Fasting
mmgirl87
Posts: 15 Member
I'm currently attempting to fast three days out of the week. Any tips?
6
Replies
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Fast as in zero calories?
For what reason?
My first tip is "don't". Yuck.16 -
Probably don't. I can't imagine what you would gain from such a thing except tiredness, weakness and general malaise.7
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Hopefully you are eating more than your daily maintenance calories the rest of the week?
My tip would be to make sure your total calories for the week aren't too low, otherwise you are going to lose weight too quickly, develop fatigue, and lose muscle mass.5 -
@mmgirl87, for what reason do you desire attempting fasting? When you say "attempt", that sounds that you may be lukewarm which is a recipe for a disappointing experience. I'm an experienced faster but I don't do that crazy long-term stuff. I did fast 22 hours a day for 45 consecutive days during Lent 2019 so I'm qualified to share a thing or two about the subject. My experience with IF goes beyond this recent Lent 2019 fasting.
Why don't you visit our Intermittent Fasting Group here at MFP and pose your question. With sharing some background info about yourself and your goals, I'm sure you'll get some decent information besides "don't do it" that may be helpful to you in your discernment.
Wishing you the best.16 -
pierinifitness wrote: »@mmgirl87, for what reason do you desire attempting fasting? When you say "attempt", that sounds that you may be lukewarm which is a recipe for a disappointing experience. I'm an experienced faster but I don't do that crazy long-term stuff. I did fast 22 hours a day for 45 consecutive days during Lent 2019 so I'm qualified to share a thing or two about the subject. My experience with IF goes beyond this recent Lent 2019 fasting.
Why don't you visit our Intermittent Fasting Group here at MFP and pose your question. With sharing some background info about yourself and your goals, I'm sure you'll get some decent information besides "don't do it" that may be helpful to you in your discernment.
Wishing you the best.
If you are "qualified" I must be a master class guru so it makes sense for the OP to stick around here in gen pop and get a variety of input. I am also not sure why you disparage the quality of information received here as many people have been successfully helped.
OP, if your goal is weight loss very little can be accomplished with a 3 day fast. All of the internet claims of weight loss are either embellished or misunderstood. When you go with no food for 3 days your body will be emptied of food waste and your water levels will drop. This will show a temporary weight loss on the bathroom scale. In a few days most of the weight will return because you cannot lose very much fat in a short amount of time.
If your goal is something else I might be able to help there too because I have fasted many times for non weight loss purposes. I have never gone more than 48 hours though.18 -
@NovusDies, the world is big enough for more than one qualified person so thanks for letting me know you're a master class guru, I'll reach out to you if there's something I don't know. OP will do what he/she chooses but that doesn't prevent me from extending a welcoming invitation. Don't see the disparaging tone in my post so please enlighten me so I can be sensitive to it and have better post sharing.
OP, I effectively used IF to reclaim my lean and mean :"fighting weight" in about 6 months. I continue practicing it even though I've been in maintenance for over two months. The advice you'll get from active IF practitioners who have achieved their results is remarkably different than what you'll get from someone still chasing their goals but have a long way to go. No brag just fact. Enjoy your day.18 -
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pierinifitness wrote: »@NovusDies, the world is big enough for more than one qualified person so thanks for letting me know you're a master class guru, I'll reach out to you if there's something I don't know. OP will do what he/she chooses but that doesn't prevent me from extending a welcoming invitation. Don't see the disparaging tone in my post so please enlighten me so I can be sensitive to it and have better post sharing.
OP, I effectively used IF to reclaim my lean and mean :"fighting weight" in about 6 months. I continue practicing it even though I've been in maintenance for over two months. The advice you'll get from active IF practitioners who have achieved their results is remarkably different than what you'll get from someone still chasing their goals but have a long way to go. No brag just fact. Enjoy your day.
I IF'ed while losing my weight and no longer IF. I'm in my fourth year of maintenance.
My advice as a person who doesn't IF is the same as it would have been as a person who did IF, because dieting and maintenance are about habits and consistency, not when you apply them.
Anyone who knows this, no matter where they are in their weight loss experience, can share helpful information on how to form and apply habits and share tips on remaining consistent.21 -
What are your plans for the other four days in the week OP?9
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pierinifitness wrote: »@NovusDies, the world is big enough for more than one qualified person so thanks for letting me know you're a master class guru, I'll reach out to you if there's something I don't know. OP will do what he/she chooses but that doesn't prevent me from extending a welcoming invitation. Don't see the disparaging tone in my post so please enlighten me so I can be sensitive to it and have better post sharing.
