

I used to use lose it but swapped to fat secret. Its database isn't as good as lose it but it's getting better and it doesn't nag. I found Noom infuriatingly naggy and when I went to cancel there were multiple guilt trip prompts I had to OK through before they would cancel my free trial which turned me 100% against them.

That’s fair, in my head I was singling out food-restrictive options like no-carb fad diets. Navigating this world of abundance with our ancient brains is hard so however you do it, congratulations