Intermittent Fasting
ritchiedrama
Posts: 1,304 Member
Something I wrote over at my Facebook page which helped transform me, thought some of you might like to read it if you haven't seen it already.
I thought i'd get onto doing a little few paragraphs about something that was staple in my fat loss, some of you may have heard of it! You may find this extremely useful for you, whether it be now or in the future.
Intermittent Fasting. I discovered Intermittent Fasting a long while ago, actually but I never really read into it too much as it seemed too complicated.. how wrong was I.. It is one of the most simple methods I've ever introduced into my life, and created so many benefits for me and removed so many negatives. For the most part credit goes to Martin Berkhan at leangains.com - all information about Intermittent Fasting is there, he is the go-to guy for this stuff.
For so long I was obsessed with the idea that I had to eat 5-6 meals per day, at certain times to boost my metabolism, and as you may have seen earlier the picture I uploaded.. that is not true, It is so far from the truth that it angers me when I still see people following that protocol as if it is the 'only' way. Of course it works, there is no doubt about that (when I say it works, I mean in terms of fat loss, providing you're eating the correct quantity of food). Along side the eating 5-6 meals a day, people are obsesssed with the fact you NEED breakfast, or obsessed that if you don't eat your body goes into starvation mode, THIS IS NOT TRUE.
After following the 5-6 meals a day way of life, I noticed I was constantly hungry, I was kinda depressed too because all I was doing was preparing the same boring meals, because along with the 5-6 meals a day, comes the "clean" eating crowd for the most part. Now, despite what you've been told clean eating for 'fat loss' is a myth, you can lose fat eating any food on the planet, whether it be Oreo's, McDonalds, KFC or the healthiest salad with no dresssing and just plain chicken.
Now, I'm not saying Intermittent Fasting is the answer, or that you have to do it by any means, but its an option, and it cured a lot of things for me.
Firstly, Intermittent Fasting is where you pick an eating window of around 8 hours.
Within this 8 hours you eat all the food you are supposed to consume in that day... here is an example of an eating window
First Meal ~ 1:00 pm
Second Meal ~ 9:00 pm
So you eat nothing upon waking, until 1pm in the afternoon, you then eat your next meal at 9pm and don't eat again until the next day, at 1pm. This is just a sample set up, there is many other ways to achieve 'Intermittent Fasting' to suit your needs.
There has been lots of research done with Intermittent Fasting, there has been some noteable evidence scientifically such as..
It has shown to prevent high blood pressure.
It has been shown to prevent cancer.
It has been shown to increase life span.
It has been shown to keep you more alert throughough the day and make you feel less lethargic.
It has shown that it decreases the amount your body has to work, to digest food because you are eating less.
There are some things I know for sure;
It removes my hunger pangs, where as eating 5-6 meals I was ALWAYS hungry.
It helped me with MY weight loss, others have reported this too but there is no actual scientific hard evidence to support that.
It helps me sleep in the evening, especially if I eat before I go to sleep.
It keeps me OUT of the kitchen and gives me much more time to do things I actually want to do.
There is plenty of other benefits which you can find from personal experiences, I've never really heard anyone speak down about Intermittent Fasting other than the "old school" bodybuilders who refuse to believe anything else can work, than what they do. But just remember there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
I suggest if this topic interests you, head over to Martin Berkhans site, Leangains (web address earlier in this post). He is the guru of this stuff, and whilst he is very strong with his opinions, there is endless information there and his information changed my life. There is also links to endless studies which show the hard evidence for some of the things I linked above.
If you managed to get this far, and you have any questions.. ask away and I'll do my best to answer them!
I thought i'd get onto doing a little few paragraphs about something that was staple in my fat loss, some of you may have heard of it! You may find this extremely useful for you, whether it be now or in the future.
Intermittent Fasting. I discovered Intermittent Fasting a long while ago, actually but I never really read into it too much as it seemed too complicated.. how wrong was I.. It is one of the most simple methods I've ever introduced into my life, and created so many benefits for me and removed so many negatives. For the most part credit goes to Martin Berkhan at leangains.com - all information about Intermittent Fasting is there, he is the go-to guy for this stuff.