OP, I effectively used IF to reclaim my lean and mean :"fighting weight" in about 6 months. I continue practicing it even though I've been in maintenance for over two months. The advice you'll get from active IF practitioners who have achieved their results is remarkably different than what you'll get from someone still chasing their goals but have a long way to go. No brag just fact. Enjoy your day.
I doubt there is anything you don't know other than how to read your posts and see when you have dumped on the forum for suggesting that all we would say is "don't do it."
And it is true. A person would get different advice from me. I can talk about how fasting does not guarantee weight loss. I can tell them what 20+ years of doing it has taught me. I won't make it sound like something it is not by using internet fad terms and practitioner-speak.
I am glad you didn't have much to lose and that 6 months was enough for you to accomplish all your goals. That is very fortunate for you. I am still pretty heavy and so my weight loss phase will take quite a bit more time. I am not sure why that was worth mentioning other than you skinny me not because it is not relevant otherwise.
Accomplishing your goals only means you are an expert on how to get yourself across the finish line. How you did it may or may not be useful in part or whole to another person. That is why I encourage people to finish reading and replying to the threads they started in the main forums. The more information a person gets the more likely it is they will read something that they can apply to themselves.
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I'm currently attempting to fast three days out of the week. Any tips?
It would help if you could come back and tell us what your goals are and what exactly you mean by fasting (you'd be surprised all the different things people can mean by that word).
Since this seems to be the direction this thread has gone in, I did intermittent fasting for about a year while I was losing 20 lbs and I've been in maintenance for about 2 years, for whatever that's worth. I've never done a legit fast for even 24 hours though, I tend to get lightheaded when I get too hungry and I have things to do
Your profile says you've been here for awhile, so I'm genuinely curious why you've decided to try this out now.6 -
Another vote for listening to a variety of opinions in the main forums rather than going into an echo chamber whose self proclaimed ambassador has only been in maintenance for two months.
OP: more details would be helpful. When you say fasting 3 days per week are you referring to alternate day fasting? If so, what does your plan look like? Have you tried other, less extreme, approaches?
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Hi, I am new to the forum, and using MFP for few months now consecutively, I wanted to try the IF idea, therefore I have a question, is there a way to track feeding/fasting time in MFP or alternatively do you know if MFP will introduce a feature allowing to track the IF, ex. time between last meal recorded for a given day (or diary finished) and first meal recorded next day?0
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I've done intermittent fasting for literally decades - almost four to be exact - and continue to use it daily.
When I started, it didn't have a fancy name, nor all of the differing fasting periods attached to it, with the implication that the longer you refrain from eating, the more 'devoted,' or disciplined you are, or the more effective IF will be. I simply stopped eating breakfast - a meal I was rarely hungry for anyway. And this then left me with enough calories for a good lunch and dinner, along with a few treats in the evening.
Intermittent fasting is very popular right now, but, unfortunately, has a bunch of literal hooey attached to it in an attempt to fancy up and complicate something that is, at its core, a very simple concept.
Intermittent fasting is merely a strategy that helps some people remain in the caloric deficit needed to prompt weight loss. That's it. And that's what drives *all* weight loss, regardless of the method used to get there. There's no magic or special extra benefits derived from eating in any restricted pattern, in spite of what some of the overly-zealous would have you believe.
It's also entirely possible to gain weight on IF. I'm living proof of that. I've gained, lost and maintained my weight all the while having a limited eating 'window.' Just restricting food to a reduced time period each day does not guarantee success. You can easily waaaaaay overeat your allotment of calories for the day - even if it's restricted to only a few hours - and gain weight instead.
Bottom line? Weight management is all about the total amount of calories you consume in a day and not when you consume them. If intermittent fasting helps you limit that, then it could be of benefit. But if not? It's simply because it's not the right strategy for you, and has nothing to do with you not being hard core enough or that you're 'practitioning' it incorrectly.
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MarcinTamborski wrote: »Hi, I am new to the forum, and using MFP for few months now consecutively, I wanted to try the IF idea, therefore I have a question, is there a way to track feeding/fasting time in MFP or alternatively do you know if MFP will introduce a feature allowing to track the IF, ex. time between last meal recorded for a given day (or diary finished) and first meal recorded next day?
If you have preferred eating times, you can change the names of your meals accordingly (i.e., meal one, 2 pm; meal two, 6 pm) and ignore the others. Or else you can use the notes space to note your window for the day and how it affected you. If you prefer to mark when you broke the fast from the past day, you can do that too.3 -
pierinifitness wrote: »@NovusDies, the world is big enough for more than one qualified person so thanks for letting me know you're a master class guru, I'll reach out to you if there's something I don't know. OP will do what he/she chooses but that doesn't prevent me from extending a welcoming invitation. Don't see the disparaging tone in my post so please enlighten me so I can be sensitive to it and have better post sharing.
