In my experience IF with fasted training ruined me. I had high cortisol, hypoglycemia, and fat accumulation around my belly (even though I was losing fat overall). I was doing a 16/8 IF with fasted training at noon and then a large PWO meal and a smaller meal later in the evening. I'm guessing other factors were also responsible such as undereating (not intentional) and VLC, but I still think caution is warranted when following fasted training IF.

Interestingly, I switched to having a meal several hours before working out and that eventually cleared up most of the problems. I've since settled into a compromised routine that fits more easily with my schedule--I eat breakfast and dinner and skip lunch, which is basically a 12/12 IF. Clear sailing so far!

Most people dont even why they IF to begin with. IF should only be done by someone who is fit. That means they should not be leptin insulin or cortisol resistant and who don't have a leaky gut. If you have an autoimmune disease never consider it. Why, because you can seriously hurt yourself with hypoglycemia or with hyperglycemia if your cortisol levels are through the roof. All those caveats considered......the main benefit of IF is inducement of autophagy on a cellular level. This allows the cell then to "clean out debris" while there is no glycolysis ongoing. Autophagy is a catabolic process involving the degradation of a cell's own components through its own lysosomal machinery. A basic cellular enema if you will. During nutrient starvation, increased levels of autophagy lead to the breakdown of non-vital components and the release of nutrients, ensuring that vital processes can continue. IF gives you this benefit without starvation. It takes around 8 hrs of fasting to get......but this is a variable number based upon the person.

I IF'd for a month but I wasn't full paleo at the time so it was big failure. Then I went full Paleo and IF came naturally. Even if I wanted to move away from IF my body won't let me anymore as it is only hungry 1-2 x's per day. When I went off IF though, my cravings for crap came back in full force and I got really obsessed with food. I also fell into a funk though I suspect some of that was because of the winter blues.

Since I started my weight loss path two months ago I've switched to 2 meals a day. On most of the days I do breakfast at 7am and dinner at 7 pm, on the weight training days I do lunch 12pm and dinner 7pm, on week-ends I do breakfast 7am and lunch 12pm. The main reasons is the convenience - don't have to cook an extra meal and with a medium carb diet (less than 100g/day) there's no feeling of hunger even during long fasts.

I may switch back to the regular 3 meals a day after reaching my weight goal by 2012.