For so long I was obsessed with the idea that I had to eat 5-6 meals per day, at certain times to boost my metabolism, and as you may have seen earlier the picture I uploaded.. that is not true, It is so far from the truth that it angers me when I still see people following that protocol as if it is the 'only' way. Of course it works, there is no doubt about that (when I say it works, I mean in terms of fat loss, providing you're eating the correct quantity of food). Along side the eating 5-6 meals a day, people are obsesssed with the fact you NEED breakfast, or obsessed that if you don't eat your body goes into starvation mode, THIS IS NOT TRUE.
After following the 5-6 meals a day way of life, I noticed I was constantly hungry, I was kinda depressed too because all I was doing was preparing the same boring meals, because along with the 5-6 meals a day, comes the "clean" eating crowd for the most part. Now, despite what you've been told clean eating for 'fat loss' is a myth, you can lose fat eating any food on the planet, whether it be Oreo's, McDonalds, KFC or the healthiest salad with no dresssing and just plain chicken.
Now, I'm not saying Intermittent Fasting is the answer, or that you have to do it by any means, but its an option, and it cured a lot of things for me.
Firstly, Intermittent Fasting is where you pick an eating window of around 8 hours.
Within this 8 hours you eat all the food you are supposed to consume in that day... here is an example of an eating window
First Meal ~ 1:00 pm
Second Meal ~ 9:00 pm
So you eat nothing upon waking, until 1pm in the afternoon, you then eat your next meal at 9pm and don't eat again until the next day, at 1pm. This is just a sample set up, there is many other ways to achieve 'Intermittent Fasting' to suit your needs.
There has been lots of research done with Intermittent Fasting, there has been some noteable evidence scientifically such as..
It has shown to prevent high blood pressure.
It has been shown to prevent cancer.
It has been shown to increase life span.
It has been shown to keep you more alert throughough the day and make you feel less lethargic.
It has shown that it decreases the amount your body has to work, to digest food because you are eating less.
There are some things I know for sure;
It removes my hunger pangs, where as eating 5-6 meals I was ALWAYS hungry.
It helped me with MY weight loss, others have reported this too but there is no actual scientific hard evidence to support that.
It helps me sleep in the evening, especially if I eat before I go to sleep.
It keeps me OUT of the kitchen and gives me much more time to do things I actually want to do.
There is plenty of other benefits which you can find from personal experiences, I've never really heard anyone speak down about Intermittent Fasting other than the "old school" bodybuilders who refuse to believe anything else can work, than what they do. But just remember there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
I suggest if this topic interests you, head over to Martin Berkhans site, Leangains (web address earlier in this post). He is the guru of this stuff, and whilst he is very strong with his opinions, there is endless information there and his information changed my life. There is also links to endless studies which show the hard evidence for some of the things I linked above.
If you managed to get this far, and you have any questions.. ask away and I'll do my best to answer them!
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Replies
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Great post buddy. I will try this very soon. It'll be hard at first, but I think I can do it!0
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Great post buddy. I will try this very soon. It'll be hard at first, but I think I can do it!
The first few days are tough, for sure. But if you can get into this routine I believe it from experience to be a very positive thing and lets you control hunger, rather than hunger control you.0 -
This works great for me as I hated eating smaller meals and always hungry. It is so awesome to smash 1500 to 2000 calories in one sitting.0
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I do IF at least 4 to 5 times during the week and it has really helped me with the weight loss. I also found that doing cardio while on the fast burns even more fat. i workout an hour or two before I break my fast and I have seen been seeing great results.0
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I just skip breakfast and my first meal is at 1pm and I eat dinner at a regular time. I didn't know I was doing IF, I thought I was being smart cause I get to eat more at those two meals ;p0
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what would be a good example of a meal at these times? do you only eat once at 1pm and then once at 9pm each day? like you said you could change the time to suit. Can this work for girls?? how long do you do this for?? sorry so many questions.0
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what would be a good example of a meal at these times? do you only eat once at 1pm and then once at 9pm each day? like you said you could change the time to suit. Can this work for girls?? how long do you do this for?? sorry so many questions.
I do this everyday.
I eat one meal at 12pm, one meal at 6pm (I prefer 6 hours, but 14/16/18 hour fasts are fine)
My diary shows the kind of meals I eat if you go on my profile.
