Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

[TarHeelMan]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

I'm with you Jonsey, I'm losing some blubber even with eating a pretty high amount of carbs (fruit/veg/WW bread). I no longer avoid eating two turkey dogs with on WW buns or making a grilled chicken sandwich. Feels goooood. My post-dinner shake has 52g of carbs too.

THM, I don't know the details about diabetes, do fruits/veggies/ww bread really have a negative effect?

Not really sure. I've been eating low carb so long that I've gotten used to it. I usually let loose on the weekends, though, but even then, it's not like I go ape with my meals. I found this really good low carb bread that I order online, called Carb Krunchers, that I use. They make bread, hot dog and hamburger buns, with really low carb counts.

I think it depends on how negative your body handles the sugar depends on how advanced it is. I have read about diabetics handling fruit fine, while not being able to handle artificial sugars.

I will say this, though. I had a sandwich from Jimmy John's for lunch. Then a granola bar. I didn't get to the gym because I had to go deal with Carmax and my vehicle warranty. But I got home, and I was like, "yo, I'm not even hungry." I had drunk about a gallon of water, like I normally do, and I wasn't feeling hungry. Even for lunch, it was more of "I'm eating lunch because this is what I'm SUPPOSED to do at 12:30". I was hungry, but it wasn't like it would have killed me if I had waited.

My son is graduating elementary school this Friday, and with all my wife's family coming to town , that's gonna be a lot of eating out, plus my mother's making his favorite stuff. So I'm looking to be a bad boy for a few days before getting on with this. Judging from how I felt today, getting started on Monday should be real easy.

[Matt10]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

IF started this week, going great. Fasted Monday then Wednesday - total loss as of today

199.4 >>> 196.0

Granted it's probably water weight, but still - I feel great, and it's so simple.

You guys are reading Brad Pilon's - Eat Stop Eat right?

[Jgainsey]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

You know, I've actually been doing this for years(more or less) with out even really realizing it.

I've always been a pretty thin guy.. I'm 24 years old, 6'3", and usually around 180-185. Though ever since high school, where I had to wake up ever day around 5 a.m., I have never had much of an appetite in the morning. I usually have a cup of coffee or two in the morning, a light lunch, small snack after work, and then I pig out for dinner/dessert. My girlfriend thinks I'm weird for never eating breakfast, but I'm just not hungry in the morning. And on the rare occasion I do eat breakfast, I'm usually not hungry for lunch anyways, so it kind of balances out.

I'm kind of skeptical on whether or not IF in and of itself is a direct cause of weight loss, but I do think it leads to healthier eating habits.

Not eating after 8 p.m. is a no brainer when it comes to a healthy diet anyways, regardless of your other eating habits. And I think many people who try IF see results simply because they are inadvertently consuming fewer calories. If you had been eating a full meal everyday for breakfast, and snacking late at night, you're going to loose weight once your appetite adapts.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that any type of structured diet can work, as long as it's something you can stick with, and more importantly, as long as you're consuming fewer calories than you burning off. IF is a great way to create healthy eating habits, but I really don't think there's anything about it that scientifically produces better results than any other diet.

[Matt10]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

I suggest emailing Brad Pilon, eat stop eat is a great ebook - and explains exactly how IF is better than anything. Pilon used to work in the health magazine industry. He would be the guy who sorted out each new diet every month - and find each contradiction, one after the other.

[Jonesy]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

There are benefit's of fasting and Eat Stop Eat is a great book that outlines the benefits but I agree with Jgainsey that the biggest reason it works is it's just an easier to inadvertently eat fewer cals and you still get to have that full feeling.

I don't think it's really any miracle because at the end of the day it's cals in vs cals out but it does take the stress out of having to prepare and eat 5-6 small meals per day like is often suggested and it's nice that no foods are really off limits on this 'diet'.

I disagree about the whole 'not eating after ___pm' etc thing which is kinda silly when you think about it. Your body doesn't operate on a strict 24 hour clock just because that's how we structure our lives that way. The body is constantly in a state of breakdown and recovery regardless of what we are doing so eating a big meal then going to sleep isn't going to magically cause someone to put on fat. If that huge meal means you have consumed more cals than your body needs it will but it's the overall caloric balance that matter 99% of the time in weight loss / gain not some arbitrary time of day.

