| > sounds like a very normal day for lots of people That's the issue with your statement. I didn't survey "lots of people" and neither did you. I can't find any data to back it up, but I do see a plenty of surveys about breakfast consumption. I find it very hard to believe people are restricting their calories within 8 hours everyday, naturally just based on the conversations I've had with people. Even in this thread people say they've tried it, and found it to be too difficult. It's simple: People enjoy eating. People eat when they're bored, because of habit, or socially. No reason to believe they abstain from those things 16 hours a day. It's not like all of that 16 hours is sleep. On average, more people are getting less than 7 hours of sleep. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/data-and-statistics/adults.html Fasting is not an on/off switch, but too many calories (>10-20) in a short amount of time pushes you out of a fasted state. It's very likely people are snacking or drinking calories within those hours after waking, and before lunch. Also, some people will often over eat one day, and then under eat the next. This could help get through a 16 hour fast a few days every week. I think those times are usually over represented when self-reporting these habits. |