Many women follow this, yes.0 -
I'm actually thinking of giving this a go tomoz
exercise wise I don't have much access to kit and want to lose weight and tone, I have a cross trainer and can go for a run slash walk?? would my MP shakes be enough to add to the meals? This is amazing, I am really excited, I think this could really work for me as I will be able to meet the fat/protean needs for each day. 0 -
I'm actually thinking of giving this a go tomoz exercise wise I don't have much access to kit and want to lose weight and tone, I have a cross trainer and can go for a run slash walk?? would my MP shakes be enough to add to the meals? This is amazing, I am really excited, I think this could really work for me as I will be able to meet the fat/protean needs for each day.
I just eat anything, literally anything - for example:
If my fat intake is low for the day, I eat enough peanut butter to hit my fat intake, obviously peanut butter has protein & carbs too, but that helps raise those numbers, and same for making sure if i'm cutting (losing weight) I don't go over my calories so I need to get the right amount of each food to hit my targets.
It's no different than just eating normally and hitting targets, it's just eating all your food within 6-8 hours and then fasting the rest of the time.
At first its tough, but after a few days gets rid of all hunger and cravings really.
But yeah,, you can eat any food/use any shakes to hit targets.0 -
Brilliant, i'm thinking of doing 2 meals same as you 12 and 6 this fits well with my day and each one being 7500
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Brilliant, i'm thinking of doing 2 meals same as you 12 and 6 this fits well with my day and each one being 750
Let me know how it goes here or in PM
- if you need anymore help jus gimme a shout! 0 -
Will do, very excited!! better get myself to bed as I will need all my energy!! can I drink my green tea extract during fasting periods, doing a bit of reading around this :O) and had a look on a FB group about it, i'm hooked, there was even a BBC prog about it.0
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Will do, very excited!! better get myself to bed as I will need all my energy!! can I drink my green tea extract during fasting periods, doing a bit of reading around this :O) and had a look on a FB group about it, i'm hooked, there was even a BBC prog about it.
You can have anything with 0 calories (I know you don't drink pepsi max, but pepsi max as an example)
and you can stretch it to LESS than 40-50 calories too, so a TINY splash of milk as an example in a coffee, but as far as i know green tea is calorieless unless you add something right?0 -
Yes and bugger I normally add Honey as it's pretty strong
just a tea spoon. is it a good idea to drink as much water as possible??
I think I'm going to take a pic tonight and then take one each week and track my progress, thanks for sharing this and thanks for the help.0 -
Yes and bugger I normally add Honey as it's pretty strong just a tea spoon. is it a good idea to drink as much water as possible??
I think I'm going to take a pic tonight and then take one each week and track my progress, thanks for sharing this and thanks for the help.
Lots of water is always good no matter the situation 0 -
Ok, so day one down I felt full all day and my energy level was up, I think I managed to get a pretty good days food in also.
I managed a walk with the dogs and while meal two was cooking managed to do 20 mins cross trainer.
Mon is my weigh day so I can see if there is any change, I'm not expecting any till next week but you never no.
Only gripe was this morning around 10 30 I was not hungry as such but felt sick, I decided to change environment so popped to the shop and this seemed to help :O) will see if I get the sick feeling tomoz morning.
Def enjoying this day one, did not really seem like a challenge.0 -
Ok, so day one down I felt full all day and my energy level was up, I think I managed to get a pretty good days food in also.
I managed a walk with the dogs and while meal two was cooking managed to do 20 mins cross trainer.
Mon is my weigh day so I can see if there is any change, I'm not expecting any till next week but you never no.
Only gripe was this morning around 10 30 I was not hungry as such but felt sick, I decided to change environment so popped to the shop and this seemed to help :O) will see if I get the sick feeling tomoz morning.
Def enjoying this day one, did not really seem like a challenge.
I checked your diary earlier (i posted on your wall thingy) - MUCH better in my opinion. Looked great to me.
Don't worry about weight, like obviously, check your weight once a week, but only after 3-4 weeks usually you make adjustments but sometimes weight just doesn't budge for 1-2 weeks then woosh drops off on the scale.0 -
Oh cool, will have a look now Thanks, cant believe the amount of food lol, I actually had to push myself to finish it at 12!! tasted so good though. Tomoz I am going to try and do 20/30 mins in the morning, use the fast to my advantage and then again in the eve. 0
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Mmm this has got me thinking
i work shift and have been really trying to eat light when im on nights, maybe i could pack myself with cals before work and then eat once home in the morning! This could also work for me on days as time for eating is very hard to fit in 0 -
Ok, so day one down I felt full all day and my energy level was up, I think I managed to get a pretty good days food in also.
