Paulina Porizkova swears by 16:8 intermittent fasting & eats what she wants

Madonna arrives at Madame X event in Times Square

Among celebrities, there are always hot new “diets” to try out and promote and most of them sound pretty awful and disordered. The only diet I could even see myself doing is this version of “intermittent fasting” which is growing in popularity among many celebrities and average people. There’s no real “diet plan” in that you can eat whatever you like, but the idea is to only eat for a certain eight-hour window during the day. Paulina Porizkova follows the 16:8 fasting method and she apparently swears by it:

It takes a whole lot of discipline to get Paulina Porizkova’s bikini bod. The Czech stunner, 56, revealed in a new Instagram video that she follows the popular 16:8 intermittent fasting method, which Kourtney Kardashian, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston have also sworn by.

“You don’t eat for 16 hours and then you eat for eight,” Porizkova explained Wednesday. “I generally take it as I eat whatever I want for eight hours because I like food, but I also kind of tend to like more healthy food.”

But she did note that “if I need a fried chicken, then I’ll eat a fried chicken,” adding, “It’s just the way it is.”

The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model explained that she often breaks her fast with a smoothie from a plant-based company called Splendid Spoon, though she promised she was not being paid to promote their product line. “They don’t even know I exist,” she quipped.

Porizkova went on to note that after eating the brand’s vegan soup or noodles, she goes out to dinner and indulges with “a glass of wine or a cocktail and dessert. This way I don’t feel deprived. It works for me.”

[From Page Six]

One of the things which habitual dieters always recommend is “don’t eat in the evenings” or “don’t eat after a certain set time in the evening.” Which I try to follow because I do think it makes a difference in how I feel – I feel like crap if I’m eating a heavy dinner late in the evening, or eating a big snack in the evening and going to sleep feeling full. I eat dinner at senior-citizen times and then if I’m hungry at 8 pm, I’ll just graze a little bit with some nuts, yogurt or a little bit of chocolate. This 16:8 intermittent fasting feels like an extension of that too – being able to concentrate your eating patterns so that you’re not eating later in the evening. That being said, I get up crazy-early and have some yogurt for breakfast, so my “fasting” is more like 12:12. Anyway, I’m sure Paulina likes her system but let’s face it – she has slim, leggy, ectomorph genes.

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Photos courtesy of Paulina’s Instagram, Avalon Red.

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79 Responses to “Paulina Porizkova swears by 16:8 intermittent fasting & eats what she wants”

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  1. Size Does Matter says:

    Genetics and discipline gave her that body, not intermittent fasting. I’ve been doing it pretty consistently for several years now, and the truth is, if you consume too many calories during that 8 hour window, you will gain weight.

    • Tanguerita says:

      Absolutely. People ignore the fact that it’s just another fad, because it doesn’t seem restrictive, while in reality it can trigger anxieties that lead to overeating. I know it made me completely bonkers-i overate out of fear that I might get hungry in the next sixteen hours.

    • observer says:

      agree with you, i’m actively trying to gain weight BUT i’ve been doing intermittent fasting for other health reasons.

      IF is slowing down my weight gain and i have to make sure i eat a very high amount of calories in the eating window, but i am gaining. it still comes down to CICO.

    • remarks says:

      I’m thinking maybe it’s just genetics. I remember she said she didn’t start exercising till her mid-40s and for some reason that stunned me. I see non-athletic 20 year olds working harder and not necessarily having the same results as she does in that photo above.

      I don’t think the fasting helps her face look better though. I guess you do have to choose which part of the body you favor looking a certain way. I could have sworn she looked better in other photos recently.

      • Pusspants says:

        @Remarks, it’s comments like this that make me think, “you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” I think her face looks great & women don’t need to choose a body area to maintain.

      • remarks says:

        You’re absolutely right. She doesn’t have to choose— she should do what she wants. But she’s making a recommendation, and for myself it gives me pause as to whether I would choose her methods since I have considered intermittent fasting. When I see the results in other people and if I’m worried about my own appearance (both face and body), I will look at the results in them and then consider whether I’d want to choose the same diet. Since the diet seems to affect the face a bit (my personal preference in myself over my body ), I’m a little reluctant to follow intermittent fasting long-term even if it seems to work for other people. Judging a diet seems no different to me than judging whether lip fillers work on someone. It’s more of a judgement on the worthiness of diet itself, as it is recommended by celebrities, than her. I’m not even sure I would have even thought about her appearance overall if she hadn’t recommended the diet. As long as she’s happy that’s all that matters. But by the same token if someone makes a recommendation I would then scrutinize what they’re saying to ponder if it would actually work for me.