[ehh]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

One other area of improvement that I forgot to mention is sleep. I've always been a deep sleeper so that can't really improve the quality of my sleep but I no longer absolutely need 8 hours of sleep. If I only get 6.5 hours once or twice a week it doesn't negatively effect my day at all. I'm still alert, awake and focused as if I got eight hours. Seems like a strange side effect but I love it.

[Husker_OS]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

So far so good for me. It's pretty easy to stick to the routine of when I eat and what I eat. I don't get cravings for crap food and I don't get hungry until about 3 or 3:30 PM.

[DocHolliday]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

I have basically been doing this and never even realized it. I almost always skip breakfast and and just have lunch dinner. Im 6'1 and about 175 - 180.

I have also never really watched my diet or beer intake, but I do hit the gym about 3 - 4 times a week.

Sweet, Im on a diet and didnt even know it.

[Jonesy]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

I have basically been doing this and never even realized it. I almost always skip breakfast and and just have lunch dinner. Im 6'1 and about 175 - 180.

I have also never really watched my diet or beer intake, but I do hit the gym about 3 - 4 times a week.

Sweet, Im on a diet and didnt even know it.

Lol it's not really a diet more of lifestyle and it's obviously been working well for you if you have been able to maintain that weight for years.

That's one of the things i like about it you don't really go on and off it like say something like a strict low cal or low carb diet, this is something you can keep doing literally for the rest of your life and it's relatively easy to do.

[TarHeelMan]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

Man, this is straight... I've had at least three people in the past couple of days telling me how I look like I'm losing weight... I'm not even feeling hungry, either. Even when I do eat, it's not like I'm absolutely starved. It's still more like "It's 12:00; I should eat something".

I gotta get the weekends down though. I really don't eat much breakfast on the weekends, unless wifey wants to go to Golden Corral or IHOP or something. Does this get relaxed on the weekends, or do we generally stay within the 16-8 protocol?

[Husker_OS]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

I stick to it 7 days a week. Another perk of this is I get full before I eat too much. I couldn't eat more than 2 slices of pizza in one sitting if I wanted to now. It's like the discipline is built into the diet.

[TarHeelMan]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

OK. I'm used to my old way of dieting, the Anabolic Diet, where you'd go low carb for 5 days then carb load on the weekend. I think I can follow this seven days a week.

[Matt10]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

Yeah this is easy.

Anyone else notice you start to feel a little sweaty towards the end of a 24 hr fast? When I hit that 18 hour mark, I get kind of sweaty and antzy - like I'm about to seriously work out hard.

And I do - lifting weights and just any activity. Feels completely incredible.

I love fasting easy on the wallet too

[Jonesy]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

Yeah this is easy.

Anyone else notice you start to feel a little sweaty towards the end of a 24 hr fast? When I hit that 18 hour mark, I get kind of sweaty and antzy - like I'm about to seriously work out hard.

And I do - lifting weights and just any activity. Feels completely incredible.

I love fasting easy on the wallet too

So Matt you are doing 24 hr fasts and then lifting towards the end of the 24hrs?

I have never tried lifting after such a long fast, how do you find strength / endurance etc?

[Matt10]

Re: Intermittent Fasting (IF) thread

So Matt you are doing 24 hr fasts and then lifting towards the end of the 24hrs?

I have never tried lifting after such a long fast, how do you find strength / endurance etc?

In the book by Brad Pilon, I think I sent you a copy of the pdf Jonesy- he states the following about working out in a fasted state:

Even though fasting may decrease the amount of time it takes for an athlete to
become exhausted, fasting actually has other positive effects, one of them being fat
burning.

Athletes performing long endurance activities while fasted actually burn more body fat
than athletes who are fed (because the fed athletes are burning through food energy
before they get to the stored energy in their body fat). So depending on your goals,
fasting before endurance exercise may actually be beneficial (so much for the idea that
you need to eat a small meal before working out).

Outside of these performance-based issues, I see no reason why you cannot exercise
while you are fasting. The obvious ‘anecdotal’ issue would be concerns about exercise
during fasting being able to cause low blood sugar levels. However this has been
addressed in research conducted on experienced long distance runners.

I have plenty of strength, the endurance has not truly been tested. My only form of cardio is a HIIT session on the stationary bike (nursing post op acl, 7 month mark) - and then going right into lifting session.

The fat is truly burning off. I've had so many compliments - I've just started this last Sunday. Once I get to my 4 weeks, I'll post a before and after picture as well.