I managed a walk with the dogs and while meal two was cooking managed to do 20 mins cross trainer.
Mon is my weigh day so I can see if there is any change, I'm not expecting any till next week but you never no.
Only gripe was this morning around 10 30 I was not hungry as such but felt sick, I decided to change environment so popped to the shop and this seemed to help :O) will see if I get the sick feeling tomoz morning.
Def enjoying this day one, did not really seem like a challenge.
I checked your diary earlier (i posted on your wall thingy) - MUCH better in my opinion. Looked great to me.
Don't worry about weight, like obviously, check your weight once a week, but only after 3-4 weeks usually you make adjustments but sometimes weight just doesn't budge for 1-2 weeks then woosh drops off on the scale.
Could not find the post maybe I'm being blind lol. 0 -
Ok, so day one down I felt full all day and my energy level was up, I think I managed to get a pretty good days food in also.
I managed a walk with the dogs and while meal two was cooking managed to do 20 mins cross trainer.
Mon is my weigh day so I can see if there is any change, I'm not expecting any till next week but you never no.
Only gripe was this morning around 10 30 I was not hungry as such but felt sick, I decided to change environment so popped to the shop and this seemed to help :O) will see if I get the sick feeling tomoz morning.
Def enjoying this day one, did not really seem like a challenge.
I checked your diary earlier (i posted on your wall thingy) - MUCH better in my opinion. Looked great to me.
Don't worry about weight, like obviously, check your weight once a week, but only after 3-4 weeks usually you make adjustments but sometimes weight just doesn't budge for 1-2 weeks then woosh drops off on the scale.
Could not find the post maybe I'm being blind lol.
ritchiebulk Just checked your diary, looking so much better!!!
3 hours ago · Comment
Doesn't matter either way, that's all I wrote, its like the second thing on your profile haha!0 -
Mmm this has got me thinking i work shift and have been really trying to eat light when im on nights, maybe i could pack myself with cals before work and then eat once home in the morning! This could also work for me on days as time for eating is very hard to fit in
This has worked great for me, I find it really hard to keep track of all the various needs ie Fat and Protein, but today have got it bang on and feel so full.0 -
Mmm this has got me thinking i work shift and have been really trying to eat light when im on nights, maybe i could pack myself with cals before work and then eat once home in the morning! This could also work for me on days as time for eating is very hard to fit in
I just enjoy eating two big meals a day, makes my life easier and it removed all hunger issues - let me know how it goes for you if you try it!0 -
So I would just divide my total cals in half...half at 12 and half at 6pm?0
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So I would just divide my total cals in half...half at 12 and half at 6pm?
That's what I do! Personal preference. could do 75/25 if you wanted. I just prefer 50/50!0 -
so say it would be kinda hard for me to take that much food to work and eat it on a lunch break, it would be ok to work all day then come home and have a big meal at say 4pm then another right before bed like 10pm?0
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so say it would be kinda hard for me to take that much food to work and eat it on a lunch break, it would be ok to work all day then come home and have a big meal at say 4pm then another right before bed like 10pm?
Yep if thats what you wanted to do, that'd be fine. Depends if you feel you can go through work without food!0 -
well I skip lunch at work all the time.. but I usually have breakfast, guess Ill just have to try and see. another question, so looking at the 1g per lb and the .4g per lb numbers you gave, pretty much ill be starting off high protein and high fat and low carb, as I lose weight it will slowly change to being lower protein and fat and higher carbs? am I seeing this right? is that the general idea?0
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well I skip lunch at work all the time.. but I usually have breakfast, guess Ill just have to try and see. another question, so looking at the 1g per lb and the .4g per lb numbers you gave, pretty much ill be starting off high protein and high fat and low carb, as I lose weight it will slowly change to being lower protein and fat and higher carbs? am I seeing this right? is that the general idea?
Give me your current weight, height and age - I can manipulate the numbers a bit due to your bodyweight as I assume the protein is really high, so I can change that around a bit for you - I hate low carb diets, so I know what you're experiencing - but yes if you were fine WITH low carb you would do what you suggested - but you're a bloke who wants to lift weights, and i personally dont believe in low carb diets if you can avoid it.
So yeah, gimme your stats and i'll have a go0 -
yeah cause I just checked it out on iifym and id have to do like 44g of carbs a day <-- hard to do, 27yo, 5'7", 196lbs0