        If people only want compliments then I think it’s just better to post the bikini pic but not necessarily the recommendations. At that point, for sure, I’ll question whether the recommendation would work for my own appearance. It seems disingenuous to think other women wouldn’t question whether the diet might negatively affect their own appearance if you’re posting a recommendation. It’s more self -absorption about my own appearance and what I’m willing to risk than questioning what her personal preference is.

  2. Basi says:

    I do IF mostly and bullet proof coffee is my big helper. I have that for breakfast. (Grass fed ghee and C8 oil). I noticed that fasting helps with my cognition. it’s also nice with keeping my weight stable. she’s right though the emphasis is on trying to mostly eat healthy in those eight hours but if you are craving some thing then by all means eat that.

    Edit: I agree. Genes also help. I’m no Paulina but I’m naturally slender.

  3. Tom says:

    Paulina won the genetic lottery. That’s her diet secret.

  4. OriginalLala says:

    Instead of listening to celebs and models who have 0 nutrition education or knowledge, lets encourage people who want to eat better, lose weight etc etc to consult with a registered dietician. They can guide you to an eating pattern that fits your goals and nutritional needs.

    • Coco says:

      Absolutely agree with you. I took a nutrition class at my local community college this year and was floored by what I learned. All the different nutrients our body needs to properly operate and the American diet is unnecessarily high in animal protein were my two big takeaways. And how diet culture has messed with our minds, body, and overall health.

      Eat in moderation, eat a diverse amount of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains for nutrient diversity, don’t go overboard in any macronutrient (fat, protein, carbs). Limit your sugar and alcohol intake. Our cells, brain, and hormone production need carbohydrates so don’t skip those! Stay active. The actual science of it is all fascinating and I swore off fad diets because none of them are sustainable in the long run.

      Trust science and the people who have gone to school, many have a masters, to help people achieve their health goals.

    • Christina says:

      I’d worked with dieticians, but I needed an anti inflammatory diet. An experienced nutritionists who had experience with a lot of body types may have helped, but dieticians recommended grains that turned out inflamed my joints and my brain. I was confused because they made me feel worse.

      A lot of foods that are healthy for others make me sick (quinoa, brown rice, night shades). And I love a lot of the healthy foods I can’t have, but I feel 25 again now that I don’t eat that stuff. I eat grains like millet abs sorghum now.

    • april says:

      My doctor told me to try intermittent fasting but it’s not for me. So it isn’t just celebs endorsing it.

    • Sally says:

      #preach and so much of what they’re recommending is just an eating disorder in disguise.

  5. Sunshine says:

    Intermittent fasting really does work. I would recommend 14-10

    • MellyMel says:

      This is what I do and it works for me.

    • Becks1 says:

      I did 14-10 during August (then we went on vacation and I stopped it bc we had some breakfasts and dinners out planned) and I lost about 4-5 pounds during that month. I’m going to jump start it again on Monday.

    • Susan says:

      Agree. It is also recommended by the MD Anderson cancer center for the in-research possible cancer prevention method of “autophagy,” in which you give your body time to reset, not be busy digesting foods, and eliminate bad cells in the body. I am not making this up, google it and look into it. I do IM because I have some serious family history/risk of cancer but it also makes me feel better, as I too, don’t like to go to bed on a full stomach.

    • CLH says:

      Same here – there is plenty of published research on the topic. It’s a healthy approach to eating.

  6. LoonyTunes says:

    She also eats generally healthy (vegan soup, smoothie). The small spike in calories she’s taking in occasionally are not going to undo the work she’s put in. Whatever works for her. I have menopausal friends who do this and they swear it’s the only thing that works for them.

