If the IF is working for you then just stick to that and forget counting. The counting will become important when you plateau for a significant period of time or you notice scale starting to drift higher. You can start tailoring it and looking at exercise when you feel comfortable. If you can get on a bicycle you will probably notice eventually the great energy you feel and you can adjust diet on those long ride days. You don't have to lift weights so just find the exercise that you will enjoy or you will NOT do it. Also after a month I am sure you noticed your tastes changed so the cravings dissipate. Also, if you stay up late at night, it makes it harder to IF only eating from 1 to 5PM. So maybe find the one small controllable snack (not high in sodium haha) you can have at like 8 PM and drink a lot of water and wait at least an hour before bed. I have a few I use but I am not concerned with sodium as you are so will not offer until I read the label .
That's true. The "best" routine is worthless if the guy doesn't do it. Having said that, he would still do well to do resistance work. Unless I am mistaken, age-related sarcopenia hits the fast twitch muscle fibers the hardest, and those are best activated (and preserved) with somewhat intense effort.
A frequent blood panel is a good start to "what is working out for you". A start, but not end all. It's just blood, one tool. Urine is another. Poop is the third. That doesn't provide everything thats needed. https://www.crsociety.org/ Bit of good science here.
doing good on the 4 hour eating time with 20 hours fasting. so what i learned is, i get hungry in the morning much more than the evening. so i have moved my 1st meal to 12 noon - this will be my heavy meal with no desert just good food all i want. then my chef is instructed to serve me nothing more than small appetizer selection prior to 4:00pm - my goal is to completely eliminate this snack and put my chef on part-time saving me some money and losing weight has to be great. i do consume a glass of wine each night about 9:00pm and if i had to pick that would be my only meal. lol
When I did intermittent fasting, my window was usually 11AM - 7PM. It took me two weeks to get used to it but after that, it was pretty much on autopilot. I regularly drank bourbon after 7PM so I'm not sure if that was considered cheating the system though. I often hear people talk about losing a bunch of weight after they stopped drinking. I have quit on multiple occasions, with the last time not drinking for the entire month of April, and I've never lost a pound from that.