Anyone try intermittent fasting?

Soyviz

Hi all- I'm a 46 yr old T1 on an insulin pump who's lost about 10 lb since fall 2016. Strenuous workout 2x weekly, and uphill walking 2x weekly, 30 mins. I'm eating 1500 cals daily and am not doing low carb; I tried it and can't stick to it. My schedule doesn't allow more exercise than this. Read about Jason Fung MD's lowering insulin resistance via intermittent fasting. Has anyone here tried it w/any success? I'm at an impasse. Tx!

T1DCarnivoreRunner

No, I haven't read this. I tried a version of IF awhile back, but later realized I didn't do it as it was intended. It was the Every Other Day Diet. I didn't actually read the book on that either... didn't have time, but just looked at a quick synopsis.

My understanding was that I could eat 500 calories every other day (fast days) and no limit on the other days. Those "feast" days were usually around (9K-10K). What I later realized was that as a male, I should have eaten 600 calories every other day and limit to maintenance on other days. Of course, I would never have tried it if I realized that. This was during a long plateau (i.e. a true plateau where I was really eating at a deficit, but not losing. I was so frustrated feeling like I was starving all the time. That was acceptable as long as I was losing, but I couldn't stand feeling so hangry and still not lose. This was a compromise over giving up weight loss altogether.

The results? The plateau continued. If you don't know, there are normal fluctuations during a true plateau just like when losing or gaining. With this plan, those fluctuations became much larger - in one case, 9 lbs. gained in just a few hours. I did this for 6 weeks and had no sustained gain, but that is what is expected during a plateau. After that, I returned to a small daily deficit and finally had the "whoosh" 2 months after finishing, which was after nearly 6 months of plateau. I expect that the whoosh would have been larger if I didn't eaten the excess calories with that plan.

MurpleCat

IF just sounds horrible to me.

I can certainly understand your frustration with slow losses, it can be hard to lose weight on insulin. Heck, I found it hard to lose weight even before my diagnosis.

But since you tried Low Carb & could stick with it, I'm wondering why you'd consider IF -- it sounds like Low Carb and Low Everything Else Too, at least on the fasting days. Is it just that you'd be able to put off your cravings knowing that a feast day was coming?

Or is there some other appeal that I'm missing?

okulyd

I do a 12 hour fast M-F. Basically I stop eating at 9pm and don't eat anything until 9am the next day. This is pretty easy to do since I'm sleeping most of the time. My dr. suggested expanding it to 16 hours to get the full benefit but I workout in the morning and I think eating after exercise is needed. I cannot move dinner any earlier so 12 hours is the best I can do. I have not found that this has caused any weight loss but it does make managing overnight blood sugars easier since my last dose of insulin is taken with dinner at 6 or 7 pm and its mostly done working by the time I go to bed.

vickicutshall

I've been observing fast from 6 PM to 6 AM. Needless to say, has stopped nighttime eating and with that a huge improvement in overnight BGs and decrease in insulin. Immediately started to notice the scale dropping too. I had to remind myself that there is just no reason for me to eat my biggest calories before sleeping--duh. No need if my insulin is right. I'm fortunate to be wearing a MiniMed 670G, so able to see the changes right away and no lows. For me, this is a fast since I've eaten too much in the evening for many, many years. Oh, this also got me back to eating a bit more for breakfast than coffee and the occasional sf yogurt, since I'm actually hungry in the morning.

Soyviz

Hi to type 1 peeps, again! Eating more fat and fewer carbs ultimately led to 20 lb loss over 10 mos, plus fasting from 10pm to 11:30am next day. Also did strength training cardio workout 1 hour 4x weekly. I'm now more toned and stronger but gained back 10lbs bc stopped the İF--hard to sustain. However I'm eating better and gained muscle and strength, so weight loss not main focus anymore

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Soyviz wrote: »

Hi to type 1 peeps, again! Eating more fat and fewer carbs ultimately led to 20 lb loss over 10 mos, plus fasting from 10pm to 11:30am next day. Also did strength training cardio workout 1 hour 4x weekly. I'm now more toned and stronger but gained back 10lbs bc stopped the İF--hard to sustain. However I'm eating better and gained muscle and strength, so weight loss not main focus anymore

Great! What was your protocol? 16:8?

vickicutshall

I'm down 36 pounds over a long 6 years or so. This is mostly due to pretty modest carb, (20-30 gram/meal max), few snacks unless truly hungry or needed (usually half an apple or pear and some almonds or walnuts). The greatest change happened though, when I went to all plant-based in May 2018. Poof! Dropped 20 pounds over 5 months. This seems to mean I was plopping cheese, meat, eggs, into my mouth because of the old adage these are "free"--but not calorie free as it turns out. Those dense fats were also slowing down my insulin, pretty sure, because my insulin needs have also dropped about 33% (45 units/day, down to 30 units/day). I'm just beginning to practice some 36 hour fasts on many Fridays (finish last meal by 6 PM Thur, fast Friday, then low carb/higher fat breakfast on Saturday morning (avocado toast) and a nice workout that morning to break the fast)--following Fung's work. This has helped me learn what my true basals are--which are remarkably modest in the absence of excess calories. To be honest, I couldn't do these unusual practices if I wasn't on MiniMed 670G pump. Few lows since it just turns itself off when I'm fasting. Interestingly enough, if my BG starts to dip, a cup of black coffee will raise the BG about 20 mg/dL--something we all talk about in the mornings and I see can help when a little bump is needed with fasting. Hmm.