I found IF gave me a tool to help me control my appetite for the rest of my life.
Self control is best method for maintaining weight, as it's free and guaranteed to work if used.
Traditional wisdom says that's nearly impossible at my age without "supplements" like "vitamin T".
I've found that IF is the real key for me.
I do one meal per day, and I can see all my nutrients laid out in front of me.
Aside from the other purported benefits of IF, this level of control I think is the main benefit to me.
I think that a lot of people don't realize how disconnected the feeling of hunger is from your actual (very minimal) caloric requirements.
Hunger is mostly a trained response, a production of ghrelin that's mostly a pavlovian response coupled with incredibly complex gut and psychological factors.
The hunger response can be trained away in about a week. I generally don't start getting hungry until around 6pm, when I've trained my body that it's dinner time.
Snacking, IMHO, is the single biggest weight loss killer.
True, this is my observation as well.
"The hunger response can be trained away in about a week."
Unfortunately, it is quite easy to fall off the bandwagon in irregular conditions (holidays, vacations, a visit to an elderly relative who insists on feeding you). The adaptation to IF is, in my case, lost just after a day or two of non-IFing. And once it is gone, I have to undergo the week-long self-training again.
I agree as well.
> ...it is quite easy to fall off the bandwagon in irregular conditions
YES. So, this is where being _committed_ makes the difference.
I have many rules that help me with this one is "feeling hunger is normal" and "being uncomfortable getting back on track is normal". (this rule is less refined, but key to overcoming falling off the wagon) And "admit when you fail, and try again", very key to dealing with getting started, or restarted on a good thing in life.
The self-training you mention was what I signed on for at the beginning, knowing full well this is normal, so it's not so bad when I have to do it.
Likely others have similar experiences.
Studies done on it do not, as far as I've ever seen, back up the idea that it "works if used" in anything but the most tautological sense (ie. "Anyone who fails clearly didn't actually exert self-control").
If you're aware of any studies that show enduring weight loss in any but a small minority of participants with any regimen that fits your description, please share.
Well if you have this self control in the first place, you would not need to quit - if you are addicted, you lost the control over yourself.
So pure self control probably won't cut it for most people. Talking about myself: I can go past just so many sweets till I falter. I didn't got the chocolate bar today but ate the cake at the birthday. I knew it will hurt my progress at the gym but I was just to tired from self control that I just gave in.
And then I am telling me; I must get better at self control. But how?
