Long term effects of IF?

Hey there, I started doing intermittent fasting 18:6 hours the summer of 2024. That summer I was able to lose quickly around 22 lbs, with some daily cardio exercises like speed walking and cycling uphills or just working in lab without breakfast. Suddenly, I reached a plateau with my weight, however, my fasting blood sugar level did not drop significantly even though I had lost weight mainly to increase my insulin sensitivity (at some point I also monitored with a CGM, the only way I was able to get the blood sugar down was through fasting at least 18 hours, I believe this is the main reason why I lost weight). At my plateau weight: (fasting 5 pm to 11 am)- I had more or less same fasting blood sugar levels as when I was overweight - I was having trouble sleeping or waking up in the middle of the night because of a headache or overactive mind- My metabolism became really slow and my body was digesting everything very slowly- I started to overeat/could not eat enough before my fasting window closed- Started to have cravings at late night or evenings- Having trouble sustaining the fasting period while having a 9-5This made me realize that intermittent fasting is not sustainable, because it was causing me problems and at some point it was not helping me anymore to lose weight. I stopped doing it + had a crash in good diet, which caused me to gain most of the weight back and I am still gaining it. When I try to re-start intermittent fasting, I am scared that the restricted window makes me overeat/binge, which makes me have a negative relationship with food. Can someone help me find a way in which I could incorporate intermittent fasting without it negatively effecting me. I am trying to stop fasting and allowing myself to eat what I want, but this has caused me to continuously gain weight since I am more insulin resistant + more likely to gain weight in my mid-section due to genetics. Thanks in advance. via /r/intermittentfasting https://ift.tt/wC3dyYQ https://ift.tt/idLtKav