  7. HeatherC says:

    I have done intermittent fasting the last few months, as suggested by my doctor with a plan, and it has helped me shed some weight. I can’t eat whatever I want during my eating time, that’s ridiculous. It really helps me with my habit of grazing all day from the moment I wake till the moment I sleep lol.

  8. Lady Baden-Baden says:

    Really appreciate her face doesn’t look plastic. She’s beautiful.

    I do 16:8 (ish) too and have my breakfast at lunchtime (boosted by coffee first thing). Certainly don’t look nearly as good as this lady, but I AM at my lowest weight in years. Although i also run a lot – about 3 x 10 miles a week.

    • Betsy says:

      She really does look lovely. I mean she was gorgeous anyway, but so many people who have gone the plastic surgery and injectables route were gorgeous before they tampered with their faces.

  9. Jais says:

    I’ve never really been a huge breakfast eater as in I really don’t want to eat until I’ve had 2 cups of coffee so by then I’ll just usually eat at lunchtime. Not saying this is healthy but just how I’ve always been so does that mean I’ve just always been fasting? It just seems a lot of people might have already ate this way before? Also, not advocating to skip breakfast if you love it. Just people are different and have different eating patterns.
    Lol @lady Baden-Baden, just read your post and we have the same morning to lunch pattern.

    • Betsy says:

      Yep, you’ve been fasting! If it works for you, it works for you.

    • FHMom says:

      I’m a big coffee drinker, too. I wake up at 6:15, have 2 cups of coffee and don’t feel hungry until 9:00 or 10:00. I swear if I eat breakfast early, it awakens my appetite, and I’m hungry all day.

    • Agreatreckoning says:

      @Jais I’m the same. I’ve been an intermittent faster before I heard about it. Don’t like eating after 8pm and was never a morning breakfast person. Like breakfast for lunch or dinner though. It helps (and it’s hard to do sometimes) to not sit or lie down for an hour after your last meal of the day. And no alcoholic drinks-most of the time-after 8pm. Alcohol carbs & calories are sneaky. You easily forget them.

  10. likethedirection says:

    Intermittent fasting was disavowed by its very creator when studies showed no benefit!!

  11. dkerbay says:

    I worked for rich and wealthy women for over 20 yrs, guess how they stay so thin? They don’t eat. They had the most beautiful homes and gourmet kitchen that hardly went used unless they hired a chef to host dinner parties. Fridges and pantries would mostly be empty. Even with the kids at home they would keep the bare minimum of gluten free, dairy free and sugar free items. Some would exercise for several hours, some would just walk, others would have little nips here and there, genetics played some role but they never ate during the day.

    • FHMom says:

      I am not wealthy, but that is how I pretty much kept my weight down for about 15 years. Whenever I eat “normally”, say about 1500 to 1800 calories, I gain weight. It’s just how it is. I can maintain at about 1200.

  12. Ania says:

    She is genetically blessed and „whatever I want” probably means a lot less than we think. She still doesn’t eat 4 pizzas and a cake during those 8h. After years of modeling and dieting she has a very different perspective of what „a lot” and „a treat” mean.

  13. Veronica S. says:

    No, she doesn’t “eat whatever she wants” lmao. I did 16:8 fasting for awhile to see if it helped manage my weight with thyroid disease, and I found it useless. You still have to calorie count and eat properly to reduce weight, with the added bonus of having hunger spikes in the middle of the night because your body may not adjust easily to the new schedule. I quit after about two months because it was kind of like…why be woken up hungry at midnight if I’m still having to reduce calorie intake when I can just spread it out every the day. I generally don’t eat after 7-8pm regularly as it is.

    I don’t begrudge people like her for being thin, but I do wish a lot of them would stop pretending genetics and luck aren’t a huge part of it. There’s no secret thin body waiting for all of us out there if we just open the right door diet and exercise wise, unfortunately. Some people would have to do decidedly unhealthy things to their body to get it to where media tells you it should be.

  14. Dude says:

    I do love those splendid spoon smoothies.

  15. Margot says:

    I like that IF is not something you need to buy, or something anyone can sell you. My husband’s been doing it for years and has had consistent results. I try not to eat after 6pm on most days and I usually eat my breakfast after the kids are at school, so around 9:30am. I think that’s IF-ish.

  16. Leah says:

    Genetics play a huge part, if her parents are/were thin she will be too.

