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Glad it's working out for you! I tried IF a couple years ago, for a 4 month period. After an adjustment period of about 2 weeks, which included short periods of intense hunger and mild head aches, I felt great! I wasn't in bad shape before the IF, so I only lost about 6lbs/3kg, but my energy levels where much more consistent throughout the day, focus was easier to achieve and maintain, and I just had a joie de vivre.

Like you, I started off with a wider eating window, of about 4 hours, and I started without really caring what I ate. But I slowly reduced the window to about 1-2 hours and a strange thing happened. Avoiding unhealthy food became a very easy act of will. Maybe it was just the realization that the only thing I was putting in my body for the entire day, the only thing that it would use to repair and refuel itself, was what I was eating at that very moment.

I've never really had New Year's resolutions, but this December I've been slowly weaning myself off my morning coffee, anticipating an early January start to my new IF schedule! I'm also really excited to continue this experiment to see where it goes!

How was your diet before you started intermittent fasting? When I read anecdotal accounts like this, I often wonder if your previous diet was so poor that doing anything to change it would've made it better.

In other words, without a control group that switched from high carb to low carb without intermittent fasting it's hard to know if the benefits you've seen are from intermittent fasting or just from eating better generally.

You and I are about the same age and I've been the same weight the past 30 years. I know what you mean about non-sweet things tasting sweeter - I gave up obvious refined sugar about 6 years ago and the bag of plain raw vegetables I eat every day for a snack tastes amazing.

I was a long distance runner from like 25-36. I ate whatever i wanted. You know what they tell you, Carb loading etc… Then i went through a vegetarian phase. A paleo phase , An atkins phase etc... Then i went through broke phase at 39. I really didn't get the pre-diabetes diagnosis until after 46. I stopped the long distance running and shifted to a more of a calisthenics workout. Pull ups and HIIT training more functional muscle type stuff , ( 2 mile run consisting of sprinting then pull ups / push ups / dips. After the DNA test and the pre-disposition to diabetes after 45 i went to the doctor got blood work and thats when the doctor said my AC1 is high and Im pre-diabetic. I ate a LOT of choc-chip cookies in youth ( lol) and LOVED me a good brownie a la mode with a LOT of fudge . Now after this IF diet and the predisposition to diabetes and had to give up all that. This IF diet is working great for me now. Hopefully i can stay with it. I have dropped weight but do not want to be below 165. I think the ideal weight for me is around 170 lbs. I suggest everyone at LEAST give it a shot and get a 23andME test as you get older to find out if you have a pre-disposition. Then take some action or you will be on meds. Doctor never prescribed IF to me they don’t have time for it. Doctor never prescribed cross fit either. They just prescribe meds.

Not denying IF has an important role, but daily strength & cardio training are surely confounding also.

So did you reverse your pre-diabetes? It's hard to tell from this message. You mention that you feel better and that it's "working for me" but how can you know unless you get that blood work done? You may subjectively feel better but it may not be making a dent in your health.

Honestly, what most likely will reverse your prediabetes is that you are now working out more, eating less, and dropped 10 pounds. The IF was simply a compliance tactic to help you achieve that goal. Just something to keep in mind... it's okay if you eventually stop doing IF, what's more important is you maintain the healthy eating and active lifestyle.

I Definitely "FEEL" better. Getting the blood work done next month. They use some A1C test, this is for type 2. I did loose weight and doc did say this status "can" be updated if you loose weight. Let's see. wish my luck! :-)

So do you have to consume the 2000 to 2500 calories that the average person needs, in that 4 hour window? What food do you eat?

I don't calorie count. 4pm meal can be a cheese burger, Chinese food or paki food ( like chicken Karahi) I do an evening workout around 7pm with kettle bell swings to burn the sugar. Then i have a snack after. But Its very odd I am NOT hungry just like "used" to eating as if it's a memory. I am still getting used to this. I can't explain it clearly. I guess you just have to try it. My whole family has diabetes even my little brother who is 10 years younger than me. Could be the bad south Asian genes ( Pakistani) , I don't know. lol. I try to stay away from carbs such as white bread ,no ice cream / sugar etc... or i limit the amount of naan breads i have to like 1 when eating with a curry dish but i do love a chicken bryani once in a while but the portion size is less , i just can't eat like i used too before i started the IF diet.

>4pm meal can be a cheese burger, Chinese food or paki food (like chicken Karahi) I do an evening workout around 7pm with kettle bell swings to burn the sugar.

If I can make a suggestion...if possible continue the fast into the workout. If you find you don't have the energy to get through the workout or performance suffers try replacing the meal with a sugarfree pre-workout to get through, then eat the carbs with some protein post workout.

The general idea is the sugar/carbs you eat at 4 will not truly be available to burn at 7, but you will have probably spiked insulin so your body is trying to store energy while you are in the gym trying to access the energy. Whereas if you can make the workout fasted, you will be in ketosis burning fat and have naturally spiked you HGH from the fast, then after the workout while you are catabolic you will eat carbs/protein to trigger anabolism (recovery/repair) of the muscles while filing up your depleted glucose/glycogen aided by the carbs/insulin.

