I thought I would share my journey in here having currently lost nearly 8.5 stone.
I was 23 stone and 12 pounds age 35 (5 foot 9") 151kgs/334 pounds, my feet ached when I got out of bed in the morning, I couldn't wash my car without back ache for 2 hours after, life was declining fast, previously I didn't really care much about my weight till the pain started kicking in, I tried a few diets (slimming world) eating less trying to move more, I would move a stone maybe 2 and then put it back on 6 months later.
I then had a kid and remember how cruel other kids can be at school, I know he'll get picked on anyway at some point but I didn't want him to get picked on for having a fat Dad. Life went on I went on. I always told myself I never over ate and went to the doctor's as being fat wasn't fair - he wanted to do blood tests and I don't like needles so that was the end of that road for me.
Till one day I was on youtube, one of them annoying 5 second adverts came on, a nearly naked man with arrows painted on him very muscular Jason Statham looking, he said "you might be thinking why do I have arrows pointing all over my body, these are my stretch marks from when I was over 330 pounds", I continue watching the advert obviously this was my weight at the time, he's then eating a burger, "I still continue to eat the things I enjoy", he then went go on to promote intermittent fasting and his channel. I instantly followed and watched all of his videos on how to start (6packabs). I'd never heard of this diet and put myself on it the very next day.
2 years later while still overweight at 15 stone 95kgs, I'm up at 630am doing a 20 mile road bike ride within an hour before work, I blast the crosser training in my garage for run. I go to trail centre's and bike past people up long hills who are a lot thinner than me and have way better mountain bikes and I generally feel fantastic in my body knowing where I have come from. My cardio levels are out the roof I feel almost athletic. I can now wear nicer clothes and feel good in them as well.
I got stuck a various stages loosing my weight 19 stone+ being a tough one, it's import to measure yourself as well, for 3 months once I only dropped a couple of pounds but my body was still shrinking from the previous 3 stone I'd lost so don't always focus on the scales. I didn't have to workout with the diet but found this massively increased progress. I found it helped mental health which was a massive bonus and in the end something happened I never thought would, I enjoyed working out, the benefits were huge for me and felt great afterwards.
Once your body gets used to fasting there's no problem working out on fasting days, I'm still able to perform at a high level towards the end of a fast. At first my body thought I was killing it, I was hungry on and off all day, these are called "waves" over the first months they get less and less till some days I hardly got them at all. They pass and don't let them put you off, it's your body telling you that you normally feed it now and it's going to make you feel bad for not doing it, drink some water, they pass after 10 minutes tops, this is normally why people eat when they don't need too.
I won't ever give up fasting, I fast 6 days a week for 20 hours per day. I feel sharper while on a fast than having just finished a Sunday lunch, in fact I don't even feel like I'm on a diet, it's just a way of life. I've never given up eating one item of food or alcohol throughout my weight loss which is why fasting works for me, other diets force you to give up what you enjoy, with fasting you just have to wait to eat it.
Sorry for the wall of text even if once person found it interesting it was worth my time.