    It used to be that only rich people could afford to be fat (being well fed was a sign of prosperity) but now it’s rich people who can afford to be thin. They have access to healthier food while poor people (who historically were thin in the past due to poverty and malnutrition) only have access to the corner 7/11.

    I am not as genetically lucky as Paula, my parents weren’t thin but they weren’t obese either. Average weight but had to work on it is the way I’d put it. Recently I stopped eating dairy products due to constant issues with my stomach and my bust and my stomach started getting smaller. It is very hard though because I have to be so careful to check what’s in a product and make sure there’s no dairy in it. Trying to trick your brain into thinking that oat milk is “just like” regular milk is also a challenge.

    • Leah says:

      Opps it’s Paulina, not Paula. It’s early morning here so I still have fuzzies on the brain.

    • Susan says:

      Speaking of genetics, isn’t she also pretty close to 6 feet tall? It’s easier to keep weight off—and look thinner—when you are tall and lean build to begin with.

  17. Watcher says:

    I’ve always liked her – she has a kind vibe. And I really appreciate that her photos aren’t over-airbrushed and photoshopped.

  18. K says:

    After 40 years of extreme dieting and eating disorders it’s calories in calories out, exercise and being ok with your body.

  19. Amy T says:

    Team genetics, exercise and sensible eating. I was great until Covid, when I gained probably 7 to 10 pounds. I don’t regret any of those Pisco sours (egg white) and chocolate pudding (egg yolk) that got me through. But I don’t look like a fat Paulina when I gain weight. I look like a potato with legs. So last month, I got a six-month membership to Weightwatchers. I want to mostly just do a reset and the tracking feature really helps. I don’t need to lose a lot, but when you’re small and short-waisted, even 5 pounds makes a huge difference.

    • Gah says:

      Omg @amyt you gave me an idea for what to do with the leftover egg yolks! (My kid loves fried egg whites so I oblige.)

      I also love a pisco sour 🙂 we have a bar nearby that makes a chinola version that rocks

  20. Fw says:

    As someone that grew up poor I just shake my head at interminent fasting. I did that my entire childhood because there wasn’t enough food to go around. Something else that classy for the rich and shameful for the poors

  21. DaphneOG says:

    I lost 40 lbs doing IF that I gained testing various cocktails of anti depressants. But the biggest benefit for me is that having PCOS I am insulin resistant with high testosterone. The fasting period allows your body blood sugar to go back to baseline and my results are great sticking with it. I also crave healthy food to break the fast because I need ENERGY.

  22. observer says:

    i’m currently alternating between 16:8 and 18:4, but NOT for weight loss…i am very underweight (due to acute health problems) and actually trying to gain weight (and still succeeding slowly cause i eat extremely high calorie meals, but it’s a slog not to lose more weight on this diet)

    i’m doing it because i have a chronic health condition– and it’s helping. a lot. but it is incredibly difficult, especially if you are stuck at home.

    i definitely have noticed a positive effect on my health. sorry i can’t be more specific about what’s wrong with me here, so this might be considered vagueposting, but i think there is situational validity to this diet.

  23. smee says:

    As a woman who is the same age as Paulina, I must say that IF does work for weight loss and weight management at this age. It helps regulate hormones (i.e. insulin)
    For me it means no breakfast and usually one meal a day (lunch or dinner). I don’t feel hungary, especially if I avoid complex carbs like bread & pasta.

    Now her abs come from pilates….

  24. Ash says:

    I’m not sure if Intermittent Fasting is good for everyone or not…. I don’t do diets personally (for me it’s easier to just exercise and eat normally – a mix of healthy foods and junk food/treats) and I’ve managed to stay in shape with that balanced approach. Every body is different though, so if it works for her, more power to her. But the main thing I came to say is how beautiful I think she is! She radiates beauty and also kindness. I would love to emulate that when I get older. In comparison to Madonna, who is iconic but just looks kind of crazy at this point, I admire Paulina.

