I Tried 20/4 Intermittent Fasting For A Week

As the title suggests, I tried 20/4 intermittent fasting for a week. I'm going to be talking about my experience, how much weight I lost and how it went. So if you are interested in all that, stay tuned.

What Is 20/4 Intermittent Fasting?

First off, I want to explain what 20/4 intermittent fasting is for those that don't know. You eat all of your daily calories within a span of 4 hours. You can't have calories outside of that window. So basically, you have no calories for a total of 20 hours, and then have all of your calories.

Your calories would typically be eaten in the form on a big meal and a couple snacks, but you can consume the calories however you want to. As long as you only eat within the 4 hour window.

While you are fasting for 20 hours, you don't drink diet coke, sparkling water, fruit juice, or any of that nonsense. You have water only. You can have some lemon or lime juice (fresh squeezed) in your water if you want it. You can have black coffee. But nothing else. I can't stress this enough.

Read: I Tried 22/2 Intermittent Fasting For 1 Week

How Did It Feel?

I was pretty hungry. I am someone who has been intermittent fasting for several years on and off, so it wasn't a huge shock to my system. I can take it, and I know what to expect. It would probably be very different for someone who has never fasted before.

But intermittent fasting is one of those things that if you fall off the wagon or stray a bit and then try to come back, it's just as hard to get back into it. So it is still a challenge for someone like me, since I have been off the wagon a little bit.

I would get hungry usually around the 17 hour mark, or lunch time. Whichever one just so happened to come first. This is just a habit though because my body is used to eating around lunch so all these hunger hormones get released, making me feel hungry. The hunger does go away and it gets easier after some days.

Non-Scale Victories

I did have some non-scale victories. A NSV is when you notice a change that doesn't have anything to do with the scale or your weight.

My non-scale victories are as follows: My lower belly is definitely inches smaller. It's visibly reduced in size, and clothes are more loose there. Also, my face has less bloating and is more defined. My belly in general (upper and lower) are both smaller. I just noticed it a lot more in my lower belly. My thighs feel smaller when I walk, like they don't rub against each other as much. Also, my teeth feel cleaner since I'm only eating in a small window.

Weight Loss

During my week of 20/4 intermittent fasting, I lost a total of 2 lbs, which is pretty average weight loss. So in one month, I could lose about 8 lbs if I were to continue. I do want to say that I didn't count any calories. Most people who are doing IF count calories as well just to make sure they aren't going over. I honestly don't like to count calories, so I didn't.

During my 4 hour window, I ate what I wanted without regards to how many calories was in the food. I probably could have lost more than 2 lbs if I had actually counted calories, but I'm not upset with these results at all. I am visibly less bloated. It just feels good to lose that bloat.

So that's what I got for you today. If you have been on the fence about trying intermittent fasting, I encourage you to at least try. Start off with a 16/8 schedule if you are new just to see what it's like.