YES. So i workout 12-1pm in the afternoon in a fasted state. The eve workout 12 min , is to burn any extra sugar i may have in my blood stream from eating at 4pm. I am with you. My pre-diabetes status is now gone. I think i may have to make IF a life long diet. I have NEVER felt better. I am 170 5' 10" solid I "was" 184 when i had the pre-diabetes diagnosis.

>My pre-diabetes status is now gone.

Congrats. I hope you continue to be inspired and inspire others on your journey.

THANK YOU! I tell EVERYBODY! I URGE everyone to try! Eat LESS stuff. Mostly plants. Have SOME bacon / grass fed beed / steak ONCE a week so what. :-)

That actually makes sense

Jeez, or just eat 3 healthy balanced meals a day and stop obsessing over gimicks and fad diets. I can't imagine our ancient ancestors worrying about fasting or being keto.

>Jeez, or just eat 3 healthy balanced meals a day and stop obsessing over gimmicks and fad diets.

Do you see the irony is calling fasting a fad diet when it has been part of human culture across the globe for thousands of years, and instead you point to "3 healthy balanced meals a day" which essentially was a fad diet in the 18th century.

>I can't imagine our ancient ancestors worrying about fasting or being keto.

Again all the Worlds major religions have codified fasting into their religious texts and traditions (they must have thought it was pretty important to pass down together with sacred religious texts).

As far as Keto...the original Keto diet was developed and codified because is prevented epileptic seizures, but that wasn't a wild guess in the dark, its been known for thousands of years fasting would prevent seizures (it just wasn't codified that fasting puts someone in a state of ketosis which can be mimicked with a high fat diet).

Fasting is done by religious people (not renowned for their rational thought) to appease a god, not because they think it's supposedly healthy. And sure, replace my "three meals a day" with "regular eating throughout the day" if it makes you feel better. My point is, our ancient ancestors were foragers and would have grazed on plants throughout the day. It's what our bodies have evolved to do. As for keto, you said it yourself. It was used as a way to reduce epileptic seizures, not because it was thought of as the optimal way for humans to eat.

>Fasting is done by religious people (not renowned for their rational thought) to appease a god, not because they think it's supposedly healthy.

You really have an odd bone to pick with fasting...so how about the ancient Greeks? They didn't practice the Abrahamic religions and the Greeks serve as the foundation of Western thought and logic. In fact lets take Plato and Artistotle who both fasted purely for the physical and mental benefits not for the Gods, as was common, for example:

"Everyone has a physician inside him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness." -Hippocrates

"Instead of using medicine, rather, fast a day." - Plutarch

>It was used as a way to reduce epileptic seizures, not because it was thought of as the optimal way for humans to eat.

It was already known fasting prevent seizures. Keto was developed as a way to mimic those benefits of fasting without having to abstain from food/fast.

>It's what our bodies have evolved to do.

Well from an evolutionary perspective, the human brain more efficiently runs off of ketones than glucose. Biologically humans need insulin to clear glucose from the blood and biologically humans become resistant to insulin over time (so its not much of an evolutionary argument). Not to mention the recent Nobel Prize for discovering Autophagy which is the process of cell recycling triggered by...fasting.

I think you have it backwards. The reason people are fasting and doing keto is because it seems to be much closer to how our ancient ancestors lived. Fasting is a natural state many animals, including humans, are well equipped to enter. Not only are we equipped to enter fasting, but it seems to have some very good effects on us when we do it

Of course our ancient ancestors didn't have to "worry" about fasting or being keto, just like they didn't have to "worry" about getting enough cardio and exercise. Yet we do, because otherwise our modern conveniences will keep killing us and making us sick. Fasting and Keto are two answers to the question of "How do we better replicate the way ancient Humans lived?"

You can get some of these benefits on keto, including steady energy levels, reduced brain fog, and no morning carb hangover headaches. The good news is you can eat what you want, the bad news is basically no carbs ever which makes eating out difficult.

I'm surprised a narrow IF feeding window gives the carb benefits, but sounds worth a try for sustainability long term.

Experiences are highly biased and individual.

Counter-example: I was on Keto for 2 years and my blood levels became prediabetic (105 and 100 in 2 blood tests over the course of 2 annual doctor visits).

As soon as I reintroduced carbs to normal levels (I bought a glucosometer) my blood sugars went back down to optimal (85). My most recent blood work was at 90.

Your mileage may vary and everyone's GI responds differently to different foods.

This was my experience when I jumped on the Paleo bandwagon about 10 years ago. Prior to that carbs were a substantial part of my diet. English muffins, bagels, toast and cereal in the morning, sandwiches for lunch and bread as part of every dinner, along with more cereal as a nighttime snack.

After cutting all that out my energy levels were much more even. It was like night & day. I also dropped several pounds over the course of the first month. I'll occasionally treat myself to bread/carbs but nowhere near to the degree I used to.