  25. ML says:

    I tried this and weightwise it did not work for me, and I found it hard to model healthy earing behavior to my kids. That said, I would be interested in how this might be beneficial longterm.
    My Dad has a neurological autoimmune disease. He grew up poor and became a high school teacher. My Dad had a weird eating pattern for 45 years where he would eat a huge breakfast at 5:30 in the morning and then he’d subsist on coffee and water until 4:30-5:00 in the afternoon when he’d eat dinner. He does not eat healthy: standard American diet. For the first 10 years of his disease, the doctors were surprised that he didn’t have diabetes, his blood pressure was low, low cholesterol… later that changed due to the side effects of his medications and acquiring more autoimmune diseases. What Paulina does is a bit different, but I wonder if this might have an effect on, for instance, blood sugar or pressure even if you don’t lose weight.

  26. teecee says:

    I really wish naturally thin people would stop giving diet advice. It’s not eating orange foods, or not eating at certain times, or MCT oil, or whatever trend is selling right now. You were literally born like this.

  27. Cate says:

    Going through menopause and being diabetic, IF helped me lose 25+ lbs. I upped my exercise (I just swim for an hour 3 days a week). My blood sugar has been stable. I do 16:8 during those 8 hours of eating time I don’t gorge on whatever. Maybe 1 day a month I will eat pasta and dessert but I don’t even want to eat heavy food because of the way it makes me feel. Small light healthy meals and lots of nuts and dried fruit for snacks.

  28. USAF retired says:

    Oh come on, ya’ll, she’s rich.
    She was broke for a hot minute but she bounced back and like Jane Fonda, Cher, and others, money will keep you lovely. Her body looks good. How much of that is plastic surgery, laser treatments, implants, etc.? I’m sure she does work out.
    And I’ll say it: Her face looks rather haggard. It looked better not that long ago. Fasting can do that to you.

    I don’t think this intermittent dieting crap is a good idea.
    I don’t eat much after about 6 at night but it’s because of acid reflux not weight gain.

    The fact is, it doesn’t matter when you eat. This has been proven time and time again.
    You get to have so many calories per day to maintain or lose weight. You have 24 hours to consume those calories. For example, if you do the math (weight, activity level, age -yes, it matters) and your goal is to lose 2 lbs per week and you are allowed 2300 calories in a 24 hour period to accomplish that then you get 2300 calories in a 24 hour period.

    Older women and men care about their appearance. Well, most do and there is nothing wrong with that but comparing one’s self to a wealthy super model is setting one’s self up for disappointment.

    • Lurker25 says:

      “you have so many calories per day to maintain our lose weight”
      NO
      So many limited, foolish studies distorted further but bad science/nutrition reporting.

      From agricultural fertilize/insecticide cycles that destroy the earth to the monocrops planted to the wasteful harvesting to the chemical baths in processing to the shelf stabilizing techniques to the limited palettes with lack of basic cooking skills to disordered eating….

      It’s a SH-T cycle. And calories in/calories out puts the blame on the individual while conveniently obscuring the larger problems.

      It matters what you eat.

      • USAF retired says:

        Ummm….”when you eat”. I wrote, “when you eat” and you seem to have a lot more going on here than weight loss. I think you’re mad at fast food people, non organic farmers and people who don’t cook and maybe yourself.
        BTW, The UK is banning fast food commercials until after 9 at night because they trigger people to eat junk.
        That’s not a bad idea.

        A calorie is just a unit of measure/energy. That’s science.
        Calories consumed vs calories burned. That’s science as well.
        Of course, some people have food allergies and such. No one said they don’t.

        I’ll tell you this: I was a runner for 25 years. I could eat anything I wanted and then I got older and messed up my knee and lost my fave running buddies and BOOM. Weight gain. That’s my own fault. I could have done something else but calories in, calories out matters.

      • remarks says:

        I think it is calories in/calories out too.

        Granted, it’s better to eat nutritious foods, but I’ve eaten “bad things” and as long as the calories going into my body were less than what I was burning, I lost weight. It always surprised me (like when I ate pizza and had the dreaded carbs). Movement also helped.

        I guess that’s why people always say they lost weight when they were sick with the flu — they were usually taking in less calories.

        I’ve gained pandemic weight — and basically I’m eating more than I should.

        I suppose there are tricks for balancing out your sugar levels which can make you feel less hungry. In that sense, what you eat would matter. But that’s still being done according to a calories in/calories out ratio. It’s still better to choose one avocado over two, even if avocados are healthy.