OP, I effectively used IF to reclaim my lean and mean :"fighting weight" in about 6 months. I continue practicing it even though I've been in maintenance for over two months. The advice you'll get from active IF practitioners who have achieved their results is remarkably different than what you'll get from someone still chasing their goals but have a long way to go. No brag just fact. Enjoy your day.
I've been in maintenance for 12 years.
As far as Intermittent Fasting, some days I do it and some days I don't.
I'm an Intermittent Intermittent Faster.
Is there a group for that?
OP, eat however you want, but zero food on three days would make me miserable and extremely likely to over-eat on those other days. The restrict/binge cycle is tough to break away from.
Let us know what you really mean by "fasting."11 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »I've done intermittent fasting for literally decades - almost four to be exact - and continue to use it daily.
When I started, it didn't have a fancy name, nor all of the differing fasting periods attached to it, with the implication that the longer you refrain from eating, the more 'devoted,' or disciplined you are, or the more effective IF will be. I simply stopped eating breakfast - a meal I was rarely hungry for anyway. And this then left me with enough calories for a good lunch and dinner, along with a few treats in the evening.
Intermittent fasting is very popular right now, but, unfortunately, has a bunch of literal hooey attached to it in an attempt to fancy up and complicate something that is, at its core, a very simple concept.
Intermittent fasting is merely a strategy that helps some people remain in the caloric deficit needed to prompt weight loss. That's it. And that's what drives *all* weight loss, regardless of the method used to get there. There's no magic or special extra benefits derived from eating in any restricted pattern, in spite of what some of the overly-zealous would have you believe.
It's also entirely possible to gain weight on IF. I'm living proof of that. I've gained, lost and maintained my weight all the while having a limited eating 'window.' Just restricting food to a reduced time period each day does not guarantee success. You can easily waaaaaay overeat your allotment of calories for the day - even if it's restricted to only a few hours - and gain weight instead.
Bottom line? Weight management is all about the total amount of calories you consume in a day and not when you consume them. If intermittent fasting helps you limit that, then it could be of benefit. But if not? It's simply because it's not the right strategy for you, and has nothing to do with you not being hard core enough or that you're 'practitioning' it incorrectly.
Totally agree! It's funny how when something gets trendy, people jump on the bandwagon and develop a whole "practitioner" speak, form special groups, and try to make it all sound like it's some special secret.
Like you, I am a long time IFer. It's really simple. If it helps you to eat fewer calories and stay on plan, great. It's even better if it suits your natural or prefered way of eating as that makes compliance easier. If not, it's probably not a good plan for you.
But as far as 3 days fasts, I just don't see the benefits or the reasons really. And, depending on how it's done, could be unhealthy.
PS: I also have gained, lost and maintained while doing IF.11 -
MarcinTamborski wrote: »Hi, I am new to the forum, and using MFP for few months now consecutively, I wanted to try the IF idea, therefore I have a question, is there a way to track feeding/fasting time in MFP or alternatively do you know if MFP will introduce a feature allowing to track the IF, ex. time between last meal recorded for a given day (or diary finished) and first meal recorded next day?
I changed the names of my meals from breakfast/lunch/dinner etc to Meal#1/Meal#2/Meal#3 etc. I track my fasts on an app called Zero.2 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »I've done intermittent fasting for literally decades - almost four to be exact - and continue to use it daily.
When I started, it didn't have a fancy name, nor all of the differing fasting periods attached to it, with the implication that the longer you refrain from eating, the more 'devoted,' or disciplined you are, or the more effective IF will be. I simply stopped eating breakfast - a meal I was rarely hungry for anyway. And this then left me with enough calories for a good lunch and dinner, along with a few treats in the evening.
Intermittent fasting is very popular right now, but, unfortunately, has a bunch of literal hooey attached to it in an attempt to fancy up and complicate something that is, at its core, a very simple concept.
Intermittent fasting is merely a strategy that helps some people remain in the caloric deficit needed to prompt weight loss. That's it. And that's what drives *all* weight loss, regardless of the method used to get there. There's no magic or special extra benefits derived from eating in any restricted pattern, in spite of what some of the overly-zealous would have you believe.
It's also entirely possible to gain weight on IF. I'm living proof of that. I've gained, lost and maintained my weight all the while having a limited eating 'window.' Just restricting food to a reduced time period each day does not guarantee success. You can easily waaaaaay overeat your allotment of calories for the day - even if it's restricted to only a few hours - and gain weight instead.
