Intermittent Fasting

Thorkell wrote: ↑ Alright so I have looked at intermittent fasting and have been practicing it for the past couple of weeks or so. I dabbled in it a few times before so its not really the first time.

I would stop eating around 8 or 9pm, when my activity levels are the lowest, and would eat the next day at 12 or 1pm. I would drink water, and occasionally would have emergen-c which Im sure invalidated the intermittent fasting. But mind you, the fasting did start to give me headaches more often.

I have started looking into it lately because of autophagy, the process where your body gets rid of bad cells. I dunno if this is new agey bro science, but I do think with our busy lives, mostly spent in front of a monitor, sitting down, little to no hard labour for those not on their feet, we don't really need to eat as much anymore. And the concept of autophagy is pretty intriguing.

Wanted to ask, are any of you on IF? Are there any drinkable 0 calorie mutlivitamin drink mixes that you can have while fasting?

I've been doing it for over a year, I start eating around 5pm and stop around 9pm, so basically dinner with a salad then some fruit and nuts. It's a long fast but I'm so used to it now it would be weird to eat outside those hours. I like it, I workout on a completely empty stomach mid day and it feels great. just watch you don't over eat when you aren't fasting - I've done that a few times. I have lost weight in the past doing keto but I feel IF is a little more sustainable. I've also done 21/22 hours fasting, never longer than that. It's pretty easy once you get used to it.

I start my morning with water then wait about 2 hours and have a black coffee with monk fruit, then just water until 5pm

I will link another article written by one of my favourite sources of balanced and science-based writing on all sorts of different topics: Prof Joe Schwarcz of McGill and director of McGill's Office of Science and Society.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/col ... es-it-work
Excerpts:
The New England Journal of Medicine is widely regarded as perhaps the most prestigious medical journal in the world. It has an acceptance rate of five per cent, meaning that only one in 20 articles submitted is judged by experts to be worthy of publication. That doesn’t mean the rejected papers are not based on sound research; most eventually get published in lesser journals. But the New England Journal looks for the cream of the crop. That’s why I pay particular attention to papers published in this journal, such as a recent article on the “Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease.” Even more so when the article is the work of Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist Dr. Mark Mattson, renowned globally for his research in the area of intermittent fasting......

It is always meaningful to ask experts what change they have made in their life as a result of their research. Mattson says he eats within a six-hour window every day. And that’s from the horse’s mouth.


In the past, people (including me) just assumed Intermittent fasting just results in fewer calories consumed. But even when calories are the same, studies show benefits for intermittent fasting. There's a lot more going on with IF.

For comparison, Keto diet is very popular now, but many people love carbs too much to give up almost all carbs (and replacing carbs with lots of meat protein will help you lose weight, but could cause other health problems long-term. Whereas Intermittent fasting seems to have lots of benefits with no negatives.

I'm doing IF, but I'm definitely not strict about it, I try to limit to an 8 hour window (e.g. particularly not strict on weekends). But recently, I've been bad (more like 10+ hour window)! Writing this inspires me to try to stick to no more than 8 hour window again.

I've been doing various forms of fasting over the past few years. I'm sure a lot of people have done it by accident by missing breakfast due to a busy schedule which I call inadvertent intermittent fasting. The history of fasting is quite interesting and goes way back to the caveman days. It also spans various religions from Islam, Catholicism, Judaism and Hinduism. Books by Dr Jason Fung are very informative and explains a lot about the benefits of fasting not just for losing weight but for preventing/curing diseases. The studies that he brings to light are quite eye opening.

I think combining fasting with a healthy diet (cutting out sugars and processed/junk food), regular exercise, getting good sleep and reducing stress is the right balance. Its easier said then done but striving to keep that balance goes a long way. Gut microbiome topic is a whole nother thing that is very interesting to learn about.

Theres different ratios people use like the 16/8, 18/6 fasting window which is fasting time/feeding window. Basically skipping breakfast and having a later lunch. For the past year I've switched to one meal a day (OMAD) which is basically an extension of the ratio to have a shorter feeding window of 2-3hrs of grazing food instead of eating one giant meal at once. Running/exercise would be during the fasting window for me even if I do much longer multi day fasts.

Things like black coffee and tea are fine while fasting. It helps to drink electrolytes during a fast to offset not consuming vitamins/minerals that usually come with eating with the important ones being sodium, potassium and magnesium. A popular DIY fasting drink is using water mixed with a bit of apple cider vinegar, himalayan salt, cream of tartar, lemon or lime and optionally a no calorie sweetener if you want. If I'm doing an extended marathon fast I usually drink a few of those a day and also drink enough fluids to keep my stomach from being empty.

Everyones body is different so theres no set formula for fasting. Its amazing how the human body can adapt to all sorts things. We grew up in a world where we eat 3 meals a days since we were born. To this day there are remote tribes in Africa like the Hadza/Masai or in South America like the Yanomami who live a hunter/gatherer life like they've been doing for thousands of years where they eat what they can forage/kill and have no set schedule for eating.

I've been doing intermittent fasting before it was called this. I started about 20 years ago. I can easily fast for 60 hours (eat dinner on Friday and not each again until Monday morning), drinking only water. I do this a few times per year. I've gone five to seven days on only water before. I've only done this a handful of times. I'm not sure it's actually good for me and I don't have the time to do this so I don't do this anymore.