    • Pusspants says:

      @USAF
      “And I’ll say it: Her face looks rather haggard.”

      This kind of commentary is not helpful or feminist in any way. It needs to stop.

      • USAF retired says:

        Oh, puss. Do you not know where you are?
        This is an open forum for anonymous people to comment on celebrities without being a huge ass about it.
        Some comments will be complimentary and some won’t and my comment is my opinion.
        Feminism is the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.
        What does that have to do with this?
        I think you were going for something closer to body shaming or something.

        I’ll put my, “feminism”, up against yours any day.
        Do you know what USAF, retired means?

      • Jules says:

        @USAF retired— lol YES! ^^

      • Pusspants says:

        @AF, Feminism is also about not holding women to impossible standards like having a wrinkle-free face over 55. By criticizing her for having a “haggard” face, you are adding to the perception that women have to remain looking young. It makes women feel bad if they have wrinkles. You may be a feminist in some ways, but your comment certainly wasn’t. And, yes, this is a gossip site, but people on here tend to be respectful and thoughtful about their commentary, which is why I enjoy it. I hope you’ll keep it that way.

      • Jaded says:

        Thank you @Pusspants. Her face is naturally beautiful and thank the lord she hasn’t screwed with it to the point where it looks like a balloon. If some people think having a few wrinkles and some jawline sagging is “haggard”, well I’d rather have that than look like a Desperate Housewife. @USAF’s comment was out of line and her so-called brand of feminism seems to be selective and unnecessarily aggressive.

      • USAF retired says:

        I’ve been here for years and years. I just post in short spurts of time and may not post again for months.
        By “haggard” I didn’t mean lined.
        I meant too thin, drawn which extreme dieting can cause. You decided it meant lined or wrinkled.
        All these years and only you and Jaded have ever given me negative feedback.
        You might be too sensitive for this place and people are still entitled to their opinions whether you like them or agree with them or not.

      • KIA says:

        I agree with USAF retired. It was a negative comment, but why are you talking about feminist? I can find MANY comments that aren’t feminist, but that is not one of them.

      • KIA says:

        I agree with USAF retired. It was a negative comment, but why are you talking about feminist? I can find MANY comments that aren’t feminist, but that is not one of them.

      • KIA says:

        I agree with USAF retired. It was a negative comment, but why are you talking about feminist? I can find MANY comments that aren’t feminist, but that is not one of them.

  29. psl says:

    That has been the way I eat for most of my adult life, before it became a “thing”.
    I have never been more than 10-15 lbs “overweight”, but I also have struggled with EDs in my past.

    I love Paulina’s Instagram. She is someone I’d like to know in real life.

  30. bubbled says:

    I have inadvertently eaten 16:8 for periods of time because of certain lifestyle constraints (meaning, I didn’t intend to IF but I ate my food during a small window anyway), and it didn’t affect my weight at all. So this “diet advice” sounds like the advice like “cut out soda” or fruit juice or alcohol or coffee, when I don’t drink those things anyway, but still steadily gain weight as I age. Anyway, getting diet tips from Paulina is like getting skin care tips from my 9 year old.

  31. remarks says:

    In her case, I really think her body is built on genetics.

    I wouldn’t use that as an “excuse” for everyone….but in her case … I dunno. She kind of looks like the type of woman who has probably not had to work as hard as other women for her beauty. She has a sort of way about her that gives me that impression (I don’t mean that in a bad way).

  32. DeeSea says:

    There’s no one-size-fits-all eating plan that works universally for everyone, and it took a lot of trial & error to figure out what works for me. Turns out, it’s 18:6 intermittent fasting 6 days a week (and I’ve been an almost-vegan vegetarian for my whole adult life). I’ve never liked eating breakfast, so it was an easy thing for me to do. I also feel so much better when I stop eating at 4pm. It’s not for everyone, but I notice a huge difference in how my body and brain feel when I eat this way. On the 7th day, I eat whenever I want (usually a dinner out somewhere).