Bottom line? Weight management is all about the total amount of calories you consume in a day and not when you consume them. If intermittent fasting helps you limit that, then it could be of benefit. But if not? It's simply because it's not the right strategy for you, and has nothing to do with you not being hard core enough or that you're 'practitioning' it incorrectly.
Totally agree! It's funny how when something gets trendy, people jump on the bandwagon and develop a whole "practitioner" speak, form special groups, and try to make it all sound like it's some special secret.
Like you, I am a long time IFer. It's really simple. If it helps you to eat fewer calories and stay on plan, great. It's even better if it suits your natural or prefered way of eating as that makes compliance easier. If not, it's probably not a good plan for you.
But as far as 3 days fasts, I just don't see the benefits or the reasons really. And, depending on how it's done, could be unhealthy.
PS: I also have gained, lost and maintained while doing IF.
Good point!
When I started skipping breakfast, it wasn't with any intention of losing or maintaining my weight because, back then, weight management wasn't an issue for me. I simply decided to skip breakfast because I've never been hungry in the mornings.
As the decades went by, though, the weight started to accumulate for many reasons/excuses. But the bottom line was that I was now simply eating too much to do anything other than gain weight.
I was already accustomed to not eating in the mornings. So I simply adjusted (and started weighing and logging!) what I ate the rest of the day and made some changes to not only what I ate, but how much of it I ate. And the weight started to come off. I upped my game with some exercise to literally help tip the scales a bit in my favour. I lost 75 lbs in a year and reached my goal weight several years ago.
I still rarely eat breakfast, so I guess I'm - technically at least - still 'doing' IF. But for me, all it's been is a meal timing pattern that has always suited me best, and one that I can tweak to my advantage as needed.6 -
I do 5:2 fasting.. I have lost 26 pounds since New Years..... and my joints don't hurt anymore.1
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I do 5:2 fasting.. I have lost 26 pounds since New Years..... and my joints don't hurt anymore.
In fairness, the improvement in your joints is most likely due to the weight loss and probably some other improvements you've made if you've also started working out or making other lifestyle changes.
Being fasted isn't likely to have an affect on joints.17 -
I have used a few day fast to get past a weight loss plateau and I do intermittent fasting every day. I also eat low carb (less than 20g carbs) per day. I'm rarely hungry and my weight loss is moving along nicely. But I don't think I'd want to fast three days a week consistently. I love to eat too much 5
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Carlos_421 wrote: »In fairness, the improvement in your joints is most likely due to the weight loss and probably some other improvements you've made if you've also started working out or making other lifestyle changes.
Being fasted isn't likely to have an affect on joints.
I and many others have noticed not eating sugar can have a noticeable effect on joint pain. While fasting you aren't getting sugar so indirectly it can help with joint pain.
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Carlos_421 wrote: »In fairness, the improvement in your joints is most likely due to the weight loss and probably some other improvements you've made if you've also started working out or making other lifestyle changes.
Being fasted isn't likely to have an affect on joints.
I and many others have noticed not eating sugar can have a noticeable effect on joint pain. While fasting you aren't getting sugar so indirectly it can help with joint pain.
So you stayed the same weight, but reduced sugar and noticed your joints felt better, with no weight loss involved?12 -
OK, I'll throw this out there. I had lost 40 lbs and was stalled at 200lbs. I went to a dietitian who told me to eat 1800 calories a day, but have 2 days a week of 800 cal fasting days with 5 60 minute HIIT workouts a week.
It did seem to help, for a bit, but then I stalled again. So I don't know.
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OK, I'll throw this out there. I had lost 40 lbs and was stalled at 200lbs. I went to a dietitian who told me to eat 1800 calories a day, but have 2 days a week of 800 cal fasting days with 5 60 minute HIIT workouts a week.
It did seem to help, for a bit, but then I stalled again. So I don't know.
A dietitian? Or a nutritionist?
ETA: I'm pretty skeptical of the 5 60 minute HIIT workouts. HIIT will gas an athlete in much less than 60 minutes (after 20 minutes, I'm close to passing out) and due to being high intensity, requires longer recovery periods (2 to 3 days) than steady state cardio.
You're more likely just doing regular interval training, not high intensity interval training.10 -
If any “trainer” or “coach” belched out a suggestion of five HIIT workouts a week, that would be the last time they’d have my ears in a fitness discussion.4
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Did the OP ever come back to clarify what kind of fasting she was interested in? There are so many kinds and I'd hate to overwhelm anyone with advice that doesn't match their specific needs.0
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