I've since changed the schedule of my meals. I eat only breakfast and dinner most days. Breakfast is around 7am and dinner is around 5pm. My breakfast is pretty large (1600 calories) and can sustain me until 5pm, even when exercising. I might have a snack around 3pm if I feel hungry. I started with a large breakfast because eating lunch didn't make me feel good afterwards but I can always eat a lot in the morning. It depends on what is right for you.

If you are getting headaches when fasting, I think it means you have low blood sugar. I get this sometimes if I skip a meal. I find eating makes it go away. I think you should work on having a proper diet before starting to fast. But I guess it depends on the reason for fasting.

I have been doing autophagy fasts every month for the last couple of years. The key seems to be to hit that 18 hour+ fasting window. So if you limit your eating window to 6 or less hours in a day you could do it every day. No eating after 6pm. I do just water and herbal tea, nothing with sugar or caffeine. And I've gone from 18hrs to 72 hours gradually, it gets easier every time you do it as you condition your body.

I do the 16:8 diet everyday. I eat all my meals between roughly 10am to 6-6:30pm. And eat nothing else until 10am the following day. I only consume liquids within that time frame, pretty much just water.

I've been following the Eat-Stop-Eat (Brad Pilon) protocol for years now, usually having dinner on Sunday night, then not eating again until dinner on Monday night. I drink whatever low/no calorie drinks I want during the fasting period (usually coffee and flavoured water). I like it. Before this, I used to be one of those people who would get "hangry", but have since learned that hunger is just a feeling and feeling hungry is not an emergency. It also means I don't have to worry about making a lunch on Mondays LOL

Have you guys seen any health benefits?

Thorkell wrote: ↑ Have you guys seen any health benefits?

There are health benefits to autophagy.

Thorkell wrote: ↑ Have you guys seen any health benefits?

I don't see any noticeable or immediate benefits from fasting.

I think you might also need to change your diet/lifestyle to see overall benefits.

If you want to measure certain things, get blood work done and measure your weight, body fat, etc. on a regular basis.

Been doing 168 for the past 3 months - basically squeezing same three meals between 10am to 6pm.

Without any additional change to exercise, food choices and stuff; lost 3-5 lbs.

Will likely stick to this new schedule. Good luck to those interested.

I used to fast quite a bit and the key thing is managing your insulin levels....low insulin levels means fat loss...your body only starts to lose fat when insulin levels are super low which happens when you fast....it works well for weight loss.

I used an ECA stack to manage hunger and accelerate weight loss....caffeine is great for it.

I used to use keto diets but you can still gain alot of weight on protein alone.

I'm currently testing out the Compex SP 8.0 in combination with fasting. There are a couple of studies showing EMS machines can stimulate local fat loss.

Doing my 24hr fast today reminded me of the negative associated with this practice: feeling cold. I should probably bring some tea to work to help keep warm.

Here's a link to a pdf with the full version of the seminal New England Journal of Medicine paper "Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging and Disease" that was referenced in post #3
https://sa1s3.patientpop.com/assets/docs/151222.pdf

Lots of information in this paper, and also some great practical tips as well.

On switching to an intermittent fasting regimen, many people will experience hunger, irritability, and a reduced ability to concentrate during periods of food restriction. However, these initial side effects usually disappear
within 1 month, and patients should be advised of this fact.
Most physicians are not trained to prescribe specific intermittent-fasting interventions. Physicians can advise patients to gradually, over a period of several months, reduce the time window during which they consume food each day, with the goal of fasting for 16 to 18 hours a day.. Alternatively, physicians can recommend the 5:2 intermittent-fasting diet, with 900 to 1000 calories consumed 1 day per week for the first month .....and, ultimately, 500 calories 2 days per week for the fourth month.

Jenny1975 wrote: ↑ Doing my 24hr fast today reminded me of the negative associated with this practice: feeling cold. I should probably bring some tea to work to help keep warm.

So how does a 24 hour fast work. What do you do after the 24 hours are up?

Thorkell wrote: ↑ So how does a 24 hour fast work. What do you do after the 24 hours are up?

Simply eat normally. I had dinner Sunday night, then dinner Monday night, but didn't eat in between. It's the Eat Stop Eat method developed by Brad Pilon.

DieWithZero wrote: ↑ Been doing 168 for the past 3 months - basically squeezing same three meals between 10am to 6pm.

Without any additional change to exercise, food choices and stuff; lost 3-5 lbs.

Will likely stick to this new schedule. Good luck to those interested.

You've created an eating window; so if you used to consume kcals outside that window before and now those kcals are off limits because of the clock, you've restricted calories which contributes to weight loss. Also, body weights fluctuate and its normal; especially for women, its not uncommon for one's body weight to fluctuate by 3-5 lbs regularly.

two of my issues doing IF:
1: it also breaks my 'body clock' of going to poo and eventually constipation even after resume eating. I would understand no food hence no poo. But still bother me even resume eating.
2: eating has its social thing. I have difficulty in killing time that is made available when skipping meals.

I am back on intermittent fasting starting last week eating only from 12-7. I came off IF last year after several years on it and I gained back a lot of weight. Bad habits starting come back like eating junk food and overeating. I guess I was bored and depressed working from home all the time and feeling hungry.

IF is good for me, but except for the constipation problem. I starting taking fibre supplements like Metamucil.