  33. Granger says:

    While I understand different things work for different people… I will say, that among all the 50+ women in my life who are slender, they have three things in common. One, they don’t eat after supper and they VERY RARELY snack during the day. Two, they don’t drink alcohol regularly. And three, they walk. Like — everywhere and all the time, probably an hour a day. While they might also do other forms of exercise, they’re not people who are running 4 times a week, or doing a knock-you-off-your-ass aerobic workout 6 times a week. The one consistent thing they do is walk.

    • Christine says:

      You just described my 76 year old Mom, and I agree with you. She has walked about an hour each day for my entire life, and she is a rare snacker. Her legs are still amazing!

    • Hell Nah! says:

      @Granger (and Christine) – thanks for this!

      I am 50+, I drink a half glass of wine two or three times a month, and I walk, on average, 7 miles a day. I DO indulge in an after dinner snack pretty regularly (usually around 10 pm when I really should be getting under the covers) and, depending on my schedule for the day, I can be caught snacking at some point, mostly out of boredom.

      From what you’ve observed, I’m going to make a real effort to cut out the snacking during the day, and especially after dinner, and see if I can shed a pound or two from that adjustment alone. I’ve been frustrated that I walk 50 miles a week, feel pretty confident I’m ingesting fewer calories than I’m burning up and — the scale does not move. Or it’ll go down only to go back up to the same weight. Feels hopeless to try to get on a downward trajectory.

      I will aim for consistency with eliminating my snacking and see if that’ll help.

      (I should probably start counting my calories in too but….I’d rather not if just eliminating my snacking will do the trick.)

  34. Lurker25 says:

    Two cents from someone who grew up abroad: listen to your body.

    Most Americans don’t know how to do this. They were taught not to – forced to eat, forced to not eat, count calories in, count calories exercised, follow diet xyz…

    And mostly, they were told that manufactured by-products infused with chemical flavor and a zillion preserving, binding, “mouth-feel” enhancing agents was “food”.

    If you stop eating things from packages, boxes, restaurants. Eat things you make. After a while your body will tell you when you eat and what it needs. You’ll feel good eating certain things at certain times – do that.

    I’m not here to make this sound easy or anyone feel bad. Just hope this will cut through the noise.

    Some bodies work well with one big meal, others are grazers. Some need carbs, others need meat. Everyone should eat veg but eat what makes your body feel good after. Try a varied diet instead of a restricted one to get as many nutrients.

    I’m not young and tbh, I’m only now realizing the extent to which people *don’t know* how to listen to their bodies. They kind of don’t really live *in* their bodies… Just detached, kind of loathing.

    Develop a relationship with the body you have now. Pet it. Love it. It will respond. This is the relationship that should exist before anything with anyone else.
    /Woo-woo lecture

  35. remarks says:

    I think some people can handle intermittent fasting. And others can’t. I think it really depends on the body. If you feel better and healthier from it, you might as well do it. I doubt I’m one of them but I also imagine it works for other people.

    I tried keto and I just felt I couldn’t handle it. It really made me feel weird. But for someone else, it probably does work. I assume the same for intermittent fasting.

  36. Itteh Bitteh says:

    I, too, swear by intermittent fasting, but it’s not for everyone. I tried everything, including super restrictive low carb diets and nothing worked. For me, 16:8 works. I eat noon to 8pm. I hate breakfast, and the fact I sleep through a lot of my fast time helps me stick to it. No “diet” other than trying to make healthier choices and drink more water. Didn’t even exercise outside of my usual daily run my butt off work life. Lost 30 pounds in 6 months and most (20) of it stayed off after I fell off the IF wagon. 🤷‍♀️

  37. Aurelia says:

    The more you fast the longer you live. I remember my 98 year old grandfather telling me this for years.

  38. AKsays says:

    Am I the only one who thinks she doesn’t look that good? I find her too skinny – like she would pass out on a hike or something.

    • USAF retired says:

      Yeah, that’s what I meant above by, “haggard”, and a couple of people got bunched and assumed I meant wrinkled or lined.
      Extreme dieting can cause a face to look too thin and drawn.

      One last thing…any time I want to drop several pounds fast, I don’t drink ANYTHING with calories. No juice, no coffee with cream or sugar, no Coke, no wine, no juice, no milk, definitely not energy drinks, nothing.
      Most people drink a LOT of calories and don’t even realize it.